AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN AOKH Ladder Contest: 8 Free Pass’s to the MFO $4000.00 AOC Tournament....RESULTS Posted 10/31/2002 @ 7:32 PM EST by Dark Side of Day
Results of the AOKH Ladder Contest have been posted in the Forum. Find them ---->HERE!
The names of the winners will be passed on to MrFixit from MFO. He will contact you through your Email. So make sure your Email is correct as listed in this thread.
The Players who have played the most AOKH Ladder Games between Friday October 25 to Wednesday October 30 are.....
I've seen a few comments and questions about bombers and how powerfull they are in the game. If you head on over to the Beta screenshots gallery you can see the effects of a bombing run from a single airport. Pretty devastating. If you view the images through the gallery's slideshow capability you can sort of get a mini movie of what has happenned.
It's been a blast these last few months working with Thunder and more recently Theta here at AoMH, and the work I've done here at HG has been very rewarding in itself...hell, the last two years I've spent in the great community here at HG have been fun. I do have to admit it's a little strange to be taking up the position of two people I've worked alongside of for the last eight months and be taking a more active role in the site's direction than ever I've had to before...but despite how new this all is, with the support of the great staff here at HG and especially here at AoMH, I'm sure I'm up to the job. ;)
So now with Theta's departure, I invite you give your best regards in the forums! Good luck Theta, we hope you have tons of fun working with the Asheron’s Call team!
On behalf of HeavenGames, I would like to extend our congratulations to Angel Theta, who is now the Community Relations Manager for Asheron’s Call II. She will be working for Arbuthnot Entertainment Group, who has worked with Microsoft’s gaming communities for the past 5 years. She joins the exclusive club of former HeavenGames staffers who have gone on to work in community-related positions in the gaming industry.
To focus on her new duties and the expected “marketing blitz” as Asheron’s Call 2 nears release, she has stepped down from her seraph position at Dungeon Siege Heaven, and interim seraph positions at Age of Kings Heaven and Age of Mythology Heaven.
Theta brought to HeavenGames her extensive experience in gaming community relations and marketing. Her involvement in fan-site communities began in 1999 as a genre writer for Gamers.com, and went on to become a news editor for MrFixitOnline. In addition, she also served as worldgamefederation.com’s Marketing Officer before forming a tight knit community called “The Gamer’s Box” with the help of fellow expert gamers.
Her involvement with HeavenGames began in 2001, when she took immense interest in Microsoft’s “Dungeon Siege” during E3. It was there yours truly met Theta, and the idea for Dungeon Siege Heaven was born. In September 2002, HeavenGames promoted Theta to manage our flagship sites, Age of Kings Heaven and Age of Mythology Heaven, taking over the duties left behind by Thunder, who went on to become the Community Relations Manager at Big Huge Games.
We would like to thank Theta for her work at our sites during her tenure at HeavenGames.
We have chosen three HeavenGames staffers to take over the duties of managing each of Theta’s three sites. These three individuals have accepted the challenges and responsibilities of managing each of our sites. They are extremely dedicated, hard working volunteers that have gained the respect of many. Please welcome:
DSoD (Dark Side of Day) – Forum members at Age of Kings Heaven will instantly recognize his name, for he has managed the highly successful Age of Kings Heaven Ladder for the past year.
TSD (TheShadowDawn) – An avid player, TSD has provided constant content updates and news for Age of Mythology Heaven since Feburary of 2002. His goal is to dominate the world, someday.
DireWolf – The founder of Wildfire Games, the developers of the upcoming game “0 a.d.” and a successful design team focused on modpacks for various games including Age of Kings, DireWolf joined Dungeon Siege Heaven 4 months ago to take care of their design community.
We would like to wish them all good luck in their new jobs!
The results of the last poll at the official site has been posted. The question was "In multiplayer, which world difficulty do you primarily play?", and here are the results:
Regular 38.2% Veteran 30.9% Elite 30.9%
Total number of votes were 748, and the new question is "How many times have you played through multiplayer world with a new character?".
GameZone's weekly giveaway this week is a copy of AoM. All you have to do is fill in your location, gender, age, and contact email address. If interested, you can sign up here.
Actiontrip have reviewed AoM, giving it a score of 83. The reviewer, while impressed by the game has got some very significant misconceptions about it, which seemed to lower his opinion of the game. He slams ES's balancing efforts a lot in the article, and biased as I am, (I mean, I work on an AoM fansite for god's sake) I really think the reviewer is way off on some of his points. Forumer mattpeckham has in fact started a thread offering his views on the review, which you can drop by to comment in.
In any case, he's generally positive about the game. You can find the full review here.
I know many of you have been waiting a long time for this, but your patience is about to pay off! In the Music portion of our MEDIA section, you can read our exclusive five-part interview with AoW2 composer, Mason B. Fisher. Here's a snip!
HeavenGames: In the music industry, is there anyone you've looked up to or tried to emulate?
Mason B. Fisher: In the early days of playing guitar, I really tried to emulate Randy Rhoads, Jimmy Page, and Eddie Van Halen in my rock compositions. With my scoring, I would have to say that John Barry is my favorite composer. There are a whole group of composers who are a close second.
HeavenGames: Why music for games? How and when did you become involved with this industry?
Mason B. Fisher: Music for games allows a composer the opportunity to really explore creative musical themes that may not work in other areas of the music industry. Especially with games, anything is possible regarding the type of environment that you have to work with. As far as becoming involved, several years ago, I began to send out demo tapes of my music. The first job I landed was Eye of the Beholder 3 by S.S.I.
If you are musically inclined, be sure to stop by the Misc. Downloads section to grab a PDF file that contains the sheet music for the title song in AoW2, "The Age of Wonders."
