When was the first Age of Empires video game released?
Age of Empires
Age of Empires is a series of historical real-time strategy video games, originally developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Studios. The first title of the series was "Age of Empires", released in 1997. Seven titles and three spin-offs have been released.
Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties
Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties is the second expansion pack for the real-time strategy video game "Age of Empires III" developed through a collaboration between Ensemble Studios and Big Huge Games, and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The Mac version was ported over, developed and published by Destineer's MacSoft. The game is the second expansion pack following "". The game introduces three new civilizations; China, Japan, and India. It also introduced minor people, campaigns, maps, and game modes.
Age of Empires
On August 24, 2000, Microsoft published the expansion, "The Conquerors". It added new units and five new civilizations, including two Mesoamerican civilizations: the Maya and the Aztec. "The Age of Kings" was a bigger critical success than the first two games, with Game Rankings and Metacritic scores of 92%. Microsoft shipped out more than two million copies to retailers, and the game received numerous awards and accolades. Critics agreed that "The Conquerors" expanded well on "The Age of Kings", though issues of unbalanced gameplay were raised. "The Age of Kings" and "The Conquerors" won the 2000 and 2001 "Computer Strategy Game of the Year" awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, respectively.
Age of Empires (video game)
"Age of Empires" was generally well received by critics, and scored highly on review aggregator websites including an 8.3 out of 10 on Metacritic, an 87% on GameRankings, an 85 out of 100 on MobyGames.
Forgotten Realms
Numerous Forgotten Realms video games were released Between 1990 and 2000. The "Eye of the Beholder" PC game was released in 1990. This game was later followed by two sequels, the first in 1991, and the second in 1992. All three games were re-released for DOS on a single disk in 1995. Another 1991 release was "Neverwinter Nights" on America Online, the first graphical Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG). In 1998, "Baldur's Gate" was released, the first in a line of popular role-playing video games developed by BioWare and "considered by most pundits as the hands-down best PC roleplaying game ever". The game was followed by a sequel, "" in 2000 as well as "Icewind Dale", a separate game that utilized the same game engine as "Baldur's Gate". "" was released in 2001. Several popular Forgotten Realms characters such as Drizzt Do'Urden and Elminster made minor appearances in these games.
InnoGames
The company released its second game, The West, in 2008. That same year InnoGames moved to Hamburg-Harburg and hired additional employees. As the company continued to grow, they released their third game, Grepolis, on 2009. Since 2013, Grepolis is playable as an app for iOS and Android devices. Its first city-builder, Forge of Empires, was published in 2012. The game includes a journey through time that begins in the Stone Age and guides the player through the ages of human history. As of late-July, 2018, the latest era is the Virtual Future, but further extensions are planned. Forge of Empires was awarded the German Computer Game Prize in 2013 as the best browser game. Since 5 June 2014 the game is also playable as an app on the iPad. The iPhone version followed on September 2014 and the Android version on 25 March 2015. Following Forge of Empires' Android version in 2015, the German developer published its second city-building MMO, Elvenar in April
Age of Empires II
In the German market, "Age of Empires II" debuted in first place on Media Control's sales charts during October 1999, and by March 2000 had spent 17 weeks in the rankings. It received the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland's (VUD) "Platinum" award within one month of release, indicating sales of 200,000 units across Germany, Switzerland and Austria. By the end of February 2000, it had reached "Double-Platinum" status (400,000 sales) and become the German market's "most successful PC game of the past 12 months", according to the VUD. The game later received a "Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), for at least 300,000 copies sold in the United Kingdom.
Tony Goodman
Ensemble Studios released two full titles and two expansions during this period: Age of Empires (1997); (1998); (1999); (2000).
Age of Empires (video game)
"Age of Empires" (under the working title "Dawn of Man") was the first game developed by Ensemble Studios. Its historical setting was chosen to be more plausible and accessible, particularly to casual gamers, than existing games. At the time, other real-time strategy games had science fiction and fantasy settings, so the historical setting of "Age of Empires" enabled it to stand out. The designers received much of their inspiration from the game "Civilization", with its proven historical setting; this was noted among reviewers as something positive. The game was announced in June 1996 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. "Age of Empires" was designed by Bruce Shelley, Tony Goodman (in charge of the game's artwork), and Dave Pottinger (in charge of the game's artificial intelligence). Stephen Rippy was the music director (a role he kept through the series), with occasional help from his brother, David Rippy, as well as Kevin McMullan. He created the original music in "Age of Empires" using sounds from actual instruments from the periods in the game, as well as their digital samples. The tunes were the result of extensive research on the cultures, styles, and instruments used.
David A. Cherry
The game, "Age of Mythology", by Ensemble Studios, Inc. was published in 2002 by Microsoft. During the development of the game, David’s job description at Ensemble Studios had began to morph to suit the changing artistic needs of the project, which resulted in him "preparing marketing materials: ads, brochures, magazine covers, etc." In addition to numerous magazine covers, David created the box cover for the game. At the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2001, his box cover art was displayed seven stories tall directly over the entrance to E3. 
Eventually, David taught himself how to work in 3D Studio Max and joined the Ensemble Modeling Team. After "Age of Mythology", David stayed with Ensemble through the production and release of its expansion pack, ""; "Age of Empires III" and its expansion pack, ""; as well as the Xbox title: "Halo Wars". He often had to switch between preparing marketing art and building game content in 3D.
Age of Empires II
"The Age of Kings" is set in the Middle Ages and contains thirteen playable civilizations. Players aim to gather resources, which they use to build towns, create armies, and defeat their enemies. There are five historically based campaigns, which constrict the player to specialized and story-backed conditions. There are three additional single-player game modes, and multiplayer is supported. Despite using the same game engine and similar code to its predecessor, development of "The Age of Kings" took a year longer than expected, forcing Ensemble Studios to release "" in 1998 instead. The design team focused on resolving significant issues in "Age of Empires", but noted on release that some problems remained.
Age of Empires III
A Mac OS X port of the game was released on November 13, 2006 by MacSoft, followed by the first expansion on June 18, 2007.
Age of Empires Online
In designing the new look for the game, Robot had six artists come together to create a new art style which would look similar to the previous games from the series, yet look more "visually appealing", "timeless", and "bright". Among the art team was Ensemble Studios' first artist Brad Crow, who had worked on every "Age of Empires" game produced by the studio. The team implemented several ideas to give the game an improved core visual interface over that of its predecessors such as; increasing the field of view so that the player was able to see more on the screen, a tighter user interface to allow more of the field of play to be visible, a new building design to make them encompass less screen space — while also making them look more recognizable, and giving each unit a unique look and animation making them more easily distinguishable from each other.
