Hey Annoholics!

We’re back with part two of our DevBlogs on the province of Albion, covering everything we revealed last week at gamescom 2025 in Cologne.

In our first blog we introduced Albion itself, as well as the people that live there, the ways you can upgrade them – and the characters you can meet along the way. Today, we’re looking at Albion-specific aspects of features like Religion, the Discovery Tree and Military, as well as how decisions here can also impact both the province of Latium as well as your relationship with other characters.

After all, there’s more to culture and society than different types of food and public service buildings. A big part of ancient culture was Religion, and we wanted to represent that in our game as well.

Religion

Not too long ago we introduced you to the topic of worship and religion in Anno 117: Pax Romana: after building a sanctuary or temple you can select a deity per island to worship, providing you a variety of buffs. If a deity is worshipped across multiple islands, there’s also a global effect that can be unlocked and provides benefit to all islands you govern. The full details on the feature are described in this DevBlog right here.

The locals in Albion have their own deities as part of their polytheistic pantheon, just like the Romans. In your role as governor, you decide which deities are to be worshipped on each island – and if Celtic deities are among them.

Epona is the goddess of horses, and animals in general. Her worshippers increase the production of animal related production chains – as well as the speed of logistics carts. Additionally, it will allow you to build silos to store agricultural goods.

Mercury-Lugos is a romanized Celtic god, associated with trade and commerce. His buffs will boost your trade income as well as the loading/unloading speed of ships and carts.

Finally, there is Cernunnos, a mystical nature deity. His worshippers boost the production of goods from marshes and forests – and his ancient druidic wisdom will make your citizens healthier and smarter.

No matter which you choose, each will enhance your gameplay to suit your respective playstyle. All three deities need to be unlocked via the Discovery Tree first.

Worshipping deities will also result in the occasional festivals that you can decide to hold: With some support in the form of money or resources, your population will hold a parade in honor of the local patron deity, providing various buffs and preventing the outbreak of fires, plague and riots for its duration.

Discovery Tree

We mentioned unlocking deities, so, let us also briefly talk about the Discovery Tree. It’s here where you spend your Knowledge points to discover a great number of technologies across three branches: Economic, Civic and Military. These can be unlocks (like deities, units or buildings) or improvements (higher morale for units, production increases). Details on how to gain knowledge and how the Discovery Tree functions can be found in our dedicated DevBlog here.

Some technologies can only be discovered in a specific province and when fulfilling certain conditions. Only when in Albion, you can, for example, discover Celtic deities or research a technology that allows you to efficiently plant trees in otherwise unforested areas.

Other technologies are even exclusively usable in a specific province, and we want to highlight one specific technology: Marsh Drainage. You remember how we talked about the marshes in the first blog and also about the ways the locals use it for producing various goods? Well… if you romanize the local population, many of the products they are asking for are not using the marshland anymore. You’ll need more “normal” building space.

After researching Marsh Drainage, you can place sluice gates the border between marsh and ocean, and then construct canals inside the marsh. Within a certain radius around the canals, the water is drained and buildable land created. Finally space for more houses – or another bread production chain! Removing the canals will result in the marsh claiming back its territory – be mindful when rearranging or destroying canal tiles.

After this topic, we would also like to point out another important aspect: your decision to Romanize (or not) also influences your relationship with other characters!

Voada doesn’t like it when you drain swamps or worship Roman gods in Albion. Athr, on the other hand, doesn’t care – and Tarragon (one of the Roman rivals) can’t stand it when you get too close to Celtic customs.

The decision of how you want to deal with this and what consequences you are willing to live with is up to you.

Military

One of our most recent DevBlogs and livestreams have been related to the topic of military and warfare in Anno 117: Pax Romana.

As talked about there in detail, land combat is making a comeback in Anno 117: Pax Romana, after being present in several but not all past Anno games. While combat has never been – and never will be – the main focus on an Anno game, it still is one of the features we feel make up the unique character of the series.

At the same time, engaging in war is supposed to remain a choice: if you want to get along with everyone (or even disable opponents completely) or if you want to go to war and invade other islands is up to you.

While Anno 117: Pax Romana features a total of 11 different units, only some can be recruited everywhere. Others are unique to a specific province, like Legionaries in Latium – or Axebearers and Chariots in Albion.

Let’s take a closer look at these two Albion units.

