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Go inside the world of Knights of Honor with BlackSeaStudios Vesselin Handjiev
“For the first time we are giving the player a ‘virtual’ throne”
During the medieval era, the fate of the known world was often determined by the battles fought between kingdoms.
While the reality of that time frame was not as glamorous as some would portray it, there still lingers a fascination with the world and those who fought to control it.
A host of games have focused on that era, portraying the world and the challenge to control it in a richly rendered strategic format. But what would have happened if one kingdom had the knowledge and temerity to try to conquer the world. Who would stand against him, or her?
Well, perhaps now is the time to find out. Developer Black Sea Studios and publisher Sunflowers Interactive are gearing up for a second quarter 2004 release of Knight of Honor, a real-time strategic game based in the medieval European kingdoms.
As stated on the official Web site, game features include: Knights can transfer more than 25 abilities such as leadership and dread to troops and realms; strategic world-view combines with a detailed close-up-view to bring you the biggest map ever seen in a strategy game; special abilities can be boosted with fame points gathered through honorable deeds and experience; more than 70 accurate realms and 40+ gameplay; relevant structures to build; unique economic system for global resource management objectives; troop-based combat concept with four experience levels; more than 25 different military units and siege equipment; combat features a nice selection of local units such as Teutonic Champion, English Longbowman or Normans; defend and conquer a great variety of customizable castles with different siege engines such as trebuchet, siege towers and battering rams; extensive diplomatic capabilities through easy to use proposal-interface including agreements; edicts and espionage; three historical entry points with different single- and multiplayer modes.
Vesselin Handjiev, of BlackSeaStudios, took time to talk to GameZone.com about this pending title.
Question: Tell us a little about the premise of Knights of Honor?
Vesselin: Knights of Honor is an Empire Conquering Simulation in Real Time. The player rules over one of the European medieval Kingdoms as he makes his way towards the ultimate victory – becoming the most powerful and the only Lord in all of Europe.
Q: Will players be involved in micro-managing their kingdoms or does the game lean a little heavier towards diplomacy and/or warfare?
Vesselin: There’s no need for micromanagement. All aspects of the game were designed to be entertaining, whether you have a single Castle or if you actually possess half of the continent. There is plenty of time for the player to think about his strategy and tactics, to lead battles as in a traditional RTS (if he prefers to do that instead of allowing his Knights to command the battle for him) or to perform diplomatic moves for good.
Diplomacy is actually one of the many possible ways for the player to affect all of Europe, and to plan his moves in such a way that no one will backstab him in the North while he is fighting in the South, for example. It is important to explain that everything you do in KoH actually influences the game world. For example, when you plunder your neighbor’s farms, you not only anger him, some of his friends will get upset and they may even rise to defend the weaker fellow. We made the diplomacy-related features very easy to use and learn. The player won’t need to look at the manual at all, to be able to really fit diplomacy into his strategy.
But don’t forget that we also have potent features related to medieval Espionage, which can be considered the “other side of the diplomacy coin.”
Q: Can players level their warriors and what types of units will they be able to field?
Vesselin: Yes! However, we have two different kinds of characters related to warfare in the game. First there are the regular soldiers who form the armies. Second, you cannot have an army without a leader; the leaders are your Knights. You can grant land to your Knights, so they govern your Castles and defend them when things get harder. Also, you can assign some of the Knights available to you to lead your armies. In both cases, either as General or Governor (of course, we call that Count or Earl or whatever title they use in each specific region in Europe) each Knight has 3 special skills that affect their performance. Each skill has 3 levels for you to develop. The cost you have to pay for doing this is a special resource called “Fame” and actually represents your achievements and performance as a King. So, basically, performing better will bring you more Fame (or make you more famous). Then, one of the places where you can spend your Fame is in improving your Knights.
For the rank and file soldiers it’s quite different. They have four levels of experience (rookie, regular, elite and veteran) and they learn by themselves, depending on your performance in warfare. So winning battles, fighting rebels and conquering castles (either by siege or assault) means gaining experience more quickly for your troops. There are more features connected and related to army troops’ experience. For example, training troops in more developed Castles will pop them up to higher levels than just rookie. Also, there are Knights’ skills and Kingdom Advantages related to army experience.
There are more than 25 units with variances for all the different regions in Europe. For example, you have a Scottish highlander in Scotland, a Longbowman in Wales and south England; Vikings are exactly where you expect to find them, etc. I’d like to point out that we are putting a lot of effort into making the units really different. We have seen enough games featuring hundreds of units, which do not differ at all.
Q: What do you think is the continued fascination with the medieval period of history?
Vesselin: Have you ever thought about why JRR Tolkien set the “Lord of the Rings” in some kind of medieval period? With swords and bows used everywhere? I think it is because of the heroic taste of those times. Fighting with a sword requires being a hero. Shooting with guns doesn’t! As Arthur C. Clarke said “The most terrible feature of the gun-powder weapons is that they give courage to the coward.” So, I think the Medieval period will remain forever one of the most fascinating periods in history and in Knights of Honor we tried to put the player in one of the “coolest” positions – that of the King.
Q: Does this game feature original music? If so, who is responsible? How does the music capture the feel of the era?
Vesselin: The music is composed for Knights of Honor by Black Sea Studios’ composer Borislav Slavov (call him Glorian and he would kiss you for that). All the tunes, instruments, choirs (there are choirs as well) are combined to fit the players’ mood, picture on the screen and the rest of the sound effects. It is dynamic, and changes throughout the game. Also, we are very proud that some really old instruments took place in the tracks.
Within the next few days we’ll have some cool stuff on our Web site www.knights-of-honor.net. And it has something to do with music.
Q: What graphics engine does this game use?
Vesselin: The engine is tailored to the concept of Knights of Honor and it’s based on Black Sea Studios’ technology that we call CBL. The engine features 2D anti-aliased images, 3D terrain and a pretty wide selection of on-screen and in-screen effects.
Q: What is unique or different about this title that will allow it to stand out from other games in the genre?
Vesselin: Well, I do not know about any other Empire Conquering Simulations in Real Time?! When you play Knights of Honor, it feels like playing Civilization, but in Real Time, in medieval times, with beautiful graphics and the option to “dive” into the world and look at it from a closer perspective and of course, a lot more action. For the first time we are giving the player a “virtual” throne, so he can rule over his lands in peace and war, in wealth and misery.
Q: What sort of multiplayer options will gamers have?
Vesselin: It is intended to be quick, adrenaline filled and re-playable – Arena of some kind. It features historical battles as well as a skirmish mode. One of the battles will be, for instance “The Battle of Hastings.” But also there will be open field battles, Castle Defense, Castle Assault, etc. If you ask about multiplayer in Europe – I’d say that engine is designed to handle it. We will not implement it for now, but for the future – we will decide.
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