110-456: AOE or AoE may refer to: Arts and entertainment [ edit ] Age of Empires , a series of real-time strategy video games, or the first game of the series Area of effect , a term used in gaming to describe area attacks Transformers: Age of Extinction , a 2014 film Organizations [ edit ] Assembly of Experts , an Iranian governmental body Alpha Omega Epsilon ,
220-768: A 60-week streak on the charts. 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, selling 3 million copies by 2000 and grossing $ 120 million in revenue. 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 . Game Informer ranked it
330-624: A Deck", which allows players to replace "Home City" shipments with improved alternatives. In Age of Empires II: The Conquerors the AI was given a high priority, the result being the "smart villager" feature, which was included in subsequent games of the series. After building a structure that stores or produces resources, smart villagers would proceed to collect resources related to the structure, such as crops from farms or ore from exposed deposits. Age of Mythology: The Titans lets players use an AI debugger when creating custom scenarios; players can change
440-463: A Roman praetorian . Some units were also available in the game to civilizations that never, historically, had them; hoplites can be trained by every civilization except Persia, and some middle-Asian civilizations can train Legions and Centurions , while Japanese Yamato can build triremes. The Town Center is one of the most important buildings in the game. Here villagers are created, and age advancement
550-602: A choice of 12 civilizations to develop from the Stone Age to the Iron Age . The expansion pack, The Rise of Rome , published by Microsoft on October 31, 1998, introduced new features and four new civilizations, including the Romans . Although the two games had contained many software bugs , patches resolved many of the problems. Age of Empires was generally well received, despite some highly negative reviews. GameSpot criticized
660-640: A closed beta for early February of that year. Betas ran on Steam and the Microsoft Store, with each beta session including a small piece of the game. The first closed beta session began on February 11, 2020, and ended on February 19, 2020. The second closed multiplayer session began on March 31 and ran until April 7. The game was released on October 15, 2020. On August 21, 2017, Microsoft announced Age of Empires IV , developed by Relic Entertainment . Microsoft's Executive Vice-President of Gaming, Phil Spencer , confirmed on June 11, 2019, that Age of Empires IV
770-548: A collection of scenarios which are completed in a linear fashion. The campaigns follow the history of the Egyptian , Greek , Babylonian and Yamato civilizations; there is also a complete campaign specially made for the demo version that takes place in the Hittite Empire. Aside from the campaigns, there is a game mode called " random map ", in which a different map is generated for each new game. Variations of random map, such as
880-618: A confused design, while Computer and Video Games praised the game as strong in single and multiplayer. The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences named Age of Empires the 1998 "Computer Strategy Game of the Year". For several years, the game remained high on the sales charts, with over three million units sold by 2000. The Rise of Rome sold one million units in 2000 and attained 80% as an aggregate score from GameRankings . In June 2017, Adam Isgreen, creative director of Xbox Game Studios announced Age of Empires: Definitive Edition at
990-561: A fan-made modpack made for The Conquerors , Age of Empires II: The Forgotten was an unofficial expansion that added a new campaign, playable civilizations, maps, and quality of service updates. The Forgotten was later developed into an official expansion with SkyBox Labs and Forgotten Empires, and in November 2013 The Forgotten HD was released by Microsoft exclusively for the HD Edition on Steam . A third expansion named The African Kingdoms
1100-635: A game of the same title to the PlayStation 2 around five years earlier than the DS version, but the game had little promotion, and sold poorly. On August 16, 2010, Microsoft announced Age of Empires Online , which was a free-to-play Games for Windows Live online game, it developed in collaboration with Robot Entertainment . It featured Free-to-play experiences via Games for Windows LIVE as well as: A persistent online capital city that lives and grows even when you're offline, Cooperative multiplayer quests, trading and
1210-465: A hardcover artbook . The last page of the artbook has a pictorial depiction of the series; the Roman numerals below each panel range from I to V, indicating the series would include an Age of Empires IV and Age of Empires V . Ensemble Studios employee Sandy Petersen said that the image "was total speculation on [their] part". In 2008, Microsoft announced they were closing down Ensemble Studios following
