Thereal-time strategy genreis nowhere near its peak from themid-to-late 1990s. Games likeCommand and Conquer,StarCraft, andAge of Empiresruled the world then, but today, they feel more like forgotten relics than pillars of the gaming landscape.
Dave Pottinger, who worked on games likeAge of Empires,Age of Mythology, andHalo Wars, feels the genre needs a wake-up call.
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Speaking on theVideoGamer Podcast, he explains how the genre relies on what worked over 20 years ago rather than catering to the tastes of today’s gaming customer base.
“You’re still playing the same game we’re playing 20 years ago,” he says, “and looking at some of these new games—Stormgateand others like that—and they’re still really largely based on that formula.”
In many ways, Pottinger is right. Most marquee RTS releases today highlight what worked 20 to 30 years ago. The highlight ofStormgateduring development was that the team at Frost Giant Studios came fromBlizzard Entertainmentbecause they wanted to make an RTS game reminiscent ofStarCraftandWarcraft III.
Obviously, he enjoys seeing a resurgence in the genre but cautions that developers need to innovate and move forward.During the development ofAge of Empires 3, he recallsthat trying something new and messing with an already established formula is scary. It can not work as intended, and even if it does, you risk alienating longtime fans.The team at Ensemble Studios was very aware of this.
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“There were some some times on the Age franchise where we flew a little too close to the sun. We had to pull back and take some very innovative things out of the game, I’m talking particularly about formation-based combat in Age of Empires 3. Hell, we demoed that at E3, and took that out of the game because we were afraid it was going to alienate too many of the existing Age fans.”
Of course, the real-time strategy genre doesn’t always have to involve controlling units and conquering a map.Pikmin 4isan example of how the genre can innovate to meet the needs of today’s audience. It blends strategy, unit management, puzzle solving, and even some platforming into one game that’s also highly accessible.
Pottinger is working on a new IP, “Project Citadel,” at Last Keep Games and hopes their upcoming game can innovate and move the genre forward.
