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
Gamespot talks to Robot on Orcs Must Die – franchise planned
Gamespot have recently had a phone interview with Robot Entertainment’s CEO Patrick Hudson, COO Harter Ryan and Lead Producer on OMD – Chris Rippy. The Gamespot article is jam packed with useful Orcs Must Die information plus a whole lot of information about the future direction of Robot Entertainment. One of the most interesting things that has been touched on is the idea that “Must Die” could become a franchise for Robot if the game is a big enough success. You may have noticed that “Orcs” is in the colour green on the logo above.. that could easily be replaced with “Sheep Must Die” or “Kittens Must Die” should Robot decide to take that path. (Obviously those names are fictional!)
Orcs Must Die preview part 3 – Art & Design
In part 3 of the Remember ES Orcs Must Die preview we look at the art style and UI design of OMD. Any Ensemble fan will quickly realise that Orcs is something very different compared to games developed at the late Ensemble Studios where many employees of Robot Entertainment have migrated from post closure. Not only is Orcs not an RTS, the game is also based off a different engine than the one used for Age games in the past. The result of this is a completely new art style and user interface, not to mention the new genre of game of course! Read more
Orcs Must Die video interviews from PAX
Now that PAX East 2011 draws to a close those who havnt been able to visit the Robot Entertainment booth to check out Orcs Must Die might be feeling slightly out of the loop. Well no worries! A bunch of gaming websites have started their preview coverage of Orcs Must Die and some of these included interviews with some of the bots of Robot Entertainment including Orcs Must Die lead producer, Chris Rippy and community manager, Justin Korthof.
Bots are heading east!
Just a heads up to remind everyone that some of the bots at Robot Entertainment are down at PAX in Boston this week! It all kicks off this Friday so be sure to keep your eyes peeled at RobotEntertainment.com and the @RobotEnt twitter feed for news and some pictures of the event. Robot are going to be demoing the awesome Orcs Must Die and there will be a chance to play the game first hand for all the attendees that stop by. If you have managed to get yourself some tickets to go to PAX.. you’re in for a treat! Booth 761 is the number you need, theres even a handy map to help you find the Orc slaying bots. Read more
Orcs Must Die preview part 2 – Gameplay
Following up on the Orce Must Die preview last week, this week we’ll be focussing on the gameplay element of Orcs Must Die (OMD). Having attended the Robot Entertainment community summit last week we got to play through three levels of the game which were The Hallway the first level in the game, The Corner an early level and a mid-game level called Sorcerers Tower. Read more
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 announces Orcs Must Die!
Robot Entertainment has officially announced its first game based on brand new original IP – Orcs Must Die! The game which is developed for the PC platform will be released later this year and is all about killing Orcs!
Check out the awesome trailer: 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
Somethings trying to break through at RobotEntertainment.com!
It looks like there is some serious activity going on at RobotEntertainment.com today! What could be behind the door?
This is a teaser for Robot Entertainment’s first original IP game. This means its a game not based on properties owned by Microsoft like Halo Wars of Age of Empires. This new game will be a brand new idea fresh out of the genius minds at Robot Entertainment. What could the game be? An RTS? RPG? FPS? Discussion is rife on the Robot forums – join in and let the community know what you think. Read more
