Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord

[LESS T_T]

https://steamcommunity.com/games/261550/announcements/detail/1663402222602582459

Greetings warriors of Calradia!

Mount & Blade gameplay is centered around battles and it is of critical importance for the player to understand how things are progressing. Whether you are engaging a few bandits in a skirmish or taking part in an epic battle, you want to know how various troops perform and which enemies present the most danger. To address this and to give the player a detailed account of the battle, we have added a battle report overlay. In this week’s blog, we take a look at this feature and try to explain how it works.

Veterans of the series will be aware that in our previous title, Mount & Blade: Warband, the only information that players receive during a battle is through the combat log, with additional information presented to the player after the battle in the form of a summary screen (the so-called butcher’s bill!). For the most part, this works just fine: players are presented with the information they need to make informed decisions. However, it is done in a way that isn’t really as engaging or streamlined as it could be, and frankly, at times it can be a little overbearing.

Warband’s Battle Summary Screen

The new battle report overlay is the main source for all of this information. It comes up at any time during the battle with the tab key so that you can review the progress and the casualties both sides have sustained. Once the battle has ended and one side has lost, the same overlay stays on screen and functions as an after-battle report and you can review the gory details at your leisure!

The screen shows a detailed breakdown of every party which is involved in the battle, including an overview of the troop composition of each party; available promotions; kills, deaths and injuries sustained in the battle; and a routed troop count. In addition to this, there is also a handy button to fast forward through the rest of the battle if you happen to be taken out by a stray arrow.

Bannerlord’s Battle Report Overlay

The battle report screen also comes up when the player decides to resolve a battle on the campaign map instead of playing it out. This could bring simulated battles a bit of excitement as the simulation is carried out incrementally and casualties start to pile up. The player can, of course, skip the simulation to end the battle instantly.

Bannerlord’s Auto-Resolve Battle Report

Players will need information to be able to make good decisions and enjoy the game to the fullest. Bannerlord’s battle report overlay will hopefully help players in this respect.


In next week’s blog, we will be talking to 3D Artist, Tuncay Horasan. 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!

 

[Edija]

Well looks better than the last few updates, there were some screenshots that really make you question what they were doing all those years in the first place. But I guess joke's on me for being such an optimist, I bought a new computer this year expecting to play Bannerlord.

 

[Latelistener]

 

[Zanzoken]

I remember those screens from gameplay demos they did a year or two back. They look exactly the same.

 

[LESS T_T]

https://steamcommunity.com/games/261550/announcements/detail/1714068264229518351

Greetings warriors of Calradia!

3D modellers are like sculptors who create the world that you see and interact with in a video game. As we’ve seen before, it is not a trivial task, especially in an open, interactive sandbox world such as the one you will see in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord. From small animals to huge keeps, going through weapons and armours, everything is modelled by an artist and has to find a delicate balance between creativity, historical references, and playability. Today we talk with Tuncay Horasan, one of our 3D modellers, who will take the opportunity to show us some screenshots of some of the stuff he’s working on right now!


NAME
Tuncay Horasan

FROM
Bolu, Turkey

JOINED TALEWORLDS
2011

EDUCATION
İzzet Baysal Üniversitesi, Art Instructor

OFFICIAL JOB DESCRIPTION
3D Artist


WHAT DO YOU NORMALLY DO DURING YOUR DAY?
“I am usually assigned to various tasks, such as armour modelling; interior and map design; shield modelling; and environmental design. I always start out by gathering historical references and study them thoroughly. Following that, I create concepts that are compatible with both the historical references and Bannerlord’s world. For example, if I am going to build a keep for a faction; I study the buildings and architecture of the corresponding nations and try to understand what kind of style and structures they were using. Then, depending on the demands (playability is an important factor that affects design!), I create a concept model that is to be approved. Following the approval, I complete the model using our texture library or create a texture myself if needed.”

WHAT DO YOU LIKE THE MOST ABOUT BANNERLORD?
“The richness of the content and the freedom to do as you please in the game. You can command your armies and become a strong leader or you can partake in mercantile activities and think about what you can do to escape your enemies while making a profit at the same time! Furthermore, the game is easy to learn, but hard to master, which is something that appeals to me.”

