3dzone: What kind of game is Anno 1404?
Damien Guillotin: Anno is a building strategy game based in a big and beautiful island world in the middle ages. You set sail in your world to master the tricks of trade, diplomacy and economy, building up your own monumental cities. You need to plan very carefully and elaborately to fulfil your citizen’s needs. With the fulfilment of each new demand your city will grow and prosper.
For the first time a new faction was implemented – the Orient. With your diplomatic skills you will earn the trust of this nation, which will in return provide you with valuable technologies and goods, letting your empire grow and your cities become mighty metropolises. At a later stage the player will even be able to build his own oriental settlements. This way the player will have a lot of new room to express his vision and shape the character of his cities.
3dz: Overall what are the improvements that we are going to see from the previous version of the game?
DG: We have listened to all feedbacks from the community and press and improved 1404 in many aspects like:
- Improved long time motivation
- Larger world size
- New military system
- New trade route system
- New community features
- Of course improved and state of the art graphics
- And many more…!
3dz: In Anno 1701 a key part from the endgame content was the construction of one main building: the palace. In the trailer that was released for Anno 1404 we saw a very detailed animation which showed the construction process of a cathedral. Does this mean that we will see some special buildings like the ones in similar titles like Zeus and Pharaoh, whose construction needs lots of different resources and game play time?
DG: The next big feature beside the Orient is more than just erecting monuments. In Anno 1404 the aim is to build up huge and gorgeous metropolises – bigger than ever before! Monuments therefore play a very important role! The emperor’s dome will not be the only monument – that’s for sure! We promise there will be several new and impressive buildings. We can say this much: Monuments such as the emperor’s dome are an important aspect of long-time motivation for the player, which will offer many new challenges in the later stages of the game.
Such a huge monument of course is very expensive and complex to build – only the most experienced master builders and richest players will be able to build a monument with such epic degree. The consequences of erecting this building structure are of course enormous for the player.
3dz: In the previous games there was always a lack of construction space, the islands were not big enough and the construction terrain was full of mountains, rivers and other teasing obstacles. Has that changed in this installment of the series?
DG: Anno 1404 has four different game world sizes: small, medium, large and gigantic. The small worlds are ideal for beginners and such gamers that like to play on their own, whereas big worlds offer enough space and landmass for extraordinary building projects. For example: the island world of 1404 has grown in comparison to 1701. The giant island world even exceeds landmass, number of islands and seaways of 1503.
The islands of 1404 – compared to the previous releases – have a much higher diversion. They vary strongly in size, building space and form. You will find large, round islands with great building space that are ideal for large building projects. You will also find angled islands with many natural nooks and forms, which makes building settlements a challenging task. You can of course choose the frequency of each type of island when playing the endless game mode.
Another important factor for builders is the fertility of the southern islands. They have large building space, but are mostly dry and lack water or fertile land. It is only possible to vegetate the land when erecting norias – huge water wheels. Alternatively it is possible to build farms and plantations around the little oases. The small patches of small land only provide little fertility and alone prove to be a disadvantage when trying to still the needs of more than 100.000 inhabitants.
3dz: Can we expect a full DirectX 10 support or some special effects like a weather system to be included in the new title?
DG: Our engine supports both DirectX9 and DirectX10. We have put in a lot of work into our multi-core support. Several of our modules (physics, animation, effects, streaming) can be calculated on multiple CPU cores. The system scales to the number of cores without a problem.
We are very proud of our balancing tool (ToolOne). Our designers can adjust all values very comfortably according to the run-time. This way the balancing can be optimized considerably for each step of the iteration. Furthermore we developed a new terrain system, which offers the designers a lot more creative freedom. The water simulation is completely new. It includes real geometric waves and objects, which adapt dynamically to the swell. The lighting model has been renewed completely with HDR and atmospheric diffusion. Also the wind simulation is new – it simulates local and global winds as well as gusts and storms respectively. DirectX10 supports the autofocus of a camera in our postcard mode. Objects, which you focus on in the game world, become sharp, whereas objects in the background or very close to the “camera” obtain a slight blur. It looks pretty cool.
The 3D engine has been secluded to work as an independent unit next to the game engine. This way it is possible to exchange the 3D engine completely or to convert other games/products based on our render technology.
We could go on forever about the things that have been improved – we can definitely assure the player will encounter a much more authentic and dynamic game world.
3dz: The previous game Anno 1701 looked gorgeous visually but it was optimized for high-end machines. So the question that concerns lots of fans is - should we expect Anno 1404 to run smooth on older PCs as well?
DG: Anno is a game with a very broad, traditional fan base – of course we always regard their feedback. One of the main aims of our R&D team that developed and implemented the new technologies was to keep the graphics engine scalable in order to keep the game playable on older computers. New generation PCs and graphic cards will be able to enjoy the full splendor of Anno 1404 – the player can be sure to experience a graphic spectacle of the finest quality!
3dz: All three previous games have been released in German first and after six months or more have been translated to English. Is 27th March the release date of the English version of the game?
DG: The game will be released this year simultaneously in all countries.
3dz: Can we expect a new game of the series set in present days like Anno 2012, or maybe even a game with a futuristic setting called Anno 2505?
DG: No comment...
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