Axebearers carry, as the name suggests, large axes – but don’t wear much in terms of armour. These infantry units are excellent shock-troops that deal plenty of damage and have an armour-piercing damage, to the great dismay of any legionaries. To show you them in action, we staged this little “ambush” against legionaries. You can also see the morale system in action here: after taking multiple casualties, the first group is even outflanked and accordingly breaks and runs.

Chariots fill a very interesting niche since they are combining the speed and mobility of a cavalry unit with the damage-from-a-distance of a ranged unit. They are excellent hit-and-run candidates that absolutely hate getting into close combat. In the video below, you can see them avoiding a group of Spearmen (which usually would be perfect against cavalry) while continuing to pepper them with spears from a distance.

As mentioned previously, all military units do not only cost money and resources to recruit, but also money and workforce in maintenance costs.

Of course you can also transport units between islands and between regions with your fleet – and widen your tactical arsenal in Latium with some chariots, for example!

Outro

This concludes our two DevBlogs on the province of Albion! Do you have any questions left? Leave them in the comment section below or save them until mid-September, when we’ll be holding a livestream covering Albion as well as some other aspects we recently talked about. And not much later, we’ll dive into the topic of Diplomacy – and also introduce you some of the characters you’ll be able to meet in Anno 117: Pax Romana.

Finally, let us once again remind you that you can check out Anno 117: Pax Romana in about one week: the time-limited demo is releasing on PC (Ubisoft Connect and Steam) on September 2^nd and will remain available for two weeks.

Don’t miss this chance to try out our game – and let us know what you think!

Welcome, new governors, to the province of Albion!

The Emperor appointed you to govern this recently conquered province in the far north of the Empire and we can tell you: it’s a strange place for someone like you, used to the sunny shores and endless lavender fields of Latium.

Therefore, let us help you get acquainted with this Celtic province, from its landscape and weather over its challenges and opportunities to (of course) its people and the characters you should be aware of.

This may yet come as a great boon to you, governors, as your skills are already required next week:

From September 2^nd until September 16^th you will be able to take on the role of a governor in Anno 117: Pax Romana’s time-limited demo on PC!

An alien world

Albion is supposed to feel like a stark contrast to Latium: both from a narrative point of view (if you want to put yourself in the sandals of a Roman governor from the South for a moment) but also for you as players in front of your monitors:

Different parts of (real-life) Britain and its Celtic heritage served as inspiration for this region: green forests and hills but with far more elevation and harsh cliffs. A fog seems to hang over the lower parts of the islands most of the time and rain may come at any moment – but also create beautiful rainbows (is there a pot of gold hidden at the end? Who knows!) and add to the untamed feeling of the region.

And then there are the marshes: parts of most islands are covered in marshland which not only give the province its unique character but also come with important gameplay elements. How do you use the marshes? Are they opportunity or obstacle for your plans to govern this region – and importantly: its Celtic locals?

This is deeply tied into a key gameplay mechanic for Albion: the topic of Romanization. We’ll explore it deeper in the following paragraphs but for a wider look at Romanization in general, we recommend checking out this older blog post, especially if you care about the historical context as well.

Meet the locals

Starting small – the Waders

In good old Anno tradition, the province of Albion also requires you to upgrade your population to progress, unlock new buildings, production chains and technologies. While there are five population levels (“tiers”) in total, they come with a twist, as mentioned above.

But let’s start at the beginning, with the Waders.

Waders are Celts, home to Albion and now confronted with a new reality: they’re suddenly part of the Empire! That means arranging themselves with a new reality and figuring out what kind of benefits there may be to gain by being ruled by this far distant emperor – cause there may indeed be some upsides to all this after all (“What have the Romans ever done for us?”).

Like the Liberti in Latium, the Waders are content with comparatively little:

Build residences, supply them with food (cockles or eels), build a public service building (market or bard’s hearth) and fulfil their third Needs category – fashion (shoes or tunica).

And like in Latium, the “Optional Needs” system (read more here) also applies here: fulfil all needs, build all production chains and public services or just the minimum to upgrade them further.

Remember the marshland? – The Celts of course found ways to use this biome for their daily life. Eels are caught in the marsh (while cockles require a coastal building) and the reed for the shoes is also grown there. A unique aspect of producing in the marsh is that every building only has one specific street connector spot – and that not every building can be built there (e.g. no residences).

Romanization: Smiths and Mercators

Alright, you fulfilled at least the minimum of all three Needs categories and are ready to upgrade – what now?

