AbleGamers Chats with Walt Yarbrough about Evony Age 2

{sidebar id=1}Evony is the originator of one of the newest crazes in web browser games.  MMORTS have becoming increasingly popular as of late, Lords of Ultima, Kingdom of Camelot, etc. all started from a little web game that would one day rise to become the most popular browser based game around.

With millions of subscribers, Evony boasts one of the largest communities for online strategic games. Of course, subscribers is a poor choice of words since the entire game itself is free. No purchase necessary.

However, make no mistake about it; Evony pulls in money hand over fist thanks to its game coins system.  Every item available in the game from farming npcs is also available for purchase using game coins.

Fortunately, no money is actually necessary to play this game.  You build resource stations to begin farming, sawing lumber, mining iron, or digging out rocks as soon as you begin the game. Next you start building up your city and preparing to wage war against the thousands of other players on the server.

Evony is so popular that they have begun Age 2, the sequel to the original.  AbleGamers had the opportunity to sit down with Walt Yarbrough, VP of Operations, to talk about the differences between age 1 and 2, the accessibility, and some of his favorite features.

Steve Spohn, AbleGamers: What was the original inspiration for Evony?  Any games that were particularly inspiring?

Walt Yarbrough: Evony Age 1 is really a reflection of the technology available today.  There have been great real time strategy games for solo and local play.  With the great development tools available for a persistent, browser based game, and the large international audience, it was time for a great MMORTS.

SS: How do you feel about knock-off versions like Kingdom of Camelot on Facebook?  And, did that have anything to do with the push for Age 2?

WY: We’re certainly aware of the competition, as our goal is to remain the best free to play game on the web.  Obviously, we feel we have a better product than the competition and we invite our customers and theirs to compare and decide for themselves.

SS: Age 1 was amazingly successful for a browser game, yet Age 2 has a lot of changes and not all of them are being well received from the Age 1 community; why do you feel it was important to change the gameplay and not just update the graphics?

WY: The pursuit of player happiness – we’re making our best efforts to add new, exciting features, as well as address concerns from Age 1.  The great thing about trying to pursue player happiness is that there is always additional work to be done – when one issue is addressed, others are raised.

SS: Could you explain some of the differences between Age 1 & 2?

WY: A key difference is that Age 2 can be played through Facebook connect – and there are many social aspects tied in through Facebook – things such as event rewards for your friends, the ability to visit your friend’s cities, the ability to share your achievements with your Facebook friends.

Additionally, we’ve changed the conquest of enemy cities to a colonization system – which allows the defeated player the chance to revolt and recover.

And, obviously, we added an improved graphical look and feel – a new voice acted tutorial – new historic cities for large alliances to fight over and control.  A wealth of changes!

SS: Many community members have also titled Age 2 a “spenders game” - meaning you have to spend money to succeed, what would you say to those people?

WY: Both our paying customers and free to play customers can succeed in Age 2 – every item in the game is available to free to play customers.  So we would disagree with that statement.

SS: Colonization has been a hot topic in the forums recently with many worried newer players won't have a chance because as soon as they come out of beginner’s protection, a bigger player will colonize them.  Do you think that will be an ongoing problem?

WY: That was always an issue in Age 1, as well – players lose beginners protection and become a target for those around them.  Colonization is actually kinder for new players in Age 2 than conquest was in Age 1.  This is the nature of the competitive game, of course.

SS: Why did you remove conquering from Age II?

WY: The short answer is that PvP was very unforgiving.  Unlike a lot of games where you just might lose some equipment, not only did you lose your army defending the city, you lost the city itself.  Colonization was implemented to give the conquered a chance to fight back.  The colonizer, on the other hand, is given an automatic tribute, along with the ability to draft troops and population from its colonies.  It also means that not only can you have a large number of cities, each of those cities can in turn have a large number of colonies.

SS: What is your personal favorite feature in Age 2 that you wish would have been included in Age 1?

WY: The Queen quest has you pursue, and eventually win your Queen. (or King)   Not only does this give you a powerful hero for your kingdom, it also is a great quest series in the game.

SS: Evony has very good accessibility considering it's a browser game.  Was any thought put into accessibility when designing the game?

WY: Yes, we were hoping to make the game available to as many players as possible.  We put lots of thoughts and effort into accessibility during the UI design.

SS: Features like attacking colored red and returning troops colored blue is very good for colorblind as opposed to the normal red/green but there are no built-in options to increase the font size for the visually impaired, is that something we can look forward to in Age 2?

WY: We're following design guidelines to improve accessibility for colorblind players.  We'll be glad to receive more suggestions from Able Gamers to help the players.  And we're currently reviewing the font size and thinking about increasing them.  Finally, options for different font size is possible to implement for chat screens and we'll look into this.

SS: Another aspect of the disabled friendly atmosphere is that everything can be done at your own rate, there's very few times where reaction time matters.  This is a great feature for the cognitively impaired; why did you choose to go with long-term strategy over fast-paced action?  Are you still happy with your decision?

WY: Absolutely happy – as a persistent game, players need to be able to plan out and play for the long haul.  The daily rewards we give players, the attacks and sieges that take time and skill to execute – these are all part of our emphasis on long term strategy over fast paced action.

SS: Many motion impaired gamers love Evony because everything can be done with the mouse, on-screen keyboards, and voice activation software, but there are very few keyboard shortcuts. Why was the decision made to leave those out?