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#17328592738931320-502: A high notary award given in Alberta, Canada Anywhere on Earth (AoE), a calendar designation for UTC−12:00 " Axis of evil ", a term used by former U.S. President George W. Bush in his 2002 State of the Union address Western Sahara ( ITU letter code : AOE), a disputed territory on the northwest coast of Africa See also [ edit ] AEO (disambiguation) Topics referred to by
1430-408: A hint of Civilization ." While Computer Gaming World ' s Elliott Chin compared the game extensively to WarCraft II , he said that it has "great depth, and when compared to its real-time brethren, it has to be the most sophisticated of the bunch". GameVortex wanted less of a combat-oriented gameplay, but praised the modes of play, commenting that "the random map generation [...] really keeps
1540-430: A level-based system that lets you progress at your own pace. Premium content could be earned or purchased, such as access to blueprints and special items, as well as more quests and features. In September 2013, it was announced that the game would remain functional until July 1, 2014, after which it would be shut down due to the content being too expensive to maintain. On April 13, 2014, Age of Empires: World Domination
1650-493: A maximum of fifty units. Military units are produced at specific buildings relevant to their area. All sea units are created at the docks. Walls and towers are defensive fortifications ( Age of Empires was one of the first real-time strategy games to include walls strong enough to form a feasible means of defense). Farms are used to produce food. Granaries, storage pits, and the Town Center are used to store resources deposited by
1760-559: A mode to triple each unit's hitpoints and a tool to edit map sizes. Players choose to play as one of 12 civilizations: the Assyrians , Babylonians , Choson (Koreans), Egyptians , Greeks , Hittites , Minoans , Persians , Phoenicians , Shang (Chinese), Sumerians , and Yamato (Japanese). The civilizations are sorted into four distinct architectural styles, based on East Asian , Mesopotamian , Egyptian and Greek architecture, which determine their in-game appearance. Technology
1870-415: A remastered soundtrack, online multiplayer through Xbox Live servers and other gameplay improvements, such as better pathfinding. It was initially planned to be released on October 19, 2017, but was delayed until February 20, 2018. Development of the game was handled in partnership with Forgotten Empires and Tantalus Media . Age of Empires: Definitive Edition was released at first exclusively through
1980-452: A small area, and are especially effective against buildings and groups of units. The ballista is less damaging against buildings and units, but it fires faster and is cheaper than the catapult. Nautical units often play a secondary role, but can be essential to victory. Fishing boats are similar to villagers in that they can gather fish. Merchant ships trade resources from the stockpile and exchange it for gold at another player's dock, with
2090-919: A social and professional sorority for women in engineering and technical sciences Science and technology [ edit ] ATA over Ethernet (AoE), lightweight storage area network protocol Audio over Ethernet (AoE), the use of an Ethernet-based network to distribute real-time digital audio Acute otitis externa , an infection of the external ear canal Transport [ edit ] Airport of entry , an airport that provides customs and immigration services American Orient Express Fast combat support ship (US Navy hull classification symbol: AOE); see List of United States Navy oilers Automatic train operation over European Train Control System; see European Train Control System Other uses [ edit ] Alberta Order of Excellence ,
2200-425: Is completed, more advanced technologies may become available. Some technologies are not available to certain civilizations. Technology plays a very important role in the strategy of the game. As a civilization progresses through the ages, technology becomes more and more expensive, which makes collecting the necessary resources to research them difficult. As a consequence, balancing the workforce of villagers across
2310-555: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Age of Empires Age of Empires is a series of historical real-time strategy video games, originally developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios . The first game was Age of Empires , released in 1997. Nine total games within the series have been released so far as of October 28, 2021. Age of Empires focused on events in Europe, Africa and Asia, spanning from
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#17328592738932420-545: Is researched at specific buildings, to which they are generally related; for example, religious research is done in temples and improved armor is researched in the storage pit. Technological advances come in many categories, such as military upgrades (better arms and armor for units), economic upgrades (increasing the efficiency of resource gathering), religious upgrades (faster conversion rates and more abilities for priests) and infrastructure upgrades (stronger fortifications and more resilient buildings). As basic technology research