In contrast to Latium, where your population is upgraded in a “straight line”, in Albion you’re now faced with a choice. Remember we emphasized a few times already your role as a Roman governor? This is a topic we wanted to draw from in the provinces specifically: will you let the locals stick to their traditions – or have them embrace Roman ambition?

Upgrade your Waders to Smiths and let them stay on the Celtic path – or upgrade them to Mercators to have them start to embrace aspects of Roman culture, fashion and architecture.

Smiths will ask for cheese and beer but also drinking horns, while Mercators request sausages, bread and proper Roman amphoras.

Historically, the Romans tended to largely let locals keep their traditions as long as they remained peaceful (i.e. didn’t rebel) and paid their taxes.

In some cases, local customs and entire religious practises were even adopted and ended up spreading further throughout the empire – leading to e.g. the Mithras cult spreading to Britain or a temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis being located directly below our offices in Mainz, Germany.

Even when you’re romanizing the locals it’s important to keep in mind: these people are still Celts; Celts which have adopted various Roman customs, clothing styles and other cultural aspects.

No matter which path you take, your choice will be immediately visible: romanized residences and public services provide a striking visual contrast to Celtic construction methods and building styles.

Of beards and buildings: Aldermen and Nobles

With the necessary Needs of your Smiths or Mercators fulfilled, you can upgrade each branch one more time: Smiths to Aldermen and Mercators to Nobles.

Aldermen are among the most respected members of their people, deeply rooted in their culture with impressive mustaches. Considering their status, they will ask for a variety of goods and services – this is where your skills as a governor will get properly challenged: Imported wine from Latium? Fancy pelt hats? Chariots?

And then there are public buildings they will ask for, like the Alder Council where they can meet with the other Aldermen, discuss local politics and maybe have a beer. Building it will clearly show them, that you’re supporting their local traditions.

The Nobles, on the other hand, have taken further steps towards Romanization: they’re wearing their hair in Roman style (no beard) and dress accordingly. They will ask for those fancy togas from Latium and want you to build a proper Roman theatre – and an aqueduct to bring the water directly into the city. Building that will absolutely create a striking visual contrast to the Celtic parts of your island.

And as we can see the question already: as soon as you have reached Tier 3 with either the Celtic or the Roman path, you also unlock the respective other. Meaning, you can later create settlements with both traditional and romanized Celts living on the same island.

Friend or foe – new characters to meet

Last but not least: there are different characters to meet in Albion! We want to introduce at least some of them to you briefly. In the near future, we’ll dive deeper into the topic of diplomacy and will let you make the acquaintance of not only other characters but also the Emperor.

For now, let’s stay in Albion and look at one person who will watch your actions as governor very closely: Voada.

Voada is a Celtic Raider (similar in function to the “Pirates” of previous Anno games) and therefore very much set against you, the players, from the start: you are, after all, representing the Empire, the conqueror of this province.

Our team took quite a bit of inspiration from the historical character of Boudicca when creating Voada and her backstory and made her a fierce defender of Celtic traditions and the Celtic way of life.

Your relationship with her therefore depends heavily on how you use the “Romanization” mechanic: drain marshes, romanize the locals and worship Roman deities and she’s guaranteed to become your enemy, sending her raiders out to harass your trade routes and potentially even invade your islands. Let the locals embrace their Celtic traditions and… maybe you can become friends?

Another character we want you to meet is Manx. He’s a neutral trader, leader of his own tribe and comes with somewhat ambivalent feelings towards this new rulership. He appreciates the advantages that the Empire brings, the (expected) peace for the region, but is also worried about losing local culture.

You can trade various resources with him and receive quests that both benefit you but also tell you more about his backstory. Manx being a big fan of horses, his island features a large horse figure – inspired by the real “Uffington White Horse” in southern England.

Voada, Manx and Athr – three of the characters you’ll meet in Albion and each coming with their very own goals and expectations.

Finally, there’s Athr Iorgwyn. You didn’t think we’d make an Anno game without a member of the beloved Jorgensen family, did you?

Athr has dreams and ambitions: he’s a rival character who build cities and expands to other islands. Not into other provinces, however, he’s strictly staying in Albion (just like Dorian is only settling in Latium, for example).

