posted 21 August 2008 06:10 AM EDT (US)
This is as early as the development of AoM goes. It's very hard to find any material on this but I have managed to find some images from this stage. The Pre-alpha was meant mostly for testing out the engine before beginning work on AoM(Codenamed RTSIII at the time). A few interesting facts on this stage have been mentioned in interviews. Interestingly enough, Ensemble Studios had begun work on the engine shortly after the release of Age Of Kings. When the engine was nearly finished, it was tested in many ways. The first test was actually a blue humvee driving around bumpy terrain. Then during 2000, the outline of AoM was started. Many ideas for civilizations were proposed including Asian, Indian, Mesopotamian, Babylonian, and Sumerian. The Sioux and the tribes of North America were even possible ideas. Though ES wanted civs that the player could recognize right off the bat.
I happen to stumble upon these two during an exploration of an Archive of The ES website, these screenshots were shown during a random news article. This is the beginning of AoM, where all the magic began.
This shows another black-and-white image with a weird form of tree, you can tell this was AoM because of the water effects. Sadly I didn't get all of the images, I'm still trying to find the fansite on the internet archive.
These images are again from the ES website, this shows several turret-like objects being shown on a very early terrain.
Yes, it's another image from ES. Gold mines seem to be one of the first objects created in the engine.
A map being textured. The first image bears a striking resemblance to Nottud's recent "kitchen tile" terrain recently discovered.
Another test of the engine, this image was found on the AoKH news archives recently. Notice the AoK cursor, the actual one would not be made for a while.
Here is where the game was actually started and you can see early terrains and units. The interface is even a slight variant of the one from the original Age Of Empires!
Satyrs might just be the first myth units created for AoM. They were apparently taken out very early in development as no other media showed them. They eventually returned in the expansion, but they looked nothing like the ones here.
The following year, ES started work on AoM and announced it. The first preview was shown in Issue 203 of CGW, one I know very little of. This build was shown off at E3 2001 as well AGDC. Some of the sillier ideas were also cut out of the game like a cow with a farting attack(No joke.). It's special was a stream of dung, but originally myth units didn't have special powers. Though also graphics features were also removed. In an interview it was said when standing in the snow, units expel frosty breath and shiver in the cold when standing idle. When in the desert units will wipe their brows and farmers will push through cor stalks when walking into a farm causing them to wave. When buildings were destroyed, it was planned for columns to topple inward and the roof would collapse. This might have been dropped because it slowed the game down.
An egyptian hero. In the alpha, every civ had only one hero like The Egyptians now have with the pharoah. The hero would lead your army and call down god powers. There was also an idea that they would gain experience. That was dropped since AoM wasn't an RPG.
Here is a building that almost made it to release. This was the original Greek Fortress, it was even redesigned later on, sadly this work was all wasted after the new design was made.
ES released one of their earlier screenshots in two versions with different lighting. Originally there was a slider bar to change the lighting from morning to night, but that was dropped and replaced by a list of preselected lightings.
Here is a large battle. You can notice that dead units are actually bleeding, AoM was actually much more violent than now. To avoid an M-rating, the level of blood was reduced. Another interesting thing seen is the size of the mummies, which appeared to be originally human-size.
The first official screenshot released by ES. Notice the large green behemoth. Though it was resized, the green texture stayed like that for a while.
This screenshot is an interesting one. It features a weird second cyclops type. Nothing is known about this myth unit only that it was shown in two screenshots. The stone giant is also seen here as well as the other cyclops who seems to be bigger than before.
The last screen before the end of the Alpha, this shows some transitional Buildings for the Egyptians which only lasted for a short while until they were remade.
Another transitional image. The norse buildings here have been already remade but a few remnants give you some thought about this. You can notice a strange cliff texture around the area. It was only shown here and it appears exclusively in this screenshot oddly. The next oddity is a group of three huts around a weird pedestal.