2530-538: Is researched. Most scenarios have each player begin with a single Town Center; the ability to build multiple Town Centers is unlocked by the construction of the Government Center during the Bronze Age . The Town Center provides population support for four units. In order to build more units, houses must be constructed. Each house supports four units, and although any number of houses can be built, they can only support
2640-778: Is to collect resources, cutting down trees for wood, mining for stone and gold, and hunting , foraging , farming or fishing to acquire food. Villagers can construct buildings and repair both buildings and naval vessels, and are capable of engaging in hand-to-hand combat when necessary. Priests are non-combat units which can heal allied units or "convert" enemy units (in which case the target unit changes allegiance). Infantry units, such as clubmen , swordsmen , and hoplites use melee combat to attack at short range. Mounted units include chariots , cavalry , and war elephants . Archers, mounted or on foot, attack at range. Siege units are of two types: catapults and ballista . Catapults hurl stones which generate blast damage, affecting all units in
2750-491: 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
2860-443: The Age of Empires series has been developed and improved regularly by designers. AI specialist Dave Pottinger noted the development team gave the AI in the original game a very high priority, and spent over a year working on it. He said that the AI in the game relies on tactics and strategies to win, instead of "cheating" by giving bonus resources to itself, or tweaking its units to be stronger than normal. Pottinger later noted that
2970-406: The Age of Empires series team took great pride in their AI playing a "fair game" and didn't know what the player was doing and had to play by the same rules as its human opponents. Age of Empires allows players to choose to play either along specialized, story-backed conditions or as individual battles against the AI (and other players). Choosing to battle against the AI – rather than following
3080-475: The Bronze Age , but focus on mythology as their themes, rather than history. Age of Empires , released on October 15, 1997, was the first game in the series, as well as the first major release from Ensemble Studios . It was one of the first history-based real-time strategy games made, utilizing the Genie game engine . GameSpot described it as a mix of Civilization and Warcraft . The game gives players
3190-601: The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2017 . It features overhauled graphics with support for 4K resolution , a remastered soundtrack, and other gameplay improvements, and was planned to be released on October 19, 2017, but was delayed until February 20, 2018, when it was released on the Microsoft Store . On May 30, 2019, Microsoft announced that the Definitive Edition would be coming to Steam , along with
3300-480: The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2019 . He confirmed that the Definitive Edition was being developed by Forgotten Empires, Tantalus Media , and Wicked Witch Software . He announced that the game would feature new 4K graphics, Xbox Live support for multiplayer, exclusive achievements, four new civilizations ( Bulgarians , Cumans , Lithuanians , Tatars ), three new campaigns, a new spectator mode and tournament features, and additional quality of life improvements. It
3410-846: The English , the French , the Holy Roman Empire , the Mongols , and the Rus . This title revisits the Middle Ages and incorporates several features and mechanics of Age of Empires II that were changed or removed in Age of Empires III . Like other Age of Empires games, Age of Empires IV has received several new civilizations in updates. Recent updates have added the Ottomans , Malians , Byzantines , and Japanese , along with several variants of civilizations already in
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3520-561: The Red Bull Wololo: El Reinado Age of Empires II tournament achieved the second-highest viewership in the game's history, with a peak of 85,800 concurrent viewers. The event, held at the Castle of Almodóvar , Spain , featured eight top players, including TheViper and Hera, who won the final 5-1. This marked a 12% increase in peak viewership compared to the previous series, reflecting the growing popularity of Age of Empires II in
3630-400: The Romans , Palmyrans , Macedonians and Carthaginians . Four new researchable technologies have been added. Additional new features include five new units, four new random map types, and a larger map size option. Pathfinding for all units is also considerably improved. New music was composed for this expansion, which replaced the original score entirely. After the last official patch by
3740-452: The Stone Age ( Mesolithic / Nomad / Paleolithic ), the Tool Age ( Neolithic / Chalcolithic ), the Bronze Age and the Iron Age . Advancement between ages is researched at the Town Center, and each advancement brings the player new technologies, weapons, and units. The game features four single-player campaigns in which the player is required to complete specific objectives. Campaigns are