There’re certainly a few elements of “King Arthur” in this character, with his focus on knights and building castles. In contrast to both Manx and especially Voada, he does not care about your decisions on the topic of Romanization. He himself is using whatever suits his interest best – and expects you to take similar actions yourself. While this, therefore, will not impact your diplomatic relationships negatively, you might clash with him over who gets to own which island…

Outro

But on the topic of war…. let’s keep Albion’s additions to this topic for the next blog post. In fact, in the second blog on Albion later this week we will also look at the unique aspects the province brings to the topics of Religion and the Discovery Tree. Today, we wanted to focus on the province and its people, since your decisions will not only impact the look of your islands but also the relationships with other characters – and the Emperor!

Finally, let us once again remind you that you can check out Anno 117: Pax Romana in about one week: the time-limited demo is releasing on PC (Ubisoft Connect and Steam) on September 2^nd and will remain available for two weeks.

Don’t miss this chance to try out our game – and let us know what you think!

How do you bring an Anno world to life? – Not too long ago we’ve talked about the work of the Level Art team but islands just wouldn’t feel quite right without animals roaming around (wild horses, deer, wolves, …) and being tended to by farmers (sheep, pigs, …).

Today we’re having a look at the job of an Animator and specifically the process of creating and animating animals in Anno 117: Pax Romana.

The job of an Animator

For today’s blog, we’re getting the support of our colleague Marion – and as mentioned, we’ll focus on animals specifically. Don’t worry, though, we will probably tackle human units in the future, especially since we used motion capture this time around, which is an exciting topic to talk about.

Let’s start with the basics: What does an Animator do?

A 3D object can’t move without someone taking care of the animation first. That’s the job of an animator. When you see something moving in a video game, be it a character waving at you, people running across the screen, cows grazing on a meadow or a car driving down a road: an animator has likely been working on that.

With that settled: What’s the job of an animator – on Anno?

All the feedback units in the game! “Feedback Unit” is the term we use for people walking, working, eating – and more! – on the streets and in buildings in the game. It’s also referring to all the animals you can spot in the environment and production buildings (deer, pigs, sheep etc.).

Also animated are, of course, the portraits of NPC and residents that are talking to you during quests or when you engage in diplomacy.

Bringing a Wolf to Life

Now that we have established the different tasks of an animator, let’s use the example of a wolf from Anno 117: Pax Romana to illustrate the process of creating an animated animal.

It all starts with a 2D concept art for the animal in question done either by Marion or by one of our Concept Artists. This drawing is already very close to how the final unit is supposed to look – and we knew that we would go for far more detailed feedback units than in the past: it’s much easier to start with the highest quality and reduce it later to optimize.

Based on this concept, a 3D mesh model is created and refined. We start with a low-poly (i.e. a mesh model with a low number of polygons) variant, that is used as the base for the high-poly sculpting (based on which a high-poly version is built). We’re not quite done yet, though, as in our quest for more detail, a so-called “normal map” is created from the high-poly and added. This “normal map” helps give the object depth and allows the addition of details – in this case the “waves” in the fur are thanks to the normal map – without adding more polygons (which would have a higher impact on game performance).

For now, the animal still misses its texture. That happens in the next step, where we decide that we want black and grey fur for our fluffy friend. We have a few variants for animals, so that not all wolves (and horses, pigs, …) look the same.

For this, our Animator does research in the same way that we’re doing research for buildings, for example, to assure a certain level of historical authenticity. While wolves today look very similar to their ancestors from 2000 years ago, the situation for pigs is different. Due to domestication, Roman pigs looked rather different to how we usually portray pigs today: smaller, thinner, spotty and certainly with more hair and bristles.

Now we have a finished 3D model, but our wolf can’t move. Time to change that: rigging and skinning makes the wolf “animatable” by the animator.

Rigging means, simply put, creating a skeleton with joints for the model (the “rig”), that allows the animator later to create movements. In the next step, skinning, the 3D mesh model that was created in the first steps is then connected to the rig (“skeleton”) and allows our wolf to move.

The bone structure is based on actual skeletons but is of course reduced in complexity since we’re still working on a builder game – not on a first-person adventure game where you are constantly close to your horse, your dog companion or other types of animals (dragons?).

Our wolf here also can’t move its eyes but can move its ears.

To make our life easier, our Animator Marion is using a “control rig” to animate the wolf. With that, moving a paw automatically moves parts of the leg as well – otherwise we would have to animate every single bone individually.

Depending on the feedback unit, a certain number of animation cycles are created. Our wolf here has 3 in total: walking, running and simply idling (i.e. standing around).

Our human feedback units have many more, since they do not just walk from A to B, but also carry objects, work on a farm, in a factory, etc.

