Dev Blog 31/01/19

[parsehtml]<p><img src="https://www.taleworlds.com/Images/News/blog_post_75_taleworldswebsite.jpg" alt="" width="575" height="290" /></p> <p>Everything counts to make a video game an immersive experience, from the smallest details of the UI to the art design, the graphics, and of course the gameplay – but there is an aspect that tends to be unjustly overlooked in spite of it having capital importance. We’re talking about sound. Imagine you are in the middle of a fight. The rasp of swords being unsheathed, the crunch of sand under the hooves of the horses, the screams and grunts of pain of soldiers – all that can make you feel in the thick of a battle, and that makes sound a very powerful tool for video games. Today we talk with Ugurcan Orcun, our Audio Director, who will offer some insights on how Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord approaches this area and what he is doing for the game.</p></br> [/parsehtml]Read more at: http://www.taleworlds.com/en/Games/Bannerlord/Blog/95

 

[dijiTurk]

+Sounds good generally.

-Is it repeated? (heallow hehe brıwya x2 5-8s 10-13s). Non-repeatable long term sounds in village can be good.
-Second from right/first second(dark).. The person carries a heavy thing just after he get it from his back. Is he carry that heavy thing like a weapon?
-I wonder what happens if we hit to a peasant with our body while we runing or walking. I hope npcs dont be like a wall. Villagers should move away from they position & yell us or even start to fight with us if they can.
-Weapons inside armors(even in horse's) look so bad.
-Soldiers start attacking before the "charge" command in voice.

 

[DtheHun]

Cool. I like calradian cloths.

Lighting is different because of snoww, which needs improvement but it is the first time we see it no?

Not just the snow.

隐藏

There's clearly no scattered lighting, just directional (sun), spot (fire), and a tuned up fake ambient occlusion in the shadows with the same light intensity in every corner without direct light. I see no improvement from the shading of Warband. The good news is that it could run on my PC.

 

[578]

GREAT **** BLOG!

Seriously make adding a small video clip even if it’s :30-1min the new standard for dev blogs. We don’t give a **** what the video consists of as long as it’s some form of gameplay !!

For real I loved this dev blog

Also who cares about armor and lighting ? Modders will take this game anywhere we just want a solid game !

I care about armor and lighting. The game looks downgraded. Modders should not be relied upon, we are going to pay for the game.

Only noobs wear armor for the stats. Good players wear armor for the looks. There will be tonnes of different armors which look good.

Also this is a fantasy game. If not can someone tell me where I can buy plane tickets to calradia?

Mount and blade is a light fantasy game. It's fictional but the gameplay is not fantasy. And it should be that way. Good players wear no armor lol.

 

[Ettenrocal]

OMG this guy should have not say Bannerlord is a fantasy game, now other people saying it...

Maybe next blog will be on armors or graphics so ?

 

[AmateurHetman]

Wow. It's so ugly. 

At this point I'm convinced that a large portion of the game was lost during development, as this now looks significantly worse than it used to (as can be easily observed by looking at older videos).

At this point it's barely a step above Warband in terms of graphics, and while the feature additions seem to be pretty good, they aren't exactly game changing. I think this is no longer a day one buy, and I'll have to wait and see what happens if the game is released. Only reason we are waiting on Bannerlord is because this type of game doesn't really have much competition, but eventually a suitable alternative will come out and it will A) actually release and B) have pleasing visuals.

How is it barely a step above warband? The animations of the blacksmith are so natural and smooth, and the graphics are a vast improvement. You can’t expect the warband sequel to look like the Witcher or something, because Taleworlds are still learning, they’re a young company.

 

[Silen]

It's nice to have a video for once, and the sounds are a huge improvement from Warband's, the battle ones especially. Although, I would've loved to hear a warcry when the charge was ordered, but hey I suppose I can't ask too much.

Good job, overall.

 

[DtheHun]

隐藏

Wow. It's so ugly. 

At this point I'm convinced that a large portion of the game was lost during development, as this now looks significantly worse than it used to (as can be easily observed by looking at older videos).

At this point it's barely a step above Warband in terms of graphics, and while the feature additions seem to be pretty good, they aren't exactly game changing. I think this is no longer a day one buy, and I'll have to wait and see what happens if the game is released. Only reason we are waiting on Bannerlord is because this type of game doesn't really have much competition, but eventually a suitable alternative will come out and it will A) actually release and B) have pleasing visuals.

How is it barely a step above warband? The animations of the blacksmith are so natural and smooth, and the graphics are a vast improvement. You can’t expect the warband sequel to look like the Witcher or something, because Taleworlds are still learning, they’re a young company.

