Relic working on Age of Empires 4

Age series creative director Isgreen presence at X019!:
https://www.reddit.com/r/aoe4/comments/du8dnf/age_series_creative_director_isgreen_presence_at/
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ishmae1/status/1193248897264541696

Re-post:

Fun facts, check dates:
1) CoH World Championship Finals Weekend
Saturday the 16th and Sunday the 17th of November
2) Microsoft X019
Confirmed AoE4 news and likely new Xbox GamePass announcements: 14.-16. November
https://www.xbox.com/x019

Do you believe in coincidence?

CoH2 giveaway 15-17 November:

https://www.coh2.org/topic/102093/another-big-coh2-giveaway-coming-next-weekend
https://www.reddit.com/r/CompanyOfHeroes/comments/duqihn/fresh_meat_for_the_grinder_is_on_its_way/

Yep, gameplay reveal dropping tomorrow. Here's a little twitter teaser I guess.

Gameplay reveal trailer; it's pretty scripted, and feels more like an in-game cinematic - and we never see the UI. Still, looks interesting.

Further thoughts; it seems a lot like AoE2, in terms of settings and teams (looks like Mongolia vs. UK?). That's somewhat surprising since we have AoE2, AoE2:HD, and now AoE2E, and because it seemed that each game in the series progressed the 'timeline' a fair bit.

Regardless, it'll be interesting to see real gameplay (i.e. with the UI, people playing 1v1, etc.).

So Relic isn't working on it anymore?

So Relic isn't working on it anymore?

Yeah, right? At the conference they said that the formed a new studio for AOE ( World's End or Ends).
What is Relics role now?
Weird stuff, at the end of the trailer, you can (still) see the Relic logo.

WTF?????

P.S. I did not get hyped from what I saw. I guess I was expecting something else, different Era maybe,
I don't know. I hope they make a good game anyway.

P.S.2 Maybe that means that Relic will soon reveal COH3? Hype

Not a particularly exciting gameplay reveal

I don't really see anything there that would not have been in say AOE2/3 except units on walls.

Not a particularly exciting gameplay reveal

I don't really see anything there that would not have been in say AOE2/3 except units on walls.

Yeah, it's not even really "gameplay" so much as it is "in-game footage".

Maybe they'll at least play more animations though compared to AoE3's units cheering that was always immediately interrupted by other orders

New interview with AoE4 creative director, Adam Isgreen.

"It's our promise that it is all real": After 2 years, Microsoft finally reveals Age of Empires 4:
https://www.gamesradar.com/its-our-promise-that-it-is-all-real-after-2-years-microsoft-finally-reveals-age-of-empires-4/

It's been over two years since Age of Empires 4 was first announced. Let that sink in for a second. It was revealed with a minute-long teaser trailer, and since then Microsoft has been tight-lipped as to what we should expect from the long-awaited revival of this legendary strategy series.

The curtain was pulled back today, as Microsoft revealed our first look at in-engine gameplay – showcasing British and Mongol armies going to war – and GamesRadar+ had the opportunity to sit down with Adam Isgreen, the creative director of the Age of Empires franchise. Our first question was, of course, where in the hell has the game been these last two years! Isgreen was only too happy to answer.

"What we decided on pretty early was that we were only going to show what we knew would deliver and that was kind of our mantra. So everything you've seen in here today – and we've hidden a whole bunch of little things in here that people will find as soon as they start to go through the trailer frame-by-frame," Isgreen laughs, explaining that the trailer has been captured from an early pre-Alpha build so we shouldn't look too closely. "But it's so important to us that everything you see in this trailer is stuff that you will see once the game lands."

"And as we go forward and start to show more – and there is a whole bunch of things we have not shown yet, and not just civilizations, but aspects of the game that people don't have any idea about yet – all of it's real, none of it is fake," Isgreen tells me, pulling attention to the army sizes, the battles atop walls, and numerous quality-of-life enhancements. "None of it's not going to be there. We don't want people to be like, 'oh, what happened to that Falcon that was circling around the Mongols; I can't believe they took that out!' Nope, it's all in. Wall combat as well, it's all in there – it's all in the game and it's all working, as of right now at least. As we continue through development and show more of it, it's our promise that it is all real. That's one of the reasons that it has taken so long to show anything new, we want to guarantee that we always show real gameplay."

Age of Empires 4 doesn't have a release date yet, but it is expected to launch for PC towards the tail end of 2020. We'll have more on the upcoming strategy game soon, and we can already confirm that it's looking bloody wonderful. Age of Empires 4 was built in a new engine for PC (sorry folks, it doesn't sound like a console version is currently in the works), with developers Relic Entertainment and World's Edge – a new internal Microsoft studio, created to help make this game the best that it can be – as well as numerous other partner studios, all coming together to ensure that this is a series revival worth remembering.

Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/dwfpt3/age_of_empires_iv_x019_gameplay_reveal/

So Relic isn't working on it anymore?

Yeah, right? At the conference they said that the formed a new studio for AOE ( World's End or Ends).
What is Relics role now?
Weird stuff, at the end of the trailer, you can (still) see the Relic logo.

WTF?????

P.S. I did not get hyped from what I saw. I guess I was expecting something else, different Era maybe,
I don't know. I hope they make a good game anyway.

P.S.2 Maybe that means that Relic will soon reveal COH3? Hype

Earlier this year, we announced that Age of Empires now has a dedicated studio as part of the Xbox Game Studios family. Today, we unveiled that our studio, led by Shannon Loftis, is named World’s Edge. Spanning multiple disciplines, our team of seasoned game developers is directing, guiding, innovating and caring for the legacy of Age of Empires. Working alongside development partners, we’re breathing new life into our previous titles with Definitive Editions like Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition launching today, as well as working on Age’s next chapter, Age of Empires IV.
Source: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2019/11/14/x019-age-of-empires-update/

or like SturmtigerCobra's quote :

Age of Empires 4 was built [...], with developers Relic Entertainment and World's Edge – a new internal Microsoft studio, created to help make this game the best that it can be – as well as numerous other partner studios, all coming together to ensure that this is a series revival worth remembering.
Source : https://www.gamesradar.com/its-our-promise-that-it-is-all-real-after-2-years-microsoft-finally-reveals-age-of-empires-4/

We know since April 2018 for sure that Relic works on another game but they didn't spit it out. ^^

r_benb : We have two projects in progress right now with teams who are really determined to prove our way forward with new ways of working. The plan is to show you that progress as those games progress, rather than tell you what it's going to be like today. Actions louder than words, and all that.
Source: https://community.dawnofwar.com/discussion/comment/85905#Comment_85905

r_benb : Well, AOEIV you already know. But both projects are heads down until they're ready to show off. I can't speak to their timelines more than that.
Source: https://community.dawnofwar.com/discussion/comment/85926#Comment_85926

After two years of waiting this is what we get:

AoE4 First Preview Behind A Paywall

https://www.gamestar.de/artikel/age-of-empires-4-preview-modernes-mittelalter,3351229.html
"Even before gameplay from Age of Empires 4 was released for the first time, we talked to the developers. AoE 4 becomes AoE 2 - in modern! (using google translate)"

• Age of Empires 4, set in the Middle Ages , offers the finest 3D graphics with height differences, and is set to set new dramaturgical standards in the real-time strategy genre with its story campaigns.
  

• GameStar talked to the creative minds at Xbox Game Studios about AoE4, got the first gameplay trailer in front of everyone else, and explained in the big preview what's new and promising in Age of Empires 4.

• We'll tell you the most important information about the new medieval strategy game: There are so many resources and ages, these are the new civilizations and they are so different.

• Also, after reading, you'll know why Age of Empires 4 does not have a release date yet - and why Microsoft and Relic took extra time to perfect the technique and engine.

In Age of Empires 4, there are large-scale medieval battles, the real-time strategy game packs the scenario and virtues of Age of Kings into the finest 3D graphics. GameStar Plus was allowed to see the trailer in advance and the developers with questions hole. Will that be the savior of the genre?

Sometimes it surprises me how popular GameStar is around the world . Anyway, Chris Rubyor, design director at Xbox Game Studios and new real-time strategy developer World's Edge, remembers Jörg Langer and Martin Deppe well.

For both of them have visited the game shops for the last 25 years, where Rubyor has been working on RTS pearls such as Command & Conquer, Star Wars: Empire at War and The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth.

Now Rubyor is awarding Age of Empires 4 together with Relic Entertainment, the creators of Company of Heroes, the finishing touches - and he's not the only developer involved in this mammoth project who made the genre big in the '90s and early' 2000s.

Age of Empires 4 will be like AoE2, but prettier
Adam Isgreen can not wait. He wants me to see the first AoE4 gameplay trailer before all the other journalists and viewers at the XO London event on November 14, 2019. Isgreen, Creative Director for the entire franchise, sits me the night before the show in a restaurant opposite, between us the appetizer plate. He pulls out his cell phone.

"Woe!" Threatens Shannon Loftis. The studio boss of World's Edge, Microsoft's new RTS division, can not believe it: "It's not okay to show the game to the very first person outside the studio on a cell phone!" Adam Isgreen grudges: "Yeah, okay, you want Probably will not see this beautiful 4K trailer on my small smartphone display. "Then they show me Age of Empires 4 on a laptop they brought along - and it looks like the best of Age of Empires 2 in modern 3D .

