Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord Developer Blog Q&A

This week’s developer blog post for TaleWorlds Entertainment’s sandbox RPG Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord brings us an in-house Q&A with Ugurcan Orcun, the studio’s audio director. If you’re interested in a few insights into Bannerlord’s audio design, you should check it out. But first, here’s a short video with some fresh audio samples:

And a few questions:

WHAT DO YOU NORMALLY DO DURING YOUR DAY?

“As the only person handling all the audio tasks in the company, my daily duties vary a lot. I do sound design, game implementation, foley/field recording, voiceover recording, direction of music efforts, composing some extra music and most importantly, making sure every audible thing in the game world works as intended. So my ordinary day usually starts with playing the game itself and taking notes, then shuffling through my previous notes and feedback from the other teams to lay down a plan first. Sometimes I join other teams’ daily meetings to get feedback from them directly.

To be honest, it feels like I’m working on three individual games. One is a strategy game, played on campaign map and settlements, where the player needs headroom to focus on ongoing events and decisions. One is a medieval combat game packed with action, where the player’s emotions supported with solid music, good soundscape and satisfying fighting sounds. And the other one is Multiplayer, where we have slightly different definitions for fighting sounds, aimed for high-level play. Working on all of these is an ever-going, evolving process shaped by feedback, and there’s always some other detail needs to be polished. As a veteran M&B player and modder myself, I really want to make Calradia more lively, realistic and enjoyable to listen to in Bannerlord.”

WHAT DO YOU LIKE THE MOST ABOUT BANNERLORD?

“Since the day I first played Mount & Blade (who remembers Zendar?), I always fantasized about how living in Calradia would feel like. At one point, I found myself responsible for how it *sounds* like, and since that day, I’m working on fulfilling my childhood dream.”

WHAT’S THE MOST DIFFICULT THING THAT YOU SOLVED SO FAR, DURING THE PRODUCTION OF BANNERLORD?

“Playing literally THOUSANDS of sounds. In other games, it’s common practice to give a single “crowd” sound to groups of people or army formations. But in Bannerlord, where big battles are at the core of the game, we treat hundreds of NPCs as individuals. Handling these without burning up CPUs and while building up a satisfying ambience out of individual sounds was one of the hardest, but the most enjoyable work I’ve done.”

WHAT DO YOU CURRENTLY WORK ON?

“A few of the things I’m currently working on are: renewing UI sounds according to our new style, making our ambient sound systems practical to use for modders and recording some voiceovers.”