Outlawed
Sergeant Knight
Table of Contents:
Disclaimer
Okay, before I start this gigantic wall of text, let me give you some background as to who I am.
I've been playing Mount & Blade since good old 0.6xx. I've seen the changes, experienced Beta, and still play the game today in both the single player and multiplayer game modes.
As I now hear of a 'Project Obvious', its hard not to get lost in the world of suggestions that people have made. Things like dual-wielding, secondary attacks and other suggestions that have received mixed reactions from the community. Some of these suggestions are really good, others lack what it takes to make into the game in my opinion. This leads me into this final introductory point; these are my opinions and my suggestions. Like them or hate them it doesn't really make a difference, but I'm hoping the dev's will take a serious look at this and give some feedback. As for you veterans in this community, I'm also looking forward to all your feedback.
My suggestions, however, will not be directed at the actual combat of Mount & Blade, as I think the actual combat itself is simple enough yet allows for complicated duels and a very competitive style of play while still maintaining a very intuitive 'feel' of the overall system.
In terms of gloss, over-all polish and graphics, I'm sure the developer team is way more capable of knowing what fits their engine than we do and hope to see new graphical elements in Mount & Blade: 2 that speak for themselves.
The format of this post is going to include 2 minor suggestions, one related to the aesthetic side of the game, the other more of a developer/enthusiast tool. The core of this suggestion is the Persistent Multiplayer, so you can skip the first both sections if you're not interested in them.
Suggestion: Dynamic Environments
The fact that everything in Mount & Blade feels 'stiff' is something that no one can really deny. Be it the absence of wind, the rigidity of animations or the lack of face animations. (The latter not really being a major factor)
I think its important to have destructible elements in the environment. Trees that can be cut down, breakable barricades, fences, you name it. If its made of wood, you should be able to break it apart.
This includes things like ladders and siege towers in siege fights.
Another element that really needs attention is horses.
Horses need to feel and look like living creatures.
This can be achieved through making horses go out of control for a short period of time, a time when the rider is forced to just sit on the horse and wait for it to calm down; this would occur when you run into a fence, tree, or another horse.
Furthermore, adding a siege engine mechanic, with parabolic projectiles that have blast/radius damage would help improve the siege experience. Adding things like mannable-Scorpions on the walls of multiplayer maps will also add an interesting element to said maps.
The final comment is regarding to cloth motion in the game. A wind system that affects banners, capes, and flags would be interesting, but again, this is the aesthetic section and isn't the core of this post.
Suggestion: In-game cinematic editor
Its great that we get to play around with Edit Mode in the game currently.
However, recording Mount & Blade gameplay for personal videos, and mainly Youtube, can be a difficult task.
This needs to be addressed in two ways:
1- Making more spectator cameras available for players, including a mode that hides gold markers, timers, faction scores, and all other text/scoreboard elements to produce a purely cinematic viewpoint of the battlefield.
2- Adding an in-game feature to record gameplay, while in this spectator mode.
Seeing that Mount & Blade causes issues with most on-screen recorders, producing HQ Mount & Blade footage (which is, in my humble opinion, the best advertisement for this game) can be tough. Especially with things like audio/visual sync issues, and random frame drops while recording.
Suggestion: Persistent Multiplayer
As it stands, Mount & Blade has a plethora of game modes to chose from. Be it Siege, Battle, Capture the Flag, Duel..etc or the Single Player and Custom Battle game modes.
A big suggestion and dare I say a very touchy topic has always been the idea of an MMO designed Mount & Blade, with a persistent world and real-time servers.
There are several threads discussing this topic, and many would probably have similar ideas to the one I discuss in this thread, but I do not think any of them will go into as much detail as the detail presented here.
Here goes;
The Game Mode
The suggestion is basically a game mode where the player has a first/third person perspective, similar to a perspective that you would have while playing a Siege battle or a regular field battle...etc
Players would be able to walk around a free world, that is hosted on one server. Different servers could represent different 'world maps' and can be purchased/rented just like we do now with regular Multiplayer Servers.
