Interview Mount & Blade interview at eToychest

[Vault Dweller]

Tags: Mount & Blade; TaleWorlds

<a href=http://www.etoychest.org>eToychest</a> has posted an <a href=http://www.etoychest.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1350&Itemid=43>interview </a> with <b>armagan</b> of the <a href=http://www.taleworlds.com/>Mount & Blade</a> fame. Mount & Blade is a very interesting indie project, so click on that link or <a href=http://www.rpgcodex.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=6803&start=0>read these impressions</a> at the Codex.
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<blockquote><b>What first inspired you to create a game like Mount and Blade? Was it your idea, your wife's, or a combination?</b>
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I always wanted to make a game with intense and challenging swordplay (Don't we all?). I had a few ideas about how to do it, so at one time, I made a quick prototype with Blender. I was satisfied with the gameplay and decided to go on with it as a hobby project. As I went on and built up the game slowly, I realized I was good at this so I took it up as a full time task. Ipek is an exceptional artist and did wonders with the graphics, but she is not really into computer games. She says she already spends too much time with the computer to enjoy using it for a hobby (silly girl).
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<b>Is M & B the first game you've ever created, or have you worked on them before?</b>
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Mount & Blade is our first serious, commercial game project. Neither of us has worked professionally on game development before. </blockquote>
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It's obvious. If you did, you would have known that it's impossible to implement mounted combat in a game. Duh!
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Good to see you are doing well, armagan!
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.rpgdot.com">RPG Dot</A>

 

[Baley]

Re: Mount & Blade interview at eToychest

I never knew the developers were married until now

Well female RPG developers are oficially not a myth anymore :wink:

 

[EvoG]

Yap, my girlfriend does contract work in the industry as well(texture artist), and, she's art director on several projects...and...is really really quite good at it, if not among the upper echelon...and...she works on our RPG on the side, so...yea they do exist, hehe. :D

 

[jiujitsu]

Didn't you see that blonde girl in the Troika team picture I put up as a photoshop challenge?

 

[NeutralMilkHotel]

And doesn't Jeff Vogel's wife work on his games as well?

"Well female RPG developers are oficially not a myth anymore"

I think GOOD-LOOKING female RPG developers would be the myth.

 

[crpgnut]

You better be careful! MSFD's wife works at Bethesda. I think she might even be a lead-artist for Oblivion. Her nick is Maverick on the forums.
Can't remember her real name. Mrs. Steve Meister

 

[Country_Gravy]

This game is so freaking sweet I can barely believe it. I hope that they can recruit some more people to work on it so that they can complete it quicker. It is the best $11 I have spent since my bachelor party.

 

[crpgnut]

@Anyone who has played:

Is there a magic system in this game? I've only seen a few screenshots so far but I haven't seen magic at work. I'm not sure if this is a fantasy crpg or just a alternate reality type. I'll do my own homework when I get a chance, but I'm hoping to hear your opinions too. I have to admit I could care less about mounted combat. My general impression is that this is an RTS with stats.

 

[BetterNights]

You couldn't be more wrong. There is really no RTS element to it (yet), it's more like a 3rd-person action/rpg, set in a kind of alternate reality. There's no magic.

Go ahead and download the demo.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

BUY IT NOW.

If you haven't already, at least give the demo a shot.

Seriously, this is the only game I've been playing for the past two weeks. You ride around on a horse and attack people with your weapon of choice. The two-handed Sword of War is my personal favourite but I've also got a double-bladed axe handy. Greatest horse-backl sword-fighting game evAr. The off-the-horse hand-to-hand combat is also getting a lovely tweak in the next version (hopefully) so that every time you get hit will, it won't necesarily interrupt your own attack depending on how much damage you receive.

 

[crpgnut]

Actually, your comments are making me decide against the game pretty strongly. I don't play crpgs for the combat. I play for stat building, questing and a good spell system. Combat is just a means to an end for me. If combat is the main focus of a game I almost always hate it. I want combat to be resolved very quickly so that I can get on with the story/exploration/treasure hunt aspects of a game.

I'm glad several of you are enjoying it. I don't mind combat in my crpgs, but not as the main thrust.

 

[BetterNights]

I think it's still worth the download. It's only 30-something MB, and a fully-functional demo. Worst that can happen is you don't like it.

 

[crpgnut]

I downloaded the demo this weekend and gave it a whirl. It's definitely not my type of game. I found combat to be tedious in the extreme. The average battle can last several minutes; at least for me. It seems like you block several swings, until you get the timing of your opponent down, then retaliate while he's recovering from his swing. It looks realistic but I got bored of fighting very quickly. It was hard to find anything else of substance to do. I think this will be a popular game amongst the shareware action crpg crowd. If it exists.....

 

[BetterNights]

One-on-one combat isn't the focus, really, the large-scale battles between opposign armies (..eight or ten a side at a time) is. It's a little like Elite with horses.

 

[crpgnut]

I agree with that statement, BetterNights. I hope it does well because the team has a good engine here. If they develop a crpg with this engine, I'll be excited to play it. Right now it's a medieval combat simulator with a few stats. I find that all crpgs have varying levels of the following traits. I ordered them by level of importance to me. Your order will be much different than mine, most likely.

1. Exploration
2. Magic System
3. Skill/Attribute Leveling
4. Treasure Accumulation
5. Dialogue
6. Combat
7. Graphics

This is why I love the Might and Magic Series and the Elder Scrolls games. I like exploration and magic most in all games. Leveling is a lot of fun and finding and equipping new treasure is cool too. A good storyline and fun combat are nice but not as important to me. I don't mind a lot of combat as long as each battle is resolved quickly. Long, drawn out battles bore me very quickly. Same with long conversations. I want to get back to throwing fireballs and exploring that new cave I just found.

 

[Killzig]

Yap, my girlfriend does contract work in the industry as well(texture artist), and, she's art director on several projects...and...is really really quite good at it, if not among the upper echelon...and...she works on our RPG on the side, so...yea they do exist, hehe. :D

Yeah but does your RPG exist? FABRICATOR!!