Development
Rise and Fall was mainly developed by Stainless Steel Studios (SSSI) from 2005 to early 2006. Stainless Steel was founded in 1998, by Rick Goodman and other Age of Empires designers. Before working on Rise and Fall, they had released Empire Earth and Empires: Dawn of the Modern World, two commercially successful titles. In addition, they created two game engines, the Titan, and its upgrade, the Titan 2.0.
Rise and Fall uses the Titan 2.0 engine to run. It includes many features, such as the game's scenario editor, graphics, and artificial intelligence. The engine also powers the multiplayer mode, and handles all objects in the game world.
The scenario editor for Rise and Fall is similar to that used in Empires: Dawn of the Modern World, though Stainless Steel claims it has been improved. Features from the Empire Earth editor were re-introduced into that of Rise and Fall, and new ones were added as well. The editor handles flora in an advanced way, and has improved its movement. Ranger, a Stainless Steel Studios staff member, announced that all units—including the hero—will be editable using triggers; in Titan editors, triggers can alter unit statistics and features, allowing for many alterations to the game. The editor also allows the existing maps to be edited, and new ones created. The developers of Rise and Fall created the campaigns using the built in editor, meaning that experienced enthusiasts and modders of the game have the option of creating new missions.
The developers, however, did not finish the game due to the sudden closure of Stainless Steel. Goodman blamed Midway Games, the publisher, for not funding the project, which led to the firing of employees. A GameSpot news article on the subject read, "He reportedly told Gamestar that after the PC strategy game's release was pushed from October to early 2006, Midway cut off advances to Stainless Steel, which in turn had to lay off its staff due to lack of funding." As former AI programmer Daniel Higgins said, "This is true, SSSI is no more. I can't give details as to why, but I can tell you the product is in excellent shape, the team was in high morale and plowing ahead at full steam, and we were just weeks from gold disk." To complete the game, Midway, the publisher, shuffled it to their San Diego studios, where it was finished. As The Armchair Empire said in its review, "Overall, Rise & Fall feels like an unfinished product. Besides AI that often lines up to be killed, the engine powering the game stutters often. After doing a bit of research, this can probably be traced back to the financial woes of publisher Midway. Close to going "gold" developer Stainless Steel Studios ceased operation due to insufficient funds, Midway shuffled the project internally. The lack of polish is the result."
Read more about this topic: Rise And Fall: Civilizations At War
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