Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord Developer Blog 14 - Destructible Merlons

As is traditional, this blog covers our previous major event, goes talks a bit about our experience and what we showed. This time it's E3, possibly the biggest gaming event of the year and the first time we've ever attended with our own booth. Our reveal was Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord's siege gameplay, which came in the form of this trailer and the extended gameplay video below.



Read more at: http://www.taleworlds.com/en/Games/Bannerlord/Blog/16

 

[Meelis13]

Sure, Bannerlord is highly anticipated game, but if you think you dont need any advertisment, you are severely mistaken.

I'm not saying Bannerlord doesn't need advertisement at all, I'm saying what they have now is sufficient at this point of development. I will be worried when they'll announce the release date and proceed with silence, but as it is now, there's absolutely no reason for them to not leave it at the little nods to their established community as they were doing so far. Sure, they could share more info but so far they haven't made a single thing to actually antagonize their fanbase. Forgive me, but I really don't believe that significant part of all the people who ragequit M&B for lack of news won't buy Bannerlord just in spite of TW.

I'll be more worried if they won't reach out for potential customers for those few months before release date when actual advertisement should happen, but as it is now their marketing doesn't bother me as much as their development cycle, seeing how so many things are still subject to change.

Again: Steam page. This is first time i see so well-known developer have public steam page up for months without ANY official activity in it AND without release date. Heck, even most tiny indie devs dont do that! So i do say having public steam page- the page they announced is live- is reason enough to give something, anything on there

And if you really dont believe that having those ragequitters on board would help- well sorry, but that is just plain stupid way to think. Regardless of what video games are for us, fans, for developers they are way to make profit and quite frankly that is how it should be. But what that means is that they NEED people to buy the game, wheter or not they like it. Heck, look at No Man's Sky- it is a mess, but that project did good for them as they got hell of a lot of profit!

 

[Do not look here]

Oh, I'd be glad if we could not have all the ragequitters on board now, yeah. Because it doesn't matter who is on board now, but who will be on board for the release date. They did make mistakes, or at least could handle some things better, but if the devs themselves don't know when the game will be released, then there's no much sense to start properly advertising game around - people attracted at this point bring nothing to the table and will be harder to keep around until they'll become potential customers.

As for the Steam page... well, I don't know what they hoped to achieve, but I assume this way Bannerlord ended up on quite a few wishlists of people who otherwise don't pay too much attention to development process.

 

[Rollo.TheWarrior]

Oh, I'd be glad if we could not have all the ragequitters on board now, yeah. Because it doesn't matter who is on board now, but who will be on board for the release date. They did make mistakes, or at least could handle some things better, but if the devs themselves don't know when the game will be released, then there's no much sense to start properly advertising game around - people attracted at this point bring nothing to the table and will be harder to keep around until they'll become potential customers.

As for the Steam page... well, I don't know what they hoped to achieve, but I assume this way Bannerlord ended up on quite a few wishlists of people who otherwise don't pay too much attention to development process.

Not much develpment this last 2 weeks.
The SteamDB is empty the most of the "work day" and las update was 7 days ago. 

They must be on vacations :p

 

[Meelis13]

Oh, I'd be glad if we could not have all the ragequitters on board now, yeah. Because it doesn't matter who is on board now, but who will be on board for the release date. They did make mistakes, or at least could handle some things better, but if the devs themselves don't know when the game will be released, then there's no much sense to start properly advertising game around - people attracted at this point bring nothing to the table and will be harder to keep around until they'll become potential customers.

As for the Steam page... well, I don't know what they hoped to achieve, but I assume this way Bannerlord ended up on quite a few wishlists of people who otherwise don't pay too much attention to development process.

