Dev Blog 09/11/17

[parsehtml]<p><img class="frame" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-GB" src="http://www.taleworlds.com/Images/News/blog_post_15_taleworldswebsite_575.jpg" alt="" width="575" height="290" /></p> <p>A century ago, the eastward expansion of the Empire met the great sea of grass in the centre of the continent. Beyond that, with no farmland where the legions could forage, they could conquer no more. They fortified their most recent acquisitions, the great trading cities on the steppe's edge, confident that the disorganized horse tribes beyond the frontier posed no major threat. Khuzaits, Nachaghan, Arkits, Khergits, Karakhergits - imperial officials barely even bothered to learn the names of the various clans and peoples, except when it was necessary to turn one chief against another with a bribe, or remove a rising khan with a vial of poison.</p></br> [/parsehtml]Read more at: http://www.taleworlds.com/en/Games/Bannerlord/Blog/33

 

[Horik6697]

Well, just because the culture is inspired by the mongols it doesn't means that everything should be exactly mongolian. In the end, its just a fictional culture in a fictional continent. And really, those small horses are ugly as f***. This game is also a piece of art and must be aesthetically appealing to the eyes, and the horses we've got so far seems fine to me. The factions on the game are very much about references, not an 100% accurate description or representation of an existing culture. 

 

[Do not look here]

That has to be most ridiculous argument I've read this week, congratulations.

Steppe horses would be a nice touch to the faction's overall design, but Armagan came to us and was pretty clear why the chances of having them are slim. No sense in attacking the idea itself.

I'm still pretty confident that they will come into the game in some form, either through devs' own hacks or mods, cause the PROPORTIONS, not the SIZE are the issue. Small, fuzzy ponies can emulate sturdy steppe horses well enough in my eyes.

 

[578]

Can we stop being a nitpicky bunch of people? There are much more important things than horses, and I don't see why we should have different ones, factions are a mere inspiration of real life, not duplicates. One of those important things nobody talks about is the chance we see the Khergits as a minor faction which could mean that swadia, nords, rhodoks etc can also be minor factions. And we are here talking about horses that will get 1 shotted in the battlefield.

 

[KhergitLancer80]

I am completely confiedent that Taleworlds will take care of this problem as best as they can without diverting any resources.
Different breed types are really not that important because steppe people didnt only use Mongolian horses anyways.
Turkmens, Seljuks used Akhal Tekes or Arabian horses some used what could they find in where they invaded etc.

If they just increase and decrease some stats and give a different name to the horse it will be more than fine for me.
Even AAA developers like Total War does not care too much about this insignificant ''breed type'' thing example:
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/LeRdK

So lets just talk about something different like how cool the Khuzait armors look(literally the best helmets in the game with those ''tolgas''(dhuulga in Mongolian tolga for Turkish)) or how Kara khergits' semi nomadic lifestyle will be presented in the game.

For example if they are semi nomadic will they go to hilltops in summers and lowlands in winters ? For me TW should make 2 locations for their cities one ''yayla(k)-summer place and one kışla(k)-winter place for every Kara Khergit city and their location should change between those 2 places as the seasons pass just like how nomads lived.

What do you think about this ?


Note:For some reason I cant put photos so I had to give a link can someone private message  me how to share a photo ?
I click on add image and between those imgs I put the images link but it doesnt occur.

 

[578]

I am completely confiedent that Taleworlds will take care of this problem as best as they can without diverting any resources.
Different breed types are really not that important because steppe people didnt only use Mongolian horses anyways.
Turkmens, Seljuks used Akhal Tekes or Arabian horses some used what could they find in where they invaded etc.

If they just increase and decrease some stats and give a different name to the horse it will be more than fine for me.
Even AAA developers like Total War does not care too much about this insignificant ''breed type'' thing example:

So lets just talk about something different like how cool the Khuzait armors look(literally the best helmets in the game with those ''tolgas''(dhuulga in Mongolian tolga for Turkish)) or how Kara khergits' semi nomadic lifestyle will be presented in the game.

For example if they are semi nomadic will they go to hilltops in summers and lowlands in winters ? For me TW should make 2 locations for their cities one ''yayla(k)-summer place and one kışla(k)-winter place for every Kara Khergit city and their location should change between those 2 places as the seasons pass just like how nomads lived.

What do you think about this ?

There is already footage of bigger horses. We can see Vlandians and an Empire faction rides warhorses that they are evidently bigger than others. They look good. Khuzait armor seems great, I can't wait to see their highest level troops.

 

[Nordous]

隐藏

Dear developers of the game and Armagan! Your team may not have an experienced person who knows everything, like me

I will not talk about trees - everything is unchanged.
I will not talk about all the shortcomings, but they are here.