Through mods like cRPG, the idea of leveling up a character, buying weapons, and then going on and fighting others with that character has been realized. What is needed in this game-mode is a better implementation of the idea. Inventory tabs, Skill tabs, Quest tabs..etc similar to those found in Single Player would be implemented during this real-time game mode.
A player can choose what he/she does in the world, and must find ways to level up his/her character and get to know the world contained in that server.
The most important thing here is that most of the actions that occur in this world must be human driven. Most quests (non-starter quests, which help players get used to the system) would be player based. Things like sending messages to other players, collecting debts, requesting money, would all be quests that players can set and offer for other players. This isn't only limited to quests, but also to guilds. Guild/Clan making would be player driven, and a certain guild can grasp control of one of the cities by buying x% of its property. A clan that controls a city in a world can now do things like assign enemies, set prices, and establish trade directly with other cities who could be either NPC, or human run.
The idea here is to present the player with near total freedom, and present consequences to your actions. Lets start out with the actual start of the game mode; creating your character.
Character creation
You can see in the screenshot that I've added a box to the right that actually tells the player what each option would do to his/her character (upon highlighting the option). I think its more important to expose these things as opposed to having a player dig through them in the Manual or some walk-through. Clear is best. Adding more options is always welcome.
Instead of what you see in this screen shot, an in-game banner editor has been an excellent suggestion, and was presented many times. I'd like to see one at this screen, so that each Banner can be at least somewhat unique. Banners should also be changeable upon joining a guild.
Another important thing is the attribute/skill system. Some skills would have to be changed, others added, here is a comprehensive list:
Green is new.
Red is removed.
Blue is altered.
Non-mentioned items are left as is.
- Looting: this would now determine how many items you can loot of a killed enemy at a time. (more about this later)
- Trainer: this skill shouldn't be in the Persistent Multiplayer game-mode.
- Tracking: this would allow the player to track the movement of any other player in a given spot. The better the skill the longer the report. Early levels would be able to track within an hour, while higher levels can track other players for several hours and maybe even up to a day.
- Tactics: this skill shouldn't be in the Persistent Multiplayer game-mode.
- Path-finding: this skill will determine how well your character can read maps.
- Spotting: this skill would be deterministic of a spotting radius that allows the player to spot another hidden player. Lower levels of this skill would only expose hidden enemies that are say, 10 meters away, the higher the skill, the better the spotting range.
- Wound Treatment: this skill will allow you to heal yourself, and others and will determine the rate of healing.
- Surgery: this skill shouldn't be in the Persistent Multiplayer game-mode.
- First-Aid: this skill determines how much of your character's health is restored after you are knocked unconscious.
- Engineer: this skill determines how long it takes for your character to build siege equipment, ladders, and carts. (more on this later)
- Prisoner Management: this skill shouldn't be in the Persistent Multiplayer game-mode.
- Leadership: this skill now determines the ability to start a guild. (more on guilds later)
- Trading: this new skill determines how much of the local/set taxes does your character pay when purchasing NPC items.
- Forging: this new skill determines how quickly it takes for your character to forge their own weapons. (more on this later)
- Judgement: this skill allows you to get a closer estimate at other player's inventory, honor rating, guild, and other player information. The better the skill the better the chances of your information being right and you not being detected. Characters with high Judgement can catch other Spying characters.
- Spying: adding more to this skill will raise chances of success of spying between another players' conversations. It will also lessen the chances of detection. Another character with high Judgement skill might catch you.
Starting in a new world
A world is definitive of a server. Each server will have its own 'Map' or 'World' hosted. Different servers could have different settings, different sizes, different block settings...etc
The way the servers would work would be exactly similar to the way servers work now. Admins would be required to enter a password to log in as an administrator and assure that the server is troll free, most of the time. Certain settings will not be changeable through the in-game Administrator Panel, but only through the main server files.
Each 'world', will have a world map. Something like this:
The world will basically be considerably larger than the size of a current multiplayer map and will only have enough space for a certain number of players (I'm assuming somewhere between 200-400). Each player will be logged via their Warband key and so no duplicates will be allowed. Each Mount & Blade 2 copy will grant access to one character at each server that is up and running.
