Platform Nation looks back at Ensemble Studios
With all the excitement and news of Age of Empires Online we must not forget about the great minds at Ensemble Studios who created the Age of series in the past. Platformnation.com has an excellent 3-part feature (third part available soon) looking back at Ensemble’s history from Age 1 right up to Halo Wars. If you would like to refresh your memory on all things Ensemble Studios check out the feature here:
http://www.platformnation.com/2010/07/09/remembering-the-fallen-ensemble-studiosage-of-empirespt-1/
It is a great shame this new Age game is not being worked on with the full team at Ensemble Studios. I see no reason why the multi-project studio at Ensemble could not have developed this along with other exciting projects. I have no doubt Robot Entertainment will make Age Online into a fantastic game, but it is shame for it to be the first Age game not bearing the classic Ensemble Studios logo which over time stood for as a logo for gaming quality.
13 minute preview of Age of Empires Online at Gamespot
Those trying to dig out as much Age of Empires Online video content as they can will be pleased to know that Gamespot have a 13 minute preview video of the new Age game where Jerome Jones from Robot Entertainment walks us through some of the core gameplay elements for both new and old Age fans. Take a look at this:
http://gamescom.gamespot.com/video/6273820/
Follow @RobotEnt today on Twitter for Gamescom updates!
Robot Entertainment Community Manager Justin “SixOkay” Korthof is on the tweetverse at Gamescom tweeting about Age of Empires Online with pictures of the Age of Empires Online booths and staff! There are 12 booths for Age at Gamescom so if you happen to be lucky enough to be at the event stop by and give it a try! Plus should you bump into Justin a Robot Entertainment T-Shirt could be yours!
Follow @RobotEnt on Twitter for images like these!
The Age of Empires booth at Gamescom
Age of Empires Online
This is what Age of Empires fans have been waiting for a brand new game in the Age of Empires series! This is the first game to be announced by Robot Entertainment and was previously known as Project S and then Spartan. Microsoft Game Studios confirmed today at the Gamescon conference in Germany that it is publishing a free to play Age of Empires game to be developed by Robot Entertainment, founded by ex Ensemble Studios leadership.
Age of Empires Online takes the franchise in a new direction offering experiences both old players and new players will enjoy. Here is the official blurb from Robot Entertainment’s website:
With more than 20 million copies sold worldwide, the Age of Empires series redefined real-time strategy games for Windows PC players. Now the timeless franchise once again invites players to experience its rich storyline in new ways. Age of Empires Online will invite you to create a living, growing online world, shared with friends and friendly rivals around the globe.
Begin the journey with your own Greek civilization and watch as it progresses from a village to an empire. Embark on quests along the way, alone or with friends, and immerse yourself in epic tales, diverse characters, adventure, history and strategy. Together with the Games for Windows – LIVE service, Age of Empires Online delivers a rich, social experience that lets you play however you want – anywhere, anytime.
Marrying fresh features with iconic gameplay, Age of Empires Online offers something for long-time fans, newcomers, and everyone in between.
Age of Empires Online will feature:
- A persistent online capital city that lives and grows even when you’re offline
- Cooperative multiplayer quests, trading, and a level-based system that lets you progress at your own pace
- Fun, approachable style and storylines
- Free to play experiences via Games for Windows – LIVE
For a chance to join the beta program, visit www.ageofempiresonline.com.
And if that description wasn’t enough here is the first official trailer!
Trailer:
Screenshots:
Concept Art:
FAQ’s
Microsoft has a handy FAQs document which answers alot of the questions you may have and you can find this at the Microsoft web page for Age of Empires Online: http://www.ageofempiresonline.com/faq/ However I have highlighted a few particularly interesting ones below:
What is Age of Empires Online?
