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Amplitude Studios

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Dan Ariely: What makes us feel good about our work? Amplitude, la stratégie indé. Lorsque l’on fait face au bâtiment qui abrite le studio Amplitude, à deux pas du métro Daumesnil à Paris, la façade un peu morne ressemble au siège social d’un groupement d’actuaires.

Amplitude, la stratégie indé

Et quand on pénètre dans leurs locaux, à l’avant-dernier étage, ça ne s’arrange pas. Dans un silence studieux se serrent 45 personnes scotchées à leur écran. On pourrait se croire dans une quelconque société de service en informatique. Il faut regarder ce qui se passe sur les écrans où se côtoient vaisseaux spatiaux, générateurs de planètes et autres créatures fantastiques pour constater qu’ici, on crée des jeux vidéo. Et pas n’importe lesquels. 1. Nous sommes en 2010. Deuxième gros titre du studio, «Endless Legend» se déroule dans un univers d’heroic fantasy. 600000 joueurs s’y sont frottés. 2. Pour se lancer dans une telle aventure, il faut avoir accès aux ressources nécessaires. 3. La niche visée par le jeu d’Amplitude s’avère très vite plus importante que prévue. 4. (Photo Amplitude) Erwan CARIO. Why Endless Legend Is Better Than Civ. I’ve played a lot of Civilization, and I’ve played a fair amount of Endless Legend (for a relatively recent game).

Why Endless Legend Is Better Than Civ

And I’m ready to make the call. I just like the latter better. Part of this comes down to the latest Civ, Beyond Earth, being a bit of a disappointment for me. One could argue that’s purely down to personal preference, as I hate attrition systems, and Beyond Earth’s attrition is pervasive throughout. But I don’t think I’m alone. How does Endless Legend do better? Great Early Access Period It kind of sucks that this isn’t the norm, but let’s be honest, it doesn’t happen as often as it should. I’m a bit surprised it didn’t get more coverage, because it was easy to see from the Early Access period that it was a fun game worth peoples’ time. Faction Differentiation The gulf between different factions is huge. You can plug the holes in your army design by assimilating minor factions spread around the map. Games Actually End Games of Endless Legend only last 300 turns. Amplitude Studios Unity Developer Profile. How a 'beer-together' factored into Amplitude's Endless strategy games.

Amplitude Studios is one its way to becoming one of the more respected names in 4X (explore, expand, exploit, exterminate) strategy-game development.

How a 'beer-together' factored into Amplitude's Endless strategy games

Founded in 2011, the French game company has already released three games under its “Endless” series: the Endless Space, the fantasy-themed Endless Legend, and the roguelike Dungeon of the Endless. All three of these games have links to the other when it comes to their worlds and narratives, something that few strategy-game makers have ever attempted. CEO Mathieu Girad and creative director/chief operating officer Roman de Waubert discussed with GamesBeat the design philosophy behind their games, the French game-development scene, and how Amplitude formed and came to be, Here is part one. GamesBeat: How did you pick the name “Amplitude” for your studio?

Mathieu Girard: Actually, it was a long search. Roman de Waubert: It was very positive. GB: What was the craziest one? De Waubert: The most awful was Black something, Dark something. How the developers of Endless Legend see the end in sight. They're making no boasts about being trendsetters but, long before Amplitude Studios put Endless Legend on Early Access, before Early Access even existed, they were already experimenting with Games2Gether, their "brand new way for players around the world to participate in the creation of a video game.

How the developers of Endless Legend see the end in sight

" Games2Gether helped Amplitude to develop their début title, the 4X strategy Endless Space, polling players to see what was popular and even letting them pitch their ideas to the team. Games2Gether launched in May 2012, almost a year before Steam Early Access began, and may well have had some influence on its development: "It's only after the final release of the game that we had the Valve guys come over to Paris and tell us 'You know, I think you were the first people to do this,'" says creative director Romain de Waubert.

"It was pretty cool. " "I think releasing a game in its alpha stage is way more stressful than releasing it as a finished game," he says. They are off to a good start.