Danish hits beta!

Hi guys!

We have some exciting news for those of you who hail from the Kingdom of Denmark. This week Danish became the third language to be implemented into Astro Empires following English and Portuguese. At this point I would like to thank Lord_Mike and Beeblebrox for their tireless work to bring the language to Astro Empires. As the language is in beta testing we would ask that Danish players using the interface highlight errors on the forums.



To select the language go to your account menu, then display and select your language as Danish. We hope that in the coming weeks the language will be officially launched allowing native Danish speakers to get involved in AE too :-)

In other news the forum administration have announced some changes to their suspension system, details on the forum. Now onto our Ask Astro Empires feature with some answers from the team. If you want to post your own questions get the details on the forums.

JokeySmurf asks, how many game devs are there?

Currently we are 3 persons working in game development, me as game director and programmer, more recently a programmer/designer (have worked the new layout) and a designer working in 3D stuff that later can be used in the game. ~ Wizard

Albend asks, is it true.......that one of the mods is a woman?

I'm afraid at the moment we don't have any female moderators though we would like to have more. In the past we have had a couple, Crimsan and Jelanda for example. ~ Ikari

Tixo asks, will a faster paced version of AE, resetting every once in awhile, ever be released? Has it even been considered?

The idea of a speed server has been raised more than once in FR and on the Volunteer board and it remains a distinct possibility. Further than that, we'll have to wait and see. ~ Ikari

That’s all for this week guys, till next time adeus.

Contests and Interviews

Hi guys,

This week we're going to do things a little differently. We'll give you your weekly fix of news but instead of our Ask Astro Empires feature we have a full blown interview with Astro Empires right hand man, Xaman. With that in mind lets get the news out of the way shall we?

Ingame we have seen a further expansion to the Gamma Galaxies, opening G50-59. As always these galaxies will be closed to existing players for two weeks and only open for new players. Details are on the forums. Beyond our servers we are working with popular gaming site BBGsite.com to bring a contest for 25 free upgraded accounts (3 months). You will need to register to enter, do so on their site.

With the news out of the way let's get on with our sit down with Astro Empires Operations Manager, Xaman.


I started by asking him to give us a little information about himself.

"I’m just a regular Portuguese guy who likes to play browser MMOGs and happens to work in one."

Well how did it come about that you got involved with Astro Empires in the first place?

"Wizard is a friend since school days and he invited me to help him out when the game was launched. I was working in Barcelona at the time and installed the game forum and became the forum administrator."

Today you are working as the 'Operations Manager', could you tell us a little about what you do in your day to day job at Astro Empires?

"I do routine stuff such as supervising the customer support and game operators, looking for game abuse, checking the forum, doing backups and managing our marketing. The list goes on."

Until earlier this year you were also chief admin of the Astro Empires forum before handing it over to Ikari, what was behind that change?

"With the increase of my tasks and responsibilities within the game and company my time for the forum was decreased greatly, so I no longer could manage the forum as I did before due to time limitations. Ikari was one of our most trusted and competent moderators and after a while as super moderator he was invited to take the position of forum administrator. It was a good decision."

As you mentioned earlier you are responsible for operations and as such oversee the work of most of the Astro Empires staff. Could you let us know what its like to coordinate staff for an online game, including ones from other countries?

"We have a great working environment in our office and the relation with our volunteer staff (mods, translators) has been easy going and fun. It’s great to be able to communicate with people from different geographic locations and cultures and I’m very happy with the service they have provided us and still provide."

As we know English is not your first language, how do you cope with working day in and day out in another language?

"It’s fine, I speak English since I was 11 or 12 and have worked abroad for companies where English was the primary communication language."

On a lighter note, in previous weeks you have mentioned your pet cat, could you tell us a little about him?

"He’s lazy, loves to eat and sleep all the time and is the most gentle cat in the World. Never scratched anyone in his life, he behaves like a dog more than a cat some times, following me around and answering to his name."

A few weeks ago the moderators where asked about their phobia's. Do you have any interesting fears? Perhaps fear of failure when starting AE?

"Not really, when first starting with AE it was all done as a hobby, I didn’t have many expectations and didn’t earn any salary at all for some time, I did it for the fun and friendship for Wizard. Now that it has became a bit more serious and more people are involved the expectations have risen a bit, but nothing that will keep me from sleeping."

There have always been rumours that you play the game or rather did. Is there any truth to these rumours and if so where did you play?

"Sure, I used to play on the Alpha server for a while, although I tended not to interfere in the game too much for obvious reasons. Now I only play on the development server for testing purposes."

What kind of Television shows and films do you like?

