Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord

[Merlkir]

I have actually heard rumors of some mismanagement of Bannerlord development from a former studio employee. But it didn't sound super catastrophic, more like stuff that probably happens in most companies.

As for Paradox - I suspect if such a situation did indeed happen, they likely signed all kinds of NDAs. It's one thing to imply some things about a publisher, and another to get sued for breaking an NDA.

 

[Tito Anic]

Does it have ending?

 

[Spectacle]

The game is prettier and bigger than Warband in every aspect. Assets take time and of course, so does a lot of gameplay they can't show of in trailers easily.
Also they're developing their own engine for this, and we know they're constantly optimizing it.

Even gameplay trailers can be deceptive in how much effort it takes to implement a prototype of a feature versus actually implementing it properly for release. For a lot of stuff you can throw together a functional prototype in a couple of weeks and it'll look "like nicer Warband" if you record it at the right time and in the right circumstances.

You have worked on games and I have not, so your word carries more weight than mine. To be honest though I am just not buying it. When they announced the game in 2012 on the website they said the game was "in development". I understand that probably doesn't mean in production but it leads one to believe that they were working on it in some form. The game is big but again, overly ambitious scope is also a sign of bad project management.

Also if Paradox caused significant delays in development then why not come out and say that? If they are paying attention to the community at all then they know people are frustrated. "Blame the publisher" is gamedev 101 for when things go wrong so why not go that route -- especially if it is actually true.

"Bad management" is a quite likely explanation, considering that Taleworlds started as a two person team and everything they know about managing game development they've learned on the job, probably by making some costly and time-consuming mistakes as they took on a project that was much larger in scope than their previous game.

 

[LESS T_T]

Horsey: https://steamcommunity.com/games/261550/announcements/detail/1647633916132208755

Greetings warriors of Calradia!

From the steppe empires of Central Asia to the feudal states of Europe, cavalry was an integral part of medieval armies. Whether providing logistical support or charging the enemy on the battlefield, horses proved to be invaluable assets in warfare. In this week’s blog, we will take a look at these elegant and powerful animals and discuss the improvements and changes we have made to horses in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord.

In Bannerlord, horses are just as important as their real-world counterparts, and just like in real-life, there are different breeds which are suited to different tasks. We have a variety of different horses in the game, most of which players of our previous games will already be familiar with. They include:

• Charger
  
• Desert
  
• Hunter
  
• Mule
  
• Saddle
  
• Steppe
  
• Sumpter

Each type of horse has its own stats, which determine their charge damage, speed, manoeuvrability, hit points and carrying capacity of the horse (some of you might have noticed that we didn’t mention armour, but we will get to that!).

On the campaign map, horses greatly improve the movement speed of your party. They also vastly increase your maximum carrying load, which should be of interest to any traders or looters out there. However, you won’t be buying additional horses just for these benefits anymore: when upgrading your troops to a cavalry class, you will need to provide them with their own mount (and if you read last week’s blog you will have a good idea of how to get a steady supply of these!).

One of the changes we made to horses is that they now come with an equipment slot. Players can equip their horse with different types of saddlebags, harnesses or armour, which modifies the stats of the horse. This allows players to customise their mount to better suit their current needs depending on their current activity.

The design process for creating both the horse models and their equipment was actually quite straightforward. Our first step was to do some extensive research on different breeds of horses and the types of equipment that would have been used historically. Then we selected what we thought would be the most appropriate references for the game and used a bit of creative freedom in cases which we couldn’t find anything to represent the different cultures that each of our factions takes their inspiration from. The next step was to create some concept art to help bring our ideas to life. After creating and reworking a number of different designs, we moved on to the modelling phase. This involved creating both high and low poly versions of each model to be used in the texture baking process. Finally, we implemented them into the game, ready for testing!

Each of the horses come in a variety of colours, which we think helps to add to the overall immersion of the game, and in addition to this, we implemented a horse mark variation system which adds some additional variety to the horses by randomly assigning them with leg and facial markings, which helps to make them look and feel more natural.

