"What if..." Thread

**Aurgelmir** · 03-21-2009, 14:52

Originally Posted by Aemilius Paulus

Nothing shocking or unheard of here. 0 AD. These chaps wanted to mod Age of Empires II, but then after getting frustrated by the limitations and harcodings of the engine, they went on to create their own game, from scratch. And the game is going to be entirely freeware.

Funny lads those are. I mean, I am just as glad that the game is going to be free as the next guy, but how is their project going to sustain itself?? Money would definitely help. Who knows, they might yet change... But fact is fact. Check out the Wikipedia link and perhaps do a Google Image search for the game. Very interesting.

Lol i checked the site....but when does it come out?lol i have found it

Any of have played Grand ages of rome?

**Aemilius Paulus** · 03-21-2009, 14:56

Originally Posted by Aurgelmir

Lol i checked the site....but when does it come out?

Hehehe. That is the great mystery. They have decided to take the Blizzard path of "it comes out when it comes out". Very wisely too. Deadlines are rotten. They have degraded the quality of innumerable games. Plus, this thing is freeware. People are not paid for it. They just get together and work whenever they can/feel like it.

Here is their official site. If you look at the screenshots of the units, they are almost as accurate as EB. Pretty splendid if you ask me.

EDIT: Oh, and here is their screenshot catalogue. Most impressive.

**A Very Super Market** · 03-21-2009, 17:29

Cool link!

As for money, I highly doubt that these guys don't have a job or something. Making a game engine from scratch is some pretty ballsy stuff, so I would expect at least a few of them would be programmers or something.

**satalexton** · 03-21-2009, 17:52

perhaps in the (far) future they should world with the EB team to create the ultimate historically accurate game .-.
Their engine making specialties+EB historians and skinners=WIN

**Silence Hunter** · 03-21-2009, 18:26

The largest problem I see in the gaming industry at the moment is oversiplifying and making "cool" games, instead of focusing on good and enjoyable gameplay, balance, historical accuracy and loads of other things which make a more mature gamer satisfied. Now their primary focus is to create cool game with uber graphics and sell it to 14 year olds (no offence here) to maximise their profits. More and more games are more like public betas after the release rather than a complete game. What is even more annoying that these "fixes" of the game are sold as expansion packs! And again everything is done for more money...

The only two companies I know off which doesn't follow this pattern are Blizzard and Bethesda. They have their large fan base and make games for them which take long to make, but are good and enjoyable to play.

This is why I think that the thing like merge of EB team into CA is as likely as the end of the world tomorrow... I just hope, well I know, that EBII will be awesome and worht waiting. Because EB team are even better then Blizzard or Bethesda as they don't seek any profit from what they are doing.

**Megas Methuselah** · 03-21-2009, 18:43

What if I answer before Aemilius Paulus? It is a likely possibility, after all; he types so slow.

**Aemilius Paulus** · 03-21-2009, 18:47

Originally Posted by Megas Methuselah

What if I answer before Aemilius Paulus? It is a likely possibility, after all; he types so slow.

Heh. You were pretty close there. Too close for comfort I daresay.

But anyway, lay off your humour. I am once again considering reporting your post. If you get another infraction, I know you will be banned. I have heard you yourself state that. Oh, and I type very quickly. My GWAM is over a 100. It is just that my posts are actually long and informative, unlike yours.

Well, I just had to respond, despite the fact that ignoring Micro Meth would have been wiser...

**Aemilius Paulus** · 03-21-2009, 18:43

Well, it is true that Blizzard is indeed unique, as witnessed by their marvellous games (none of which I play, sadly) and the lack of deadlines in Blizzard.

But seriously guys, check out that 0 AD game. They are very concerned about their historical realism. They also use numerous sources for their units skins, including Osprey books, and their units resemble the EB ones greatly. Their Roman units all have lorica hamata (no LS in the game!). There are Hastati, Principes, Triarii, Pedites Extraordinarii, Velites, and numerous other historical Roman units in the game. The game developers also made note of the fact that the Carthiginian elephants will not have mahouts, as historically, they did not, because of their rather small size. Now that is historical realism!

They are indeed serious. Their game is an RTS equivalent to EB, and it is going to be open-source, with no unbreakable hardcodings. The game is also freeware. It is basically anyone's dream, especially for modders. Also, the developers are also planning the release of another RTS, plus an expansion to 0 AD.

Seeing what they have done, it does not seem unrealistic to me that the EB team might do the same. The two teams might even consider merging. Now, that would be splendid.

**Macilrille** · 03-21-2009, 23:06

Originally Posted by Silence Hunter

The largest problem I see in the gaming industry at the moment is oversiplifying and making "cool" games, instead of focusing on good and enjoyable gameplay, balance, historical accuracy and loads of other things which make a more mature gamer satisfied. Now their primary focus is to create cool game with uber graphics and sell it to 14 year olds (no offence here) to maximise their profits. More and more games are more like public betas after the release rather than a complete game. What is even more annoying that these "fixes" of the game are sold as expansion packs! And again everything is done for more money...

Sounds familiar, can we say... "Windows"?

**Aemilius Paulus** · 03-21-2009, 23:46

Originally Posted by Macilrille

Sounds familiar, can we say... "Windows"?

Nah, their problem is that of bloatware. Basically, to earn profit, they always have to release an OS, for instance, every 2-4 years. So, to make something that is different they add better, RAM-draining graphics, as Silence Hunter said, but then they also add a hundred new features that only 1% of the computer users will ever use. Vista was a good example of this. Windows 7 is different. It actually has quite a bit of useful features. But still, Microsoft is running out of features. IE is encountering similar problems, but it is not so bad, as IE still has parsecs to go before it will reach the security of Firefox or Chrome.