Today I have the privilege to speak with Christoph of Noble Masters Games. I recently began playing their game Age of Conquest and really am enjoying it. I have written a review of the game over at DroidGamers.com. While I was working on the review I had some questions, so I reached out to Christoph. After those initial questions, I thought it would be neat to learn more about the developer and games, so he agreed to do some q&a with me. I hope you find it enjoyable.
Also we at Droid Review Central are sponsoring an Age of Conquest tournament on April 30. You can find out more details at AgeofConquest.com Overall if you enjoy turn based strategy games, Age of Conquest and their new game Tropical Stormfront should be on your list.
Q. Tell us how Age of Conquest got started?
A. I played a game called “Caesar” by Heiko Hartmann back in the days on my Atari computer. I really liked that game and thought it would be a lot of fun to create an ONLINE version out of it. That’s when I created “Aevum Obscurum” (old name) in about 2000. The game was then played via Java Applet.
Q. How can people play Age of Conquest? What platforms is it on?
A. The game is available for PC, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS. All the major stores Age of Conquest is available from are listed on the download page.
Q. In Android market, there are many copies of the game, are each one separate games or do you need to purchase one and then add on the rest?
A. Each copy in the Android Market is standalone and contains one map. It started out with just one map because I wasn’t actually planning to release more than one version. I got some requests to add other maps, so I just put in additional apps. Back in the days, there was a file size limit for Android apps, so I couldn’t just pack it all into one file.
Q. What are the multiplayer options for Age of Conquest?
For multi player options (Android version), there is a separate app called Age of Conquest ONLINE.
A. The game is turn-based, so you each turn you enter your orders for the turn. All the players can enter their orders at the same time, so the advantage compared to for example Risk is, you don’t have to wait for the other players to finish their turns.
You can play in a more “real-time” fashion with 5 minutes turns. So each player is given a time limit of 5 minutes to enter their turn. Games are usually decided after 30 turns, so about 2.5h total. An other option is to set the turn time to one day, so you enter your orders once a day. Anytime during the day is fine. It’s a more relaxed way of playing as you can play whenever it fits into your schedule. Instead of just playing one game, you can choose to play several games.
Q. What is in the future of Age of Conquest? Anymore updates etc?
A. I am planning on a version for Android which contains all the maps. Also, I am currently thinking about creating a new version making the Age of Conquest even better. Still in planning. I generally take suggestions via the official game forums for everyone interested to bring forward ideas.
Q. I see you have a new game: Tropical Stormfront. Can you tell us a little about it?
A. I tried to make an adaption of the “Classic Empire” game, an old turn-based strategy game by Walter Bright. I wasn’t actually sure if I should make it turn-based or real-time when I started implementing it, but then the real-time version turned out to be a lot fun in the end! Some elements have been borrowed from the real-time genre, i.e. games such as Command & Conquer, to give it the final touch.
Q. Any other future games coming down the road?
A. On the top of my list is the development of a medieval real-time strategy game, with Age of Empires II as the role model. I am also itching to do a railroad manager type game for quite some time.
Q. Finally, as a developer, where do you see mobile gaming, specifically Android going in the near future?
A. There have been a lot of great games been added to Android within the past few months. I believe the future is looking bright, especially for all the players out there.
Thanks Christoph I appreciate the time and have really enjoyed your games and I am looking forward to your new creations, which hopefully we out soon!
