The first day of Farmcon 21 is over, and there is exciting news about Farming Simulator 22. The focus of the presentation by developer Giants was the new map »Elmcreek«, which is inspired by the American Midwest. We summarize the highlights and reveal which special features await you.
Senior level designer Florian Busse gave an insight into the US map for almost ten minutes. So far we only knew that the fictional town of Elmcreek was near a raging river and a US highway.
Since the Midwest is not known topographically for its enormous differences in altitude, the search for a suitable region took a correspondingly long time. According to Florian Busse, the aim was not to create a flat map, but to provide more variety with height differences.
A canyon with a cave in the middle of the game world
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the lack of a coastline is the biggest difference compared to the LS 19 map »Ravenport«. After all, the American Midwest is not near the coast. There is a canyon with a cave in the middle of the map, which blends into the landscape through a striking rock formation.
There are rivers in flat areas of the new map that you can easily cross. This should not restrict your freedom of movement too much. In addition, there should be a lot of bridges and underpasses. The bridges not only connect river banks, but also allow you to cross the train tracks.
If you’ve never played a farming simulator before, that sounds like little things. But flat maps in particular always had a problem with long-term motivation in the past parts because they presented you with few logistical and driving challenges.
Already with the map “Erlengrat” in Farming Simulator 19, Giants showed that the wheel does not have to be reinvented for level design, but that even small nuances due to differences in height can make a big difference. As it stands, the trend in Elmcreek not only continues, but also takes it to the next level.
Despite a lot of nature, the focus is on extensive fields
Elmcreek is green, and as far as the eye can see you can see two main things: nature and extensive fields. You also explore the – quote – “foothills of a city”. In addition to the well-known gas station, there are numerous smaller shops, typical US diners, smaller residential areas, a baseball stadium and a bowling alley.
It is still unclear whether we can all enter these buildings. However, we think it is unlikely that the LS 22 will suddenly become a life simulation in which we also organize our farmer’s free time and go bowling, for example. In addition, the focus of the game has always been too focused on agriculture in the past and we would be surprised if the new part watered this down.
My farm in the middle of the map
Almost like the Madness song “Our House”, the farm in Elmcreek is very central and central. So that you have more freedom in designing your farm, the decorative buildings have been reduced to a minimum.
For this, the buildings are open and you can not only enter them, you can even drive them in some cases. You drive a forklift into the barn to store seeds there. Some buildings also have several floors: while you store your seeds in the lower area, you can use the loft of the barn to store straw.
81 fields await you at the start: With 81 predefined fields, Elmcreek will have more fields than ever before. They differ not only in size, but also in shape. Florian Busse emphasizes that the US-typical large fields will also be on the new map. A small detail are fields that also have curves.
However, it is not yet known whether AI-controlled helpers will also drive around curves when working in the field in the future. Florian Busse noted that you as a player have to merge fields and “get them into shape so that helpers are a support”. However, the statement leaves a lot of leeway. Helpers who can also work on fields that are not rectangular or square would be a real innovation and would significantly increase immersion in the single player. After the announcement, we already discussed which innovations the LS 22 had to deliver. This also included the skills of the AI helpers.
Farms in multiplayer: In the Farming Simulator 2019 there was the possibility to create several farms for the first time. There will also be various farms on Elmcreek that you can use in multiplayer. According to Giants’ Florian Busse, the courtyards are on the edge of the map. The farms are based on the layout of the main farm and there are several fields in their immediate vicinity. You are also free to set up your own farm at almost any location on the map.
You can find more impressions of the new menu in our gallery:
Farming Simulator 22: View US map Elmcreek
Livestock and forestry on Elmcreek
Those who prefer to work in the stable or cut trees instead of in the field should also find a suitable place on Elmcreek. Similar to Erlengrat, there will also be lots of open spaces and forests on the US map. Judging by the first pictures, Elmcreek combines the needs of all types of players equally. Whether this will work will only be shown after the release on November 22nd, 2021.
What we already know about the new farming simulator can be found in our overview:
more on the subject
LS 22: All information and innovations summarized
Technical challenges made it difficult to build the map
On the 2×2 kilometer map, visibility was a major challenge. It had to be ensured that larger buildings could be hidden in the distance. The reason given is performance. Otherwise it would not be possible to achieve a consistently high frame rate.
It is important to the developers that the new farming simulator also runs properly on older hardware. Prominent and tall buildings should also be visible at medium distance settings and should not appear suddenly. To reduce the hardware load, trees are used to break the line of sight.
What else was shown?
On the first day of Farmcon 21 there was not only information about the new Elmcreek map, but also new information about the seasons. We present these innovations to you in a separate article. There was also an interview with the Head of Publishing Boris Stefan, who gave an insight into publishing.
The creation of the cinematic trailer and an interview with Dr. Thomas Engel, who works at John Deere as Manager Technology Innovation Strategy. Together with Stefan Maurus, Gameplay Programmer and Lead Integrator at Giants, they both talked about the Precision Farming DLC and its development. The DLC on sustainable agriculture will be fundamentally expanded and will appear free of charge for LS 22 on PC and consoles in spring 2022.
On the second day of Farmcon 21 there will also be the long-awaited first gameplay for the new farming simulator. The streams start on July 22nd and 23rd at 8 p.m. on the Twitch-Kanal von Giants.
Florian Franck
@SirMetalizerWhile I was a little more cautious when announcing Erlengrat, Elmcreek grabbed me straight away: differences in altitude, a canyon, shallow streams and nature as far as the eye can see are exactly what I want for the farming simulator. Of course, Giants hasn’t shown all of the new map yet. But what was shown promises a lot of variety. The level of detail is also much higher than I would have expected. One example is the covered bridge over the river: At first it may not seem particularly significant – unless you drive a large combine harvester towards it and hope that you will somehow pass through.
And the railroad tracks no longer look like a foreign body, as rails are no longer only overcome by level crossing, but the train either thunders over us on a bridge, or we ourselves look down at it from a bridge.
There is still some time left until November to post-process Elmcreek. The excerpts shown at the Farmcon were certainly not the final version and some areas, such as the baseball stadium, looked pretty empty. Nevertheless, it is clear to me that Elmcreek will be the first card that I will try out in LS 22.
What do you think of the new map? Are you going to start the release on Elmcreek? Let us know in the comments.
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