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As I’m sure you’re all undoubtedly aware (else we’re clearly not doing our jobs properly!), Rise of the Samurai is out TODAY on Steam. Keep checking your games list – it’ll be going live later this afternoon UK time.

In the run-up to this exciting day, we invited a very select group of some of the biggest TW fans we could find and let them go hands-on with Rise of the Samurai for a whole day. So rather than have us talk about the features in Rise of the Samurai any more, we thought we’d hand over the reigns to some of the chaps who attended.

First up, LionheartX10, who many of you will know from his excellent YouTube channel (and that spoof video of the Napoleon intro). He regularly posts on Total War Center, too.

We also had the inimitable Jackie Fish in the house. Both got to check out our brand new, swanky meeting rooms in the newly-fitted out downstairs floor here at CA towers. We’ll be posting a full tour of that jazzy floor in the coming weeks (except the top-secret bits), but in the meantime, enjoy Jackie’s video, below:

I promise myself and Will aren’t paid by the appearance for these things. If you’re keen to familiarise yourself with Rise of the Samurai, you could do a lot worse than checking out our trailer, below.

And if you’re quick, you might be able to bag yourself a Rise of the Samurai key on our official forums (sign up required).

We’ve announced a release date for Rise of the Samurai, so take out your calligraphy set, open your calendar and mark the date…  27th September!

Set 400 years before the Sengoku period depicted in Shogun 2, Rise of the Samurai pits you as the leader of one of six playable clans from the Taira, Minamoto and Fujiwara families. This conflict, the Gempei War, culminated in the first Shogun’s rise to power, and the consolidation of the Samurai as the ruling class.

The downloadable content brings with it a new campaign, which can be played in single and multiplayer modes. The six new clans bring with them their own unique traits, and between them will have sixteen new land units and ten new naval units.

On top of that, there are four new hero units, including the Tetsubo Warrior Monk Hero, armed with brutal studded clubs, and the deadly female Onna Bushi Heroine. There are also four new agent types, each with their own skill trees. From the seductress Shirabyoshi to the shrewd and zealous Junsatsushi Inspectors, each offers a new campaign experience.

What’s more, at the same time Rise of the Samurai is released, we’re also deploying a new patch. This will contain a huge number of fixes and feature upgrades, covering single and multiplayer gameplay. We’re already talking about some of these in our weekly update thread. Stay tuned to that for more as and when it’s confirmed.

So, in September you’ll be able to get your hands on:

Rise of the Samurai – downloadable campaign

• New campaign (The Gempei War)
• 6 new clans from 3 legendary families
• 16 new land units
• 10 new naval units
• 4 new hero units
• 4 new agent types
• 10 new mons, 10 new retainers

If you’re keen to see how Rise of the Samurai looks and plays, check out our trailer below, see the artistic changes to the new campaign map in our comparison video, or click through to see or part one of our Rise of the Samurai campaign diary (part two following today!).

 Rise of the Samurai is now available for pre-purchase on Steam.

Keen-eyed followers of upcoming DLC “Rise of the Samurai” may have noticed a few differences to the main Shogun 2 campaign map.

Our artists have been beavering away at crafting a different experience for the new campaign, which is set some 400 years before the main game. As well as tweaking elements of the terrain detail, they’ve also added a new skybox (effectively overhauling how the sky looks in the campaign).

They’ve also tweaked the sea, adjusting its appearance and tweaking the waves so they’re more visually-pleasing.

What’s more, there’s a lot more variety in the campaign map flora now, particularly when you see the seasonal changes. It’s atmospheric to say the least.

There are also tweaks to the shoreline, rivers, borders and particle effects.  UI elements on the campaign have also been tidied, so distant settlement names are now ‘fogged out’. That leads to a less cluttered appearance to the map.

Minimum-spec machines will also receive a nice visual boost. Fog has been optimised and enabled for lower-end machines.  That will be the case for the core Shogun 2 game, also. Lighting has also been tweaked, and tree rendering improved.

As lovely as all of this sounds, there are gameplay reasons for it too. Impassable forests are now much easier to discern from forests you can hide in, and there’s a clearer delineation between various strategic elements of the map.

