Greetings warriors of Calradia!

In this week's blog we would like to reflect on our experience at Gamescom 2017 and discuss our new multiplayer game mode, Captain Mode, which we invited visitors to play in a hands-on demo in Cologne. We are becoming quite the regulars at Gamescom, with this being our third time attending, however each visit has acted as a completely unique learning experience that has helped us to refine and improve both the game, and the way we go about approaching these kinds of events.



At this year's Gamescom we showcased multiplayer in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord for the first time. This is an aspect of the game which we have been working very hard to improve on. We recently announced that Bannerlord will feature a matchmaking system for the first time in the Mount & Blade series, with our aim being to offer players a fairer and more challenging multiplayer experience. We hope to expand upon and improve the existing game modes featured in previous Mount & Blade titles, while still offering something new and exciting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ditLixWjMTs
Captain Mode puts players in command of their own detachment of AI troops in multiplayer team-based PvP battles. We designed the game mode to leave room for individual player skill to shine through, however teamwork and strategy will always put a team at a massive advantage on their path to victory. There are two ways in which teams can win the game: either through eliminating the entire opposing force, or by dominating the battlefield by holding flags. Flags are removed from the battlefield over time, the order in which can be influenced by the players, until there is only one flag remaining, which really concentrates the combat in to a climactic finale.



The feedback we got from our guests at Gamescom was amazing! Players really seemed to enjoy the pace of the combat and the tactical options on offer. We were also overjoyed to see how some players naturally started to communicate between themselves, organising strategies and coordinating team builds in an effort to win. This is precisely what we had hoped for when designing the game mode and it was really exciting to see the players respond in this way.

As with many other areas of our game, this game mode is still very much a work in progress. The UI for example is something that we are still working on and we are aware needs some improvement. We settled for something that would provide the players with all of the basic information that they would need for the demo and allow us to focus more on the actual gameplay.



It was amazing to see so many familiar faces at Gamescom, from our friends at Warhorse Studios (thanks for the beers guys!), to a couple of people who are a little closer to our hearts, and who we personally invited to come and test the game: “Purzelblume” and “Peter”!

It was great to be able to let two of our key community members test the game and give us their feedback in an honest and open dialogue. If you want to hear what they thought of the game then you should make sure to check out the interviews we conducted with them at the event.

Purzelblume Interview
Peter Interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kcwGFWTxpc
During the event we were invited to take part in a livestream with GameStar and Twitch which we thoroughly enjoyed. The videos from those streams can be found below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0cBJjpm5QM
Twitch VOD

Overall we feel that the event went extremely well. The feedback was great and players really seemed to be enjoying themselves while playing. This was the first time that we let players record their own footage from the game and we are confident that there will be some videos coming out in the near future which will show those of you who were unable to visit our booth just how exciting and fun Captain Mode is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaUBg7Ynmwk
In next week's blog we will be talking to Ceren Üstündağ, Lead Programmer of the Campaign Team. If you have a question you would like to ask her then leave a reply to this post and we will pick one out to feature in the blog.

Discuss this blog post HERE



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Twitter


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Twitter
YouTube
Twitch

Greetings warriors of Calradia!

In this week's blog we would like to reflect on our experience at Gamescom 2017 and discuss our new multiplayer game mode, Captain Mode, which we invited visitors to play in a hands-on demo in Cologne. We are becoming quite the regulars at Gamescom, with this being our third time attending, however each visit has acted as a completely unique learning experience that has helped us to refine and improve both the game, and the way we go about approaching these kinds of events.



At this year's Gamescom we showcased multiplayer in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord for the first time. This is an aspect of the game which we have been working very hard to improve on. We recently announced that Bannerlord will feature a matchmaking system for the first time in the Mount & Blade series, with our aim being to offer players a fairer and more challenging multiplayer experience. We hope to expand upon and improve the existing game modes featured in previous Mount & Blade titles, while still offering something new and exciting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ditLixWjMTs
Captain Mode puts players in command of their own detachment of AI troops in multiplayer team-based PvP battles. We designed the game mode to leave room for individual player skill to shine through, however teamwork and strategy will always put a team at a massive advantage on their path to victory. There are two ways in which teams can win the game: either through eliminating the entire opposing force, or by dominating the battlefield by holding flags. Flags are removed from the battlefield over time, the order in which can be influenced by the players, until there is only one flag remaining, which really concentrates the combat in to a climactic finale.



The feedback we got from our guests at Gamescom was amazing! Players really seemed to enjoy the pace of the combat and the tactical options on offer. We were also overjoyed to see how some players naturally started to communicate between themselves, organising strategies and coordinating team builds in an effort to win. This is precisely what we had hoped for when designing the game mode and it was really exciting to see the players respond in this way.

