A specific approach to testing helped developers fine-tune the game.
Age of Empires fans noticed the SlitherineGames podcast "The Hot Seat," during which Ian Fisher talked about how the strategy's testing was organized.
In the 90s, Fisher helped with quality control, as well as the design of the original Age of Empires scenarios. According to him, the studio hung a board with a list of reasons why a potential buyer might refuse to purchase the game.
In addition to "technical" issues, this list included the problem of game difficulty. Fisher explained that "strategies don't have the best reputation in terms of 'sit down and play - have fun'" (the player first needs to master the mechanics).
Ensemble Studios head Tony Goodman practiced a specific type of testing to make Age of Empires as accessible as possible.
He would launch a scenario and, as soon as it loaded, go to lunch. Upon returning, he would check: if his character was defeated, the level was deemed "not easy enough" and had to be redone.
The logic was simple: if the AI can defeat the player before they even touch the controls, then a newbie will be defeated before they have time to figure out the mechanics of the strategy.