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (video game)
"Shadows of the Empire" was released on December 3, 1996 for the Nintendo 64, three months after the console's launch. It was released in Japan on June 14, 1997. With the developer reporting more than one million copies sold by 1997, "Shadows of the Empire" is the third top-selling Nintendo 64 game for that year (September 1996 to August 1997) and the third top-selling game on any system for the 1996 Christmas shopping season. A version for Windows 95 was released one year later on September 17, 1997. As computers became more powerful and 64-bit architecture became more common, the game began to have issues running on these systems. Taking this into consideration, the game was re-released for current Windows systems on May 3, 2016 through Good Old Games. The re-release allows the game to play properly on 64-bit Windows installations.
Age of Empires III
"Age of Empires III" won "PC Gamer US"s "Best Real-Time Strategy Game 2005" award. The magazine's Brett Todd wrote, "It was astounding how Ensemble managed to stick to the historical RTS formula yet keep the gameplay feeling fresh." The game was presented with two awards by GameSpy in 2005: "Real-time strategy game of the year" and "Best Graphics". GameSpy highly praised the game overall, giving it 5 stars in its review, which particularly noted the graphics and multiplayer experience. The game was named fifth-best game of 2005 by GameSpy.
Age of Empires II
The multiplayer-only "Age of Empires Online" was released in 2012. While the game was freely accessible, it featured premium content which could either be earned through gameplay or purchased, enabling the player to use higher-tier equipment and new game modes. Active development of the game ended on January 1, 2014, when executive producer Kevin Perry stated that adding new content was "no longer cost effective," and announced that the game would be moving from "development phase" to its "support phase". The game servers were subsequently shut down on July 1, 2014.
Age of Empires II
AllGame's Michael L. House enjoyed the use of sound bites in civilizations' native languages, which he said was "very influential in developing an era-enhancing atmosphere". Eurogamer said this feature "gives [villagers] a personality, rather than the standard 'Acknowledged' grunt of military RTS games", also stating that the use of female villagers provided a good variety. Game Revolution's review explained that by being set in a more recent epoch of human history, "The Age of Kings" was able to "add character to an otherwise impersonal style of gameplay". "Computer and Video Games" approved of "The Age of Kings" use of shorter, more focused campaigns, compared to its predecessor, while Game Revolution noted that even in slower sections of the campaign, the historical narrative helped maintain player interest. GameSpot said that with the screen full of units, "you can begin to imagine how their historical equivalents once prospered", while GameSpy said "The Age of Kings" presents "realism rarely seen in the RTS genre". IGN staff argued that while the strengths and weaknesses attributed to different civilizations made the game more realistic, the fact that they were still mostly the same prevented "The Age of Kings" from "delivering the same battlefield impact of "StarCraft" or """.
Empire Earth
Empire Earth is a real-time strategy video game developed by Stainless Steel Studios and released on November 23, 2001. It is the first game in the "Empire Earth" series.
Age of Empires II
In 2012, Hidden Path Entertainment began working on a high-definition remake of "Age of Empires II", an effort spearheaded by Matt Pritchard, an original Ensemble lead programmer. On March 7, 2013, its release was announced, branded as "Age of Empires II: HD Edition". It has improved graphics, widescreen support and new multiplayer options through Steam. It was released on April 9, 2013, and there was a pre-order available on April 5.
Galactic Empire (1980 video game)
Galactic Empire is a strategy video game written by Doug Carlston for the TRS-80 and released 1980. It is the first game in the "Galactic Saga" and became first game published by Brøderbund which was, in fact, created for the purpose of publishing the game. "Galactic Empire" was ported to the Apple II and the Atari 8-bit family and followed by three sequels. The game was also published by Adventure International.
Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs
Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs is the first expansion pack for the real-time strategy game "Age of Empires III". It was released on October 17, 2006 in the United States. The expansion pack was bundled with the full game of "Age of Empires III", called "Age of Empires III Gold Edition" on October 23, 2007. The Mac version was ported over, developed and published by Destineer's MacSoft. The full game for Mac was released on June 12, 2007 in the United States. It was followed by a second expansion pack to the original game called "".
History of Western role-playing video games
"Times of Lore", designed by Chris Roberts and released by Origin Systems in 1988, introduced the action-adventure and action role-playing game formula of console titles such as "The Legend of Zelda" to the American computer RPG market. "Times of Lore" and "Dungeon Master" went on to directly inspire several later Origin Systems titles, including "Bad Blood" (1990), "" (1990) and "Ultima VII" (1992). "Ultima VI" made some major changes to the "Ultima" formula, including a constant-scale open world (replacing the unscaled overworld of earlier "Ultima" titles) and a point & click interface.
History of video games
Id Software’s 1996 game "Quake" pioneered play over the Internet in first-person shooters. Internet multiplayer ability became a de facto requirement in most FPS games since. Other genres also began to offer online play in the late 90s, including real-time strategy games as "Age of Empires", the "Warcraft" and "StarCraft" series, and turn-based games such as "Heroes of Might and Magic". Developments in web browser plug-ins like Java and Adobe Flash allowed for simple browser-based games.
Age of Empires
On August 25, 2014, "" was announced. It is a touch-based game developed by Smoking Gun Interactive. It was released on September 17, 2014 for the Windows PC and Windows Phone 8.
Empire (1972 video game)
"Empire" was created in 1972 by Peter Langston, taking its name from a Reed College board game of the same name. It was initially created by Langston in BASIC on an HP2000 minicomputer at Evergreen State College. Between 1972 and 1974, Langston expanded on the game, with additions by Ben Norton, Chuck Douglas, Mike Rainwater, and several others. When the host computer was retired, the original game was lost. Subsequently, two other authors each independently wrote a new version of the game, both named "Empire", and several ports of the game were created for other computer systems, such as "PSL Empire" for the PDP 11/70, and a version with added weather effects for the VAX-11. Langston, now at Harvard University, recreated the game in C, and shared the source code with a few other developers; disliking the changes they made, he stopped doing so, maintaining the canonical version of the game until 1985, when he stopped development. Around that time, he gave the source code to a group including Dave Pare, who was attempting to reverse engineer the game. Pare then adapted the game into a version named "UCSD Empire" after the University of California at San Diego, and the following year into "BSD Empire" with several additions such as planes.
