AOE3 forums on Age Community gets renamed “Age of Empires Forums”
Eagle eyed visitors to the Age of Empires 3 forums on Age Community might have noticed the heading text has changed from “AOE3 Forums” to a more generic “Age of Empires” forums. Could this indicate that the forums will now be used to discuss more than one Age game and not just Age 3? One might deduce that this could indicate that a new Age game is on the horizon and the forum name change allows Robot to utilise the Age Community address (www.agecommunity.com) to support both Age3 and Age4(?).
Of course, this is all wild speculation but one must wonder why the forums have been renamed all of the sudden. .
Note: Only the heading text and page titles have changed – graphics remain to be Age 3 related – so no getting too excited! – its been a slow news month so I thought I would post something to get peoples inquisitive minds thinking again 🙂
Bonfire Studios developing for mobile platforms – iPhone, iPad, Android?
A recent job listing on the Bonfire Studios website suggests that Bonfire may be pursuing game development opportunities with the mobile market including Apple’s iPhone / iPad and Google’s Android OS.
Bonfire Studios is seeking a talented programmer who loves programming games for mobile devices to join our team and share in the creation of our games and technology. The ideal candidate has industry experience in the mobile space including iPhone, iPad and Android, and has shipped mobile titles to his or her credit. This is a position that requires excellent time management skills and the ability to work in a self-directed manner.
Certainly seems like the studio has plans to develop some kind of mobile game. It is not known if mobile games are the core focus of the studio, it may well be the case that they are developing games for PC and / or consoles as well. The studio is also looking for network programmers for Xbox Live and PSN. More details about the new mobile job description appear below. Food for thought!
Required:
You have mobile game industry experience and we want to hear about it, including at least one shipped game on iPhone, iPad or Android platforms. You are a great programmer with excellent debugging skills and good design sensibilities. You love working with other people on a team and prize good communication. Burning passion for gaming and game development. Preferred:
You have multiple shipped mobile games to your credit. You have experience working in Microsoft Silverlight. You have a degree in Computer Science or similar discipline (Physics, Math, EE, etc.) Instructions:
Email us at: jobs@bonfire-studios.com. Attach your resume and cover/introductory letter in Microsoft Word (or compatible) format.
Age of Empires III released digitally on Games for Windows Live
Ensemble Studios’ Age of Empires III and all the the expansions are now offered as a single download on the Games for Windows Live platform. Priced at $39 the download edition supports a basic level of Games for Windows integration including easier installation and Windows Vista support with the games explorer. Its always good to hear of Ensemble games being released on as many distribution vehicles as possible.
I am sure many readers of this blog are familiar with Ensemble’s Age of Empires legacy.. but just in case you have forgotten here is the official low down from Microsoft:
Immerse yourself in the award-winning strategy experience. Microsoft Game Studios brings you three epic Age of Empires III games in one monumental collection for the first time. Command mighty European powers looking to explore new lands in the New World; or jump eastward to Asia and determine the outcome of its struggles for power.
Playable Asian civilizations. Lead one of three unique Asian civilizations Japan, China or India to expand its empire and fight for control in the Eastern world. Each Asian civilization, led by powerful leaders, will have unique groups, armies and wonders, as well as buildings that reflect the culture s architectural style. New game-play elements. Extending the innovative game-play of Age of Empires III, Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties and War Chiefs will introduce new ways of winning and trading, random map styles that feature remixes of classic Age of Empires game styles, 15 Asian Wonders and New World adventures. Exciting new single-player campaign. Returning to the historical, civilization-based single-player campaigns, Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties will offer gamers who enjoy the solo experience a chance to engage in strategic combat with Japan, China or India through several engrossing scenarios. Or lead New World expeditions with War Chiefs. Expanding a successful formula. Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties is the second expansion pack for the massively popular Age of Empires III, one of the fastest-selling titles in the franchise history, leading and innovating the real-time strategy genre through exciting and revolutionary game-play features.
For more details and to purchase the download visit http://www.microsoft.com/games/en-us/GAMES/Pages/ageofempires3.aspx.
Ex Ensembler’s Ian Fischer, Rob Fermier and David Rippy look back
Some ex-Ensemble staff have been reminisces about the old days to some gaming websites / magazines. As always interviews and articles from Ex Ensemblites provides interesting insight into the workings of the studio and what made it a unique and special place to work – the studio lifestyle and culture.
