I think they're seriously close to finishing Bannerlord

TaleWorlds have been telling us since 2016 that they think they're almost done with the game, yet it never seems to arrive. This time around though, we've got way more knowledge of what parts are and aren't done in the game. Previously, we had a limited list of features we knew were implemented because we'd seen them presented, but had no idea about everything else. Now however, with plenty of people getting to play a hands-on singleplayer demo, we have the inverse. We know that everything is pretty much done (subject to further polish) except for the set list of features that were excluded from the demo. When you look through that list, it's nothing too major, especially when you account for how we've already seen much of it. Stepping through each feature on the list:

Character Creation

This one we know is done. They explained that they excluded it for time reasons as the demo only goes for 30 mins per person and we saw it demonstrated in 2016. I'm sure it's had some updates, but it seems pretty safe to say this is complete in some form.

Sieges

We also saw these in 2016, so they can't require too much more work. Importantly, Callum said in the dev blog that they considered it extremely unlikely anybody would get to the point of joining a siege in 30 mins. Combine that with Armagan saying that they focused on polishing the features that would be of most use in the demo and the natural conclusion seems to be that they didn't put any focus into polishing sieges as they didn't expect them to be played and then they disabled them to be on the safe side as they weren't polished. I would not get worried that sieges are broken or anything.

Crafting

Also saw in 2016. I would expect similar logic to one of the above, maybe both. Maybe crafting is a later game feature for those who meet some criteria, or maybe they just didn't want players to spend 15 mins designing a sword and then realise they had 5 minutes left to use it on some looters. If it's the latter then maybe they've even finished polishing it already.

Kingdom/town management, scenes and companions

With kingdom and town management, the same logic as sieges applies, so I expect that these could be largely done. What's more exciting though (and why I've lumped these all in together) is that they're all module system level features. If you don't fully get what I mean by that, then let me explain Warband modding a little bit. In Warband, there are features that are hardcoded into the game engine and then there are features that are implemented in the module system. The module system is publicly available and we modders can play around with everything in it. Kingdom/town management, scenes and companions are all things we have full control over in the module system even in Warband, and we've been told repeatedly that we'll have control over much more in Bannerlord.

Perks

I didn't immediately include these in the above list because we don't know if they're moddable (a lot of skills aren't in Warband), however I find it extremely unlikely that they would keep this hardcoded with how much emphasis they've put on greater moddability in Bannerlord over the years, I'd put the probability that this fits with the above at 95%.

Overall, what I'm getting at here is it seems to me like TaleWorlds already have a complete game on their hands, they're just finishing up the Native module. That distinction might not seem like much to somebody who doesn't dabble in modding, but in a hypothetical scenario of everything they've done being leaked, it's the difference between "a talented studio of game developers could pick this up and finish it off" and "modders can fill in the gaps and you'll have the full experience". It means the stuff they have left isn't nearly as difficult as the stuff they've already completed, like developing a whole god damn engine from scratch in C++. Granted, developing a deep kingdom management system is nothing to be scoffed at, but something sufficient at least for version 1 or even early access can't be too far off.

It's also worth nothing that the list of excluded features isn't necessarily (or likely) exhaustive and all the included stuff is still subject to polishing and possible revamp (like with the campaign map), but that's pretty small potatoes compared to all the major stuff that's been demonstrated. I don't think there's anything I haven't talked about or that we haven't seen directly for which it would be a big deal if the game shipped without it. All in all, I think this Gamescom paints a really positive picture. They are pretty firmly in the stage of finishing the game, rather than it being perpetually in development. I'm seeing light at the end of the tunnel and I'm pretty excited about it. Early half of 2019 feels very realistic.

Submitted August 22, 2018 at 05:48AM by MitchPTI https://ift.tt/2wcRGTy