Age of Empires II
A PlayStation 2 port was released by Konami in 2001, and a NDS spinoff, "" was released in 2006.
Age of Empires II
"The Age of Kings" won GameSpot's Strategy Game of the Year in 1999, and was a nominee for Game of the Year. GamePower also named it Strategy Game of the Year, while "PC Gamer" and "Computer Gaming World" gave it Editor's Choice awards. The editors of "PC Gamer US" named it their 1999 "Best Real-Time Strategy Game", and wrote that it "takes everything we know about the real-time strategy genre and polishes it, and polishes it, and then polishes it some more." "The Age of Kings" won Strategy Game of the Year and Computer Game of the Year at the 2000 Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences awards. It was also nominated for Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Animation, Outstanding Achievement in Game Design, and Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering. IGN ranked "The Age of Kings" the 53rd best game of all time in 2005, and the 10th best PC game of all time in 2007. GameFAQs users placed it 56th in a poll of the best games ever.
Age of Empires
Stephen Rippy has been the series' music director since the first game. He has had occasional help from his brother, David Rippy, as well as Kevin McMullan. He created the original music in "Age of Empires" with sounds of instruments from the periods in the game. These sounds came from actual instruments, and their digital samples. The tunes were the result of extensive research on the cultures, styles, and instruments used. Rippy said that sound development on "The Age of Kings" was easy, since there was knowledge of the instruments used in the Middle Ages. Therefore, they were able to reproduce the tunes for the soundtrack of the game. In "Age of Mythology", an orchestral instrumentation was used, instead. According to McMullan, the team also collected large numbers of audio recordings from zoos, and created "a massive sound library of [their] own material." The music of "Age of Empires III" was similar to "The Age of Kings", in which the team used more historical instruments; Rippy noted the team used instruments such as "bagpipes and field drums" to give it a realistic feel.
Age of Empires II
In January 2000, three months after its release, Microsoft announced that they had shipped two million copies of "The Age of Kings". The game topped sales charts in the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia, and South Korea. It would spend the next two and a half years on top 20 sales lists. "The Age of Kings" was top selling game in October 1999, and the fourth highest selling game in 1999. The game's sales in the United States alone totaled 469,376 by the end of 1999, which drew revenues of $20.2 million, the second-highest domestic gross that year behind "SimCity 3000". Domestic sales rose another 442,318 units ($19.56 million) from January through October 2000, according to PC Data. It finished the year as the seventh-largest computer game hit in the United States, with 595,016 in sales and $26.2 million in revenue. "Age of Empires II"s domestic success continued in 2001: with sales of 478,557 units ($19.4 million), it claimed tenth place for the year.
Age of Empires (video game)
"Age of Empires" was also successful worldwide, according to Microsoft. It was released in 55 countries during its first four months, and over 650,000 copies were shipped globally by December 12. Microsoft reported that it was consistently the top-selling computer strategy title in the United States, France, Germany and the United Kingdom through January 1998. Globally, the game sold-through 850,000 units by February.
Empire (PLATO)
Empire is the name of a computer game written for the PLATO system in 1973. It is significant for being quite probably the first networked multiplayer arena shooter-style game. It may also be the first networked multiplayer action game (although "Maze War" is another possibility for this distinction).
Age of Empires III
As part of "Age of Empires III" launch, Ensemble Studios announced the release of Age of Empires III Fan Site Kit on 9/9/2005.
Age of Empires Online
(Archive)
Online game
The history of online games dates back to the early days of packet-based computer networking in the 1970s, An early example of online games are MUDs, including the first, "MUD1", which was created in 1978 and originally confined to an internal network before becoming connected to ARPANet in 1980. Commercial games followed in the next decade, with "Islands of Kesmai", the first commercial online role-playing game, debuting in 1984, as well as more graphical games, such as the MSX LINKS action games in 1986, the flight simulator "Air Warrior" in 1987, and the Famicom Modem's online Go game in 1987. The rapid availability of the Internet in the 1990s led to an expansion of online games, with notable titles including "" (1996), "Quakeworld" (1996), "Ultima Online" (1997), "Lineage" (1998), "Starcraft" (1998), "Counter-Strike" (1999) and "EverQuest" (1999). Video game consoles also began to receive online networking features, such as the Famicom Modem (1987), Sega Meganet (1990), Satellaview (1995), SegaNet (1996), PlayStation 2 (2000) and Xbox (2001). Following improvements in connection speeds, more recent developments include the popularization of new genres, such as social games, and new platforms, such as mobile games.
Age of Empires II: The Conquerors
Age of Empires II: The Conquerors is the expansion pack to the 1999 real-time strategy game "". "The Conquerors" is the fourth installment in the "Age of Empires" series by Microsoft Game Studios and Ensemble Studios. It features five new civilizations (the Aztecs, Mayans, Spanish, Koreans, and Huns), four new campaigns, eleven new units, twenty-six new technologies, new gameplay modes, new maps and different minor tweaks to the gameplay.
Age of Wonders
Age of Wonders is a turn-based strategy video game often likened to "Master of Magic". Originally titled "World of Wonders", the game incorporated several role-playing video game elements that were dropped when simultaneous turns were implemented. The game was co-developed by Triumph Studios and Epic MegaGames, Dutch and American game developers respectively, and published by Gathering of Developers in 1999; it was re-released in 2010 on GOG.com and Steam.
Age of Empires (video game)
The game won numerous awards, including Gamecenter's 1997 "Game of the Year" and the 1998 AIAS "Computer Strategy Game of the Year" award. "Age of Empires" was a runner-up for "Computer Gaming World"s 1997 "Strategy Game of the Year" award, which ultimately went to "".
Galaxy Game
Galaxy Game is a space combat arcade game developed in 1971 during the early era of video games. Created by Bill Pitts and Hugh Tuck, it was one of the first coin-operated video games; its initial prototype display in November 1971 at the Tresidder student union building at Stanford University was only a few months after a similar display of a prototype of "Computer Space", making it the second known video game to charge money to play. "Galaxy Game" is an expanded version of the 1962 "Spacewar!", potentially the first video game to spread to multiple computer installations. It features two spaceships, "the needle" and "the wedge", engaged in a dogfight while maneuvering in the gravity well of a star. Both ships are controlled by human players.