After you read the interview, you can ask Mason your own questions in our AoW2 General Discussion Forum, where he posts under the username, "The WireHaired."
The Fossil Collector's Club is going to be giving out a beautiful gem in a contest! Sign up today to get the beauty.mmm.. jewelry. :D
"Fossil Collector's Club is celebrating the silver anniversary of the Force with a giveaway of a one-of-a-kind autographed 25th anniversary Star Wars watch set."
For those who have been waiting patiently, our good (though overworked) Seraph and Lawgiver Angel Draco has announced
I have the mammoth 5 part interview... IN HAND!
I have the PDF file... IN HAND!
However, it's 2:11 AM right now and I'm about to pass out at the keyboard. I have a County Board meeting tomorrow night that will probably go late so look for an extra special Halloween Treat.
Mason sent me the score on 13 legal size sheets, so I reduced them in size using a photocopier, and then scanned them at a high resolution. Zen converted it to a single PDF doc and I think it turned out as good as it possibly could.
For those who haven't been waiting, or don't know what he's talking about, it's the music score by composer Mason B. Fisher, aka "The WireHaired" for Age of Wonders 2. You can read all about it here in the Website Comments and Anouncements Forum.
Meanwhile, don't forget that all day Thursday, Halloween, Farman the Barman of The Prancing Pony Inn in The Hall of Wonders Role Playing Forum has planned his own special treat for you. That's right, despite Farman's inexplicable absence the past few days (the statue in the garden swears it has nothing to do with it) the party is still on. That's free ale, plus spookie cookies, BTOOIC doughnuts and other weird things for anyone showing up in costume as their favorite hero/villian, adventurer, or comic character. Just remember, this is not so much a "come as you are" party, as a "come as you'd like to be" party. So come as you aren't, and share the fun.
For anyone who didn't keep up with all 10 fan site exclusive screenshots that were released over the past few days, you can now view them all in our Official Screenshots Gallery.
Just a quick news post; TTA has completed their unit section with the addition of the Norse units, along with the age advancement techs for the heroes of each civilization. They have also uploaded a few screenshots of the demo for those that have yet to complete the download.
Michael Askounes of PC Gameworld has released a preview of the Rise of Nations Beta. He has some pretty good things to say about the game including this quote.
The preview build of the game that I played takes one part Civilization and one part Empire Earth, throws them together with a dash of beautifully rendered graphics, and adds a sprinkle of solid tactical gameplay. It is then tossed gently with a ton of multiplayer options, and served over a steaming plate of addictive gameplay that is sure to delight the ravenous appetites of PC gamers everywhere.
Check out the full article to learn more about what he thinks of the game as well as get some interesting insights into the world of marketing Betas.
GameSpot has revised it's earlier preview of Rise of Nations with new information from the marketing beta as well as a number of new screenshots.
It will be instantly familiar to those who have played Civilization or Age of Empires, but with its larger scope and unique focus on expansion and research, Rise of Nations should have enough to set it apart from the rest.
It's a pretty good read, so be sure to check out the full article
Avault has weighed in on the screenshot mania with a dozen new pictures from the Rise of Nations Marketing Beta. Most look like they came from the tutorials that were available in the game and if you look close you can see some Roman soldiers in one of them. Very cool.
For some time now, a group has concentrated on making a Wheel of Time siegelet and well, they are in the need of some more people.
"hey, we at WOT-DS(Wheel of Time - Dungeon Siege) are in serious need for some members, mainly a good skritter or two, but we need all other kinda of members too. we are hoping to intergrate lots of new interesting features in our mod such as horse riding and whole new character development system among others, that will require some skrit work, and as always need help with mapping, modeling, sound, 2d graphics and anything else you think u may be able to help us with. E-mail me(KHB) at chieflongshlong@hotmail.com or go to our site for more details."
Well, I don't think there's much more for me to say... =)
MFO's blue_myriddn has written up a guide on the Norse god Thor. Thor has some of the more unique economic bonuses in AoM, but using them right may take a little bit of experimenting. If you want some ideas, then head over and check out his writeup, which contains a thorough rundown of ways to best use the god powers, units and techs at his disposal.
Just a quick post; the units section has been updated to reflect statistics in the final version of AoM, not the marketing beta. (Also by popular demand, I've added the Son of Osiris and Nidhogg units into the section.)
The game on the most wanted list is finally out as a demo! I know what you're saying.. :p Well, SWGB was made with the genie engine, which was provided by ES, whom made AOM, so it's only right to say something about the makers who started it all!
"Control a civilization from the Greek culture and play through three ages of time. Expand your civilization and control mythological creatures to help you defend your empire."
Gamer's Pulse has completed their review of Art of Conquest, the expansion to Empire Earth. The review is about a page with only a score at the bottom: "Overall Score: 20". Here's an excerpt:
However, these interesting new powers are only accessible in multiplayer EEAC games, so your solo gaming will not benefit from this added gameplay aspect. I am sorry to say that with the exception of these new powers, there is nothing significant added to multiplayer gaming.
It seems the Doctor (reviewer) wasn't too impressed with the expansion pack. While I don't disagree too greatly with most of what he says, I have to show that the expansion pack does feature a much improved Multiplayer Interface which he makes no mention of. You can read the rest here.
Also, the links and reviews page have been updated featuring newer sites, removing old ones, and list of expansion pack reviews. Please send me an email if you think anything is missing.
No doubt you're scrambling to get in line to download the demo right now, but ign.com have just posted 5 new movies of AoM, ranging in size from 5 meg to 12 meg. The movies are of the first few scenarios in the singleplayer campaign. If interested, you can find them here.
