SUNFLOWERS greatly values the fan community’s opinions and contributions towards the planning and realization of ANNO 1701. Based on a database of more than 70,000 registered fans, numerous surveys will help to collate and evaluate players’ wishes and ideas.
„Our 70.000 registered fans are children and adults, men and women, SI and GI players. For this enormous target group, we endeavor to create the absolutely perfect ANNO game, i.e. the ANNO game our clients dream of“, said Adi Boiko, SUNFLOWERS President, about the planned extensive studies.
The development budget totals 8 Million Euros. This makes ANNO 1701 one of the most expensive productions from Germany and one of the most important PC development projects in the whole of Europe.
Experience the busy life in cities and villages at first hand and examine the animated biota from a very close perspective. And when proud merchant vessels cruise through realistic waves, farmers follow their daily tasks and a stiff breeze from the sea blows through the dense leafage of trees, the unique atmosphere of the ANNO world becomes literally tangible.
ANNO 1701 takes the virtues of it's predecessors to heart and carries them into the third dimension by presenting a remarkable level of detail, even in early prototype format. The game's distinctive ambience is enhanced by various modern 3D effects that render buildings in vivid detail, create realistic water reflections, weather effects, impressive lighting and shadows. All these techniques work together to render the next ANNO world in the best possible graphical quality.
But while we're still gazing at the pictures, the guys at Related Designs are already busy implementing gameplay aspects and combining the best elements of 1602 and 1503 in ANNO 3 (working title). Supported by the experience and skill of Wilfried Reiter (co-creator of the ANNO series) and Ulli Koller (graphics artists for both 1602 and 1503), the developers will make sure that the next ANNO does not only focus on graphical splendour, but also on challenging and entertaining gameplay - with aspects like an optimized military part, an intuitive control scheme and a clean multiplayer mode as basic obligations, but a lot of exciting new surprises are also in the works. And although they still have a long way to go until the end of 2006, the first images from their early prototype already show a very clear direction, because the world of ANNO never looked so beautiful and lifelike!