A Game of Thrones: Genesis

A Game of Thrones: Genesis is a strategy video game developed by Cyanide and published by Focus Home Interactive released exclusively for Microsoft Windows[1] on September 28, 2011 in North America (only on Steam), September 29, 2011 in Europe[2] and October 13, 2011 in Australia.

A Game of Thrones: Genesis
A Game of Thrones - Genesis box.jpg
Developer(s) Cyanide
Publisher(s) Focus Home Interactive
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Release
NA: September 28, 2011
EU: September 29, 2011
AU: October 13, 2011
Genre(s) Strategy
Mode(s) Single-player
The game is an adaptation of the A Song of Ice and Fire book series by George R. R. Martin and is the first such video game adaptation. The game takes place over 1,000 years of the fictional history of Westeros, beginning with the arrival of the Rhoynar led by the warrior-queen Nymeria.[3]

Gameplay Edit

Gameplay focuses on capturing nodes—castles, towns and goldmines—with characters. Emphasis is placed on the rock-paper-scissors mechanics of "underhanded" characters rather than the brute force combat strength of traditional realtime strategy games.

The goal of the game is to win the Iron Throne and doing so can be done by amassing enough 'prestige' within the game.[3]

Each house has special units and abilities. House Stark has direwolves and House Baratheon has better archers for example.[3]

The game has two modes of play: Versus and Campaign. The game features four main facets: diplomacy, military, economic, and underhand.[4]

Ace of Spades is a team-based first-person shooter and voxel-based sandbox video game developed and published by Jagex. The game was created by Ben Aksoy and released in beta state for Microsoft Windows on 4 April 2011.[1] In November 2012, it was announced that British developer Jagex had acquired the game and took over its development, releasing its final version commercially for Microsoft Windows on 12 December 2012, and for OS X on 16 May 2013. The gameplay style of Ace of Spades is often compared to a mixture of Minecraft and Team Fortress 2.[2][3]

Ace of Spades
Ace of Spades.png
Developer(s) Jagex
Publisher(s) Jagex
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, OS X
Release Microsoft Windows
WW: 12 December 2012
OS X
WW: 16 May 2013
Genre(s) First-person shooter, sandbox
Mode(s) Multiplayer
Development, release and reception Edit

The in-development version of Ace of Spades was developed by Ben Aksoy using the Voxlap engine and released as freeware beta version 0.1 on 4 April 2011.[4] On 1 November 2012, British video game developer Jagex announced that they had picked up the game, and slated it for a December release,[5] after having worked with the original development team for the past year.[6]

Ace of Spades was commercially released on 12 December 2012, to generally unfavorable reviews. On review aggregator website Metacritic, the game holds a score of 49/100, based on 13 reviews.[7] On 30 April 2015, Jagex released Block N Load, a free-to-play successor to Ace of Spades, developed in conjunction with Artplant.[8]

Age of Empires II: The Conquerors is the expansion pack to the 1999 real-time strategy game Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. The Conquerors is the fourth installment in the Age of Empires series by Microsoft Game Studios and Ensemble Studios. It features five new civilizations (the Aztecs, Mayans, Spanish, Koreans, and Huns), four new campaigns, eleven new units, twenty-six new technologies, new gameplay modes, new maps and different minor tweaks to the gameplay.

Age of Empires II: The Conquerors
Age of Empires II - The Conquerors Coverart.png
Developer(s) Ensemble Studios
Publisher(s) Microsoft
Series Age of Empires
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh
Release August 24, 2000
Genre(s) Real-time strategy
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer
A second expansion, The Forgotten, was released exclusively on Steam in November 2013, over a decade since the release of The Conquerors. In November 2015, another expansion was released, also exclusive to Steam, entitled The African Kingdoms. A third Steam-exclusive expansion, entitled Rise of the Rajas, was released in December 2016.

Gameplay Edit

The Conquerors also introduced various new gameplay features and tweaks, including the new game modes Defend the Wonder, King of the Hill and Wonder Race. Additional maps, some based on real life geographic locations, and new winter and tropical terrain textures were included. In-game, infantry are able to garrison in battering rams, protecting the infantry while increasing the ram's speed and attack, while ships are able to form formations for more effective fighting. The graphics are left unchanged, but new civilizations have been added such as the Spanish, Huns, Koreans, Mayans and Aztecs. In addition to new units, the in-game upgrade lines have been extended to provide more unit choices. The Aztecs and Mayans lack the ability to train cavalry units. This is partially balanced by the fact that they start with Eagle Warrior infantry units, who have many of the advantages that cavalry have. Both civilizations also lack access to gunpowder units. The Huns are also unique in that they do not build houses to support their population, from the start being only limited by the fixed population limit of the game.

