Anno 1800: Exclusive Interview With Dirk Riegert From Blue Byte

What is the new “Anno”? What does it do differently – and hopefully better – than its predecessors? COMPUTER BILD SPIELE talked to creative director Dirk Riegert of developer Blue Byte about the game, which will be released for PC on April 16th. 

COMPUTER PICTURE GAMES (CBS): Your game will be released on April 16th. Why did you postpone the release? 
Dirk Riegert (DR): To make a better game. After testing the game ourselves and feedback from the community after the technical test, there was a lot we wanted to further optimize, especially in the area of balancing and performance. And there we are in the fortunate position of being able to decide that we take the time for it. 

CB S: How was the feedback in terms of performance? 
DR: A basic problem of the “Anno” game is that you create huge Savegames over dozens or even hundreds of hours, with gigantic metropolises. And of course, they demand more and more power from the computer. We try to scale that so that the hardware requirements are not too high. We have an interest in running the game with as many players as possible who do not have a high-end PC. Partly it was also amazingly old machines, on which it was still quite neat. It always depends on the very specific hardware configurations. We are on the track right now.

CBS: How did you get multiplayer that you could play in Closed Beta for the first time? 
DR: The multiplayer was pretty good overall. We know the behavior of the players very well and know which modes they play how often and for how long. We know that the multiplayer is only played by a minority, but is strongly favored by it. 

CBS: Do you use matchmaking or play with friends? 
DR: “Anno” is not a classic multiplayer title, but in the heart first a solo title to relax on the PC, sitting there with a cup of coffee and builds his city. This is a rather slow game and the games are also very long, which is why people are increasingly playing with their friends. That’s certainly the preferred variant. But we still have the option to just press a button and say I want to join a game. 

CBS: What did the Closed Beta do compared to the previous versions? And what will change until the release or the open beta? 
DR: That changes a lot. In the Open Beta, for example, this was the already mentioned multiplayer, which did not work in the technical test as we had imagined. There was a clear improvement in the closed beta, in the user guidance, the player position but also the stability. And from the closed beta to the open beta and then to the release version, we’re now working on the feedback on balancing, on the AI, and on individual features such as the influx system or island takeover. 

CBS: Speaking of balancing: The production chains are certainly not carved in stone – but what has worked so far, remains so? 
DR: In principle, the commodity chains are relatively stable. Of course, little things are adjusted, but since we change relatively little. There are five levels of population, farmers, workers, craftsmen, engineers and investors who need their special goods. In principle, the transition from the year 1800 to the year 1900 is played, and the population levels reflect not only the rise within society, but also this little journey through time.

CBS: Did you ever have the idea to work with Steampunk elements, especially after the two futuristic “Anno” parts? 
DR: Yes. Of course, such a Jules Verne element would be quite possible, and I would put it this way: It could be that this is still being taken up. But certainly not in the core game. Although “Anno” is not a realistic game and our 19th century is not a simulation of the real historical events, we felt that the era was already enough. 

CBS: The historical setting has the great advantage that everything seems plausibly understandable and you can start immediately with the production chains, the buildings or the population strata. 
DR: Yes, that was a bit of a problem with sci-fi, because people found it difficult to reconcile some of these futuristic production chains with their everyday understandings. Of course, that’s an advantage now, when people say, that’s obvious, that I somehow know from everyday life, that tells me something. 

CBS: Can Anno fans do not do anything with a sci-fi setting? 
DR: No, no way, on the contrary. That was just a bit of a hassle, but on the whole “2070” was a successful trip to the future – in commercial terms, it is even the most successful “Anno” game, even though the fans naturally have “1404” and the classic “1602” this cult status enjoy. But now we have “1800” at the start, and we set off with the claim that it may be time for a change of guard. 

CBS: How many people worked on the game and how long? 
DR: There are always a few more with each “Anno”, but Pi times thumbs, one can say that 100 people over three years work mainly on this game. The core team always consists of 50 to 60 people sitting in Mainz. 

CBS: What are your plans after the release? Are there any concrete plans for DLCs? 
DR: Of course, we have plans for the post-release period, but they are not yet dry, so we can not talk about it in great detail at the moment. The only thing I can say is that the first digital content will be the anarchist. It was already included in the Pioneer edition and you can catch up on it later. He’s a character in the game world, an AI with some special extras. And the people that you set up as a partner at “Anno” already define the gaming experience very much. 

CBS: You have excluded microtranscations? 
DR: Yes, we had to wait a bit for some reasons to talk about it, but there will not be any microtransactions – and in fact, never had any planned. 

CBS: Why is not “Anno 1800” for consoles – or are you planning something in that direction? 
DR: That’s actually a question that comes relatively often. And we are Ubisoft, because we are the console not averse. The thing is, everything has to fit. “Anno” is traditionally a PC brand, from 1998 on steadily grown. We always check ourselves for every “Anno”, whether a console implementation would make sense. And can say that for “Anno 1800” currently no console conversions are planned. But that does not mean that this is categorically excluded for the future.

CBS: Thank you very much for the interview!