3850-708: The Stone Age to the Iron Age ; the expansion game explored the formation and expansion of the Roman Empire . The sequel, Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings , was set in the Middle Ages , while its expansion focused partially on the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire . 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
3960-544: The Windows Store and met with mixed or average reviews, with a weighted score of 70 out of 100 in Metacritic . PC Gamer gave the game 60/100, calling the game "solid remake of a game past its time". GameSpot gave the game 6/10, praising its 4K graphics and upgraded soundtrack, but criticizing old problems still persisting. In May 2019, Phil Spencer , head executive of Microsoft's Xbox division announced to reverse
4070-779: The esports scene. Age of Empires (video game) Age of Empires ( AoE ) is a real-time strategy video game based on history , 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. Originally touted as Civilization meets Warcraft , some reviewers felt that
4180-524: The 2000 and 2001 "Computer Strategy Game of the Year" awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, respectively. In April 2013, Age of Empires II: HD Edition was released on the Steam digital distribution platform for Windows operating systems. The HD Edition includes both the original game and the expansion The Conquerors , as well as updated graphics for high-resolution displays. Originally
4290-432: The 81st best game made in its 100th issue in 2001. They called it a cross between Warcraft and SimCity and praised its multiplayer and its popularity among gamers. Game Revolution categorized the game as "a cross between Civilization II and Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness ", while GameSpot lamented that it was "a simple combat game rather than a glorious empire-builder", describing it as " Warcraft with
4400-673: The Definitive Editions of both Age of Empires II and Age of Empires III . 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. On August 24, 2000, Microsoft published
4510-602: The German market totaled 115,000 units by the end of September, and the VUD raised Age of Empires to "Platinum" status, for 200,000 sales, by November. At the 1999 Milia festival in Cannes , Age of Empires took home a "Gold" prize for revenues above €15 million in the European Union during 1998. It remained at 14th on Media Control's charts for the German region by January 1999, continuing
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4620-664: The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, El Cid , and Attila the Hun . Age of Empires III and its first expansion, The WarChiefs , take place during the European colonization of the Americas . Its second expansion, The Asian Dynasties , 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, The Titans , are set during
4730-415: The Year "). Age of Empires was a runner-up for Computer Gaming World ' s 1997 "Strategy Game of the Year" award, which ultimately went to Myth: The Fallen Lords . In June 2017, Adam Isgreen, creative director of Microsoft Studios announced Age of Empires: Definitive Edition at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2017 . New features include overhauled graphics with support for 4K resolution ,
4840-415: The Year" award. The editors wrote that it "added whole new campaigns, refined rules, and a fresh new gaming experience for a title that was already highly regarded." In the United States, Age of Empires debuted at #7 on PC Data 's computer game sales rankings for October 1997. It secured places eighth and 13th the following two months, respectively. By the end of 1997, Age of Empires totaled sales in
4950-439: The ability to double click a single unit and highlight others of the same unit-type, balancing damage done by catapults , and the option to increase the population limit beyond 50 (only in multiplayer games). By installing the 1.0a update from 1999, it is also possible to use the period key to cycle through idle villagers. The Rise of Rome also features a new Roman architectural design , shared by all four new civilizations,
5060-440: The amount of gold earned being relative to the distance between both docks. Transport ships carry land units from one area of land to another. As well as attacking enemy ships, warships can be very effective in attacking land-based units close to the shoreline (because melee units cannot fight back). Warships come either as galleys which fire arrows or triremes which launch bolts or boulders (very effective against buildings near
5170-574: The completion of Halo Wars . Some of its employees would form a new team as part of Microsoft Studios . Kevin Unangst, director of Games for Windows , denied it was the end of the Age of Empires series, telling The San Francisco Chronicle "we're very excited about the future potential for Age of Empires ". Edge confirmed, in an interview with Microsoft's corporate vice president of interactive entertainment, Shane Kim, that Microsoft continued to own Age of Empires and that they had plans to continue
5280-420: The country above 178,000 units, for revenues in excess of $ 8 million. This performance made it the United States' most successful real-time strategy game during late 1997: a writer for PC Gamer US noted that its sales surpassed the combined totals of rivals Total Annihilation and Dark Reign over the same period, and were over four times greater than those of Myth: The Fallen Lords . Age of Empires
