Age of Ensemble, Part 2: Perfecting the Formula

12/17/2008 4:51 PM | 0 Comments | Page 4 of 5

Where Age of Kings could easily build on the original Age of Empires using only slightly improved technology, Age of Mythology departed from the previous games in some very important ways. First, it was 3-D, with a fully rotating map and units that looked even more realistic than the convincing 2-D sprites from the earlier titles. Animating the various monsters would prove to be a major challenge for the team. Though deeply enamored with the game, programmer Dave Pottinger is still not happy with how it turned out.

"[Age of Mythology] has the most interesting units and abilities. The Cyclops throw [Cyclops could pick up and toss enemies] was my idea. But it was very hard to do, and I didn't think we'd do anything like that again. It spawned a lot of other great ideas, like the Minotaur gore. But there were some shitty ones in there, too. The Sphinx [sandstorm] didn't work out right. The Anubite jump always sounded cool, but it didn't seem to work, either."

Age of Mythology was also the first Ensemble game to have a single, story-based campaign instead of a series of mini-campaigns insecurely tethered to an historical framework. Fischer credits the setting with establishing the need for a story.

"Relative to history, mythology feels more intimate and more concerned with parable. It's less about 10,000 Greek hoplites surprising the Persians at Marathon, and more about Zeus turning you into a turtle because you didn't show up for his wedding. We felt we could deliver mythology better with some story and characters."

From a gameplay perspective, AoM ratcheted up the difficulty by giving the player dual rock-paper-scissors mechanics to handle. In all Ensemble titles, certain types of units had advantages over other types: Spears would trump cavalry, which trumped archers, which trumped swords, which trumped spears. In further designating units as mortals, heroes or creatures, Age of Mythology threw another layer of complexity into the mix. Heroes would beat creatures who feasted on mortals who could swarm heroes; and some heroes shared characteristics with mortal military units. All of a sudden, the economic complexity of the game was matched by the combat model, which also varied significantly between the three unique cultures -- another novelty in an Ensemble game.

There were enough changes from the Age of Empires formula that ignorance about Age of Mythology was very prevalent, says Fischer. "I remember working E3 for Age of Empires III's debut. Jerome Jones and I were losing our minds at the number of people who described themselves as 'die-hard fans,' then said something like 'I've been waiting for another Ensemble game forever; why has it taken you so long? Age of Kings was forever ago.' We'd ask, 'Did you like Age of Mythology?' and the answer was almost always, 'Huh?'"

But Fischer rejects the idea that AoM was somehow a failure or less successful than Ensemble's other titles, blaming this perception on outrageous expectations for how many units could be sold.

"Within Ensemble lore, there's a famous meeting from the start of the project ... the initial sales projection was illustrated by shading columns representing the sales of Age of Empires and Age of Kings, drawing a line between these two columns, and then extending the line at the same 89 degree angle to arrive at a prediction for Age of Mythology. I don't think many people understood how much of an anomaly [in sales] Age of Kings was at that time."