As with many other areas of our game, this game mode is still very much a work in progress. The UI for example is something that we are still working on and we are aware needs some improvement. We settled for something that would provide the players with all of the basic information that they would need for the demo and allow us to focus more on the actual gameplay.



It was amazing to see so many familiar faces at Gamescom, from our friends at Warhorse Studios (thanks for the beers guys!), to a couple of people who are a little closer to our hearts, and who we personally invited to come and test the game: “Purzelblume” and “Peter”!

It was great to be able to let two of our key community members test the game and give us their feedback in an honest and open dialogue. If you want to hear what they thought of the game then you should make sure to check out the interviews we conducted with them at the event.

Purzelblume Interview
Peter Interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kcwGFWTxpc
During the event we were invited to take part in a livestream with GameStar and Twitch which we thoroughly enjoyed. The videos from those streams can be found below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0cBJjpm5QM
Twitch VOD

Overall we feel that the event went extremely well. The feedback was great and players really seemed to be enjoying themselves while playing. This was the first time that we let players record their own footage from the game and we are confident that there will be some videos coming out in the near future which will show those of you who were unable to visit our booth just how exciting and fun Captain Mode is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaUBg7Ynmwk
In next week's blog we will be talking to Ceren Üstündağ, Lead Programmer of the Campaign Team. If you have a question you would like to ask her then leave a reply to this post and we will pick one out to feature in the blog.

Discuss this blog post HERE



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Twitter


Website
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Twitch

Greetings warriors of Calradia!

Today we start a series of interviews with the different team members of TaleWorlds Entertainment. Every video game is the result of the combined efforts of professionals with very different skills, and that applies to Mount & Blade too. Ours is a varied team, with people from different backgrounds: programmers, artists, musicians and writers (among others) from different parts of the world and varying cultures. Understanding their tasks and their daily struggle is a great way to learn more about games development in general – and Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord in particular! Today we start with TaleWorlds’ founder and CEO: Armagan Yavuz. Every important decision passes through his hands; he is the one that makes sure that everyone and everything stays true to the original vision of the game. But it will be much better if he tells you about it by himself!


Armagan Yavuz

Ankara (Turkey)

2005 (founder)

Computer Science

Lead game designer and game director

“Most of my day is taken up by meetings. In the time not occupied by meetings, I do my tours around the office, and most team members call me over to their desks to show their work and get feedback, or to ask a question. I also play the game for a couple of hours to see if there are any problems. I no longer code as much as I used to and most of my tasks about coding involve directing other programmers and doing code reviews, however every now and then there is something that picks my interest so much, I give it a shot.”

“What I like most is seeing how, as the campaign progresses, you as a player write your own story. I am also looking forward to finishing the game and seeing what kinds of mods will come out.”

“Looking back, the biggest challenge for me was deciding on the general directions to take early in Bannerlord’s development. Should we take the game to have a more fully fledged storyline, or should we aim for huge but less detailed battles? Should we drop the dynamic text and go for full voice over?

Decisions had to be made on the technical side too. We first needed to select which scripting system to use: C# (we picked this at the end), Lua, or something we would roll on our own. And then we had to decide how much of the code we wanted to move from our existing codebase and rewrite in the scripts. (At the end we ended up leaving only the combat engine and lowest level combat AI and write everything else in C#) We then needed to decide how to structure various components, how mods would work, etc.

Some decisions turned out to be exactly right while some caused problems and we had to backtrack and change them, costing a lot of time and effort. For example, we went through three different UI libraries and had to implement some screens several times over.”

“Today I worked on the design of how army coherence will be affected as an army stays in the field for a long time, and how a player can keep it together longer by arranging its composition and spending influence.”

“I like to play with Empire, because they are going through a period of crisis, and their situation presents interesting questions and opportunities for the player.”

“Back when I had started working on the very first prototypes of Mount & Blade, I had the great fortune of seeing this from our window:



That’s Yoros castle, which is a majestic fortification that guards the northern approach to the Bosphorus. I have always been interested in historical places and over the years I was able to visit some wonderful examples, but I think that particular castle was the biggest inspiration instilling in me a great respect and interest in medieval craftsmanship and way of life.”

Discuss this blog post HERE



Facebook
Twitter


Website
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Twitch

Greetings warriors of Calradia!

