about 1 year
ago -
Age of Empires
-
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Transcript (by Youtube)
1s | foreign |
---|---|
2s | [Music] |
5s | join me in welcoming Chris Rubio to the |
8s | Xbox stage Chris how are you doing today |
10s | I am doing awesome it's been a pretty |
13s | good 24 hours right we had Age of |
15s | Empires for anniversary edition Shadow |
17s | drop yesterday onto Game Pass from |
20s | Opening Night Live I know it's been a |
22s | short amount of time but what has the |
23s | reaction been like so far it's been |
26s | just overwhelmingly positive I like that |
28s | answer that's what I was hoping you know |
30s | I've |
31s | met with a lot of players that have come |
33s | to our booth they're like wow thank you |
35s | for bringing it to console uh you know |
37s | we've been waiting a long time for this |
38s | people that have played it tell us wow |
40s | that it's amazing how you even got it to |
43s | work you know what was what was the mad |
45s | science behind that so a lot of magic |
49s | and a lot of a lot of goodness went into |
51s | it but um you know it's it's been a very |
53s | very awesome the shadow drop was was |
56s | yeah we do love a shadow drop don't we |
58s | we're going to be digging into all of |
59s | that but you are here to Showcase |
61s | everything with the team of world's Edge |
63s | have been working on and we're going to |
64s | be doing a live gameplay segment if you |
66s | all so we're going to go through |
68s | Skirmish and before I do any of the |
70s | nerdy questions in my head about how |
71s | you've done it I'm gonna ask you some |
72s | nerdy questions about what we're going |
73s | to be looking at here so what have you |
75s | got set up for us so today we'll be |
77s | taking it we'll be diving into Skirmish |
78s | but you know I want to walk players |
79s | through a lot of the changes that we |
81s | make we you've heard us you went if you |
84s | watch the documentary we literally |
86s | rebuilt the front end and a lot of all |
88s | of the Tactical UI we built it from the |
90s | ground up redesigned it so it would work |
92s | incredibly well on the console and so I |
95s | would love to show that off to players |
96s | and everything Laura is all yours my |
99s | darling sweetness let's jump in so this |
102s | is our for the Xbox we created a brand |
105s | new front end by the way I love that I'm |
106s | all the way back here like eight feet |
108s | incredibly readable uh so this is |
111s | awesome very easy to navigate through |
113s | our various menus that we created just |
115s | you can RB through everything and again |
117s | just still kind of a that has a lot of |
119s | the colors and flares that our PC |
120s | version did yeah but again redesigned so |
123s | that you can couch play from almost |
124s | eight eight feet away let's let's just |
126s | pause the moment no point on the screen |
128s | does it say Age of Empires but I know |
130s | what I'm looking at and you've got an |
132s | Xbox and controller in your hands so |
134s | there you go it's awesome job done so |
136s | you know we're gonna go into single |
137s | player today and uh we're gonna set up a |
140s | skirmish |
141s | uh but I've already set up a scrimmage |
143s | no this one I made earlier this is what |
145s | I made earlier so that we can jump in |
147s | and more importantly it'll enable me to |
149s | talk about all the cool stuff that we've |
150s | done nice and hopefully not get |
152s | destroyed by the AI so well also I'm |
154s | gonna make sure you aren't distracted |
155s | and you do talk to me yes that's right |
157s | because I've heard that you go into |
158s | Focus mode somewhere I go into combat |
160s | mode so which I love because I'm not a |
163s | combat girly I like to I like to build |
165s | my civilizations I like to make them |
167s | look very beautiful and in the end I'm |
168s | like I suppose I need to go bash someone |
170s | up now I do that too I'm actually quite |
173s | the Builder and then you know I get a |
175s | lot of better players to me that come |
176s | over and stop my base I'm like I |
178s | probably shouldn't have been focused on |
179s | making a cool base |
181s | for me that's that's how I go for it so |
184s | it's awesome so we're gonna be playing |
185s | uh today we got the English versus the |
187s | French very tried and true classic |
189s | matchup indeed |
191s | um we're going to start with uh our base |
193s | kind of already pre-made and if players |
195s | out there haven't checked it out we've |
197s | released Empire Wars yeah which is a |
200s | kind of a really cool start in the game |
202s | and Age of Empires 4 is a little bit |
204s | different than Age of Empires 2 the |
206s | sieves are slightly more asymmetric so |
208s | Empire's Wars was designed each I should |
210s | say each civilization starts and was |
213s | handcrafted to start at the right start |
215s | that you would expect them to be at at |
216s | that point in time so a lot of passion |
218s | and love it went into making that mode |
220s | super awesome so what we what we see |
222s | here is basically the base that I've set |
224s | up I got a bunch of workers right here |
226s | in idle but more importantly it's like |
227s | well what's all that UI on the screen |
229s | that is the first thing especially so |
231s | you go from PC gameplay and if you've |
233s | never played on Console H2 came out |
235s | early this year if you've not had a |