Some exciting news for everyone, fileplanet is hosting the AoM Demo!!! The demo is 337 megs, so what are you waiting for! Get going! There might be a huge line up if you don't have a subscription with fileplanet, and over 700 people have downloaded it already!
"Control a civilization from the Greek culture and play through three ages of time. Expand your civilization and control mythological creatures to help you defend your empire."
It's taken me a little longer than I expected, but I have finally managed to get pictures and descriptions for all 32 of the Unique Resources in the Marketing Beta. I must say that the detail on these in the game is fantastic. Diamonds sparkle and Uranium even has a cow skeleton in it. There are a few that don't appear to be done so I did not publish their picture, but given the quality of the current ones I am sure the rest will be fantastic. Something to note before you take a look, these resources and their bonuses are subject to change and it is entirely possible that some might not even make it into the final version of the game. So hold off on planning those strategies for just a little bit.
Now you can go check them all out on our Resource Page. Enjoy!
COSSACKS HEAVEN GSC's American Conquest Delivers Spain's History Posted 10/29/2002 @ 4:24 AM EST by Angel ET
GSC has always offered Spain as a formidable power. Those of us who played Cossacks have enjoyed the experience in dealing with Spain's powerful conquering ability.
In the all new American Conquest, Spain again is and has to be one of the main Civs. Our highly esteemed developers have given us some background, a fantastic History refresher course about Spain's era of dominance in the Americas. Go to the link Here and read all about Historical Spain.
Lord Gordon has referenced this link on the forums too..a good place to discuss the subject in detail.
Forumer TheTophstarted a debate about his woes with the Egyptian culture. Ensemble designer Greg "Deathshrimp" Street dropped by to give a few interesting tips about them:
Use the Barracks units like popcorn. Make several Barracks and keep the units coming out fast. Don't, however, make the mistake that some players make of making 20+ Barracks. That's just wasting money.
Egyptians build slowly, but they group build faster than Greeks (the diminishing returns are higher for Greeks) and empowering helps a lot.
Always build Monuments. Egyptian Favor comes in very fast with 4-5 Monuments. You may not be able to train an army of all Petsuchos or Pheonixes, but you should be able to add them to any army.
Decide whether to switch to Migdol units or not. If you are going to stick with the Barracks units, you will need even more soldiers and you want to look for the Mythic Age upgrades like Greatest of Fifty.
You probably will run out of Gold. Caravans are your friend, and you can even empower the Market.
Use your towers. Building forests of them like AOK isn't so effective, but adding a few to every cluster of Barracks or Migdols can help a lot.
Barracks cost a fair amount of Gold, but Siege Works don't. Don't ever wait for a Catapult to be trained if you can just make more Siege Works.
Remember your fishing ships can build their own Docks!
If you have your own thoughts about the Egyptian culture, head over to TheToph's thread in the forums.
AoMH was apparently not the only site to recently undergo a redesign. Both MrFixitOnline AoM and AoM Holland both did so. MFO simply changed their color scheme, but AoM Holland redid a good portion of their site. Besides changing their site and forum design, they updated several sections of their site. Go ahead and check out the new looks each site sports, they both look great.
RISE OF NATIONS HEAVEN Reynolds on Ron part 5 - Game Settings To Victory Conditions Posted 10/28/2002 @ 5:35 PM EST by Obsidian
Apolyton has released their fifth installment from an interview they had with Brian reynolds earlier this year.
The fifth edition of a detailed interview with Brian Reynolds, President of Big Huge Games, about his company`s upcoming debut title, Rise of Nations, has been posted on Apolyton CS. This edition hones in on the aspect's of customizing your in-game world, numerous victory conditions to strive for, and some odds and ends including just who in the world is "Hot Sauce Boy
Seems like we're getting a reputation for being late...but here it is: The Stronghold:Crusader Heavenly extension.
For this opening we feature a fairly extensive interview with FireFly's Darren Thompson which should tell you some things you didn't know.
I'd like to thank Darren and the Stronghold staff, of which I'd like to thank our latest members, Sulis and Ztolk in particular, for the help and effort made in getting this information up.
You can expect a few more extensions in the coming days (weeks?) but we hope you enjoy whats here by now.
The layout, for the time being, is as follows. On the main page, you will see a bar on the right side of the game showing you the content that is Crusader specific. Once you click on any of the links it will bring you to a Crusader page, with a sandy center, a Crusader navigation bar on the left, and Richard grinning at you in the upper left hand corner. The original crusader pages are either cross-linked where relevant, or can be reached through the main page (click the title graphic) They are recognisable by their dark center and the Wolf looking down on you.
Our very own Wok updated his Mod Guide to a splendid little package. It's divided into four sections which thoroughly explain the mod editor. Even I learned few new things! :{
Modding with the new mod editor is fairly simple, as long as you know what you are doing. This tutorial teaches you an overview of the editor and also descriptive instructions on using it. It is also aimed at people with no past modding experience and no advanced computer knowledge. Enjoy!
Just RPG has written a preview of AoM, based on the marketing beta that they received. Apparently, the writer of the preview was originally not very satisfied with the previous Age games. However, when he played the beta, he was converted into a fan. Sounds like the game is pretty darn good, if you all hadn't already realized that ;-)
"...Having played, but not enjoyed as much as I would have liked, Age of Empires 1 and Age of Empires 2, the previous games from the same developer, I was not expecting to find any major differences when I installed the marketing beta from their latest game. Yet, after a week of intensive gaming with the beta, I became a huge fan of their latest game, Age of Mythology (AOM). The previous games in this series used a 2D graphics engine while AOM uses a new and stunning 3D graphics engine that has been over three years in the making. Where the 2D graphics engine limited the story-telling capabilities, the new 3D graphics engine used in AOM is able to bring the mythological world to vibrant life with interesting scenarios and cutscenes that are a highlight of the carefully crafted story-rich campaign. Join me now as I recount some of the experiences from the 15 scenario campaign included in the beta..."
