Tag: Cosmetic DLC

Of Lions and Lights

Posted on by Ubi_MarcelH

Hey Anno Community,
we know that many of you have been patiently waiting for more news on our next major DLC, “Land of Lions”. We also know that we had previously promised to have more information on this feature-packed content in September. Unfortunately, due to some additional feedback we have been working to implement, we won’t be able to honor that promise, and there will be no news from Enbesa this month. On the bright side, we will not only release “Land of Lions” itself in October but are also working on several DevBlogs to give you an in-depth look into Anno 1800’s biggest DLC prior to release.

Enjoy the “City Lights”
Speaking of releases- another frequently asked question was whether the runner-up from our Cosmetic DLC vote, the “Bustling City Life Pack”, would make its way into your cities in the future. We are happy to say that the answer is “Yes!”, with a small “but…” attached. While the concept is very much the same many of you voted for earlier this year (vending booths, playgrounds and other things you will find in daily city life), the pack has undergone a name change to “City Lights Pack”, to account for the new streetlamps! This latest Cosmetic DLC will be coming to Anno 1800 later this year, after the release of “Land of Lions”.

We are looking forward to sharing much more about both DLCs with you all in the weeks to come!

The Anno Team

Teaser
Teaser

DevBlog: Amusements Pack Cosmetic DLC

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Hey Anno Community,

Today we want to take you a bit behind the scenes and magic of your very own future amusement park, which will open its doors next week thanks to the release of the eponymous “Amusements Pack” Cosmetic DLC.

Before we dive into the process of bringing these new ornaments to life, let us go far afield to talk about ornamentation and the concept of Cosmetic DLCs in general. One thing that makes the Anno community so special is that the games manage to attract many different types of players, who all manage to carve out enjoyable niches within the games’ plethora of systems to find what they are looking for. Traditionally, two of the most prominent tendencies within the community have been the min-max-ers who don’t mind their citizens living in abject squalor as long as they can manage to cram just a few thousand more onto an island to reach that next record- and then there are the self-styled “beauty builders” who use Anno games as interactive dioramas to realize their wildest modelmaking fantasies without too much worry about the efficiency of it all.

When coming up with ideas for our post-launch strategy and DLCs, we always have these different playstyles in mind, and try to think up with new content that will offer something for everyone. Both of our currently available Season 2 DLCs, “Seat of Power” and “Bright Harvest” are good examples of this philosophy, as they offer new gameplay mechanics for the economically-invested crowd, and add stunning new sights to the beauty builder’s toolbox.

The downside is of course that such fully featured DLCs will take several months to develop, which inevitably means that there are always some lulls between new Anno 1800 content coming out. This is where Cosmetic DLCs come in, as they allow us to deliver some new Anno 1800 content in-between the major DLCs. Where a DLC like Land of Lions takes months of work from a sizeable team, the Cosmetic DLCs will take a few artists a couple of weeks to design and implement. This also gives us the opportunity to create some strongly thematic content that may not appeal to everyone (for example, anyone who is not into Christmas themes id unlikely to enjoy the Holiday Pack).

This is also why we do not include the Cosmetic DLC Packs in the Season Passes, as we do not want to drive up the price with content that we know won’t appeal to a big part of the community (the min-max’ers). That is why we think that an à la carte approach is the best way to go with the cosmetic packs, allowing everyone to get exactly the content they want to see in their cities.

These were some of the considerations we had in mind when we came up with the Holiday Pack last December, which was the first such DLC for Anno 1800. Following its release, a few things quickly became clear from your feedback: 1) Anno players love more ornaments but would 2) prefer content that would feel right at home throughout the year, rather than just in the run-up to the Holidays. We also immediately received lots of feedback and long wishlists for future cosmetic packs (these lists were the origin of the agricultural and industrial ornaments that were added to the Bright Harvest DLC).

As a next step, we took this list of community ideas to our artists to see where they saw the potential for a nice themed pack of 15-25 ornaments (depending on their size and scope), and to check the feasibility. For example, we saw a lot of players asking for some form of harbor ornaments, and we actually did some technical tests to see what form these could take, but found the idea clashing with the general lack of harbor front building space.

