DevTeam Interview - What to ask? (answers on 6th page!)

[Lamjose]

When I bought the game I was hoping they will add some stuff before the final release. Oh well, I'm pretty disappointed they didn't read and worked on any suggestions made on the forums, at least I hope Mount&Blade 2 will come soon, knowing I helped a little bringing that closer.

Are you serious? They have done nothing but add suggestions from the community. Do you realize how far this game has come? Dont tell me you joined at .955 or such and expect the entire game to be reworked?

 

[dablade]

We can't expect the dev team to add every suggestion posted on the forum to the game, can we? I only made two suggestions since I started playing M&B (.704, I think), and one of them is in the game, so I know they read the posts.

 

[Zendarian]

"Will Dark Hunters, Black Khergits and River Pirates return?
Unfortunately, no. Neither will Zendar."

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

 

[Snook]

I started with .808 and have seen the game come a long way - it's been well worth the $22 I spent on it. 

Enjoyed the interview, though I wish I could've asked one question I have - Are there any interface improvements? Personally I see the interface as one of the weaker points of the game. I'm not one for flashy graphics (how dare I have a mid-range computer!) so I don't see why everyone absolutely needs to see them improved.

 

[HardCode]

There are screenshots floating around with a "paper doll" in the inventory screen. I just didn't see any button for "Next Hero" or anything

 

[Shik]

Question(maybe too late?)

-Will the flat chest on female characters wearing armors be fixed?

No, this isn't a fantasy MMORPG that has no idea of what women in armor actually look like.



Serious note: armor should actually protect the person wearing it, and thus will be thick enough to largely mask the female form and offer enough coverage that she isn't half naked.

What I actually said was aimed towards softer armor such as shirt, tunic, nobleman outfit and maybe leather. They should atleast change a little bit of shape when wore by a female. I know that a plate armor changing size and shape when wore by a female like in Oblivion is laughable.

Armor and clothing already does change shape a little for the female body.

 

[Darian]

I'm not one for flashy graphics (how dare I have a mid-range computer!) so I don't see why everyone absolutely needs to see them improved.

Any new effects would surely be optional (Mount&Blade is one of only a handful of games that let you turn off newer technologies like pixel shading) and even higher-resolution textures would not greatly affect the performance of the lower settings because the scalability would still be there. Look at Crysis, for instance--it has an "Ultra High" setting that only the most recent video cards can cope with at a high frame rate, but even on Medium it is still one of the best-looking games ever released.

Unfortunately, graphics have become a major selling point these days. Many recent games have earned sales and pre-orders based solely on how cool they look in screenshots and trailers, even if the underlying gameplay is garbage. Mount&Blade doesn't have bloom, high-poly models, and various other "next-gen" technologies so graphics whores will turn their noses up at it, possibly without even giving the demo a chance. Marketing hype is also a huge factor; games that have ads on buses and buildings, receive drool-laden previews, and get perfect 10/10 reviews will sell better than if those same games were simply released with more normal review scores and not much fanfare.

PC gaming is big business in Europe and Europeans have many games and series that are barely heard of in other countries, so I expect Mount&Blade will sell well at retail there even if it doesn't do nearly as well in North America.

 

[Septa Scarabae]

I'm a bit dismayed to hear that they're not planning to continue work on Mount&Blade after the release of v.1.0. Before, the idea had been tossed around that they'd continue to work on and release beta versions after v.1.0. I guess I can play the game fully without having to worry about incompatible save files, though. We'll see how things pan out, but v.0.751 is still my favorite version.

Serious note: armor should actually protect the person wearing it, and thus will be thick enough to largely mask the female form and offer enough coverage that she isn't half naked.

I agree entirely, but sometimes a little maneuverability is a large boon. Expecially, in the case of a woman who might not be able to support the armor as well as a male. While I don't think the configuration of the armor would be as extreme, some re-configuration would certainly be needed.

Ex. Women's clothing is not styled for men, then worn by women.

 

[samuricex]

Zendarian : Will sieges ever be fixed?

Sieges work quite well in the final release.

Is it a bit much to think that ALL the previous siege glitches/bugs/etc. are fixed?

Thanks for the interview also.

 

[ealabor]

Damnit, interview concluded?