5390-510: The decision on releasing Age of Empires products exclusively through Windows Store and committed to releasing them on Steam as well. On August 19, 2019, Age of Empires: Definitive Edition re-released with a new client on both the Windows Store and Steam, with cross-play available between the two platforms. Existing Windows Store players need to manually download the new client in order to receive game updates and multiplayer compatibility. At
5500-403: The decline. Another 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 . The fourth main installment in the series, Age of Empires IV ,
5610-413: 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
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#17328592738935720-504: The developer, the game's community continued the support by an own-made unofficial patch to address remaining issues and to improve compatibility with modern hardware and OSes. According to Microsoft, The Rise of Rome demo received one million downloads from its official website alone by April 1999, and another 350,000 from CNET 's Download.com. Sales of the game reached 1.2 million copies by June 2001. The Rise of Rome won Computer Games Strategy Plus ' s 1998 "Add-On of
5830-605: The end of May, it had spent 28 consecutive weeks in Media Control's top rankings, with placements of fifth and eighth that month. Age of Empires proceeded to become the fourth-best-selling computer game in the German market during 1998's first nine months. It received a "Gold" award from the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD) in August, for sales of at least 100,000 units across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Sales in
5940-453: The events between the Stone Age and the Classical period , in Europe and Asia. Its expansion, The Rise of Rome , follows the formation and rise of the Roman Empire . The Age of Kings and its Nintendo DS spin-off follow Europe and Asia through the Middle Ages . The Age of Kings ' expansion pack, The Conquerors , is set during the same period, but also includes scenarios about
6050-661: 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
6160-438: The faulty AI programming. Elliott Chin criticized the game's population limit, which he thought to be its "most serious grievance". While noting the similarities with Warcraft II , PC Gameworld praised the uniqueness of each playable civilization, and noted that the "graphics are extremely detailed and have a hand-painted feel to them. It's rare to see a game this beautiful with such detailed unit movements." Game Revolution
6270-500: The feature was compared to a role-playing game character by Ensemble Studios. The first expansion to Age of Empires III , The WarChiefs , was released October 17, 2006. Most gameplay changes in the expansion pack were small, but it introduced three new civilizations, with a focus on Native Americans . Most notable was the introduction of the WarChief unit. The second expansion, The Asian Dynasties , went on sale October 23, 2007. It
6380-418: The game failed to live up to these expectations when it was released. Despite this, it received generally good reviews, and an expansion pack , titled The Rise of Rome , was released in 1998. The game is now generally regarded as one of the best video games ever made. Both the original Age of Empires and the expansion pack were later released as "The Gold Edition". The first sequel, Age of Empires II ,
6490-510: The game on October 30, 2002, and its expansion, The Titans , on October 21, 2003. The Titans featured the Atlanteans as a new civilization. Its campaign is shorter than previous expansions, and centers on Kastor , son of Arkantos, who falls for the lies of the titans and frees them from Tartarus . Age of Mythology sold more than one million units in four months. It scored 89% on Game Rankings and Metacritic. The Titans failed to equal
6600-437: The game progresses; for example, trees that are cut down will not grow back. Twelve civilizations are available, each with individual sets of attributes, including a varying number of available technologies and units. Each civilization has technologies unique to them, so that no civilization possesses all the technologies possible within the game. A major component of the game is the advancement through four ages. These are
6710-404: The game spiced up." GameSpot decried the level of micromanagement necessary to control the game (which was due to absence of production queues and low AI of the player's units) calling it "a poor idea", which "seriously diminishes [ Age of Empires ' ] enjoyability." GameVortex echoed this criticism, while PC Gameworld pointed out the subsequently released patches improving some of
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#17328592738936820-529: The game was made possible using the Scenario Builder . This tool is simpler and easier to learn than comparable editors used in more modern games, but it has fewer capabilities as a result. Ensemble Studios used the Scenario Builder to make the single-player campaigns which shipped with the retail game. Various unofficial sites exist where custom scenarios can be submitted and downloaded. In late 2005, it