First up we have Ian Fischer who takes us back to the original Age of Empires and Age of Kings timezone over at gamesource.org. Ian discusses the origins of the studio and how it started off with the bright idea by Tony Goodman and some of his close friends:-
“Ensemble Studios had its roots in a consulting firm: Ensemble Corporation. One night in 1993, Tony Goodman was talking to Angelo Laundon, one of the programmers at Ensemble Corp. While discussing the buisness, one of them (neither remembers which) asked, “Wouldn’t it be more fun to make games?
and boom that was it..”
The article as written by Ian Fischer is a well worthy read of any Ensemble fan and spans four pages of in depth detail about Ensemble Studios in the early days prior to the Microsoft acquisition. You can read the excellent piece in e-magazine form over at gamesource.
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In another story long timer ES’rs Rob Fermier and David Rippy talk to GameZone discussing how the recession impacted on studios like Ensemble.
Of all the studios that shut down over the last few years, the closure of Ensemble Studios was amongst the least expected. The critically acclaimed Age of Empires and Halo Wars developer had a great track record of quality games that sold well, reviewed strongly and won awards. None of that was enough to prevent its closure – former Ensemble luminary Bruce Shelley admits the company was perhaps too specialized, too expensive and had too many costly, unproduced projects. Fortunately, out of the demise of Ensemble were born several new studios, including Robot Entertainment, Bonfire Studios, Windstorm Studios and NewToy. – GameZone
David Rippy who now serves as president over at Bonfire Studios commented:
“It was really an amazing experience, I had the pleasure of working at Ensemble from day one and watched it grow from a few guys experimenting with a WinG tank demo into a really well-respected game company. Hardly anyone ever left Ensemble, so it truly felt like family. Tony Goodman (our studio head) created an environment and culture where people actually enjoyed going to work every day and even hung out on the weekends.
We had a movie theater, arcade games, pool table, gourmet food … you name it! We certainly worked hard and crunched around major milestones, but we did it because we loved the games we were making. I think most former ES-rs will remember it as a really cool place to work, a great group of people who were completely committed to the company and their craft, and hopefully some of the most rewarding years of their life.”
Rob Fermier, Robot’s Lead Programmer also waded in for comment and continues:
“Ensemble was rare in that most of the people working there had been working together for many years, with a great deal of continuity. Being able to establish such deep working relationships with people was incredibly valuable, and we had strong bonds to each other and to the studio. I’ll most miss that sense of team that we had – a well established development process, a deep understanding in our area of expertise, and strong sense of studio identity. Such things take years to build, and once gone are lost forever.”
Read the full article and additional comment from ES people over at GameZone
Despite many Ensemble staff staying in the Dallas area some will have moved away and it is sad to remember a great studio being split up. Looking towards the future we are blessed to have the excellent talent from Ensemble Studios in four main studios – Robot, Bonfire, Windstorm and NewToy. I am sure the quality of games produced from these studios will echo the values and quality of those games developed as a team at Ensemble.
As the larger studios continue to work on thier first production projects announcements and news are just around the corner. Keep a sharp eye on these studios – great things are coming!
New forum enroute to RobotEntertainment.com as SixOkay introduces himself and future plans
New Robot Entertainment Community Manager Justin “SixOkay” Korthof has posted his first blog on the Robot Entertainment website introducing himself and updating fans on some community plans going on at Robot. After some requests by members particularly on Age Community SixOkay has today announced plans to launch a new web forum on the homepage of RobotEntertainment.com in an effort to refresh the site and add more community features going forward.
I’ve seen a ton of requests over the last few days specifically for us to open up a new forum. I’m happy to announce that one of the updates we’re working on for the new site is in fact a new message board. Soon, you’ll be able to come by and speculate to your heart’s content about upcoming Robot projects, interact with our community team and development team members, and generally stake your claim as a hardcore Robot Entertainment fan who was there since the beginning.
This is excellent news as this will provide a new platform for fans to engage in speculation on new Robot projects. With input from Community Manager Justin and Community coordinator Duncan Stanley I expect there will be lots of discussion and interactivity. As Robot gets closer and closer to being public about games they are working on its exciting to see investment in a new online community in the interim.
