80s and the 90s. The man is a rockstar unto himself - DM TTRPG designer FPS Level Designer RTS Man... He's surpassed that of Gary Gygax and has helped make many people's childhoods.
I always thought both Doom 1/2 and Age of Empires II have gameplay rules and balance that was and still is some of the most fine tuned ever. Values of health, damage, movement speeds and so on. You guys did one fine job on this in Age of Empires 2, probably the most important aspect of a good game and the reason the game has stood the test of time. And it is also the reason Forgotten Empires have been able to keep adding new units and civs to the games for the past ~10 years without breaking or destroying the flow of the game in any way.
I dont know if ever thought of this, but AoE 2 planted the seeds of my love for history( specially the history ancient arms and armor) on me, and i guess many other people too. Thank you and everybody else for AoE series. Also, one little thing that ive always liked in AoE 2 over the other, was that houses only gave 5 pop and could be built indefinitely, so that i could fill my entire base with them. I aways loved seeing lots of houses all over the place, and as you can guess i never liked playing as the Huns for obvious reasons.
I would crave a video about how the balance went on this game - how units where picked up ? - what balance didn't made the cut - what are the proudest balance and worst mistake in your opinion - the DE team is still balancing the game to this day, I would PAY to ear you go through the changes from AOC to DE (speed, armor, cost, creation time etc..) Anyway thank you so much about aoe still, i played 6000h+ and still playing :)
I was never very good at AoK, but it did inspire in me a fascination with history that continues to this day and culminated in me earning a masters degree in medieval history a couple of years ago. Thanks Sandy - for all your hard work on the game and for these awesome videos!
Age of Conquerors, The Forgotten, The African Kingdoms, Rise of the Rajas, The Last Khans, Lords of the West, and Dawn of the Dukes. 7 expansions for AoE2, totalling 39 civilisations!
Hi Sandy, I love to watch your videos about The Age of Empires Series, they make me happy. Please do more videos about your participation in the other games, or anything related to the AOE saga.
Be cool if you did a new small map set for Doom... Even if we had to wait a while for it... You probably don't have time for that stuff anymore but its fun to think about....
FYI, minus surprises like Teuton TC's, the basic balance in base AOE2 is absolutely excellent for its time. To this day, the base stats of units like the villager, knight, militia, crossbow, etc are all unchanged :)
With the feedback you got from play testing. Did you listen more to the elite players or the casual players? Let’s say something was too strong in casual play but was fine in elite play, would you change it?
Your AI is still the most fun AI in my opinion. I still use it even with all the user made AIs nowadays. I prefer it over the new AIs that came with the HD or DE edition as well. Awesome work you did!
I remember a MSN gaming zone post that talked about the sheriff.... ome of the best players hired to work on aoe2 (or was it on aok heaven or one of the dozens of aoe2 websites back in the day?). Nice to see you worked with him.
and yeah balance of aoe2 was mile ahead aoe1. On aoe 1, I lost most games to one strategy : mass heavy catapults. They were over powered and destroyed everything. On aoe2... I lost to A LOT of stuff lol.
Will you do a video on what you did on Halo Wars? I think it would be interesting since the mainline Halo series was clearly inspired by Doom and Quake and its predecessors, Marathon, was a straight up clone of them.
Hey sandy! I love age of empires and also both of the old dooms.I played them all the time and I remember when I downloaded the demo of age 2 after playing age 1 for 2 years or so (this was in 2005 or 2006 because we live in pakistan so its pretty hard to come across games) and even then I still loved it and found it to be such a huge improvement on the old age of empires. Anyway it would be absolutely amazing if you stream the definitive edition of the age of empires 1 and age of empires 2 and actually get a feel for the changes especially with people like t90 and spirit of the law and I'm 100% sure that they would love to have you Much love 💘
My very dear Sandy, I loved plenty of your content, and I’ve noticed you are quite a legend; could you do a *How to fight a Flying Polyp* vídeo too? They are my favorite monsters.
One thing I've always wanted to know is where does the Korean bonus for tower range come from? Does it have something to do with the Choson range bonus for towers in Age 1?
Hey Sandy, were you resonsible for that added feature in the main menu, where you could read paragraphs about history of each civs? Did you write all these?
I think this was asked in another of your AoE videos, but can you give some backstory on the cheat units in each of the games? Some of the references I understood as a kid in the 90s, but some went right over my head and I still don't know about today.
it's a pity that nowadays people don't make games like they used to, people started buying garbage, the developers stopped trying, people all don't care about everything...
I think Doom has sold way more than AOE2. Doom has been on pretty much every machine that can run the damn thing. Pretty much every console generation since Doom has had their own version. Phones and even pocket calculators have had their Doom ports as well.
I was thinking the same thing but then I thought about how I’ve never once purchased doom in my life and I have many ports of it but I have purchased AoE2. Yes, completely anecdotal but But it makes me wonder.
So I do gotta ask cuz I be curious. Did you at the time ever see or dream that AOE II would ever get all this new content and expansions after conquerors?
