[EARLY ACCESS] How Age of Empires Conquered the World...Again
Added 2023-04-21 14:01:01 +0000 UTC
UNLISTED YOUTUBE LINK: https://youtu.be/iDDWd63DUaE
(please do not share yet)
Hello Early Access Patrons,
We finally figured out a way to do a documentary on Age of Empires. In this 30 minutes video we take a look at the remarkable comeback for the AoE franchise over the past five years. Taking a look at the creation of the Definitive Editions and the work that went into porting AoE2 to Xbox consoles.
We're not posting this until sometime next week so if you have any edits or feedback please give us a heads up.
Enjoy the doc, and let us know what you think in the comments!
Danny
Figured it out, the saturation/vibrance stuff was cranked up too high and producing that weird effect. Thanks again!
Noclip
2023-04-30 09:45:08 +0000 UTC
Really appreciate you taking the time to respond, for the honesty around this being what you'd aimed for (figured my expectation might have been off) and for the openness you had to the feedback too. Thank you
Danny Fallon
2023-04-24 14:23:30 +0000 UTC
thanks so much, both are very helpful!
Noclip
2023-04-24 03:32:00 +0000 UTC
I really appreciate the honest feedback, thanks so much for sharing. I also agree that I wish we could have done something longer - but sadly this one falls into the "do what we can now" bin. There are a few issues with regards to doing the classic retrospective but mostly the issue for me was the amount of time it takes. We try and produce as many docs as we can a year, and when the opportunity came up to do an AoE:DE doc - even with this limited scope - we added it to the docs we already had going on. It only took a few hours of interviews, and then one of the crew (Jesse) did the lions share of the edit while the rest of us were busy with other projects. I added as much context and detail to it before we hit render - but I also kept the scope down a bit because I wanted it to be interesting for non-AoE fans and to not step on the toes of a larger project if we get the chance to do it. AoE never won Greatest Hits, but if this videos seems to capture the youtube audiences attention, I think we can take a swing at the larger doc. Much like we've done multiple Half-Life projects over the years, it'll have to prove itself. I do empathize though, I too wish we had a 2 hour retrospective to show off. Thanks again, I really value the honesty.
Noclip
2023-04-24 03:31:40 +0000 UTC
oh that's wild! thanks for the screen ill look into it
Noclip
2023-04-24 03:23:55 +0000 UTC
Beautiful! The only thing I noticed is a flicker behind you around the Thief boxes, see screenshot: https://i2.paste.pics/NGCB7.png?trs=d736e2be498d4523ac918767dc10d2171c8c5b401cc10c9f39572cdc7d3aeeae
I watched in 1440p
Jens Nikolaus
2023-04-22 16:59:28 +0000 UTC
Super nitpicky, but I'll post it just in case - at 8:34 there's a bit of a visual jump in the chapter title card. Now back to watching. π
Riccardo Margiotta
2023-04-22 09:36:12 +0000 UTC
I own AoE2 on cdrom.. never played the HD version, leaned about definitive version from teasing this doc. Game is Onsale right now so I got it. Not played in 2 decades, took a bit to remember and I'm on my second campaign now.
Alxa
2023-04-22 00:14:09 +0000 UTC
Also, getting pedantic now, but at 16:54 there's some background noise in the audio, maybe someone else's mic? Don't know if you can isolate that, but I just noticed it and thought I'd point it out.
Connor 'Dirtbag Chimichonga' McDonald
2023-04-22 00:14:03 +0000 UTC
Amazing work boys!! Only edit I would suggest is at 10:57. At first I thought the audio went a little out of sync, but looking at it again, I think the audio cuts out first and the video needs a little trim. Anyone reading this, please let me know if I'm off the mark. Overwhelmingly though, great stuff guys!
Connor 'Dirtbag Chimichonga' McDonald
2023-04-22 00:04:06 +0000 UTC
AoE was the first game I ever bought for myself as a kid by saving my pocket money. I fondly remember the MSN Gaming Zone, custom maps and fighting the slow-ping turtle on my 28k dial-up with Age 2.
Acknowledging I'm completely biased here; I'd hoped for a longer doc. Bloodborne remake came in at 43 minutes, TLoU: Part 1 remake at 49 mins so maybe I set my expectations wrong but boy would I have enjoyed more time hearing about Age in general and the revival. This is especially true since it doesn't seem to get over the line for a Greatest Hits and you've said above it was it's hard to figure out how to tell the story so I don't imagine you're coming back around to this series again.
As for what I'd like to hear? More about the challenges involved in bringing the games (especially the older ones) from 1997/1999 to 2018/2019, and a bit about the multiplayer and competitive scenes as it lives today, the things they wish they'd done differently etc. I'm not precious about platforms but I did think there was a bit too much focus on how to make the console version. That content is timely given it's only out 3 months but when it's making up ~30% of the only stab you're getting at telling a story about the series revival it kind of stuck out as a less interesting part of the story overall
To be clear I enjoyed this and I'm very thankful we got some Age of Empires content. I also really hope for some longer form of those interviews, maybe some stuff got left in the edit.
I watched this three times before writing this and hummed and hawed over writing it because I don't like critiquing. I don't think I've given terribly constructive feedback, (sorry!) and I'm sure it'll still be a hit as it stands. For the first time in a long time a doc didn't quite grip me and I was disappointed when the credits appeared.
Danny Fallon
2023-04-21 21:39:53 +0000 UTC
We hope you enjoy it, let us know what you think!
Noclip
2023-04-21 16:12:03 +0000 UTC
Thank you so much for this <3
Tsiku
2023-04-21 14:04:07 +0000 UTC