I'll ask you all one thing - have you ever seen a Mongolian horse? Can I even be heard of a Mongolian horse?
In the screenshot, anything, but not a Mongolian horse!
Rather, it's an Arabian steed

I will explain.
Mongolian horse of low stature, with a large head, with short legs, a long mane and a long tail, covered with a short thick coat. The Mongolian horse is very hardy and looks exactly like I described!

Here is an example of how a Mongolian horse looks. Refer to the photo with the rider - compare the size of the horse and rider.
Now compare with the size of the horse and rider in the screenshot. Compare the horses themselves. Do you see the difference? It's huge!

Dear Armagan!
Probably you should think and take me as a consultant-Advisor 

Callum, send my regards Armagan

Thank you very much, d********! Now they will delay the game another year to fix your stupid Mongol horses! (just kidding)

 

[AmateurHetman]

Dear developers of the game and Armagan! Your team may not have an experienced person who knows everything, like me

I will not talk about trees - everything is unchanged.
I will not talk about all the shortcomings, but they are here.

I'll ask you all one thing - have you ever seen a Mongolian horse? Can I even be heard of a Mongolian horse?
In the screenshot, anything, but not a Mongolian horse!
Rather, it's an Arabian steed

I will explain.
Mongolian horse of low stature, with a large head, with short legs, a long mane and a long tail, covered with a short thick coat. The Mongolian horse is very hardy and looks exactly like I described!

Here is an example of how a Mongolian horse looks. Refer to the photo with the rider - compare the size of the horse and rider.
Now compare with the size of the horse and rider in the screenshot. Compare the horses themselves. Do you see the difference? It's huge!

Dear Armagan!
Probably you should think and take me as a consultant-Advisor 

Callum, send my regards Armagan

Arabian horses have a concave face, those look more like crossbred horses.

 

[kae66]

Resource is limited and it needs to be distributed in the way that it is most effective and economic. Just be patient for the developers and wait for the games. All these questions may have a possibility to be solved by follow up updates or mods since these are not priorities for them ( I assume there are numerous important things than horse types to make). And I think Khuzait is just a imaginary nomad tribe confederation that tries to settle down like other "civilized" Kingdom to strive for survival. It is just a game, details are needed but not every aspect needs to be infinitely close to the reality. Taleworlds is not as big as Ubisoft or EA it needs to make the best of it with its resource. Most of our dreams about the minor details can come true with mods since the modding in Bannerlord is way better ( I believe). Try to make the waiting an enjoyment as well.

Nice Blog I really enjoy it can't wait for Sturgia Blog! These are just my random thoughts, sorry it got a little off topic, but I just want to express my opinion towards all these wishes and ideas. I am highly possible to be wrong, but anyway these are my thoughts

 

[cherac]

What's all this noise about horses , they never said they were copying the mongols , they took inspiration from them, the people talking about horses are the same people complaining about no release date , things like this can be added after launch .Now I humbly suggest all horse experts to open a blog and share their knowledge somewhere , the devs are working really hard and I don't think horse height is an issue , I didn't even notice it the first time until I read it here .Keep up the good work Taleworlds and do not waste your time on listening to random people with ideas that can set the game back more years . Mount and blade is not about graphic fidelity or historical and real life accuracy ,its the mechanics and idea behind the game that drew us here, keep that in mind the next time another unnecessary "horse" issue arises . I really appreciate the way  Taleworlds work, no lootboxes , unfinished game or microtransactions  , good management all round (no early access money grabbing BS ) just pure passion to make a good game, the last good soul of the Gaming Industry . Mount and Blade is ART and we shouldn't interrupt the artists with Horse Talk.

 

[Sebidee]

Many thanks to everyone for the wonderful feedback.

Supporting horses with markedly different proportions is kind of difficult. The animations would be skewed if for example we make the legs shorter. Also, all the horse equipment, saddles, bardings, etc,  are modeled according to default horse proportions. We would have to find a way to adjust all these to different types of horses (or make different sets of equipment for each type). All these problems, of course, can be solved in one way or another but it would take time and effort and I am not sure if this will have a high enough priority to divert resources.

We have some plans to bring in some cheap and simple adjustments though. For example we can make horse heads bigger or smaller, without breaking anything else. Also we already have horses of different sizes. Hopefully, such tricks, together with some artistic touches will be adequate to create unique looks for different horse breeds.

Armagan, good evening.
As for horses, you can always find a compromise.
You can make a little thicker legs, more head of the corresponding shape and increase the tail and mane - you get a Mongolian horse.

Making different sized horses carries the same equipment and animation compatibility issues as making humans taller or shorter. Developers would have to create and test brand new equipment and animations for each height for compatibility - It can be done but it's not worth the time. That's part of the reason why players are all the same height in most games. The other being game balance.