Today we start a series of interviews with the different team members of TaleWorlds Entertainment. Every video game is the result of the combined efforts of professionals with very different skills, and that applies to Mount & Blade too. Ours is a varied team, with people from different backgrounds: programmers, artists, musicians and writers (among others) from different parts of the world and varying cultures. Understanding their tasks and their daily struggle is a great way to learn more about games development in general – and Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord in particular! Today we start with TaleWorlds’ founder and CEO: Armagan Yavuz. Every important decision passes through his hands; he is the one that makes sure that everyone and everything stays true to the original vision of the game. But it will be much better if he tells you about it by himself!


Armagan Yavuz

Ankara (Turkey)

2005 (founder)

Computer Science

Lead game designer and game director

“Most of my day is taken up by meetings. In the time not occupied by meetings, I do my tours around the office, and most team members call me over to their desks to show their work and get feedback, or to ask a question. I also play the game for a couple of hours to see if there are any problems. I no longer code as much as I used to and most of my tasks about coding involve directing other programmers and doing code reviews, however every now and then there is something that picks my interest so much, I give it a shot.”

“What I like most is seeing how, as the campaign progresses, you as a player write your own story. I am also looking forward to finishing the game and seeing what kinds of mods will come out.”

“Looking back, the biggest challenge for me was deciding on the general directions to take early in Bannerlord’s development. Should we take the game to have a more fully fledged storyline, or should we aim for huge but less detailed battles? Should we drop the dynamic text and go for full voice over?

Decisions had to be made on the technical side too. We first needed to select which scripting system to use: C# (we picked this at the end), Lua, or something we would roll on our own. And then we had to decide how much of the code we wanted to move from our existing codebase and rewrite in the scripts. (At the end we ended up leaving only the combat engine and lowest level combat AI and write everything else in C#) We then needed to decide how to structure various components, how mods would work, etc.

Some decisions turned out to be exactly right while some caused problems and we had to backtrack and change them, costing a lot of time and effort. For example, we went through three different UI libraries and had to implement some screens several times over.”

“Today I worked on the design of how army coherence will be affected as an army stays in the field for a long time, and how a player can keep it together longer by arranging its composition and spending influence.”

“I like to play with Empire, because they are going through a period of crisis, and their situation presents interesting questions and opportunities for the player.”

“Back when I had started working on the very first prototypes of Mount & Blade, I had the great fortune of seeing this from our window:



That’s Yoros castle, which is a majestic fortification that guards the northern approach to the Bosphorus. I have always been interested in historical places and over the years I was able to visit some wonderful examples, but I think that particular castle was the biggest inspiration instilling in me a great respect and interest in medieval craftsmanship and way of life.”

Discuss this blog post HERE



Facebook
Twitter


Website
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Twitch

Greetings warriors of Calradia!

Gamescom is around the corner, and as you may have imagined, we will be there showcasing Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord. We can’t tell you exactly what we will show just yet, but we can at least confirm that it will be something slightly different from the demo that we took to E3.

Before the hype goes through the roof: no, we won’t announce a release date for Bannerlord at Gamescom. Of course, we know that you just can’t wait to know when you will be able to play Bannerlord, and we certainly appreciate your excitement for the game – we know that impatience is just a reflection of the love people have for the Mount & Blade series. Over the preceding days, months and, well, years, you have repeatedly asked us why we can’t just tell you a date – even if it’s just an estimation, a window of release. Well, let’s address the elephant in the room…

We have not disclosed a release date so far because it does not exist. We don’t work like that. We are not a company who sets a timeline to release a product and then works to meet that deadline. We are TaleWorlds Entertainment: we create games because we love making them, and we want them to be the best games that we can possibly make. We think that our fans don’t deserve less than our best efforts, our total commitment. We don’t believe in releasing a game before it is ready just because we might miss the hype.

“But all these companies give a release date – why don’t you?” We respect every approach, of course; we are not saying that if a company announces a release date then they are not trying their best to develop a great game. It’s just that every company has a different philosophy and a different set of circumstances. For example, some companies have publishers, shareholders, investors and owners who press for a release date, even if it means cutting content from a game.

We are not in that situation, and creating the best game we possibly can is the most important thing to us. With that in mind, why limit ourselves with a release date if no one is pushing us to do so? And how would setting a date and then pushing it back further and further be better than not giving a date we are not sure about?

From a business perspective, there is no benefit at all for us to delay the release. The only thing that is important to us is developing a game that is truly unique, something that you will enjoy playing as much as we love making it. To sum this up: the release date will be announced only when the game is ready. Until then, we greatly appreciate any feedback we can receive from the community on the sections of the game that we are excited to show. Feedback improves the game!

Having said all that, we understand that some of you might fear that we are abandoning the game or that we are stuck in development hell. We can assure you that that is not the case: we have of course made our share of mistakes and false starts which have added to development time, but not more than what could be expected from a project of this scale.

