Coming Soon to PSN: History Egypt – Engineering an Empire for PSP & PS3

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We’re really excited to have this opportunity to talk to you about our upcoming release, History Egypt: Engineering an Empire for PlayStation minis. We’ve been working on this game for nearly two years and it has gone through many iterations, but we’ve finally got something we’re happy with! Egypt Engineering an Empire is a strategy game inspired by the Engineering an Empire TV series by History and games like Civilization and Advance Wars. The TV series circles the globe and re-examines history’s most magnificent civilizations, surveying their architectural and engineering triumphs. Beginning with the Egyptians more than five-thousand years ago, the first of the 14 documentaries brings to life the spectacular glory of the Egyptian Pharaohs. We seek to do the same in our game.

History Egypt: Engineering an Empire for PlayStation Minis (PSP & PS3)History Egypt: Engineering an Empire for PlayStation Minis (PSP & PS3)

While many strategy games play well on the PC, they are far too complex to play nicely on a console. They usually require too much information to be displayed on screen, or have a user interface designed around the mouse, and any attempts to bring it to the PSP require such dramatic changes that the gameplay is compromised. Other games come direct to the console and these can be great fun, but often lack a bit of depth. What we’ve tried to do is take the best of both worlds and develop a game with the depth and immersion of a PC strategy game but with the fun, approachable controls and look and feel of a true console game.

Egypt Engineering an Empire puts you in control of Egypt, or one of the many opposing nations of the time such as the Hittities, Assyrians, Babylonians, and many more. You are in control of the development of your empire, constructing utility buildings for the economic development or military buildings to improve your armed forces. You can even build epic structures such as the Pyramids and Ishtar Gate, which bestow great benefits on your city. Each nation has its own unique unit and epic structure giving you new ways to play each time. You’ll recruit troops, fight battles, and can enter in to diplomacy with your neighbors…or, if you prefer, you can ignore diplomacy and deal with everyone by the sword! You have a range of military units at your disposal, ranging from swordsmen to spearmen, cavalry archers and lancers, battle wagons, and the feared chariots. You can even recruit camels riders!

History Egypt: Engineering an Empire for PlayStation Minis (PSP & PS3)History Egypt: Engineering an Empire for PlayStation Minis (PSP & PS3)


We’ve designed the map on a grid system of hexes. This allows players to easily select hexes using the directional pad or analog stick. The UI has been designed from the ground up to be playable on the PSP. The X button always selects things and the Circle button cancels. When you select an object, a list of options available pop up and you select the one you want from a list box. You don’t have to remember to press Square or Triangle to get different options. It makes it really easy to pick up and play the game because all the information you need is given to you when you need it. People who have never played a strategy game before will find themselves at home very quickly.

As a result of the collaboration with the History TV channel, the game is all based on extensive historical research to make sure it’s as accurate as possible, without compromising gameplay. If we have to choose between an “accurate simulation” and a “fun game”, we always go with “fun game”! All of the soldiers in the game really existed and their uniforms are accurate. Cities are in their real locations with their real names, as are the nations. If you like a bit of authenticity to your gameplay then you’ll definitely find it here.

History Egypt: Engineering an Empire for PlayStation Minis (PSP & PS3)History Egypt: Engineering an Empire for PlayStation Minis (PSP & PS3)

We’ve also thrown in an option to allow you to play two-player head-to-head in hotseat mode, playing on the same PSP. You can play individual battles against another player, but the real fun is in playing multiplayer campaigns. You can either player as a team and take on the computer, or have a free-for-all where the last man standing wins. The campaign maps range from tiny ones with two nations and one city each, up to massive campaigns with 14 nations and almost 30 cities. In most campaigns you can choose which nation to play and each has its own set of victory conditions. In some campaigns you may have to conquer a specific enemy nation, while in others you might be outnumbered and just have to survive. The difficulty levels mean all players will be able to find a level of challenge to suit them and the game promises many many hours of gaming fun.

We really hope you enjoy Egypt Engineering an Empire. We certainly enjoyed making it!