That's not really true. It is easy to make changes to height, you just have to scale the size of equipment and animation skeletons to match. So if a person is 10% larger then he'd have 10% larger armour and skeleton, you could do that easily without causing any problems.

The issue is with proportions. If, for example a person has normal sized arms and legs but shorter legs then he would need new animations (most likely). With horses it would be easy to make them different heigths with the same animations and equipment. It would also be easy to make superficial changes to how they look, like changing textures or changing this thickness and shape of things that aren't animated in fine detail (like their heads).

I think it would be possible to make things like large destriers and middle sized palfreys, even visually different ones like akha tekes, arabians and thorough breds. Mongolian horses might be a bit more difficult to get perfect but they could do something like reduce the scale but make their heads larger and give them a shaggy hair texture.

I think other kinds of horses, especially Mongol horses, would be a great addition to the game. Definitely somethign to put in if they can. Not many games do that and it'll be a detail that makes Bannerlord stand out.

 

[cherac]

Many thanks to everyone for the wonderful feedback.

Supporting horses with markedly different proportions is kind of difficult. The animations would be skewed if for example we make the legs shorter. Also, all the horse equipment, saddles, bardings, etc,  are modeled according to default horse proportions. We would have to find a way to adjust all these to different types of horses (or make different sets of equipment for each type). All these problems, of course, can be solved in one way or another but it would take time and effort and I am not sure if this will have a high enough priority to divert resources.

We have some plans to bring in some cheap and simple adjustments though. For example we can make horse heads bigger or smaller, without breaking anything else. Also we already have horses of different sizes. Hopefully, such tricks, together with some artistic touches will be adequate to create unique looks for different horse breeds.

Armagan, good evening.
As for horses, you can always find a compromise.
You can make a little thicker legs, more head of the corresponding shape and increase the tail and mane - you get a Mongolian horse.

Making different sized horses carries the same equipment and animation compatibility issues as making humans taller or shorter. Developers would have to create and test brand new equipment and animations for each height for compatibility - It can be done but it's not worth the time. That's part of the reason why players are all the same height in most games. The other being game balance.

That's not really true. It is easy to make changes to height, you just have to scale the size of equipment and animation skeletons to match. So if a person is 10% larger then he'd have 10% larger armour and skeleton, you could do that easily without causing any problems.

The issue is with proportions. If, for example a person has normal sized arms and legs but shorter legs then he would need new animations (most likely). With horses it would be easy to make them different heigths with the same animations and equipment. It would also be easy to make superficial changes to how they look, like changing textures or changing this thickness and shape of things that aren't animated in fine detail (like their heads).

I think it would be possible to make things like large destriers and middle sized palfreys, even visually different ones like akha tekes, arabians and thorough breds. Mongolian horses might be a bit more difficult to get perfect but they could do something like reduce the scale but make their heads larger and give them a shaggy hair texture.

Are you paying attention to the forum or just following the crowd , this issue is resolved ,no real fan cares about horse heights , Arabian, mongolian , Cossack , a horse is a horse .I recommend you stick to more important posts

 

[Yaga]

I'm sorry that I scared some people waiting for the game to come out.
I want to reassure you - do not worry! Whatever the wishes of people, the developers will not start to execute them immediately and will not postpone the game's release.

As for my remarks, this is not a pretext to do anything, this is a remark about inaccuracies and mistakes.
If I see, for example, that a watermelon is square and blue - I will say a mistake.
And the developer himself decides how to do it - make a watermelon round and green, or leave it as it is 

 

[Do not look here]

Ahem

We have some plans to bring in some cheap and simple adjustments though. For example we can make horse heads bigger or smaller, without breaking anything else. Also we already have horses of different sizes. Hopefully, such tricks, together with some artistic touches will be adequate to create unique looks for different horse breeds.

Oh look, looks like someone does care about horse heights and breeds. But hey, I guess devs aren't real fans of their own game, right?

Yes, the issue is solved, Armagan basically told us they're already working on some simple, satisfying solution to get diverse horse breeds, but no promises. No need to attack idea itself or, even worse, people behind it. No real fan cares about their favourite game's attention to detail? That's a new one.

EDIT: Yaga posted in the meantime, it was aimed at previous posts.

 

[578]

Ahem

We have some plans to bring in some cheap and simple adjustments though. For example we can make horse heads bigger or smaller, without breaking anything else. Also we already have horses of different sizes. Hopefully, such tricks, together with some artistic touches will be adequate to create unique looks for different horse breeds.

Oh look, looks like someone does care about horse heights and breeds. But hey, I guess devs aren't real fans of their own game, right?

