Encourage to dev, innovation is not easy

Age of Empires IV IV - Discussion
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Hello, everyone, I would like to say some good words for dev instead of criticizing.

Innovation is not easy and they did a good job till now.

I’m 41 years old now and when I was a student in university in 1999, it was first time for me to play AOE2 in computer. It’s my first game in life. I still remember how I love this game when all my friends were playing Starcraft 1. I could play it all the day through deep night.

22 years pasted, I played and bought all AOE games including AOE online.
I understand deeply that it’s not easy for AOE, for all of you, for the past devs. AOE has experienced a long way to AOE 4. Lucky for us all , we can still have it, play it.

I’m also not very satisfied when I saw the introduction movies. It really did not give me WOW and amazing. It is not better than I have imagined.
But I still want to thank devs. It’s not easy for them especially in these days.

  1. two hard choices for dev

When we decided to set up a new project game for AOE 4, we faced 2 hard choices：
One is to set up a new game for the time of WAR 2. In this way, AOE will come to a new times but I believe that few fans like that. we all do not like tanks full of screen. That may be AOE and may be not AOE. It will like another game.

Two is to set up a new game just like AOE Online and make it much more better than AOE Online. This way has even more risk. Most fans like RTS games not RTS + MMORPG games. It will lose many fans support.

Then, the ONLY way is to go back to set up a new game like AOE2, because AOE2 has many fans. But we can not set up a new game just the same like AOE2.

  1. Innovation comes, the devs make it

So I think that devs made a better choice for us all – add innovations to AOE2, make it better than AOE2 and use the age of AOE2.

thanks for those innovations appeared in the introduction movies. I think those innovations make AOE 4 is really different from AOE2

Maybe one day we played aoe4 and we got a conclusion: AOE 4 is much more fun than AOE2. It’s a different game and it’s better than AOE2 because those innovations in game mechanism.

  1. Still many improves to the make

like some fans, I also do not like the arrows, the big stronghold we MUST(?) build, the walls we must(?) build.

But I still think that devs did a great job and I really thank them for the hard works.

It’s not easy for them, Let’s give more encourage to devs, not criticizing them.

I believe they can do much more better and I belived AOE4 will be the best game.

Good luck and keep moving

8 Likes
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sure man you are right :+1:i myself fell so awkward when people critisize something
that doesn’t even exist specially when you see some other game getting best of the year awards years before people even know its concept( cyberpunk i mean btw)
i say we should start a trend #thankyoudevs
what you say?

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Meanwhile, creativity is for games kind of a bad thing like we see by Anthem or Crucible.

Apparently, if you are innovative these days, you put too many resources into a concept that is neither fun or even functional. Time is a resource that does sooner than later run out, so you can’t finish your game, as it has to be released to cover at least part of the development costs.

Dozens of teams did try, worked hard, had a lot of innovative and original ideas, were greatly supported and overrated, but in the end, it has been a while since we had a game that could be viewed on equal terms with C&C, Starcraft or Age of Empires.

You can’t make a product better just by random changing values.
It requires a clear concept of what needs to be done and improved.