Exclusive: the brains behind Anno 1701 on DS reveal their strategy

Like all great ideas, two companies had the inspiration to take the multi-million selling PC historical strategy game Anno 1701 and rework it within the neat shape of the DS.

Unsurprisingly, one was Sunflowers, the German publisher behind the original PC hit.

The other however was a much smaller, newer but also Germanic outfit, Keen Games. Appropriately enough considering its name, it excitedly approached Sunflowers with some ideas on how to make the game a success on DS. And it got the deal.

The result is the soon-to-be-released Anno 1701: Dawn of Discovery – a game we've previously previewed but thought warranted further exploration. We caught up with Keen's developer director Pete Walentin (pictured) to get some extra behind-the-scene intel.

Pocket Gamer: The people who play the PC version of Anno 1701 are older and more likely to be male than many DS owners, so why do you think this type of game will appeal to the DS market? Pete Walentin: Anno 1701 isn't your typical strategy game. There are already a lot of females who play it, so what we've made is game that will appeal to a wide range of players. Also, while we've kept the core mechanic, the game itself is much easier than the PC version. There is a difference between sitting in front of a PC using a mouse and keyboard, or sitting relaxed on the sofa and playing a game with the stylus. We've fitted the game to the demands of the Nintendo DS. Can you explain how the controls will work?

Anno 1701: Dawn of Discovery is controlled completely using the stylus and it works very well. Mouse control and stylus are very close, so we haven't made a single compromise.

How does the resource system play out?

In every stage of civilisation your residents demand different things but they always need food. In the beginning it is easy to handle the demands of the few residents you have but when there hundreds, even thousands of them, you have to be quick to fulfill all their needs. To help in this situation, one of the big changes we made from the PC version is that there's a global market, so you don't have to transport your goods from A to B anymore. This makes the game faster and easier.

How will players interact with the different trading races and the villainous pirates?

We've decided to keep the trading races simple, so you will meet some during the Campaign. They will demand goods, and you will trade with them to get what you need to move on in the story. The pirates work in a similar manner in the Campaign mode; if you're playing the Continuous mode, they will randomly attack you, or you can choose to switch them off if you want to play peacefully.

Many DS strategy games have been let down by weak artificial intelligence, so how have you tried to make your enemies seem smart?

Yes, this is very hard as there's only limited memory on the DS and in a game like Anno 1701 there are lots of other things that need memory. What we've done is create characters with different types of skills. Some of them are weak builders but very good in combat and vice versa. I think this is a good way to challenge the player.

How easy will it be to keep track of everything that's happening on the small DS screen as your settlements get more complex?

It's easy because your colony grows on your command, so it should mean you know what you have done. As well as this, there are two levels of zoom, and the max zoom-out gives a good overview of your island. Another trick is we've used a strong colour scheme for different types of buildings – residents' houses have red roofs, military buildings have blue roofs and so on. There's a world map, too.

Can you explain how combat works?

The combat system is building-controlled. This means in each military building you can set a defined amount of soldiers. These need to be trained in a barracks, but when they are ready, they will go by themselves to the buildings that demands troops. The same mechanic works when you are attacking buildings. You set the amount of soldiers you would like to attack with and then you choose the building to attack. The system works very well and suits the DS. Trying to control single units would be a very tricky.

What kinds of game options will be available in the multiplayer and non-Campaign modes?

There are lots of options, especially in terms of the game world, so you can change its size, the number and distance between the islands, their fruitfulness, how much gold you start with, how many opponents and much more. More generally, for expert players there are 14 shortcuts, from which you can set up five. The game speed is always regular and there are no pauses in play.

Finally, what personally most pleases you most about Anno 1701?

It has to be the fact we squeezed a game with nearly the same feature-set as the PC version into such a small cartridge. To do this we really had to flip every byte twice, but by the end we have a full Anno 1701, which offers the same entertainment as when you play the PC version.

Many thanks to Pete Walentin for his time. ANNO 1701: Dawn of Discovery is due for release on July 13th. Click 'Track It!' to be alerted of our upcoming review.