Mr Sandy how do you feel about the alpha and beta releases/leaks of the game?what involment do you have with those?cause they look like aoe 1 with new graphics,also the scout kidnap thing was great too bad it was removed
I think it may depend.... Doom or AoE.. When you count ports, Doom is probably going to win. Hell, I just bought doom and Doom 2 for the Nintendo switch. In fact, over the years, I bought Doom seven times.
So is it your fault why the AI builds farmland next to Town Centers? and as historic accuracy expert, why the japanese produced european looking Man-at-Arms? Anyway, I love your work. lol
Sandy's career is a nearly complete laundry list of the best game titles of the 90s.
100% agreed. A lot to be proud of in that lineup.
80s and the 90s. The man is a rockstar unto himself -
DM
TTRPG designer
FPS Level Designer
RTS Man...
He's surpassed that of Gary Gygax and has helped make many people's childhoods.
I always thought both Doom 1/2 and Age of Empires II have gameplay rules and balance that was and still is some of the most fine tuned ever. Values of health, damage, movement speeds and so on. You guys did one fine job on this in Age of Empires 2, probably the most important aspect of a good game and the reason the game has stood the test of time. And it is also the reason Forgotten Empires have been able to keep adding new units and civs to the games for the past ~10 years without breaking or destroying the flow of the game in any way.
Starcraft and Warcraft were also pretty good in that regard
“Zounds! I could not build a wonder in the Dark Age!”
That’s my personal favorite of the quotes, but they’re all great lol
Thou art flesh and blood, and I am but clockwork. I shalt abdicate.
Oh no! Sandy lost his glasses!
I dont know if ever thought of this, but AoE 2 planted the seeds of my love for history( specially the history ancient arms and armor) on me, and i guess many other people too. Thank you and everybody else for AoE series.
Also, one little thing that ive always liked in AoE 2 over the other, was that houses only gave 5 pop and could be built indefinitely, so that i could fill my entire base with them. I aways loved seeing lots of houses all over the place, and as you can guess i never liked playing as the Huns for obvious reasons.
I would crave a video about how the balance went on this game
- how units where picked up ?
- what balance didn't made the cut
- what are the proudest balance and worst mistake in your opinion
- the DE team is still balancing the game to this day, I would PAY to ear you go through the changes from AOC to DE (speed, armor, cost, creation time etc..)
Anyway thank you so much about aoe still, i played 6000h+ and still playing :)
I was never very good at AoK, but it did inspire in me a fascination with history that continues to this day and culminated in me earning a masters degree in medieval history a couple of years ago. Thanks Sandy - for all your hard work on the game and for these awesome videos!
I hope Sandy has seen the 'Age of Doom' mod, an AoE2 campaign that replicates Doom!
I'm so happy that Sandy has his own channel, so much great info on game development and especially on the games I grew up with.
Age of Conquerors, The Forgotten, The African Kingdoms, Rise of the Rajas, The Last Khans, Lords of the West, and Dawn of the Dukes.
7 expansions for AoE2, totalling 39 civilisations!
To this day, AOE2 is the only game I play. You are a legend sir.
Hi Sandy, I love to watch your videos about The Age of Empires Series, they make me happy. Please do more videos about your participation in the other games, or anything related to the AOE saga.
You gotta check out Spirit of the Law and tell us what you think of his deconstruction of AoE2.
😮 me and my brother loved the Age of Empires series. My bros favorite was age 3 and mine was age of mythology. We played since the first game.
It is the legend, THE SANDY IS BACK!
You have had a long and productive career. I'm glad you're sharing these moments and experiences.
Be cool if you did a new small map set for Doom... Even if we had to wait a while for it... You probably don't have time for that stuff anymore but its fun to think about....
Agreed! Sandy built some of my favorite maps in those games.
FYI, minus surprises like Teuton TC's, the basic balance in base AOE2 is absolutely excellent for its time. To this day, the base stats of units like the villager, knight, militia, crossbow, etc are all unchanged :)
Age of Empires II is one of the game who introduced me to PC games in my childhood. That was awesome.
With the feedback you got from play testing. Did you listen more to the elite players or the casual players? Let’s say something was too strong in casual play but was fine in elite play, would you change it?
Your AI is still the most fun AI in my opinion. I still use it even with all the user made AIs nowadays. I prefer it over the new AIs that came with the HD or DE edition as well.
Awesome work you did!
Sir, you are the reason I love video games and role-playing games. Thank you so much.
What what? He actually worked on AoEII, I never knew that! So I have 2 favorite games that involves Sandy!
I'd like to see you make some videos about your history knowledge. Maybe make one video for each civilization in AoE.
Hands down the best video so far!!
When do we get to hear about Mythology and Age 3? You must have even more stories to tell about them!