In next week’s blog, we will pick up where we left off with our series of interviews with members of the TaleWorlds team by speaking with Concept Artist, Ali Eser. If you have any questions you would like to ask him then please leave a reply in the comments and we will pick one out for him to answer.

 

[Latelistener]

Each of the horses come in a variety of colours, which we think helps to add to the overall immersion of the game, and in addition to this, we implemented a horse mark variation system which adds some additional variety to the horses by randomly assigning them with leg and facial markings, which helps to make them look and feel more natural.

Some microissues remain.

 

[Junmarko]

I do not understand its appeal: no story, no plot, no c&c? Why do people play it?

Mount and Blade is like Civ + Freelancer. Very unique.

 

[Latelistener]

Civ + Freelancer

 

[Zanzoken]

Horses are one area that actually needs significant revision since the charger was so OP in Warband. Riding one was like having an extra 160 HP with heavy armor -- which is why an army of 100 Swadian Knights could chew through thousands of enemy troops and barely suffer any losses.

To me cavalry should play like shock troops -- devastating when they can get out in the open and charge but vulnerable when bogged down in the midst of the melee. Horses play a key role in this -- if you reduce their armor and HP to where they can't take a lot of damage then suddenly you have to start using your horsemen tactically, as opposed to cavalry being an insta-win.

Idk if they will make the necessary changes but for me armored horses trivialized 98% of the battles in Warband, to the point where I have to avoid using them in order to have a challenge.

 

[IDtenT]

Horses are one area that actually needs significant revision since the charger was so OP in Warband. Riding one was like having an extra 160 HP with heavy armor -- which is why an army of 100 Swadian Knights could chew through thousands of enemy troops and barely suffer any losses.

To me cavalry should play like shock troops -- devastating when they can get out in the open and charge but vulnerable when bogged down in the midst of the melee. Horses play a key role in this -- if you reduce their armor and HP to where they can't take a lot of damage then suddenly you have to start using your horsemen tactically, as opposed to cavalry being an insta-win.

Idk if they will make the necessary changes but for me armored horses trivialized 98% of the battles in Warband, to the point where I have to avoid using them in order to have a challenge.

I enjoy games that include OP design. It worked out especially well for players. It allowed me to play harder difficulties - so while I was the same compared to any other unit as a character, the OP stuff made me a big strong terminator.

It's 100% LARP.

 

[Zanzoken]

I get that. And to be honest I keep a gang of Swadian Knights on standby for when I need them, for two reasons:

1) Gathering allied lords for a major fight is a pain in the ass. Sometimes they don't show up, sometimes they flee if the other side has more numbers. And even if you do get them deployed they aren't much help anyway, since their troops are usually trash mobs and they don't heed your commands in battle even if they are following you.

2) Enemy lords can respawn their armies way faster than you can (at least without using cheats). No matter how many times you demolish them they will always return just a few days later with a new army.

So given those circumstances having an army that can consistently win against 6-to-1 odds and suffer little attrition is really hard to pass up.

 

[FreeKaner]

I do not understand its appeal: no story, no plot, no c&c? Why do people play it?

To tap into their inner Turk.

 

[LESS T_T]

https://steamcommunity.com/games/261550/announcements/detail/1649886349639154146

Greetings warriors of Calradia!

Concept artists are the backbone of an art department. A 3D artist or an animator might be constrained by technical limitations or by the particular engine that a game is using, but a concept artist can let their imagination run wild. Combining their research, their artistic sources, and their own skill, they explore new aesthetic possibilities and lead the art of a game to new territories, effectively pushing the boundaries of what a game can offer (in visual terms) to its players. In this week's entry in our blog about Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord and the team behind it, we talk with our concept artist Ali Eser, who created (among other things) the faction banners, many castles, interiors, clothes, and armours. When you look at some impressive-looking armours from Bannerlord: it's very likely that it started with Ali thinking, "hey, this would look cool in the game!".


