Genie (game engine)
Encyclopedia
The Genie Engine is a game engine
Game engine
A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...

 developed by Ensemble Studios
Ensemble Studios
Ensemble Studios was a video game developer initially established in 1995 as an independent company, but was owned by Microsoft from 2001 to 2009, when it was officially disbanded. Ensemble developed many real-time strategy games, including the Age of Empires game series, Age of Mythology, and Halo...

 and used in several popular computer games
Personal computer game
A PC game, also known as a computer game, is a video game played on a personal computer, rather than on a video game console or arcade machine...

, such as Age of Empires
Age of Empires (video game)
Age of Empires , is a history-based real-time strategy computer game released in 1997. Developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft, the game uses the Genie, a 2D sprite based game engine...

, Age of Empires II
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is a real-time strategy video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft. Released in 1999 for the Microsoft Windows and Macintosh operating systems, it was the second game in the Age of Empires series...

and its expansion
Age of Empires II: The Conquerors
Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion is the expansion pack to the 1999 real-time strategy game Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. The Conquerors is the fourth installment in the Age of Empires series by Microsoft Game Studios and Ensemble Studios...

 (but is not used in other Ensemble Studios games) and Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds is a real-time strategy computer game set in the Star Wars universe.Players have a choice of factions and campaigns. The factions in the original game include the Wookiees, Royal Naboo, the Trade Federation, the Empire, the Rebels, and the Gungans...

. Some of those games have been ported to the Apple Mac.

Development

The Genie engine was developed as the basis for Ensemble Studios
Ensemble Studios
Ensemble Studios was a video game developer initially established in 1995 as an independent company, but was owned by Microsoft from 2001 to 2009, when it was officially disbanded. Ensemble developed many real-time strategy games, including the Age of Empires game series, Age of Mythology, and Halo...

 first game, Age of Empires which had the development name of "Dawn of Man". The designers received much of their inspiration from the game Civilization
Civilization (computer game)
Sid Meier's Civilization is a turn-based strategy "4X"-type strategy video game created by Sid Meier and Bruce Shelley for MicroProse in 1991. The game's objective is to "Build an empire to stand the test of time": it begins in 4000 BC and the players attempt to expand and develop their empires...

, with its proven historical setting; this was noted among reviewers as something positive. Age of Empires was designed by Bruce Shelley
Bruce Shelley
Bruce Campbell Shelley is a computer game designer who helped design Sid Meier's Civilization and Railroad Tycoon with MicroProse and the 1997 hit real-time strategy game Age of Empires with Ensemble Studios. He is currently working with Zynga, best known for Farmville, and had helped develop...

,. Tony Goodman (in charge of the game's artwork), and Dave Pottinger
Dave Pottinger
Dave Pottinger is Lead Programmer and Director of Technology at Ensemble Studios, he works on engine and AI of the games. He is a graduate of University of Arizona with a computer engineering degree and has a wife Kristen.-Portfolio:...

 (in charge of the game's artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...

). The game was described as "Civilization II
Civilization II
Sid Meier's Civilization II is a turn-based strategy computer game designed by Brian Reynolds, Douglas Caspian-Kaufman and Jeff Briggs. Although it is a sequel to Sid Meier's Civilization, neither Sid Meier nor Bruce Shelley was involved in its development.Civilization II was first released in...

meets Warcraft II" and this shows in the game's engine design. Like Warcraft it is real time strategy but unlike Warcraft and like Civilization II
Civilization II
Sid Meier's Civilization II is a turn-based strategy computer game designed by Brian Reynolds, Douglas Caspian-Kaufman and Jeff Briggs. Although it is a sequel to Sid Meier's Civilization, neither Sid Meier nor Bruce Shelley was involved in its development.Civilization II was first released in...

it is historical and has an isometric
Isometric projection
Isometric projection is a method for visually representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions in technical and engineering drawings...

 perspective.

The sequel's, The Age of Kings, design team intended to complete the game within a year by using code
Source code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...

 from the original and reusing the Genie
Genie (game engine)
The Genie Engine is a game engine developed by Ensemble Studios and used in several popular computer games, such as Age of Empires, Age of Empires II and its expansion and Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds...

 game engine
Game engine
A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...

. Several months into the process they found they would not be able to complete a game of the quality they sought in that time. Ensemble Studios informed Microsoft they would need another year and instead created Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome
Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome
Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome Expansion is a history-based real-time strategy game in the Age of Empires series. It is based on the rise of the Roman Empire, and adds the Roman Empire and three other playable civilizations to Age of Empires....

, an easily-developed expansion pack of Age of Empires, as a compromise which could be released for Christmas 1998. To help meet the next year's deadline, additional programmer
Programmer
A programmer, computer programmer or coder is someone who writes computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. One who practices or professes a formal approach to...

s, artists, and designers were employed.

The original Age of Empires had been criticized for its artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...

 (AI). Because the original AI did not "cheat" by attributing itself extra resources or using other techniques the human player could not, it was easier to defeat than in many other real-time strategy games. For The Age of Kings, Ensemble Studios attempted to develop a more powerful AI system that did not compromise by cheating. Industry veteran Mario Grimani led Ensemble Studios in the creation of the new system. To overcome another significant objection to Age of Empires—that of path finding—the team completely redesigned the game engine
Game engine
A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...