Rise of Nations Heaven has received its pair of exclusive screenshots from Big Huge Games. Click on the images below to see the 1600x1200 Big Huge versions.
We've also added a brand new Beta Gallery to our Screenshots section. Within it you can find 14 new screenshots from the marketing beta. We'll be adding more as time goes on, so keep checking back to see what other new shots may have arrived.
The latest set of exclusive screenshots has shown up at Planet Rise of Nations. The first gives us a nice shot of some very interesting architecture. I believe it is Turkish, though I can't be sure. You can also see what looks like a revised version of a supply wagon. The second shows a battle between what I believe are some German Vandals and Roman Legionaires.
We have a new article in the Game Info Section from today, Heroes. This gives details of the Heroes, their blessings and benefits.
Many of the blessings and benefits have now been quantified, for example :
what extra goods you get from the different "increases production" blessings
how much extra tax money you get with Confucius in the city
what Mencius does when he blesses Trading Stations
what Sun Tzu does, or doesn't do, to forts
Researching and writing it has certainly given me some new ideas on how I might use the different Heroes in the future, I hope others find it useful too.
For all of you Mac owners who are looking forward to getting the expansion pack for Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds, hold on to your Kaadus because it’s coming soon to stores! Like the PC version, it will include over 200 new units and a bunch of brand spanking new campaigns.
Looking to expand your Star Wars universe? Well, the search is over because the battlefield just got bigger! Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns, the explosive expansion pack to Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds, allows you to choose to play as the breakaway Confederacy of Independent Systems or the Galactic Republic in 14 missions based around characters, vehicles and locations from Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones.
The crew over at Through The Ages has updated their useful unit section with the units used by the Greek culture. They have also fixed any bugs or errors they found in the Egyptian section.
As all of you may know, the Modpack community here is striving like crazy. Forumers, being inspired by Ykkrosh's modeditor take on the challenge of creating new characters and new graphics. Some interesting mods as listed are the: "Dead Bodies Mod" created by Cerrabore, the "Exar Kun Mod" created by our very own kowe_el_ewok, and the growing "Nebulon B Frigate Mod" being composed by Galactic_Warrior. Keep up the great work guys! It looks a lot better then my stuff. :)
An all new upcoming comic from our favorite Star Wars comic publisher, Dark Horse Comics, came out with their first issue of their Jango Fett comic book. Hopefully, it will unreveal the widely wanted secrets and mysteries behind Jango Fett's mysterious past. This could prove as some very, very interesting Scenario Editor material, with the new units and eyecandy objects available in the CC expansion and all.
"Written by LucasArts' own Haden Blackman, Jango Fett - Open Seasons offers an in-depth look at one of the most exciting new characters from Attack of the Clones, and details the beginning of the infamous Fett legacy -- one that would come back to plague the Rebellion a generation later."
BHG has informed us that the soundtracks we posted yesterday from the Marketing Beta were no longer present in their current version of the game and were actually low-quality placeholders that they had been using. Most of them have already been cut from their production plans and as a result, we have removed them from our website. We apologize for the inconvenience.
KingAllDat is hosting a new AOKH Festival. The Franks are a great civ that do not get played as much as they should be. KingAllDat has posted a thread pointing out all the great things that the Franks have to offer! Find it it ---->HERE
Play as the Franks in any AOKH Ladder game during the Festival and recieve 1 extra point for victories and lose 1 less point for a loss. ( You can not lose less then 1 point )
The festival will be starting October,28,2002 and ending November 2,2002.
Continuing his series of articles on the different factions in Rise of Nations, One_Dead_Angel takes a look this week at Germany.
The Germans originated from tribes that migrated from the Baltic towards present day Germany around 500 B.C. By 100 B.C. they came into contact and conflict with the Roman Empire as they continued south and the Romans North. They, unlike other barbarian tribes, managed to stay the Roman advance. In this spirit, the Germans in Rise of Nations possess a line of superior heavy infantry as their unique unit. Starting in the ancient age with the Solduri, and progressing to the Barbarian, to the Vandals and onto the Landsknecht in the Gunpowder Age. In the modern era Germany emerged as a military power. This inspires Rise of Nations to give the Germans a bonus in gold and wood collecting, submarine costs and air unit production. Using a strategy called Blitzkrieg, tank warfare came to the fore. German advances in Tank technology resulted in the development of one of the most powerful tanks produced during World War Two, the "Tiger". It should come as no surprise that this achievement is represented as a unique unit in Rise of Nations. In the Information Age their unique tank line continues with the Leopard main battle tank.
Be sure to check out the full article and take a look at previous Nations of the Week on our Nations Page.
The third pair of Big Huge Games' exclusive fan site screenshots has been released over at Apolyton. The first shows a naval battle where you can see one of Rise of Nations' really cool graphical features. Ships reflecting in the water. The second shows a battle between a number of British Churchill tanks and German Tiger tanks.
The Toque, "Canada's source for humour and satire", has posted a..."story"...about Dungeon Siege and Chris Taylor.
Taylor, CEO and lead designer of Gas Powered Games, then got into an argument with Mark's father, who was angry about the "Gaming God's" refusal to put his signature on the Diablo-style game.
"They wanted me to sign a copy of the game," defended Taylor, who was at The Software Boutique promoting Dungeon Siege. "No, I mean an actual copy, burned onto a CD-R! I only intended to sign originals at this promotion."
