We are thrilled to have announced the Mexico Civilization for Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition, which will be available to play starting on December 1st, 2021. Our teams have been hard at work to make this civ fun and engaging to play while celebrating and honoring Mexican history and culture. We want to share a behind the scenes look at three elements of the Mexico Civilization and how it was inspired by history.
The Mexican Priest
For the Priest character, “el Padre” in Spanish, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla served as our guide in developing the character. Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla was a Roman Catholic priest in Guanajuato state where he took over his older brother’s parish in 1803. As he assumed this new role, he became passionate about giving his parishioners the opportunities of economic advancement and became widely outspoken against oppression by the Spanish Crown. He was a part of a secret society in San Miguel where members would share ideas advocating for independence from Spain. Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla was passionate about becoming independent leading him to organize a revolution against the Spanish authorities. Unfortunately, his plan was sabotaged and revealed to the local Spaniards, which left him no other choice but to ring the church bell and gather his supporters to raise arms and fight for their independence. This calling of people is now known as “El Grito de Dolores.” Although the revolution was not as successful as Hidalgo y Costilla had hoped for, his courage to call for and lead an uprising made him a symbol of courage, strength, and most importantly, independence for the Mexican people.
The Mexican General
Ignacio Allende y Unzaga led the Spanish army in Mexico. Although he worked for the Spanish authorities, he eventually became a supporter of Mexico’s independence from Spain. He secretly attended the meetings organized by Jose Ortiz de Dominguez where the possibilities for a revolution were discussed and drafted. This Spanish General fought alongside Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla during battles such as El Grito de Dolores, and eventually took over the priest’s leadership role in the revolution to continue the fight against his former army. Unfortunately, Allende y Unzaga was not successful in the revolts he was a part of, but much like Hidalgo y Costilla he is known as one of the key players in Mexican independence. Because of his fearlessness in standing up to the Spanish authorities, he helped spark one of the most significant battles in Mexican history and became the inspiration behind the Mexican General.
The Flag
As some of you may have noticed, the flag flying over some of the Mexico Civilization’s landmarks is not Mexico’s official flag. While researching Mexican culture, our team learned that the Mexican flag is protected under a law signed in 1968 by President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz. This law states that the flag, the coat of arms, and the national anthem of Mexico can only be reproduced for official government purposes and must be respected and honored by all people at all times. The history of the Mexican flag’s evolution, however, is extensive and the flag has had many different representations over the years, thus enabling the Age of Empires III: DE team to develop a game version of the flag honoring and celebrating Mexico’s rich history while avoiding the use of the official trademarked flag. The flag created for the game still has the representative white, red, and green colors, but they are placed at a 45-degree angle rather than being parallel to each other. Each stripe has a golden star, inspired by the flag of the Trigarantes: the flag of the Three Guarantees.
The three examples described above give a glimpse into the historical research used to develop the Mexico Civilization. To find out more, make sure to add the Mexico Civilization to your game.
To our Age of Empires Mexican community, thank you for all the support you have shown us thus far in the launch of our Mexican civ and we also thank you for allowing us to share your culture with the rest of the Age community. !Que Viva Mexico!