As you can see, each 'World' will have a number of cities. Each city will have property (taverns, houses, storage space, stables, forgeries, markets) for sale, and will have certain NPC's (merchants, bards, regular townsfolk) walking around in them. I will post more about how each city's control is determined later.
1/2 Cities will always be NPC run, and would be a 'safe-haven' for all players. The rest of the cities would initially be NPC run, but can be captured through buying property, or getting sufficient honor rating and having a big enough guild/following.
The world needs to have more open space, than closed city space.
Cities would generally be seen as places of non-combat, or a no-aggression zone. Outside of cities, its all for themselves. This will spawn things like Bandit Guilds, and maybe even Manhunter Guilds.
A player will pick a 'spawn' city to start, that can be changed to another city during gameplay, for a price. Your 'home' city determines what sort of armor you start the game with. Certain cities may favor a certain culture, or certain style of battling/doing business, and so each city will be unique in its own way. If you are knocked unconscious somewhere, you will be returned to your home city.
As each player starts, he/she will have a dedicated storage space in their home city. This is where they can leave inventory that CANNOT be stolen, or looted off them at any time. The size of your storage space is determined by your Inventory Management skill, which also determines how much off your stuff you can carry with you.
Game interface
Each player will be able to access their Inventory, Quests, Character, Forging and Actions tabs. These would be positioned at the bottom of the screen at all times, and can be accessed via hot-keys. There should also be an option to hide these.
Each one will bring up an in-game menu that allows the player to do certain things. Be it arranging your inventory, or accessing your skills, the player should be able to do it on the go, with little to no-hassle.
The combat system, doesn't really need to be changed, but adding actions, that can be accessed through an action list is important. A player should be able to begin construction on an item, or even do things like Spy, Hide, or Camp (an option that heals the player but requires a certain resource to star the campfire).
[More coming tomorrow, for now, give me your input]
- Disclaimer
- Minor Suggestion: Dynamic Environments
- Minor Suggestion: In-game cinematic editor
- Main Suggestion: Persistent Multiplayer
Disclaimer
Okay, before I start this gigantic wall of text, let me give you some background as to who I am.
I've been playing Mount & Blade since good old 0.6xx. I've seen the changes, experienced Beta, and still play the game today in both the single player and multiplayer game modes.
As I now hear of a 'Project Obvious', its hard not to get lost in the world of suggestions that people have made. Things like dual-wielding, secondary attacks and other suggestions that have received mixed reactions from the community. Some of these suggestions are really good, others lack what it takes to make into the game in my opinion. This leads me into this final introductory point; these are my opinions and my suggestions. Like them or hate them it doesn't really make a difference, but I'm hoping the dev's will take a serious look at this and give some feedback. As for you veterans in this community, I'm also looking forward to all your feedback.
My suggestions, however, will not be directed at the actual combat of Mount & Blade, as I think the actual combat itself is simple enough yet allows for complicated duels and a very competitive style of play while still maintaining a very intuitive 'feel' of the overall system.
In terms of gloss, over-all polish and graphics, I'm sure the developer team is way more capable of knowing what fits their engine than we do and hope to see new graphical elements in Mount & Blade: 2 that speak for themselves.
The format of this post is going to include 2 minor suggestions, one related to the aesthetic side of the game, the other more of a developer/enthusiast tool. The core of this suggestion is the Persistent Multiplayer, so you can skip the first both sections if you're not interested in them.
Suggestion: Dynamic Environments
The fact that everything in Mount & Blade feels 'stiff' is something that no one can really deny. Be it the absence of wind, the rigidity of animations or the lack of face animations. (The latter not really being a major factor)
I think its important to have destructible elements in the environment. Trees that can be cut down, breakable barricades, fences, you name it. If its made of wood, you should be able to break it apart.
This includes things like ladders and siege towers in siege fights.
Another element that really needs attention is horses.
Horses need to feel and look like living creatures.
This can be achieved through making horses go out of control for a short period of time, a time when the rider is forced to just sit on the horse and wait for it to calm down; this would occur when you run into a fence, tree, or another horse.