I've always like this one because of it's simplicity. The cliff texture by the way is still in the texture files. You can see that the triremes were large before. It was originally planned that you would only have one or two in a game and it would be expensive to make one. It was dropped because naval battles were rare enough and it was tough for it to get through narrow rivers.
Here are some norse shores. This is the only screen known to show the horse, which was going to be it's own gaia unit. The norse hero is also seen on the left. The flag he holds might have been a part of a lost idea in which heroes would place flags or build totems that would generate a god power in the area.
The second screenshot released by ES for AoM, notice that the heroes aren't holding flags, the mountain giant is also without a club. This was because he could pick up rocks and uproot trees and use that as weapons instead. He would also be able to stomp on units, but all that made too powerful so he was reduced to a club and the ability to kick dwarves.
This image is quite rare, it was from the time during the E3 2001 showcase. It shows the basic units from each civilization.
For a while this was the Norse style of architecture and it was changed very quickly after. You might also notice the Norse have granaries and stables, for half the game's development, the plan was for all civilizations to have the same buildings and units(Bowman, Axeman, Spearman, Swordsman, etc), that was change so all the civs would be fun to play and not look to much like AoK.
This screenshot shows off the myth units that never were like the mysterious second cyclops and apep. It was hard for me to find this one but luckily The internet archive had it.
I had accidentally stumbled upon this image when I was looking for the screenshot above. This shows a first concept of the scylla which is apparently blue.
The preview for the AoM CGW preview, you can see that one of the images is a variation of a weekly screenshot from ES, that's because the one on here shows the city in the first age so buildings are smaller. The second image shows Odysseus, who along with Ajax(As well as Beowulf, but he was scrapped.) were special heroes which were to be used in the original campaign, though the campaign was remade but they were still used.
Here you can see the second version of an image in the previous one, you can notice a ballista belonging to the greeks, that was also part of the original plan. Each civilization would have their own siege towers, ballistae, and catapults, though that was eventually left only to Greeks and Egyptians.
I found a couple of images from the CGW preview, here is one. It shows an Egyptian invasion on The Greeks, the tress around them are also seen many times in alpha screeshots. The building on the left is also mysterious, it appears many times but it appears to have no use, perhaps it is a house.
Another CGW image, I was very lucky to find the complete thing. As well as showing a rare image of the norse docks, another more important rarity is the fact of units on ships. As well as being able see the units on the ships, depending on what units you put on your ships(Every civ only had one type of ship)in turn choosing what kind of ship it would become. For example, if you place siege weapons on the boat it will become a siege ship or if you place archers, it will become a warsship, if melee units are on it, the boat sprouts oars and is now able to go faster.
This is a weekly screenshot, the many different plants are show here and the Egyptian swordsmen are seen here also. The sphinx in the middle of the oasis is actually one of the monuments for the Egyptians which would go through two changes before becoming what it is now.
This is a CGW screen as well but sadly it is not the whole thing, but the cyclops unit are seen and are getting attack by what may be the unused Inferno God Power.
I was really happy to come upon these images, the miotaurs are also fighting early forms of the norse throwing axeman in here, it's rare to actually see them up close like this.
This screenshot was found in the E3 2001 press kit, here you can see lightning strike a small Greek town thanks to an enemy Egyptian Hero. For those who don't know, the building on the left is actually the city center, it was planned for all the civilizations to have different looking ones but then they were given a new base design.
Ensemble employees discuss map design using a print of a singleplayer map concept.
My last full CGW screenshot, here are many strange differences including a VERY early architecture. Something cool to see is that the siege tower actually opened up it's top part allowing units to go over the wall and a gate that looks and opens for like a gate.
A screenshot from Nvidia, here you can see the Greek Dock and many hypaspists as well. The thing that interests me the most is the shore rocks on the beach.