NAME
Ali Eser

FROM
Ankara, Turkey

JOINED TALEWORLDS
2017

EDUCATION
Anadolu University, Illustration/Animation

OFFICIAL JOB DESCRIPTION
Concept Artist

WHAT DO YOU NORMALLY DO DURING YOUR DAY?
“During the day, I'm busy drawing and designing architecture, clothing, armours and weapons for the different cultures of Calradia. Usually, I have something new to work on every week so it never gets boring!

The way I go about designing this stuff is; after I get my briefing, I spend some time researching about that specific topic, gathering as much information and historical illustrations as possible. I prefer using historical reference books that focus on a specific culture/time period. After this, I start sketching. During the sketching phase, I try to come up with lots of variations for the same design because usually, a design that's worth keeping comes after several iterations. Something of importance is to form a convincing and coherent visual language for every culture, based on their way of living, values, history and traditions. This is reflected on the immersion of the world as a whole and contributes to the suspension of disbelief that the player needs. After I feel like I've created some satisfying designs, I send them for approval and at this stage we usually go through more and more changes to improve the designs even further. After we have the final versions, they get passed on to our amazing 3D artists and made into assets for the game.”

WHAT DO YOU LIKE THE MOST ABOUT BANNERLORD?
“Definitely playing as a freelancer in singleplayer campaign. I especially love starting out in one kingdom and at one point leaving it to roleplay as a traveller.”

WHAT'S THE MOST DIFFICULT THING THAT YOU SOLVED SO FAR, DURING THE PRODUCTION OF BANNERLORD?
“I think it was designing the architecture for Khuzait. The cultures they were based on (Central Asian/Mongolian tribes) didn't leave as much architectural artefacts as the other cultures because of their nomadic way of living. So what we had to do was reference their existing aesthetic styles from their nomad homes and small buildings and come up with our own designs. Which was honestly, one of the most challenging but fun designing experiences.”

WHAT DO YOU CURRENTLY WORK ON?
“Right now, I'm designing civilian clothes for every culture. I try to always keep in mind what are the most recognizable and iconic dressing styles that are unique to each culture and implement those. Sometimes I even push those parts in my designs to have clearly separable sets of equipment for each culture.”

WHAT FACTION DO YOU LIKE THE MOST IN BANNERLORD?
“I'm in-between Empire and Aserai, both for their architecture and cities. The former feels glorious and gorgeous while the latter, mystical and enchanting. The way I plan to solve my indecision is to play as a traveller from the heartlands of the empire, who roams the Nahasa desert!”

HOW HARD WAS IT TO DRAW THE CONCEPTS OF CASTLES?
“I can say that designing for castle keeps can get quite challenging. The buildings must always make sense in real-life terms, meaning you cannot have something in Calradia that couldn't be built in the real world. Since these keeps are huge buildings that need excessive planning to actually construct, I need to be careful about which walls can stand or not, which ceilings needs support, etc. Also, I need to keep in mind the technologies and materials available for that particular culture in the early medieval period. I also have to solve gameplay problems visually, like keeping navigation fluid and easy, and making first-impressions interesting and readable. With all of this in mind, trying to design a nice and beautiful castle can get overwhelming! The design approach we have for Bannerlord's keeps is practical, less focused on the decoration and aesthetics part of things and more focused on the functional part (meanwhile, as I mentioned, keeping things beautiful). That's why the concept designs for the castles actually look more like plans than paintings!”

 

[LESS T_T]

Changes in the recruitment system: https://steamcommunity.com/games/261550/announcements/detail/1649886983753692966

Greetings warriors of Calradia!

When you set on your adventures in Calradia, it would be wise to remember the old proverb: there’s safety in numbers. The world of Bannerlord is an unforgiving place and whether peacefully trading or engaging in warfare, players will rely on troops to stand and fight by their side in order to achieve their goals. In this week’s blog, we take a look at how players will go about raising their own army in Bannerlord by discussing the game’s recruitment system.

The ability to raise your own army is one of the core mechanics of the Mount & Blade series. Riding from village to village to recruit troops becomes a part of the emergent narrative for players as they build up relations with different settlements to provide access to a steady stream of recruits. In Bannerlord, this mechanic works in a somewhat similar fashion as it did in previous Mount & Blade games, however, we have worked on improving the system to make it feel more natural and engaging for players.