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (video game)
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire is a video game developed and published by LucasArts. Primarily a third-person shooter, the game also utilizes multiple types of vehicular combat sequences. It was released for the Nintendo 64 on December 3, 1996, and a version for Windows 95 was released on September 17, 1997. The game was re-released for Windows systems on May 3, 2016 through Good Old Games. The re-release allows the game to play on 64-bit Windows installations.
Medal of Honor (video game series)
Medal of Honor is a series of first-person shooter video games. The first game was developed by DreamWorks Interactive (now known as DICE Los Angeles, formerly Danger Close Games) and published by Electronic Arts for the PlayStation in 1999. "Medal of Honor" spawned a series of follow-up games including multiple expansions spanning various console platforms and personal computers.
Age of Elements
The game was first announced in June 2006. It was debuted by publisher Atari at E3 2006, who described its production at the time as about 40% complete. The game was announced to be developed by a newly created development team named "Steamroll". The game was made playable at the event. The game was planned to have a "Winter 2006" release, (late 2006 to early 2007) on the PlayStation Portable handheld video game console, but the release was later cancelled in 2007.
Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness
Ultima, later known as Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness or simply Ultima I, is the first game in the "Ultima" series of role-playing video games created by Richard Garriott, originally released for the Apple II. It was first published in the United States by California Pacific Computer Company, which registered a copyright for the game on September 2, 1980 and officially released it in June 1981. Since its release, the game has been completely re-coded and ported to many different platforms. The 1986 re-code of "Ultima" is the most commonly known and available version of the game.
Age of Empires III
Both the original game and the first expansion were made available in a single "gold" edition on October 23, 2007.
Age of Empires (video game)
"Age of Empires" requires the player to develop a civilization from a handful of hunter-gatherers to an expansive Iron Age Empire. To assure victory, the player must gather resources in order to pay for new units, buildings and more advanced technology. Resources must be preserved, as no new resources become available as the game progresses, for example, trees that are cut down will not grow back.
Age of Empires: The Age of Kings
"Age of Empires: The Age of Kings" has received an average score of 80.0% at GameRankings (based on 45 reviews), and an average score of 80/100 at Metacritic (based on 38 reviews). IGN gave it an 8.2/10, saying that the gameplay was solid, although they stated that it should have had more civilizations and online play. Both IGN and Electronic Gaming Monthly each gave it a Game of the Month award. It received an award for "Best Game Design" Elan award in the inaugural Canadian Awards for the Electronic & Animated Arts on September 14, 2006. It was also nominated for 2006 BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Award): Best Strategy Game.
Rock of Ages (video game)
Rock of Ages is a tower defense racing video game developed by ACE Team and published by Atlus USA. It uses the Unreal Engine 3. The game was released for Xbox 360 in August 2011, for Microsoft Windows in September 2011, and for PlayStation 3 in May 2012.
Empire I: World Builders
Empire I: World Builders is a 1981 video game published by Edu-Ware Services Inc. It is the first game in the "Empire" trilogy, followed by "" (1982) and "" (1983).
Free-to-play
The movement of free-to-play MMOs into the mainstream also coincided with experimentation with other genres as well. The model was picked up by larger developers and more diverse genres, with games such as "Battlefield Heroes", "Free Realms", "Quake Live" and "Team Fortress 2" appearing in the late 2000s. The experimentation was not successful in every genre, however. Traditional real time strategy franchises such as "Age of Empires" and "Command & Conquer" both attempted free-to-play titles. Age of Empires Online was shut down in the midst of a tiny player base and stagnant revenue, and was shut down in alpha due to negative reactions from players.
Age of Empires
The trend in improved graphics continued well into the next release, "Age of Empires III," much to the delight of reviewers. IGN stated, "After seeing the screenshots, our jaws hit the floor at the amount of detail." "1UP.com" described "Age of Empires III" as "one of the most beautiful games you will put on your computer for the foreseeable future." GameSpy agreed, stating, ""Age III"s graphics are unmatched in the strategy genre." "Age of Empires III" builds on and introduces new features to the prior release, "Age of Mythology," such as the inclusion of the award-winning Havok physics simulation middleware game engine for the Windows version and PhysX for the Mac OS X. The innovative result is that pre-created animations are avoided; instead events are calculated according to the physics engine. Consequently, views of events like building destruction and tree felling are not pre-recorded. GameSpot also admired the graphics in the fourth release but complained about "the awkward unit behavior." Other graphical features of the game include bloom lighting and support for pixel shader 3.0.
Empire (PLATO)
The first version, Empire I, was written by John Daleske as project coursework for an education class in the Spring of 1973. Silas Warner helped out by providing Daleske with disk space (known as "lesson space" in the PLATO environment). The first version of the game was a strategic turn-based game for eight players. Each had ships, industry, and budgets. Players had to keep the budget up to build more ships, maintain industry to help pay for it, provide raw materials to turn into goods, and trade. This was likely the earliest example of an online, multi-player, interterminal computer game. Games prior to this were two player or one player against a computer.
Empires: Dawn of the Modern World
Stainless Steel Studios started work on "Empires" in 2002. The project was led by company head Rick Goodman, designer of Ensemble Studios' "Age of Empires" and Stainless Steel's earlier "Empire Earth". The "Empires" team began by studying their previous game for features that could be reused or improved. In addition, they mined history books for interesting "events, battle tactics, weapons, technologies and economic factors", according to Goodman. A list was drafted of 100 historical elements that excited the team, and it formed the basis of the project. Although a heavy focus was placed on historical accuracy, designer Richard Bishop explained that "fun always comes first." As it had with "Empire Earth", Stainless Steel delegated separate teams to the multiplayer and single-player modes of "Empires".
Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome
Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome is an expansion pack for the real-time strategy game "Age of Empires". It is based on the rise of the Roman Empire, and adds the Roman Empire and three other playable civilizations to "Age of Empires".
Age of Empires
Shelley has said that the key to the success of the games was its innovation, rather than imitation of its peers. He also claimed the unique elements in the games "helped establish the reputation of Ensemble Studios as masters of the real-time strategy genre." Mark Bozon of IGN wrote in his review of "The Age of Kings", "The "Age of Empires" series has been one of the most innovative real-time strategy games for PC in the last decade or so." Gamenikki called Ensemble Studios "the developer that started it all" when they talked about how much "Age of Empires III" had done to advance the real-time strategy genre. Shelley has acknowledged the success and innovation of "Age of Empires" helped to ensure Ensemble survive its early periods since startup. In 2005, Shelley complained of critics holding an "innovation bias" against the series; citing the 60% score from "Computer Gaming World", he said that despite "Age of Empires III" being "perhaps the best selling PC game in the world", reviewers expected "something really new", and rated it harshly.