Why so many years then? Well, the main reason is the size of the game. Bannerlord has a huge sandbox campaign which contains a number of different features that players can experience and enjoy. This includes, but is not limited to: fief and kingdom management, a deep trading system, a diplomacy and relationship system, and epic battles with hundreds of on-screen combatants that the player can command. Then there’s the multiplayer aspect of the game, featuring a matchmaking system for the first time in the Mount & Blade series, which lets players test their combat and tactical skills against players from all over the world. We are also working on ways to support our fantastic modding community by making the game as highly moddable as possible. Five years is actually not that long for the development of a game which encompasses as much as Bannerlord does. There are a lot of fundamental tech and architecture changes compared to Warband: it’s more complex than just adding some new textures and animations. It involves the technology, such as the new engine we built from scratch, but also the system, the mechanics – this is about balancing the invisible, the look and feel of the gameplay.

This is why we have not announced a release date, and why we won’t do it at Gamescom either. And these are the reasons why we think of it not as a sign of weakness, but of respect for our work and our community. We are working as hard as we can to develop the great game you are all waiting for, and our primary focus is the quality of the final product. We want Bannerlord to be the best game that TaleWorlds can create, and we won’t take any shortcuts to get there.

Finally, we would like to thank you for all the positive comments on last week’s blog – we look forward to seeing you next week when we will publish the Q&A with Armagan Yavuz, the founder of TaleWorlds Entertainment and game director of Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord.

Discuss this blog post HERE



Facebook
Twitter


Website
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Twitch

Greetings warriors of Calradia!

Gamescom is around the corner, and as you may have imagined, we will be there showcasing Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord. We can’t tell you exactly what we will show just yet, but we can at least confirm that it will be something slightly different from the demo that we took to E3.

Before the hype goes through the roof: no, we won’t announce a release date for Bannerlord at Gamescom. Of course, we know that you just can’t wait to know when you will be able to play Bannerlord, and we certainly appreciate your excitement for the game – we know that impatience is just a reflection of the love people have for the Mount & Blade series. Over the preceding days, months and, well, years, you have repeatedly asked us why we can’t just tell you a date – even if it’s just an estimation, a window of release. Well, let’s address the elephant in the room…

We have not disclosed a release date so far because it does not exist. We don’t work like that. We are not a company who sets a timeline to release a product and then works to meet that deadline. We are TaleWorlds Entertainment: we create games because we love making them, and we want them to be the best games that we can possibly make. We think that our fans don’t deserve less than our best efforts, our total commitment. We don’t believe in releasing a game before it is ready just because we might miss the hype.

“But all these companies give a release date – why don’t you?” We respect every approach, of course; we are not saying that if a company announces a release date then they are not trying their best to develop a great game. It’s just that every company has a different philosophy and a different set of circumstances. For example, some companies have publishers, shareholders, investors and owners who press for a release date, even if it means cutting content from a game.

We are not in that situation, and creating the best game we possibly can is the most important thing to us. With that in mind, why limit ourselves with a release date if no one is pushing us to do so? And how would setting a date and then pushing it back further and further be better than not giving a date we are not sure about?

From a business perspective, there is no benefit at all for us to delay the release. The only thing that is important to us is developing a game that is truly unique, something that you will enjoy playing as much as we love making it. To sum this up: the release date will be announced only when the game is ready. Until then, we greatly appreciate any feedback we can receive from the community on the sections of the game that we are excited to show. Feedback improves the game!

Having said all that, we understand that some of you might fear that we are abandoning the game or that we are stuck in development hell. We can assure you that that is not the case: we have of course made our share of mistakes and false starts which have added to development time, but not more than what could be expected from a project of this scale.

Why so many years then? Well, the main reason is the size of the game. Bannerlord has a huge sandbox campaign which contains a number of different features that players can experience and enjoy. This includes, but is not limited to: fief and kingdom management, a deep trading system, a diplomacy and relationship system, and epic battles with hundreds of on-screen combatants that the player can command. Then there’s the multiplayer aspect of the game, featuring a matchmaking system for the first time in the Mount & Blade series, which lets players test their combat and tactical skills against players from all over the world. We are also working on ways to support our fantastic modding community by making the game as highly moddable as possible. Five years is actually not that long for the development of a game which encompasses as much as Bannerlord does. There are a lot of fundamental tech and architecture changes compared to Warband: it’s more complex than just adding some new textures and animations. It involves the technology, such as the new engine we built from scratch, but also the system, the mechanics – this is about balancing the invisible, the look and feel of the gameplay.