WHAT'S THE MOST DIFFICULT THING THAT YOU SOLVED SO FAR, DURING THE PRODUCTION OF BANNERLORD?
“Creating the design for the male character in the game. After creating the model, I had to make morphs of his face. Preparing this was quite challenging since each morph is a separate mesh and confusing the order of morphs is a major no-no! This was the most technically difficult part: the tiniest mistake would have meant that I would have had to start all over again from scratch!”

WHAT DO YOU CURRENTLY WORK ON?
“Right now, I am working on farm animals and optimising parts of a keep that I modelled a while ago.”

WHAT FACTION DO YOU LIKE THE MOST IN BANNERLORD?
“Khuzait was the faction that I had most fun modelling. Since this faction is based on Asian cultures and nations, it was a bit different than the other factions design wise. I think that, overall, Khuzait adds some additional spice to the Bannerlord world.”

WHAT SORT OF LIMITATIONS OR OBSTACLES CAN MODDERS EXPECT TO RUN INTO WHILE CREATING MODELS FOR BANNERLORD?
“If you ever modded Warband, the only new thing you will face is going to be the PBR system. Other than that, modders will have a better material and tool system at their disposal.”

 

[unfairlight]

Note: New models added 0.003 micro issues. Launch delayed by 2 years.

 

[Latelistener]

 

[Serus]

Note: New models added 0.003 micro issues. Launch delayed by 2 years.

If only these devs were as... colourful individuals as a certain Neanderthal I wouldn't mind much, in that case the entertainment when waiting for the game was better than the game itself. However since this is not the case here - give us the damn game already!

 

[PulsatingBrain]

Dev Blog 02/08/18

Greetings warriors of Calradia!

Today we reach a landmark: it’s been one year since we started this weekly dev blog. We wanted to be more available, open, and transparent, and as part of that new approach to our communication, we started these weekly updates to give you a sneak peek of what we are currently doing in the development of Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, introduce you to the team that is making the game and tell you about our future plans and intentions…

Today we want to look at the path we’ve taken and sum up what has been a really exciting and intense year. To put it in a nutshell: we are incredibly grateful for your continued support all these months. Of course, we know isn’t possible to please everyone. Sometimes people said we were spoiling things and revealing too much, while at the same time others argued that we were playing smoke and mirrors and not telling enough about the game. For some people, a certain topic was boring, or repetitive, while at the same time others were super excited to read about it.

But even though we can't please everyone and we couldn’t talk about what all of you know want the most (and still can’t – yeah, sorry, there won’t be a release date in this post either!), thousands of people have read, commented, discussed, and shared every post, every week. We feel humbled: this is the best source of energy for a team of games developers -- to have a constant reminder of how much you care about Mount & Blade keeps us riding forward to develop the best game we possibly can.

In these months, we have published 50 posts that we could divide roughly into 4 categories: technical & development updates, lore, Q&As, and community announcements (such as this one or our posts about Gamescom). The whole series of posts explaining parts of the Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord lore were one of the most celebrated. We explained how the Calradian Empire split into several parts and introduced the Khuzait, Vlandians, Sturgians, Aserai, and Battanians. Our writer had a blast diving deeper into Calradia to introduce you to the different factions of the game.

There is another type of content that always stirs a lot of excitement: everything related to how modding will be in Bannerlord. We are aware that it is a really important part of the Mount & Blade experience, and we feel lucky to have such a talented and committed modding scene. Our Q&A with our modding community was one of the most commented and shared of all the posts, and every small piece of information about modding has been widely celebrated. We're happy to see that you like how we're approaching modding!

We've also talked with 19 people in our Q&As, all of them being directly related to the development of the game, from art to coding, through to AI, game design, level design and some more. Except for administrative roles, PR, and the janitor (who is a really nice guy, mind you), representatives from every department have come to share some details about their job and what they were doing for Bannerlord at the time. We know that some people thought this category of posts to be the less interesting, but there were always tasty snippets of information for those attentive enough to look for them -- and most of you did realise and read these Q&As very carefully.

There were other posts, with more technical stuff or describing a feature in particular of the game, that were usually very well received, like the one about inverse kinematics or siege engines. The post that got the most upvotes on Steam was one of these: the one about castle map design. And how could we forget our dear friend, Humphrey the Camel! Camels are not exactly good-humoured by nature, but Humphrey's one of a kind and enjoyed all of the memes. Keep'em coming!

