As all of you should know by now, the open beta of Forge of Empires successfully started a couple of days ago. Finally, every single one of you guys is able to enjoy our game, which we are very proud of. We would like to thank you all for the overwhelmingly positive feedback. In the future we will continue to focus on improving the game, fixing bugs and also adding new features. Of course we would not be able to do this without all of our passionate developers. Therefore, I will give you more exclusive insights into how it is like working on Forge of Empires here at InnoGames. This is why I meet with Jan – Lead Developer of the game and talked with him about his responsibilities and his daily work.
Hi Jan, thank you for taking some time. Would you please introduce yourself to our readers!
Sure. Hi, my name is Jan and I am the Lead Developer of Forge of Empires. This means that I am responsible for the technology behind Forge of Empires and that I have to ensure that the game is working fine from a technological point of view.
How did you become the Lead Developer for Forge of Empires here at InnoGames?
Like most of my colleagues, I have played video games since I was young. Because I was always fascinated with the technical aspects, I started to develop own games when I was about 14 years old. Despite some ups and downs, my motivation to develop games never faded. That’s why I decided to study computer science in Oldenburg. During my studies, I started to play Tribal Wars and was fascinated by the game. That’s why I did an internship during a semester break here at InnoGames. After I successfully finished my studies in 2009, I started as a software developer for Tribal Wars. In 2010 I began working on WestWars, first as developer, later as the lead developer. And finally in 2012, I became the lead developer of Forge of Empires.
So what are your tasks and duties in the development process of Forge of Empires?
As lead developer, I am mainly responsible for the technology behind Forge of Empires. That means that I have to ensure that the game is running stable and that all the different technologies, which we are using for the game, are smoothly working together. In general, I am also responsible for the development of the game, planning and managing the progress of development in our team. This mainly includes planning our iterations and estimating the required time. Besides that, as lead developer I also have to do some management tasks like optimizing processes and leading my team. Additionally I am also responsible for coordinating our frontend and backend developers. But besides all of that, I still also work on fixing bugs and implementing new features in Forge of Empires.
Regarding the development process of Forge of Empires, what are you especially proud of?
I have to say the start of the open beta, because it was very successful and we received a lot of positive feedback. I am also very proud that the game is running stable and that besides trying a lot of new technologies like flash, the backend and frontend are working together very well. But of course I am also proud that so far we only had a few bugs and technical problems in the open beta. A special thanks for that goes out to our community and all the players which have played Forge of Empires since the Exclusive Preview started. Without your dedicated help, we would have not been able to track and fix as many bugs before the start of the open beta. So once again thank you very much. If you have found a bug in our game, I would like to encourage you to report it in our forum. This gives us the chance to provide you with the best gaming experience possible.
What advice would you give someone in high school who’s interested in becoming a game developer?
First of all you need to be interested and enthusiastic about games, especially about how they are being developed. Obviously having an IT background or studying computer science is an advantage as well. But you should not only stick to theory as practical experiences, like internships are very important. As you know, practice makes perfect. I would especially recommend an internship in a games company, because it enables you to find out, whether or not this job is suitable for you firsthand. But if you are passionate about games, this probably won’t be a problem ;)
Thanks again for taking some time Jan! I appreciate it.
Is there a specific question you would like to be answered by the developers of Forge of Empires? Is there a specific job you would like to know more about? Let us know in the comments!
Muuuito booom
Hi,
I’m a french IT Student, especially in Web Development.
I would like to know more about the technology you use. It could be very interresting :)
PS : For your information I am not a hacker who seeks a security vulnerability or what =)
why can’t i login at the dutch sever Arvahall from the site where i registrated?
can you send me an website where i can login for Arvahall?
Player: BJW1998
Hi Bas,
you should be able to login to the Dutch servers at: http://nl.forgeofempires.com/
Just click on the “Aanmelden” Button in the top of the page and enter your login data.
