Age of Empire

[Valamir]

Not precisely on topic, but I just discovered this game in a used book store.  It's a really slick game.  Were there ever any supplements for it, as suggested in the text?

[GMSkarka]

No, actually the company that produced it (Epitaph Studios) was bought by Event Horizon Productions in 1996, soon after it was published.  About six months to a year later, Microsoft released AGE OF EMPIRES.  We contacted them, showing that we had been on the market first, and that there might be some confusion regarding the titles, since they were both games.

The president of EHP accepted an offer from Microsoft which allowed them exclusive use of the name, in return for a certain amount of money.  We were ordered to stop selling the product as a result.

Not a deal that I would have accepted, but there you have it.

GMS

[Valamir]

Unfortuneate, its really a cool game.

If you have any old notes on that that never saw print and would be willing/able to share them, I'd love see them.

[GMSkarka]

Unfortuneate, its really a cool game.

If you have any old notes on that that never saw print and would be willing/able to share them, I'd love see them.

Thank you for the compliment.

I always liked that game, too.  I think it's one of my better system designs, and I love the genre.

I'll see if I can dig up some of the old notes...they were two computers ago, but I should still have some back-ups somewhere, I hope.

GMS

[Jürgen Mayer]

Age of Empires? What is it about?

[Jared A. Sorensen]

It's a Victorian adventure game...I have a copy. Go me!

[Matt Machell]

I 've got a copy of Age of Empires too. We had good fun in the sessions I ran of it. Clockwork golems stealing jewels from the British museum, I seem to remember, with a stalwart cabby saving the day.

I'd be interested in those notes too......

Matt

[Mike Holmes]

Couldn't the game just be re-released with a different name? Or did mighty MS actually buy the whole intellectual property?

Mike

[GMSkarka]

No, they didn't buy the IP.  But, the IP isn't owned by me any more, either.  Not sure who owns it.   It was part of Event Horizon, who was bought by Guardians of Order...but that was after the Microsoft thing, and after I left the company, so I don't know if GoO owns it now, or if it's owned by the former owners of Event Horizon ( including John Phythyon, who now works for Avalanche).

Besides, I really don't think there is a market.  Castle Falkenstein is apparently being ressurected by R.Tal, the GURPS version is ongoing (not to mention GURPS Steampunk, etc.), and there are other games, like the Origins-nominated Terra Incognita from Grey Ghost, Forgotten Futures, Space 1999 (although it's going out of print again), etc.   Plenty of games for a very small niche.

GMS