"That would be a long list, but I guess one of my favorite kind of TV series and films are comedies. Recently I watched 'You don't mess with the Zohan' which was great and of course I love 'Star Wars'"

Thanks for the interview Xaman, just before we finish is there anything else you would like to pass onto our readers?

"Don’t do drugs and stay out of trouble? Seriously, hope you continue to enjoy our game as much as we enjoy providing it to you."

Alright guys that's everything for this week. As always if you want to submit questions for Astro Empires staff you can do so on the forums. Till next time, adeus

Mygames.pt article on Astro Empires

Hi guys,

This week has seen MyGames.pt, one of Portugal's largest gaming website publish an in-depth look at Astro Empires taking a look at the game, its development and its future. To read the article, visit MyGames.pt here, for a translated version, click here. With the implementation of the Portuguese language version of the game we expect to see further interest from Portuguese language sites.


Now we Have something interesting this week, some pictures of AE HQ. Using my hidden camera I was able to snap a few pic's while everyone was out for lunch, just don't tell Xaman or Wizard. The question is can you guess whose desk is whose? ;-)





Ingame, the promised increase to the Ion Bomber and Ion Frigate power have been implemented with the hope of expanding there use. On the Social Networking front Astro Empires opened official presences on multiple popular Social Networking Sites including Bebo, Facebook, Myspace and Twitter. We would encourage you all to join up if you're on any of these sites for regular updates and making friends :D

In other news last Tuesday Ikari celebrated his 24th Birthday, skipping out on work for a few hours to celebrate with family and friends. Next week we'll have an interview with AE's Operations Manager Xaman as well as all the weeks news. Now onto our Ask Astro Empires feature with some answers from the team. If you want to post your own questions get the details here.

Albend asks, where did you get the name Astro Empires?

I had thinked in several names that can fit the game project, and have also made a search to see what names are not yet used by other games, and have selected this one as it seems to fit the game environment of astros colonization and space empires. ~ Wizard

Cactuschewer asks, will you ever bring Test back?

Sorry to all the test fans out there, its gone for good. Back when we started the forum we decided it would be good to have an area where users could test their new signatures and avatars. This changed though when we upgraded to PHP3 as it allowed users to test it themselves when uploading, making the board kinda redundant so we decided to close it to avoid spam. ~ Ikari

That’s all for this week guys, till next time adeus.

Operations turns it's eyes homeward

Hi guys,

It’s been a quiet week here at AE HQ so I sat down with Operations Manager Xaman and discussed what his department is working on right now.

Operations deal with the day to day running of AE, from Customer Support to making sure the bills get paid allowing the developers to focus on what’s important, the code. This week however the department’s eyes have been moving squarely onto its Portuguese homeland.

With the launch of the Portuguese language version of Astro Empires Operations have been working to expand AE’s advertisement networks to include Portuguese language sites along with the English language sites we have traditionally worked with. As Portugal is the home of Astro Empires the Operations team have been making up for lost time, spreading the word among their fellow countrymen. Beyond the advertising, Wizard has been interviewed by Portugal’s largest gaming site, MyGames.pt, an interview which is set to be published in the coming weeks.

This week also saw the announcement of a change in some of our least used game units. Since their release the Ion Bomber and Ion Frigate have been the poor cousins of the their sister ships. Expensive with a very specialised use. In hope of expanding their use this week saw the announcement that their power stats would be increased. Details can be found here.

In other news Ikari has spent the week moving into his new house while Xaman escaped his desk just long enough to catch Linkin Park and James Morrison in concert in Portimão. I’m also happy to report that Xaman’s cat Chico has made a full recovery and is looking forward to its 19th birthday.

Now onto our Ask Astro Empires feature with some answers from the team. If you want to post your own questions get the details here.

Black Legionnaire asks, so do all the mods play on their respective server? (I assume so)

In the past some moderators have moderated boards they played and at other times they haven't. For example when I was moderator of Delta I was playing there though I quit quite early. I even suspended my Guild Master at one point though luckily he had no idea who I was >_< Today however we do not select moderators who play on the server they will moderate and have been moving those who have been moderating boards they play. We hope this will remove any impression of bias even if there isn't any in the moderators decisions. ~ Ikari

Saer asks, how did administrators, moderators, and staff make up their usernames on the Forum?

You'll have to ask them individually. Myself I used to play World of Warcraft and my character was a Shaman, thus "Xaman". ~ Xaman

Microwave Oven asks do all of the devs and staff share an apartment together?

Hell no. But we're trying to have Wizard build a mansion just for us kinda like Google has. Or at least a nice little shack near the beach so we can relax while thinking of answers for all these questions. ~ Xaman

Sandalphon asks, what's your shoe size Ikari?

One size 11, one size 11.5. Yeah I know my feet are freaks. ~ Ikari

That’s everything for this week guys, till next time adeus.