The movement is largely random, but there are certain pre-defined situations for behavioral change, e.g. when you start placing buildings near a group of animals, they will run away.

In order to create as authentic animations as possible, the team is doing some research on that as well: A wolf moves decidedly differently than a horse, for example, and both should look authentic. You have similar situations with how men and women move, and how different body-types impact animation.

Animals also act in herds or packs, with their numbers depending on the type of animal: horses roam in larger groups, while wolf packs are much smaller.

As mentioned not too long ago in a livestream, while Anno 1800 still used several “old” animals, we created completely new ones this time around.

For performance reasons, there are some limits to how detailed they can be since there are so many feedback units (humans and animals) in the world of Anno 117: Pax Romana. However, we’re also using a “trick” to help with performance: different stages of LOD. LOD stands for “level of detail”, and essentially means that the quality of the object is reduced the further you zoom out (and in some cases the object even completely disappears). Less details mean lower impact in performance, as there’s no need to display all the details of an animal, ship or building when fully zoomed out – you’re too far away to see them anyway.

Q&A

We’re closing this blog with some questions for our Animator on some aspects of her work.

Q: Of course, we also had feedback units and animated objects in Anno 1800. Are we doing things differently in Anno 117: Pax Romana? Are there aspects we improved upon?

A: Generally, as mentioned above, we’ve drastically increased the quality and detail of feedback units and their animations. They look much better (and fluffier, in the case of our wolf) up close and move smoother. For humans, as mentioned, we even did motion-capture – more on that at a later date.

Q: What would you consider to be the most difficult aspects of your job? Are specific types of animation or specific animals more difficult than others?

A: No part is specifically difficult; I enjoy them all! But humans are a bit more boring since there are so many of them… I greatly prefer animating animals, they’re more fun to create and animate.

Q: What’s the most fun you have/had while animating?

A: Animating the fox and wolf certainly was my favourite part of working on Anno 117: Pax Romana.

Q: Many of Anno’s buildings and other objects are also animated: parts of ships, machines of production buildings and more. Are they also all hand-animated by you?

A: They’re not handled by me (on animation side) but my coworkers animate the cranes or use physics to move sails in ships.

Q: Which tools are you using for your work?

A: I’m using Blender for sculpting the model and creating the rig and animation – and then Substance Painter and Photoshop for textures. I know that’s a bit unusual, often ZBrush is used for sculpting (and Substance Painter for textures) – but I just really got used to my workflow and much prefer this way now.

That’s the end of today’s blog on the topic of animal animation in Anno 117: Pax Romana!

Do you have any additional questions on our animal feedback units or the work of an animator? And what do you want to know about our human feedback units? Leave your questions in the comments below or get in touch via any of our social channels!

Hey Anno Community,

After introducing you to the setting and world of Anno 117: Pax Romana as well as several of its features, today we’re diving into the topic of HOW we make games – and look at the work of the Production department.

That’s the team planning and organising the entire development process from the beginning and making sure we stay on track over the course of the multiple years that an Anno game takes until release.

For all this, we’re talking with our Production Director Nadin, and Senior Producer Christoph. Both are Anno veterans and assuring a smooth development process for Anno games for many years already.

Let’s first start with their roles specifically, since while both belong to the “Production Department”, we have a split in terms of responsibility: Producing and Project Management. As with all roles in our team, the Production department is deeply embedded into the rest of the development team here in Mainz.

The Production Department

Project Management

We start with Nadin and Project Management.

Project Management is about the management of hard facts: task planning, milestone planning (more on that later), budget & resource planning. It also means defining, and then always keeping an eye on the scope of the project – and adjusting it when necessary.

Nadin and her team are planning the whole project with its individual phases (pre-production, production, post-launch) by transforming the Creative Vision (see this DevBlog on the responsibilities of Creative Director Manuel and Game Director Jan) into tasks. This always happens hand-in-hand with the different departments, as they – for example – need to provide time estimates for their tasks which then make their way into the production plan.

As early as possible, a first plan is set-up to see how much time realizing this original vision would take – followed by discussions on how to make it fit within the given restrictions. Since the team’s health is very important, making sure the plan works with the capacities we have is central.

Should we already identify issues at this early stage, the team tries to address this by:

• Adding more team members to the development (meaning, hiring additional people or outsourcing certain tasks)
• Reducing the scope (meaning, removing certain features or designs) or postponing features (e.g. moving a feature into the postlaunch period, like the co-op mode for Anno 1800).