But don’t take our word for it – check out the lovingly-crafted comparison video above, which demonstrates the changes between the standard map and the new Rise of the Samurai campaign map.

The screens, however beautiful, still don’t do the new campaign map justice. In motion, as you’re flying over the terrain, it looks even lovelier – you’ll be able to find out for yourself sometime this month when it’s released (watch this space for the release date).

Until then, enjoy the video (which you can see half-way up this page). Let us know what you think of the changes in the comments below!

Rise of the Samurai is out in September. You can pre-purchase today by visiting: http://store.steampowered.com/app/34344/

It’s a familiar scene. While we’re busily working away on Total War, perhaps over a cup of tea, someone starts playing a video featuring one of our games. Before you know it there’s a crowd of people checking out the cool stuff playing.

Our community seem to have really taken making movies in Total War to their hearts – and we’re massive fans of a lot of the awesome content the community has generated. With that in mind, here’s a roundup of some of our favourite videos:

“The Perfect War” – Robert Stoneman

We loved this one so much, we hired the guy who made it! Rob Stoneman became one of our cinematics guys and was responsible for some of the trailers and in-game movies in Shogun 2. We’re staggered that someone could make something this cool with absolutely no tools.

Total War: Shogun 2 – Duels (Ninja – Heroes…) – Naxzul666

We stumbled across this video today, thanks to TWC. We love the energy and camera movement – and this video really shows off the awesome mocap we spent a lot of time developing for Total War. Shogun 2 has the most complex set of animations of any TW game, and this video throws the spotlight right on it.

Pure Beauty – xHerzoGx

It’s another gorgeous video from TWC’s community – this one showing off the lovely environments in Shogun 2. We love the “red bridge” shot. One un-named member of the team almost broke down when he saw it, muttering something in a high-pitched voice as a tear rolled down his cheek. Alright, it was me.

The saddest thing I’ve seen so far on Shogun 2 – CurlyHooligan

This genuinely made us laugh and also feel sad, and for that reason it’s in there. Comedy is always good and the team always appreciate cheering up on a gloomy Monday morning, so please keep them coming! This poor samurai takes on the world only to… well, you’ll see.

Napoleon Total War Machinima History – Megadokuro

And one for the history buffs, of which there are many here at CA. This one gets bonus marks for use of post-processing filters and wobbly battle-cam photography!

***

If you have video you think we should include, email rallypoint@creative-assembly.com and we might include your video in the next roundup. Until then, happy shooting!

-Craig and the whole team at The Creative Assembly

There’s a red carpet buzz sweeping the corridors of The Creative Assembly.

Our very own Richard Beddow is up for a prestigious Ivor Novello award for the excellent Napoleon: Total War soundtrack, and tonight will be rubbing shoulders with the likes of Tinie Tempah, Kylie Minogue, Scouting for Girls and Plan B.

The Times describes The Ivors as “The Oscars of the music industry”, as well as “the holy grail” for British songwriters.

This is the second year one of Richard’s works has been nominated, and it’s a huge recognition of the hard work he’s put into making the Napoleon soundtrack one of the finest pieces of music we as a studio have ever created.

And while we’re patting ourselves on the back – as far as games development companies go, there can’t be many that have attracted so many plaudits. BAFTA wins, Ivor Novello nominations… it’s not bad, is it?

We’re all extremely proud of Richard and the audio team for the work they’ve done.  Good luck tonight, Richard!

***

Richard very kindly sat down and answered some of our questions exclusively for the Total War blog, and it’s turned out to be a must-read for anyone with any interest in how soundtracks are put together!

Q: When did the composing for Napoleon: Total War start?

The initial composing started in the summer 2009 and picked up pace towards the end of the summer period.  The score and orchestration were completed towards the end of November ready for our recording sessions at the start of December.

Q: Were there any challenges in giving the soundtrack its own identity, as Napoleon is set in a similar time period to Empire: Total War? 

This was perhaps the most challenging yet rewarding part of the music production.  For those who may not have heard the score to Empire: due to the size of the game the music is very broad, featuring music tailored to European, American, Indian, Ottoman and Native American factions throughout the battles, campaign and movies.

