Ensemble Veteran Shelley Working On The Settlers 7 For Ubisoft

Bruce Shelley, co-designer of strategy classics Sid Meier's Civilization and Age of Empires, is lending his design expertise to the development of Blue Byte's upcoming city builder The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom, to be published by Ubisoft. Shelley was an early key member of Dallas-based Ensemble Studios, where he was heavily involved with the design of the studio's first game, Age of Empiers, which spawned a successful series of real-time strategy games. He served in various capacities with the company until it was closed by owner Microsoft last year. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Shelley had worked alongside Sid Meier at MicroProse, collaborating on the design of games like Railroad Tycoon, Covert Action, and the seminal Civilization. His involvement in The Settlers 7 was discreetly revealed in an official Ubisoft promotional video about the game, in which Shelley explains its underlying economic system. Dusseldorf-based Blue Byte, which has developed The Settlers series since its creation in 1993, is a subsidiary of Ubisoft. It is likely Shelley is serving as a remote consultant on the project rather than in a long-term, on-site capacity.