Dave Kubalak talks about AOEO art style. Plus news about PAX
Robot Entertainment’s art director Dave Kubalak has been blogging about the art style in Age of Empires Online. There is no denying that the art style is very different in AOEO compared to Age 3 and even Age 1 which was set in the same time zone. If you would like a trip down memory lane the below screenshots compares the Age 1 days with the new look AOEO.
The excellent blog describes in detail Robot’s vision plan for the game and how the changes make the experience much better for the user. The vision plan is as follows:
- Create a timeless, bright, and visually appealing game that can technically run on a wide range of PCs, and still look good for years to come.
- Create a bold and more graphic look with a lot of character. That means a lot of different things.
- Less obstructive user interface and a more ‘graphic look’ to our iconography
- Make the terrain vivid, but less ‘noisy’ so the buildings and units ‘pop’, and are easily identifiable.
- Explore exaggerated and unique silhouettes to create a large variety of units and buildings. This helps give even inanimate objects more character and appeal.
- Use animations, in addition to the units’ unique proportions, to better differentiate and emphasize roles and classes
- Give the world and its inhabitants character and ‘life’, creating a digital terrarium for the player to control
Looking at the various in game screenshots it is clear how these points have been addressed. Units are now much bigger and are intentionally not in proportion to the size of buildings. Buildings are much more unique with a very distinguishable look making them much easier to identify at a glance. Animations of units are also very unique and the amount of screen view has vastly increased with the removal and transparency of the UI.
You may be wondering how these changes impact the user, for that you should head over to the full blog on the Robot Entertainment website where Dave goes into alot of detail about the changes – a must read for any Age fan!
Read the full blog
In other news.. PAX
Two of the Justin’s from Robot Entertainment, Justin Korthof and Justin Moe are on the way to PAX this weekend. Community Manager extraordinaire Justin Korthof will be hosting his own community manager panel titled “So I have this website”. The panel includes Justin Korthof from Robot Entertainment and a number of other Community Managers including Jon Goff from 343 Industries who looks after HaloWars.com. The blurb of the panel is as follows below as found on Justin’s blog at www.sixokay.com
You’ve spent the time and money building your community site, and now you’re looking to take it to the next level. Maybe you want to get a job as a professional Community Manager, or maybe you’re just looking for tips on how to get publishers to pay more attention to your site. Whether you’re just starting out, or have been running a site for years, this panel is the best place to get your questions answered. Together, these community managers have represented some of the biggest franchises, developers, and publishers in the game industry, and most of them started out just like you – running a fan site.
Panelists include: Justin Korthof [Community Manager, Robot Entertainment], Matthew Pruitt [FPS Community Manager, Electronic Arts], Jon Goff [Community Manager, 343 Industries], James Stevenson [Senior Community Manager, Insomniac Games]
Place/Time/Date: Sunday, September 5th, 12:30pm in the Wolfman Theater
I wish Justin the best of luck with his panel and look forward to reading more about it. There is no doubt about Justin’s passion with online communities and this is evidenced by the outstanding job he has been doing at Robot Entertainment so far in team work with Duncan Stanley and others.
Age of Empires Online will be playable at PAX so anyone lucky enough to be going should check out booth number 670 for a chance to play with six stations in total.
A note about AOEO beta invites
There have been concerns on Age Community and other sites about the way the process works. Currently the first wave has gone out and if you were in the first wave you should of had an email by now advising you of your download key. The waves are a random lottery irrespective of the answers you put in the questionnaire, providing that you are 18+ years of age everyone has an equal chance of getting in. The second wave is expected soon. MGS is stated that they plan to do waves over the coming months so I would expect there to be a wave every month so keep your eyes peeled. If you did not get a key this time keep an eye out for another wave soon. I’ll keep this blog up to date with all the beta invitation information and wish you all the best of luck getting in!
Age of Empires Online beta invitations are going out today!