Players now recruit units from specific NPCs that we call notables. By making this simple change we were able to expand on this mechanic and give players more control over the recruitment process. Instead of building relations with a settlement, players will now need to build up their relations with notables in the game, which are located in both towns and villages. Increasing your relations with notables will give you access to higher tier units straight off the bat and different notables have their own favoured troop types, meaning that a particular notable might offer a greater amount of infantry, while another may offer archers. This allows players to directly target and build relations with specific notables that can provide troops which match the player’s preferred army composition. This also means that losing soldiers may not be quite as devastating as it was in previous games, as higher tier troops can be more easily replaced, provided you have access to a few friendly notables!

Another major change we have made is that AI lords now recruit troops in exactly the same way as players. And while, on the surface, this may appear to be a massive benefit to the player (as there are no more magically regenerating doom stacks!), it also means that you will be competing with fellow lords for fresh recruits.

Finally, for those of you that prefer to recruit a ragtag band of warriors from captured or rescued prisoners, then those options are still available! Likewise, mercenaries still feature in the game and can offer some extra muscle in times of need.

To bring this all together and to help you visualise the changes to the system, we would like to show you an early version of our new recruitment screen. And please note that this is very much a work in progress!

In next week’s blog, we will be talking to Animator, Olcay Mancılıkçılar. If you have any questions you would like to ask him, please leave a reply in the comments and we will pick one out for him to answer!

 

[Latelistener]

They should spend some more time making better icons.

 

[funkadelik]

They should spend some more time making better icons.

Those are shitty icons tho

 

[ERYFKRAD]

They should spend some more time making better icons.

Those are shitty icons tho

Hence the need for better ones.

 

[Latelistener]

Players now recruit units from specific NPCs that we call notables. By making this simple change we were able to expand on this mechanic and give players more control over the recruitment process. Instead of building relations with a settlement, players will now need to build up their relations with notables in the game, which are located in both towns and villages. Increasing your relations with notables will give you access to higher tier units straight off the bat and different notables have their own favoured troop types, meaning that a particular notable might offer a greater amount of infantry, while another may offer archers. This allows players to directly target and build relations with specific notables that can provide troops which match the player’s preferred army composition. This also means that losing soldiers may not be quite as devastating as it was in previous games, as higher tier troops can be more easily replaced, provided you have access to a few friendly notables!

Not really sure if that was necessary.
Building relationships with the whole settlements was somewhat realistic, as you became more famous while helping them in some ways (not just one person).
And building armies from the scratch was easy if you have the training skill (which is stackable, so the main character and companions can train at once).
If you need some boost here and now you always had mercenary squads.
Although I agree that you should be able to hire someone experienced from the cities as well, not just mercenaries.

But in the end modders will rework the whole game anyway, so..

 

[Zanzoken]

Another major change we have made is that AI lords now recruit troops in exactly the same way as players. And while, on the surface, this may appear to be a massive benefit to the player (as there are no more magically regenerating doom stacks!), it also means that you will be competing with fellow lords for fresh recruits.

This has the potential to be a really positive change.

 

[PulsatingBrain]

mercenary squads.

Mercenaries in Warband are a bad way to build any sort of decent force though as the top tier ones were so ridiculously expensive. It makes more sense to me that some of the locals would be more experienced hence the ability to hire some higher tier troops straight away

 

[LESS T_T]

Animancer: https://steamcommunity.com/games/261550/announcements/detail/1648761723387812573

Greetings warriors of Calradia!

Animation is a complex and well-developed art with a long story, even longer than cinematography. Creating animations for a video game might look similar than doing it for a film or TV show, but it’s actually quite different – and much more complex. An animated character in a video game is not linear: it has to answer to the players’ feedback, be it because you should be able to direct its movement (if it’s the protagonist) or because it responds to your decisions (if it’s an NPC). Thus, on top of the artistic work, there is a technical side of things to make them look and feel natural, transitioning seamlessly from one animation to the next. And in a game such as Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, where combat is so important, animation plays a key role in its gameplay: it gives you the visual feedback that you need in order to fight effectively, letting you know (in a subtle way) what your opponent is about to do. This is why Olcay’s work is so important, and today he will share with us some details about what he is doing for Bannerlord.