236s | chance by that yourself it even looks |
238s | different to that one as well as soon as |
239s | you load in support yeah so we've went |
241s | in you know we've made a lot of |
243s | modifications and our goal is to |
244s | literally streamline the interface but |
247s | at the same time make it incredibly |
248s | accessible and easy to read for couch |
252s | play so one of the first things any PC |
254s | player would notice is like oh my gosh |
256s | the resource bar is in the the top |
259s | center of the screen it's on the PC it's |
261s | in the lower left oh we found we found |
263s | on the console that it that placement is |
265s | really nice makes it super easy to read |
266s | and we learned we got you know a lot of |
267s | learnings actually came from Age of |
269s | Empires too kudos to that team for an |
271s | awesome job that they did |
272s | um so we were able to tap into a lot of |
274s | that and literally kind of Define out so |
276s | as I go through the screen in a |
278s | clockwise motion we have our resource |
280s | bar at the top yep we have kind of our |
282s | tribute menu that you can access you |
284s | know with various commands |
286s | um you'll also see a bunch of little |
288s | helper widgets and those were purposely |
289s | done so there's you know it's not mouse |
292s | and keyboard it is you need to you know |
294s | as a new player it's very helpful to |
296s | understand which inputs you got to press |
298s | to access various bits of functionality |
300s | the lower right hand corner that's |
302s | that's kind of your tried and true mini |
303s | map indeed you can expand your minimap |
306s | which is a really cool bit of |
307s | functionality you can hold down the Y |
308s | button you can actually super fast |
310s | scroll seamless yep um you can drop |
313s | camera markers that's what I'm gonna do |
315s | here |
316s | a little more and then that's a terrible |
318s | spot for a marker but I'll drop one |
321s | right there for the purpose of demo and |
323s | then what you can do too on the mini map |
324s | is you can just literally just jump |
326s | around |
327s | um based on on those waypoints that you |
329s | set so entirely up to the player however |
331s | they want to play |
332s | um and the toolbar or I should say the |
334s | d-pad controls that you see in the |
336s | center of this top bottom center there |
338s | those are what we call a quick find menu |
340s | and it allows players kind of like uh |
342s | hotkey shortcuts on the PC it allows you |
344s | to jump to various units structures that |
347s | you have on the battlefield for example |
348s | if I press d-pad up I can cycle through |
351s | all my idle villagers yeah they are if I |
353s | want to go to my military I can press |
354s | d-pad left boom I'm right there with a |
357s | group of units and I can kind of cycle |
358s | through them now if I want I can |
360s | actually select all my idol villagers |
362s | just by holding d-pad up |
364s | I mean |
366s | right and I want to ask you a little bit |
368s | about what work you've done in the |
370s | background to try and get it to like the |
372s | testing phase and we even heard in that |
374s | uh Viaduct just then that I think as |
376s | yourself or maybe a lot of other people |
378s | are really really excited about playing |
380s | on controller now yeah so we have you |
382s | know we've spent I should say both teams |
385s | Age of Empires two and four we spent |
387s | many many months and thousands of hours |
390s | basically hammering away we methodically |
393s | went through the keyboard and mouse uh |
397s | inputs and essentially broke them down |
400s | figured out how all of that would map |
401s | and translate to the uh to the |
404s | controller and then once we got it all |
405s | done on paper after you know many months |
408s | we started prototyping we started |
410s | iterating we started playing what worked |
412s | what didn't work started throwing things |
414s | out bringing stuff back |
417s | um so it was just a constant uh phase of |
420s | development where we were just trying |
421s | and experimenting until we landed on on |
424s | uh what what you see here today and |
427s | we're really happy uh the team kudos to |
430s | all the teams our partner teams that |
432s | worked on this we have something that is |
433s | truly amazing and and honestly you know |
436s | I I've said this before you if you watch |
438s | the videos I as an RTS player I should |
441s | say as an RTS developer that's worked in |
442s | the genre for about 29 years now |
445s | um I actually prefer to play with the |
446s | controller well let's get back in the |
448s | whole seat and do some movements for us |
450s | I want to see a deep |
456s | ER which is super awesome if you think |
458s | about it it's like oh good and that's |
460s | what I love about the controller is |
461s | everything everything on the d-pad is at |
463s | your fingertips it's you don't know you |
465s | no longer have two input devices |
466s | everything's been focused down to one |
468s | and you know we've gone in we've |
470s | intelligently designed the controller in |
472s | such a way that it just makes everything |
473s | feel really intuitive natural and why I |
477s | say that is because that carries through |
479s | across both products H2 and H4 so if |
481s | you're an H2 player and you're like I'm |
482s | gonna go download H4 right now which you |
484s | should if you haven't by the way you're |
486s | going to be able to pick up the |