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52 Comments

7 Author Replies

  • Ah, finally something a little more interesting for minis.
    Thanks for this, looks refreshing.

  • Oh, this reminds me of Civilization Revolution. I like this. I like this a lot.

  • Looks fun! Thanks for the post. Always up for supporting the Minis program by purchasing refreshing and great Minis.

  • Niiiice… definitely getting this for the PSP.

  • It reminds me of Koei’s Liberty or Death which was about the American Revolution. I think playing this game will prove to be educational also. Hoopefully the “coming soon” means like in a week or two.

  • Sweet, I love this kind of game!

  • Civilization. Best game I’ve ever played. I spent 18 hours straight playing on night and didn’t know where the time went. Seemed like 2 minutes.

  • crap, a 2 years development for a Mini ? with such a long production time it doesn’t have enough content to be sold as a regular PSN game ?

  • Wait a tick, Slitherine?

    The same Slitherine that made the simulation for Deadliest Warrior?

  • Wow! It looks like Ultima crossed with Civ! Crazy, in this day and age.

  • Thanks for the positive comments guys. We could have released the game as a full PSP title but we felt that minis was a great opportunity to reach out to new audiences. Yes we are the same Slitherine that worked on the Deadliest Warrior TV show. Historical accuracy is something we’re really in to but we always make sure game play comes first. Civilization is my all time favourite game – I don’t know how many hours I lost on that! When we say coming soon, we mean soon :) Keep an eye out for this one.

  • 2 years on a mini. PSP never had mini’s 2 years ago they just started last year??? weird I must have fallen asleep some where?

  • I’ll pick this up. Looks interesting. Look like a cross between Age of Empires, PC hex games, and Advance Wars – all my cup of tea. I love the mini platform because even if a game sucks I don’t feel too pissed off about losing $5 so it is worth trying new stuff.

    I am worried about this game not selling because the name is terrible. Not sure why this game licensed a TV show nobody has ever heard of. Should of licensed MythBusters or something.

  • totaly getting it as long as it’s $5 or less XD

    I’m on a gamig budget D=

  • This game looks very interesting. How much is it going to cost? And when you say coming soon is it Tuesday soon?:p

  • Do we know the cost yet? I love Civ games! WHEN I purchase next week, this will be my first mini purchase.

  • my freaking PlayStation wont load any games at all

  • This is the stuff I desire to see more of on consoles.

    Civ Revolution on the PS3.
    Dawn of Discovery (Anno 1404) on the Wii.

    I love these games.

  • this might be AWSOME! now give it 1-2 trophies and iam there :)

  • It will be less than $5 and the release date depends on how quickly we can get it through the system. It’s all ready to go but the logistics of getting it to the store front are fairly complex. When we know for sure we’ll let you know.

  • I agree, trophies would help sales quite a lot. If you have not added it, then I highly recommend adding trophy compatibility before it is uploaded to PSN, even if it does mean setting its release date back a few weeks.

  • This looks brilliant. Day one buy for me.

  • I’m a history nerd. This game looks intresting to me, I like to get that game whenever I have a chance.

  • looks like it could be a fun little diversion

  • Awesome! I’ve been eagerly waiting for the release of this since I saw it rated by the ESRB.

    I hope you consider releasing some of your past PSP titles on PSN, since they never made it over here.

  • OMG I love agent Egypt. That whole time period is just full of such wonder. I am going to have to buy this! Well I need money first, but still I want this!

  • I also can’t believe I just wrote ‘agent’ in place of ‘ancient’. Freudian slips can be really annoying sometimes.

  • To those asking for trophies…

    Its a mini.

  • finally a decent looking strategy title, plus the bonus of history. is this game going to parallel and events during the egyptian empire’s time(will it be historically accurate?), and i do not mean the jewish exodus either.
    but i was wondering if this will cover different pharoahs and the different warrings they went through during the roughly 1300 years or so?

  • THis cming to ps3 as well right . Its says for psp and ps3 in the title. Im confused.. also how many hours of gameplay are we to expect from the title…

  • I loved civ 1 so this is great.

