The final part of my Ensemble history is now up.
By the way, if you enjoy this sort of story, please let CG know by commenting in the comment box there. Yeah, it means another registration for another site, but I’ve become a real zealot for what the site is trying to do, especially since it went through a lot of growing pains this year. Still, these types of in depth interviews and stories are hard to get published, but, as an historian and game genealogy nut, I think they are important in understanding the evolution of our hobby.
I’ll have more about the Ensemble story in a bit, once people have absorbed what I did and did not write.
Bravo, Troy! I had no idea this colossus was in construction when I set my Facebook status to a big, smoochy kiss to AoM. I’ve been playing it non-stop for the past week. Please find a way to transcribe the bits and pieces you have…maybe on this site? Love the narrative, though the whole AoE3 section makes me a bit melancholy, about the game as well as the denouement.
Nice job with a big piece. It’s always tricky trying to decide what to keep, what to cut, and how to make it all fit together. That reminds me, I should go track down the ex-Cavedog guys…
Sad to see Ensemble close; it seems the nature of the industry though: even success is no protection against unemployment when we look at the fate of similar studios in the past.
A very well-done article that you don’t find all that often anymore.
Fans of any genre should read the series as an awareness of our hobby’s various aspects, history, and behind-the-scenes decision making can only make us appreciate more our better games. They don’t just magically appear; they’re born out of a complex struggle between talent, ambition, budgets, and merciless bottom-line judgements.