The second Nvidia image, here you can finally see the Greek hero, the stone giant and a smaller greek boat is seen. I'm not sure what it's purpose was. There are also a regiment of swordsmen as well, but I'm guessing they were scrapped since the hypaspist has already taken the role as the Greek swordsman.
The third and final Nvidia screenshot, this fire giant was an excellent example of dynamic lighting, a feature taken out of AoM after the beta for reasons unknown. Still it would have been a cool feature.
A snippet of a photo from the ES offices showing the aom alpha and a weird building on it as well, I actually don't remember where I got this.
The progress of a Greek town expanding, it appears that in the alpha, the bigger your town got, the terrain would change with it into a city tile. There is also a group of plants in the bottom left of the first and secind images, that was the object "fertile plants" the original ideas was that you can only build farms there, though that was rejected. This is also from the CGW preview.
The effects of a meteor on a Norse City Center, this was an example of deformable terrain, another engine feature that was scrapped.
Believe it or not, the aom loading screen had an alpha screen right under your nose the whole time! The screen shows a watch tower not seen anywhere else though.
This scan isn't as good as others but it still provides great material about the troll and the fact that the tamarisk tree(Yggdrasil back then) was around during the beta.
The anubite, it looks very different than it does now, all the pictures of units here are from the CGW preview.
The apep, this one of the few moments it spotlight. It's texture was then reused for myth units like the wadjet, serpent, and Scylla in the release.
The Egyptian archer, a close up of what you've seen many times before. It looks almost exactly like it's concept art.
Also another great Egyptian unit, good thing ES left his texture in the game files.
Camelry, a less noticeable unit, but I like this version more than the new one because of that.
The catapult, it looks much more realistic here than the current one.
The chariot, it seems there was going to be a horse rather than a camel.
The deerman, he was never shown in any screenshots and taken out very early in development, but when it was killed it was able to be hunted for food.
It appears that Setna was originally a scrapped version of the Egyptian Hero.
The old frost giant was much more rock-like in appearance and looked less human. It's original purpose was as a support unit so it couldn't attack, but it could freeze units allowing his allies to pick off frozen enemies.
Looks almost just like the finished boar except that the head was different.
The hypaspist, seen again after so many other screenshots showing him as well. He doesn't look too different than the new one.
The medusa wasn't heard from much in the alpha, it doesn't even appear to be carrying a bow so it was probably another support unit
Again the mountain giant lacks a club further providing evidence that he used trees as weapons.
The mummy, he really hasn't changed since the alpha.
The norse hero, his flag is also shown.
The peltast, almost never seen in a screenshot without hoplites and hypaspists along with them.
The prodromos also didn't change all that much either, though I still prefer this one more.
I really don't know what to make of this. I foud this image randomly around the ES website and it's name was "santa", well I guess it's worth posting.
Though the new scorpion man has been reworked, this myth unit was only seen in the third CGW screen and looked more scorpion than man in the alpha.
The slinger in all his might.
The sphinx was originally able to teleport through walls, the sound effects of that are still in the game's sound files.
The stone giant, the image is a little dark though.
One of the many chimera concepts, this one is much more skinnier and isn't seen in screens since it was still being made.
The centaur is almost exactly like the current version except for the leg armor.
This variation of the cyclops is strange, it was only seen here in this image and appears to be an abandoned concept for the unit.
Here is a lighter image of the stone giant found on the AoMH home page.
Here is also an image from the AoMH home page, except here it's a lighter version of the minotaur.
Here is the original Minotaur image.
Images from e3 2001, this one shows the aftermath of a meteor attack.
The meteors that lead to the image above.
Monitors showcasing the game at the event.
An image of the test map at night. Dynamic lighting is also seen here.
A small Greek farming village under construction.
Mineus rides into town.
Mineus Makes a speech to his army, I really wish they kept him in the final version.
Full view of the Greek town. The norse tile texture is still in the game files.
The Cyclops awaits the invasion, his cinematic texture and the cinematic texture of the hoplites behind him are actually still in the game's textures.bar as well.