6930-456: The game, Game Revolution emphasized the scenario editor, which "allows you total control in the design of scenarios and campaigns", a "tool at your disposal to create a scenario exactly to your liking." Next Generation reviewed the PC version of the game, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "Having been in development for nearly an eternity, Age of Empires has largely delivered what
7040-509: The game: the Ayyubids , Jeanne d'Arc , Order of the Dragon , and Zhu Xi's Legacy. Age of Mythology shared many elements of gameplay with the main series, and was considered a part of the series, despite its different focus. The campaign in Age of Mythology tells the story of an Atlantean , Arkantos , and his quest to find why his people are out of favor with Poseidon . Microsoft published
7150-490: 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
7260-518: 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. GameSpy awarded Age of Empires III the "Best Graphics" award at GameSpy ' s "Game of the Year 2005". 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
7370-439: 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. The artificial intelligence (AI) used in
7480-468: The impact of the series. In a GameSpy interview, he explained that parents would "tell Ensemble Studios that their kid is reading books about ancient Greece because they enjoy playing with the triremes so much, or that they want to check out books about medieval history because [the] game taught them what a trebuchet was". Shelley has said that the key to the success of the games was its innovation, rather than imitation of its peers. He also claimed
7590-489: 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. Angelo Laudon served as the coding lead and Matt Pritchard led graphics and optimisation. Age of Empires was mostly written in x86 32-bit assembly code totalling approximately 13,000 lines, similar to that of RollerCoaster Tycoon 1 . This
7700-440: 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
7810-530: 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
7920-402: The real world). Building a wonder also greatly increases a player's score, which is beneficial in "score" games. Players typically make it their top priority to destroy enemy wonders, especially under Standard Victory conditions. For this reason and because a wonder is relatively easy to destroy, a wonder must be well-guarded at all times. Age of Empires (under the working title Dawn of Man )
8030-410: 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" at
8140-408: The release of Age of Mythology the praise continued, and the fourth release, Age of Empires III, garnered even more. GameSpot praised the improved graphics in the second release, Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. Eurogamer welcomed its introduction of female villagers as compared with the original male only version. Allgame praised the advanced grouping and path-finding systems in
8250-611: The resource-heavy " death match ", are also available. 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 Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings . The creation of user-made scenarios or series of scenarios (campaigns) for
8360-533: The sales success of Age of Mythology , although critics rated it highly. Backbone Entertainment developed Age of Empires: The Age of Kings as a turn-based game for the Nintendo DS . Majesco Entertainment published the game on February 14, 2006. It is similar to other turn-based games, such as Advance Wars , but with a gameplay based on its PC counterpart . Age of Empires: The Age of Kings scored 80% on Game Rankings and Metacritic. Konami brought
8470-403: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title AOE . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=AOE&oldid=1214560859 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
8580-423: The same time, Microsoft announced that they shipped over two million copies of The Age of Kings . In 2003, Microsoft announced the sales of one million copies for Age of Mythology . By 2004, prior to the release of Age of Empires III , the Age of Empires franchise had sold over 15 million copies. On May 18, 2007, Ensemble Studios announced that two million copies of Age of Empires III had been sold. Games in
8690-407: The second release. Despite the improved graphics, Allgame complained that units in Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings were at times difficult to distinguish from one another, a point numerous reviewers agreed on. Nevertheless, Game Revolution wrote that the second release was "the best looking of the 2D RTS games out there right now". The graphics continued to improve in Age of Mythology and
8800-498: The series have consistently scored highly on video game review aggregator websites GameRankings and Metacritic , which collect data from numerous review websites. As noted in the adjacent table, the highest rating game is Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings , receiving a 92% score from both sites. Critics have credited Age of Empires for influencing real-time strategy (RTS) games such as Rise of Nations , Empire Earth , and Cossacks . Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