If you are asking “who is this SixOkay chap?” then you have been out of the loop for a while. SixOkay, or Justin may just be announcing his becoming a Robot on the website now but has been in the role for about five weeks already.
I’ve been working here at Robot for about four weeks now. A lot of my time has been spent catching up on the many awesome things that the developers here have been working on for just over a year. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you already know that we’re working hard on two really amazing projects. Looking around the web, I have seen a ton of interest from the avid Age of Empires fans, as well as from other gamers, about what exactly we’re working on. We love that you’re all so interested, but this is the part where I ask for your patience. I wish I could give you all the details right now, but we’ve still got some time before everything’s ready to come out of the oven, so to speak. I did want you to know, though that we have been reading your comments and forum posts, and we’re just as eager to announce things as you are to read about them.
Stand by for more information about future community happenings at Robot. While I try to update this blog as fast as I can its always a good idea to follow Robot Entertainment and other studios on social networking sites such as Twitter so that you can get the latest information about Ex Ensemble Studios as it happens. I have created a Twitter list to help fans dig out their favourite studios on Twitter.
New artwork for the Bonfire Studios website
A nice treat from the artists at Bonfire – some new art has been added / changed on the website. Perhaps this art is a sign of things to come?
Check out www.bonfire-studios.com
Age Sanctuary interviews SixOkay, Robot Entertainment community manager
Addac from the Age Sanctuary community has recently conducted an insightful interview with Robot Entertainment’s new community manager Justin “SixOkay” Korthof. Addac who had previously interviewed Aloysius in February of this year has now posted a similar interview with SixOkay.
Justin has been in the gaming industry for about 4 years and in that time has worked on a number of titles and community websites. Starting with working at EA-LA and then at Microsoft with the Gears and Halo franchises before ending up at Robot Entertainment.
When the Robot Entertainment opportunity came up, it felt like a really great time and a really great place for me to get back to doing the online community management work that I love to do.
When asked what Justin would bring to the table at Robot Entertainment the message was perfectly clear – creating a new fantastic community website for new games that echo the quality of previous Ensemble offerings.
What do you feel that you personally bring to Robot Entertainment that will help them make the best Aoe4 possible?
Well, I can’t speak to any specific games we’re developing, but I feel like I bring a ton of intense passion for online communities to the table. I’ve been working with community experiences online for about 18 years now, since I was in middle school. I live and breath this stuff, and I can’t wait to start building opportunities for a Robot community to come together. Obviously there were and are a lot of passionate Ensemble fans out there, and I think that we can build up that kind of excitement and community all over again around Robot Entertainment.
You can read all about it over at the Age Sanctuary forums. From work to personal life and some random questions Addac’s got it covered:
http://agesanctuary.com/index.php?portal=TAD&showtopic=138356
Bonfire’s Natalie Wohr on Channel 33 Dallas TV – Part 2 (with video)
In response to part 1 here is the video of the Channel 33 broadcast. You can spot Natalie towards the end working on some concept art for Bonfire Studios.
Bonfire’s Natalie Wohr on Channel 33 Dallas TV
If you happen to live in the Dallas area be sure to tune in to Channel 33 tonight at 9:00CST to see a special news segment about women in the gaming industry. Natalie is featured on the programme along with women from other studios. The programme may have some footage of inside Bonfire Studios so keep your eye out.
Hopefully we’ll be able to get some video on here of the programme for those unable to tune in.
Incase you are wondering – Natalie is a concept / 2D artist at Bonfire
Final part of Dusty Monk’s IncGamers interview – Talks about Windstorm projects and the future
Dusty’s final interview part is now online at IncGamers. Having previously touched on MMO’s and the past at Ensemble Studios attention now turns to the future with Windstorm Studios. First up, how and why did Dusty choose to start up Windstorm? We know that Dusty was very passionate about the Halo MMO at Ensemble and must of been very saddened by the projects closure. It turns out that Dusty mooted the idea about setting up his own studio back in 2007 after Ensemble’s MMO project (codenamed “Titan”) was cancelled:
Titan, for me, was really the dream job. When they killed Titan, I started looking at what Ensemble was probably going to be working on next. I’d already been saving up some money on my own, thinking about starting up a studio, and I decided then that now was the time. It’s never easy to jump ship and go off and do things on your own – you never know how it’s going to do. It’s especially hard if you’re married and you have children and you’re looking at the difference between a secure job, with benefits and with a paycheck, versus a completely and totally unsecure job creating a company that’s building the most expensive kind of game you can build, in an industry hit by the hardest recession that it’s ever experienced! So, yeah, it wasn’t a great time from an economic standpoint, but from a personal standpoint it was the right time for me. I’d just decided that with the severance money from Microsoft combined with my own savings, I had enough money to be able to float myself for a couple of years. I knew the games that I wanted to build, so I decided now was the time to go forward with that.
