Age of Wonders 2: The Wizard’s Throne Interview

Are you a fan of Age of Wonders? Well, most editors at AT are, so we're very excited we were able to conduct a little Q&A session with Josh Farley, programmer on GodGames' upcoming strategy / management sequel Age of Wonders II, and ask him about all the nifty game details he cared to reveal before the most important stuff is made public at this year's E3.

Action Trip: Describe in what way does the story continue from the original Age of Wonders game? How does it relate to The Wizard?s Throne?

Josh Farley: The story takes place after the events that unfolded in AoW1, with the Keepers having reclaimed control of the Valley of Wonders. The humans have become both hated and hunted, with the ancient races blaming them for the bloodshed that occurred and for the current cataclysmic earth changes the world is going through.

In the single player campaign, the player takes the role of a young human called Merlin, who is called to the fabled land of Evermore by Gabriel, the leader of the Wizards, whose circle has been fractured, leaving him trapped and powerless.

Merlin must master the spheres of magic while dealing with the legacy of hatred his race has called upon itself, and discovering what is wrong with the Circle of Wizards. Only by uniting the races of the world and restoring the Wizards' Circle can he claim the Wizards' Throne.

AT: Compared to the first installment what are the most important innovations, concerning gameplay?

JF: Of primary importance is the player's own character, the Wizard, whose powers and character they will get to define as the game progresses. With greater empire-building options, players can build entire cities, and tailor their own Wizard's Tower to suit their needs. Players will also interact with Deities, who can be a powerful friend, or a deadly foe. Overall, players will have greater options and strategies regarding how they build their empire and wage their wars, and will have an active world with which to interact and conquer.

The dragon is circling the city. He's looking for pretty maidens.

AT: We saw over 150 characters and units in AOW. Does Age of Wonders II bring a wider variety of hero characters and races?

JF: The total amount of units and heroes will be about the same. Instead of making more, we decided to replace a couple of races and diversify the units, so there is more variation in gameplay.

AT: The Deities are one of the key features that are supposed too ease single-player gameplay. Name some of their major characteristics.

JF: The Deities are Spirits who act as aides to the Wizards, while also asking that tasks be performed in their service. In other RPGs players get their quests from kings, seers or wizards, but in AoWII the player is himself an overlord, so he doesn't need to answer to anyone except the very forces of the nature themselves.

These spirits will have their own agendas, so the Spirit of Nature will be opposing players who destroy the land with death magic, while the God of Chaos will always be scheming to create conflict.

AT: Will the principals of the combat change in any way? Or will the still have the Fast and Tactical Combat system?

JF: The basics of the combat will remain the same, so yes, there'll still be Fast and Tactical Combat. However, the combat rules have been improved to create more strategic options for the player, and both combat systems have been enhanced graphically as well, with numerous particle effects and other bits of eye candy.

AT: What specifics are you working on to improve the AI? Have you getten to that part yet?

JF: The first step to improve the AI has been to make some changes in the game's design. In AoW1 we realized too late that a player's Achilles Heel, the leaders, proved especially difficult for the AI to handle well. While AI players needed to spend too much of their resources protecting their Leader, the players would beef up their leaders' stats and use him as an offensive unit. If the player lost a leader, he'd just reload, while the AI had no such option. So, to remedy this, in AoWII we will allow the AI to reload if he dies in a particularly embarrassing manner (just kidding)...

In AoWII the players will be powerful immortal wizards, who don't take as much of an active role in combat as the AoWI leaders. Instead, the Wizard acts by directing their minions from the relative safety of his Tower, conducting the forces of magic to aid their cause. When wizards are killed, they can simply restore their physical form at their Tower. So as long as the Wizard has towers to respawn to, the player will not lose because of their "death".

Tactical combat will also have some changes, especially with regards to cities sieges, that will help the AI, while also improving the flow and strategy of the game overall.

AT: Give us a hint how the spell system works in Age of Wonders II?

JF: Much of the spell system remains similar to AoW1, with the biggest difference being the role that wizards play. Wizards can cast more powerful world spells when they are positioned in Wizards Towers. From there they can also cast spells during distant battles.

AT: Is it too early to give us a few particulars of the new Direct3D enhanced graphic engine?

JF: The engine uses polygonal elevated terrain with map objects rendered as sprites. With the Direct3D engine we have also been able to add numerous special effects. We have smooth shadows, lighting effects and camera zooming. The Direct3D system is also able to render far more objects at a higher framerate than AoW1 allowing for much larger particle animations. These features should combine to make AoWII look even more like a window into a vast fantasy world.

AT: In connection with the multi-player mode in the game, how does the simultaneous-turn system function?

JF: The simultaneous turn system will work the similarly to how it did in AoW1; eliminating the need to wait for your opponents to move, since all players take their turns at once. We want to further improve the simultaneous turn system by streamlining the interface so that there won't be as many pop-up dialogs obstructing the players' view.

AT: The first Age of Wonders turned out pretty good. Now that you have a chance to make a sequel, is there anything you're going to fix that you, perhaps, didn?t like in the first game? And what were, in your opinion, its main qualities that you intend to enhance?

JF: We're very pleased with how AoW1 turned out, but new ideas never stopped popping into our heads, even just before release. One of our goals in the sequel is to enhance the game's presentation (both improve the graphical detail, and streamline the user interface). We also want the Wizards to be characters that players can more easily identify with, while the rules regarding Wizards should make gameplay more varied and involving. In general, we want new players and old veterans to find something new and exciting every time they play!