Empire Earth
Epochs are the ages a player passes through in "Empire Earth". Each of these epochs represents an age within history. In "Empire Earth", the last two ages (Digital and Nano Ages) are set into the moderate future (at the time of release in 2001). In the Art of Conquest, a third future age, the Space Age, is available. It deals with space colonization. Each epoch brings new technologies and units. Epoch advancement requires additional buildings to be built and the costs of advancing increases as more epochs are attained, although the ability to gather the required resources greatly increases as well. With new epochs, some new units are available at the cost of having to abandon the ability to produce old units, though any old units still alive are kept. The epochs in Empire Earth are the Prehistoric Age, the Stone Age, the Copper Age, the Bronze age, the Dark Age, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Imperial age, the Industrial age, the Atomic World War I age, the Atomic World War II Age, the Atomic Modern Age, the Digital Age, and the Nano Age. An extra epoch, the Space Age, is available in "Empire Earth: The Art of Conquest".
Revenge of the Apes
Planet of the Apes, later released as Revenge of the Apes, is a video game originally developed in 1983 by 20th Century Fox for the Atari 2600. Planned as the "Planet of the Apes" franchise's first video game, it was still in the prototype phase when Fox shuttered its game division during the video game crash of 1983. It went unreleased and was assumed lost until 2002, when collectors identified a mislabeled cartridge as the missing "Planet of the Apes" game. It was completed and released as "Revenge of the Apes" by Retrodesign in 2003.
Real-time strategy
"Total Annihilation", released by Cavedog Entertainment in 1997, introduced 3D units and terrain and focused on huge battles that emphasized macromanagement over micromanagement. It featured a streamlined interface that would influence many RTS games in later years. "Age of Empires", released by Ensemble Studios in 1997 tried to put a game in a slower pace, combining elements of "Civilization" with the real-time strategy concept by introducing ages of technologies. In 1998, Blizzard released the game "StarCraft", which became an international phenomenon and is still played in large professional leagues to this day. Collectively, all of these games defined the genre, providing the "de facto" benchmark against which new real-time strategy games are measured.
Age of Empires Online
During early production, "Age of Empires Online" was originally called "Age of Empires IV". The development team had noticed that many other RTS game developers had moved away from the "economic game". The team felt that "" had blended the economic and military aspects of the game perfectly, so they decided to play test it with hindsight. They noticed that many features had been lost or changed over time. It was during this time the team decided to do an ""Age of Kings" style gameplay in an "Age of Empires" setting". The designers were surprised that fans of the series were most fond of the simpler aspects of the previous titles. Former "Age of Empires II" lead designer Ian M. Fischer stated, "When we started floating some of the early [AoEO] out to people other pieces fell into place – I cannot tell you how many times I have had someone email me or talk to me at a show and mention how much they loved the villagers carrying big hunks of meat in the original Age or the priest "wololo"". From that point on, one of the goals was to invoke nostalgia from fans of the series when playing the game, despite the newer and updated features.
Age of Empires II
The team was less successful in resolving other issues; programmer Matt Pritchard complained following the release of "Age of Empires" that there was still no process by which patches could be issued. Extensive cheating in multiplayer games of "Age of Empires" came as a result of several bugs in the game, which resulted in Microsoft promising Ensemble Studios there would be a patch process for "The Age of Kings". On release, there were several bugs that needed immediate attention, but the patch process was not yet ready. The first patch was released 11 months later.
Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties
In developing "Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties", Ensemble Studios worked with Big Huge Games for the first time. This partnership came about as a result of Ensemble Studios being busy with other projects including "Halo Wars", and Big Huge Games' real-time strategy team with spare time on their hands. Several Big Huge Games employees, including Brian Reynolds, had declared they were fans of the "Age of Empires" series, and thus they asked Ensemble Studios if the two could work together on the upcoming expansion. The two studios did large amounts of communication through the internet, and Reynolds says the entire process worked well. Ensemble Studios took the role of the "customer" in their relationship with Big Huge Games, and thus the game was designed to satisfy Ensemble's needs. Ensemble designers Greg Street and Sandy Petersen were also heavily involved in brainstorming and developing the game.
Age of Empires III
The "Age of Empires III" original soundtrack features an original musical score composed by Ensemble Studios musicians Stephen Rippy and Kevin McMullan, whose previous work includes other games in the "Age of Empires" series as well as "Age of Mythology". It was released on November 11, 2005 by Sumthing Else Music Works. Stephen Rippy, music and sound director at Ensemble Studios, said, ""Age of Empires III" is a game with an epic topic — it covers the colonization of the Americas over a period of some three hundred years, so it needed to have an epic-sounding score to match. Using a full orchestra and choir as well as some more period-inspired instrumentation, the music follows the story of Morgan Black and his descendants as they battle the Circle of Ossus for a foothold in the New World." The soundtrack also features a bonus DVD that includes fourteen tracks remixed in 5.1 surround, a behind-the-scenes video of the studio session, the "Age of Empires III" cinematic trailer and five exclusive bonus tracks.
Star Wars: Empire at War
"Star Wars: Empire at War" was first mentioned in 2004, by then-president of LucasArts Jim Ward. He discussed the possibility of a RTS video game set in the "Star Wars" universe, stating "...there's a bright future there for games based on these new properties as well as original Star Wars games like a new real-time strategy PC game that Petroglyph is developing for next year". Ward described the game as taking the real-time strategy genre in a new direction and outlined plans to balance the gameplay between hardcore games and audiences familiar with the "Star Wars" franchise. The game was unveiled by LucasArts on January 21, 2005 with an original release date set for the end of 2005. LucasArts said that the newly formed Petroglyph Games would be developing an original 3-D game engine, titled Alamo, for "Star Wars: Empire at War" and that the game would support online battles for up to eight players.