Age of Empires Online is the next evolution in the best-selling real-time strategy (RTS) franchise Age of Empires. Developed by Robot Entertainment and Microsoft Game Studios for the Games for Windows – LIVE platform, Age of Empires Online invites players to create a living, growing online world, shared with friends and friendly rivals around the world. Marrying fresh features with classic RTS gameplay, Age of Empires Online pays tribute to the original game while incorporating a new look, feel, and approach that appeals to long-time fans, newcomers, and everyone in between.When will Age of Empires Online be available?Age of Empires Online will release exclusively on Games for Windows – LIVE in 2011. Currently, our Closed Beta is up and running.Remember ES edit – this game is due for release SPRING 2011.How do I sign up for the Beta?Anyone interested in the Closed Beta can apply at http://www.ageofempiresonline.com/beta. We will be selecting participants for the Beta over several weeks. If you applied and did not get in right away, just give it some time.Will there be a retail product, or will Age of Empires Online be available as a download only?It will be digitally distributed.Why did you decide to bring back Age in an online version?When we looked at continuing this franchise, we looked at how people are playing games today, and the social and connected experiences that people increasingly crave. It’s about being able to connect to the entertainment we want, and share it with the people we care about—nearly anywhere. By building Age of Empires Online with Games for Windows – LIVE at the core, we create a rich social gaming experience. With Age of Empires Online, we’ve married the best of traditional Age gameplay with the connectivity of LIVE and with fresh features that broaden the appeal to brand-new audiences.What are the civilizations? Will there be additional civilizations throughout the life of the game?The Greeks will be a launch civilization. We will offer other civilizations both at launch and post-launch but have yet to make any additional announcements.Why the new look? What was wrong with the graphics before? It looks more “cartoony” now.
Age of Empires includes a refreshed art style with an unprecedented level of detail. The new design is fun and approachable, and we believe it will help invite a brand-new audience to experience this classic franchise. It will still offer gameplay depth for fans of the franchise as well.The “Age” franchise has an incredibly loyal fan base. Do you think this new iteration will alienate any of your fans?
Absolutely not. Age of Empires Online stays true to its roots with traditional RTS gameplay, a deep player-versus-player mode and detailed historical settings. From the creation of your capital city, to resource management and competitive matches, Age of Empires fans will feel right at home.
One particularly interesting FAQ was this where Microsoft tries to explain why Robot Entertainment is developing this version of Age of Empires as opposed to Ensemble Studios:
Why did Microsoft choose Robot to develop Age of Empires Online? Why dissolve Ensemble only to bring back the franchise?
Microsoft Game Studios is always evaluating its business model to determine what is best for both gamers and the company. Many factors were considered in the difficult decision to close Ensemble Studios, but we feel it helped us better align with our goals and long-term development plans. Robot is made up of many of the creative minds behind classic Age of Empires titles, and we’re incredibly proud of the work we’ve done together on Age of Empires Online.
Of course, I have my own opinions on the actual reason Ensemble Studios was dissolved but i’ll save that for a future blog post were we’ll look into more detail about why Microsoft shut down Ensemble only to continue its flagship game with a new developer, formed of Ensemble employees! Stand by for a more detailed reasoning behind this to come shortly. In the meantime lets celebrate both the first game to be announced from Robot Entertainment and the continuing of the Age of Empires series. The game screenshots and videos so far look fantastic and will no doubt appeal to the vast majority of both new and old players alike. I am certain that Age of Empires online will bring new audiences into the series creating a game play environment of millions of players worldwide.
Exciting times lye ahead. I look forward to reading fan reactions on the Age Community forums and / or on the Robot Entertainment forums. You can find me under “deanparkr” – See you there!
Age of Empires online announced!
NEWSFLASH
Brealking news for all Age of Empires fans! As predicted Robot has announced its new project at Gamescom it is Age of Empires Online a FREE multiplayer age of empires game for everyone over Games for Windows Live.
It looks fantastic! Check out the trailer and details below:
http://www.ageofempiresonline.com/
More details will appear on this blog as soon as possible.
See also: www.agecommunity.com and www.robotentertainment.com
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 🙂
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.