's movement system. The AI will still cheat at higher setting, giving itself extra resources every so many minutes.

The team was less successful in resolving other issues; programmer Matt Pritchard complained following the release of Age of Empires that there was still no process by which patches could be issued. Extensive cheating in multiplayer games of Age of Empires came as a result of several bugs in the game, which resulted in Microsoft promising Ensemble Studios there would be a patch process for The Age of Kings. On release, there were several bugs that needed immediate attention, but the patch process was not yet ready. The first patch was released 11 months later.

Ensemble Studios developed a new terrain system
Terrain rendering
Terrain rendering covers a variety of methods of depicting real-world or imaginary world surfaces. Most common terrain rendering is the depiction of Earth's surface.It is used in various applications to give an observer a frame of reference...

 for The Age of Kings, with 3D presentation capabilities that were vastly superior to those of Age of Empires. Pritchard noted an improvement in the team's artistic abilities following their work on the past two games, and he is noted as saying that "AoK became a showcase for their improved talent". However, he complained about the lack of an art asset management tool, while other departments gained new tools and automated procedures to assist in design and play testing.

The Age of Kings saw the introduction of a trigger
Event-driven programming
In computer programming, event-driven programming or event-based programming is a programming paradigm in which the flow of the program is determined by events—i.e., sensor outputs or user actions or messages from other programs or threads.Event-driven programming can also be defined as an...

s system for its scenario editor. The triggers allow messages to be displayed, or actions to take place, based on pre-set criteria or "events". The scenario editor was also improved by the new AI system. The AI and trigger systems interacted regularly in the single player campaigns. Numerous upgrades were added in The Conquerors but this was mostly in terms of gameplay and not engine advancements.

Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds was developed by LucasArts
LucasArts
LucasArts Entertainment Company, LLC is an American video game developer and publisher. The company was once famous for its innovative line of graphic adventure games, the critical and commercial success of which peaked in the mid 1990s...

 by licensing the Genie
Genie (game engine)
The Genie Engine is a game engine developed by Ensemble Studios and used in several popular computer games, such as Age of Empires, Age of Empires II and its expansion and Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds...

 game engine from Ensemble Studios
Ensemble Studios
Ensemble Studios was a video game developer initially established in 1995 as an independent company, but was owned by Microsoft from 2001 to 2009, when it was officially disbanded. Ensemble developed many real-time strategy games, including the Age of Empires game series, Age of Mythology, and Halo...

. The game, as well as the Clone Campaigns expansion pack, was designed and directed by Garry M. Gaber
Garry M. Gaber
Garry M. Gaber is a game designer, director, project leader, artist, writer and programmer who worked on a number of notable LucasArts Video Games from 1994 through 2002...

.

Features

The Genie Engine has several features that are common across all its games, including a scenario editor, campaigns, LAN, serial and TCP/IP multiplayer, background music amongst others. The engine uses an isometric
Isometric projection
Isometric projection is a method for visually representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions in technical and engineering drawings...

 tile set, unlike other real-time strategy
Real-time strategy
Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....

 engines such as the one used for Warcraft
Warcraft
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is a real-time strategy game , developed by Blizzard Entertainment and published by Blizzard and Interplay Entertainment. The MS-DOS version was released in November 1994 and the Macintosh version in late 1996. Sales were fairly high, reviewers were mostly impressed, and the...

.

Usage

In general, the engine is easy to use. Units can be highlighted by dragging a box around them, or left-clicking. Right-clicking tells a unit to attack another enemy unit or building. Groups of units are remarkably well-disciplined in that they adhere far more rigidly to formations in movement and while stationary than units in other game engines.

The computer's A.I. is usually made up of sending "skirmish" type attacks. These usually are characterized by constantly sending a small (but also easily overwhelmed) number of units (usually 1 or two) that attack from range then run away before being attacked. Computer AI will also do this with melee units, with far less effectiveness, as the melee units must come much closer to opposing forces before being able to do damage and withdraw. While innovative it is nearly impossible for a human to effectively counter with non-ranged (also non-siege explained later) units (unless interceptor units are assembled in advance, as they typically will be after a few of these attacks) due to micromanagement
Micromanagement
In business management, micromanagement is a management style where a manager closely observes or controls the work of her or his subordinates or employees...

 issues. It is also almost useless in that it does little more than annoy (albeit continuously) a human player.

Enemy A.I. is extremely effective (whatever the problems of individual unit AI) at negating AOE (area of effect) siege units. When fired upon the A.I. will instantly move to a safe location, effectively nullifying the effectiveness of nearly 1/3 of the available units in the game. A single computer controlled cavalry archer is capable of dodging 40 cannons or catapults for an extensive period of time. However, it is also common to see computer units move into the line of fire of active AOE units.

The game lacks an "attack through" command. An attack through command orders the selected unit(s) to move to a selected area attacking all units along the way. Instead on games based on the Genie platform, the player must tell the selected unit(s) to stop, then to attack individual units. This frequently causes a mis-click causing all units to stop attacking and move to an unneeded area. It severely reduces the effectiveness of melee units, most notably slower moving infantry. This can be somewhat levied by using patrol command, which sends unit back and forth, while attacking units along the way.

