kings-and-castles posts

The game development world got a bit of a surprise late in February when it was revealed that Gas Powered Games was taking over as the primary developer of Age of Empires Online, the upcoming online free-to-play RTS game from Microsoft Games Studios.

So what does this mean for the game's development? Big Download went right to the source and got in touch with Gas Powered's founder and CEO Chris Taylor to find out more about how this switch came about, if the team will ever go back to its previously announced RTS game Kings and Castles and more.

Kings and Castles, the fantasy RTS game that was supposed to be the next project for developer Gas Powered Games, is now on hold, according to an email from Gas Powered's founder and CEO Chris Taylor to Big Download. When we emailed Taylor today asking for an update about the game he replied, "Well... We've put the project on hold for now, but the moment I know more I will let you know..." When we asked for more info he remained vague, telling us, "I can't go into those details just yet... let's call it a 'timing' thing..."

Gas Powered Games first announced Kings and Castles nearly a year ago and the developer did something unusual in order to promote it; it produced a weekly series of video blogs showing the team working on the game during its pre-production stage along with a big heap of comedy as well. In early October, the final video blog was issued with Taylor on camera saying that the videos would be taking a break while Kings and Castles moved into full production.

While first person shooters, action games and role playing games can cross over from the PC to consoles, strategy games are still mostly on the PC side of things. 2010 brought us some big strategy game releases such as Civilization V and most notably StarCraft II Wings of Liberty. 2011 also has some major turn and RTS based strategy games on tap for release including the latest in a long line of historical RTSs, the return of a major turn based fantasy strategy series and even the latest attempt at an MMO RTS game.

Big Download has picked 10 upcoming strategy PC games that we can't wait to play (in order of their expected release dates) in the next year as part of our multi-part feature on the games of 2011. You can also go back and check out our previous entries on the first person shooter, action and RPG-MMO genres.

Kings and Castles' developer video blogs have been on hiatus for a little while now but that doesn't mean the upcoming fantasy RTS title from developer Gas Powered Games is on hiatus as well. In a recent interview with the IGDA Newsletter, Gas Powered's head man Chris Taylor talks about his plans for the title.

Specifically, Taylor states that after Kings and Castles is released, the plan is to offer players regular monthly DLC updates Taylor says their plan is to "take the downloadable content model to all new levels.". In fact Taylor says the game might also support microtransactions as well. Taylor also hints that Gas Powered has other games in the works that have yet to be announced.

It's been 35 straight weeks since developer Gas Powered Games announced they would be doing a weekly video blog covering the development of its RTS game Kings and Castles. Since then we have been treated to videos of chickens, nuts, exploding team members and most importantly seeing some glimpses on how the game was being made by its development team, week in and week out.

This week's video blog is going to be the last one, according to Gas Powered's head man Chris Taylor. Not the last one forever and ever; it's just taking a break for a little while as Kings and Castles ends its pre-production stage and prepares to enter into full production. The video does say at the end we will see some outtakes from previous videos during this break but for now it looks like Gas Powered is putting the cone of silence over the game's development.

It's Saturday morning which means its time for yet another video blog from the fine folks at Gas Powered Games. The team continues to work on its upcoming fantasy RTS game Kings and Castles but for the first part of the video celebrates the fans of the game.

Specifically we get to seem some artwork sent in by fans to the Gas Powered offices that are inspired by Kings and Castles (with some references to the video blog's trademarks as well). On the game development side we see some multiplayer testing, some map work that looks terrific and the creation of some barrels. You know; the usual.

If for nothing else, the latest weekly video blog for Kings and Castles is noteworthy for the first few seconds of footage which we won't spoil here. The rest of the episode takes a look at more development of the upcoming fantasy RTS game from developer Gas Powered Games.

One section takes a look at the tech tree for the game but most of the episode checks out some map making. One of the map looks a little bit like a golf course, especially if the camera is pulled back. We also see some neat unit formation path finding in the map. Finally, there's even a contest for those of you who are artistically inclined so be sure to watch all the way to the end.

It's apparently retro week over at Gas Powered Games. The latest video blog for the developer's upcoming fantasy RTS game Kings and Castles takes us first to founder Chris Taylor show off his first computer, the classic TRS-80. Even one of the PC's original stickers is still there. That's a well taken care of computer.

The other parts of the blog this week discuss some unit formation issues, a first look at a Viking Kings, some feedback from fans about the proposed item system in the game and, of course more. Be on the lookout for salads this week. Hmmmmm ... salads.

The fairly long video blog this week for Kings and Castles goes over several different aspects of the upcoming fantasy RTS game. We get to see developers at Gas Powered Games working on things like animation for one of the units, adding more performance for the game's mod tools, checking out the first look at the tech tree, and seeing another one of the units in action.

The coolest features in the video this week is ... the new coffee machine. No, actually the neat thing about the blog is that we learn that Kings and Castles will have item drops for players as well as an inventory system. There might even be a store where players can purchase items (although that hasn't been decided yet). Cool stuff all around.

You are seeing a lot less of the "PC gaming is dead" pronouncements lately from the so-called pundits. In fact a case is being made that games on the PC platform are experiencing a boom. That's the view of Gas Powered Games' head man Chris Taylor. In a chat with Eurogamer, he predicts that the upcoming PC release of the action-RPG sequel Dungeon Siege III will sell as well as the console ports.

Taylor says the popularity of Valve's Steam PC game download service is part of the reason behind his optimism, stating, "I would say put down even money that we'll see the PC version competing against the console version when it comes out next year." Further down the road, Taylor says we will see more high end browser-based games coming in the next decade, saying, "It's a matter of time before you're playing a game of the quality of a triple-A game that we know and love, like a Supreme Commander 2 or a StarCraft II, in a browser experience."