In the end, the team came away with three topics that we could see making for visually interesting Cosmetic DLCs: a circus, general props for urban life, and the amusement park. With this list, we decided that it would be cool to give the Anno Union who has been so supportive of the game throughout its development the choice of which pack we should tackle next.

That’s why we launched our latest Anno Union vote in April, to give you all the deciding vote between the tentatively named “Bustling City Life, “Trip to the Big Top” and “A Day at the Amusements” DLCs. Of course, every one on the team had their own favorite they were rooting for, so rest assured that we kept close tabs on the voting, and every change at the top of the polls was immediately shared in various chats! In the end, the Amusements Pack took the day, with the slimmest of margins over the City Life Pack.

With that decision out of the way, our artists immediately got to work on ideas, starting with a series of quick concept scribbles. These sketches are intended to quickly produce a wide range of potential ideas, allowing the team to get a feeling for what things could look like inside the game.

When selecting which scribbles, we want to take to the next stage, we consider a few things:

  1. Player fantasy: What are things that players expect based on the chosen topic? For example, it was obvious from the start that the Amusements Pack should include a ferris wheel, so we even put it into the artwork for the vote.
  2. Variety: We want our Cosmetic DLCs to have a good mix between different sizes of ornaments, to give players flexibility in how they can use them. In general, we want to have 1-2 big showpieces (like the Holiday’s Pack’s merry-go-round), a few medium sized ornaments, and several versatile small ornaments you can use to fill any gaps between other buildings.
  3. General fit: Despite rumors of an alleged first-person mode, Anno is of course played from an isometric perspective. This is of course also something we need to keep in mind, as not everything that looks cool when standing before it in real-life will translate well into an isometric game perspective.

It was during this phase that the idea for a rollercoaster as the second centerpiece of the DLC alongside the ferris wheel first came about, with everyone loving the idea of having such a massive ornament (one of the biggest in Anno history).

Next come the first rough 3d models for the chosen concepts. While very rough around the edges and untextured, they give the team a good feeling for how well they fit into the game world, and alongside already existing buildings and ornaments (see #3 in the list above). Once an idea passes this final hurdle, it is in for good, and we can get to finishing and polishing to be ready for its grand debut in the game.

Of course, it would not be Anno if the world weren’t bustling with life, so of course the Cosmetic DLC packs also call for some customized feedback units. If you are unfamiliar with the term, “feedback unit” is our internal term for any kind of citizen walking around your city to give you visual feedback for how things are going (like the groups of tourists gathering around the rarest zoo exhibits). For example, our Christmas market from the Holiday Pack just would not have been the same if the man himself, Santa Claus, hadn’t been making an appearance in it!

Once all ornaments and their respective feedback units are finished, all that is left to do is to create the thumbnails for the construction menu to allow you to place these all over your burgeoning industrial empires, which is where our UI team comes in to help get the DLC over the finishing line. Speaking of the build menu, some of you may be curious about what exactly is included in the Amusements Pack? If so, look no further:

  1. Ferris Wheel
  2. Rollercoaster
  3. Ticket Booth
  4. Ice Cream Stand
  5. Cotton Candy Stand
  6. Tin Can Alley
  7. Shooting Game
  8. Food Stand
  9. Beverages Stand
  10. Strongman Game
  11. Face in Hole
  12. Barrel Organ Player
  13. Balloon Seller
  14. Portrait Painter
  15. “Welcome” Gate (with a second variation of it)
  16. Bar Table

And the best thing is that you won’t have to wait very long at all for your very own amusement park to open, as our second Cosmetic DLC will already be out on August 11, at 6pm CEST/ 12pm EDT/ PDT, for a price of 4,99€/$.

There is one last question to cover, and that is the “Bustling City Life” Pack, which put up a very brave effort in our Anno Union vote and came in an extremely close second. We have been receiving lots of questions about the possibility of doing this second pack as well ever since. The answer is that we would love to do so! Should the Amusements Pack prove to be as popular with players as we all hope, we would be very excited to do the City Life Pack for you all for release after Land of Lions, towards the end of the year, including a small pond with pedal boats to help your citizens cool down in the heat. For now, we cannot wait to see all our beautiful screenshots of the Amusements Pack next week!