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
Paul Bettner of NewToy says Ensemble demise due to company culture
News is spreading around that Paul Bettner an ex Ensemble programmer has had a bit of a “rant” at the GDC explaining that Ensemble Studios should not of blamed Microsoft for the studios closure and should instead look at failings with the company culture at Ensemble Studios. In what has proven to be such a shock read from an ex-Ensemble employee which certainly damages the excellent working environment Ensemble was credited for he says:
“The reality is that every single game we shipped took twice as long as we said it was going to take, and cost twice as much to make.
“Microsoft is a public company, they answer to their shareholders, and we were simply too expensive.”
Ouch.
But wait, theres more:
“Ensemble had a company culture where everyone was a workaholic, developers worked late and slept at the office, and were addicted to the rush of success of the Age of Empires series.
I watched this happen and I did almost nothing to stop it. As an employee, and later as a manager, I didn’t take a stand. I just kept hoping for that next high”
“This is a horrible vicious cycle. We burn out all our best people. We destroy these precious artists, we wreck their families and we sacrifice their youth. So they leave, and they take all their experience with them.”
Some pretty shocking comments there which resulted in huge applause from the GDC audience, perhaps with other developers agreeing that there is way too much pressure in the industry with these “crunching” hours.
This is the first time we have had an Ensemble Studios employee almost attack the way the company was managed but we must remember on the other end of the scale that alot of people stuck with Ensemble once the studio was told it would be closed down and ironically Dave and Paul Bettner were one of the first employees to leave and start NewToy before Halo Wars was completed.
These are one mans comments and do not reflect the thoughts of the whole studio. 45 employees followed Tony Goodman to start up Robot Entertainment so there must of been confidence in the highest management. Perhaps lessons have been learnt about crunching hours and the new Ensemble startups are paying closer attention to how staff are looked after and how studios are run to ensure talent does not leave whilst at the same time balancing budget and hitting milestones. Now with studios like Robot and Bonfire being fully independent there may be less pressure to meet publisher demands, hopefully.
Source: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/crunch-culture-killed-ensemble-studios
Sidenote:
It should also be noted that Robot Entertainment sponsor the International Game Developers Association and therefore stands by the values and principles behind the IGDA “Quality of Life” white paper. If there were any issues at Ensemble these should now have been addressed with the management at Robot Entertainment. Robot Chief Operating Officer, Patrick Hudson comments on the IGDA website:
Robot Entertainment is proud to support the IGDA in its ongoing mission to make the game development community a better environment for all of us.
This comment is not related or a response to the Paul Bettner discussion and has been present on the IGDA website for quite some time prior.
Robot Entertainment confirm working on two projects
One of the recent blogs on the Robot Entertainment website by community manager Duncan Stanley talks about Robot Entertainment one year on from its conception. You may remember it was this time last year Robot Entertainment said “Hello world“. Although there has been no announcements exactly what projects Robot has been working on, we have known that there is at least one project based on new IP going by the initial company press release:
Robot Entertainment is working with Microsoft Game Studios to develop additional content for Halo Wars and support online gaming and community for both Age of Empires and Halo Wars. Additionally, Robot is developing its own original IP.
While there has been much speculation on various forums that Robot may have been working on more than one project it is only now we have a qoute from Robot confirming the existence of two projects.
After a year, I can say that it definitely is a great place to work. We’ve worked hard on our two unannounced projects, had some really awesome parties, and only a couple of late nights. Those late nights were offset by the completely out-of-character-for-Dallas snow days. We’ve got another awesome year set in front of us and we can’t wait to show everyone what we’ve been working on.
We know one project is based on new IP, but what about the second? Could this be based of already existing IP such as Age of Empires or Age of Mythology or is it also another game based on new IP again?
With Robot Entertainment no longer supporting the operations of Halo Wars and 343 Industries confirming that no new installments of Halo Wars are currently planned for the near future, it would seem if any existing IP were to be worked on the Age series would make the most sense. With Microsoft as the publisher for at least one of Robot’s projects this could be a perfect fit.
But when will we know for sure? Hopefully not too long. The recent job openings for additional community managers and web development staff indicate a plan to launch a brand new community website for at least one project.
For now, its food for thought but you may want to check out the full blog from Duncan which talks about the first day at Robot Entertainment.
