State of the Mod Address, Fall 2013: We're Almost There

[abou]

Salvete, cives Europae Barbarorum!

Today we have an incredibly exciting announcement to make: We are close to making an alpha release of our mod.

Europa Barbarorum II is a modification for the Medieval II: Total War expansion pack Kingdoms. Its setting is the Hellenistic world of 272 BC. Our goal is to make one of the most immerse and historically accurate experiences possible for players. For several years now, we have been working toward a first release and we are almost there.


What to expect?

EBII has been a long time coming. Everyone on the team knows that there will be very high expectations for it. We do hope this will be a great experience for those players; however, it should be known that this will be a very unpolished release. The effort required to modify M2:TW compared to Rome: TW is exponentially higher. This, combined with a relatively small pool of manpower, high member turnover and real life, has meant that completing the modification has taken much longer than any of us anticipated. This is especially true when taking into consideration the team's high standard of historical accuracy.

To that end, the team does plan to have all current factions playable in regards to units, recruitment, and governments. By no means will even these be final and there may be several placeholder descriptions and models. We do not intend to give a firm release date as we cannot guarantee that something catastrophic won't happen; however, we are pushing hard to make it soon.


What can be done to help?

In the next few weeks, the team will start looking for play-testers to search for bugs, historical errors, and balance issues. Longtime, trusted and motivated forum members, or those that can contribute to the modification in the future are those most likely to be selected. Our internal roadmap is aiming for a release a few months after play-testing.

We also have a list of several tasks that need to be completed. Once they are finished, working to polish the mod and improve it is the next step. Anyone with the skills to help in these areas, please apply.

- Scripting
- Traits
- 3D modelling (units and settlements)
- Animators
- 2D artists (eg. UI, icons, skins)
- Website

EBII is not finished yet – not by a long shot. We have so much more to do to make this the mod we want it to be. With this alpha release, we hope to generate the interest to help it grow by bringing back old players and create new ones. We just ask that the community waits a few more months. To sate you until then, here is some preview material of our populace buildings and units!



Valete!