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| July 30 |
Beta applications break all records
Age of Empires II beta sign-up records more than 160,000 entriesThis gives everybody a meagre chance of 0.2% for getting a beta ... well considering everybody signed up for friends and family, too, a little more. Still, this number is amazing. However, the number of people who actually submit bug reports is always very low, and I suspect it to be even lower here - many people probably just signed up for a free game rather than software testing. (AFAIK the percentage of people submitting bug reports is somewhere around 5 - 10%.)
Microsoft announced today that it received more than 160,000 entries to become one of 300 beta testers for the highly anticipated real-time strategy game, Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. Sign-ups were offered at 30 online gaming sites, representing eight countries. Only ten gamers per site will participate in the Beta 2 phase of testing.
The beta contest was announced on July 16 at a record-setting chat celebrating Age developers Ensemble Studios' invite-only open house event. Hosted by the MSN Gaming Zone (http://www.zone.com), the chat featured Ensemble Studios Senior Designer Bruce Shelley, Lead Designer Mark Terrano, and Lead Producer Harter Ryan. After the chat, Bruce Shelley and John Romero of Ion Storm battled Ensemble Studios Game Designer Sandy Petersen and Chris Taylor from Gas Powered Games in the first ever Age of Empires II battle of the Kings. When the dust settled, Petersen and Taylor emerged victorious, taking the crown.
| July 23 |
Beta test - take two
No luck yesterday due to a web server that could not handle the load, or just want to increase the chance of getting a beta?
GameSpot Uk has a number of places in Microsoft Age Of Empires Sign up draw.The signs up will be open until Sunday 11:59 p.m. July 25th PST.
Winners will get:Take a look at our sign up page!"
- A beta CD of the game, the manual and other helpful information.
- MS Report Bug Reporting Utility software.
- Exclusive access to a private Age of Empires II newsgroup where the game developers will answer questions and provide tips and tricks.
- Exclusive access to the Age of Empires II MSN Gaming Zone beta lobby for multiplayer gaming.
- Participation in multiplayer tournaments against other beta testers and the development team.
| July 21 |
Beta test (finally) - sign up tomorrow!
"CONSUMER BETA TEST PROGRAM ANNOUNCED FOR AGE OF EMPIRES II: THE AGE OF KINGSFinally, the public beta test (well, a beta test is always public, otherwise it's an alpha test) we all have been waiting for more than a year. Don't miss it - and prepare for an overloaded web server :-)
Microsoft announced today that at an undisclosed time on Thursday, July 22, gamers will be able to sign up for the chance to be beta testers for Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings at www.microsoft.com/games/age2/.
A select group of 300 applicants will become exclusive early beta testers for this highly anticipated sequel developed by Ensemble Studios. Would-be contestants will want to check the site frequently, because the form will be posted at an unspecified time, in order to give everyone a chance to become part of the program.
By winning the highly coveted honor of being an early beta tester, winners will be able to experience the game's 13 new civilizations, each with unique units and attributes, months before it hits store shelves. The Age of Empires II Beta Test winners will receive:
- A beta CD of the game, the manual and other helpful information
- Exclusive access to a private Age of Empires II newsgroup where the game's developers will answer questions and provide tips and tricks
- Exclusive access to the Age of Empires II MSN Gaming Zone beta lobby for multiplayer gaming
- Participation in multiplayer tournaments against other beta testers and the development team"
| July 18 |
Age.gamesmania.com is back!
I have set up the new server for age.gamesmania.com, everything (particularly message boards) should work now. I still have to do some minor tweaking, such as renaming the AoE2 wish list to "discussion board" as it is a little late for new ideas, since AoE2 will ship at October.
The pages will again be updated, maybe not as frequently as earlier on (because I just don't have enough time anymore), but certainly whenever something important happens. I will also post new scenarios once I get the scenario testing going again. If someone is interested in handling the scenario testing, please let me know.
| July |
Some older stories...
I did not have time to keep the page up to date, but here are the most important things that happened in the meantime:
July 15: Joe Ybarra joins Ensemble Studios
"Ensemble Studios, creators of the award-winning "Age of Empires" game franchise, announced today that it has hired game industry expert Joe Ybarra. A 17-year veteran of the games industry, Ybarra brings a wealth of knowledge in both management and design to the already seasoned Ensemble Studios team. The news comes prior to a separate announcement being made by Bruce Shelley during a chat with fans on the MSN Gaming Zone (http://www.zone.com) tomorrow, July 16, at 6pm PST.
Ybarra's credits include being employee number five and one of the chief architects of Electronic Arts; vice president and executive producer at The 3DO Company; and head of Microprose's design studios in Austin, Texas. He has also produced more than 30 computer and video game titles, including such classics as "M.U.L.E," "Bard's Tale I and II," "Julius Irving and Larry Bird Go One on One," and "Starflight."
Ybarra will join Dallas-based Ensemble Studios as a Producer, where will be involved in the daily management and direction of Ensemble's current and future projects."
July 14: AoE2 beta tournament
"Bruce Shelley to Make Big Announcement During July 16 Chat on the MSN Gaming Zone
This Friday, some of the industry's top game designers will gather at Ensemble Studios to compete in the Age of Empires II "Battle of the Kings" multiplayer beta tournament. Ensemble's own Bruce Shelley and Sandy Peterson will battle it out against Ion Storm's John Romero and Gas Powered Games' Chris Taylor for top honors during the grand opening celebration of Ensemble's new studios in Dallas, Texas. The MSN Gaming Zone will post live pictures and updates from the tournament beginning at 6:30 PM (PDT) at events.zone.com/age2.
Prior to the tournament, the Zone will host a live chat with Bruce Shelley and Mark Terrano beginning at 6:00 PM (PDT), where an important announcement regarding Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings will be made to the fan community. The chat can be accessed from the Zone home page located at zone.com."
July 2: Mac port of AoE ships
"MacSoft, an affiliate of GT Interactive Software Corp. and the leading Macintosh entertainment software publisher, is bringing Age of Empires to the Mac platform.Sounds like Mac players cannot play against PC players and vice versa - which would be a needless incompatibility. Anyone knows more about that? Anyway, IMHO it is quite late now for a port, since AoK will be out in three months ... newer games are usually ported much more quickly (at least if a port is planned from the beginning on, and the code is written accordingly).
Features of the game include:
- Compete against opponents for the limited resources used to build and manage your civilization into a powerful empire;
- Direct a research path that leads to the economic, military or naval technologies best used to achieve game goals;
- Choose from multiple gameplay options including more than 40 preset scenarios, individual campaigns or randomly generated games;
- Build powerful armies from dozens of military units including warships, chariots and war elephants;
- Challenge a sophisticated and adjustable artificial intelligence for endless replay value;
- Conquer and cooperate with up to eight Mac players via LAN or Internet;
- Command one of 12 ancient civilizations - from Egyptian to Greek - all with unique attributes based on their historical counterparts."
The importance of the story in a game
I got this from a game related mailing list:
"I encourage anyone who is interested in game design to read this article put together by CNet Game Center with Marc Laidlaw (Half-Life), Will Wright (SimCity), Matt Householder, producer on Diablo and Diablo II (Blizzard Entertainment), and Josh Randall, producer on Thief: The Dark Project (Looking Glass Studios).It's worth reading, something that proves that crucial aspects of games go beyond a good graphics engine.
It's a 5 part article that covers "How important is a good story?", "The art of good storytelling", "How does the player become part of the story?", and emotions. Read it at gamecenter.com."
| September '97 - June '99 |
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