Age of Empires developer worries RTS genre ‘hasn’t changed much’ in 20 years

Do real-time strategy games need an overhaul? Developer Dave Pottinger, who worked on Halo Wars and age of empires Think so, and the RTS genre has barely changed in 20 years.
Age of Empires is one of the best RTS games out there, easily on par with games like Command & Conquer. However, developer Dave Pottinger, who worked on the previous series as well as Halo Wars and several other games, believes the real-time strategy genre needs to keep evolving to avoid stagnating.
Pottinger, who is currently developing the strategy game Project Citadel, spoke on the VideoGamer Podcast to discuss the history of the RTS genre, including how RTS games in their infancy contrasted with the action genre that dominated the market.
Discussing their current status, he said, “You’re still playing the same games we were playing 20 years ago and looking at some of these newer games – Stormgate and other games like that – and they’re still very Largely based on these game formulas.
Of course, things don’t look good at Stormgate right now. “Stormgate” has received mixed reactions since its launch. This free RTS game that requires an online connection has only 91 players on Steam, down from its peak of nearly 5,000 players. Would more innovation help?
Pottinger added that the current renaissance of RTS offers developers an opportunity to do something different with the genre. He and his team at Last Keep made a point of replaying some of the great RTS titles, and while they got a warm, nostalgic feeling from the experience, they were shocked by how little things had changed.
“I think this reinforces our decision to innovate through Project Citadel,” Pottinger added. However, he also realizes that this isn’t always easy in the current climate and risks alienating existing fans. In addition to fans, some triple-A publishers have expressed a desire to stick with existing franchises and formats.
Pottinger hopes that starting from scratch, Last Keep will have the opportunity to do something truly different with Project Citadel. The science fiction strategy game “Project Citadel” is “coming soon” to the Steam early access version, but there is currently no specific release window.
Meanwhile, there are tons of great strategy games and turn-based strategy games to explore.
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