But here is the thing you and- quite obviously- devs dont realise. Wheter they like it or not, with announcement of steam page going up, they HAVE to start advertising to some extent. Steam page is something that tells normal user: "game is almost ready for release and it will be released soon" not page you can have sitting around for months without a beep on it. I mean seriously, unless they plan to do suprise full release in next month or so, they should do some advertising. Right now, according to few pieces of info fans literally had to rip from TW suggests that even announcement of release date wont happen within 2 months. That in turn means that said steam page first sits about half a year empty before even getting a RELEASE DATE or some sort of news. And its fair guess when they announce release date it sits months after announcement.
Devs have made some very stupid mistakes regarding how they handled public relations related to Bannerlord to point where they NEED to step up their game and actively post news and such just to control the damage they themselves caused. First off, even announcement of Bannerlord came way too early- i mean i remember it being talked years before i even got into M&B. And that was years ago! Now they repeat mistake with public steam page, announcing it then leaving it deserted for months?
Look, you may want to protect devs as much as you like, but here is how it looks to regular people: If devs do that so many times and are reluctant to reveal more about the game, who is to say it will not turn to be another No Man's Sky, regardless of proven concept? Who is to say game actually will be good? Who is to say devs wont ditch Bannerlord and run after they release it?
Now, you and me, we know TW aint that sort of dev, but people in steam who DONT visit TW forums... its fair to assume they are very cautious after NMS mess.

 

[Do not look here]

Again, it's all valid if there won't be any marketing campaign when the release date will be set. If this won't happen then I'll be worried. For now it doesn't matter, people who are aware and afraid of No Man's Sky relative flop won't be any more convinced by scraps of info posted every now and then. This trickle of info is potentially dangerous only if they'll keep it up until release, which I hope they won't do.

 

[mj_vaez]

we must show them thay will loose us if they dont respect us and ignore our wants. thay think we have not any other choice. we must create a group and ask other companese to stare similar game. im sure thay release the game sooner than taleworlds.

 

[Cpt. Nemo]

Uh huh. Ok. Sure. You could just be patient and stop whining like an enitled child, but you go and do that instead. Which developers do you plan on reaching out to? 

 

[GrafBlade]

we must show them thay will loose us if they dont respect us and ignore our wants. thay think we have not any other choice. we must create a group and ask other companese to stare similar game. im sure thay release the game sooner than taleworlds.

Go ahead. Let's see how far you'll come....

 

[Orion]

But here is the thing you and- quite obviously- devs dont realise. Wheter they like it or not, with announcement of steam page going up, they HAVE to start advertising to some extent. Steam page is something that tells normal user: "game is almost ready for release and it will be released soon" not page you can have sitting around for months without a beep on it.

Says who? Bannerlord isn't the only game on my Steam wishlist that's been there unreleased & untouched for months. I actually added Guild 3 several months before, and their Steam page hasn't changed a bit.

we must show them thay will loose us if they dont respect us and ignore our wants. thay think we have not any other choice. we must create a group and ask other companese to stare similar game. im sure thay release the game sooner than taleworlds.

"Yeah guys, we're uh, like, about three dozen dudes who are all super miffed with these Turk dudes and uh, we wanna give you money so you'll make the same game the Turks are making but like, faster. So if you could just get to work on that and be done in like, iunno, about a year? That'd be great. Oh and it better be ****in' awesome or we'll totes write angry reviews on your Steam page."

 

[mj_vaez]

Uh huh. Ok. Sure. You could just be patient and stop whining like an enitled child, but you go and do that instead. Which developers do you plan on reaching out to? 

Lighte brain boy.

 

[kraggrim]

Yep, his is filled with light, as opposed to certain others filled with cobwebs and dust .

 

[Cpt. Nemo]

Lighte brain boy.

What does that even mean?

 

[mj_vaez]

Lighte brain boy.

What does that even mean?

nothing i love u 
im not angry just for game late release date. im angry for this subject that they have plenty time for release warband console version. its like this rockstar create ps4 version for gta 2. its gone. its for past. thay must go
ahead. they must put all off their focuse on bannerlord. we are not pet they even dont bother themselves
to response our wants. i say why they must annonce a game that will release 10 yearse later. i cant joy warband any more becuase i see bannerlord improvement. you can any more enjoy igi2 when you taste newst callofduty version. they get joy of mount and blade, only game i play from me i cant forgive them.
they said lie about beta for 2016. its not honest move. i dont know your feel but im angree

 

[Meelis13]

Says who? Bannerlord isn't the only game on my Steam wishlist that's been there unreleased & untouched for months. I actually added Guild 3 several months before, and their Steam page hasn't changed a bit.