Object models looks more complex, animations are plenty (no new engine is needed for that). But shading is another story. The visual mood of the scenes can not be varied without correct shadows. It is flat. Good music helps, but images sell the game.

+ "Taleworlds are still learning, they’re a young company."

Is that an excuse? Will they try to sell it at full prize as an AAA title or not?

 

[578]

隐藏

Wow. It's so ugly. 

At this point I'm convinced that a large portion of the game was lost during development, as this now looks significantly worse than it used to (as can be easily observed by looking at older videos).

At this point it's barely a step above Warband in terms of graphics, and while the feature additions seem to be pretty good, they aren't exactly game changing. I think this is no longer a day one buy, and I'll have to wait and see what happens if the game is released. Only reason we are waiting on Bannerlord is because this type of game doesn't really have much competition, but eventually a suitable alternative will come out and it will A) actually release and B) have pleasing visuals.

How is it barely a step above warband? The animations of the blacksmith are so natural and smooth, and the graphics are a vast improvement. You can’t expect the warband sequel to look like the Witcher or something, because Taleworlds are still learning, they’re a young company.

Object models looks more complex, animations are plenty (no new engine is needed for that). But shading is another story. The visual mood of the scenes can not be varied without correct shadows. It is flat. Good music helps, but images sell the game.

+ "Taleworlds are still learning, they’re a young company."

Is that an excuse? Will they try to sell it at full prize as an AAA title or not?

It's still work in progress. They probably apply and try shaders now aswell. Also AAA? Taleworlds' majority is interns and students my man.

 

[Rhaeyl]

They could just make a simple statement that the visuals are like this for testing purposes etc. It would make everything easier,  it's not taleworlds style though.

To circlejerk this again, it looked good in the earliest demos but a bit rough, in 2017 I was like wow. So what exactly happened otherwise? How can it be back to pre 2017?

Maybe if they were a tad bit more transparent with the progress it would make sense. As in what we show now is more work in progress compared to our other footage and we want to show that a bit etc. We don't know ****, nor are we entitled to anything. It's not exactly a great look either however.

Makes it seem like a big chunk got ****ed up somewhere before gamescom and now they have to sacrifice lots of the finer details that really made the game alive. It just doesn't look or feel the same.. Or that they decided to change some direction again and they are set back by a few years. 

What you had around 2017 looked beast and nowhere near outdated imo. So I really hope it releases at that level at least.

 

[Terco_Viejo]

Cool. I like calradian cloths.

Lighting is different because of snoww, which needs improvement but it is the first time we see it no?

Not just the snow.

隐藏

隐藏

It's hard to see in this pic, but in the video, distant trees look very flat.

隐藏

Also, holy heck does this armor look bad. Look at that stretching 

edit: Here are two more

隐藏

Water looks like a giant mirror.

隐藏

Same problem with the trees here.

I'm really hoping this is just an old build.

They chose to show a bright cloudy day in a snowy forest. Even in real life, snow looks extremely flat when its being lit evenly. Typically, for a snowy scene, a scene designer (or painter, or cinematographer for that matger) will favour either bright, fully clear conditions with a warm, orange sunlight contrasting the blue sky and snow, or absolutely no direct light with a very soft ambient light (like the nighttime). Personally if I wanted to show off this scene I would have done the former. In the video they chose an ugly halfway between both options.

隐藏: the former

隐藏: the latter

Snow can look absolutely amazing in video games and for relatively little effort and graphical  power, but's mostly down to how well the developers can implement this vision. Warband has this problem which seems to be getting worse, where they don't seem to have a clear vision on what they want the scenes to look like. It looks like a steam greenlight asset flip because the shaders and textures and models are all working against each other as if they're made by artists who have never met each other. The last two images are the same problem: they look as if our resident spaniard drank too much and forgot to colour correct the layers in one of his photoshops.

In short, the lighting isn't particularly inaccurate, they just chose the worst possible lighting conditions for showing off the game.

隐藏: surpissed

Blood Eagle (Polished landscapes)

It's what you always say and what I always agree with; it gives the impression that they don't have an art director. A potpourri...

Yes I take it for granted, I admit it... when I publish my photomontages in ****post mode, I'm always drunk... and I like it. So what?, I'm a "Spanish Macho"... but I'm not the one trying to sell a game. 

 

[AmateurHetman]

隐藏

Wow. It's so ugly. 

