Category: Contest

Vote: Community Island

Posted on by Bastian Thun

Annoholics have discussed the art of island design since the dawn of the Anno series. With our Anno Union island contest, we put your knowledge, design skills and creativity to the test to create a truly community-shaped island for Anno 1800. You impressed us with almost 100 entries to the contest, ranging from well thought gameplay concepts to the craziest playgrounds.

It was far from easy for us to make the final selection. Over the last weeks, our team went through every single entry and finally, we have a list for the five islands competing in the next Anno Union vote.

And the finalists are:

VulcanixFR
We liked VulcanixFR’s entry especially because of the well thought out mix between bigger and smaller construction spaces. With its opposing beaches, this island offers an iconic vista to build an interesting harbor installation.

MW.TRIBUN
The natural form of this island convinced our team. Hills, beaches and rivers are well placed and come together in a harmonious overall concept. The arrangement of the construction site and the fascinating landslide in the south create an interesting hotspot.

fabian_eiter
This islands got our attention because of its unique shape. The narrow parts of the island offer a great challenge for city builder and the jagged hills surrounding the bay add an adventurous element to it.

Phyllus1
The crazy idea to use the hat from the Anno 1602 cover was creative and humorous, while the nice curves and long cliffs offer a great challenge for Annoholics.

GmExpresso
We liked this isle for its simple form, providing ample space for huge cities. The high plateau in the north allows you to play around with the new uneven terrain of Anno 1800, which creates a great gameplay twist on a simple concept.

It’s now up to you, the members of the Anno Union, to decide which entry will make it into the game, as the first community created Anno island. We will further provide frequent updates about the state of the community island, including its creation up to all the final details. Keep in mind that we might need to change a few things, though we will be faithful to the general concept, feel and shape of the winning island.

Thanks to every single participating in the contest, putting so much effort and thought into all these glorious creations. If you want to browse through all great community entries again, you can do so here:
Island Contest entries international 
Island Contest entries German

Vote your favorite NPC into the game!

Posted on by Bastian Thun

It’s about time to kick off our first Anno Union community vote. When creating a game, tons of creative ideas are flying around the studio but during the development process, we have to make hard decisions. That means some ideas have to go on hold, and eventually go out in order to ensure that the best one goes big.

A diverse cast of AI Characters has been an important part of Anno games for a long time. They help to immerse yourself in our game world and are your ally achieving victory or your bitter opponent during a session. With that said, we would like to introduce you to six interesting candidates for our last AI character for our NPC roster, and it is up to you who will make it on the ship when Anno1800 sets sail.

Find a short description below to make your choice easier, or maybe even harder. You will be able to vote for one of the characters (yes, only one) in the big voting highlighted at the right side of the Anno Union page. We will keep the voting up for a while and when it is time to make the decision of which character we will further develop, we will make that choice based on your actions.

Furthermore, we want to give you the chance to become a part of the characters journey. That means that with weeks and month to come, we will give you frequent updates about the development, from final artwork to 3D animation, classic Anno style.

A) Artur Gasparov – The Visionary
Descending from a noble bloodline, Artur studied mathematics, art and architecture to become the single most influential architect of the Empire. Artur strives for perfection. His works are breathtaking, sometimes even provocative. He dreams of creating the perfect utopian metropolis one day. Many call him the greatest visionary of modern times, still some voices question his inability to compromise, and point out Artur’s highly neurotic nature.

B) Hafsa Sultan – The Ambassador
A hookah pipe-smoking princess of the near-east, Hafsa revels in her wealth – loving jewelry and clothes best of all. She is a talented, enigmatic lioness, yet finds her duties as ambassador lack challenge. She only seems to have a vague interest in keeping her family dynasty alive, despite the fact it crumbles at home. Nevertheless, through her charm an ulterior plan appears, a plan she is keeping extremely secret.

C) Jacob “Jake” Turner – The Gambler
Regardless of his razorblade smile and shiny suits Jake is in desperate need of money. Always. He is extremely charming, wasting his talent on being a notorious gambler, con artist and dazzler. His enterprises are as expensive as they are risky, and in the end a lot of people lose a lot of money. Maybe that’s the reason why Jake, as he calls himself nowadays, changes his face like other people change their underwear.

D) Florence Morel – The Occultist
Florence Morel began her fascination with the occult as a morbid little girl, when she claimed to have found a mirror between worlds. Inheriting a vast fortune, her gothic search for truth now unfolds on a grander scale. Her army of acolytes seem bewitched, letting no one and no thing obstruct their leader. They say it is Morel’s destiny to set loose universal mysteries – for good or ill – and in doing so, change humankind forever.

E) Silas Grendel – The Mobster
Grendel is a vicious and ruthless racketeer, commanding his army of rats to get things done. He began running cutthroat carnivals, until his was the only circus in every town. Now his brutal concern only grows, with him king elect of the underworld. With dark nexus behind him, grander schemes are afoot; a man like Grendel wants to tattoo his name into the forearm of history.

F) Dr. Hugo Mercier – The Anarchist
Dr. Mercier did not spend five years reading politics at a great University just to toe the party line. No, his grand vision is anarchy – absolute freedom for everyone! It was a mistake of the Empire then, to think Dr. Mercier might make a suitable ‘governor’. Only in hindsight is it clear he is the definition of rebellion – a man with such conviction in his beliefs, he is willing to die for them.