Napoleon differs from Empire in many ways but one of the most significant is that it is set almost entirely in Europe, so we could focus the score to reflect this.   Since Empire featured a lot of music that still also occurred in Europe and America and had music flavoured to suit this we wanted to differentiate the sound of Napoleon from Empire so I decided to focus the music direction heavily on the classical style of the period.  It was a nice challenge to see how we had to shape and tailor music of a classical nature to fit the dramatic needs of the game.

Q: During the composing process do you write to in-game footage, FMV or storyboards?

The process for composing for me personally hasn’t changed much between Empire and Napoleon, that is that for the battles I’d get visual captures of the game as a movie file which will then be loaded in to my composition package Digital Performer and then I would compose while watching it like a movie, but not tailoring it to match events as you never know when these will happen in the game. You have to play it a little safer and less thematic to avoid repetition problems.  For the campaign section of the game I studied lots of Mozart and Beethoven for the styles that I wanted and then produced relaxed, slow paced tracks in that vein -  this was also the direction I gave to the other composers on the project.  Finally, for the in-game cinematic sequences, these were provided to us as storyboards but with the timing exactly mapped out where we needed ‘sync’ musical highlights to.

Q: As the game is based around Napoleon, did you establish any unique musical themes for the character? 

Absolutely.  Since the game was about a legendary historical figure I wanted to give him a unique theme which suggested his passion and his military status but was also in keeping with the period.  His theme and the flavour it sets with it’s tone is then used throughout the game tying it all together. 

In terms of music direction I wanted we looked heavily at classical composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn and some of their contemporaries to absorb these flavours so we could convey the period flavor in the music.

Q: With the game largely set in Europe, did it still give you much scope for variety?

Sure, this wasn’t a problem for a number of reasons.  The game features (as did Empire) 3 specific areas that are Land battles, Ocean battles and Campaign strategy.  Each of these sounds different.  Land battles focus on quicker and slightly more intricate writing with an emphasis more on conveying a ‘military’ sound, through trumpets and snares.  Ocean battles tend to be slower to work better with the pace that the naval engagements occur and help emphasise the size and might of the ships.  There the emphasis is more on horns/brass and percussion to convey power.  The campaign features some lovely pure classical style tracks, designed to ebb and flow gracefully without becoming intrusive while you plan and make your strategic decisions.  Lots of string quintet, gently sung choir, harp and piano based compositions play here.  Finally, lots of variety and interest is offered in the scoring of the in-game cinematic sequence, which are also much stronger in their use of the classical language. 

Also, a first for a Total War project was that we used a live choir.  Not only did we decide to flavour some of the orchestral tracks with choir but I decided to feature a handful solo choir tracks also, which really added a lot to the campaign listening experience and gave us some interesting challenges in creating the Latin phrases for them to sing.

Q: Where and when was the score recorded?

The score was recorded over the 3rd-4th December 2009, as with Empire by The Slovak National Symphony Orchestra at the Slovak Radio Concert Hall, Bratislava.  The choral parts were performed by Lucnica – The Slovak National Chamber Choir.  We recorded a small sized orchestra for the Theme, Credits and most of the in-game cinematics that would have been the same size used in the 18^th Century by composers such as Beethoven.  For the battle and deployment tracks the orchestra was huge, 84 players in total to convey the weight and power we required for this music.  The campaign and loading screen music was recorded in separate strings and choir sessions.  The game then randomisies between these as you play the game.

 Q: How many musicians were in the orchestra and choir?

The soundtrack features the biggest musical line up we have ever had in a Total War project.  It featured an 84 piece full symphonic orchestra and a 44 member SATB choir.

Q: How did you source the sound effects in the game?

A game like Napoleon features a balanced mix of realistic and hyped Hollywood style (big and bold) sound effects to help create an interesting mix and listening experience.  When we first get the specs for the game and I have my initial meetings with the designers, artists and animators I will begin to draw up our assets lists and start making decisions on which effects we  want need to record, which effects we may already have recorded previously , and which we can create out of combining our in-house custom recorded and commercial libraries.