Micromanagement is made easier, by an improved scripted Artificial Intelligence of villagers and siege weapons. Villagers will now automatically commence gathering resources if they build resource gathering sites. Wall construction has also been improved: when assigning two or more villagers, they evenly spread out instead of working on the same patch, and when multiple farmers are sent on one farm, the surplus will start cultivating adjacent farms instead of idling. Mangonels and onagers will not automatically fire if their attack is likely to harm friendly units. Additionally, a button was added to the mill, which would allow farms to be paid for in advance, so that when an existing one was exhausted, it would automatically be replanted. Chat commands are introduced, in order to communicate more effectively with allied computer players.

Campaigns Edit
The Conquerors adds four additional single player campaigns. These are based on Attila the Hun's rise to power, Montezuma's defense against Hernán Cortés, and the adventures of El Cid. The fourth campaign, "Battles of the Conquerors", is actually a group of unrelated single scenarios, each based on a significant historical battle. These include the Battle of Tours, the saga of Erik the Red, the Battle of Hastings, the Battle of Manzikert, the Battle of Agincourt, the Battle of Lepanto, the Battle of Yamazaki, and the Battle of Noryang.

Age of Empires II: The Forgotten is the second expansion pack to the 1999 real-time strategy game Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, having been released nearly 13 years after the first expansion, The Conquerors.[2] Created for the HD Edition of the game available on Steam, The Forgotten originated as an unofficial modification for the game known as Forgotten Empires. The expansion pack was developed by the team that created the mod with the assistance of SkyBox Labs,[3] based in Vancouver. The Forgotten introduces five civilizations (the Italians, Indians, Slavs, Magyars, and Incas), seven campaigns, units, technologies, gameplay modes, maps, improved AI and other tweaks to gameplay.

Age of Empires II: The Forgotten
Age of Empires II - The Forgotten logo.png
Developer(s) SkyBox Labs, Forgotten Empires
Publisher(s) Microsoft Studios
Series Age of Empires
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Release November 7, 2013[1]
Genre(s) Real-time strategy
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer
Gameplay changes Edit

The Forgotten introduces various new gameplay features and tweaks, including the new game modes Capture the Relic and Treaty. Additional maps, including an expanded maximum map size that is four times bigger than the previous largest. Over 30 new technologies and 9 new units are included. Custom creations can be shared directly to the Steam Workshop. Artificial Intelligence has been improved, modeled on competitive players.[4]

Campaigns Edit

Screenshot showing the Slavic civilization.
The Forgotten adds seven additional single player campaigns (Alaric, Bari, Sforza, Dracula, El Dorado, Prithviraj, and Battles of the Forgotten) which are partially based on historical events. The "Battles of the Forgotten" campaign is, like the "Battles of the Conquerors" campaign in Age of Empires II: The Conquerors, a set of unrelated scenarios relating the stories of several medieval battles: the Honfoglalás, the Battle of Langshan Jiang, the Battle of Bukhara, the Battle of York, Dos Pilas, the Battle of Kurikara, the Battle of Bapheus, and the Conquest of Cyprus.

Online play Edit
Multiplayer is supported on Steam. The Forgotten introduces an "observer" mode, allowing for spectators to view online multiplayer matches, and also allows for streaming direct to twitch.tv.[2]

Additional content Edit

In April 2015, Microsoft announced that a patch, as well as a new downloadable content (DLC), which is a follow-up to The Forgotten is in development through a blog post.[5] The DLC includes features such as civilizations, campaigns, game modes and units.[6] This expansion was released with the name The African Kingdoms.[7]

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is a real-time strategy video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft. Released in 1999 for the Microsoft Windows and Macintosh operating systems, it was the second game in the Age of Empires series. An expansion, The Conquerors, was released in 2000. A PlayStation 2 version was released by Konami in 2001, and a Nintendo DS spinoff, Age of Empires: The Age of Kings was developed by Backbone Entertainment in 2006. A Dreamcast port, by Konami, was canceled.

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings
Age of Empires II - The Age of Kings Coverart.png
PC box cover
Developer(s) Ensemble Studios
Publisher(s) Microsoft (Win, Mac)
Konami (PS2)
Designer(s) Bruce Shelley[1]
Programmer(s) Angelo Laudon
Artist(s)
Brad Crow
Scott Winsett
Composer(s) Stephen Rippy
Series Age of Empires
Engine Genie Engine
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, PlayStation 2
Release
September 30, 1999
Windows, Mac OS
NA: September 30, 1999
PlayStation 2
NA: November 2, 2001
HD Edition
WW: April 9, 2013
Genre(s) Real-time strategy
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer
The Age of Kings is set in the Middle Ages and contains thirteen playable civilizations. Players aim to gather resources, which they use to build towns, create armies, and defeat their enemies. There are five historically based campaigns, which constrict the player to specialized and story-backed conditions. There are three additional single-player game modes, and multiplayer is supported. Despite using the same game engine and similar code to its predecessor, development of The Age of Kings took a year longer than expected, forcing Ensemble Studios to release Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome in 1998 instead. The design team focused on resolving significant issues in Age of Empires, but noted on release that some problems remained.