8910-708: The series. However, Bruce Shelley wrote in his blog that he would not be part of any new studios formed. Following the announcement of remastered editions of previous games, Microsoft announced Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition on August 21, 2017. On May 30, 2019, the company revealed that the Definitive Edition would come to Steam in the future, along with the Definitive Editions of both Age of Empires and Age of Empires II . On August 28, 2020, Microsoft announced at Gamescom 2020 that Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition would release officially on October 15, 2020. On January 23, 2020, Microsoft announced
9020-408: The settings of computer players and make them act according to certain patterns. More basic changes to the AI had previously been available in the series' first two games. The graphics and visuals of Age of Empires improved with each successive release. From the original release to the second, Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, noteworthy improvements gained praise from several critics. With
9130-414: The shoreline). Unit types are identical, regardless of civilization (though certain civilizations may have improved variations of these units). So, for example, a Korean Choson broad swordsman is identical to a Persian or Phoenician one, as are bowmen, axemen, short swordsmen, cavalry , and so forth. Some armors and clothes are historically inaccurate, with the long swordsman bearing more resemblance to
9240-404: The storyline – allows the AI to adapt to players' strategies and even remember which games it won and lost. The AI eventually overcomes players' strategies and easily destroys their villages after several games. For instance, in Age of Empires III, this is referred to as playing a "Skirmish". However, Age of Empires III allows players to refine their strategies further against the AI by "building
9350-511: The team used instruments such as " bagpipes and field drums" to give it a realistic feel. 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
9460-429: The time, reviewers expected "something really new" and rated it harshly. 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. In 2024,
9570-405: 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
9680-462: 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
9790-624: The updated graphics engine and the inclusion of the Havok physics middleware engine. The game is set in the period between 1421 and 1850 , and players can choose one of eight European nations. The game introduced a large number of features, such as home cities . Described by Ensemble Studios as "an important support system to your efforts in the New World", home cities help provide the player with resources, equipment, troops, and upgrades. They can be used across multiple games, and upgraded after each battle;
9900-422: The various resources can make the difference between victory and defeat. Players control a variety of civilian and military units. Most units can be upgraded through research (e.g. faster gathering for villagers, stronger armor for military units, and longer range for archers). Land-based units are the most prevalent in gameplay. Villagers are the most basic units in Age of Empires . Their primary function
10010-495: The villagers. Wonders are enormous monuments representing the architectural achievements of the time, such as the Egyptian Pyramids . They require huge amounts of resources to build and are constructed very slowly. Wonders can neither produce units nor conduct research. In scenarios with Standard Victory conditions, a player can win by constructing a wonder and keeping it from being destroyed for 2,000 years (about 10 minutes in
10120-498: 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. The Age of Empires series has been a commercial success. As of 2008, five of its games have each sold more than one million copies. According to Gamasutra , Age of Empires had sold more than three million copies, and The Rise of Rome sold one million copies as of 2000. Around
10230-504: Was "one of the best looking games, much less an RTS game, that is out on the market currently". It sold more than two million copies, and won the GameSpy "real-time strategy game of the year" award. The WarChiefs failed to equal the success of its predecessor, with a lower score on both Game Rankings and Metacritic, and The Asian Dynasties' score was lower still with 80%. Several collectors' editions of Age of Empires III included
10340-404: Was a hit in the German market, where it debuted at #1 on Media Control 's sales rankings for the latter half of October 1997. After holding this position in the first half of November, it remained in Media Control's top 5 through the end of 1997. The following year, Age of Empires placed consistently in the top 3 through March, when it rose again to #1 in the last two weeks of the month. By
10450-416: Was a jointly developed product; Big Huge Games helped Ensemble Studios develop the game, with Brian Reynolds joining Bruce Shelley as lead designer. The game expanded the Age of Empires III universe into Asia, and introduced three new civilizations. Reception towards Age of Empires III was mixed; Game Revolution described it as "about as much fun" as a history textbook, while GameZone argued it