Just a quick heads up for Age of Empires fans who have signed up for the beta. Microsoft Game Studios have confirmed on Age Community that the first wave of beta invitations are going out today. Keep checking your email for a nice surprise!
Good luck to everyone for a chance to get into the beta. If you haven’t already now would be a great time to sign up to the beta at www.ageofempiresonline.com
Ian Fischer’s Gamesauce presentation + blog on AOE-O play testing
Readers may remember that a little while back Ian Fischer did a talk at Gamesauce which is a place for people in the games industry to take some time out and talk to other like minded people in the industry about game development, strategies and analysis of the gaming industry. Robot Entertainment’s Design Director, Ian Fischer attended the conference and gave a presentation titled: “The role of emergence in gaming and the part it plays in the future of the medium.” Certainly an interesting title! A video of the talk has been made available as below. Ian compares many aspects of the early video gaming days to the early days of film and suggests that in the future we should expect games and graphics to become far more advanced and realistic as we move away from linear games. Its an excellent and insightful talk and should be of interest to those in or looking to get into the video games industry.
Ian Fischer at Gamesauce
Over at the Robot Entertainment website Ian has been putting on his blogging hat under the slightly strange alias “Mother”. Ian “Mother” Fischer talks about the play testing involved with the recently announced Age of Empires Online. As we have always known the Ensemble Studios attitude about game development has always been play testing, play testing and more play testing so it is no surprise these values have been taken across to Robot Entertainment.
Age of Empires games have always been built by play testing. At Ensemble before and at Robot now, our basic development philosophy remains unchanged – get a playable version of the game up and running as soon as possible, then play the living hell out of it.
This approach has massive advantages. Everyone on the team knows and contributes to their game. If something is broken, all of the most capable eyes are looking. If an idea isn’t going to work the way you saw in your head, the reaction in play test makes that obvious. And nothing is better for guiding fast, impactful changes – a few weeks back, there were people literally making realtime fixes to Age of Empires Online based on problems players in the alpha were chatting to us while they played.
The blog continues into a very interesting discussion talking about what key values make an Age game and how they fit in with what people want. The blog also looks at where AOE-O fits into the series taking parts of the Age of Kings with parts of more recent titles like Age of Empires 3. Fans will be pleased to read that alot of iconic Age game features will be present in AOE-O including the classic villagers carrying resources and as rumored from the blog the classic “wololo” sound! Ian summarises the development as ““Age of Kings style game play in an Age of Empires setting”.
Read more on the Robot Entertainment website courtesy of “Mother”.
http://www.robotentertainment.com/blog/detail/Hi-Honey-Were-Home
Robot Entertainment responds to AOE-O community questions – will continue to support AgeCommunity.com
In follow up to my previous blog post Robot Entertainment’s Community Manager, Justin “SixOkay” Korthof has reached out to provide us with clarification on Robot’s position. Unfortunately, while a separate MGS AOE-O community will be forming Robot Entertainment will not be maintaining that community due to reasons beyond their control. They will however continue to support the AgeCommunity.com website for as long as Microsoft allows. Justin’s comment is as follows:
“Microsoft does have a community team in place to support Age of Empires Online, but that doesn’t change the fact that Robot Entertainment is very interested in and dedicated to all players who are a part of our community and who play the games we develop. Dunkman/Aloysius and I will continue to support and maintain AgeCommunity.com and the players there until such time that Microsoft decides to change direction with the site.”
– Justin Korthof. Community Manager at Robot Entertainment
It is pleasing to see continued commitment from Robot Entertainment who will provide two places for AOE-O related discussion at AgeCommunity.com and at RobotEntertainment.com. While we may be disappointed about the limited community exposure Robot will be getting with this game it is great to see that the community team at Robot keeps steaming ahead. If you haven’t been on the Robot Entertainment website recently then you have been missing out on lots of Age Online related discussion and pictures from Gamescom head over there now and join in!