Our very own TheShadowDawn has written an article concerning the 3 Norse civilizations and how they compare in early games. It presents some very interesting information, and is a good read.
"...This started out initially with my curiosity about the best way to utilise Thor's bonuses. I decided to play out several short games as Thor, note down the achievements I made, and then compare them to how I went with the other norse civs. So that's what I did. I played four games as each, and noted down my achievements, and then averaged them. I'm pretty sure I made a few slipups in putting the numbers through the calculator, (and I'll be damned if I go through them again) but you get the idea.
No, I'm not perfect - so these include mistakes for moving resource gathering, idle TC time, etc.
These times are averages from four games taken from a cutoff time of just after 6 minutes. Most of the time by that stage, I'd have one or two longhouses, two or three hersir, plus my starting ulfsark. Depending on how fast I got the longhouses up, I also had up to 2 raiders and TA's..."
Scenario designers and mapmakers, please remember to save your work often. Just hit the save button every ten to fifteen minutes or so. If you can't remember, write the above title of this news post on a piece of paper and stick on the side of your computer monitor to remind yourself.
It is very hard on the creative spirit to lose hours of work due to map corruption or unforeseen events like power outages. So, just save your work as often as you can.
For more on this and other important things to take note of when working on a map, please read this article.
A new pic by Talon-Thorn has been added to the gallery. It's in Room 2 of the Gallery, entitled "Badlands".
Five pics per 'room', and we're into filling out our second room with the latest addition. So if you got something to show, please send it in to us via e-mail, ensure that the pic sizes are 350 by 350 pixel or expect them to be reduced to fit to the page. And lastly, remember to pack the pics in jpeg format in a zip file. Guidelines can be found in the gallery rooms itself.
Stainless Steel Studios gave us a heads up on openings for Multiplayer Game Playtesters and Scenario Designers for their upcoming project. Here's the details:
Stainless Steel Studios, Inc., founded by Rick Goodman in 1997 and based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, completed its first award-winning title, Empire Earth™, in 2001. Empire Earth is an epic real-time strategy game spanning 500,000 years of human history. Rick was also the creator/lead designer for Microsoft's award winning Age of Empires®.
Here's a unique opportunity to participate in the creation of innovative, top-quality games for one of the industry's top developers. If you're a die-hard gamer who is hard working, self-motivated, energetic, and you're interested in creating 'AAA' game titles, Stainless Steel Studios is looking for you!
Multiplayer Game Playtesters Wanted
Stainless Steel Studios is seeking top-ranked RTS players to fill full-time, temporary positions. Applicants must be willing to work in Cambridge, MA. The job entails play testing and play balancing our newest RTS game currently under development. The starting date for this position is flexible.
Students are welcomed to apply. If you are interested in taking time off from school to help us create a blockbuster RTS game and gain "once in a life time" real-world game development experience, contact us right away!
To apply, you must be a US citizen and have one or more of the following qualifications:
Age of Empires / Age of Kings
2000 rating in Age of Kings on MSN Gaming Zone
1900 rating in Rise of Rome on MSN Gaming Zone
Top 16 finish in one of the following (or similar) major tournaments:
Ultimate Ager I, II, III; Rumble for Rome; RoR World Championship Clash of the Titans
Starcraft / Brood Wars
Top 20 in Battlenet Starcraft / Broodwar rating at end of any season
Top 32 in any of the PGL Seasons
Top 16 in any Battletop Tournament
Top 128 in the KBK Tournament
Scenario Designers Wanted
Experienced scenario designers needed to help build campaigns for our upcoming RTS title. Scenarios will have a strong historical context. They will be created using our in-house scenario editor. A college degree is not required, but you must demonstrate the ability to create intriguing, detailed, and – most of all – fun campaigns.
Job Requirements:
Demonstrable skills in single player scenario design from another RTS game (Starcraft, WarCraft 3, Age of Kings, Empire Earth, etc.)
Knowledge of history
A passion for games
You must be a US citizen - international candidates will not be considered.
"...I started off in HG by first visiting the well-known site of Age of Empires Heaven in August of ’97. The time between then and when I was hired was relatively uneventful. I posted at times, but mostly kept to myself. I began to post more frequently, and in the summer of 2000, I was hired as a Cherub at the AoKH Strategy Section. Soon after I was made Cherub, I joined AoEH to help updating some of its pages. Later that year, Empire Earth Heaven was opened, and I was made an article writer for that site. After a while, After keeping AoKH's strat section updated with walkthroughs, unit guides, etc, I was promoted to Angel and made administrator of the strategy section..."
Sorry about not having a Forum Party last week. Was busy with some major school work, so priorities first. This may be the last Forum Party though, depending on how many people come. So everyone who can, do join and keep this tradition going! For those new, check the Forum Party Thread for all the needed information!
Following in the footsteps of "Talk Like a Pirate Day" the Sheriff in the The Hall of Wonders, the AoW and AoW2 Heaven Role-playing forum, has been asked by good innkeeper Farman of The Prancing Pony Inn to announce an Open House to celebrate the return of that fine establishment after it's recent mysterious disapearance.
I think Farman had to take a break after seeing the Prancing Pony levelled then finally resurrected again. Bad on the heart, you know.
Hmm. I wonder, should we throw a costumed adventurer's party on All Hallow's Eve? (Also called Halloween.) Everyone could come in a costume depicting their favorite hero/villain, adventurer or comic character. Maybe we could get Farman to spring for free ale, cider and spookie cookies for anyone in costume and the Sheriff could forgive a bit of OT posts (as long as they are still related to the costumes or characters depicted) for one day?