Keywords there are "high-profile game"
Wheter TW aknowledges it or not, Bannerlord IS considered high-profile game

 

[Orion]

You're saying Guild 3, the third game in a successful franchise and which has appeared at several of the same conventions as Bannerlord, doesn't count as a high-profile game? Explain to me like I'm five.

 

[AmateurHetman]

Lighte brain boy.

What does that even mean?

nothing i love u 
im not angry just for game late release date. im angry for this subject that they have plenty time for release warband console version. its like this rockstar create ps4 version for gta 2. its gone. its for past. thay must go
ahead. they must put all off their focuse on bannerlord. we are not pet they even dont bother themselves
to response our wants. i say why they must annonce a game that will release 10 yearse later. i cant joy warband any more becuase i see bannerlord improvement. you can any more enjoy igi2 when you taste newst callofduty version. they get joy of mount and blade, only game i play from me i cant forgive them.
they said lie about beta for 2016. its not honest move. i dont know your feel but im angree

Talk about getting respect from TW without earning their respect first. They've worked hard as an independant company to get this game finished. They also didn't lie about the beta release, they said they were hoping to get it into players' hands in some shape or form by 2016. Sadly they weren't able to, but they don't owe you a beta.
We've had plenty of videos, images and information about Bannerlord. Recent blogs arrived regularly, sadly the newest one hasn't come for a while, but considering we didn't have blog updates for way longer periods, we can't complain. We get a lot more info about this game compared to what other games get before release.
It's looking to be the sequel we've all wanted, at least that's what I feel and they've made huge progress with the engine and gameplay.
Like CDprojekt Red with the witcher 3; if they are delaying in order to perfect the game, then that's fine by me. We're closer to the end of development than the start that's for sure, I wish them luck.

 

[Cpt. Nemo]

Amateur ninja'd.

 

[Meelis13]

You're saying Guild 3, the third game in a successful franchise and which has appeared at several of the same conventions as Bannerlord, doesn't count as a high-profile game? Explain to me like I'm five.

Actually thats percisely what i am claiming. Successful franchise isnt nessessarily high profile game and guild- thats no high profile game. Thats because its niche (Which is why quite frankly why i even hadnt heard of the franchise before i looked it up).
It also is mentioned lot less in gaming media- which, wheter you like it or not, is mostly responsible wheter a game will be high profile game or not.
On comparison, Bannerlord has been right up there on most anticipated games lists for few years now and its news are picked up rather often and even few anticipating articles are being written.

 

[Orion]

You never heard of it, therefore it's low profile. You never heard of it, therefore it's niche. Where's your proof that it's mentioned less in media? Have a source? Did you compile a comprehensive index of the appearances of Bannerlord and The Guild 3 across major video game media outlets? All you have right now is hear-say, and the burden of proof is on you. Show me.

 

[mj_vaez]

Lighte brain boy.

What does that even mean?

nothing i love u 
im not angry just for game late release date. im angry for this subject that they have plenty time for release warband console version. its like this rockstar create ps4 version for gta 2. its gone. its for past. thay must go
ahead. they must put all off their focuse on bannerlord. we are not pet they even dont bother themselves
to response our wants. i say why they must annonce a game that will release 10 yearse later. i cant joy warband any more becuase i see bannerlord improvement. you can any more enjoy igi2 when you taste newst callofduty version. they get joy of mount and blade, only game i play from me i cant forgive them.
they said lie about beta for 2016. its not honest move. i dont know your feel but im angree

Talk about getting respect from TW without earning their respect first. They've worked hard as an independant company to get this game finished. They also didn't lie about the beta release, they said they were hoping to get it into players' hands in some shape or form by 2016. Sadly they weren't able to, but they don't owe you a beta.
We've had plenty of videos, images and information about Bannerlord. Recent blogs arrived regularly, sadly the newest one hasn't come for a while, but considering we didn't have blog updates for way longer periods, we can't complain. We get a lot more info about this game compared to what other games get before release.
It's looking to be the sequel we've all wanted, at least that's what I feel and they've made huge progress with the engine and gameplay.
Like CDprojekt Red with the witcher 3; if they are delaying in order to perfect the game, then that's fine by me. We're closer to the end of development than the start that's for sure, I wish them luck.

you are right. let them do their job