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  "path": "/as-soon-as-it-fired-up-hed-get-up-and-go-to-lunch-how-age-of-empires-developers-tested-mission-difficulty",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-20T17:53:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.rockpapershotgun.com",
  "tags": [
    "Strategy",
    "Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings",
    "Age of Empires",
    "Konami",
    "Bird view / Isometric",
    "Microsoft",
    "PC",
    "Strategy: Real-Time Strategy",
    "Multiplayer Competitive",
    "Ensemble Studios",
    "Single Player",
    "Read more"
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  "textContent": "When bosses have assessed my work over the years it's usually taken the form of nervously watching their cursor bounce around a Google Doc. They would delete overwrought lines here, add detail to unclear statements there, and sometimes strike our intros that weren't getting to the point – thank goodness I learned my lesson there. It's a nerve-wracking and humbling experience (especially when you've managed to misspell 'RTS').\n\nNaturally, every job has its own assessments, but the level designers working on Age of Empires at Ensemble Studios faced a novel one: studio head Tony Goodman's lunch break.\n\nRead more",
  "title": "\"As soon as it fired up, he'd get up and go to lunch\": How Age of Empires' developers tested mission difficulty"
}