So, anyone wanting to just drop by to say hello is welcome to do so. Of course, if you'd like to stick around a while, read through some of the story threads, and maybe even join one you're welcome to do that as well. There are several now recruiting new party members. Or if you'd prefer, come start your own. But do please read Guidelines of the Hall if you plan to play there. Old hands and old newbiess alike are welcome, and there aren't many rules, but you'll find that some things may be different from what you've met elsewhere.
And of course as Farman says, free Ale and Munchies for all who show up in costume. Or if you're sufficiently spooky, just show up as yourself.
Big Huge Games has released another pair of exclusive screenshots, this time over at Rise of Nations Fan-Page. One shot even includes some of the new tank art in the game. They look to be British Churchill tanks, but I will have to check my sources to be sure. Check the screenshots out here.
EDIT : I've managed to confirm that these are in fact Britsh Churchill Tanks thanks to World War II Vehicles.Com Check out the stats for the real Churchhill Tank and especially the additional photos in the gallery that show off a few of the tanks real life variants. - Obsidian
HomeLAN Fed has released a preview of their copy of the marketing Beta. It should come as no surprise that they found the game fun and entertaining. Something that is great to hear especially about a very early build of a game. Read the full preview here.
It seems the flood of information about the Marketing Beta has officially begun. GameSpot has 11 new screenshots from the game including a shot of one of the unique resources. Dye. You can check them all out at GameSpot's Rise of Nation gallery.
Spotted over at Through The Ages, it appears that the Zone has gone over a bit of a makeover. It sports a new blue theme for the main page and a new design. Doesn't look too bad, go ahead and check it out.
A New Look for Zone.com! Welcome to Zone.com’s new look! After adding so many fun games over the past year, we wanted to find a new way to present them to you!
All of your favorite games and features are still here. After receiving helpful feedback from Zone.com players, we’ve redesigned the site to make it easier to find the games you want to play.
What’s new We’ve reorganized our “hubs” to accommodate all of our great new games. For example, the games found in the old “Puzzle & Trivia” hub have been split into two new hubs: we now have a Puzzle Games hub where you’ll find games like Bejeweled, Mah Jong Tiles and Collapse, while word games like TextTwist or WHATword? and trivia games like OutSmart can be found on the Word & Trivia Games hub. For fans of PC games like Asheron’s Call, Age of Empires, and Rainbow Six, the CD-ROM Required hub hosts games where Zone.com provides free online matchmaking for people who own the CD-ROM game. Other hubs include Card & Board, Zone Casino, Racing & Sports, Kids' Zone, and Deluxe Downloads.
All hubs are clearly called out in the center of the Zone.com home page, and our consistent layout and navigation across the entire site provides you with quick access to any hub via a list on the left-hand side of the page.
Above the left-hand list of hubs, there is a new section called “I Want To.” Looking to play a quick game? The Play a Quick Game page lists our top ten single-player games. Download a Game provides the best Deluxe Download games on the Internet, and gives you information about what Deluxe Download games are and how to get them. Want to play a multiplayer game like Checkers, Spades, or Backgammon? The Play with Friends page is for you.
What’s different You may have used the Favorites section on the old home page, where a list of your most recently played games resided. Now you will find the list on the left-hand side of the page if you scroll down a bit. It is more appropriately labeled “Recently Played,” and best of all, you can access it from the home page, from any hub page, and from any game page!
Can’t find a game? You can always go to our All Games and All Free Games lists, where games are listed in alphabetical order.
What do you think? Take a minute to familiarize yourself with Zone.com’s new look. Do you like what you see? We would love to hear your thoughts. Drop us a line at zmaster@microsoft.com and let us know what you think!
MrFixit from MFO has extended a generous offer to the Forumers here at AOKH. He has made available 8 free pass’s to the upcoming MFO $4000.00 AOC Tournament.
This evening at 10PM PDT the webserver on which DungeonSiege.com and GasPowered.com reside will be temporarily unavailable while maintenance is performed. Expected downtime is up to one hour. We apologize for the inconvenience, and appreciate your patience.
I have finisch my first multiplay world: "Steel's World" 1.02 , for now it's more as 5 hour multi-gameplay, and also you can hire NPC's in multiplay.
We try to update this world every month with new regions, armor, spell's, quests and many more. So this world shall grow every month 50% bigger.
This week have already more as 1000 people download the map, and we have for now only positive respons, every one like it, this make me happy to go on for the next update of "Steel's World".
XGR is among the first sites to release screenshots from the recently released Marketing Beta of Rise of Nations. Some pretty cool stuff. Check them all out here.
A new Fan Site, Rise of Nations Planet, has just opened up. Looks like they have made extensive use of the recently released Fan Site Kit which is great to see. Check it out here.
Mithras and GrafM from Through The Ages have created a new unit section for the site. It currently only has the Egyptian units, but it is still being worked on by the diligent duo. This unit section does have one unique and interesting feature: if you click on one of its possible upgrades, the given attributes of the unit will be effected. (For example, if you click on Copper Weapons for the Axemen, its attack will increase to 5.5.) The section looks great, and that feature makes it incredibly useful for those that enjoy number crunching. Kudos to Mith and Graf on a job well done.
GameSpy: Got any examples of things that didn't work out?
Greg Street: We spent a lot of time trying to make it feel like an Age of game. In fact, about half way through our guys were saying, "Gosh, it plays just like Age of Kings," and they were right. All the sides played the same; they all had the same units just with different art. That's when we decided to add new things.
The two ES designers answer some general questions recapping how AoM's development has gone and what they think of the possibility of an expansion pack. (Yeah, we're pretty sure we're going to do one, but not for a while yet.) In any case, if you're interested, you can find the full interview here.
