What a ride it has been!
Announced in August 2017, Anno 1800 was at the center of everything we were doing for many years: from the big exciting announcement and the launch of the Anno Union over many, many DevBlogs, fan meetings at gamescom, playtests and livestreams to the release, over four seasons of postlaunch gameplay DLC and then two more years of support with Cosmetic DLC and updates. It’s certainly been quite a journey! We were also happy to ultimately add mod support to the game (and see the modding community flourish), successfully launch Anno 1800 on consoles and celebrate both the Anno series 25th, as well as Anno 1800th 5th birthday with you all. Sure, there were, no doubt, some hick-ups along the way: Veterans might remember an incident with an armada of ghost ships in Season 1 or issues around the release of the “Eden Burning” scenario, which left the game in a rough state for the holidays. For quite a while, the Influence mechanic remained a hotly debated topic – as were items and their balancing. Some of these topics even make a return now in discussions about Anno 117: Pax Romana. However, ultimately, this didn’t overshadow the fantastic success that Anno 1800 had become or the incredibly appreciation we have seen from all of you, motivating us to continue working on the game throughout all these years. Certainly, we did not plan for Anno 1800 to have such a long post-launch life, or to see so many smaller and bigger expansions. Looking back, we’re incredibly proud of our work over the last years – even while we are at the same time also happy to close this chapter of our history and start writing a new one. Now in ancient Rome instead of in the time of the Industrial Revolution. We’re also incredibly proud of having had YOU all with us on this journey! We couldn’t be luckier with this awesome community we have – that is (even when something goes wrong) polite and patient, welcoming to new players, incredibly inventive and has created some of the best memories of our careers as devs. You’re playing a huge role in what we’re doing, in many decisions we take and in why we can work in jobs that bring us joy. Thank you!Team Anecdotes & Messages
Therefore, to round things off, we think it’s only appropriate to finish today’s blog with some messages and memories from the team: Let’s start with two easter eggs that we think haven’t been found yet! We’re not going to reveal the full details but… let’s imagine there’s a first-person mode that lets you use one of the swan boats from the “Pedestrian Zone” pack. Now, let’s assume there’s a button that lets you… do some acrobatics with the boat. Wouldn’t that be fun? Johannes, Senior Gameplay Programmer
If you’ve really messed up the water quality in the “Eden Burning” scenario, nature is protesting. Vehemently. At the beach.
Nico, Lead Programmer
Then there are of course some development stories…
Did you know we, for a while, seriously considered a scenario involving aliens in Season 4? It was supposed to draw on some 19th century science-fiction works and involve a defense against non-human invaders.
Dominik, Game Designer
Did you know that when the team first introduced cats and dogs to the game, they assigned them the regular “pedestrian kid” behaviour since we didn’t have a specific “pedestrian animal” behaviour yet? The result was… interesting, with gangs of cats and dogs heading to the zoo to watch the other animals there.
Jan, Gameplay Programmer
The time we forgot to remove the “strange idol” item from a cancelled questline in DLC 12. We hoped you wouldn’t notice but… of course you all did. And not just that, this even resulted in some elaborate conspiracy theories about secret messages and teasers (and we never do teasers, as you know).
Jannika, Game Writer
Wow, End of an Era is here, and my memories from working on 1800 are flowing in, everything from starting my first job for a big game publisher on Anno 1800 in 2021 till my last work on 1800 – the Eldritch pack.
Anno 1800 has given me so much joy and experience in working with game development, people and crafting great content for you, the player.
A couple of highlights are:
- Introducing New World Rising in our Season 4 Trailer.
- Being in charge of the Seasonal Decorations pack on the QA side (still annoyed it got released with the wrong icon, the placeholder was just that good hahah).
- Working on the creative mode with Dominik, coming up with a lot of suggestions of what to add, like that every resident tier can be built directly, that every zoo and museum module could be built as an ornament – and just so so many ornaments!
- And then, close to the end, when we added the mod support to Anno 1800, the great collaboration between the few of us that were still working on 1800 back then.