  • Why did the samurai lose to the spartan? :P

    Haha, looking forward to this mini!

  • This is a mini!? Wow this is awesome. For under $5 this is great for college kids like me who have to save as much money possible over the summer.

  • Yey!!! looks to be a fun RTS. Reminds me of Pharaoh for PC just portable, awsome!

  • cool story bro.

  • being egyptian this is a must buy :P

  • @stri
    hey man i agree with you 100%, but this blog for this particular game is not a sony lackey. please do not offend the other companies that are just trying to do their jobs, save the bashing for the people that truly deserve it. and yes grace i know you are going to peruse the blogs probably on tuesday when you go back to work. regardless though, we cannot push the bashing of the store flunkies on the different people from different companies, just please bare with me and save the bashing for sony personnel who head up any particular blog.
    yes the previous blog about the update is closed and a great many people are past cheesed off, and i do believe atleast some of the people at the store are beginning to get the hint…i hope.
    if not well then when the time comes i will permanently remove the broadband cable from my ps3 and never use it again, except when we watch our blu-rays, and i honestly do not think sony wants anyone to stop using their merchandise for any reason.

  • Hey guys, do the iphone features are the same as this one? Here are the game features:

    · City development with over 50 buildings to construct

    · Army management with more than 25 unit types to recruit

    · Each nation has its own unique units and buildings

    · 9 historic campaigns with each with different objectives

    · Diplomacy, wars, peace and tributes: use your skills to fight your enemies or make other countries your friends

  • Is this coming to Europe to?

  • WE WANT XENOGEARS! Please put that game in the PSN!

  • i dont get these minis.
    only if miniclip made minis, boy would they be successful or wat?! XD

  • looks good.
    any chances of you guys making a 19th century cowboys game in the likes of this one?

  • This really does not look like my cup of tea but ill give it the good old collage try i guess it will pass time until the Big releases com out.

  • A lot of these replies seem pretty off topic and I have no idea what they are talking about. Can you please keep comments about this game. It is for PSP minis, but you can play minis on your PS3.

  • Comming soon to PSN.. like maybe this Tuesday- Better be FFIX!

  • I hope you can add Egypt to the PSN , so that Egyptians can enjoy their history narrating game !!!

  • I cannot wait for this. I am a huge fan of Civilization 2 (PSone) so this is a blessing.

  • Thank you Iain McNeil for taking your time out from working at Slitherine to talk about this new game.

    History Egypt: Engineering an Empire sounds really incredible. I really enjoy games like this. The Civilization series & Rollar Coaster Tycoon come to mind. Plus board games like Settlers of Catan. I really get a great vibe from this game. So it is high on my list. You said you could have released it as not a mini game. So does this mean you had to take stuff out to make it a Mini?

    If so why not make two versions one that is a Mini & another one that is a normal version. So this way people that wanted to try how you had the game before you downsized it can.

    If every thing that would have been in a whole version is in the Mini version then that is awesome. I am happy to see cool concepts like this & can’t wait to play the game. So thanks

  • @stri

    As a PSP only owner, I can understand exactly why they did what they did with the PS3 firmware. Thanks to piracy, the only games from Western developers these days are these Minis.

    Pirates ruined the PSP as a gaming platform. If you were really a PS3 game fan, you’d applaud Sony for fixing the problem before things got out of hand. Because the lack of piracy is a major factor in its game sales being almost on par with the 360, despite a big margin in user base. And thus why publishers actually put games on it.

    If that were to change, you’d see a lot fewer PS3 game releases. To the point of where it’s almost none, like the PSP.

    But hey, you want to ruin that too, by trolling the threads here about the few PSP games we get these days.

  • Thanks BlackIceJoe,

    we have enough content in the minis for a full game. There are many campaigns and each can be played as multiple sides and each can take many hours to complete. As a European Publisher we are not actually allowed to release a full PSP title in the US without a US partner and we wanted to do this ourselves, and as Minis we are able to do this.

    I’m really looking forwards to seeing feedback once the game is out :)

    Thanks for all your interest.

    Iain

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