As you can see, all in all, it's been a really intense year. We're happy to have opened this door to talk with you. Thanks a lot for reading, upvoting, commenting, and sharing all of these posts -- and thanks to those who helped us to improve with their opinions and constructive criticism. Great things are coming, and we're looking forward to walking this path with you. May fortune favour your blade, warriors.

As a side note: as you have possibly already seen by now, we just announced a new online tournament for Mount & Blade: Warband, brought to you by Bladecast_TV. After the success of the Battle of Bucharest last year, we wanted to do more to promote and grow the competitive scene of Mount & Blade. Right now, these efforts will be focused on Mount & Blade: Warband, but obviously we are also laying the foundations for the future competitive scene of Bannerlord. If you want to learn more, follow our new dedicated social media channels -- and of course, sign up for the tournament and test your prowess in battle against the best warriors in Europe!

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Goddamn tease.

 

[Alfgart]

And of course no mention of a release date. What a fucking mess

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

At what point do we move from incline to vaporware tag?

 

[Zanzoken]

At what point do we move from incline to vaporware tag?

Could've been done years ago honestly.

 

[Makabb]

Which scam is better and why? Star Citizen or this ?

 

[mwnn85]

Can't be Taleworlds can it; they haven't taken a single penny for pre-orders.
Unlike the usual bullshitters on Kickstarter, etc.

Even so can't believe this still hasn't been released.
It seems like they're trying to pack in every feature known to man.
I don't know how they haven't run out of money; they must've got a great exchange rate on Dollar/Pound to Lira.
Warband is still doing quite well; page #9 on the Global Top Selling list.
Even if they do make the perfect medieval sandbox, the majority of players will still move onto the next big thing - just look at the current player numbers for Kingdom Come Deliverance.

I bought the original game directly off Taleworlds back when it was still a prototype (was it really 14 years ago!)
Warband and Napoleonic Wars are still very active in multiplayer.
I haven't even found the time to play through Viking Conquest RE.

I'd been happy with some graphical updates, improved sieges and some refinements/expansion to the fighting controls/mechanics - a bit more weight & stagger to attacks, etc.
It's a shame we don't have early access to the multiplayer side of the game; the sandbox development could carry on into infinity then.

 

[Serus]

At what point do we move from incline to vaporware tag?

Could've been done years ago honestly.

It used to be easier to tell what's vaporware and what's incline. And then Grimoire got released... I'm lost ever since.

 

[Dodo1610]

I'm inclined to call it Vaporware.
It's been in development for 6 years now. The real question is will Bannerlords released before or after Cyberpunk 2077.

 

[Latelistener]

When someone mentions a release date, Bannerlords gets a delay in 1 month.

 

[Zanzoken]

It's a shame we don't have early access to the multiplayer side of the game; the sandbox development could carry on into infinity then.

I just can't understand their development strategy because the game is perfect for a structured release. Since it's not story-driven there is no risk of spoiling the true experience by playing it in Early Access.

All they had to do was start with some SP combat scenarios, then expand to MP. That alone would've been huge. Then roll out a limited form of the campaign map and just add new features and polish over time until you feel like it's ready for full release.

What is the downside? There is none. Consumers are happy to have something in their hands, and devs make money. I see people say stuff like "they can take as long as they want because I want it to be perfect" as if it's the same as baking a cake. Yet almost all devs says no matter how much they test internally, they always learn a ton during beta / EA releases from design feedback and bug reporting. The games end up much better much sooner because there is no substitute for scores of end users having hands on a product.

 

[Galdred]

It's a shame we don't have early access to the multiplayer side of the game; the sandbox development could carry on into infinity then.

I just can't understand their development strategy because the game is perfect for a structured release. Since it's not story-driven there is no risk of spoiling the true experience by playing it in Early Access.

All they had to do was start with some SP combat scenarios, then expand to MP. That alone would've been huge. Then roll out a limited form of the campaign map and just add new features and polish over time until you feel like it's ready for full release.

What is the downside? There is none. Consumers are happy to have something in their hands, and devs make money. I see people say stuff like "they can take as long as they want because I want it to be perfect" as if it's the same as baking a cake. Yet almost all devs says no matter how much they test internally, they always learn a ton during beta / EA releases from design feedback and bug reporting. The games end up much better much sooner because there is no substitute for scores of end users having hands on a product.

That and MnB was one of the precursors of early access.

 

[LESS T_T]

https://steamcommunity.com/games/261550/announcements/detail/1698307021370787637

Greetings warriors of Calradia!