I remember a MSN gaming zone post that talked about the sheriff.... ome of the best players hired to work on aoe2 (or was it on aok heaven or one of the dozens of aoe2 websites back in the day?). Nice to see you worked with him.
and yeah balance of aoe2 was mile ahead aoe1. On aoe 1, I lost most games to one strategy : mass heavy catapults. They were over powered and destroyed everything. On aoe2... I lost to A LOT of stuff lol.
It’s funny because age of empires and mythology was a bigger part of my childhood than doom
thanks, sandy! 👌🏻
Will you do a video on what you did on Halo Wars? I think it would be interesting since the mainline Halo series was clearly inspired by Doom and Quake and its predecessors, Marathon, was a straight up clone of them.
02:53 Please give details how do you balance a game? This is a common problem in many games - not well balanced. Thank you!
Hell yeah...love his stories from ensemble and id.
Hey sandy! I love age of empires and also both of the old dooms.I played them all the time and I remember when I downloaded the demo of age 2 after playing age 1 for 2 years or so (this was in 2005 or 2006 because we live in pakistan so its pretty hard to come across games) and even then I still loved it and found it to be such a huge improvement on the old age of empires.
Anyway it would be absolutely amazing if you stream the definitive edition of the age of empires 1 and age of empires 2 and actually get a feel for the changes especially with people like t90 and spirit of the law and I'm 100% sure that they would love to have you
Much love 💘
My very dear Sandy, I loved plenty of your content, and I’ve noticed you are quite a legend; could you do a *How to fight a Flying Polyp* vídeo too? They are my favorite monsters.
One thing I've always wanted to know is where does the Korean bonus for tower range come from? Does it have something to do with the Choson range bonus for towers in Age 1?
Hey Sandy, were you resonsible for that added feature in the main menu, where you could read paragraphs about history of each civs? Did you write all these?
This isn't Friday!!! But it feels like Christmas 🎄
Wow, Santa knows a thing or two about designing games. If you get tired of delivering toys for Christmas you should do something with game design ;)
I think this was asked in another of your AoE videos, but can you give some backstory on the cheat units in each of the games? Some of the references I understood as a kid in the 90s, but some went right over my head and I still don't know about today.
Sandy, have you covered anything relating to the teo newest expansions the Lords of the West and The Dawn of the Dukes
Best. Hat. Ever.
hey sandy, would it be possible to get your reaction and opinion on aoe4 and the civs they picked.
So it is all Sandy's fault that we get a billion dlc packs! Just kidding! Age 2 is one of my fav games of all time and I love these videos.
it's a pity that nowadays people don't make games like they used to, people started buying garbage, the developers stopped trying, people all don't care about everything...
Sandy!
omg you are the greatest man i ever know! thanks for all your work!
Great Huge Man! 14
So he was a part of Ensemble Studio's? Is he a part of the Definitive Editions revamps of the games too? I wish he was!
Ensemble is long dead. Didn't have any role in DE.
I would like to see you play AOE II DE Livestream :)
I think Doom has sold way more than AOE2. Doom has been on pretty much every machine that can run the damn thing. Pretty much every console generation since Doom has had their own version. Phones and even pocket calculators have had their Doom ports as well.
I was thinking the same thing but then I thought about how I’ve never once purchased doom in my life and I have many ports of it but I have purchased AoE2. Yes, completely anecdotal but But it makes me wonder.
So I do gotta ask cuz I be curious. Did you at the time ever see or dream that AOE II would ever get all this new content and expansions after conquerors?
what do you think about aoe4
Mr Sandy how do you feel about the alpha and beta releases/leaks of the game?what involment do you have with those?cause they look like aoe 1 with new graphics,also the scout kidnap thing was great too bad it was removed
7:40 You kiss your mother with that mouth?
Joking. "Verisimilitude" is a neat word.
What's is the The Sheriff doing nowadays?
"My ignorant folk couldst not replant the berries!"
Run for Congress. Those rules need balancing from first mover takes all.
They are... sorely missing with someone of your skills.
Doom is still one of the most installed software of all time
What do you think of brutal doom? It’s badass but I’m reluctant to call it Doom.
Is there any interesting stories about cheat units? howdoyouturnthison
You are everybody's grandpa they didn't know they had
According to the wiki doom sold 10 million in 1993. Neat.
如果要我選AOE2的帝王世紀版本，當時應該要有6個戰役的
這第6個我投給土耳其文明
Tell us, the AI starts with more resources than the player?
I think it may depend.... Doom or AoE..
When you count ports, Doom is probably going to win.
Hell, I just bought doom and Doom 2 for the Nintendo switch.
In fact, over the years, I bought Doom seven times.
So is it your fault why the AI builds farmland next to Town Centers? and as historic accuracy expert, why the japanese produced european looking Man-at-Arms?
Anyway, I love your work. lol
It is a bit of a stretch to say that the Janissary forces of the turks "adopted" Islam as their new faith
You really should try to pad your resume'. It's a little thin.
balance far from good. ARe u aware of how overpowered onagers are with the attack ground functioN? let alone ranged units
He might not, but we, the players, are: not.