487s | controller and start playing right away |
488s | and it's gonna feel you're gonna feel |
489s | right at home you're gonna be like oh my |
490s | gosh |
491s | I can play this without having to |
493s | relearn it no that was intentionally |
495s | done because we this blueprint that we |
497s | have was designed so not only in the |
498s | present is it awesome but we can also |
500s | Carry It Forward into the future with |
502s | other iterations so I gotta am I getting |
504s | attacked by the AI look at that I'm |
506s | awesome here we are chatting and you're |
508s | under Fire yeah so what I want to show |
510s | off are a couple cool Innovations these |
512s | are absolutely critical to players out |
513s | there the first one is called the |
515s | Villager priority system and this this |
517s | is key this I love this system with a |
519s | passion and I gotta say this is actually |
520s | a new Innovative feature for the genre |
522s | as a whole you know I was saying to our |
524s | creative director I'm like how did we |
525s | not think of this 10 years ago and we |
529s | laugh about it but that's how cool of a |
531s | feature it really is so how it works is |
534s | you essentially bring up this really |
535s | cool radio you hold left down the left |
538s | trigger press an RS and it brings up |
539s | this radial and this radial has a bunch |
542s | of different presets that are broken up |
543s | into various kind of like pie chart like |
545s | Fashions these are all weighted based on |
547s | resource types so instead of dragging |
549s | and dropping individual folks as they |
550s | come out the village yes it's just |
552s | already managed this is where it gets |
553s | really good I I I got it all set up |
556s | that's amazing so |
559s | um we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna |
560s | focus in on this economic one but if you |
563s | you know you can use these presets they |
565s | were designed by our Pro players on our |
566s | team we have some basic ones that if |
569s | you're like me you can just kind of set |
570s | it and go yeah but depending on phase of |
572s | gameplay you can actually shift in and |
574s | out of presets yeah based on if I need |
576s | more gold need more stuff |
577s | yeah you can pivot your villagers |
581s | accordingly and this governance system |
582s | will take care of all that for you now |
584s | of course if you're super pro you can go |
586s | away yeah we are you can go in and |
588s | Custom your own VPC VPS settings okay so |
591s | you have a custom setting for the pro |
593s | players or your average you know |
596s | individuals like myself are your presets |
599s | which are more geared towards me and let |
602s | me show everybody how this works this is |
603s | awesome so I'm going to select the |
604s | economic preset down here very basic |
606s | straightforward click a button and you |
608s | watch all those Idol villagers |
610s | off they go They're put to work and let |
612s | me show you an amazing pairing so you |
617s | take the Villager priority system and |
619s | you combine it with a new feature that |
620s | we added to Age of Empires 4 on the Xbox |
622s | which is Auto Train villagers on your TC |
626s | so now you get Auto Train villagers |
628s | going |
630s | and essentially you'll be booming in no |
632s | time and it's awesome so these features |
636s | uh you know made perfect sense to pair |
638s | these two yeah and you know I I anybody |
641s | out there try it out you're gonna love |
642s | it once you can't go back I was I was |
645s | playing the PC the other day and we're |
646s | still we're working on PC iterating and |
648s | changing things I'm like I had so much |
650s | wood I'm like why are my villagers |
652s | collecting wood I'm like oh gosh I |
654s | forgot I trained I'm on the PC not the |
656s | console and I've got to manually go in a |
658s | minute but people you know players love |
659s | that level of micro so we want to make |
661s | sure that we give player the agency to |
663s | do either or this system really helps |
665s | bolster the console experience so and we |
668s | and that's why we added it and you know |
669s | Age of Empires 2 was the first first one |
671s | to add it we we brought the system in |
674s | we've made some additional tunings to it |
676s | to make it work even better and over |
678s | time you're just going to get to see |
680s | this system in the age series just grow |
681s | and grow and just become super awesome |
683s | absolutely love it I got one more do we |
684s | have time oh of course we've got time |
686s | all the time in the world so another |
688s | feature that we added to Age of Empires |
689s | Xbox was the ability to build anywhere |
692s | you want without having to select a |
693s | villager this is key so normally in the |
694s | past you had to select a villager and |
697s | bring up the the command bar on the PC |
699s | it's in the bottom yep I didn't show |
700s | this earlier gosh darn it |
702s | um and here uh this is the build radio |
704s | so let me let me talk about it now this |
706s | is the build radio |
708s | um and on the console we open up the |
710s | build features across four different |
711s | categories you have economy defense |
714s | military and age up so and I'll back out |
717s | of that bring it back up again and all |
718s | of this is easily accessible through the |
720s | d-pad purposely designed so players |
723s | eventually can map all this in their |