10560-632: Was also influenced by the series: it utilized the Genie game engine , as Age of Empires and Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings had, and was considered by critics to be a very close replica to the games; IGN began their review with the statement "I love Age of Star Wars , I mean Star Empires . Whatever it's called, I dig it." and GameSpot wrote that "fundamentals of the Age of Empires II engine are so intact in Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds that veterans of that game can jump right in". In October 2005, Shelley commented on
10670-486: 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. Age of Empires
10780-484: 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 November 30, 2016. On August 25, 2014, Age of Empires: Castle Siege 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 . The development phases of
10890-490: Was discovered that by modifying various data files, units present in the beta versions of the game could be made available in the editor. Some obscure units include a spaceship and a hero that changes ownership when units move near it. Through data editing, the rules of unit placement can also be modified. This allows units to be placed on any terrain and on top of other units, which creates new possibilities for design. Other significant discoveries include new terrain templates,
11000-519: Was done so that sprites could be loaded faster which was faster than other RTS rivals like StarCraft . Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome is an expansion pack for 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 . It was officially released on October 22, 1998. Gameplay-wise, the expansion introduced numerous interface tweaks, such as unit queuing,
11110-408: Was impressed by the amount of different units of the game, and noted that the developers "obviously did [their] research here, and the result is a well rounded, historically accurate product (at least for a game)". The soundscape of the game was also criticized, with GameVortex stating that "the oral clues just aren't enough to let you differentiate just what's going on." With a view to the future of
11220-490: 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. He created
11330-405: Was praised by a majority of reviewers. IGN ranked the graphics in this third release "a joy to watch ... awesome". GameSpot agreed, also rating the graphics nine out of ten. Game Revolution also agreed, and PC Gamer stated that the graphics in the third release "are packed with detail". The trend in improved graphics continued well into the next release, Age of Empires III, much to
11440-399: Was promised by Civilization co-creator, Bruce Shelley, and his team at Ensemble Studios." The game won numerous awards, including Gamecenter 's 1997 "Game of the Year", and tied with StarCraft for " PC Strategy Game of the Year " at AIAS ' inaugural Interactive Achievement Awards (it also received nominations for "Computer Entertainment Title of the Year" and " Interactive Title of
11550-540: Was released by Microsoft in November 2015, also exclusively for the HD Edition . A fourth expansion entitled Rise of the Rajas was released on December 19, 2016. On August 21, 2017, Microsoft announced Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition . In June 2019, Adam Isgreen, now the Franchise Creative Director for Age of Empires , shared more information regarding the Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition at
11660-462: Was released in 1999. Age of Empires: Definitive Edition , a remastered version of the game, was released on February 20, 2018. 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
11770-407: Was released on November 14, 2019. Bert Beeckman, co-founder of Forgotten Empires, confirmed on June 12 that Age of Empires II: HD Edition would not be removed from sale after the release of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition . Age of Empires III was released on October 18, 2005 and was built on an improved version of the Age of Mythology game engine with the most significant changes being
11880-459: Was released on October 28, 2021, also focusing on the Middle Ages. The Age of Empires series has been a commercial success, selling over 25 million copies. Critics have credited part of the success of the series to its historical theme and fair play; the artificial intelligence (AI) players have fewer advantages than in many of the series' competitors. The games in the series focus on historical events throughout time. Age of Empires covers
11990-609: Was still in development, with more information coming later in 2019. On November 14, 2019, gameplay footage of Age of Empires IV was shown at the X019 event. It showed medieval warfare between English and Mongol forces. Age of Empires IV was officially released on October 28, 2021, with eight civilizations available at launch: the Abbasid Dynasty , the Chinese , the Delhi Sultanate ,
12100-457: 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
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