Once the studio was set up Dusty and his studio immediately began work on some MMO prototypes before creating some excellent concept art and presentations to show for prospective game publishers. Unfortunately as discussed before there was some difficulty getting publisher commitment despite getting unanimous positive feedback about the game and the ideas. The problem is with the MMO genre is that the game development is very costly both at the beginning and in the games maintenance – servers, payments etc. Even though Dusty has come from working at a prestigious studio, Ensemble, publishers had difficulty in gauging what kind of company Windstorm was:
For the first eight months of the company’s lifetime, we were working on our prototype. We finished that around September and the prototype has been largely received with great enthusiasm. From about September through January I shopped the prototype to a number of different publishers, both international and within the States, and all of them have without exception, said “We love the idea, love the project, but we’re just not ready to go forward yet – and part of the problem is that we’re just not sure there’s enough of a real company here.” And I get that; I can sort of relate to that.
Its a tricky situation – approaching publishers with a brand new idea with a brand new unheard of company is always going to be a tough sell coupled with the high development costs and risk associated with the MMO genre things weren’t looking so good. However, not to worry as the MMO idea isn’t blown out of the water yet – Dusty is not one to give up so easily and has a plan for the studio going forward.
So the plan of attack right now is to go forward with a smaller single-player game, and get that out there for people to start playing. This will serve as a sort of introduction to the world that we want to build. So from that standpoint, we’re still doing really well. We haven’t got our project funded by an MMO developer yet, we’re not going forward with the MMO, but we are going forward with the smaller project. I have every anticipation of having enough funds to finish the small project. We’ll get it out there, and then we’ll see how it goes from there. If the project is really well received, and people like the world and they like the game, then that will hopefully provide enough credence for the company that a publisher will come and go “Hey, this company has some legs, we feel like it’s a real legitimate endeavour. We love this idea and people are really responding well to this idea, so let’s go forward with that.” And if it doesn’t? Well, then we gave it a hell of a go.
The single player game will be an RPG based on the same environment of the MMO project – a very exciting and unique world, futuristic, colourful with lots of flying cars. Its also great to hear Dusty is maintaining some of Ensemble’s fantastic development values as first introduced by Bruce Shelley:
There are two design tenets that came out of my time at Ensemble, and these are actually originally Bruce Shelley’s design tenets, back when he was working on Railroad Tycoon. The first is: build a world in which people want to play. This means bright colours and bright palettes, and a very appealing place. This will be absolutely true for any game that Windstorm Studios produces. If you look at the very first copies of Age of Empires 1, you’ll see that it uses a lot of bright colours and a lot of bright palettes.
The other is: make the first 15 minutes fun. If there are any design principles that are guiding the direction of Windstorm Studios games, it’s those two. Hopefully the first 15 minutes will be a good time, and it’ll be a place that you’ll want to play in.
With values and traditions like these being carried forward I am certain people will be very interested to hear about this very unique game. As Dusty’s studio is hard at work on bringing us this exciting game be sure to keep an eye out on the studios website and follow the studio on Twitter. As development continues I am sure that later this year we will begin to see more concept art and then screenshots and maybe a video trailer.
The estimate right now is to try and have something out there around November. That’s the plan of attack right now. Before that point we’ll make an initial announcement about the game itself, and then we’ll start trying to build some press, and some excitement, and some word of mouth, and talk about what the actual game is and the world that’s in the game and the characters, and stuff like that. I can tell you it’s not going to be a casual game – it’s very much going to be a character-oriented world-type game.
Exciting stuff. Good luck Dusty and the team at Windstorm Studios!
You can read the full part 2 of Dusty’s interview here at IncGamers:
http://www.incgamers.com/Interviews/265/windstorms-dusty-monk-interview—part-two/1
