History of AoM

The development history of
Age of Mythology influenced the clan a whole lot, which is why we shall now ponder it at length.
==RTS III==
Really early in its history, AoM was only known by its code name RTS III, meaning it was 1) an RTS and 2) not AoE. The first ever screenshot was released on March 29, 2001http://aok.heavengames.com/news-archives/2001/03/, and featured a boat.
The name "Age of Mythology" was announced on April 16http://aok.heavengames.com/news-archives/2001/04/.
==Weekly screenshots==
Aomchristmas.jpg
Aom4.jpg
Aom3.jpg
Aom2.jpg
Aom1.jpg
ES began releasing weekly AoM screenshots in spring, 2001. These were pointlessly discussed at AoKH forums. Also, they mainly featured boats. Also, they were prettier than the finished game goddamnit.
I mean seriously, check out that sweet ass whale.
Needless to say, AoM was like the prettiest RTS ever at that point, with its meteors and coral reefs and also mountain giants.
==Blue AoMH==
Age of Mythology Heaven was launched on July 16th 2001http://www.gamespot.com/age-of-mythology/previews/. Initially it had a blue marble themed design. This dark background made sigs with gradients look hella sweet. Blue AoMH is, like, most of the templars' internet homeland.
AoMH became the most important AoM fansite, among others like MFO or PAoE or TTA.
Two main forumer activities on AoMH were baseless speculation and going off-topic. T'WAS A SIMPLER TIME YOU SEE. The most important case of going off-topic happened when Newbie started the original FPH thread in June 2001 (this means the thread was posted before AoMH was launched, so FPH in fact originated at AoKH. REWRITE HISTORY BOOKS EVERYONE). FPHs became sort of a mascot of the pre-release fans in general (despite FPH Clan eventually moving out of AoMH in early 2002) and were eventually put in the game.
==Gamespot previews==
In early 2002, Gamespot began a monthly series of civ previews, which would carry on until the game's releasehttp://www.gamespot.com/age-of-mythology/previews/. These previews were clearly the gods' gift to men, especially real men and not those terrible people who got into alphas and betas and shit.
The monthly previews were utterly massive, and everyone pretty much knew the previous one by heart before the next one rolled in. T'WAS A SIMPLER TIME YOU SEE
==Alpha==
In the summer of 2002, ten thousand alphas were shipped (physically on CDs, T'WAS A SIMPLER TIME YOU SEE) to people who signed up or were at various fansite forums. There was an NNA, which came to be synonymous with evil and injustice. All the alphaers were terrible
==Beta==
The beta was released after the alpha but before the gamma, lol. I think it didn't have an NNA and people were releasing all the info and screenshots.
The beta was only for a few people so nobody played it and it wasn't that important.
==Game release and Sandy AoMH==
The game was released in Autumn 2002, and at the same time AoMH changed its design to the present sandily papyrusy one. Everyone who registered after this point is clearly a clueless newbie. Also, AoMH's off-topic forum was started, which was like a poor man's OTD.
==Later shit==
And then AoM was at WCG 2003 and people played on ESO and TT was released and whatever
==References==
Category:AoM
Category:History