NAME
Olcay Mancılıkçılar

FROM
Bursa (Turkey)

JOINED TALEWORLDS
2013

EDUCATION
Uludağ University - Computer Technologies and Software Development

OFFICIAL JOB DESCRIPTION
Animator / Technical Animator

WHAT DO YOU NORMALLY DO DURING YOUR DAY?
“These days, I spend my time cleaning up the motion capture data which we recorded for our town and village NPC's. I make sure that all the animations look realistic, clear and blend well together with the other animations.”

WHAT DO YOU LIKE THE MOST ABOUT BANNERLORD?
“The most important thing that differentiates Bannerlord from other similar games is that it contains a large number of features. While you can be limited by what you can do in most medieval games, Bannerlord is like a combination of other games which contains lots of sandbox content. I also like the unique combat system of Bannerlord. It's really fun to play and hard to master.”

WHAT'S THE MOST DIFFICULT THING THAT YOU SOLVED SO FAR, DURING THE PRODUCTION OF BANNERLORD?
“It's definitely the two-handed animations. Actually making the animations was not the challenging part. What made it difficult was to adjust the animations for our combat system, which has lots of complicated features working together to give the players best Mount & Blade combat experience.

Another challenge was creating a dynamic rig and animations for our new mount, the camel. Our camel skeleton supports a dynamic neck and tail which helps us to create more realistic animations.”

WHAT DO YOU CURRENTLY WORK ON?
“Currently, I'm working on our new NPC animations. We are focused on animating different types of NPCs to create a living atmosphere in the game. This could be something as simple as seeing NPCs drinking and eating in a tavern or tending to crops in a village, but it goes a long way in making the world feel more alive.”

WHAT FACTION DO YOU LIKE THE MOST IN BANNERLORD?
“Khuzait, because of their horse archers (which I like to play most!).”

HOW DO ANIMATIONS IMPACT ON GAMEPLAY BALANCING?
“Since the animations are the visual result of the gameplay system, they are very important and have a large impact on balancing.

As you know, Mount & Blade has unique and responsive combat mechanics. Everything in our combat system depends on timing, speed and readability.

This is where the animations come into play. We make sure that every attack can be read by the player and their opponent. We do a lot of playtests and adjust each of the animations to increase the visibility of each attack.”

WILL MODDERS BE ABLE TO USE SKELETONS AND ANIMATIONS THAT USE A DIFFERENT AMOUNT OF BONES THAN THE HUMAN OR HORSE SKELETONS?
“Yes, they will definitely be able to use different types of skeletons! For example, our new camel mount has a brand new skeleton and animations which we easily added to our engine.

We try to make sure that modders will be able to add any type of skeletons and creatures to our engine without having any issues.”

WILL WE BE ABLE TO ADD CUSTOM ANIMATIONS TO A CUSTOM ACTION?
“Yes, you will be able to add custom actions and animations!”

In next week’s blog we will be talking to Level Designer, Gökçen “Cuce” Karaağaç. If you have any questions you would like to ask him, please leave a reply in the comments and we will pick one out for him to answer.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

may want to move that reign into the guy's hands
the whole psychic steering thing looks a bit odd

 

[ERYFKRAD]

may want to move that reign into the guy's hands
the whole psychic steering thing looks a bit odd

Nah he's steering with his toes.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Animancer

What is this, PoE 2 ?!?!?

Also his last name "Mancılıkçılar" means catapult crew :D

 

[disposable]

Tag should be changed to "vapourware." 6 years and all they have to say about their game is that it will feature some mounts and blades. Fuck's sake why do they even bother coming up with such forced non-news?

 

[FreeKaner]

What is this, PoE 2 ?!?!?

Also his last name "Mancılıkçılar" means catapult crew :D

Mancılık used to mean any sort of siege machinery, not just catapult. Considering the "time period" in the game I'd just call it siege crew. More fitting for the dude who is guided by his last name.