I have important questions:


1. What will be the status of Taleworlds after the release. Will the "flagship" site be moved to paradox, and how will this affect hosting of mods if at all?

2. How long after the release of 1.0 can the modding community expect a release of module documentation?

 

[Maelstorm]

1. What will be the status of Taleworlds after the release. Will the "flagship" site be moved to paradox, and how will this affect hosting of mods if at all?

I actually pointed that they had no mention of mods in their website and no links to here. He told me it was becouse TW kept selling online serials on the website. So I believe this forum and mods stays all the same and Paradox has their own sub-forums. The HQ is still here

2. How long after the release of 1.0 can the modding community expect a release of module documentation?

Don't think they'll keep you waiting.



By the way guys, seeing all the thanks and feedback, I'm quite thrilled. I'm very glad you all enjoyed this interview and I'm also glad we decided to post this on forums rather than some game magazine. Talked to the big boss yesterday as well, he sounded quite excited of this as well. Hope we can do even better in the next one

 

[ealabor]

thanks for the feedback 

 

[Gawain]

I'm a bit dismayed to hear that they're not planning to continue work on Mount&Blade after the release of v.1.0. Before, the idea had been tossed around that they'd continue to work on and release beta versions after v.1.0. I guess I can play the game fully without having to worry about incompatible save files, though. We'll see how things pan out, but v.0.751 is still my favorite version.

I don't think it's unfair. Armagan &Team are already pushing the game engine to its limits. Adding new small features to the game in this final stage may require huge reworking of what has already been done with inconsiderable efforts. You can't really expect anyone to work on one game forever. Leaving the game after a final has been released is just a natural course of events. It allows the developpers to throw off the bonds of the current game engine and begin to think anew. If they try to create M&B II, they can (and will) choose a different game engine with different graphic, physics and AI limitations.

If there will be any small bugs, I'm pretty sure the community here takes care of them quite fast. Also modders can finally port their mods to a version they can be sure of never changing again. That will allow them to work on huge mods without fearing of getting incompatible after few months repeatedly.

---------------

Thanks for the interview! I'm eagerly awaiting the Realease.

 

[Maelstorm]

They actually said they'd work on bugs if they are found. Many, many of them have already been fixed, including books being read on other characters and the infamous clone bugs.

 

[Ulfhednar]

One hour earlier than Ankara's GMT +2.

Ankara? who's/what's that? Why don't you just tell me, will you?

Forgive me, but I have to say that:
MORON

I was expecting to see some different questions, anyway it's nice we get a word from Big A from time to time

 

[Lamjose]

They actually said they'd work on bugs if they are found. Many, many of them have already been fixed, including books being read on other characters and the infamous clone bugs.

Dont give away to much. We want to be suprised in a month!

 

[Maelstorm]

It's not a spoiler. I meant the bug that makes a book already read-progressed on other characters if you read it on one character

 

[Lamjose]

Havent seen that myself. Now I see what you where talking about though.

 

[Septa Scarabae]

I don't think it's unfair. Armagan &Team are already pushing the game engine to its limits. Adding new small features to the game in this final stage may require huge reworking of what has already been done with inconsiderable efforts. You can't really expect anyone to work on one game forever. Leaving the game after a final has been released is just a natural course of events. It allows the developpers to throw off the bonds of the current game engine and begin to think anew. If they try to create M&B II, they can (and will) choose a different game engine with different graphic, physics and AI limitations.

I never suggested it was unfair, only that I was disappointed. I had remembered Armagan mention, that they would continue to add new features into Mount&Blade and expand the game further even after v.1.0. If they've decided not to do that, that is their choice, and I respect it. I was just disappointed to hear that it was their choice.

 

[Janus]

I seem to recall Armagan mentioning that a bit after the 1.0 release he would also release an update which would allow you to design your own banner in-game using different elements. Basically, this thing which was (is?) available but disabled within the module system:
http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,35742.0.html
But an actual working, polished version of that I'm sure.

I'd say that qualifies as additional content. I wouldn't expect much more than that besides bugfixes, though I could be wrong.


EDIT: after having checked now I can't find a post here where Armagan actually mentioned the banner thing, so take that with a grain of salt. I'm not sure where (I thought) I saw that. Hmm.