Robot Entertainment not officially involved with Age of Empires Online community
Some disappointing news has been revealed today over on the Age Community forums. BatsyBatsy the Community Manager for Age of Empires Online has stated that Robot Entertainment’s community team will not be utilized for AOEO. There seem to be some legal issues having Robot Entertainment manage the community output directly which is a great shame. Those who may of thought Robot Entertainment were building new community websites for its new projects may well be disappointed to hear that future AOEO community content will not be derived from the studio.
The decision to make new forums for AOEO wasn’t simply, “we want to fragment the community”. This was never the intent but there are legal issues that arose (which I am not at liberty to talk about) that made it necessary for MGS to create new message boards for AOEO. I have every intention on keeping AgeCom updated with AOEO content. AgeCom wont be recognized as an official outlet – as AOEO.com will be – but will be up-to-date with content. I can’t tell you exactly right now how AgeCom is going to be utilized in the future, but AgeCom will not be forgotten about and abandoned to the wasteland.
Robot Entertainment’s community team isn’t being utilized for AOEO – but they do still run AgeCom. While they’re not “officially” the community team we (Cosy and myself) ARE in constant and close contact (if it assuages your fears any – I’ve been friends with the Robot team since before I took this position) and have no intention on changing that. Our (the MGS team) main concern as a community team is the community.
– BatsyBatsy of Microsoft Game Studios.
Additionally, not having Robot as the source of community content also relegates AgeCommunity.com into unknown territory. AgeCommunity.com was established by Ensemble Studios as the hub for all things Age of Empires and has been the website supporting both Age of Empires 3 and Age of Mythology. Despite Ensemble’s intentions as having this as the one stop shop Age of Empires website it will no longer serve as the official AOEO community website. Instead Microsoft will setup their own forums at www.ageofempiresonline.com and will be managed by a community team at Microsoft and not the team at Robot who many members will be accustomed to.
BatsyBatsy of Microsoft Game Studios (MGS) explains that there were legal issues although it is slightly confusing as to what those issues may be. At first thought it would appear that because Robot Entertainment is a third party developer for MGS, Microsoft is required to protect the continuity of the Age of Empires community and by having community operations in house they can ensure the website is managed in a way they feel fit and are not dependent on a third party company for maintaining a community for the highly regarded Age of Empires IP. If Age of Empires Online was developed by Ensemble Studios as an internal MGS studio, the Ensemble team would of been able to continue the AgeCommunity.com legacy as they would be apart of Microsoft and thus automatically fulfilling Microsoft’s communtiy goals.
There are slight mixed messages with the above theory. Robot Entertainment was contracted as a third party developer to support the HaloWars.com community and the community for Age of Empires 3. If Microsoft cannot legally have third parties managing thier community games why was Robot responsible for both these IP’s? Why can they not continue with AOEO? Unfortunately these questions will probably go unanswered.
As a result of these ill-advised decisions at Microsoft Game Studios the Age of Empires Community faces fragmentation as both the “Age of Empires Community” and “Age of Empires Online” community run side by side. In the past Microsoft’s taking over of Ensemble communities has faced backlash from members owing to poor community management. (See the Halo Wars fiasco here and here). However, because the Age Online team at MGS is different to 343 Industries the ageofempiresonline.com website may well recieve better treatment and attention than Halo Wars.
Despite having no “official” involvement with the Age of Empires Community, Robot Entertainment continues to have its own independent discussion boards at RobotEntertainment.com. This will enable fans of the series to reach out to the developers at Robot Entertainment.
Readers may have gathered from this post that I am very much in favour of developer run communities. Looking at internal MGS studios Lionhead and Rare, they both have thriving communities for their games managed by the studios directly. The community websites created at Ensemble Studios were always full of information and excellent management. It is a great shame Robot Entertainment will not be able to continue this legacy with AOEO on an official AOEO website. I am extremely disappointed that Microsoft is treating Robot Entertainment as what would appear to be a “purely the developer of the title” stance.
Should any more information become available or statements received from either MGS or Robot I shall update this blog post.
Update: Robot Entertainment responds to this article
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.
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.
