Angela Wu
Game/Level Designer
Oasis - Mount & Blade Ⅱ Bannerlord Modding Kit
Project Summary
Oasis is a custom village battle map of Mount & Blade. The battle will happen in a village which is in a desert oasis. The player can play the attacker or the defender to play the game. When the player spawns at the edge of the village, there will be multiple attack routes for the attacker to choose. When the player is the defender, will spawn in the village, and the player needs to defend against the attack by defending a few chock points.
Engine: M&B Ⅱ Modding Kit
Game: M&B Bannerlord
Download here:
Show-off Video
Synopsis
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2 main battle fields
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3 main attack/defense routes
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1 customize village space
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4 seasons views
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2 different daytime could choose
In-Game Screenshots
Design Oasis Theme Battlefields
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Player can choose to play as attacker or defender.
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Three designed attacker routes and two chock point set for defender.
"Oasis" is in the center of an oasis in the desert. The terrain is lower than the surrounding area and surrounded by mountains. Players can use some high terrain to give full play to the advantages of archers. At the same time, in the center of the town, the terrain is flat and there are two relatively open design battle points, which can accommodate soldiers from both sides to fight fiercely. In “Oasis”, both the attacker and the defender will have some designed routes and their respective advantages. Players need to think about strategies and play their advantages.
The offensive and defensive sides have different ways to fight, and there is more than one way to enter the town. And each method has a way to deal with it. For example, if the defender stays in place, the attacker can sneak attack from behind.
Branch choice dialogue
Seasonal and Daytime Visual Interests
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Player can choose four seasons to play.
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Set point lights as a conveyance at a night time scene.
You can choose from four seasons in Oasis, spring, summer, fall, and winter. They show the changes that different seasons bring to the village; in winter, the whole village will be covered with snow, and in autumn, all the plants will dry up.
Plants change at different seasons
At the same time, different views will be shown to players at other times. The endless deserts and the undulating mountains can be seen in the daytime. Feel the beauty of the desert oasis. However, at night, lights illuminate the city, with candles enshrined in the central pool illuminating the battlefield area. The lights also play a role in a conveyance; players can follow the fire to the main battle area.
Change day time to night time
Use Terrain to Build Advantages and Disadvantages
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Set up and down terrain, which brings more strategies for combat.
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Using mountains to create a natural flow to connect the hills.
The terrain has ups and downs, which is conducive to the advantages of different arms. For example, archers are very suitable for attacking from high positions. And high terrain can bring better vision, and there is not only one of these highlands, so that both the defender and the offense have a chance to reach high and low, which is relatively fair.
Terrain screenshots
Post-Mortem
What went well
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Successfully combined oasis elements with the battlefield. Use markets or arches to create chock points.
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A good balance of offense and defense. I design three main lines in my design, and they have advantages and disadvantages.
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Use the terrain to design different strategies for the player to use.
What went wrong
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The behavior of the AI is hard to predict, which makes it difficult for me to get accurate feedback when testing.
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Due to the unstable engine tool, it sometimes will fail to save progress, which will lead to reworks.
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Build the navmesh too early, and in the later stage change some geo, I need spend lots of time to redo the navmesh.
What I learned
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Before using the new game engine, we can look for some custom maps as a reference, you can quickly understand the functions that this engine can achieve.
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When making levels with unstable engines, remember to save files in time and make backups.
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If the engine needs to create a navmesh manually, it must first make a few necessary ones. Especially in the early milestone, and then refine.
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Levels with massive AI battles require a lot of testing. For example, in the early design of the level, I made the two chock points very narrow, and then it would get stuck under the test of more soldiers, affecting the fluidity.