My Thoughts on the Future of Age of Empires IV

Age of Empires IV IV - Discussion
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Yes, you’ll find it’s legally tricky to bar employees from having booked Christmas holidays :stuck_out_tongue:

Very, very untrue hah. Hotkeys took a long time to build, but once it was built it was a completely customisable hotkey setup that they’ve continued to extend and fix issues with - bearing in mind AoE IV has a lot of binds.

Panoramic came out of camera concerns as well. Didn’t make everyone happy. Nothing ever does. We can debate the effectiveness of changes all day. But let’s not revise history and say they “didn’t even consider feedback”.

Without communication, nobody knows. But we’re not just getting variants, we’re getting the Crucible as well, so. That’s something at least, and something that could plausible demand more polishing.

Given that it’s handled by a completely separate studio, odds are that money would just vanish.

It’s better to treat that as a completely separate project. Even if funding comes from the same pool as whoever decides on AoE in general, at that level corporate folk see diversifying as better than re-investing in what’s already making them a return.

The draw of a new market is nearly always too much. The budget assigned to AoE would simply be reduced in absence of that project (guesswork, guesswork).

@EricaEstrelinaHill - r.e. game balance, it’s an important part of keeping a game going. Casual players may often say they don’t care about balance, but they feel it when it’s wrong. Or they’ll feel bored when they ideally shouldn’t.

That said, as I’ve said before, I think AoE IV focuses too much on the MP (and competitive) scene. However, at the same time, it’s the cheaper option r.e building out content for SP (or heaven forbid, improving the mod tools).

But what keeps people playing AoE II? Campaigns, surely? New civilisations, again. And MP. An active multiplayer scene keeps people playing. An active multiplayer scene requires ongoing balancing.

(and mod support also keeps people playing)

I think new civilisations would be a good proverbial shot in the arm for IV. I think releasing only variants in a DLC is going to cause pushback, even if they’re fleshed-out, innovative, and inherently good variants. There’s too much baggage associated with the concept (rightly or wrongly). And I like variants, personally. But the image of them is such that non-variant civilisations need to be included as well.

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i was specifically talking betas to launch day time window, just to clarify, on all points
the hotkey problem ofc wouldn’t exist if they actually made them fully rebindable from the get go

guesswork, but likely not far off

on the last point, thing is for the game every person will have different draw, the issue is if you prioritize 1v1 ranked and esports like aoe4 has been primarily you’re actively chasing only a small chunk of the potential buyers, and if that one focus isn’t spotless it just causes more damage
on campaigns specifically, aoe4’s issue wasn’t quantity, but lackluster replay factor, players like replayable campaigns, aoe2 is living proof of that, aoe4 holds your hand too much, restricts you more often than not, sultans ascent campaign is an exception, i won’t talk for historical battles as i never bought anything past the sultans ascent, but base game campaigns just can’t be played any other way than you do the first time around

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If they have a little decency the best they can do is release the code of the game, sell the IP
They do not like it. they do not care about it.
Sure!
Let another passionate and creative studio that love the game to treat it as it deserves

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EA released CNC code cause they’ll never do anything with it again
i don’t expect microsoft to do the same, too cagey for that

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Like Project Celeste Team
They took the flag on AoE Online
Its the best that could happen to the game since MS end of support

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project celeste is a gem

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A lack of action between two points close in time doesn’t mean the feedback was ignored, c’mon.

What changes would you reasonably expect in that timespan?

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a good example would be a proper hotfix for the number of launch day exploits instead of delaying them to the winter update then rushing that out the door introducing more exploits
it doesn’t have to be a giant season patch, but make more smaller patches instead, same quantity as it was when it finally released, but released in parts, part 1 for exploit fixes lets say, part 2 for new features, part 3 for balance, in the same window of time, to keep stuff thats already release ready from being stuck waiting for smt else

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I see this as production / management issues more than ignoring feedback. Relic are perfectly capable of Day 0 patches - they even did it with DoW III (and regular updates after that fact).

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didn’t they do one for DOW DE as well?

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What a beatiful and deeping thread. My compliments.

This also my opinion. Maybe i had highest expectations about AOE4.

And i would explain why i think why World’s Edge Is moving resources on a new AOE: Unreal Engine 5.

As you well expalined, despite its updates and optimizations, Essenge Engine has different problema and It doesn’t support latest graphic software as DLSS.

Relic have less developers than ever and i think they wanna dedicate people on their projects.

Also, there’s not a full modding support while Unreal Engine Is the most supported Engine in the World.

The latest Is running well also on RTS games and other developers choosen It for their Projects: the next Stronghold game Is developed with Unreal Engine and the latest Tmpest Rising Is moved by this Engine. Manor lords Is another example. (More than 3 milions copies for a titles developed by few people)

It less expansive developing in Unreal Engine than Essence Engine because only few developers know how using It.

Multiplatform strategy: Unreal Engine Is supported by the most of studios and editors.

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Hotfix less than a week after launch. Another planned for today (ish).

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I don’t think the medieval period have been a great problem.

I mean, AOE2de Is the most played game and World’s Edge thought to reach out also that fans with a new game set in medieval times.

But the mains problem, imho, were:

  1. The lack of functions (colore, for examples, diplomacy and more);

  2. a controversial graphic not so detailed as many people were waiting for. A minimal UI was a big problem too;

  3. Campaigns were not so immersive than other titles. They are more like documentaries. Well designed but aseptic. (For example there are not cinematica scenes or you are not playing as the historical characters. There are not dialogues between them and more);

  4. limited modding (there never been a mod to add Blood to the game, for example);

  5. lack of diplomacy or provocations. These last ones have been added more later but in a semplified version in comparison of what fans were used to see;

  6. developers tried to reach out single players and e-sport players at the same time but It seems they failed to satisfy either groups.

But this Is only my opinion.

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What kept me playing AOE II is the visual look, scenario editor which I use to create cities and music.

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If they use a new engine, it might not necessarily be a bad thing, but it’s clear that Age of Empires IV has already missed its chance.

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Debatable
AoE II DE has one of the best look on an Isometric 2D medieval RTS, besides using 3D sprites

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Sure, it is man
What a gem!
And they still are adding content to the game

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as long as you keep the post processed vfx within reason, stuff like map lighting color filters, bloom, vignette, animated fog of war, depth of field, i find it looks best with more than a few of these disabled and bloom tuned to lower %

defaults are way overdone on max

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but it doesnt perform well at 4K resolution. i think that AOE2-DE doesnt have truly full HD textures, at least it only has 1080P HD textures.

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Ehhhm no it actually does pretty fine in 4K
Just download “Enhanced Graphics Pack” DLC and Voila

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