I don’t know if I can login because I can’t register! (also Dutch server) If I register I get a blank page with url ‘http://nl.forgeofempires.com/start/register?action=register’ I’m using Firefox as browser. And if I try to register again it says my e-mail is already in use :(
Hi francesco,
have you tried to log into the game? Does it work?
Hi francesco,
I believe it has something to do with your browser. Did you install the newest version of Firefox? Because it seems to have sometimes problems with some websites. Don’t ask me why, but for some reason it is. If you use chrome or Explorer to register everything should work. After register you can login with Firefox. I think.
Hope this is of some use to you:D
Frustrating.
trade on forge is pretty bad for eg:
it takes 8 hour too creat 10 dye n so on you goto trade needing 18 wine for reaserch ohhhhhhhh %$@#%^%$##$%^&* 10 dye for 1 wine thats 180hours off wiating to unlock miltia oh wait ill see whos got wine production wow 1 person 70% stoped playing n got no further than building nothing so ill ask him anyway cool hes all good for helping but due to him needing wine at the moment he carnt help:( all i need is 12 wine now but the worst thing is i like this game:( so please please sort trade out soon as possible and goodwork so far:)
oh theres a bug in messages
its like the old typewrighters everytime you send message back n forth the higher the message screen goes
right, i have the same problem: the newer messages are up and i cannot read them…
JE N’ARRIVE PAS A ME CONNECTER
je peux pas ouvrir une session pour Arvahall avec mon identifient ???????
comment faire ?
Hi sueur,
sorry for the inconvenience and the login problems. Our developers work very hard to fix this issue as fast as possible.
ce jeu parais bien mais il est impossible d’évoluer car il beug toutes les 5 minutes donc je vais le déconseiller a tous mes amis. nous sommes plusieurs a avoir quitter KOC de kabam a cause des beugs. nous pension trouver chez vous un jeu qui tienne la route mais il y a encore plus de beugs
Hi
today, impossible to connect, i’m trying for 1 hour… nothing.
firefox locks on innogames loading page.
please make anythings, i love your game and i’m becoming crazy!!! =)
good job
Hi Koulikov,
thank you for your comment. Our developers are working very hard to fix this problem.
pues ese juego es una cakita, por mi contraseña es corecta y no medeja entrar.Y no megusta enpezar adiario ¿que ago? .
Porfabor contestarme.
Gracias.
Un soludo aketza.
Hi aketza,
Thank you for your comment. To fix your problem, you can find help in our Spanish forum at: http://forum.es.forgeofempires.com/forum.php
ik wil het spel spelen maar kan niet openen ik ben aangemeld wat moet ik nog meer doen?????
Hi Jan,
our developers know about this problems and they are working very hard to fix them.
why has the website not been set up to work on smart phones? I have an iPhone and cannot log into to game at all as needs flash player which is not possible on smart phones. I don’t have access to a PC as much as cannot log on to get resources etc :(
Hi Moonraker,
at the moment our developers focus on improving the game and implementing new features. But after that, we will think about a mobile version of Forge of Empires.
ok. Thanks for the update. I shall look forward to the mobile version if and when its available! :)
Now it’s fun, I play it for 2 days but over a few days it’s boring, a lot of players have that feeling I think “Building place must be doubled, because you have to wait so long!” Graphics wow nice job, concept cool!!
salut a tous j’ais commencer le jeux et il me parais tres bien , malheureusement je ne sais plus me connecter , quand je le fais il me dit que mon adresse mail est deja utiliser comment faire pour pouvoir rejouer au jeux merci
Hi carlito02,
thank you for your comment. Please make sure that you use the right button for login into the game. Do not try to login via the registration sheet on the left side of the page. The “connexion” button for logging into the game is on the top of the page. Using this button, you should be able to login :)
Hi
my ingame name is TheEmpire
…………
please Fix The Trading Bug..
i Created offer 20 Marbles for 20 Wine
and 20 Dye for 10 Iron
but icant see it any where and a lot of players has the same problem ..
i really love this game !!!
