January 3, 2005 - The Age of Empires series has always been one of our favorites. The first title in the series, released in 1997, was a nice change of pace for the genre. A wide variety of civilizations and a historical setting did much to make the game stand out from its contemporaries. A subsequent sequel, Age of Kings, advanced the action into the Middle Ages and offered further proof that the franchise could stand alongside those of Blizzard and Westwood. Back in 2002 the franchise took an unexpected but welcome departure from history with the stellar Age of Mythology. Now Ensemble's back on the historical track with the announcement of Age of Empires III.
Having had our fill of orcs and Nazis, we were understandably intrigued. So we decided to ask lead designer Greg Street and lead programmer Dave Pottinger to tell us a little about the new game.
IGNPC: Thanks for agreeing to answer our questions. First off, what's the full name of the game and what period are you covering? We're curious about the teasers on your website that mention Sargon and the Trojan War.
Ensemble: Age of Empires III (there's no subtitle). The period we're covering is basically from the end of Age of Kings until the industrial age. This is a game about taking the European power that you governed in Age of Kings and sending it across the sea to struggle for control of the New World. The teasers on our website are building up to launching the Ensemble Studios' Age of Empires III site.
IGNPC: Why did you decide on that particular setting? What makes it a good fit for your design? Are there any weaknesses or quirks relating to that age that you've had to work around?
Ensemble: We considered a lot of time periods for Age of Empires III but ultimately kept coming back to the one we chose. For starters, we knew the fan expectation was to move chronologically through time. We think it makes a good arc in the overall "Age of" franchise and leaves room for future titles without having to go backwards in time.
The colonial time period is a good fit for an Age game. Although military technology has advanced, the fundamentals of combat haven't changed from the Age of Kings time period the way they would, say for WWI. That is, the game starts with a lot of units familiar from Age of Kings, like Pikemen and Crossbows. Even in the later part of the game, where there are lots of gunpowder units on the battlefield, cavalry still fight hand-to-hand with swords. Other aspects of the time period work well with our gameplay, such as exploring an unknown map, starting a new town, eventually coming into contact with other players, and having to resolve differences (usually by force). That is pretty much the story of colonization and conquest of the New World in a nutshell.
I wouldn't call it a weakness, but this time period is probably less familiar to most folks than the medieval time period of Age of Kings. Some of the guys on the project began with the misconception that this time period was just "guys with guns," when in fact the unit diversity of the 1500s-1800s is even greater than in the centuries before. Another challenge to the design was the military revolution that occurred with cannons. In Age of Kings and Age of Mythology, artillery was basically used for siege. However in the Age of Empires III time period, cannons moved onto the battlefield as a major leg of the military. In hardcore terms, you use artillery to beat infantry instead of just to attack buildings.
We've also noticed that as we move closer to modern history, a greater portion of fans notice historical inaccuracies. We take our historical detail seriously at Ensemble, but we're first and foremost about making things fun, so we cheat on "what really happened" as much as we need to make a great game.
IGNPC: What nations will be included? Can you give us an overview of their distinguishing characteristics and maybe an indication of the types of units they might field?
Ensemble: There will be eight civilizations in the game, but we are only announcing three for now: the French, British and Spanish. The British have a great economy and can get villagers more quickly. Their best unit is their Musketeer (the famed "Redcoats" of the Revolutionary War), but if a British player wants to change history by investing in Longbowmen well into the 1700s, they can do that as well. The French can ally with Native Americans more easily, and have a special villager, the Coureur, that can double as a light infantry. The Spanish get more support from the mother country back in Europe than other civilizations. They have several unique units, including the famous Redoleros (sword and buckler men). Assigning characteristic to civs in Age of Empires III is trickier than in previous games in the franchise because players have an unprecedented amount of control in determining the strengths of their civilization.
IGNPC: Tell us a bit about the campaign mode. Does the game play out in a series of linear missions? What types of battles will be featured?
Ensemble: The campaign is a single tale of historical fiction with an emphasis on action and adventure (think Indiana Jones). As such, it has more in common with the character-driven story from Age of Mythology rather than the shorter, independent campaigns of Age of Kings. Players will still participate in historic events like the French and Indian War and even some of the South American revolutions, but they'll have a lot of adventures that aren't listed in the history books either. The Age of Mythology story was well received by fans and reviewers, and frankly we offer plenty of chances to relive more factual history through other features in the game. As with Age of Mythology, the campaign is a huge feature. We have six fulltime designers working on the campaign (not to mention lots of people in art, sound and code), compared to just one on Age of Kings.
IGNPC: How have you adjust the overall game mechanics? Can fans of the Age series expect the same types of combat and economic models?
Ensemble: Nope. We've changed almost every aspect of the game while making sure that every feature still has the look and feel of an Age game. We know that having a rich economic model is part of the franchise, so don't worry that we're abandoning it, but we've also tweaked parts of the economy to make room for a lot of new features. On combat, let's just say that Age of Empires III does for battle what Age of Kings's formations did for movement. In some ways Age of Empires III will probably feel even fresher and more innovative than Age of Mythology, even though we're harkening back to the original Age series.
IGNPC: What considerations have you had to make for modeling combat in this particular Age?
