Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord Developer Blog Q&A

This week’s developer blog post for TaleWorlds Entertainment’s sandbox RPG Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord features an in-house Q&A with Gökhan Şahin, one of Bannerlord’s 3D graphic artists who’s currently working on a bandit hideout scene that will act as a bit of tailored linear challenge for this otherwise free-roaming project. Here’s an excerpt:

WHAT DO YOU LIKE THE MOST ABOUT BANNERLORD?

“I’ve always been interested in medieval games. What I like the most about Bannerlord is the presentation of the medieval atmosphere in a profound and content way.”

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

“In all honesty, I haven’t faced any major problems throughout my time here (and I hope I won’t run into any in the future either!).”

WHAT DO YOU CURRENTLY WORK ON?

“I am currently working on a hideout scene for one of the nefarious bandit factions that roam Calradia. Contrary to other scenes, we design these scenes to be played in a linear fashion. The result of this approach is that players are guaranteed to experience compelling combat in these scenes. I think it goes without saying that challenging quests will be waiting for you there.”

WHAT FACTION DO YOU LIKE THE MOST IN BANNERLORD?

“Khuzait, without a shadow of a doubt. I’m attracted by their architecture, culture, and in particular, the different armours of their warriors. Besides that, I just really enjoy shooting arrows from horseback with my troops!”

DO YOU HAVE A POLY BUDGET FOR WEAPONS AND ARMOUR?

“Since we fight with a large number of troops on the battlefields of Bannerlord, this pushed us to determine not so much a hard limit, but a desired range for some models. For example, I tried to keep the range between 2500-3500 polygons for the crossbow you see in the image below.”