When it comes to strategy, information is key to success. It is important to know as much as possible about the current state of affairs in the game world to make the most of any opportunities that arise or prepare yourself for any impending threats. In this week’s blog, we take a look at one of the ways that we present information to players in Bannerlord: the encyclopaedia.

In Warband, the encyclopaedia is a useful source of information which players can use to learn more about the game as a whole, and, perhaps more importantly, the current state of the game during that specific playthrough. Functionally, it is perfectly sound and it contains a lot of valuable information for players to pore over. Players can use it to learn about game concepts, search for details about settlements and review information pertaining to characters in the game. However, these screens aren’t really as user-friendly as they could be and at times they can be a little difficult to navigate.

Warband's Faction Screen

With Bannerlord, we knew that we needed to work on making these screens more streamlined and enjoyable for players to interact with. One of the first improvements we made in this regard was the addition of a search function. In Warband, searching through a list of character names can be a tedious affair, but it is certainly doable. However, in Bannerlord, scrolling through a list of characters to find a specific person would be rather frustrating due to the sheer number of characters that are in the game. Likewise, there are hundreds of settlements in Bannerlord (over twice as many as Warband) and scrolling through to find a specific one would be mind-numbing. To help with this, if you aren’t entirely sure of the spelling of the entry you are searching for, then the search function also includes suggestions to auto-complete your search.

In keeping with the idea of making the pages easier to navigate, we added filters so players could narrow down their search criteria. When it comes to things like settlements, this will help you to separate villages out from castles and towns, which can be quite useful in itself, but when we look at this function with some of the other screens, then the ability to filter the encyclopaedia entries really starts to make sense. For example, if you were to open the Kingdoms screen, you could quickly see who you are currently allied with or who you are enemies with. The Characters screen takes this one step further by allowing you to filter the entries based on gender, culture, occupation and your current standing with each character.

But we didn’t stop at just overhauling the look, feel and overall user-friendliness of the encyclopaedia. We wanted to expand upon the types of information that players could access and make use of as well. And this is where the Troops screen come into play. The Troops screen allows players to see the full troop tree of every unit in the game, allowing players to plan out their perfect army composition without needing to resort to wikis or other sources of information outside of the game. The trees show the branches which each unit can take during a promotion as well as the skill levels of each individual unit.

Another new addition to the encyclopaedia is the Clans screen, which shows players detailed information about each clan in the game. This information includes information about clan members, settlements that the clan controls, and the details of any wars that the clan is currently involved in. It also contains the clan banner, which is something you might become rather familiar with over time as you develop friendships and feuds with the different clans of Calradia during your adventures.

Finally, the encyclopaedia wouldn’t be complete without the Concepts page. The Conceptspage introduces players to and explains the various different concepts and mechanics of Bannerlord. If you don’t fully understand how something in the game works, or are confused by the outcome of one of your actions, then there is a good chance that the Concepts page holds the answer to your question.

Overall, we feel that Bannerlord’s revamped encyclopaedia is a huge improvement over Warband’s. Essentially, it contains all of the useful information that players of the series will be familiar with while introducing new information to help you on your journey. And all of this is done is a much more approachable and user-friendly interface which is simple to use and easy to navigate.

 

[Tse Tse Fly]

Can't fucking wait for this. For me, M&B2 has been the most anticipated game for years since it was even announced.

 

[XenomorphII]

And it will continue to be highly anticipated for years to come.
(Please make me eat my words Taleworlds)

 

[Harry Easter]

I'm inclined to call it Vaporware.
It's been in development for 6 years now. The real question is will Bannerlords released before or after Cyberpunk 2077.

Eh, I would not give up hope. Age of Decadence took ten years to make and european studios are mostly small, so it takes time. There was a gap off six years between Beyond Divinity and Divinity 2 for example.

More interesting for me: will anyone even buy this game if it finally comes out? I mean, how high are the chances, that it turns into a hit? I mean, Kingdom Come sold quite well, didn't it? But does this mean, that we want more medieval RPG's (I do)?

 

[Zanzoken]

I do think Bannerlord will eventually come out and it should do quite well commercially because they have a huge established player base with Warband. PC gamers seem to have a lot longer memories than consoletards.

As far as the game itself I expect it will be good but also underwhelming given the insane dev cycle. I don't think the devs really understand why people like M&B which is why so many of these dev blogs focus on popamole shit and not core systems.