Don’t crossbow me, bro! Plus more AOE-O animations from Chazbot
Following up on the community Orcs One Liners where Robot Entertainment invited members of the community to send in their most interesting and humorous one liners as Orcs were sent to their demise has now come to a close. A whole bunch of entries were submitted and one entry was picked out above the rest. The winning entry of the competition is “Don’t crossbow me, bro!“. I think that’s a very good choice and will definitely be amusing to hear in game! Robot are also going to include some other submissions in game too. So if you submitted your one liner you’ll have to keep your ears open to see if it appears in the game! Read more
Bruce Shelley talks about the evolution of social gaming. Plus more AOE-O animations and Robot swag!
Recently the legendary Bruce Shelley has been in talks with Gamasutra along with Brian Reynolds another industry veteran about their roles at Zynga in the social gaming space. Brian Reynolds before joining Zynga worked at Big Huge Games which collaborated with Ensemble Studios on the Age of Empires 3 Asian Dynasties expansion. Bruce and Brian had also worked closely with each other in the past on Sid Meier’s civilisation games. Now they are both re-united again at Zynga where is has become clear that the company is hiring industry veterans to push their gaming business forward.
When talking to Gamasutra Bruce detailed how he was recommended to join after the company was looking for designers from the “Sid Meier School of Design” era. Read more
Beta NDA lifted on Age of Empires Online
Microsoft Game Studios have today removed the non disclosure agreement for current beta testers of Age of Empires Online. This means current beta users are now free to discuss the game openly with the public. In light of this the forums over at www.ageofempiresonline.com are now merged with there being no separate beta section any more. There is no news of yet as to whether this change will result in a public beta but keep your eyes peeled for any possible news.
This news can only mean the development is getting closer to launch. After Robot Entertainment completed work on the game in February, Gas Powered Games took over as lead developers to complete the final polish and features. With the NDA lifted you can be sure to expect more AOE-O previews and insights from the existing beta players. Head over to www.ageofempiesonline.com now and get involved in the discussion!
Orcs Must Die community one liners. Plus crocodiles and lions!
Robot Entertainment has lifted the lid on their latest community effort – ‘Orcs One Liners’. This is a community competition whereby community members can come up with amusing and witty one liners for the soon-to-be-killed Orcs. The best one liners will be chosen by Robot Entertainment on Monday next week (April 25th). The winning one liner will then be added to the final production version of the game for all the world to hear! So if you think you have what it takes to come up with an awesome Orc based one liner then head on over to the Orcs Must Die facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/OMDGame and then click on “Community One Liners”. Read more
Charles Tinney begins Age of Empires Online animation blogs
Charles Tinney an animator at the late Ensemble Studios who worked on Halo Wars has recently started a blog about his awesome animation work with Age of Empires Online. Charles or “chazbot” Tinney has been taking care of most of the animation on AOE-O while the game was developed at Robot Entertainment.
My initial role, once the art style was finalized, was to concept and visualize the animation style that best complimented the game’s art direction. It was great pulling reference from Looney Tunes and old Disney shorts. Through animation reference, exploration, pushing, pulling, trial, error, I eventually hit a style that was wacky and exaggerated in some circumstances, and kind of an overly animated subtlety for most cases; both with an overall defined timing and spacing that melded the extreme and subtle together
Chris Taylor of Gas Powered Games talks to Venture Beat about Age Online
Chris Taylor, CEO of Gas Powered Games who have recently took over the Age of Empires Online development from Robot Entertainment has given an interesting 6 minute interview to Venture Beat on his thoughts regarding Age Online. Chris Taylor re-affirms the community that his studio are excited about the game and post release content. There will be a number of booster packs post launch including vanity packs to jazz up capital cities and packs to unlock premium civilizations. Check out the video interview below: Read more
Robot Entertainment no longer lead developer on Age of Empires Online
In a very unexpected turn of events Microsoft have announced the end of Robot Entertainment’s involvement with Age of Empires Online. Todays blog post on the official Age of Empires Online Community website indicates that:
This has been the plan for some time, and we’re excited to share the great work GPG has been doing. In working with GPG, it’s become clear they share our long-term commitment to make this a success. Our previous development partner, Robot Entertainment, did amazing work on the game, and we wish them the best in their future projects. Read more
Rogan Knight reaches Hurst Castle!
Rogan Knight, the figurine which is on its way to fans around the world to be finally sent to Robot Entertainment when the game launches has reached his second destination – The United Kingdom, home to all sorts of things including Remember ES and Hurst Castle. Indeed, the famous knight has been helping out the defenses at Hurst Castle on the South Coast of England. Without his valiant assistance things may have gone differently! Here he is preparing to enter the castle’s defenses…
Age of Empires Online development blog – “The #1 Thing You Need to Know About Age of Empires Online”
Ian Vogel the design lead at Microsoft Games Studios has posted a blog on the Ageofempiresonline.com website. The blog post goes into detail about the business model behind the game explaining the content which will be available in both the free and premium versions of the game. The blog post also explains some of the extra add on “booster packs” like the “Vanity packs” which allow users to get access to more tools to develop interesting and exciting looking home cities. Below is an example of a maze created by beta tester Solartide: Read more
Rogan on route to Remember ES!
RadioKenny of the Age of Empires Online forums recently came up with a genuis idea to send a small action figure around the world and at each stop members of the AOE-O community will sign their names into passport book before posting it off to the next fan. The action figure is a perfect testament to Age of Empires, a knight called Rogan. Here is Rogan at his first stop in Dallas, Texas with Radio Kenny: Read more