Good Job Jan And Your Team is Awesome!
Thank you for fixing the problem :)
I cant’t seem to log in on the main page – it keeps coming up with ‘Response Error’… PLEASE HELP
Never mind, i refreshed the page 100 times and it works now! :)
Niezle! i like it game
Would it be possible to get a roadmap of what features the devs are working on or have planned for the year??
Something similar to that on offer in The-West
Hi Farmerlynch,
we are already working on such a list and will post it in the near future. So stay tuned ;)
Every browser game that I tried so far was not so good, but Forge of Empires over here is awesome. I was always geting bored of browser games but not with this one. This game makes me wanna get better and better on it. This company did a good job. I think Forge of Empires is becoming one of my favourite games. If you improve it furthermore then it will definitely become my favourite one.
YES PLEASE I GIVE YOU GAME
YES PLEASE I WANT TO SEE THING IN SCHOOL
THAT YOU
great job! forge is great! i like it. though, i have some comments:
first, in the opening page, the one with the mountains and the chuch, the sun is in the back of the picture, though the left side of the mountains and the front of the building are lightened… cut the sun off the picture, please…
second, it’s somehow unusual that you cannot upgrade unless you study all the steps from an age: i cannot move forward if i don’t have “poteca” (passway in english, i think). what kind of technology is that? to make a road made of earth???
third, i understand that you want people to stay connected longer, but the idea with rotten products, if they are not taken in some time… how can the wood or the stone rot? you shoul let the players take the products when they can, i dont’t glue myself to the computer…
fourth, you shoull develop a tool which can permit us see what building received a motivation from another player. “one of your buildings received motivation” is just not good eneough.
fifth, i dont’t understand why i have to pay a forge point for every trade in the market? what is the logic of it?
hey i cannot buy diamonds i cant connect to it
Hi KJELL,
do you still have problems buying diamonds? If your problems continue, please report a ticket by right clicking in-game and then choosing support. There you can select premium as type.
Hi,
not sure if this is the right place to get an answer but I’ll give it a go. I’ve been playing the game for a couple of weeks now, I play under the name Harmonicas and I am on Arvahall, it would appear the Iron Age PvP Tower is stuck, I have been having battles against other players and the computer players and I am not getting any points on the tower, my name is not appearing on there either. It appears to be stuck with only Luckyluke32 and Zolee being the only two players on it with medal positions, can you take a look? Many thanks.
Hi Harmonicas,
thank you for your comment. We forwarded this problem to our developers. Please also report it in the bug report section of our forum at: http://forum.en.forgeofempires.com/forum.php
Please keep in mind, that you can always contact our support by right clicking in-game and selecting support.
Hi Innogames.
I use a Mac computer. When I try to start the game, I am told toget the newest version of Adobe Flash Player. When I download and install, all is great. But when I then try tolog on the game, I am again told get the newsest version of Flash – eventhough I just installed it. (and yes, I have tried to restart browser and computer after install).
Can someone please guide me into a solution of my problem?
Hjornborg
Hi Hjornborg,
have you also tried to login to the game via a different browser? Does it work? You can also find some help in our forum at: http://forum.en.forgeofempires.com/forum.php
I have been playing the game for several weeks and have been really enjoying it and want to keep going until the end.
The problem I have is that I will soon be going away overseas for several weeks and will not have access to a laptop. I own an iPad but this does not allow Adobe Flash Player so I will be unable to update my City unless I use an internet cafe somewhere…this is too hard to do especially as I am travelling from Australia to Europe with extended in-air flight times.
Is there a way to put my game ‘on hold’ so that I am not left to be pillage and plundered or my goods left to spoil and my happiness level at zero.
If not, it seems I should give up the game now rather than risk losing even more by building up through the ages. I don’t leave for another 4 weeks.