Settlers II 10th Anniversary - The Interview

Seeing that the Settlers franchise has reached its venerable tenth anniversary, publisher Ubisoft thought it would be a good idea to remake the most popular game in the series into 3D. Thus, Settlers II: 10th Anniversary was born, with game developer Funatics handling the transition to 2006 standards. On September 7th, the result could be fully appreciated during the localized German version launch. Awaiting the Settlers II: 10th Anniversary worldwide release scheduled for September 27th, we took the opportunity of having an exclusive interview with Funatics' lead developer Thomas Friedmann, and here's what we've got:


S: Considering ten years have passed since the original The Settlers II release, I am wondering what kind of collaboration took place between Funatics and Blue Byte? How were tasks divided?

TF: Beside the fact that Settlers II was a Bluebyte game, they were mainly involved regarding concept questions, marketing and QA. They also helped us to get a feedback from the fans early in the project. This allowed us to evaluate whether we were on the right track with this project or not. It was a daunting challenge to do a really good re-make of a hugely successful game, so we had to make sure, early enough, that we did right.


S: Transition to 3D appears to have gone nicely. What can you tell me about the game engine and updated graphics?

TF: As you can probably easily see, everything is new. There was simply no way to recycle any program code or art or sounds from a decade ago. Ten years is a looong time in the games business ... :)
So, we developed our engine from scratch, because we needed it to perform specific tasks and be able to show a certain number of characters onscreen. It was pretty hard to take that Settlers II look-and-feel from the 1996 game and implement that using today's technology, to match the expectations that gamers have today. One of the most difficult decisions early on was whether to keep the cartoony comic style, or to try for more realism. In the end, we found what we think is the perfect style for the game.


S: Although it's a remake, The Settlers II - 10th Anniversary system specs are even higher than those for The Settlers: Heritage of Kings. Why such demanding system requirements?

TF: As you can play it with a P3 1,4 GHZ and only 64 MB GRAM, we think the hardware specs are more than okay, compared to other games released in 2006. We managed to reduce the min specs dramatically after we released the demo (min specs were significantly higher for the demo!) and now, we can also address gamers with a slower system.
The expectations we had, and the features we demanded from the engine, were very special and different from The Settlers - Heritage of Kings. Settlers II has a lot more characters and buildings on the screen simultaneously - that needs a bit more power. We also use lots of shader and lighting effects which also impact performance, but overall, the game runs very well even on machines which are not so very new anymore.


S: We're still talking about economical real time strategy, but what are the main gameplay additions of the reworked title?

TF: For one thing, there's a brand-new Multiplayer mode for up to six players, with maps especially designed for Multiplayer. We also worked hard to improve the feedback and controls system. Now, it's easier to see what is going on and influence it than before.
One of the most crucial changes was with the military aspect of the game as we had the indirect control system in mind. To get strong soldiers on the border, you can't just click on soldiers and click on a spot to say "go there".
Rather, you need to start preparing for the attack much earlier. First off, you'll need iron and coal mines, which deliver stuff to the foundry, which supplies the smith - that gives you basic weapons and shields. The miners will only work if they've got something to eat, so you also need fishermen, plus farms and mills and bakeries for your food economy. To train a soldier, you also need beer, which the brewery makes from corn and water. If you want stronger, better soldiers (and you're going to need them!), you'll want a gold mine or two - give enough coins to a soldier and he'll go up in rank. Also, your empire can get quite large, so now, you can tell soldiers to vacate specific buildings - that makes sure your soldiers are posted where you're going to need them to be. If you balance all this, well, you'll have an overwhelming number of strong soldiers positioned near the border, and can set about demolishing the other guys' border outposts if you feel like it. Most of our new features were designed specifically to improve the control over the military resources and soldiers. This adds a very strong component of long-term strategic thinking to the game, which wasn't present as strongly earlier, and it also works really well in Multiplayer matches.


S: Are the ten missions following a continuous story related experience, or are they stand alone scenarios?

TF: The missions do follow a red line, and yes, we do have a story, but the game is not nearly as story-driven as Settlers - Heritage of Kings for example. The gameplay is really very different. And the Settlers II gameplay works really well even if there isn't too much story to get in the way.


S: Do you think the new random map generator and multiplayer modes will see a rebirth of the title in the hearts of old-school computer gamers?

TF: Well, we could easily see this happen. We were surprised ourselves when we suddenly realized how much fun we were having in Multiplayer, even when testing network code. We even implemented an option to load maps from the original Settlers II and save them in the new format. So, if you created maps for Settlers II ten years ago, you can now convert them to the new format and play them in Settlers II: 10th Anniversary.


S: With the worldwide release scheduled for September 21st, what will the future hold for Funatics, as far as game development goes?

TF: Right now, we're work on the design and pitching of a new strategy title. We're also evaluating several completely new concepts.

A big thanks goes to Thomas Friedmann for answering our questions. While waiting for the worldwide release for Settlers II: 10th Anniversary, you can enjoy these exclusive screenshots: