GZ Attends the Age of Mythology Ensemble Tour

My Day at Ensemble Studios
by Michael Knutson

October 10, 2002

Today was a very exciting day for me. I was scheduled to cover the Age of Mythology Ensemble Tour at Ensemble Studios located in downtown Dallas.  Ensemble Studios invited us to get an inside look into the making of their latest game: Age of Mythology - a real-time strategy game based off three ancient civilizations, Egyptian, Greek, and Norse, religious beliefs.

Once I arrived, I was directed to the sixteenth floor. I got into the elevator and noticed that it only went up to the fifteenth floor. So I clicked that and when the elevator door opened I saw something straight out of Star Trek, the whole room was in different neon colors that changed randomly, it looked very futuristic and awesome. I got into another elevator that went up to the sixteenth floor and walked into Ensemble Studios. 

Since I was the first person to arrive I got a private tour of the place, while we waited for the other people. The whole place is futurist, from the neon lights that go around certain stairs to the Luminglas blue panels, an interactive light that transforms electric current into a dazzling array of ultimate sensory experiences, that are located on some of the walls. One of the rooms is the playroom, it has classic arcade games such as Pac-Man, Tekken 3, and NBA Jam. Also located in this room are a GameCube, a Pool game, and a table tennis game. This looks like a very relaxing place for tired programmers to come and blow off some steam.

Next I meet up with a lot of people that Microsoft had flown in from around the world for this event, and many of the people own popular fan websites. I talked to people from Germany, France, and Canada, it was an interesting experience talking to people who have a harder time understanding English, but are so excited about this game release. Then lunch was served.

After the lunch it was a series of interviews/question and answer sessions. We were shown into the theater room, where a movie was going on describing some the development process of the game. We were greeted by the Game Designers, Ian Fischer, and Greg Street, and the Director of Technology, Dave Pottinger. They answered general questions about the game. Next we all went to the sound department and were greeted by Kevin McMullan, Music and Sound Artist, and Stephan Rippy, Music and Sound Director. They answered various questions about the how they integrated the sounds into the game. Finally I had my private interview with Bruce Shelley, Senior Game Designer; and Tony Goodman, President and CEO. Everyone was extremely friendly, willing to answer almost any questions, and it was obvious that they were excited about the release of Age of Mythology! 

After all the interviews were done,(http://www.gamezone.com/news/10_11_02_12_21PM.htm) we all got to play test the game they had been talking so much about. It is everything that they mentioned and more, and it was so much better to play now that we had some insight into the game. The game was vastly improved over the beta version that I previewed (http://www.gamezone.com/gzreviews/p18525_02.htm). Obviously there are no longer any graphical glitches, it ran much smoother, and multiplayer was enabled. During this time, we had a few mini-tournaments over the Internet, to check out the matchmaking service. I did not get to participate on the Alpha version of the game, but what I did recognize is this service was exceptionally easy to set up an account and start playing a game within minutes! The game ran very smooth over the Internet, and proved to everyone that Ensemble goes the extra mile to make sure that the game looks gorgeous and is extremely fun to play.

 It is easy to see why this game is so popular and fun because the developers will not send a final copy till they think it is ready. They describe themselves as gamers developing a game that they want to play. These words are true, as the qualities in the games are phenomenal, people can tell that by the amount of copies that they sell worldwide!

Look for the retail version out in stores soon!

Ensemble Studio Tour

Pictures Courtesy of our friends at HeavenGames.com
For all photos taken at this event visit HeavenGames
 

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