If we are custom recording effects this will be either recorded at our in-house facility live room or it will be recorded on location.

Q: What is your favourite track from the album and why?

My favourite track would probably be track 1,  Napoleon’s theme – simply because it sums up for me what the game is about emotionally.  Passion and power.

It’s fair to say Total War games are critically acclaimed for a few reasons. Epic battles, engaging campaign strategy maps and award-winning cinematic soundtracks are just a few that spring to mind.

So today, The Creative Assembly and SEGA Europe are delighted to announce that our latest soundtrack – Shogun 2′s powerful Japanese-inspired epic – is now available in full on iTunes, in addition to Napoleon: Total War’s stirring orchestral OST.

The Creative Assembly’s Composer & Audio Director Jeff van Dyck, creator of previous BAFTA award winning soundtracks for the series, said of the Total War: Shogun 2 soundtrack:

“Creating the Total War: Shogun 2 soundtrack was an amazing experience. The feel of the era, alongside working with talented musicians like Taikoz who performed the Japanese Taiko drums, and learning the subtleties of traditional Japanese instruments was truly inspiring.”

As well as Total War: Shogun 2’s Japanese themed tracks, the classically inspired, soaring pieces of Napoleon: Total War are also available now.

So whether you use your music to practice a little kendo, or sail the world’s oceans in an 18^th century galleon pursuing global dominance, these are the soundtracks you’ll need. Fingers crossed for another BAFTA!

Total War: SHOGUN 2 pushes forward the hugely successful Total War series by perfecting the features from previous games such as full 3D land and naval battles and a detailed campaign map, whilst adding an exciting new multiplayer experience. Total War: SHOGUN 2 was released in March 2011.

For more information about the game, please visit www.totalwar.com.

Buy the soundtracks now!

Napoleon: Total War on iTunes

Total War: Shogun 2 on iTunes

Hi guys,

To say the multiplayer elements of Total War: Shogun 2 are extensive is like saying that Neptune’s “quite far away”. We’ve overhauled the experience from top to bottom to hopefully provide hundreds and hundreds of hours of gameplay for keen Total War gamers and newcomers to the series alike. On top of the avatar progression system, match made battles, a new co-operative (as well as head-to-head) campaign mode, the retainers system etc, we’re including a clan competition for the first time. Thousands will compete to elevate themselves to the top-tier gameworld and become masters of Japan.

Without further ado, I’ll hand you over to our multiplayer ninja Will Overgard. If I can stop him from climbing the trees in the cark park for a second, he will talk you through some of this extensive play mode. Enjoy!

* * *

“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” -Sun Tzu

Shogun 2 is rapidly approaching, with only 6 days and a fist-full of hours to go until our latest title in the total war series is on store shelves and with it comes one of our newest innovations, the multiplayer clan competition. I’m here to bring you all you need to know on our clan vs. clan contest and get you fully prepared so come March 15th, you’ll be ready to take your shot at total dominance.

The Clan Competition is a new feature coming to Shogun 2, which will allow mass warfare for groups of 25 clans to compete on their own map of Japan, with each group map representing a small part of the Clan Competition league.  The winners are the clans which the own the most regions. Be in the top two at the end of the season and your clan will be promoted, be in the bottom four and demotion awaits you. Also, shame. 

 ”Right, let’s get to war!”

Easy there, young Taisho! While your skills are sharp, planning and coordination are best weapons here (and maybe ninjas). The first thing you’re going to need is a Steam group.

This is the foundation of your clan: your group name and logo will carry over for your clan.  Anyone you would like to join your clan will first need to be a member of that Steam group (so get recruiting now on the official forums, lest all the great generals join your foes first). Anyone within your group who you deign strong enough to lead can be promoted to officer from the Steam group administrator page. This will allow them to show your forces where to attack first via the clan conquest marker (but I’ll get to that in a sec).

Now you’ve formed your warband, you’ll need to link your clan within Shogun 2. This you’ll have to wait till release to do, but what you can decide now is your Clan Specialization. This will be a choice made when you first register your clan and, depending on what you choose, it will give your clan mates a specialised Retainer, as well as access to some very powerful Veteran skills. You’ll have to choose between the sword, spear, bow or even cavalry, so make your selection carefully.

