SandyMan
VIP
(id: ES_Sandyman)
posted 10-19-09 01:52 PM EDT (US)
the latest incarnation of Ask Sandy. All questions are possible.
1) Who is Sandy?
A) Sandy Petersen, a designer at former Ensemble Studios. He was design lead on Rise of Rome, The Conquerors, and the Warchiefs. He was part of the design team on Age of Emipres II and Age of Empires III. He has worked on numerous other games, and has been in the digital game industry since 1988.
2) What is Sandy doing now?
A) He teaches game design at The Guildhall at Southern Methodist University.
3) What are Robot / Bonfire up to?
A) Sandy will not answer ANY questions about Robot or Bonfire's plans -- he knows and likes the people who work there, and wishes them well. They deserve the right to make their own press releases.
mocorongo
Skirmisher
posted 11-19-09 11:29 AM
EDT (US)
53 / 238
Can you share with us some of your preliminar ideas for Age IV? Assuming that it would be in WW I and WW II timeframe, some features of previous AoE games could not be suitable for this new "Age". What about planes, map size, "home city" and so?
SandyMan
VIP
(id: ES_Sandyman)
posted 11-25-09 05:01 PM
EDT (US)
55 / 238
1)Can you share with us some of your preliminar ideas for Age IV?
a)There is a highly competent team working right now on what I believe to be the next installment in the Age series. It would be out of line for me to speculate in any way on what they are doing. No doubt when they reach an appropriate time, they will release it themselves on their website robotentertainment.com
2)Do you like playing chess? Do you know about other variants different from western chess like shogi or chinese chess?
A)I like playing chess okay. MOST of the chess games I play are non-standard chess. I play Shogi, Korean chess, Chinese, Thai, and old fashioned forms of chess. One of my favorites is Tamerlane’s chess, which has an 11x10 board, and pawns shaped like miniature versions of the piece they promote into (thus, a mini-rook pawn promotes only into a rook).
3)I think that RTS should be a nice tool to test AI that emulate "human" behaviours, much more than developing brute-force, very deep algorithms for playing chess-like games
A)Everything I’ve read about chess AI indicates that the best chess computers don’t play at all like real humans. RTS AI, while not necessarily human-like at least tries to mimic us in some superficial ways.
4)Do you think that interesting progress in AI field can be achieved with RTS games to emulate human thinking?
A)Unlike most computer people, I don’t actually believe that computers will ever really emulate human thought, and furthermore I don’t think we should even try to get them to do so. Do we try to make sure that a rake is shaped like a human hand? Or that our cars move with human-like legs? Computers are machines that have wholly different purposes than being incompetent human mockeries.
SandyMan
VIP
(id: ES_Sandyman)
posted 11-28-09 04:28 PM
EDT (US)
57 / 238
Q) Robot is probably working on the next installment of AOE. My guess were right.
A) it's not a very deep or wondrous guess. Certainly it would be in MS's interest for a company like Robot to do the next Age game. But MS doesn't always do what is in their best interest, IMO.
legio1984
Skirmisher
posted 11-28-09 04:51 PM
EDT (US)
58 / 238
1)Do you think we'll see the "Home city system" again?
General_II
Skirmisher
posted 11-29-09 10:26 PM
EDT (US)
59 / 238
Any thoughts on Modern Warfare 2?
SandyMan
VIP
(id: ES_Sandyman)
posted 12-02-09 01:53 PM
EDT (US)
67 / 238
1)Do you think we'll see the "Home city system" again?
A)Any ideas or announcements about the next Age game need to originate from the team working on it. Not from me.
2)did Ensemble notice or take into account some ideas that people posted? Can you give us some example?
A)Ensemble was always very keen on watching the forums and seeing what was going on. As one small example, because people complained about unfair terrain in Age 1 & 2 (remember Hill Berries?), in Age 3 we had much less “randomized” maps to ensure fairness. As a larger example, people griped that there wasn’t much decision-making in early Age 2 – you just pumped out villies, picked berries, built houses, etc., for five minutes or so. So in Age 3, for better or worse, we ensured that there was something for you to do with the explorer & early shipments.
3)Would Robot be curious about the ideas people write on the design of the "new game" ?
A)I’m sure someone at Robot is monitoring the forums.
4)Why do the native and asian civs get cheaper "Veteran" unit upgrades (200w 100c instead of the European 200w 200c)
A)As a very minor incentive to play them
5)Did Ensemble ever consider fixing any of the editor bugs in a patch?
A)I can truthfully say that editor bugs were the very lowest priority of all for us to address in a patch.
6)Do you think it is possible that a sequel to Age of Mythology will be released some day?
A)I think it is unlikely
7)If you had to choose: AOM2 or AOE4?
A)Not enough information. Is AoE4 ancient times, medieval, or modern? Am I considering it as a player, or as a developer?
legio1984
Skirmisher
posted 12-02-09 02:05 PM
EDT (US)
68 / 238
Thanks again for your answers.
Q)I know you aren't working for Robot, but how could be improved the battle system in your opinion?
IlDio
Skirmisher
posted 12-09-09 04:15 PM
EDT (US)
71 / 238
While you were still working on Age III,
What did the Italian's home city look like?
Did you guys vote on the civilizations you wanted to use in the final game?
mocorongo
Skirmisher
posted 12-10-09 11:22 AM
EDT (US)
73 / 238
About portuguese: before the release they had a discovery age TC wagon besides the regular TC. They were OP on tests and you removed this TC wagon. Did you try other possibilities to nerf than, such as keep this inicial TC wagon and remove the ones they receive at each age up?