Empires: Dawn of the Modern World
Empires: Dawn of the Modern World is a 2003 real-time strategy video game developed by Stainless Steel Studios and published by Activision. Set in a world-historical period that extends from the Middle Ages to World War II, the game tasks players with guiding one of nine rival great civilizations to victory. Customer surveys from Stainless Steel's previous game, "Empire Earth", were used as a starting point for "Empires": these inspired the team to take a more minimalist design approach, and to include civilizations without overlapping styles of play. "Empires" was positively received by critics, who enjoyed its multiplayer component. However, certain reviewers disliked its single-player mode, and opinion clashed on the game's level of uniqueness compared to competitors such as "Rise of Nations". The sales of "Empires", when combined with those of "Empire Earth", totaled 2.5 million units by 2004.
Jade Empire
"Jade Empire" was developed by BioWare, after it earned critical and commercial success with "Baldur's Gate", "Neverwinter Nights" and "", RPGs based on pre-existing "Dungeons & Dragons" and "Star Wars" fictional universes. The game, which began development in May 2001, was the company's first original RPG intellectual property. The concept of "Jade Empire" had existed with company founders co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk since they started BioWare alongside the plan which would lead to "Baldur's Gate"; called a "dream project", their aim was to fulfill player fantasies of becoming a powerful martial arts master. The game was first developed and released for the Xbox. Zeschuk later felt they should have held the game back and developed it for the console's successor the Xbox 360.
Mongol conquest of Khwarezmia
Mongol conquest of Khwarezmia is featured in the single-player campaign of the "Age of Empires II" video game, created by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft. In this video game, however, Mongols start their invasion by assassinating the Shah. The assassins disguise themselves as traders.
Jade Empire
Jade Empire is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare, originally published by Microsoft Game Studios in 2005 as an Xbox exclusive. It was later ported to Microsoft Windows personal computers (PC) and published by 2K Games in 2007. Later ports to macOS (2008) and mobile platforms (2016) were handled respectively by TransGaming and Aspyr. Set in a world based on Chinese mythology, players control the last surviving Spirit Monk on a quest to save their tutor Master Li and defeat the forces of corrupt emperor Sun Hai. The Spirit Monk is guided through a linear narrative, completing quests and engaging in action-based combat. With morality-based dialogue choices during conversations, the player can impact both story and gameplay progression in various ways.
Empire Earth: The Art of Conquest
Empire Earth: The Art of Conquest is the expansion pack for the real-time strategy game "Empire Earth". "Art of Conquest" was developed by Mad Doc Software, and was released on September 17, 2002 in the United States. The game was released in Europe later in the year, and the following year in Japan. The Gold Edition of "Empire Earth", which features both the original and the expansion, was released on May 6, 2003.
Ancient Empires (mobile game)
Ancient Empires is a fantasy turn-based tactics game series developed by Macrospace for cell phones. The first game "Ancient Empires" was published by Macrospace on March 4, 2004; its immediate sequel "Ancient Empires II" was published by Sorrent on June 17, 2005.
Age of Empires
"Age of Empires" focused on events in Europe, Africa and Asia, spanning from the Stone Age to the Iron Age; the expansion game explored the formation and expansion of the Roman Empire. The sequel, "", was set in the Middle Ages, while its expansion focused partially on the Spanish conquest of Mexico. The subsequent three games of "Age of Empires III" explored the early modern period, when Europe was colonizing the Americas and several Asian nations were on the decline. The newest installment, "Age of Empires Online", takes a different approach as a free-to-play online game utilizing Games for Windows Live. A spin-off game, "Age of Mythology", was set in the same period as the original "Age of Empires", but focused on mythological elements of Greek, Egyptian, and Norse mythology. A fourth main installment in the series, "Age of Empires IV", is under development.
Age of Empires
The games in the series focus on historical events throughout time. "Age of Empires" covers the events between the Stone Age and the Classical period, in Europe and Asia. Its expansion, "", follows the formation and rise of the Roman Empire. "" and its follow Europe and Asia through the Middle Ages. "The Age of Kings" expansion pack, "", is set during the same period, but also includes scenarios about the Spanish conquest of Mexico, El Cid, and Attila the Hun. "Age of Empires III" and its first expansion, "", take place during the European colonization of the Americas. Its second expansion, "", follows the rise of Asia in the same period. Age of Empires Online focuses on the Greek and Egyptian civilizations. The series' spin-off, "Age of Mythology", and its expansion pack, "", are set during the Bronze Age, but focus on mythology as their themes, rather than history.
Age of Empires
On August 21, 2017, Microsoft announced "Age of Empires IV", developed by Relic Entertainment.
Strategy video game
The origin of strategy video games is rooted in traditional tabletop strategy games like Chess and Go, as well as board and miniature wargaming. The first console strategy game was a "Risk"-like game called "Invasion," released in 1972 for the Magnavox Odyssey. Strategic Simulations (SSI)'s "Computer Bismarck", released in 1980, was the first historical computer wargame. Companies such as SSI, Avalon Hill, MicroProse, and Strategic Studies Group released many strategy titles throughout the 1980s. "Reach for the Stars" from 1983 was one of the first 4X strategy games, which expanded upon the relationship between economic growth, technological progress, and conquest. That same year, "Nobunaga's Ambition" was a conquest-oriented grand strategy wargame with historical simulation elements. "The Lords of Midnight" combined elements of adventure, strategy and wargames, and won the Crash magazine award for Best Adventure game of 1984, as well as Best Strategy Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards
Hidden Path Entertainment
Continuing the company's trend of revisiting older series, Hidden Path released "Age of Empires II HD" on Valve's Steam platform in 2013, which serves as an updated version of "Age of Empires II", released in 1999 by Ensemble Studios and Microsoft. In addition to updating the graphics and multiplayer capabilities of the base game and its original expansion, Hidden Path paved the way for a new expansion after 14 years called "The Forgotten".
Challenge of the Ancient Empires!
Challenge of the Ancient Empires!, also known as "Super Solvers: Ancient Empires!" is an educational computer game created by The Learning Company in 1990 for both MS-DOS and Macintosh. It is designed to improve history, logic, and problem solving skills in children ages 7 to 10 (or 10 and up, according to the box art seen to the right).