 ”Wait, back up a second there. Specialised veteran skills?”

For winning multiplayer match made battles, while part of a clan, you’ll accrue clan tokens. With these you’ll be able to unlock veteran skills far beyond the standard set, some of which are only open to a Clan with a certain specialization. Take my little Bow Hero veteran. He’s looking pretty fierce on the battlefield, with all his veteran skills and custom coloured armour. If I have opted for the Bow clan specialization, spend 20 clan tokens and a skill point, he can deploy almost anywhere outside on the battlefield (the Kisho Training skill). Now he’s really a force to contend with. In this way, the clan competition will allow you to take your multiplayer army even further. 

 ”How do I capture these regions?”

Now you’ve decided the focus for your group, you’re ready to bring the fight to the other squabbling clans. As I said before, to dominate in the clan competition, you must take regions on your group’s map of Japan. To take a region, simply place your army or navy marker over a region on the Clan Competition Map, then jump into a match made battle or a team battle. Despatch whatever petty opponent that should appear and emerge victorious. After the dust has settles, have another look on the Clan Competition Map on the region where you army marker was. There will now be clan influence points on that region next to the name of your clan. Whoever has the most clan influence points on a region owns it. 

Now to the math(s): One victory on in a land or naval region will give you 20 influence points. Play your clan specialisation retainer during that battle and you’ll be awarded 5 more influence points. If it’s a battle won on a region that’s adjacent to one you already control, add 5 more. On top of all of those, for each member of your clan that fights by your side in team battles, you’ll add a further 1 point to garnish.

 (20+20+20)+(5+5+5)+(1+1+1)+5=83). 

To break it down, for a team battle victory, with two clan mates, each playing the clan retainer and with one region adjacency bonus would work out to 83 clan influence points;

This is a lot to take in, but as one who’ll lead your clan to glory, it may fall to you to plan your clan’s movements, so let’s make sure you have the edge. One tool you will have for this is the clan conquest marker, a golden (look at it shine!) marker that can be put on any region on the map. This is seen by every member of the clan, allowing you to coordinate your forces.

Please bear in mind that battle list battles or classic battles will have no effect on the clan competition at all, only battles fought via the quick matching system will earn you victory points and clan tokens.

In the coming weeks we’ll go into more detail on multiplayer and all the new features you will need to get to grips with, so head over to the official total war forums for further updates on tactics, units and the Clan Competition.

Gather your forces, forge your alliances and plan your stratagem. Be ready to challenge the world. 

The tech-savvy amongst you might have spotted a Total War-themed gem lurking on the Apple store this week – the (free) Shogun 2 Official Companion app. In this exclusive blog, we bring you all the details from behind the scenes. 

Lifting the lid

We developed the app to offer a taste of Shogun 2 on PC ahead of the game’s release on March 15^th. In it, you’ll find a trailer, exclusive screenshots, artwork, links, information on the game and a fact-packed glossary – in short, it’s a companion in your pocket! 

We spoke to Sarah Ford, one of The Creative Assembly’s inimitable UI artists, about why the team decided to develop the app.  

“It was commanded to us by the Daimyo, he is quite a stern fella, plus we didn’t want to dishonour our families”, she said.  

“As well as that, of course, we wanted to show off some of the awesome artwork in the game, give people a look at some of the very latest Shogun 2 screenshots straight from the dev team and explain some of the Japanese terms you might come across when you get your teeth into Shogun 2”.

The background

The app was developed from the ground up in a couple of weeks, using assets from the PC title, at The Creative Assembly’s Horsham, England HQ. Sarah says the app was a fun project to work on:

“Personally, I dug working with the art from Shogun 2”, she said. “I’d like to think the app is worth grabbing just to see the awesome Japanese-style illustrations in the Artwork section. The crazy horse face is not to be missed.” 

You can grab the official app here: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/tw-shogun-2-official-companion/id421240409?mt=8

And don’t forget the demo of Total War: Shogun 2 is now available on Steam here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/34330/