Could AoE4 be Modern?

Jump back to quoted post22 Aug 2017, 04:25 AMFG127820

shows previous games' settings
"Together, we have battled throughout history..."
AoE IV
"Now, a new age is upon us..."

CoH3?

Edit: also https://www.linkedin.com/in/quinn-duffy-95311622/ Quinn Duffy is game director of AoE4. He didn't work on DoW3.

Jump back to quoted post22 Aug 2017, 05:10 AMSturmtigerCobra

Maybe

Jump back to quoted post22 Aug 2017, 05:10 AMSturmtigerCobra

Maybe

Jump back to quoted post22 Aug 2017, 06:44 AMHighfiveeeee

It probably will be WW2 I guess.
But honestly I do not know what to think about Relic developing it.

Jump back to quoted post22 Aug 2017, 17:50 PMFG127820

Hmmm keep in mind the page is quite old and still has Ensemble studios which has gone defunct. But then again the design could still keep in chronological order especially since the announcement trailer went through all the periods in order.

I'll wrap up with a nice one. Tell me a little bit behind the process behind how Microsoft decided to bring Age of Empires back. Had it been kicking around for a long time?

I want to give Shannon Loftis a ton of credit. Shannon's been in Microsoft Studios for a long time, and is somebody I've worked with and have a ton of respect for.

There's some franchises... it's interesting, as we're investing more in our first party, and we've looking at new IP in some of our existing franchises and things that do really well, Age is just one of those things that year after year on Steam, we see it continue to sell, even though the infrastructure that's underneath the game is creaking a little bit. The community's been there supporting it.

She said, you know, this is something we should bring onto our modern platform. Make it visually more up to speed. You're obviously not going to take that game and completely make it a 4K game and everything, but make it look something closer to modern. Support some of the Live features that we have. And then let's think about where this franchise can actually go.

We own it, so maybe it seems like we're talking about ourselves a little bit, but I think it's one of the important franchises in gaming, and I think it deserves a future.

It's the 20th anniversary. So this could be the start of the renaissance? That's how you feel about it?

I do. And I think the interesting thing is the community's been out there kind of supporting this game without us. And shame on us, right?

They crashed the website today.

[Laughs] I'm really excited. They crashed our website? I actually didn't see that.

Straight off the reveal. They had it back up quickly.

Good! Good. I was involved... I started working with Ensemble on Age 3, I think was the first one I as a studio manager was working with them on. That was a studio that had some real vision in what they wanted to do with this mix of history and RTS coming together. I think it's one of those franchises that deserves a great future.

Jump back to quoted post23 Aug 2017, 02:07 AMBasilone

The picture is Vietnam era if its to be trusted. Would not be surprised if game is WW1 -> Cold War, getting a pure WW2 AoE almost certainly not happening.

"As we go forward, if we wanted to do Company of Heroes 3 in 2190 we could," Duffy continued, "because we know what we want to do to make it feel like a Company of Heroes game."

Later, Duffy added: "We wanted to take the element of WWII out of the creative vision and focus for the game moving forward. It is setting-agnostic. Company of Heroes doesn't have to be a World War II game. You can set it in modern times in Fallujah, you could set it in the past."

Jump back to quoted post23 Aug 2017, 06:30 AMrobertmikael

Something like this could work and I would like it. First infantry from WW1 which can be upgraded, then the tanks that come in the end of WW1, and so on. But I hope the time span is 1914-1945 and the scene is Europe.

Jump back to quoted post23 Aug 2017, 02:07 AMBasilone

The picture is Vietnam era if its to be trusted. Would not be surprised if game is WW1 -> Cold War, getting a pure WW2 AoE almost certainly not happening.

Jump back to quoted post30 Aug 2017, 03:46 AMMittens

The fact that they are updating every other AOE to be 'Modern' or remastered leaves me to suspect a otherwise age, Vietnam into digital age is a possibility at this point. If we link back to what SturmtigerCobra said:

https://www.coh2.org/topic/62958/the-fall-balance-preview-has-been-put-on-hold-indefinitely/post/627434


Their acquisition of staff seems to also point to that as well including their art director who worked on (thank god) gritty modern/future style games. While Im not quite sure how it would play out but my hope is that hey find a cross of Empires:dawn of the modern world or Empire Earth for that matter. If we push the gap and go future we look for CNC and Starcraft as examples and its simply to tight of a market to get into at this point.

