Dev Diary #43: Launch the escape pods!
Introducing the first of the new Content Packs, small-scale releases adding flavour, detail and immersion!
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Now that the long awaited v1.34 is FINALLY OUT, and after five post-launch hotfixes focusing on improved stability, I am turning to the future of Age of Legends.
While I have big plans cooking for next year, I want to spend the rest of this year working on small Content Packs that will drop regularly in the run-up to Christmas. Each one will add some specific new flavour, including new units, other content or systems, with a focus on detail and immersion. Partly this is to make up for the long wait for v1.34 - to have regular new content in fun, relatively quick-to-produce packs.
One of the things players consistently say about Age of Legends is that they really like the level of detail in the mod; and I always want to go the extra parsec to make sure the mod really stands out.
Now, I’ve been teasing for a little while about adding a new unit that appears in the very first Star Wars film, and which has never appeared in a mod for Empire at War before. Well it is, of course, the humble Escape Pod! And it’s coming to Age of Legends with a unique new system that will make space battles feel gritty, realistic, and which will be familiar to players of the classic space sim X-wing Alliance.
How will escape pods work in-game?
We have a beautiful new model, courtesy of Spy Lake Walker…
In X-wing Alliance, by the end of a big engagement there would be all sorts of debris scattered over a battlefield, including some Escape Pods. I want battles in Age of Legends to look the same. There should be some evidence after dozens of capital ships have been brawling it out in orbit: some arrows in the ground.
One way to make the battles feel more real is with Escape Pods. So, from now on, every time a capital ship is destroyed, there is a chance for Escape Pods to spawn. Big ships have a higher chance of spawning Escape Pods.
Now, this being Age of Legends, these aren’t just idle props that sit there… they’re much more than that, as you can see in the exclusive video previews below.