Discover Age of Nations (Again)

[DanQ]

Machinima is a blend of machine and cinema. In December 2005, the machinima and live-action blended series Age of Nations began. Set in the Rise of Nations universe as the first Real-Time Strategy (RTS) machinima series and first for the game, AoN ran for one season of 14 episodes and ending with a featurette released in July 2007. Five years later, series Creator/Producer Daniel "DanQ" Quick believes it is time to discover the production again... or for the first time, as the case may be.

To start this (re-)watch of Age of Nations, it is recommended that one watch the first and then the second music video for the series first; using video clips from the first and second half of the show's sole season, audience members get a sense of the progression of the visuals used to tell this animated episodic adventure of drama, action and comedy. Then, watch the pilot to begin the story. All videos are available for download in Windows Media (WMV) format as well as streaming on YouTube. The show also has a Twitter feed. On the pilot:

The future becomes more uncertain when a settlement of unknown peoples is discovered by a scouting party.

Debate over how to respond leads to a national first and sets in motion future events that can only result in unforeseen consequences.

Every Wednesday beginning this and continuing for the fourteen weeks thereafter, the next installment in the Age of Nations story will be highlighted for community watching and discussion. For this week, the two music videos and pilot linked above are combined into one for viewing and conversation. From the now defunct game developer Big Huge Games co-founded by Civilization II and Alpha Centauri Lead Designer Brian Reynolds, RoN worked to incorporate Turn-Based Strategy (TBS) elements into an RTS environment.