Ensemble: As you can see from the screenshots, the graphics of Age of Empires III have an amazing amount of detail, and we wanted to make sure combat met that high bar. We have musketeers who fire in volley formation. We have tall ships that punch holes in each other's sails. We have cannon shots that can literally throw infantry off the ground, and perhaps off a cliff, and down into the water. When buildings are destroyed, we model the physics of the falling pieces. This gives all the building destructions an unpredictable nature unlike the canned animations common to older RTS games. Don't be surprised if a collapsing tower squashes the villager working in the nearby fields.
IGNPC: We know that a lot of players have called for higher population limits. Are you considering raising it for this next game?
Ensemble: While this isn't a game about Napoleonics (we're strictly New World focused), we know that the 1800s is a time period for which players have an expectation for huge armies. So the short answer is yes.
IGNPC: What sorts of lessons have you learned from the development and reception of Age of Mythology? How have those lessons influenced the development of the new game?
Ensemble: We've learned that large, bold features are worth dozens of smaller, nuanced ones. We've learned that while recreating history can make a fun campaign, that a good story is even more important in capturing fans' attention. We've also learned that the difference between a good game and a blockbuster is the amount of polish all the various features have received, so we're saving plenty of time for polish. We're proud of Age of Mythology and how well it is done, but we also view it as a slightly different franchise, and we know fans are going to be really excited to get back to the original Age series.
IGNPC: There have been plenty of great real-time strategy games released since the last game in the Age series. What types of innovations have caught your eyes? Which aspects of other, more recent games have helped inspire and direct the development of this sequel?
Ensemble: RTS games are now able to incorporate the type of graphic effects that were the sole domain of shooters just a generation of games ago. We've seen some great-looking RTS games come out lately which justifies our resolve to spend so much time in that area. It's ironic that several recent RTS games have dumbed down the economic component of the game, because that just reinforces our desire to make it as interesting as ever. As more RTS games abandon random maps, we redouble our efforts to make them better and more beautiful than ever.
IGNPC: Are you using a modified version of the Age of Mythology engine or are you starting over from scratch? What new technologies and visuals are you hoping to include?
Ensemble: Yes, we started Age of Empires III with the Age of Mythology engine. But, fairly soon into Age of Empires III's development, we realized that we had an opportunity to do something unique in terms of pushing the edge of the envelope with graphics in the RTS genre, and perhaps even for all PC games. As a result, we've rewritten most of the engine by this point in time.
The Age of Empires III engine is a fully DX9, Shader 3.0 compliant engine with more technical bells and whistles than any other PC game to date. As you can see from the screenshots, we have a world that feels bright and sunny, but with a softness and depth that hasn't been seen before. From things like self-shadowing to HDR (high dynamic range) lighting to water that has proper Fresnel reflectance properties, this is a very high-end graphics engine.
We've also integrated physics into the game in a big way. When units are blown up by cannon fire, we use ragdolls to bounce them around the world, off of rooftops, and down cliffs. As buildings take artillery damage, pieces of the building realistically break off and fall down with proper collision modeling. When you throw in hundreds of integrated animations per unit, the overall effect is quite impressive.
Age of Empires III has more programmers working just on graphics than worked on all of Age of Kings. While gameplay still reigns supreme, it would be accurate to say that the bulk of our programming time has been spent on graphics. Everything from low-level shader architecture to higher level, applied things such as unit movement and combat have been taken to the next level. Simply put, we set out to create the best looking PC game of all time with Age of Empires III.
IGNPC: How about multiplayer? Anything new there?
Ensemble: We have some surprising multiplayer features that we aren't ready to talk about just yet. We can say that our multiplayer service is again built into the software -- we aren't relying on a third party for matchmaking. In Age of Mythology, we took some first steps at inside-out matchmaking, particularly for less-hardcore gamers. For Age of Empires III, we're going to add on to that system with games lists more like Age of Kings, so that hardcore players can set up custom games however they want.
IGNPC: How far along are you and what's your projected release date?
Ensemble: We've actually been working on the game for a couple of years. We've seen other developers make the mistake of announcing projects too early and then having fans lose interest as the months pile on. The stage we're at we call feature complete -- we understand all the technology, features and all the gameplay on the project and now just have to finish all the content. We haven't announced a release date yet, but this also isn't a title where fans are going to be asking themselves what's taking so long.
Dawn of a New Age: Age of Empires III Announced for 2005 Release
Microsoft Game Studios and Ensemble Studios are proud to announce the return of the king of real-time strategy games: Age of Empires III is scheduled to ship in the second half of 2005. This will be the latest landmark release in the award-winning franchise that has sold a staggering 16 million units worldwide.
Age of Empires III will offer gamers the next level of realism, with advanced battle physics and unparalleled visual detail. The new game picks up where Age of Empires II: Age of Kings left off, placing gamers in the position of a European power determined to explore, colonize and conquer the New World. This time period features stunning scenes, from towering European cathedrals to courageous tribes of Native Americans, and spectacular combat with Industrial Age units like rifled infantry, cavalry and tall ships bristling with cannons.
Age of Empires III will once again demonstrate Ensemble Studios' reputation for excellence and innovation in the real-time strategy (RTS) genre. The game will set a new standard for visual quality and amaze players with detail never before seen in an RTS. Age of Empires III will excite strategy gamers with new game-play elements, including the concept of a “Home City,“ new civilizations, units, technologies and an immersive new single-player campaign that will span three generations.