This is why we have not announced a release date, and why we won’t do it at Gamescom either. And these are the reasons why we think of it not as a sign of weakness, but of respect for our work and our community. We are working as hard as we can to develop the great game you are all waiting for, and our primary focus is the quality of the final product. We want Bannerlord to be the best game that TaleWorlds can create, and we won’t take any shortcuts to get there.

Finally, we would like to thank you for all the positive comments on last week’s blog – we look forward to seeing you next week when we will publish the Q&A with Armagan Yavuz, the founder of TaleWorlds Entertainment and game director of Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord.

Discuss this blog post HERE



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Twitter


Website
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Twitch

Greetings warriors of Calradia!

Today we want to introduce you to the development team that is working hard to make Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord possible. We are proud to have a very diverse and international team, with people from different countries and backgrounds working together every day to develop the game. We came together to take a photo at the TaleWorlds Entertainment office (say cheese!) which we hope you all enjoy.

There are currently 60 people working directly on Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, plus 19 more people in different administration and support tasks – but let’s break these numbers down a little bit so that you can get to know us better. We have a design team which consists of 5 people, 2 of which are narrative designers.

We have a large team of artists, with 25 people working in a variety of different roles: environment, characters, concept artists, technical artists, modellers, navigation mesh, campaign map, user interface, particles, sound, atmosphere and motion capture.

Then we have three different departments formed by programmers. The biggest one is responsible for the gameplay, and it’s comprised of 12 people; they develop the back-end, AI, physics, combat, multiplayer and animations. Then we have 8 people who develop the engine: editor, post FX and render performance, particles and cloth physics, build engineering, console porting and the replay system. The campaign department is formed by 5 people who work on the sandbox mechanics, missions and the user interface. And finally, we have a QA team which is made up of 5 people who test everything and make sure that the game is as polished as possible.

All of these departments are supported by our administration team: 19 people in a really varied assortment of roles, from those who oversee the entire project to the business development people, the PR and communication team, and the incredibly nice office assistants who make sure that the daily life of the studio goes smoothly and that we don’t run out of coffee!

Our studio is in Ankara, Turkey, but our team comes from every corner of the world. Apart from Turkey, there are people from Germany, France, Belgium, Sweden, UK, India, Russia, Bulgaria, Spain, USA, Mongolia and even New Zealand! We have people from a range of different age groups – from 20 year old juniors to veterans who have worked in this industry for decades. Together, all of these people make TaleWorlds Entertainment an incredible place to work at. We are like a big family, and we are all working as hard as we can to develop the great game that our loyal and supportive fanbase deserve!

Discuss this blog post HERE



Facebook
Twitter


Website
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Twitch

Greetings warriors of Calradia!

Today we want to introduce you to the development team that is working hard to make Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord possible. We are proud to have a very diverse and international team, with people from different countries and backgrounds working together every day to develop the game. We came together to take a photo at the TaleWorlds Entertainment office (say cheese!) which we hope you all enjoy.

There are currently 60 people working directly on Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, plus 19 more people in different administration and support tasks – but let’s break these numbers down a little bit so that you can get to know us better. We have a design team which consists of 5 people, 2 of which are narrative designers.

We have a large team of artists, with 25 people working in a variety of different roles: environment, characters, concept artists, technical artists, modellers, navigation mesh, campaign map, user interface, particles, sound, atmosphere and motion capture.

Then we have three different departments formed by programmers. The biggest one is responsible for the gameplay, and it’s comprised of 12 people; they develop the back-end, AI, physics, combat, multiplayer and animations. Then we have 8 people who develop the engine: editor, post FX and render performance, particles and cloth physics, build engineering, console porting and the replay system. The campaign department is formed by 5 people who work on the sandbox mechanics, missions and the user interface. And finally, we have a QA team which is made up of 5 people who test everything and make sure that the game is as polished as possible.

All of these departments are supported by our administration team: 19 people in a really varied assortment of roles, from those who oversee the entire project to the business development people, the PR and communication team, and the incredibly nice office assistants who make sure that the daily life of the studio goes smoothly and that we don’t run out of coffee!

Our studio is in Ankara, Turkey, but our team comes from every corner of the world. Apart from Turkey, there are people from Germany, France, Belgium, Sweden, UK, India, Russia, Bulgaria, Spain, USA, Mongolia and even New Zealand! We have people from a range of different age groups – from 20 year old juniors to veterans who have worked in this industry for decades. Together, all of these people make TaleWorlds Entertainment an incredible place to work at. We are like a big family, and we are all working as hard as we can to develop the great game that our loyal and supportive fanbase deserve!

Discuss this blog post HERE



Facebook
Twitter


Website
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Twitch