Age of Empires
"Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings", released on September 30, 1999, used the Genie game engine, and had gameplay similar to its predecessor. "Age of Kings" is set in the Middle Ages, from the Dark Ages to the Imperial Age. It allows players to choose one of 13 civilizations, from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
Gears of War (video game)
Gears of War is a 2006 military science fiction third-person shooter video game, and the first installment of the "Gears of War" series. It was developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios, initially as an exclusive title for the Xbox 360 in November 2006, before a Microsoft Windows version of the game, developed in conjunction with People Can Fly, was released a year later in 2007. The game's main story, which can be done in single or co-operative play, focuses on a squad of troops who assist in completing a desperate, last-ditch attempt to end a war against a genocidal subterranean enemy, and save the remaining human inhabitants of their planet Sera. The game's multiplayer mode allows up to eight players to control characters from one of the two factions in a variety of online game modes. Gameplay features players using cover and strategic fire in order to win battles.
Age of Empires
The development phases of the "Age of Empires" games were similar in several ways. Due to the games being based on historical events, the team often had to do large amounts of research. However, the research was not in depth, which, according to "Age of Empires" designer Bruce Shelley, is "a good idea for most entertainment products." Shelley also said that Ensemble Studios took most of the reference material from children's sections at libraries. He pointed out the goal was for the players of the game to have fun, "not [its] designers or researchers." At the Games Convention Developers Conference in 2007, Shelley continued with this thought and explained that the success of the series laid in "making a game which appealed to both the casual and hardcore gamer." Shelley also remarked the "Age of Empires" games were not about history in itself, but rather "about the human experience;" they focused not simply on what humans had done but on what they could do in the future such as "going into space." Ensemble Studios developed "Age of Mythology" in a different way than the previous two games. The team had worried they "couldn't get away" with a third historical-based game, and chose mythology as the setting after they had discussed several options.
Age of Empires III
"Age of Empires III"s multiplayer was the first in the series to be integrated into the game interface and was highly lauded, as was the Home City concept. The topic of multiplayer was touched by GameZone, who said "this game demands multiplayer mode, and Ensemble Studios provided this for the players", while at 1UP, the reviewer commented similarly, stating, "Multiplayer support has been significantly upgraded with a slick interface, support for clans and a number of other useful features." GameSpy commented on the Home City as well, saying, "the 'home city' system creates long-term depth and strategy". EuroGamer, however, stated: "Stop with the gifts! ... You do not need to let me flick to a home city screen every few minutes so that I can select a free unit or resource windfall. I'm not some spoilt toddler that needs to be bribed with endless sweeties." "Age of empires III" uses the ESO server for multiplayer.
Ashes of Empire
"Computer Gaming World" in 1993 stated that "Ashes of Empire" was a logistical game that "trully breaks new ground" but "reveals major weaknesses", with gameplay that was "plodding and devoid of any intense challenge". The magazine approved of, however, the "truly fresh gaming experience" and "interactive education and thought puzzle which is highly topical in today's changing world", and concluded that "this type of game needs several generations of development [as a viable genre] ... It's about time, though, that a games like "Ashes of Empire" took the first, important step".
List of esports games
Competitions involving traditional real time strategy games generally feature individual competitors competing on personal computers over a local area network or the internet. While not nearly as popular as other RTS games during this period, the "Age of Empires" series was played competitively as well, and was part of the World Cyber Games from 2000-2003, and 2007-2008.
Age of Empires (video game)
Age of Empires (AoE) is a history-based real-time strategy video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft, and the first game in the "Age of Empires" series. The game uses the Genie Engine, a 2D sprite-based game engine. The game allows the user to act as the leader of an ancient civilization by advancing it through four ages (the Stone, Tool, Bronze, and Iron Ages), gaining access to new and improved units with each advance.
Game of Emperors
Game of Emperors is a massively multiplayer online real-time strategy game (MMORTS) developed by the Bulgarian game production company Imperia Online JSC. It is released on February 2016 and it has been translated into 30 languages. Game of Emperors is a medieval MMORTS game with deep gameplay. 
Game of Emperors is set in the Medieval times. The players develop their own cities by constructing economic and military buildings, researching in the University in the Capital and expanding their army, which will fight in the battles. Everyone is trying to keep the Happiness at maximum levels, so that they don’t lose or win population to migration. The players also can communicate with each other using in-game messages, and may create or join alliances.
Age of Empires Online
"Age of Empires Online" has been republished in late 2017 by an independent fan group and can be played for free. The developers use Microsofts development kit for Age of Empires Online and endavour to expand the content from time to time.
Empires of Eve
"Eve Online" is a space-based, persistent-world massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by CCP Games. It is a single-universe game, shaped by players and developers. "Eve Online" was released in North America and Europe in May 2003. It was published from May to December 2003 by Simon & Schuster Interactive, after which CCP purchased the rights and began self-publishing via digital distribution. In February 2013, "Eve Online" reached over 500,000 subscribers. Set more than 21,000 years in the future, "Eve Online" explains that humanity (having used up most of Earth's resources through centuries of explosive population growth) began colonizing the rest of the Milky Way.
Age of Empires Online
On February 24, 2011, it was announced - first via Chris Taylor's Facebook page - that Gas Powered Games had taken over development from Robot Entertainment. According to a blog post, Gas Powered Games was already working on the game behind the scenes, creating content packs and moving to take over as lead developers, which was planned for some time. The game was released on August 16, 2011 with the Greek and Egyptian civilizations, followed by the Persians during the holiday. The Celts was postponed to March 2012, and was the first out of the four civilizations solely created from start to finish by Gas Powered Games since taking over development.
Empire: Total War
Empire: Total War is a turn-based strategy and real-time tactics video game developed by Creative Assembly and published by Sega. The fifth installment in the "Total War" series, the game was released in 2009. The game, which focuses on the early modern period of the 18th century, was announced at the Leipzig Games Convention in August 2007. The Mac OS X version of the game was released by Feral Interactive on 10 June 2014. The Linux version was released, also by Feral Interactive, on 8 December 2014.
Age of Empires
Bungie chose Ensemble Studios to develop "Halo Wars", an RTS game based on their "Halo" series. They said that one of the reasons they chose to work with Ensemble was because of the "Age of Empires" series. They also noted that Ensemble was the perfect choice "to realize the original vision of "Halo"", which started life as an RTS.
Age of Empires
On April 13, 2014, "Age of Empires: World Domination" was announced. It was developed by KLab Games for the iOS, Android and Windows Phone. It was released on December 7, 2015, with the service terminated on 30 November 2016.