Rise of Nations Pantheon has become first of a series of web sites to receive exclusive screenshots from Big Huge Games! Both of them are very high quality shots, representing the beauty of Rise of Nation's graphics and gameplay. - Jim You can view the two exclusive shots here. As Jim says, a number of these will be released in the coming days, so be sure to check with your favorite fan site to see if you can be among the first to spot them.
Well, if you're reading this right now, you've probably noticed a few significant changes to the look of AoMH. We need to give a big thanks to Angel Zen for his great work in creating the new design. If you've got any thoughts or comments on the changes, feel free to head over to the website comments forum and tell us.
EMPEROR HEAVEN Housing Block Analysis Spreadsheet now available in Downloads Posted 10/23/2002 @ 7:03 PM EST by Merepatra
VitruviusAIA and Nero Would have got together and come up with an Excel spreadsheet program that calculates Population, Workers, Taxes, Wages, Profit & Consumption of Food and Goods for Housing Blocks or for an entire city. This easy to use program is sure to be a must have for many city builders who like to plan in advance.
The PWTWP&C Spreadsheet is available for download in our Miscellaneous Files download section, and details on using the program can be found in this thread in our forums.
Looks like Planet RoN, one of the German fan sites has published thier first impressions of the Marketing Beta for Rise of Nations. There are a number of new screenshots showing off the game, including an amusing little bug where Supply Wagons and Supply trucks seem to be merged together. "Woah there Deisel. Down boy." ;)
This has been fixed in our current build, honest. - Graham
You can check out the full article here. As always, us non german speakers will need to use a translator like Alta Vista's Babelfish to help us understand it.
Gaming Nexus has put out the first of the Rise of Nations previews since the marketing beta was shipped. They give some first impressions of Rise of Nation, and do a quick overveiew of what the gameplay is like.
Action is a key word of Rise of Nations – you aren’t spending your first two hours of the game harvesting wood and building farms...
Yes that's right, more than one of them! HomeLAN Fed has conducted interviews with people from the two siegelet teams Shadows of Winter and The Elemental. Here are one snippet out of each of them.
Shadows of Winter:
HomeLAN - What is the current progress of the new adventure and when will it be released?
Damian - Right now we're getting a demo of the game together for the Dungeon Siege community. We hope to have this released in the next 30 -40 days. The demo will cover about a 1/8 th of the entire game. Right now it looks like the full game will be released in early 2003.
Elemental:
HomeLAN - Will there be any new creatures or items in Elemental?
assembler_of_redux - Yeap. At last count, 55 new monster models, 120 new weapon models, 80 new armor models, 350+ unique and set item textures, new nodes and node textures, all new animations, three entirely new player models and races (tiger, mantis, human), a completely rebuilt pcontent system, a hybrid skill system like diablo 2s which uses 10 different skill trees (8 per char) which a character can specialize and level in. A totally new gui – not simply new textures – but one which works like d2s, with left and right mouse buttons bound to hotkeyed skills, skill trees hotkeyed to function keys. Then there is the covenant system and the Archon Forge for the mantis and Securechar… There's a lot more but I'm exhausted just talking about this.
Our good buddy Ogre from Through The Ages has completed his story of the trip to Ensemble Studios with the second part of day two and three. As always, it's a great read, and(of course) in third person. Check it out!
"At 6:30 the Ogre met his fellow webmasters in the lobby. Once all webmasters were there, everyone jumped into the hotel’s shuttle van and headed to the party. The place where the party was being held was a little ways from the hotel from what Ogre remembers. The traffic was crazy compared to where he lives—he found it strange seeing a divided six-lane highway going through a few residential neighborhoods. Though it wasn’t too long before finally arriving at the AMS Production Group building, which was kind of like a studio.
When Ogre stepped out of the van he saw actors dressed up in costume and having mock sword fights with each other out front. Also, there were spotlights outside displaying the Ensemble Studios and Microsoft Game Studios logos—it really created an exciting atmosphere amongst the group. Some, including Ogre, went to take pictures of the actors fighting it out, while others went directly inside..."
The marketing Beta for Rise of Nations has been released and the first person to report its arrival is Jim over at Rise of Nations Pantheon. With the release of this Beta we should see a ton of new previews as all the magazines and big name websites get a copy of it to review and report on. Can't wait to see what they all have to say about the game.
Shadows of Winter, a Dungeon Siege siegelet, has updated their site with some new screenshots and also an open position in their team.
We currently have an opening in the following area:
Node Architect
This position will be resposible for creating new node sets for buildings and other in game locations. The ability to model in SiegeMax is a requirement as is the ability to work from concept artwork. If you are interested in this posistion contact us here.
Adrien of the french site AoM universe has posted his pics from the AoM release party. You can find them here. The elusive Zen even features in a few of the shots...
MFO's blue_myriddn has posted his writeup of the visit to Dallas for the AoM release party, and has also posted a bunch of pictures. If you're interested in finding out what he, dustin and Parad0x got up to at ES, then check it out.
RISE OF NATIONS HEAVEN Rise of Nations Preview and Exclusive Screenshots at StartNet.de Posted 10/20/2002 @ 5:16 PM EST by Obsidian
A new preview of Rise of Nations has been posted over at StratNet.de. The preview includes three brand new and exclusive screenshots from Rise of Nations. Unfortunately, for those of us that don't speak German we are going to have to go through a translation program like Alta Vista's BabelFish in order to get some understanding of what the article has to say.
Check out the full article and the new screenshots here.
Dave Inscore, VP of Graphics at Big Huge Games, has given us all a sneak peek at the artwork for a number of the modern infantry Units in Rise of Nations.