Jump back to quoted post30 Aug 2017, 21:52 PMTobis

I doubt they will go too far into new ages. The last game ended in something like the 1850s, I expect them to continue on from around there into about 1950. It'll get a little weird to see helicopters come in the last age and obliterate musketmen with impunity. The other AoE games tried to keep atleast some parity within the games.

Jump back to quoted post30 Aug 2017, 23:10 PMle_saucisson_masque

Thanks god, Quinn Dufy (coh2 project manager) is in charge of AOE4, so we can expect some high quality game...

Jump back to quoted post31 Aug 2017, 00:08 AMBasilone

kek

Jump back to quoted post31 Aug 2017, 14:10 PMNosliw

inb4 great britain reaches "ww2 era" and spams mortar pits around the map

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https://forums.ageofempires.com/discussion/comment/24343#Comment_24343
Relic's Quinn Duffy (Director for Age of Empires 4) and Carolina (also in Quinn's team for AOE4) made a stream in October for the 18th anniversary of Homeworld.
While playing Homeworld Remastered they answered community questions and some of them are related directly or indirectly to AOE4. I listened to this on a plane and the quality wasn't so good, but I put some of them down as best I could also with the timestamps if you want to better listen for yourself.

Video link: https://go.twitch.tv/videos/180165857

00:40:30

Will RTS games see a revival like in the 90s when we used to have tons of good RTS games?
Quinn: Yes, I think if you look at strategy right now, and you look at the super popular games, you see MOBA games. There's millions of people enjoying that simplified strategy games right now.
But i could see a return of the classics, else do you think we would develop Age of Empires 4? So I think there's a good possibility real strategy games come back.
I think things are cyclical, they improvised enormously in the 90s, and I think Relic is one of the few companies that do these kind of games.

Carolina: Whats interesting is that if you look on forums like Dawn of War's or Blizzard's you can see people saying we should go back to the roots of RTS when it was thriving in the 90s. Instead of establishing the genre for what is known, right now it is a genre that struggles to innovate within its own yard.
You have to make sure you only do the right amount of innovation without changing the formula, like you see in these remasters.

Quinn: Yes, and I think we have a very sophisticated audience who expects certain features to be in the games and you want to make sure those expectations are met, but also that you are trying to make them as accessible as possible.
Let's get people to be exposed to systems, to understand how they work, and have fun using these systems.

00:53:30

Do you think the old rock-paper-scissors is better then the current APM based system in strategy games?
Quinn: I think that is the challenge on executing a strategy has become, it is such a focus on micro control. Im definitely from the school of more delibirate strategy where you have time to take a bit of approach to the surrounding land. I like that [...] I'm not an APM guy because I'm not an APM player who can find success in that, I go for understanding the tactics and the game.
When you watch people playing some of the APM strategy games, if they make 1 or 2 minor failures, within a few seconds... thats it, they lose.

01:11:30

What lessons from Homeworld are you using in making Age of Empires 4?
Quinn: Story telling, having a passionate team as opposed to only game design, having the experience of working with Microsoft from back then (Impossible Creatures)

Carolina: Narrative value in the campaign, how you are structuring the missions, how you are telling the story with the use of cinematics. How important it is to create an ambience around what is happening, there is a lot that falls into the the ways how you manage audio and visuals to make it a memorable experience.

01:24:15
Wololo joke haha

01:27:00

About complexity and competitivity
Quinn: We want players to get to that strategy in a way that isn't limited by physical skill (reflexes/APM)

Carolina: With so many games coming out we need to make sure we make players stick to our game for as long as possible, so we want to build games that are complex, interesting and deep for the competitive players and the old community members. But at the same time we have to innovate on how we're teaching players to play the game, not as in making them so accessible as dumbing them down, but while keeping the game interesting for its established community we need to make them accessible for players who haven't played RTS games before and make it easier for them too.

Quinn: Yes, communities have a lot different players: competitive players, social players, modders, streamers/casters. You have all of these groups that didn't really exist when Homeworld was being made. These are new changes in the RTS game world. We kinda have to work with support, there's a lot there to design for a lot of audiences, to satisfy everybody.

01:37:15

How much are you playing Age of Empires 2?
Quinn: A lot! And all of them! We need to figure out as a player how the game works, what you're interested in, what you can use for inspiration, how they did hings, how we might change things.
What do you change, what do you keep, what do you need to modernise etc.

01:40:45

Have you worked on Dawn of War?
Quinn: No, I worked on Homeworld, Impossible Creatures, Company of Heroes 1, Space Marines and Company of Heroes 2.