For instance, can we expect to see real-time weather effects, like rain that actually affects your soldiers' or cities' performances? Burning buildings that spread flames to nearby structures? Water physics that actually affect the handling of ships at sea?ĭP: The biggest example where the new technology affects gameplay is in the physics. GS: Tell us about how the game's new technology is being used to augment gameplay. Our cinematics and campaign take full advantage of the sense of awe created by those things. One of the great things about our setting is that it lends itself very well to sweeping vistas and awesome landscape shots as you explore the New World. We've got all the high-tech bells and whistles you'd expect, and a few things you wouldn't.
We've gone even bigger on those things this time around. The in-game cinematics were a huge part of that.
We liked how big and epic the Age of Mythology campaign turned out. GameSpot: What, if any, cinematic elements are being added to Age of Empires III? Is the plan to make Age III the sort of game that evokes real emotion from players during single- or multiplayer games? How will this be accomplished? With brief in-engine cutscenes, swooping camera angles, highly articulated character models?ĭave Pottinger: We've rebuilt and extended the cinematic systems that we had in Age of Mythology. We caught up with Dave Pottinger, the lead programmer for Age of Empires III and Ensemble's director of technology, to learn more about the technology in the game.Ĭombat in Age of Empires III is all about standing tall in the face of certain death. And it looks fabulous, with the early screenshots displaying some truly beautiful moments in the game. Whereas the first games were set in ancient and medieval times, Age III is set in the New World, during the 16th and 17th centuries. That's a long time to wait between chapters, but it appears that developer Ensemble Studios is making up for the long gap by throwing everything, including the proverbial kitchen sink, into Age III.
There's little doubt that Age of Empires III is going to be one of the major PC releases this winter, seeing how the third sequel in Microsoft's landmark real-time strategy series will arrive nearly six years after its predecessor did.
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