Reception of The Age of Kings was highly positive. The significant number of new features was praised, as were the gameplay improvements. Some reviewers, however, were critical of the presentation of units—they were seen as bland and uninteresting—while others considered The Age of Kings to be too similar to its predecessor, Age of Empires. Three months after its release, two million copies of The Age of Kings had been shipped, and it topped sales charts in seven countries. The game won multiple awards and is today considered a classic of its type, having had a significant impact on future games in its genre. Both the original Age of Empires II and the expansion pack were later released as "the Gold Edition".

In April 2013, Age of Empires II: HD Edition was released on the Steam digital distribution platform for Windows operating systems. The HD Edition includes both the original game and the expansion The Conquerors, as well as updated graphics for high-resolution displays. It also supports user-generated content through the Steam Workshop and multiplayer games provided through the Steam servers. Three expansions have been released for the HD Edition: The Forgotten in 2013, The African Kingdoms in 2015, and Rise of the Rajas in 2016.

Gameplay Edit

The Age of Kings focuses on building towns, gathering resources, creating armies and ultimately conquering opponents by destroying their units and buildings. Players conquer rival towns and empires as they advance one of 13 civilizations through four "Ages": the Dark Age, the Feudal Age, the Castle Age (being the High Middle Ages), and the Imperial Age, reminiscent of the Renaissance—a 1000-year timeframe.[2] Advancing to a new Age unlocks new units, structures, and technologies, but players must first build certain buildings from their current age and then pay a sum of resources (typically food and gold).[3]

Civilian units, called "villagers", are used to gather resources; they are either male or female—gender does not affect their abilities. Resources can be used to train units, construct buildings, and research technologies, among other things; for example, players can research better armour for infantry units. The game offers four types of resources: food, wood, gold, and stone. Food is obtained by hunting animals, gathering berries, harvesting livestock, farming, and shore fishing and fishing from boats. Wood is gathered by chopping down trees. Gold is obtained from either gold mines, trade or collecting relics in a monastery, and stone is collected from stone mines. Villagers require checkpoints, typically depository buildings (town center, mining camp, mill, and lumber yard), where they can store gathered resources.[4]

Each civilization can purchase upgrades that increase the rate of gathering these resources. Players can construct a marketplace for trade; players can trade wood, stone, and food for gold, and use gold to buy other resources. Market prices fluctuate with every transaction.[5] Furthermore, markets and docks can also generate gold by using trading carts or cogs which are used to visit foreign markets and ports; once they return to the player's market/dock, gold is added to the stockpile. The amount of gold a trade unit earns on each trip is related to the distance it had to travel to a foreign market; more gold is earned on longer trips. It is possible to trade with enemies' markets or docks, but the player's trading units may be attacked or destroyed by enemy units in the process. Players do not need to keep trading manually, as once they select the port or market the trading units infinitely continue to trade.

There are five campaigns in The Age of Kings, containing historically based scenarios such as Genghis Khan's invasion of Eurasia, Barbarossa's Crusade, or Saladin's defence of the Holy Land. In the Joan of Arc and William Wallace campaigns, the player can control a unit based on its namesake; in others, players take orders from guiding spirits representative of the army's commander.[6]

Additional game modes are available to the player in The Age of Kings.[7] One mode, random map, generates a map from one of several randomly chosen map generating scripts, with players starting in the Dark Age with a Town Center, three villagers (or more depending on civilization), and a scout unit. The game can be won through military conquest, by constructing a special building known as a Wonder and keeping it standing for a certain amount of time, or by obtaining control of all relics on the map for a set amount of time. Deathmatch mode allows players to begin with large amounts of resources, creating a focus on military dominance, while in the regicide mode each player is given a king unit, winning by killing all of the other monarchs.

Units and civilizations Edit

The Celtic civilization in the Feudal Age. The Town Center is visible and has several farms surrounding it; villagers of both sexes work there and elsewhere to gather resources. A scout on horseback is also at the ready. Military buildings such as the barracks, archery range, and stable are visible, as well as economic buildings—the market, blacksmith and mill. The right-bottom corner of the screenshot shows the player's walls and a gate.
Every player has a limit to the number of units they can create—a population limit—but may not immediately use the entire potential population.[5] The population capacity, which can be capped at anywhere between 75[8] – 200 in intervals of 25,[9] is based on the number of houses, Castles, or Town Centers—the main building in a player's town—which have been built. The Age of Kings introduced two significant new features for unit management: the idle villager button, which helps players identify villagers that have not been assigned a task, and the town bell, which sends all a player's villagers into their Town Center, Castle, or tower for safety;[10] units garrisoned within these three buildings, especially archers, increase the building's firepower (towers fire more arrows with units garrisoned inside) including the town center, which cannot fire anything at all without someone garrisoned there.

The Age of Kings also includes five types of military units: infantry, archers, cavalry, siege weaponry, and naval units. Certain types of infantry, archers, and cavalry are "counter units" with special defenses against other types of unit. The three human classes of military generally follow a rock-paper-scissors model. For example, infantry are generally powerful against buildings but weak against cavalry, thus the infantry counter units—spearmen and pikemen—have attack bonuses against cavalry.[11]

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