ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
- Paper Design, development and implementation of:
- The French Civilization
- The Holy Roman Empire Civilization
- The Abbasid Dynasty Civilization
- Paper Design and early implementation of:
- The Malians Civilization
- Helped with first pass implementation of The Chinese based on provided design
- Extensive historical research of civilizations was required
- Collaborated with Subject Matter Experts on 'The Abbasid Dynasty' and 'The Malians'
- Attended playtest sessions to collaborate on feedback with civilization designers
- Worked with Concept Art, Character Art, Animation to develop the visual style of all Civilization units and buildings
- Collaborated with UI on implementation of Abbasid Civilization specific Mechanics
- Collaborated with Tech Art on implementation of Abbasid's 'House of Wisdom'
- Collaborated with Audio to develop required audio recordings for civs
The French
The French are a primarily cavalry-focused civ with a secondary focus on artillery.
They have a few unique units such as the Royal Knight (A heavily armoured knight specializing in charge damage), The Arbalétrier (A Crossbowman with a deployable Pavise shield), the Galleass (A late game Naval combat unit) and a Royal Cannon.
Some of their more unique tech were faster Town Center creation (Allowing them to expand a bit more quickly) and the ability for a trader to return any resource, not just gold.
The Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire (HRE) are focused more on infantry, including heavy armoured and a secondary focus on Religion as well as Defense
Their unique units are the Prelate (An early version of the Monk) and the Landsknecht (A skirmisher unit with a two-handed weapon that deals AoE damage)
The Prelate is an especially interesting unit, as at the start of the game it can apply temporary buffs to workers, improving their productivity. This is pretty important as games can be decided by economy very easily. While English had a focus on longbow and French on Cavalry, it made sense for the last of the Anglo civs to lean more towards infantry.
The Abbasid Dynasty
The Abbasid are somewhat unique within the Age ecosystem. Their focus is on Technology, Camels and City Planning.
Their unique units are the Camel Rider and Camel Archer - both of which are anti-cavalry cavalry units.
Where the Abbasid really get interesting is their House of Wisdom mechanic. All other civs age up by building wonders; picking one of two each age to progress to the next. The Abbasid instead build this structure at the start and research wings (Culture, Economic, Military and Trade). Each Wing puts the player down a specific route, and players can not only research in any order - but can actually get all four. In addition, the House of Wisdom generates influence and structures built within the influence push the Abbasid towards their second civ-specific mechanic: The Golden Age.
Each tier of the Golden Age provides benefits to the civ so long as the number of buildings are maintained. This means Abbasid players are rewarded for building a single, massive city rather than expanding to smaller outposts.
Research for the Abbasid was interesting - we actually brought in a Subject Matter Expert to help ensure we were accurate and respectful to a civilization that had a histy of knowwledge and learning.