Yes, the issue is solved, Armagan basically told us they're already working on some simple, satisfying solution to get diverse horse breeds, but no promises. No need to attack idea itself or, even worse, people behind it. No real fan cares about their favourite game's attention to detail? That's a new one.

EDIT: Yaga posted in the meantime, it was aimed at previous posts.

Your response is laughable, what was suggested previously was totally new horses with a different mesh model that would require rigging work from the start. Armagan did not only tell you that they'll make a variety of horses, he also denied that he would design more from scratch. Which is what was suggested. We already saw different shaped horses on gameplay videos, this is nothing new. And yes, horses is not an exciting topic, all they do is act like vehicles and/or die. We already have variable armors for them in Bannerlord, it is enough. Different looks is more important on characters and other art aspects than friggin' horses.

 

[Looter]

Before This blog absolutely no one here had any issues with how the horses looked despite seeeing them in the captain mode gameplay :/

Now people bandwagon off each each finding non existent flaws because a there's 'not enough'/etc. for a game they haven't even played or has been released.

 

[Sebidee]

Are you paying attention to the forum or just following the crowd , this issue is resolved ,no real fan cares about horse heights , Arabian, mongolian , Cossack , a horse is a horse .I recommend you stick to more important posts

Lol are you freaking serious? Like honestly are you for real. No real fan cares about details of the game?

I've heard some crazy stuff in my time but that tops it. Dude I recommend you stop trying to police other people.

Your response is laughable, what was suggested previously was totally new horses with a different mesh model that would require rigging work from the start. Armagan did not only tell you that they'll make a variety of horses, he also denied that he would design more from scratch. Which is what was suggested. We already saw different shaped horses on gameplay videos, this is nothing new. And yes, horses is not an exciting topic, all they do is act like vehicles and/or die. We already have variable armors for them in Bannerlord, it is enough. Different looks is more important on characters and other art aspects than friggin' horses.

The post you are replying to there was a reply to a reply of my post (confusing, I know). Anyway, then I was talking about how to have new horses without the need to design them from scratch.

Also, yes, models and details for horses is important. It's a game about medieval warfare, there is going to be a lot of horses. Also the game is called MOUNT and Blade. Horses are important, how owuld you feel if there was only one kind of blade in the game.

 

[kraggrim]

If mount skeleton variety isn't important to some fans then fair enough, but it's silly to pretend it's not a valid priority for others. Again, plenty of us initially got into MB because of the awesome mounted combat, not the (also awesome) swordplay. I'd rather they had a proper variety of mounts than many of the other additions they've managed to make.

 

[Kortze26]

My one desire for the advancement of horse diversity in this game is to be able to breed, name and train horses A' La Poke'mon/Monster Rancher.  I imagine making a long journey from Sturgia to the deserts of the Aserai in search of a small village in possession of "Arrow", the fastest courser stallion known to man, to breed with my hard hitting destrier mare "Quiver", to build a stable of the best chargers.  This might greatly increase the number of traders my city attracts and provide a steady increase in influence not to mention the benefit to my army's battlefield effectiveness.

I'm sure I'll never see this system unless I mod it in myself, but I see it adding a lot of depth and extending the single player lifespan of the game.

 

[Sebidee]

My one desire for the advancement of horse diversity in this game is to be able to breed, name and train horses A' La Poke'mon/Monster Rancher.  I imagine making a long journey from Sturgia to the deserts of the Aserai in search of a small village in possession of "Arrow", the fastest courser stallion known to man, to breed with my hard hitting destrier mare "Quiver", to build a stable of the best chargers.  This might greatly increase the number of traders my city attracts and provide a steady increase in influence not to mention the benefit to my army's battlefield effectiveness.

I'm sure I'll never see this system unless I mod it in myself, but I see it adding a lot of depth and extending the single player lifespan of the game.

Probably not something I'd use much, but it would make sense I guess. Good studs are worth millions even today.

 

[578]

My one desire for the advancement of horse diversity in this game is to be able to breed, name and train horses A' La Poke'mon/Monster Rancher.  I imagine making a long journey from Sturgia to the deserts of the Aserai in search of a small village in possession of "Arrow", the fastest courser stallion known to man, to breed with my hard hitting destrier mare "Quiver", to build a stable of the best chargers.  This might greatly increase the number of traders my city attracts and provide a steady increase in influence not to mention the benefit to my army's battlefield effectiveness.

I'm sure I'll never see this system unless I mod it in myself, but I see it adding a lot of depth and extending the single player lifespan of the game.

My guilty wish was always that I want mount and blade in a warframe format. Online co-op, instances of PvP, crafting that takes days and animal breeding that also takes days and can be leveled up, upgraded etc. Your description reminded me, for some reason, that very guilty wish. Off-topic, but I thought to share.