Furthermore, adding a siege engine mechanic, with parabolic projectiles that have blast/radius damage would help improve the siege experience. Adding things like mannable-Scorpions on the walls of multiplayer maps will also add an interesting element to said maps.
The final comment is regarding to cloth motion in the game. A wind system that affects banners, capes, and flags would be interesting, but again, this is the aesthetic section and isn't the core of this post.
Suggestion: In-game cinematic editor
Its great that we get to play around with Edit Mode in the game currently.
However, recording Mount & Blade gameplay for personal videos, and mainly Youtube, can be a difficult task.
This needs to be addressed in two ways:
1- Making more spectator cameras available for players, including a mode that hides gold markers, timers, faction scores, and all other text/scoreboard elements to produce a purely cinematic viewpoint of the battlefield.
2- Adding an in-game feature to record gameplay, while in this spectator mode.
Seeing that Mount & Blade causes issues with most on-screen recorders, producing HQ Mount & Blade footage (which is, in my humble opinion, the best advertisement for this game) can be tough. Especially with things like audio/visual sync issues, and random frame drops while recording.
Suggestion: Persistent Multiplayer
As it stands, Mount & Blade has a plethora of game modes to chose from. Be it Siege, Battle, Capture the Flag, Duel..etc or the Single Player and Custom Battle game modes.
A big suggestion and dare I say a very touchy topic has always been the idea of an MMO designed Mount & Blade, with a persistent world and real-time servers.
There are several threads discussing this topic, and many would probably have similar ideas to the one I discuss in this thread, but I do not think any of them will go into as much detail as the detail presented here.
Here goes;
The Game Mode
The suggestion is basically a game mode where the player has a first/third person perspective, similar to a perspective that you would have while playing a Siege battle or a regular field battle...etc
Players would be able to walk around a free world, that is hosted on one server. Different servers could represent different 'world maps' and can be purchased/rented just like we do now with regular Multiplayer Servers.
Through mods like cRPG, the idea of leveling up a character, buying weapons, and then going on and fighting others with that character has been realized. What is needed in this game-mode is a better implementation of the idea. Inventory tabs, Skill tabs, Quest tabs..etc similar to those found in Single Player would be implemented during this real-time game mode.
A player can choose what he/she does in the world, and must find ways to level up his/her character and get to know the world contained in that server.
The most important thing here is that most of the actions that occur in this world must be human driven. Most quests (non-starter quests, which help players get used to the system) would be player based. Things like sending messages to other players, collecting debts, requesting money, would all be quests that players can set and offer for other players. This isn't only limited to quests, but also to guilds. Guild/Clan making would be player driven, and a certain guild can grasp control of one of the cities by buying x% of its property. A clan that controls a city in a world can now do things like assign enemies, set prices, and establish trade directly with other cities who could be either NPC, or human run.
The idea here is to present the player with near total freedom, and present consequences to your actions. Lets start out with the actual start of the game mode; creating your character.
Character creation
- Pick name and gender for your character.
- Choosing the background and upbringing.
You can see in the screenshot that I've added a box to the right that actually tells the player what each option would do to his/her character (upon highlighting the option). I think its more important to expose these things as opposed to having a player dig through them in the Manual or some walk-through. Clear is best. Adding more options is always welcome.
- Choosing a banner, if needed.
Instead of what you see in this screen shot, an in-game banner editor has been an excellent suggestion, and was presented many times. I'd like to see one at this screen, so that each Banner can be at least somewhat unique. Banners should also be changeable upon joining a guild.
- Looks and Traits
Another important thing is the attribute/skill system. Some skills would have to be changed, others added, here is a comprehensive list:
Green is new.
Red is removed.
Blue is altered.
Non-mentioned items are left as is.
- Looting: this would now determine how many items you can loot of a killed enemy at a time. (more about this later)
- Trainer: this skill shouldn't be in the Persistent Multiplayer game-mode.
- Tracking: this would allow the player to track the movement of any other player in a given spot. The better the skill the longer the report. Early levels would be able to track within an hour, while higher levels can track other players for several hours and maybe even up to a day.