At this point I'm convinced that a large portion of the game was lost during development, as this now looks significantly worse than it used to (as can be easily observed by looking at older videos).

At this point it's barely a step above Warband in terms of graphics, and while the feature additions seem to be pretty good, they aren't exactly game changing. I think this is no longer a day one buy, and I'll have to wait and see what happens if the game is released. Only reason we are waiting on Bannerlord is because this type of game doesn't really have much competition, but eventually a suitable alternative will come out and it will A) actually release and B) have pleasing visuals.

How is it barely a step above warband? The animations of the blacksmith are so natural and smooth, and the graphics are a vast improvement. You can’t expect the warband sequel to look like the Witcher or something, because Taleworlds are still learning, they’re a young company.

Object models looks more complex, animations are plenty (no new engine is needed for that). But shading is another story. The visual mood of the scenes can not be varied without correct shadows. It is flat. Good music helps, but images sell the game.

+ "Taleworlds are still learning, they’re a young company."

Is that an excuse? Will they try to sell it at full prize as an AAA title or not?

But TWs has uploaded a video of the engine where shadows are dark and contrasting with the sunlit areas. Also, are you suggesting warband was capable of the animations we're seeing in Bannerlord?

I wouldn't say it's an excuse, but the reality. So you're expecting TWs to be perfect, that the graphics are as you expect and anything less is shoddy work from TWs? I've seen worse games sell for AAA prices, I don't see anything wrong with Bannerlord being sold for that much.

TWs have already expressed their desire to perfect the game, they're putting the effort in, so I don't see why people are losing their minds over things which will most likely still be adjusted.

 

[Kentucky 『 ＨＥＩＧＵＩ 』 James]

Yes I take it for granted, I admit it... when I publish my photomontages in ****post mode, I'm always drunk... and I like it. So what?, I'm a "Spanish Macho"... but I'm not the one trying to sell a game. 

There's clearly no scattered lighting, just directional (sun), spot (fire), and a tuned up fake ambient occlusion in the shadows with the same light intensity in every corner without direct light. I see no improvement from the shading of Warband. The good news is that it could run on my PC.

You dont necessarily need scattered lighting to make an outdoor town scene look good, and you definitely don't need it for a fully natural outdoor scene. A lot of games will approximate scattered lighting with a skybox light, meaning surfaces will be lit differently based on the angle they're facing, and then compliment it with ambient occlusion (this is the setup I'm using for my game). Even so, I think they are using scattered lighting but they're not implementing it very well. There are a few surfaces where it looks like actual scattering while the rest nare just flat ambient light.

 

[cherac]

Please recheck the armor for **** sake looks like some leather bondage gear very **** out of place for a medieval simulator game. PLEASE

Glad someone muted him , the armour looks good to me, there are some things that should not be fussed over and hurling insults is just disrespectful , I hope others learn from it.

Back on topic, the siege part of the video was WOOOOOW!!! I felt that siege vibe , nothing chaotic , just some casual standoff siege, fantastic work taleworlds, absolutely fantastic . Bravo!!

 

[Duh_TaleWorlds]

Why did the E3 demos look the best, then it's as if the visuals have gotten "worse" from that point. Like something happened to the way it looks ever since the Gamescom footage, it looks off now. Very flat looking like mentioned in an earlier post? Also the way archers are lined up there looks like the earlier footage of the game, some typical alpha look. Then at one point it no longer had that look but now it's back to that, srsly what is this.

What is that moshpit forest battle too? Again, some earlier footage looked way better. I understand that there would be variations in appearance depending on many different factors, but why not present it in the best light then.

We don't have a build specifically dedicated to showcasing the game (outside of convention/media builds). What you see in the blogs is typically one of the internal builds used for testing out specific features. That means there will often be significant variation in the graphics and gameplay as different systems are included, taken out, fixed, updated, etc. Do keep in mind that the the development blogs are meant to provide an insight into the development process to various audiences moreso than wowing everyone every week with a perfectly polished showcase of the final product.

 

[cherac]

Why did the E3 demos look the best, then it's as if the visuals have gotten "worse" from that point. Like something happened to the way it looks ever since the Gamescom footage, it looks off now. Very flat looking like mentioned in an earlier post? Also the way archers are lined up there looks like the earlier footage of the game, some typical alpha look. Then at one point it no longer had that look but now it's back to that, srsly what is this.

What is that moshpit forest battle too? Again, some earlier footage looked way better. I understand that there would be variations in appearance depending on many different factors, but why not present it in the best light then.

