| Genie Engine | |
|---|---|
| Developer | Ensemble Studios |
| Initial release | 1997 (1997) |
| Type | game engine |
| Website | www |
TheGenie Engine is agame engine developed byEnsemble Studios and used in severalcomputer games, such asAge of Empires,Age of Empires II and itsexpansions (but is not used in other Ensemble Studios games) andStar Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds. Some of those games have been ported to theApple Mac.
The Genie engine was developed as the basis forEnsemble Studios' first game,Age of Empires which had the development name of "Dawn of Man".[1] The designers received much of their inspiration from the gameCivilization, with its proven historical setting; this was noted among reviewers as something positive.[2]Age of Empires was designed byBruce Shelley,[3]Tony Goodman (in charge of the game's artwork),[4]Dave Pottinger (in charge of the game'sartificial intelligence),[5] and Matt Pritchard (in charge of the game's graphics).[6] The game was described as "Civilization II meetsWarcraft II"[7] and this shows in the game's engine design. LikeWarcraft it isreal time strategy but unlikeWarcraft and likeCivilization II it is historical and has anisometric perspective.
The design team for the sequel,The Age of Kings, intended to complete the game within a year by usingcode from the original and reusing thegame engine.[8] Several months into the process they found they would not be able to complete a game of the quality they sought in that time. Ensemble Studios informed Microsoft they would need another year and instead createdAge of Empires: The Rise of Rome, an easily developed expansion pack ofAge of Empires, as a compromise which could be released for Christmas 1998.[9] To help meet the next year's deadline, additionalprogrammers, artists, and designers were employed.[10]
The originalAge of Empires had been criticized for itsartificial intelligence (AI). Because the original AI did not "cheat"[11] by attributing itself extra resources or using other techniques the human player could not, it was easier to defeat than in many other real-time strategy games. ForThe Age of Kings, Ensemble Studios attempted to develop a more powerful AI system that did not compromise by cheating. Industry veteran Mario Grimani led Ensemble Studios in the creation of the new system. To overcome another significant objection toAge of Empires—that of path finding—the team completely redesigned thegame engine's movement system.[10]
The team was less successful in resolving other issues; programmer Matt Pritchard complained following the release ofAge of Empires that there was still no process by whichpatches could be issued. Extensivecheating in multiplayer games ofAge of Empires came as a result of several bugs in the game, which resulted in Microsoft promising Ensemble Studios there would be a patch process forThe Age of Kings. On release, there were several bugs that needed immediate attention, but the patch process was not yet ready. The first patch was released 11 months later.[12][13]
Ensemble Studios developed a newterrain system forThe Age of Kings, with3D presentation capabilities that were vastly superior to those ofAge of Empires. Pritchard noted an improvement in the team's artistic abilities following their work on the past two games, and he is noted as saying that "AoK became a showcase for their improved talent".[10] However, he complained about the lack of an art asset management tool, while other departments gained new tools and automated procedures to assist in design andplay testing.[10][12]
The Age of Kings saw the introduction of atriggers system for its scenario editor. The triggers allow messages to be displayed, or actions to take place, based on pre-set criteria or "events".[14] The scenario editor was also improved by the new AI system. The AI and trigger systems interacted regularly in the single player campaigns.[15] Numerous upgrades were added inThe Conquerors but this was mostly in terms of gameplay and not engine advancements.
Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds was developed byLucasArts by licensing theGenie game engine fromEnsemble Studios. The game, as well as theClone Campaigns expansion pack, was designed and directed byGarry M. Gaber.[16]
The Genie Engine has several features that are common across all its games, including a scenario editor, campaigns, LAN, serial and TCP/IP multiplayer, background music amongst others. The engine uses anisometric tile set, unlike otherreal-time strategy engines such as the one used forWarcraft.
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The games based on the engine have usually been rated highly withAge of Empires having sold over three million copies by2000[17] and having an average score of 87% fromGameRankings.[18]The Age of Kings was a bigger critical success than the first game, with Game Rankings andMetacritic scores of 92%.[19][20] TheAge of Empires expansions for both games received slightly less praise but were still very well received.[21][22]Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds received generally positive reviews, both from critics[23] and fans.[24][25]GameRankings gave the game a score of 77%, based on 38 media outlets.[26] However,Galactic Battlegrounds did have vocal critics.[27]
The Genie engine was succeeded by theAge of Mythology engine used by the games in that series as well asAge of Empires III and its expansions. The most significant changes are the updated graphics engine and the inclusion of theHavok physicsmiddleware engine,[28] as well as the introduction ofhome cities.[29]
The design of the Genie engine has been mirrored in later game titles such asEmpire Earth,[30]Cossacks: European Wars,[31]Theocracy,[32]Tzar: Burden of the Crown,[33] andRise of Nations. Most of these games have also been critically successful.[31][34][35][36] Thefree software real time strategy game0 A.D. byWildfire Games started out as anAge of Empires II modification and boasts many similarities toAge of Empires in its current design on top of its new engine Pyrogenesis.[37]Openage is another free software project trying to create a modern re-implementation of the original Genie Engine usingC++ andPython.[38][39]