Age of Wonders 3 announced

[Syt]

Ok, that came kinda out of nowhere for me.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/02/06/age-of-wonders-iii3threeiii%C2%B3-announced/

There is to be an Age Of Wonders III. Or 3. The press release calls it both. I shan't commit until I see a box cover. The Dutch devs, flush on the success of Overlord 2, have announced their next project... hang on – didn't Overlord 2 come out four years ago? What have you been doing for four years, Triumph?! Making Age Of Wonders iii it seems, 11 years after the last one.

It's to be a "modern reimagining" of the series, which presumably means it's no longer set in those old fuddy-duddy times of wizards and magic, to, um, the modern wizards and magic? There's word of RPG elements sneaking their way into the RTS, with leaders of empires based on such classes. Development Director Lennar Sas explains,

"For example: as a Goblin Theocrat you can build your own holy empire, recruit little goblin crusaders or cute winged goblin angels equipped with flaming weapons, and wage war on your heathen enemies. We want players to be able to choose between lots of different play styles, without being restricted by fantasy clichés, like All Goblins Are Evil."

Thank goodness, an end to the awful representation of goblinkind in gaming.

It'll be in a shiny new engine (as you'd hope, with the last game coming out in 2002). Would you like a feature list? I bet you would.

- Explore, expand and exploit a living fantasy world. Discover wondrous locations and gather legendary heroes.
- Develop your domain, with many classes having the ability to change terrain and climates to suit your needs.
- All new 3D graphics that provide a crisper and more detailed overview of the world and battle maps.
- New styles of play are possible with the introduction of RPG style leader classes like warlord, theocrat, rogue and sorcerer, along with a wide selection of specializations.
- Command a variety of races. Pick your starting race and shape your people's destiny using your leader's unique skills.
- A brand-new tactical battle system renders each battlefield and siege in great detail; new rules include flanking and a massive set of special unit abilities.
- An epic story campaign with two playable factions;. Choose the mighty Commonwealth Empire or join the Court of the High Elves, founded after the reunion of the Dark Elves and Wood Elves.
- Compete online in extensive multiplayer modes and scenarios.
- High replay value through random maps, difficulty modes and tools allowing user created content.

And here's the announcement trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BHdojrcu61E

[Syt]

RPS' article non-withstanding, the game will be turn based, not RTS, according to Eurogamer:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-02-06-overlord-dev-bringing-age-of-wonders-back-this-year

Dutch studio Triumph (Overlord) is bringing the Age of Wonders strategy RPG series back to life with Age of Wonders 3.

Triumph co-created the series with Epic Games in 1999. The last instalment in the series was Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic in 2002.

Triumph is targeting an autumn 2013 release for Age of Wonders 3 on PC, but won't force it if it's not ready. There are plans for a Mac version - maybe even to launch simultaneously - but these aren't set in stone. Later on, a tablet version may appear.

It's not a Kickstarter project - work began in 2010 before the Kickstarter boom - and it doesn't have a new-age business model. Age of Wonders 3 has high production values and will be sold on Steam and Good old Games and in boxes in regions where that's appropriate.

Who's funding it? That's a good question. I spoke to lead designer Lennart Sas and he told me the game's "big partner" is an announcement for a later date. Note the way he said "big partner" and not "publisher". I asked him to clarify this and he said "that would sort of spoil it [the announcement]".

Then I asked him if the "big partner" was Epic Games, given the studio's history with Age of Wonders and its presumably large amounts of money. I think I caught him off guard.

He laughed and replied: "You've been reading up! That's something for a later moment."

Epic Games has partnered with studios in a kind of publisher role before. Perhaps this also means Epic Games has acquired a stake in Triumph too, although that's just speculation.

In Age of Wonders 3 you'll attempt to lead your empire to glory. The leaders of each empire are varying types of stereotypical fantasy heroes: rogue, druid, priest, warrior and engineer.

As in the Total War games or the Heroes of Might & Magic games or the King's Bounty games, there's an explorable world map with oversized heroes/pieces that you move around. There's also a separate battle screen where fights play out.

In Age of Wonders 3, battles are turn-based. There's a simultaneous turn-based mechanic which means you don't wait to make moves and the battle is sped up as a result. You can auto-resolve - have the AI play out the battle for you - too.

Because battles aren't real-time, Triumph has been able to establish a play-by-email multiplayer mode - as well as a raft of fight-there-and-then multiplayer options. The play-by-email mode lets you take your turn and mail your move to your friend, inviting them to take their turn when they're ready. Video replays show you what happened turn by turn. You can have multiple battles with different people on the go at one time.

A scenario generator will be able to churn out limitless content, and there will be a toolset available to the community to build your own content with.

Post-release you can expect a more classes, races, city upgrades, units, heroes, magical items, spells, map locations, scenarios and story campaigns added as DLC.

[Syt]

No one? Not even garbon?

[ulmont]

No one? Not even garbon?

:shrug:  Now that I know Age of Wonders 3 is going to come out, I expect that I'll buy it, but I otherwise don't have any comment right now.

[garbon]

My only comment would be that we'll have to see how it does. Not interested in revisiting Shadow Magic.  In fact, for all its flaws - I think Age of Wonders 1 might still be the best of the bunch.  I think the addition of the Wizard's Tower was uninteresting - though I liked that you were able to grow cities from 2.

[crazy canuck]

I was hoping something like this would come out. 

[Eddie Teach]

Sounds cool. I was actually playing AOW 2 a couple months ago.

[grumbler]

The best thing about AoW2 were the fans mods, IMO.  Other than those, I agree that AoW1 was probably the better game.

I am happy that this new game is in development, though.  I rather like the overall concept, and the battles were somewhat entertaining.  None of these were as good as MoM, though; it will be interesting to see if the new game can finally top a nearly 20-year-old game.

[JonasSalk]

Never played this series. Is it any good? What's it comparable to?

[grumbler]

Never played this series. Is it any good? What's it comparable to?

They were closest to Master of Magic, IMO, but without the city management aspects.

[garbon]

As Syt intimated, I'm definitely a proponent of the series - so yeah I'd say it is good. Actually spent a lot of time as a teen playing the 1st one. Even got one of my siblings excited about it.

[Syt]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Jutu_Y13f_s

[Martinus]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Jutu_Y13f_s

This looks awesome.

[Martinus]

As Syt intimated, I'm definitely a proponent of the series - so yeah I'd say it is good. Actually spent a lot of time as a teen playing the 1st one. Even got one of my siblings excited about it.

I'm shocked you would like a game where 1) you could be a fairy, and 2) cut people.

[garbon]

I liked the frostlings or Azracs as most races were not hostile to you, so you could use nearly all.