I should mention that the Russian Red Guard with the puff of smoke obscuring his face is a result of one of our cigarette smoking idle animations. Be sure to keep an eye out for the gallery update, we`re confident you`ll find a number of new units, tank variations specifically, that will be to your liking! - Dave Inscore
You can view the full size image here and be sure to read the full discussion over at Apolyton to learn more about the amazing artwork that BHG is putting into this game.
This week One_Dead_Angel takes a look at the history and culture of the Maya.
The Maya were a collection of independent states that settled the areas of the Yucatan Peninsula in Southern Mexico. They carried out warfare not only for sacrificial victims much like other Mezo-Americans, but also for economic dominance. Unlike the Aztec however, they were known to build defensive structures to protect these economic interests and hold the territory they had gained. In Rise of Nations, the Mayan defensive structures have the ability to attack without garrisoning. This highlights their use of such defenses. They also get the militia ability which allows them to transform their villagers into combat units and back again for free.
Be sure to check out the full article and take a look at previous Nations of the Week on our Nations Page.
Gamespy have gotten an interview with none other than Tony Goodman, CEO of Ensemble Studios.
GameSpy: Well, you've been with Age of Mythology from concept to finish. What's it like watching something go from an idea on a stack of papers, to a finished game soon to be on store shelves?
Tony Goodman: It's an interesting ride. You have high moments and low moments from concept to fulfillment. There's moments when you wish you had, or realize you could have done something different, and moments when you realize you were right on. Hopefully you want to end on one of the high moments. This one ended really good that way.
The interview covers Tony Goodman's general thoughts now that the game is finished, and how he views AoM in relation to other age games. You can find it here.
Thanks to zam zap who passed this one along to me. We heard mention a while ago that Eagle Games was planning to make a board game of AoM. They've finally gotten around to giving us a press release announcing it.
The board game will feature hundreds detailed miniature plastic pieces representing mythic creatures, gods, heroes and armies from Greek, Egyptian, and Norse mythology. Additionally the game will contain a stunning, gigantic 46” x 36” gameboard featuring the artwork of Paul Niemeyer, and three sets of rules from basic to advanced. These elements will immerse players in the excitement, flavor and visual appeal of this classic series, while providing fast, fun gameplay.
Age of Mythology: The Boardgame is currently scheduled for an April, 2003 release, and will be available from many fine retailers that carry boardgames and computer games.
Lucas Arts has recently made an announcement pertaining to those who do not possess both SWGB and its expansion, The Clone Campaigns.
Star Wars® Galactic Battlegrounds™ Saga is now available for purchase at retail stores! This package includes the popular real-time strategy game Star Wars Galactic Battleground and its dynamic Episode II mission expansion Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns™. As an added bonus, Wizards of the Coast Star Wars trading card game boosters will be included with the collection. You can also purchase Saga online at the Company Store.
Lucas Arts has released eight icons for download. Fans who wish to have AOT:C heroes as desktop icons can download these.
These eight Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds themed icons are now available for download. They are for use on your personal computer only. For instructions on how to use the icons, consult your Windows user manual.
These are just a few examples. Download more here.
Have you ever wanted to transfer your Single Player Ehb Party over to a new module, but have been unable to find out how to go about doing this? Well now, by following the steps that are listed below, you can!
1) Run DSMOD.exe. 2) Load your last save of your old party. Hit ctrl-S, and type in the following for the name of the savegame: TRANSFER 3) Exit, and start a new game with a new character WITH THE NAME OF YOUR PREVIOUS PARTY LEADER. 4) Hit the tilde key (~). 5) Type THIS: PARTY LOAD TRANSFER.DSSAVE 6) Hit the tilde key (~) again to exit the console window. 7) Save the game again, this time naming it like any other ordinary save game. You have now transferred your entire single-player party to a new map.
Many thanks to forumer Ethereal Magus and Xaa from Game-Editing.Net who provided this information for us in this thread.
mrfixit of MFO has announced an Age of Conquerors 1v1 $4000.00 Cash tournament. It looks like the players that end up in the top eight will all win some money. Signups are open until midnight November 4th and the event starts November 5th. To Sign up for the Tournamant clic HERE.
FOPT_Strawberry leader of the FOPT clan has announced that they have closed the submissions for there Banner-Contest and are now asking everyone to vote for the best Banner.
As you might remember some weeks ago FOPT announced a little Banner-Contest. More than 50 banners have been submitted from all over the world (many thanks for that) and now it´s time to determine a winner.
To make sure the most talented designer wins we have started a public poll with 17 banners that have been pre-selected by our internal Banner-Committee.
Please take a moment to look through the entries and vote for the one you like most.
You can find the poll here: VOTE for Banner Thank you for your help,
It appears that the forumers here at SW:GB Heaven are getting a tad bit bored with the typical conversation that occurs. Shelves, a forumer, has recently added a short and humorous story about the forumers who post here.
In the dark rooms of the CCD fortress, the evil, twisted Shelves was brewing a new plan to take over HG. Shelves: Mhwaa! Cerrabore (Shelves equvilent over Igor): What is it master Shelves: I have a new plan to take over Heaven Games!
STRONGHOLD HEAVEN Castle of the Week - Festung Hohensalzburg (Salzburg Castle) Posted 10/19/2002 @ 8:44 AM EST by Merepatra
GillB once again gives us this weeks CoTW. Salzburg Castle (Festung Hohensalzburg) stands on the Mönchsberg, a 400 foot hill overlooking the beautiful and musical Austrian city. It is Europe’s largest fully-preserved castle but, despite its great age (over 900 years), it has little history as it was never attacked and only occupied once when it was surrendered to Napoleon without a fight.
GillB once again gives us this weeks CoTW.