AoE4, however, faces a much more difficult task than all the old classics: it should bring the real-time strategy out of the crisis, modernize the mix of grassroots building and giant battles, awake a deep-seated genre and inspire millions of potential RTS players.

And for that Age of Empires 4 returns to the most popular scenario of the series: the Middle Ages.

The rest of the first preview cost money. Is this a joke?

Whatever it be intentional or not MS is hiding first AoE4 preview behind a stupid paywall. https://www.gamestar.de/ is clearly abusing this as "exclusive AoE4 preview".
This is terrible optics after 2 years of waiting!.
Abuse of fan passion? Not cool.

I could say more but MS want to play the long game?
Focus on talking with AoE fans and streamers/influencers first and almost.
Game journos/old guard do not sell games anymore and are on the way out.
Even EA executives now understand this, look at how Respawn Entertainment stealth launch Apex Legends.

Report: EA Paid Ninja $1 Million To Play 'Apex Legends', Which Is Way Too Little:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2019/03/14/report-ea-paid-ninja-1-million-to-play-apex-legends-which-is-way-too-little/

This is not organic growth but it shows the future of game marketing.
Streamers/YouTubers today are modern day rock stars to the younger generation of players.
Adapt or die!

What is Influencer Marketing: An in Depth Look at Marketing’s Next Big Thing:
https://influencermarketinghub.com/what-is-influencer-marketing/

or like SturmtigerCobra's quote :



We know since April 2018 for sure that Relic works on another game but they didn't spit it out. ^^

Thanks!!!

If Relic is no longer working on AoE4, And is working on an unannounced game that they have been creating since 2018. Maybe an email survey conducted in 2017 about the future Company of Heroes is in progress.

I think it's possible Relic was contracted to produce the engine for the game, then hand it off to the other studio for the actual gameplay.

My estimated timeline:
2012-2016 Team A : CoH2
2015-2017 Team B : DoW3
2017-2019 Team A : AoE4 engine
2018-2019 Team B : CoH3 preproduction
2020-???? Team A : CoH3 with new engine

This meshes with the fact that Relic has said literally nothing about the game, even at the game reveal. Makes me think they were working behind the scenes on backend engine work.

Full Gamestar AoE4 Preview:
https://www.reddit.com/r/aoe4/comments/dwuwe6/gamestar_age_of_empires_iv_preview_english/
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AewnQprFTVFps82Ne50CTNlyoQssDKKHzd52BW_H6mA/edit

pierrebrassau
Some really interesting bits:

There are four ages, but not all civilizations will advance through all four. It sounds like Mongols are stronger in the beginning (possibly able to build cavalry early?) but can only advance to the third age.

Melee units will switch to torches when they're attacking buildings (so you won't have a knight hitting a building with his sword).

There are special and hero units of some sort. Mongols have Khan units for instance, and one of their special abilities is sending an eagle to scout an area.

The developer didn't confirm but did suggest that the Mongols move around the map like nomads rather than building permanent settlements.

There are the four traditional resources, but not all civilizations collect them the same way or use them the same way.

Height plays a large role, with ranged units having a bonus when firing from walls or high elevation.

Seems like we will have AoK style campaigns, focused on historical figures, with Joan of Arc as an example.

The interviewer asked if Asia and Africa are included but the developer didn't confirm either way.

The card systems of AoE3 and AoEO don't seen to be included in multiplayer.

Age of Empires IV: Behind the Scenes:

The above video shows Game Director Quinn Duffy, Art Director Zach Schlappi, Creative Director Adam Isgreen, Community Manager Eliot Hong and General Manager Shannon Loftis

Age of Empires 4 has a “wide spectrum” of civs, from familiar to very different:
https://www.pcgamesn.com/age-of-empires-4/civilizations

It sounds like civilisations in Age of Empires 4 will be both new and familiar, with some behaving as series veterans would expect in terms of their tech trees and unique bonuses, while others will take a very different approach. That’s according to Age of Empires creative director Adam Isgreen, who spoke to PCGamesN at X019 about the upcoming game.

Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/dwr0jb/age_of_empires_4_has_a_wide_spectrum_of_civs_from/

Regardless, it'll be interesting to see real gameplay (i.e. with the UI, people playing 1v1, etc.).

AoE4 behind the scenes vid (0:43) you see Quinn Duffy playing with a minimalistic UI.


Zoomed in gameplay from the Behind the scenes:
https://www.reddit.com/r/aoe4/comments/dx7ial/zoomed_in_gameplay_from_the_behind_the_scenes/

IGN interview Adam Isgreen:

AoE4 First Gameplay Detailed Analysis (ZeroEmpires):

Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/aoe4/comments/dxc78d/aoe4_first_gameplay_detailed_analysis_zeroempires/