Stay safe,

The Anno Team

Vote for the next cosmetic DLC

Posted on by Ubi_MarcelH

Hey Anno Community,

it has been a while since we ran our last Anno Union vote— high time to do so again! This time we want your input on the topic of our next Cosmetic DLC Pack, giving you the choice between three themes. Once the voting ends, we will begin development on the new content, which we plan to cover with blogs on the Anno Union to show you how the Union’s chosen topic comes to live.

So, what exactly is a “Cosmetic Pack”? As you know, we released the Holiday Pack last December, giving you the option to turn your cities festive with an assortment of Christmas-themed ornaments such as Christmas Market stalls. While many of you loved the Pack, we also received a lot of feedback that if we were to do another such pack, you would prefer to have something a bit more general that you can proudly display in your empire all-year-round. You also provided us with many suggestions about potential themes, which inspired us to turn the decision about the next pack’s theme over to you, the faithful Anno Union members.

More precisely, we plan to release the pack this Summer, at a price of 4,99€/$, which will include between 15-20 ornaments, with the exact number depending on the theme and scope (with the Ferris wheel, for example, being a lot more work than two smaller ornaments). This pack will be a standalone purchase, and not part of the Season 2 Pass. While ornaments and beauty building are super important for parts of our community, we also know that others don’t care for them as much, so we think that having these packs as à la carte purchase outside the Season Passes is the best way to give our players maximum flexibility over their Anno 1800 experience. Enough on that— here are your options! Please note that all content below is cosmetic and will not change Anno 1800’s gameplay.

“Bustling City Life”: Build playgrounds, coffee and ice cream kiosks, and similar novelties.

“Trip to the Big Top”: Have the Circus come to town whenever you feel like it!

“A Day at the Amusements”: Open an astounding amusement park for your citizens to revel in.

Of course, all of us on the Anno 1800 Team have our own favorites that we are crossing fingers for, and we can’t wait to see which theme will emerge as the community’s favorite! Voting will run for two weeks and end on Thursday, May 14th at 11:59pm CET. Happy voting, and stay safe!

 

[totalpoll id="6156"]

The Passage, Holiday Pack and GU 6 are here!

Posted on by Bastian Thun

It’s a busy day, as we have a ton of new content and features for Anno 1800, so let’s dive right in to give you all the details you need! All of the below will go live today, December 10, at 6pm CET/ 5PM UTC/ 12pm EST/ 9AM PST.

 

The Passage DLC (part of the Anno 1800 Season Pass or 14.99€/$ stand-alone purchase)

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Construct arctic outposts in an all-new arctic session and bring them to life with the new Explorer and Technician residential tiers.

Conquer the skies

Construct a fleet of airships to speed up the trade across all sessions of your empire.

New Arctic goods

Master new production chains and arctic trade goods such as Pemmican, parkas and husky sleds.

Crucial warmth

Use the new heating system to ensure your residents survive the brutal cold of the Passage.

More industrial adventure

Take your Anno 1800 experience to the next level with over 60 new quests and over 80 new items.

 

Holiday Pack DLC (3.99€/$ stand-alone purchase)

Short description:

Bring the spirit of the holidays to Anno 1800 with this new cosmetic DLC pack, which includes 23 new ornaments that allow you to decorate your cities in festive style.

 

  • A festive carousel, including fan favorite vehicles from the game.
  • Two Christmas trees, to fit the occasion.
  • Santa’s Grotto, giving your citizens a chance to share their wish lists with him.
  • Three different markets stalls for your very own Christmas market.
  • A jolly hoard of Christmas presents
  • Two festively ornamented street lanterns.
  • An appropriately wintery snowman ornament.
  • A decorated hedge system with six tiles.
  • A decorated fence system with six tiles.

 

 

Game Update 6 (4.8GB download)

This free Game Update includes several much requested features, including the co-op multiplayer mode, in-depth statistics and a multi-copy tool for buildings.

You can find the full release notes here.