WY: As with many features on the list, this feature did not make it into the production timeframe for release.  We have this on our plans for future implementation, as resources and time permit.

SS: PopCap commissioned a survey of its audience and found that 20% of those in the causal game market, like Evony, are disabled. What are your thoughts on those numbers, and what have you and your team worked on with that in mind?

WY: Those are amazing numbers – we always make an effort to test to a wide variety of gamers and adjust accordingly.  Our goal is to provide the best playing experience for all of our customers, including those who are disabled.

Add comment

E-mail (required, but will not display)

Title

Refresh

Send

Cancel

Comments   

123

 

0 #45 COMMENT_TITLE_R E AbleGamers Chats with Walt Yarbrough about Evony Age 2 — Kevin Jentzsch 2010-05-15 10:54

Ive been playing Evony AgeI since Sept. and just switched over to AgeII. I like the fact that Medals are a little easier to come by than in AgeI, which was my biggest hang up about it. Medals were almost impossible to get.

 

 

0 #44 COMMENT_TITLE_R E AbleGamers Chats with Walt Yarbrough about Evony Age 2 — Tina 2010-05-14 12:05

I can't figure out how to play the game

 

 

0 #43 COMMENT_TITLE_R E AbleGamers Chats with Walt Yarbrough about Evony Age 2 — Jamez 2010-05-12 13:04

Very awesome game, except the for the fact that on AGEII u can't conquer or plunder enemy citys as much as I would like! But still kool!

 

 

0 #42 COMMENT_TITLE_R E AbleGamers Chats with Walt Yarbrough about Evony Age 2 — michaelpck 2010-05-12 01:11

i'm the new beginner over here..just for fun

 

 

0 #41 COMMENT_TITLE_R E AbleGamers Chats with Walt Yarbrough about Evony Age 2 — Collins 2010-05-10 20:26

Evony is such an interesting game, keep one busy and not regretting the day spent with it.

 

 

0 #40 COMMENT_TITLE_R E AbleGamers Chats with Walt Yarbrough about Evony Age 2 — ivars 2010-05-09 20:49

http://s3.gladiatus.lv/game/c.php?uid=20602 I have been playing Evony for a while and just recently started playing II and have enjoyed playing both games but would ask in the futured is there going to be a facility in the future for buying coins through mobile phone credit as I dont use credit cards and there is no other way of getting game coins.

 

 

0 #39 COMMENT_TITLE_R E AbleGamers Chats with Walt Yarbrough about Evony Age 2 — s1s1s1 2010-05-08 00:52

very good game;-)

 

 

0 #38 COMMENT_TITLE_R E AbleGamers Chats with Walt Yarbrough about Evony Age 2 — Sue Anne Stretz 2010-05-08 00:13

I enjoy this game

 

 

0 #37 COMMENT_TITLE_R E AbleGamers Chats with Walt Yarbrough about Evony Age 2 — avery cobb 2010-05-07 11:12

i like it

 

 

0 #36 COMMENT_TITLE_R E AbleGamers Chats with Walt Yarbrough about Evony Age 2 — wallee 2010-05-07 11:05

evony age 2 is aulsome :-);-):D;-):o8)

 

 

0 #35 COMMENT_TITLE_R E AbleGamers Chats with Walt Yarbrough about Evony Age 2 — Jone 2010-05-07 10:13

This game is awsome!!:D

 

 

0 #34 COMMENT_TITLE_R E AbleGamers Chats with Walt Yarbrough about Evony Age 2 — zesus 2010-05-06 15:05

:D:D:D;-);-)thi s game is mind blowing:D:D;-); -);-);-)

 

 

0 #33 COMMENT_TITLE_R E AbleGamers Chats with Walt Yarbrough about Evony Age 2 — JON 2010-05-06 13:55

awesome game

 

 

0 #32 COMMENT_TITLE_R E AbleGamers Chats with Walt Yarbrough about Evony Age 2 — Kelly Martin 2010-05-06 13:42

Simple, but satisfyingly fun

 

 

0 #31 COMMENT_TITLE_R E AbleGamers Chats with Walt Yarbrough about Evony Age 2 — mchaos 2010-05-06 13:39

Good.........;- )

 

 

0 #30 COMMENT_TITLE_R E AbleGamers Chats with Walt Yarbrough about Evony Age 2 — ajijos 2010-05-06 10:58

exelente

 

 

0 #29 COMMENT_TITLE_R E AbleGamers Chats with Walt Yarbrough about Evony Age 2 — Ray 2010-05-06 09:37

8)HI all it's a brill game you should try it

 

 

0 #28 COMMENT_TITLE_R E AbleGamers Chats with Walt Yarbrough about Evony Age 2 — Debi Thomason 2010-05-06 09:13

since the bugs are gone its pretty fun

 

 

0 #27 COMMENT_TITLE_R E AbleGamers Chats with Walt Yarbrough about Evony Age 2 — Hulsey 2010-05-06 08:20

I like this game a lot im new but im learning very fast

 

 

0 #26 COMMENT_TITLE_R E AbleGamers Chats with Walt Yarbrough about Evony Age 2 — yawn 2010-05-06 05:04

this game is ok i guess

 

123

Refresh comments list
RSS feed for comments to this post

JComments