Age of Empires (video game)
"Age of Empires" facilitated online and network play with up to 8 people simultaneously. Because the network play is less sophisticated than that of modern games, lag and disconnections often occur. Until June 19, 2006, multiplayer gameplay was supported by Microsoft Gaming Zone. At that point, the Zone abandoned support of most CD-ROM games, including "Age of Empires" and "".
Empires of Eve
"Empires of Eve" was written by journalist Andrew Groen. Groen, who had written for "Wired" and "Ars Technica", wanted to write a book about parts of the video-game world which had been overlooked by other journalists. "Eve Online" was released around that time, and Groen began researching the game. The game met his criterion for uniqueness because of its focus on causation. Groen looked for past work about "Eve Online"; a 2003 forum post ("Death to Taggart, Death to Ragnar, Death to the memory of this treacherous night" by player Jade Constantine) caught his attention and inspired him to write the book. He spent two years in research, talking to over 70 players, examining forum posts and reading data related to the game. Groen had never played "Eve Online" before he wrote the book, and said that his idea for a book was not seriously considered; without "Empires of Eve", the game's history might have been lost. He began a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for the book in 2014.
Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds is a real-time strategy video game set in the Star Wars universe. It was developed by "Age of Empires" developer Ensemble Studios and LucasArts. It was released in November 11, 2001. An expansion pack, "Clone Campaigns", was released in May 14, 2002, adding two new factions and campaigns. Later that year, both "Galactic Battlegrounds" and "Clone Campaigns" were released in a box set, "Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds Saga".
Age of Mythology
Ensemble Studios began work on their first fully 3D engine at the same time as their development of "". Named the BANG! Engine, this was announced in January 2001, for use in a new game, codenamed "RTSIII". "RTSIII" was eventually revealed as "Age of Mythology". In developing "Age of Mythology", Ensemble Studios decided to move away from the center of the "Age of Empires" series history, to avoid becoming stale and repetitive. This allowed them to work with new ideas and concepts.
Age of Empires III
"Age of Empires III" was the eighth best-selling PC game of 2005 despite its late release, and sold over 2 million copies by May 2007. It received a "Gold" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom.
Early history of video games
Throughout the rest of the 1960s, digital computer games were created by increasingly numerous programmers and sometimes sold commercially in catalogs. As the audience for video games expanded to more than a few dozen research institutions with the falling cost of computers, and programming languages that would run on multiple types of computers were created, a wider variety of games began to be developed. Video games transitioned into a new era in the early 1970s with the launch of the commercial video game industry in 1971 with the display of the coin-operated arcade game "Galaxy Game" and the release of the first arcade video game "Computer Space", and then in 1972 with the release of the immensely successful arcade game "Pong" and the first home video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey, which launched the first generation of video game consoles.
The Elder Scrolls: Arena
The Elder Scrolls: Arena is an epic fantasy open world action role-playing video game developed and published by Bethesda Softworks for MS-DOS in 1994. It is the first game in "The Elder Scrolls" series. In 2004, a downloadable version of the game was made available free of charge as part of the 10th anniversary of the series. Like its sequels, "Arena" takes place on the continent of Tamriel, complete with wilderness, dungeons, and a spell creation system that allows players to mix various spell effects.
Spacewar!
"Spacewar" is one of the most important and influential games in the early history of video games. It was extremely popular in the small programming community in the 1960s and was widely ported to other computer systems at the time. It has also been recreated in more modern programming languages for PDP-1 emulators. It directly inspired many other electronic games, such as the first commercial arcade video games, "Galaxy Game" and "Computer Space" (1971), and later games such as "Asteroids" (1979). In 2007, "Spacewar" was named to a list of the ten most important video games of all time, which formed the start of the game canon at the Library of Congress.
Jade Empire
Development of "Jade Empire" began in 2001 as a dream project for company co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, who acted as the game's executive producers. Their first original role-playing intellectual property, the game reused the morality system from "", but switched to a real-time combat system. The game's many elements such as its combat system, the world and script, the constructed language created for the game, and the musical score by Jack Wall drew influence from Chinese history, culture and folklore. Upon release, it received widespread critical acclaim. Its success led to the creation of the PC version, which provided the basis for future ports and itself met with positive reviews.
Empire Earth (series)
Empire Earth is a series of real-time strategy video games developed by Stainless Steel Studios and Mad Doc Software, and published by Sierra Entertainment, Activision, and Vivendi. The games in the series are historical RTS games that are similar to "Age of Empires". Rick Goodman, who designed "Empire Earth" and "Empires: Dawn of the Modern World", was one of the lead designers of "Age of Empires". The games use the Titan and Titan 2.0 engine, which was sold after SSSI closed.
Age of Empires (video game)
Sales of the game in South Korea alone reached roughly 150,000 units by 2000. According to PC Data, it was the United States' 10th-best-selling computer game during the January–November 1998 period. "Age of Empires" was a commercial success, with sales of 2.2 million copies by June 2001.
Age of Empires II
Prior to the completion of "Age of Empires", Ensemble Studios had signed a contract with Microsoft for a sequel. The design team chose to set "The Age of Kings" in the Middle Ages as a logical progression from the ancient era setting of "Age of Empires". The design team was conscious of attempting to capture the broad appeal of the first game without making the game's design too similar. Nonetheless, they attempted to appeal to the vast demographic who played "Age of Empires". "The Age of Kings"s design team intended to complete the game within a year by using code from the original and reusing the Genie game engine. Several months into the process they found they would not be able to complete a game of the quality they sought in that time. Ensemble Studios informed Microsoft they would need another year and instead created "", an easily developed expansion pack of "Age of Empires", as a compromise which could be released for Christmas 1998. To help meet the next year's deadline, additional programmers, artists, and designers were employed. To overcome another significant objection to "Age of Empires"—that of path finding—the team completely redesigned the game engine's movement system.
World Empire
World Empire is a turn-based strategy video game, published in 1991 by Viable Software Alternatives. "Risk" is similar to this game in that players compete to conquer the Earth country by country through military force.
Age of Empires
Ensemble Studios worked together with Big Huge Games to develop "The Asian Dynasties", "Age of Empires III"s second expansion. This was the first joint venture for both teams. The reason for them doing so was compatible schedules: Ensemble Studios was busy with other projects—particularly "Halo Wars"—while Big Huge Games' real-time strategy team had few projects at that time. Big Huge Games did most of the work, but Ensemble Studios designers Greg Street and Sandy Petersen joined in the brainstorming, and had control over the final product. Both studios had roles in testing the game before its release.