The management of those external partners is also a responsibility of the Project Management team: contract negotiations, onboarding and the monitoring of their progress.

During production, the team is also regularly cross-checking the development progress with the plans, to make sure the project runs smoothly and avoids crunch – while also assuring we stay on track for the planned release date.

Producing

Now, we take a look at Christoph’s team and “Producing”.

Christoph himself describes the role of his team as one with both internal (dev team) and external (stakeholders) responsibilities. That includes the creation and management of workflows for the dev team, the checking of milestone results and goals as well as the organisation of meetings and syncs to facilitate communication within the departments (i.e. anything related to the project status).

Part of that is also “risk management”, i.e. the anticipation of risks to the development. Those can be all kinds of topics and are coming from the whole team: worries about the timeline, problems with a certain tool which could cost more time, designs that may be difficult to implement or topics that could be tricky to communicate to our players. Anticipating (and subsequently addressing) takes a high priority throughout the whole development.

On top of that, “externally” the Producing team also communicates with other stakeholders within the company. These are, for example, our production contacts at HQ-level, Editorial or Age Rating managers.

Here exists, of course, a big overlap with Nadin’s responsibilities since both are working hand-in-hand when it comes to e.g. updating stakeholders or defining workflows. Meaning: for many tasks the distinction between Nadin and Christoph and their teams is not that clear-cut and requires close collaboration and steady communication on a daily basis.

Just as some production chains require two input goods (Garum needing Mackerels and Salt), a good production department needs close collaboration between both its teams.

Alright, their roles and scope of work established, let’s go in a bit more detail on the Production planning: Which phases does a game go through from first idea to release?

Similar to the blog on creating the Creative Vision, it’s important to mention that while there are many similarities between how different dev teams approach creating their games, each tries to do things in a way that works best for their team and project. Accordingly, the length of the following phases is defined by each team individually. From experience, our Production Team roughly knows how long the Production of an Anno game will take – and taking this into consideration together with the targeted release date, and the defined length of a milestone (see further below), the Production Team can calculate the length of the phases and number of milestones.

Planning an Anno production

Concept Phase & Pre-production – First Playable

It all starts with a vision – and then the concept phase. Here only a small team is involved in getting a feel for the game, outlining general game design, core features and innovations. The small team is not working in a vacuum, of course: Already in this stage the Production Team is involved assessing the potential scope and working on a first plan and estimates. This includes project goals, project size & cost as well as the overall timeline. Those points are further impacted by input and requirements from other stakeholders at the company. The project planning for a game like Anno 117: Pax Romana is rather comprehensive and it’s the Production Team’s duty to bring all stakeholders together.

It’s also important to note that during these phases, the dev team is working on not only a high concept for each feature and mechanic, but also the detailed design documents (DDDs) for them. We’ll get to them in a future blog, but in short: These documents define the scope, as well as “must have” and “nice to have” elements of each feature before they’re being worked on and implemented into the game.

Over time, more people are added to the new project and a first version slowly takes shape, a proof-of-concept basically: the “first playable prototype” (FPP). This version is an important check for us and our stakeholders if the concept works, or if we have taken a wrong turn somewhere and need to go back to the drawing board.

Pre-production is the time where we build the foundation for main production. It’s a time to de-risk the project, a time where we can also test new or difficult features (that’s a topic we will also be addressing in our future DevBlog on Game Design) but also a time to get all the internal tools ready so that the team can start creating content efficiently.

Pre-Alpha & Alpha – Feature Complete and fully playable

This is also called the Main Production Phase. This phase has the goal to finish the implementation of all features, including a vertical slice of their content.

Example: If the game has quests, the feature of quests should be implemented and come with 2-5 quests, so one can assess the feature, but the Narrative team does not have to finish ALL the quests.

Accordingly, this phase is usually NOT about quality, so loads of things will be (visually & in terms of UX/gameplay) in an unpolished state. One could also say: This phase is about quantity NOT quality.

Beta – Feature & Content Complete and Polished

Contrary to the Main Production, in Beta the team will swap priority and try to apply quality to all the implemented features and content. In addition to that, “missing” content (see Alpha Phase above) will be added, e.g. remaining quests, remaining NPCs and so on.

Master – “Refined”

The last phase of production before the release: This one is mainly about bug fixing, performance and memory optimization but also leaves us room for e.g. adjustments to the balancing and similar feedback that we might still get from our players.