Mineus Faces the Cyclops after his army prevails in battle.
Mineus casts lightning on a few pesky enemies getting in his way.
The Greek buildings as they progress from the second to the third age. There were only three ages planned before and the final one was actually called "The Olympic Age".
This image was kind of hard to find, but images from the event are worth it
These two were taken from a fansite, the second is the beginning of the campaign scenario shown during the event.
A banner for the game at E3.
More photos of the demo, the old menu had you scrolling around a world with many things happening around it.
Here is another image of the farming village, the strange trees are also seen here.
The logo on top of the AoM booth.
Looks like someone decided to hang a jacket on 'ol Thor
The complete booth comes with all you see here, ES employees and batteries not included.
The menu and loading screens were simple bac then but were drastically changed as work progressed.
The Egyptian area of the map.
The "WAR" portion of the map.
Mineus dismounts his horse and approaches a soldier.
The aftermath of yet another attack, the demo was already when the deformable terrain portion of AoM was long gone.
The pre-beta was a transition phase between the alpha and beta versions, the hero idea was dropped along with many other ideas too, all the buildings and almost all the units were changed, by now Age Of Mythology is beginning to look more and more at this stage in production.
You can see that a prominent feature of large ships was also removed and the triremes are of miniscule size now. ES was trying to remove the old style figuring it wasn't good enough and redesigned everything to fit the new art style including the trees and city center.
Tough the art style has changed, the way civilizations work has not. The stone wall in the image was actually still in use up until the later portion of the release beta.
These were the last images before the end of the early beta, it also showed the apep for the last time. It's unclear what the apep's true purpose was, as it was never mentioned in previews or seen in videos. The apep might have been the predecessor of the wadjet.
Here you can see the Greeks and Egyptians invade each other's city, The colossus also lacks a sword meaning he might have had the same purpose as the giant.
The Norse buildings have seen a great redesign including a completely new version of the town center seen here. The siege workshop is also a building that never made the cut. Instead of using fortresses to make siege weapons, these buildings did just that.
The Egyptians face another threat, there's not much to see here but there is an Egyptian archery to see. The texture for the archery also survived to this day as well but was not actually used.
Here you can see the temple of the Norse, this temple's design was actually based off of a Wonder from the second Age Of Empires. The stonehenge items seen around the statue were never released, the texture for the red stones still exists however.
This design for the Greeks will come up again much more, the old style of the Greeks had their buildings much whiter than now. The market building has wen through the most changes than any other buildings, a new design is seen in almost every screenshot.
These are a series of Christmas-themed images released by ES, a few things were created for AoM such as santa and the snowmen. The textures for all these are still in AoM along with their models as well. Another thing to notice in the last screen is a new, taller concept of the Fire Giant, ES certainly wasn't happy with the design so it wasn't shown much.
This is a screenshot that seemed to not have been saved in the internet archive, I found a couple of parts from it but not much else.
The next few are from a preview from cgonline.com, their website is down though a small bit of images were found but they were sadly only thumbnails and the real images never got archived.
Yet another version of the market. The early monument can also be seen here.
Ulfsarks and spearman are hit by a meteor.
Some goats and a donkey caravan, nothing we haven't seen before.
Luckily I found one of the screenshots on a different site, here you don't see anything new though it is an interesting image.
I the earlier versions of the game, naval shipyard have survived to this day and are even in the editor. Small differences are also slowly being made like the introduction of the ox cart.
This weekly screenshot shows an early portion of the pre-beta, this was most likely from a campaign scenario at the time.
By the pre-beta, the dynamic lighting feature was long gone, the fire giants can show that.
A perfect example of the military units back then, the Greek's shields were just about seen everywhere, even een hanging on the armory buildings. The Colossus' original weapon turns out to be a scimitar.
[This message has been edited by Firefax (edited 08-21-2008 @ 09:12 PM).]
" - Norm
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