Today it is exactly 15 years ago since Michael “Archangel” McCart created and launched Age of Empires Heaven. And we are still alive and kicking! Although we are not the oldest Heaven, AoEH was amongst the few that laid the foundations of HeavenGames, back then known as HeavenWeb. The biggest and best website covering everything about the original “Age of Empires” and it’s expansion “The Rise of Rome” is celebrating it’s 15th anniversary today – join us for a party and celebrate!

If you could make up to three “official” changes to AoE and/or RoR, Not a full make over, but fix this/ change this/ Add this feature, what would they be?

Matt Pritchard (ES_MattP) started an interesting thread and is asking for your input. Now, don’t assume anything will be done with the suggestions, but it doesn’t hurt to post yours… Who knows what the outcome might be  Every suggestion is highly appreciated, so start posting what you would like to see in AoE/RoR!

As I mentioned several news posts ago, we don’t often see VIPs posting in our forums. Remember that AoE is olmost 15 years old now – which makes this very special. Matt Pritchard, also known as “The Optimizer” (he earned the nickname for his optimizing skills on the graphic engines of the genie-based games, AoE and AoK), has joined us and may be able to answer some of your burning questions regarding anything AoE, which also includes questions about the development of AoE itself. 

This screenshot found by Litude is one of the very few impressions we have of the earliest builds. This, amongst other pre-alpha screenshots, are the foundations of the Age series, and is currently being discussed here.

ES_MattP has been posting for a quite a while now at AoKH (thread here) and has found his way onto our forums. Always been wondering about that certain part of AoE? Welcome him and ask your question(s) here!

Crossbowman! His wonderful entry features Rome in all it’s magnificent glory, a huge city filled with all kinds of features that you absolutely must see, ranging from a Colloseum skirmish to arches to bath houses and other eye-candy. His city shows us that designing with AoE and it’s expansion is only limited by your own imagination. Loads and loads of creativity! Crossbowman gets a custom forum title as prize – be sure to pick something nice  Congratulations!

Second place goes to our fellow staff member Dubstepfisk, with his impressive desert city “Darya-de Noor”. If you want to see an absolutely beautifully designed city that truly impresses, and are interested in reading what inspired him, look no further!

The third place goes to Durin_PT, who designed several smaller towns on a mountain to show off his impressive designing skills. I personally thought it worked out really well, Durin shows us that you don’t specifically need one vast city to get a high rating!

Lastly, Dom0601‘s town of “Itla”, which is a pretty nice looking village, slowly progressing to the next age. Though it is a bit lacking in diversity, Dom0601 certainly has a lot of potential.

You can find the results, reviews and all the entries here, or click the link in the left menu, under the “Contest” section.

Our first Pretty Town Contest has been quite a success and the participants produced fantastic looking cities. I hope you enjoy viewing/playing the entries as much as the judges did. A big thank you to all who participated!

With the reviews done and the results announced, it is time to add all the entries to the newly added Pretty Town Contest Entries category in the Granary, a.k.a. the downloads section. I hereby want to ask all the contestants (Crossbowman, Dubstepfisk, Durin_PT and Dom_0601) to upload their entry to the Granary as soon as possible.

Please note that all entries must remain the same though, no major overhauls of sections, however, if you want you can make the last updates, fix bugs etc before submitting. I will move them to the appropriate newly added PTC section and add the reviews.

Thats right, next to Suppiluliuma, I am now able to move the entries (amongst many other cool things) as I am now an admin/moderator of the Granary as well – thanks to Leif Ericson (AoKH seraph), who helped me out. 

PS: Dubby, you can be a Granary admin too if you want 

In case you didn’t knew, we are holding a Pretty Town Contest, which started a few months ago. The deadline is nearing, you have two weeks remaining to create something nice and fabulous to the eye. If you are interested in participating, sign up here.

… and with it comes a new version of the Age of Italy mod, a work-in-progress which is being developed by Thompsoncs. New features include all new DeathMatch AIs, which allows the CPU to train all kinds of new units featured in this modpack. I did a bunch of playtests and they work really well! I’m not exactly fond of the DM option but for those who enjoy it this is a most welcome addition. Random Map AIs are currently being worked on for the next build. 

Other new additions are eye-candy (taken from Age of Kings) and a plethora of heroes, ranging from Aemilianus to Xanthippus, each with unique stats. If this has caught your attention, download the latest version here.

The results for the annual awards ceremony are in, with our overlord King Blatant VII taking up the biggest amount of all votes casted! View the results here.

Our Pretty Town Contest deadline has been extend to 11:59pm EST, February 29, 2012, to give the entrants a little bit more time to create the most fantastic looking city. You can still sign up!

The Continuous Screenshot Competition II now has the first “Super Special Bonkers Bonus Round“, meaning you are not bound to a specific theme this time. If you can make a nice screenshot which includes captivating eye-candy, or something plain awkward but interesting, be sure to give a go at it!

Hi everyone, as you probably noticed we have gotten a new look after all these years, which includes a brand new header and right menu. In case you don’t see it yet or only partially, clear your browser cache and hit the refresh button.

Some parts remain the same – AoEH preserves its traditional looks which is what I was aiming for when designing since all our visitors are familiar with it. 

I am currently updating every single page, most sections and pages are done already but some still need to get the new coat. We have a lot of content so it may take a few days before the remaining pages are updated. You can still access them of course!

I hope you like what you are seeing, and would like to hear your thoughts on it, as well as any suggestions you might have, feel free to share them with us.

On behalf of the Staff I would like to wish you all a very happy and healthy 2012!