We don't have a build specifically dedicated to showcasing the game (outside of convention/media builds). What you see in the blogs is typically one of the internal builds used for testing out specific features. That means there will often be significant variation in the graphics and gameplay as different systems are included, taken out, fixed, updated, etc. Do keep in mind that the the development blogs are meant to provide an insight into the development process to various audiences moreso than wowing everyone every week with a perfectly polished showcase of the final product.

Oh Great Taleworlds developer , we are sorry you had to waste your valuable time, responding to these impatient fans, they cry for a video , they get one, they get angry at video , they say the game looks bad , yet make noise about release date , have patience with us, its just love for what you guys do. Enjoy your day! I know bannerlords wold look and play fantastic , when I get it this christmas 

 

[DtheHun]

Keeping up the fan's hope of a near release, has it's - I think understandable - side-effect that they expect to see something almost final.

 

[Count Delinard]

Oh Great Taleworlds developer

Thanks Duh for the clarification 

 

[Terco_Viejo]

Oh Great Taleworlds developer , we are sorry you had to waste your valuable time, responding to these impatient fans, they cry for a video , they get one, they get angry at video , they say the game looks bad , yet make noise about release date , have patience with us, its just love for what you guys do. Enjoy your day! I know bannerlords wold look and play fantastic , when I get it this christmas 

Mate I hope you're kidding...,
don't be so condescending to the critical side of the M&B fan and don't want to make an exemplary fan impression either. 

We don't have a build specifically dedicated to showcasing the game (outside of convention/media builds). What you see in the blogs is typically one of the internal builds used for testing out specific features. That means there will often be significant variation in the graphics and gameplay as different systems are included, taken out, fixed, updated, etc. Do keep in mind that the the development blogs are meant to provide an insight into the development process to various audiences moreso than wowing everyone every week with a perfectly polished showcase of the final product.

Duh, you know we all appreciate you...but now that you're "on the other side" don't forget so soon ™ where you come from.

The fan eats by the eyes...It is not possible that in a video with a current build as you say it is, all the features that are presumed to be applied do not appear.
the three levels of AI, the new "animations", lighting, the new FX, pathfinding, inverse kinematics... Why is all this not applied? Even blood does not appear...

It's not a question of wow to the fans...it's a question of trust. Everything we know about the new features is always on paper... it never seems to be applied to what you show us.
I'm just one more fan and my opinion is not relevant...but why don't you settle the criticisms? You don't want to give a release date; ok is understandable...it's your policy and I personally respect it. But if you want to settle comments like "it looks like a mod Warband"...why when making a new video do not apply ALL that is already developed to close the mouth to more than one (I include myself) ?.

transparency = trust

# Constructivecriticism

 

[Dethikus]

Damn those armors make me sad. I don't like a single armor in the game. Actually I dont like the graphics at all to be honest.. I hope the gameplay is good enough
PS: I play Mount & Blade since the Native, so I know it is a great improvement, but.... idk.. Maybe because after many hours playing Kingdom Come Deliverance with all that realism, now Bannerlord characters and armours look childish 

I like most of the armor, but there is some very cartoon-ish looking ones unfortunately. Especially for the Battanians, some kinda BDSM leather fetish armor.

this type of game doesn't really have much competition, but eventually a suitable alternative will come out and it will A) actually release and B) have pleasing visuals.

Yes! This is what I'm really hoping for, surely some competition will come along at some point? & surely they'll have better PR and a quicker release. I love TW's but another company could really steal my loyalty lol

It's not a medieval game. It's a fantasy game taking inspiration from the early medieval era.

iTs A fAnTasY gAem! Lets throw this armor in the game then huh

隐藏

We don't have a build specifically dedicated to showcasing the game (outside of convention/media builds)

"We don't have a pretty build (besides the pretty build)" 

Mate I hope you're kidding...,
don't be so condescending to the critical side of the M&B fan and don't want to make an exemplary fan impression either. 

This is the most irritating thing, dudes get on here whiteknighting for TW like SNIP, its ridiculous. Criticism is good and can only help improve the game

 

[CaptainLee]

iTs A fAnTasY gAem! Lets throw this armor in the game then huh

Ah yes reductio ad absurdum, the favourite recourse of those with little to add. Bannerlord is fantasy. Is it low fantasy? yes. Is it medieval? No. Question- What is something that is not reality?

Got it? Now you have your answer. Heaven forbid a fantasy race like the battanians should have some distinctive stylized leather lamellar armour.

It'S PrAcTiCaLlY HaViNg RiDeAbLe DrAgOnS!!! See? I can play the logical fallacies game too.