The art ofAge of Empires Mobileis undeniably impressive, especially considering the game’s many weather and terrain complexities.Age of Empires Mobilebrought the IP to phones, and its art team had a good number of hurdles to overcome.
Age of Empires Mobilewas releasedearlier this year, hitting the mobile market in October. Though it isn’t the first time the franchise has been on pocket devices, the IP has had a long absence from such platforms—and technology has come a long way in the interim. To learn more about howAoEMportrays history through art, while delivering some high-end graphics for the mobile scene, Game Rant caught up with the title’s art team.
How Age Of Empires Was Brought To Mobile
Nailing Down The Style
When talking about the game’s design philosophy, much was illuminated by the discussion aroundthe big battles ofAge of Empires Mobile. When it came to designing these mass fights, the team had to balance realism with performance and visual clarity.
“To solve this, we focused on simplicity for clarity. The art team reduced unnecessary visual clutter while maintaining a high-quality aesthetic. However, simplifying too much could make things look cartoonish, so we opted for simplifying structures while building upon realistic textures to aid visual clarity through design. A lot of the heavy lifting was done by our UX and programming teams. For instance, our UX team created a feature where players can drag the hero portraits on the right side of the screen to quickly find their units. It’s a simple but effective solution.”
The team went on to describe the performance solutions behind portrayingAge of Empires Mobile’s mass combat, mentioning optimization techniques such as “dynamically adjust[ing] the model quality based on the player’s device specifications”. With this method, when a large number of troops are on-screen, the “lowest level of detail models will be automatically rendered to ensure a smooth framerate.”
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Despite some simplification, the game maintains a level of realism. The art team noted that the prestige inherent totheAge of Empiresseriesencouraged them to struggle against greater and greater artistic challenges.
“Since we were focusing on history, realism was a must. The 2D style that was popular at the time just wasn’t going to cut out for the immersive experience we had in mind. So, we took the leap and decided to go full 3D. Most mobile strategy games were 2D or 2.5D back then, but we embraced the challenge. It meant higher costs, intense performance requirements for rendering all those 3D assets on mobile devices, and basically pioneering a new path for mobile strategy games. But, given the nature of the IP, realism and depth were essential. We wanted to give players a mind-blowing visual experience. While the challenges were real, they also got us really excited. Our team’s experience in 3D game development gave us the confidence to break new ground.”
The Technical Challenges Of Terrain And Weather
The art team calledthe terrain ofAge of Empires Mobilea “big challenge,” down in large part to the vast scale of the game’s map. The flat land proved a particular bugbear, as they had to develop a new system for vegetation growth in a strategy game.
“For instance, in a typical AAA game, you might determine where to place vegetation based on elevation, slope, and underlying materials. But with our flat terrain, these rules were useless. So, we had to design a completely new set of rules tailored specifically for a strategy game. It was a huge challenge and we were basically starting from scratch.”
Weather was less of an issue for the art team, but there was a jarring effect when weather collided with the game’s grid-like terrain. The art team sought to “minimize the grid-like appearance while without compromising gameplay clarity.”
WHERE TO PLAY
Age of Empires Mobile combines the familiar elements of Age of Empires with strategic gameplay crafted specifically for the mobile platform to give fans of the genre a brand-new way to enjoy the beloved franchise.Experience exhilarating gameplay with swift and intense battles, rapid resource gathering and military building, defending against waves of enemies, and forming alliances with hundreds of players to aid in your cause to build a dominant empire.Immerse yourself in an epic adventure featuring detailed real-time controls, breathtaking visuals, and legendary historical heroes on grand battlefields. Command your empire, unite allies from around the world, and restore your once radiant glory. Embark on a conquest unlike any other!
