Adorno says. With each version of
the mod more novel features were
added, like naval combat and a
religious system. The latter is such an
important system that Ibidil says he
can’t imagine the mod or resulting
DLC, Viking Conquest, without it.
The mod grew from a historically
set alternative to Warband, to a
distinct game with novel features,
options, and challenges. For this, the
team needed more talent. “It’s also
important to point out Brytenwalda
had many contributors, a long list of
other modders whose work was
incorporated into Brytenwalda—
sometimes at the request of users/
fans,” Adorno says.
Fans weren’t the only people
paying attention to Brytenwalda,.
Just as it was hitting peak popularity,
Cem Çimenbiçer from TaleWorlds
approached the mod team with a
proposition—‘Why don’t you turn
this into an official DLC?’ And so the
Brytenwalda mod team turned
into Brytenwalda Studios.
Immediately, the group’s dynamic
changed. Previously it’d been a
collection of fans, working in their
spare time; now they were
professionals contracted to perform
and deliver regular work and status
updates. Compounding this shift was
the decision to not just adapt the mod
into DLC, but use it as a basis to
create an entirely new experience. “I
did not want to repeat,” Ibidil says.
Brytenwalda became Viking Conquest.
Thankfully, TaleWorlds was
supportive, with Motomataru
describing the studio as “informal,
friendly, and trusting”, adding, “I was
surprised by how much support they
gave us with additional operators into
the engine and modifications for the
pathing, etc.”
However when Viking Conquest
launched, fans realized it wasn’t the
expansion they were hoping for. “We
overestimated what we would be able
to reach,” Caesar explains. Even
fans themselves, they knew this
period was make-or-break for the
team. They worked tirelessly creating
updates for Viking Conquest.
Seven months after Viking
Conquest’s release the team finished
the Reforged Edition, a patch that
eradicated the bugs. It took hard
work, and an honest confrontation of
all that had hindered the devs when
making the DLC, including a
discussion of their vision and scope.
This paid off, and the reviews on
Steam have nearly all been positive.
Brytenwalda began as a solo
passion project, but snowballed into a
multinational team of devs with an
official piece of content for a belovedgame. Ibidil and his team showed
that developers, modders, and players
inhabit not a strict hierarchy, but a
close-knit ecosystem, in which
dedication, passion, and perseverance
leads to success. Today, the team is
working on unannounced projects,
with an aim to “produce new titles
from our company values of
immersion, complex stories, and
historical fidelity”.cutting features before release, the
extra systems took their toll. Fans and
the press were quick to point out the
bugs and stability issues the DLC’s
expanded scope brought about, and
its difficulty was enough to handicap
even veteran Warband players.
Caesar admits the step from free mod
to paid wasn’t handled as well as they
hoped, with “performance issues that
brought a lot of bad reviews, most of
them due to the big step we made
from the native game”.
“After all that process we certainly
learned a lot about keeping our
ambitions in the floor and not flying
to the sun,” Caesar continues. “After
that hard hit from the reviews, wefocused more on the quality of
features than the quantity.”COMMUNITY CONQUEST
One of the greatest virtues of any
creative person is to keep working on
a project despite setbacks and
criticism—a rocky launch doesn’t
signify a broken game. Brytenwalda
Studios knew that fans’ goodwill was
at stake, and, as a team made of upTHE BIG STEP UP FROM THE
NATIVE GAME HAD AN IMPACT
ON THE TEAMTOP: Viking
Conquest received a
reputation for its
tremendous
difficulty.ABOVE: An army of
Vikings prepares to
conquer and pillage.Mount and Blade
FEATURE