It’s also in this phase where our game is submitted to first parties (e.g. Sony and Microsoft) for them to check and approve the version.

When we reached this this point, we would be seeing the finish line, and the release of Anno 117: Pax Romana would be within reach (hello, November 13th!).

Building huge Roman cities in Latium is just a few months away.

Milestones

As discussed above, the Production team creates a roadmap in order to reach certain production levels at certain times. For those, we use milestones.

To quote from our internal documentation: “A Milestone separates the Production into smaller, manageable chunks.” This helps us structure the overall development process, which means we have regular checks on the progress of the project. Accordingly, all milestones have the same length, as they all follow the same workflows.

The team itself agrees on and commits to specific goals that need to be reached by the end of a Milestone. This usually means getting a specific feature or aspect of the game to a certain quality level. Both these quality levels as well as the Milestone goals are defined by the team itself in accordance with the overall production plan originally laid out, and some general Ubisoft guidelines.

For example, while Level of Quality 0 (“L0”) means there has to be a detailed design of the feature that has been reviewed and approved, L1 means that the feature (even though in a very early state with placeholders and work-in-progress elements) is playable for the first time.

Our “Levels of Quality”, visualized via the World’s Fair from Anno 1800.

And what happens when we reach a milestone? Well, we celebrate, of course! We regularly have “Show & Tell” meetings where individual departments present their achievements of the last milestones to the rest of the team – and then enjoy some food and drink after.

Additionally, we also regularly take Milestones as an opportunity to do playtests. Both external ones but also internal ones, when all of us can take some dedicated time to just focus on playing the game. And like our external playtesters, we also fill out lengthy surveys to judge and give feedback on our own game.

However, as you can guess, not every milestone works like a charm. Estimated tasks might take longer, people might become sick and thus aren’t able to finish their work or we find out that a certain implementation sounded good on paper, but actually isn’t that fun when playing.

All these learnings will need to be assessed, and the plan for the upcoming milestones needs to be adjusted.

That means working in Producing and Project Management is not about creating that ONE plan: it’s about creating a plan and adjusting it over and over again to match the production reality – while keeping the project’s goals in mind.

We don’t have THAT MUCH cake every time, that’s reserved for the big milestones.

Feature Teams

To achieve said Milestone goals, we assemble “Feature Teams”.

These are smaller teams focused on a specific feature or feature group and made up of people from different departments that are all working on this specific feature (for example: roads or diplomacy). People usually are in multiple Features Teams (there are maaaaany different features) and together decide on the goals and are responsible for ensuring that the feature reaches said Milestone goals.

They are supported by the Production team to assure proper workflows and scope: as discussed at the beginning, the development has to be thoroughly planned to account for the available time and staff; to assure we’re delivering a quality game on time and without crunch.

Additionally, the Team Leads and the Core Group (made up of the Directors and Senior Leads) are guiding the process and are approving as well as checking the progress and the Milestone goals.

Closing words & learnings

We’re coming to the end of today’s DevBlog, time for some last questions to Nadin and Christoph:

Are you really planning the whole development at the beginning? How flexible is it should something unforeseen happen?

Yes, you need a first full plan at the beginning. This is important to keep control over the project’s parameters (Time, Budget, Quality). As soon as one of the parameters is in danger, we need to take counter measures to make sure the project stays on track. As said earlier, adjusting the plan to fit the production reality is a big part of our work.

Both you and the team have worked on multiple Anno games over the years. Did that result in some “golden rules” for Production planning?

If the plan is not fitting in the beginning it will NOT fit in the end => you have to adjust it right there to minimize the risks.

Be realistic when estimating tasks => tasks that are estimated too optimistically will later-on result in the plan becoming skewed.

Be open and honest: be it good or bad => only with transparency can you build trust within the team and towards our fans.

Did you encounter situations of “let’s do it differently next time” and generally changes to how we produce games over the years?

Production is about managing change. The best workflow is worthless, if it doesn’t fit the team’s needs. So yes: It is a constant evolution of reviewing what went well and what didn’t.

This is especially true regarding planning: how to set up a plan (backlog) how to monitor, how to adjust the plan to be more flexible are key components of our work.

We hope you found this different but extensive insight into our development processes, and specifically the work of the Production department interesting.

Do you have more questions that we did not answer in this blog? Want to know more about the work of specific other departments? Let us know in the comments!