Introducing Element Games and ‘Evil Robot Traffic Jam’. Q&A with Marcin Szymanski
There’s a new studio on the block from a talented ex Ensemble Studios member. Introducing “Element Games” headed up by Marcin Szymanski, a programmer from Ensemble Studios who has worked on many titles from Age of Mythology through to Halo Wars. Following the closure of Ensemble Studios, Marcin worked at Robot Entertainment on Orcs Must Die! and Hero Academy, the latter where he was both lead programmer and lead designer on the highly successful and award winning project. Following his time at Robot, Marcin worked at Playful Games for the first half of 2014. At Playful Marcin learnt the ropes on virtual reality game design, working on Lucky’s Tale, a VR platformer for Oculus Rift. Now Marcin is setting out on a new adventure with his new founded studio Element Games who have just released their first title for the Samsung Gear VR. Read more
BonusXP release “The Incorruptibles” – mobile RTS game for iOS
BonusXP have today announced the release of their latest title “The Incorruptibles” which is landing in the iOS App Store today. The Incorruptibles plays at the teams strengths and is a mobile RTS game. The studio has partnered with MaxPlay to bring the game to the masses. The Incorruptibles as long been under discussion on a number of BonusXP’s blog posts as the “mobile RTS game”. Now all the dots can be joined up and we can see the final product. Read more
Building a game from scratch? Bruce Shelley sheds light on the BonusXP process
Legendary game designer Bruce Shelley takes to the blog over at BonusXP, the topic at hand is talking about how video game ideas start out in their early stages. The Ensemble philosophy of play testing comes into throw here, even right at the start of a brand new game idea.
The method that we have seen work most successfully, beginning many years ago with board and paper games, is to build a prototype, start pushing around the pieces, and then rely on our instincts as gamers to feel what parts are working, not working, what new idea to try, etc. We call this design by playing. Read more
Microsoft announces Halo Wars 2 with Creative Assembly
Coming up to six years since the release of Halo Wars in 2009, Ensemble Studios final game before the studios closure, Microsoft have today announced a new sequel, Halo Wars 2. Microsoft’s 343 Industries will be working with UK based developer Creative Assembly to bring fans Halo Wars 2, taking the torch from Ensemble Studios and Robot Entertainment. Read more
Servo lands on Steam Early Access!
Servo which is one of two games that BonusXP are working on right now along-side mobile RTS Longbow. Servo is a PC based RTS having been in founders alpha stage over the last few months the game is now being made available on Steam’s Early Access programme. The goal is to expand the audience and enable more feedback from players to be received. If you have not signed up to the founders packages, this is a great way to explore the game ahead of its release and help with its development. It is always interesting to see how a game develops over time and with early access you can witness the game take shape while engaging with the developers on the Servo Forums.
Check out Servo now on Steam Early access using the link below!
http://www.servogame.com/store
Dave Luehmann joins Boss Fight as VP of production
Boss Fight Entertainment have a new staffer joining their ranks in the form of Dave Luehmann who takes up the role as VP of Production according to GamesIndustry.biz. You may recognize the name as Dave was one of the Executive Producers for Age of Empires Online. Prior to that Dave was one of the General Managers at Microsoft Game Studios looking after a number of Microsoft’s internal studios including Ensemble Studios. It’s safe to say he is a familiar face amongst Ensemblites! Read more
Gamespot talks to BonusXP about Servo
BonusXP’s upcoming strategy game “Servo” has been in the news over at Gamespot with Kevin VanOrd talking to BonusXP’s Bruce Shelley and Dave Pottinger at last months GDC. The interesting interview gives us some insights on what BonusXP are heading towards with the game. Some interesting tidbits include the play time, with Servo matches taking around 10 minutes a game compared to a longer more drawn out RTS matches such as found in say, Age of Empires. We have seen a smaller game time target with Ensemble’s Halo Wars which typically had matches around 20 minutes. It’s interesting to see that BonusXP are looking at quite a short average game-time with Servo. Dave Pottinger commented: Read more
Orcs Must Die! The board game launches on Kickstarter – Funded!
As first revealed at PAX, Robot Entertainment have been working with Sandy at Petersen Games to bring Orcs Must Die! to table tops. Sandy has close ties to the studio having previously worked at Ensemble Studios.
We were told the game would soon be making it to Kickstarter for crowd funding. Just under 24 hours ago the project launched on Kickstarter. I am very pleased to advise that overnight the project has already met its funding target! This is an outstanding achievement and is a testament to Orcs Must Die! as a franchise and the talented minds at Petersen Games. Read more
Orcs Must Die! Unchained board game coming to Kickstarter
Eagle eyed fans who have been keeping track of the Orce Must Die! Facebook page this week may have noticed that there is a new game coming to the Orcs Must Die! series.
Can you see it? Just look to the bottom right hand corner. Its the Orcs Must Die! Board Game! Read more
BonusXP and Stardock announce “Servo”
BonusXP and Stardock have today at the GDC San Francisco announced their new RTS game – Servo. As previously touched on in one of Bonus XP’s blog posts, Servo is a futuristic real-time strategy (RTS) game. The game has everything you would expect from an RTS headed up by another of Ex-Ensemble staff, including resource gathering and building up. There is a twist on this RTS formula and that is that the game also uses an RPG like “levelling up” concept. In Servo as players play the game they collect more parts for their collection which can be used on their Servo, when a player has a number of parts in their collection they can decide which ones they want to bring in to battle, bringing back the strategy element.
Servo is a far-future real-time strategy game that lets players customize their team of giant war machines, called Servos, with parts they earn in battle. Across the single-player story campaign, hand-crafted co-op scenarios, and white-knuckle PvP, Servo has something for everyone. Read more