Games using the Genie Engine

  • Age of Empires
    Age of Empires (video game)
    Age of Empires , is a history-based real-time strategy computer game released in 1997. Developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft, the game uses the Genie, a 2D sprite based game engine...

    • Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome
      Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome
      Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome Expansion is a history-based real-time strategy game in the Age of Empires series. It is based on the rise of the Roman Empire, and adds the Roman Empire and three other playable civilizations to Age of Empires....

  • Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings
    Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings
    Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is a real-time strategy video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft. Released in 1999 for the Microsoft Windows and Macintosh operating systems, it was the second game in the Age of Empires series...

    • Age of Empires II: The Conquerors
      Age of Empires II: The Conquerors
      Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion is the expansion pack to the 1999 real-time strategy game Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. The Conquerors is the fourth installment in the Age of Empires series by Microsoft Game Studios and Ensemble Studios...

  • Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
    Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
    Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds is a real-time strategy computer game set in the Star Wars universe.Players have a choice of factions and campaigns. The factions in the original game include the Wookiees, Royal Naboo, the Trade Federation, the Empire, the Rebels, and the Gungans...

    • Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns

Legacy

The games based on the engine have usually been rated highly with Age of Empires
Age of Empires (video game)
Age of Empires , is a history-based real-time strategy computer game released in 1997. Developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft, the game uses the Genie, a 2D sprite based game engine...

having sold over three million copies by 2000
2000 in video gaming
-Events:* May 11–13 — 6th annual Electronic Entertainment Expo ; the 3rd annual Game Critics Awards for the Best of E³* June 26 — International Game Developers Association renamed from Computer Game Developers Association...

 and having an average score of 87% from Game Rankings
Game Rankings
GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive...

. The Age of Kings was a bigger critical success than the first game, with Game Rankings and Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

 scores of 92%. The Age of Empires expansions for both games received slightly less praise but were still very well received.Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds received generally positive reviews, both from critics and fans. GameRankings gave the game a score of 77%, based on 38 media outlets. However, the Genie games did have vocal critics.

The Genie engine was succeeded by the Age of Mythology
Age of Mythology
Age of Mythology , is a mythology-based, real-time strategy computer game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios...

engine used by the games in that series as well as Age of Empires III
Age of Empires III
Age of Empires III is a real-time strategy game developed by Microsoft Corporation's Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The Mac version was ported over and developed by Destineer's MacSoft Games and published by Destineer and MacSoft Games...

and its expansions. The most significant changes being the updated graphics engine and the inclusion of the Havok physics
Havok (software)
Havok Physics is a physics engine developed by Irish company Havok. It is designed primarily for video games, and allows for real-time collision and dynamics of rigid bodies in three dimensions. It provides multiple types of dynamic constraints between rigid bodies , and has a highly optimized...

 middleware
Middleware
Middleware is computer software that connects software components or people and their applications. The software consists of a set of services that allows multiple processes running on one or more machines to interact...

 engine and the introduction of home cities.

The design of the Genie engine has been mirrored in later game titles such as Empire Earth
Empire Earth
Empire Earth, also known as EE, is a real-time strategy computer game developed by Stainless Steel Studios and released on November 23, 2001. It is the first game in the Empire Earth series...

, Cossacks: European Wars
Cossacks: European Wars
Cossacks: European Wars is a real-time strategy computer game for Windows made by the Ukrainian developer GSC Game World. It was released on April 24, 2001. The game has an isometric view and is set in the 17th and 18th centuries of Europe...

, Theocracy
Theocracy (computer game)
Theocracy is a real-time strategy game for the PC developed by Philos Laboratories and published by Ubisoft in 2000. The game takes place in Mexico and Central America in the 15th century...

, Rise of Nations
Rise of Nations
Rise of Nations is a real-time strategy computer game, developed by Big Huge Games and published by Microsoft on May 20, 2003. The development of the game was led by veteran Brian Reynolds, of Civilization II and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. Concepts taken from turn-based strategy games have been...

, and Stronghold. Most of these games have also been critically successful. The in-development free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...

 real time strategy game 0 A.D.
0 A.D. (game)
0 A.D. is a free, open-source, cross-platform real-time strategy game under development by Wildfire Games. It is a historical war and economy game focusing on the years between 500 B.C. and A.D. 500...

by Wildfire Games
Wildfire Games
Wildfire Games is an independent free software video game developer, originally founded as a modding team in 2001. Wildfire Games is developing two games of the real-time strategy genre...

 started out as an Age of Empires II modification and boasts many similarities to Age of Empires in its current design on top of its new engine Pyrogenesis. Another free software project is trying to more directly mimic Age of Empires and the Genie engine, written in Gambas
Gambas
Gambas is the name of an object-oriented dialect of the BASIC programming language as well as the integrated development environment that accompanies it. Designed to run on Linux and other Unix-like computer operating systems, its name is a recursive acronym for Gambas Almost Means Basic...

.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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