But that's OK in Warband, arrows that didn't find their mark would stick into the ground, or rocks, or trees, or shields.

Others opted for a more lightweight option a short bow and single quiver of simple barbed arrows would aid mobility, but you'd run out of arrows sooner. Some longbowmen opted to carry two full quivers of bodkin arrows to pierce armour at the expense of mobility, knowing the skilled pikeman by their side was one of the best in the game, and would never let them be charged down by cavalry, or outflanked by crossbow-carrying monks coming through the undergrowth. The first battle I joined contained around 120 players.Īll were in unique outfits and equipment, some in clans holding shields all adorned with beautiful (player-created) heraldry, some operating silently with crossbows from bushes, some riding sleek destriers and plated coursers past lines of archers whilst shouting voice commands in order to draw fire from the main body of their forces infantry. The first thing that struck me when I first joined a Warband server - other than how woefully unequipped my peasant seemed to be compared to other players - was the sheer volume of people fighting in the same battle. Was it going to be six, eight, maybe 12?!? Don't be ridiculous. The game I was working on at the time was to launch mainly on console, and as with most pre-launch console games with simultaneous multiplayer, various different teams and individuals were working tirelessly to allow us to support a higher number of players when we shipped. Technically absurd, in the best possible way What followed was several years of learning, community, discovery, and of course, enjoyment, which transcend anything I have personally experienced from a video game before or since. 'This is the best game ever made,' he opened, 'but you need the cRPG mod to really play it.' I eventually cracked and asked him what it was all about. '*Friend who normally plays really difficult games* has started playing Mount & Blade: Warband.' Many times, over and over, for weeks. I came across it how I suppose lots of us discovered games back then: Steam popup notifications. I was around 25 years old, working as crunchy functionality QA on a driving game in a medium-large team. Mount & Blade: Warband found me at an odd time of my life. This entry was contributed by John Nejady, technical producer at Coconut Lizard and veteran of Sumo Digital, Ubisoft, and CCP Games. Why I Love is a series of guest editorials on intended to showcase the ways in which game developers appreciate each other's work.

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