- Tactics: this skill shouldn't be in the Persistent Multiplayer game-mode.
- Path-finding: this skill will determine how well your character can read maps.
- Spotting: this skill would be deterministic of a spotting radius that allows the player to spot another hidden player. Lower levels of this skill would only expose hidden enemies that are say, 10 meters away, the higher the skill, the better the spotting range.
- Wound Treatment: this skill will allow you to heal yourself, and others and will determine the rate of healing.
- Surgery: this skill shouldn't be in the Persistent Multiplayer game-mode.
- First-Aid: this skill determines how much of your character's health is restored after you are knocked unconscious.
- Engineer: this skill determines how long it takes for your character to build siege equipment, ladders, and carts. (more on this later)
- Prisoner Management: this skill shouldn't be in the Persistent Multiplayer game-mode.
- Leadership: this skill now determines the ability to start a guild. (more on guilds later)
- Trading: this new skill determines how much of the local/set taxes does your character pay when purchasing NPC items.
- Forging: this new skill determines how quickly it takes for your character to forge their own weapons. (more on this later)
- Judgement: this skill allows you to get a closer estimate at other player's inventory, honor rating, guild, and other player information. The better the skill the better the chances of your information being right and you not being detected. Characters with high Judgement can catch other Spying characters.
- Spying: adding more to this skill will raise chances of success of spying between another players' conversations. It will also lessen the chances of detection. Another character with high Judgement skill might catch you.
Starting in a new world
A world is definitive of a server. Each server will have its own 'Map' or 'World' hosted. Different servers could have different settings, different sizes, different block settings...etc
The way the servers would work would be exactly similar to the way servers work now. Admins would be required to enter a password to log in as an administrator and assure that the server is troll free, most of the time. Certain settings will not be changeable through the in-game Administrator Panel, but only through the main server files.
Each 'world', will have a world map. Something like this:
The world will basically be considerably larger than the size of a current multiplayer map and will only have enough space for a certain number of players (I'm assuming somewhere between 200-400). Each player will be logged via their Warband key and so no duplicates will be allowed. Each Mount & Blade 2 copy will grant access to one character at each server that is up and running.
As you can see, each 'World' will have a number of cities. Each city will have property (taverns, houses, storage space, stables, forgeries, markets) for sale, and will have certain NPC's (merchants, bards, regular townsfolk) walking around in them. I will post more about how each city's control is determined later.
1/2 Cities will always be NPC run, and would be a 'safe-haven' for all players. The rest of the cities would initially be NPC run, but can be captured through buying property, or getting sufficient honor rating and having a big enough guild/following.
The world needs to have more open space, than closed city space.
Cities would generally be seen as places of non-combat, or a no-aggression zone. Outside of cities, its all for themselves. This will spawn things like Bandit Guilds, and maybe even Manhunter Guilds.
A player will pick a 'spawn' city to start, that can be changed to another city during gameplay, for a price. Your 'home' city determines what sort of armor you start the game with. Certain cities may favor a certain culture, or certain style of battling/doing business, and so each city will be unique in its own way. If you are knocked unconscious somewhere, you will be returned to your home city.
As each player starts, he/she will have a dedicated storage space in their home city. This is where they can leave inventory that CANNOT be stolen, or looted off them at any time. The size of your storage space is determined by your Inventory Management skill, which also determines how much off your stuff you can carry with you.
Game interface
Each player will be able to access their Inventory, Quests, Character, Forging and Actions tabs. These would be positioned at the bottom of the screen at all times, and can be accessed via hot-keys. There should also be an option to hide these.
Each one will bring up an in-game menu that allows the player to do certain things. Be it arranging your inventory, or accessing your skills, the player should be able to do it on the go, with little to no-hassle.
The combat system, doesn't really need to be changed, but adding actions, that can be accessed through an action list is important. A player should be able to begin construction on an item, or even do things like Spy, Hide, or Camp (an option that heals the player but requires a certain resource to star the campfire).
[More coming tomorrow, for now, give me your input]
