Project Celeste is the name of the development team, the fan-made non-profit community server that hosts Age of Empires Online after the game's official closure in 2014, and the "version" of the game that is currently under development by the aforementioned team.
Development[]
The team behind Project Celeste have worked on PvP (Champion mode) rebalance patches, advisors rework and several Quest Packs. One of these, The Adventures of Brennos and Comontorios Quest Pack, features a whole new city Celts-themed city, Lodi, which serves as a quest hub. This is also the case for the City of Rome, Well of Urd and Rhakotis, featuring their own new Roman, Norse and Egyptian cities respectively!
There have also been a handful of changes to the civilizations in PvE, and countless changes to maps and map consistency in both game modes.
Current State of Roman Development.
The Roman civilization was left under development before the game shut down by Microsoft. Then, Celeste team worked since 2019 to release the Romans in March 15 of 2021, sharing step by step - on Weekly Blogs - the design concept to craft this so long awaited civilization. The development included a Roman Campaign, new gear, completely redesigned 3D models, animations for new units, Capital City buildings, 3 new cities (Rome, Capua, and Roman Army Camp). Plus sounds and music to round up the update.
The Indians are the 8th civilization to be added to Age of Empires Online.
On May 2 of 2021, Project Celeste announced they are working to release India as a playable civilization, the 2nd made by the team. Every civilization in AoEO must walk the line between striking out in a unique direction while also feeling like they have always belonged to it. Of the possible civilizations, the Indians give the team the best opportunity to do this and improve Age of Empires Online. They are based on the Mauryan empire, which ended around 150 CE. Almost all Mauryan era buildings were wooden and have been lost to time. Fortunately, the few remaining stone buildings have that classic Indian style. "We quickly agreed on the vibrant brownish color palette (and Teak for their official civ wood)"
Content Usage Rules[]
Unfortunately, Project Celeste is not making a penny from the hosting of this game. As per Microsoft's Game Content Usage Rules, the development team are unable to profit from game assets - but are able to continue hosting and content development for the game as a completely free, community-driven effort. In order to cover server hosting costs for the game, forums, tournaments and associated licencing, the team accepts donations.
Installation Guide (Steam)[]
Full text guide for both steam and non steam installations on official forums
- 1: Have Steam installed
- 2: Press Ctrl+R in Windows
- 3: Type "steam://install/105430" into the Run menu
- 4: Download Celeste_Launcher_Gui.zip
- 5: Extract contents of Celeste_Launcher_GUI.zip to Age Of Empires Online steam folder
- 6: Run "Celeste_Launcher_Gui.exe"
- 7: Click "register" in the launcher, make an account
- 8: Click "PLAY" and enjoy the game
Video guide (steam) by Ardeshir
Introduction to Celeste Project -- first steps after installing