724s | brains too I'll just go to YouTube and |
726s | eventually get it so very well done so |
728s | with the site menu system no longer do |
731s | you have to select a villager you can |
732s | simply say |
733s | cursor over this resource pile hit the |
736s | right trigger and it's going to bring up |
737s | the right structure that you can place |
739s | at that particular and then the way that |
741s | you've waited the villagers to work the |
742s | people are going to build it and then |
744s | they'll go mine one villager will |
745s | automatically be assigned and it'll |
746s | start building and the great thing is |
748s | once this villager is done the VPS |
750s | system will capture that villager and |
752s | put it back to work oh my day so it's |
754s | it's super awesome and of course that's |
756s | with resource piles so it's concept |
758s | sensitive on demand you can also cursor |
760s | over the terrain bring up the menu go to |
763s | your build system and it brings up the |
764s | Villager radio and at that point say I |
766s | want to build more military structures |
767s | simply select a military structure build |
770s | one and it's going to select nearby |
772s | villager and off you go so again some |
775s | really awesome niceties that we added to |
777s | the game to just further bolster the |
778s | console experience and reduce APM on the |
780s | player so good now there might be some |
782s | people in chat |
786s | to this whole experience and there is a |
788s | tutorial that's been added called rise |
789s | of the king I wonder if we could just |
790s | touch on that very quickly absolutely so |
792s | the rise of the king |
794s | tutorial was created for the Xbox |
798s | experience it's broken up across five |
800s | different missions and it was designed |
802s | to teach players the basics the core you |
805s | know your core inputs your basic age |
807s | Concepts as well as uh teach players the |
810s | fundamentals like Base building resource |
813s | management and of course the biggie |
815s | combat so it takes players through all |
817s | of these different phases of gameplay |
819s | across five missions now we didn't want |
821s | to just build uh you know an onboarding |
823s | experience that was do this do that we |
826s | wanted something that was narrative |
828s | narratively driven and tied into the |
831s | historical component that we created for |
834s | Age of Empires 4. so we decided to |
837s | create a Prelude to the main campaign of |
839s | the game which follows William the |
841s | Conqueror starting in 1047 and it takes |
844s | you all the way up to 1066 with the |
846s | landing in England up to the Battle of |
848s | Hastings there it is so when you move |
849s | into the main campaign you'll actually |
851s | start off right where you left off in |
853s | the tutorial oh you are well smart well |
855s | done |
856s | um so the Xbox Mantra that we all know |
858s | and love is very much play how you want |
860s | when you want and wherever you want and |
863s | that's very important because now we've |
864s | enabled two and four of the age |
866s | franchise on Xbox consoles how does it |
868s | feel to be continuing to support that |
870s | Mantra it's awesome it's an opportunity |
872s | for us to get age in the hands of |
875s | millions of new Gamers around the world |
878s | that may never have the opportunity to |
880s | experience this game I've always wanted |
882s | to experience this game but for whatever |
883s | reason they couldn't so now through Game |
886s | Pass and Xbox they can go online they |
888s | can download it and have a great |
890s | experience and so for us it's you know |
892s | it's an opportunity a chance for players |
894s | to play on the platform they want and |
896s | play comfortably on the input device |
898s | yeah and comfortably on the sofa sofa |
903s | it's super awesome oh it's pretty good |
905s | chat by the way I want to know a hands |
907s | up in chat if you have got it installed |
909s | um because I want to see everyone just |
910s | get very very excited there's been a |
911s | little bit of time since it's been |
912s | announced I think you're supposed to |
913s | have but before we go I must ask because |
916s | I'm also I'm very excited I hear you're |
919s | you've got a big announcement for us |
921s | something you want to share maybe I I am |
924s | thrilled and thrilled thrilled and have |
926s | the privilege of being able to announce |
929s | to everyone around the world that the |
934s | biggest expansion released for Age of |
937s | Empires 4 is coming soon it's called the |
940s | Sultan's Ascend its name |
943s | packed with a ton of content and it's |
945s | going to take players on an Epic Journey |
947s | Through the Middle East now I can say |
950s | stay tuned that's all I can say at this |
952s | time so sorry chat we're going to |
954s | release more information very shortly as |
956s | well as details on how you can go on to |
957s | your favorite platform and wish list |
959s | this this baby up so fantastic super |
961s | excited and please you know that's good |
964s | the expansion's awesome I |
974s | well thanks again for joining us and |
977s | chat please do not forget you can play |
978s | Age of Empires 4 Anniversary Edition on |
981s | Xbox right now you didn't think I'd be |
983s | saying that a few days ago with Xbox |
984s | game pass as well as PC game pass if you |
986s | haven't tried it out yet |
988s | [Music] |
998s | [Music] |