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Hello everyone, I'm Tegus, one of the programmers working on Crusader
Kings II. Welcome to the fifth dev diary for CK2 and the first one written
by me. In today's dev diary I'm going to talk a bit about the map and why
we've chosen to implement a new one in CK2.

As you all know, in our games the map is an important tool for both
displaying information and setting the mood of the game. In HoI3 we had a
grayish map that we felt was appropriate for a war game. We took this map
and altered it slightly when making Victoria 2, but this time the map was
drawn with vivid colors to portray the progress of the era. The next game to
use the map was Divine Wind because we all felt that EU3 was in need of a
graphical face lift. While this map technology looked good in the
mentioned games, there were certain technological limitations which we
wanted to improve upon or get rid of.

With CK2, we have devoted time to rewrite the graphics code for the map
from scratch. We are back to a pure 3D map similar to the one used in EU3:
Rome. We have visible topology and you will be able to rotate the world
around the way you please. While neither the technology nor the art assets
are in any way final, we do feel that the new map already has great
potential and is a big step in the right direction towards our visual
goals. Hopefully this new tech will also span multiple games, so we
can steadily improve it.

crusader_kings_2_devdiary_5_ss1.jpg

To be fair, if I would describe what we have done with the map so far, it
would just be sentence after sentence of technical mumbo-jumbo, so I'll
spare you the details. Let's instead focus on what visual details that
have been improved and what we want to add before the game is shipped.

We've improved the looks of the water significantly and added refraction
so you can actually see topology under the ocean surface. Aerie has taken
the time to find real-world topology data(although we've exaggerated it
somewhat), it definitely gives a cool feel to the terrain. Borders have
also gotten some love and now use a new system which enables us to make
them much smoother. Much of the previous jaggedness is gone. We've also
begun to implement and test a more detailed lighting model, which we will
continue to improve upon until we release the game. Another cool
feature(which isn't really part of the map) are the units, whose tabards
now show the heraldic flag of the unit leader.

crusader_kings_2_devdiary_5_ss2.jpg

But there are still some things which we're missing. We need trees and
rivers. We need to add province names and realm names, which exist in all
our latest games. I'd like to add more information to borders, so borders
between two realms are colored by the realms' respective colors. There are
of course lots of more things we want to do, but I won't spill the beans
just yet.

crusader_kings_2_devdiary_5_ss3.jpg

All in all, we are very happy with the way the new map is coming along.
Hopefully you will enjoy it as well once you get to play the game!

Fredrik Zetterman, Deluxe programmer, currently working on Crusader Kings
II
 
I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, but will we be able to easily see counties and duchies?
Or rather, who they belong to. CK1 of course showed us the coat of arms on the map, but CK2 seems to have ditched that system. I hope it's not going to be the same as in sengoku, which had a really confusing map imho.
 
The map is pretty much set in stone now. Changing maps this late in a project is not something you'd ever want to do.

I understand completely. I have one small request, though, which only requires renaming provinces, not changing the borders. The province called "Naumadal" in Norway is actually the real world province of Trøndelag. In the game, the real world area of "Sogn" and "Møre og Romsdal" is called "Trøndelag", but is not a part of Trøndelag in reality. One big tell is that the Trondheimsfjord does not lie inside Trøndelag in the game. But Trondheim, which is the capital of Trøndelag lies at the Trondheimsfjord in reality.

I suggest renaming Naumadal to Trøndelag and moving Trondheim there, and also renaming what is now called Trøndelag to Sogn or Møre. It would be much appreciated. At least if it could be done in some future patch.
 
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Personally I find 3-d maps distracting. Distracting both in the manner that it adds nothing to my game experience while taxing my less-than-perfect eyesight, and distracting because I'm always left with the thought, "They spent their time on this?!?" I'm a gamer from the old Avalon Hill boardgame era, map is a utilitarian necessity for the game, not a selling point. I'd be interested in why those that like the 3-d map like it so much. What does it do for you?

+1

THIS! is so true. I hate graphics-mania. Every new game (not just paradox or strategies for that matter) seem to focus too much on graphics because they are something that can be easily and measurably improved instead of focusing MOSTLY on things that matter like gameplay.
 
And just because... :)

Did I mention how much I dislike sprites? All those little soldiers marching across the map in screen shot #2? Its like CK2 is trying to be a FPS. I really hope there is a option to use counters instead. I literally would be inclined not to buy the game if I have to watch all those little guys marching about the map. If I do buy CK2 it will be in spite of the features in this DD, not because of it.

I must agree once again. In a strategy game an attempt to produce any sort of eye-candy is ultimately lead to a fail.

Counters, 2D ...thank you!
 
I can't say I'm a fan of the rotating map even though I do like the map itself even if it is a bit featureless (despite topography). The rotation function seems a bit pointless and I never used it in Rome (after trying it). I couldn't see any practical use for it.

Couldn't agree more, it just takes up developer time and slows down the game.
They should be focusing more on PRACTICAL instead of 'cool' stuff.
 
Couldn't agree more, it just takes up developer time and slows down the game.
They should be focusing more on PRACTICAL instead of 'cool' stuff.
I think you guys are missing the point. 3D map and sprites doesn't take away developer time because they have a team, not one guy. The sprite artist isn't wasting coding time. I don't hear you complaining that the soundtrack slows down game development. The 3D map allows you to offload some processing power from CPU to GPU.* The 3D map means you can mod the map, and quite easily, which wasn't really possible in EU2. The 3D map means you can run the game in any resolution and not one or two hard coded resolutions. The 3D map means you can run the game at any zoom level and not one or two hard coded zoom levels. The 3D map means you can easily implement new map modes with coloured overlays, stripes, whatever you want, providing yet more information to the player visually. I'm sure there's more advantages other than "it's cool".


* It only slows the game down if you have an ancient computer. What slows Paradox games down these days, compared to say EU2, is the tons and tons of MTTH events.
 
I must agree once again. In a strategy game an attempt to produce any sort of eye-candy is ultimately lead to a fail.

Counters, 2D ...thank you!

Please forgive me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure CKI had 2D sprites, not counters. The sprites in that game 'walked' across the map in a similar way to how 3D sprites do, only in 2D.

Also, Paradox have had 3D sprites in numerous games now (EU3, HOI3, Victoria 2 but to name a few) and those games, at least in my opinion, have been very successful (or at least any negatives have not been attributed to the sprites).
 
After the last patch the new map is gorgeous. Beautiful.

What i still dont like is the EU series like single man armies, they are too huge compared to the rest of the map.
What i really miss from Knights of Honour was the display of your armies. Besides the big Knight on a horse you could
see small units which showed you the consistency of your army. It looked neat, seeing if it consists only of cavalry or
also some pikemen and arrow units. Ah well, cant be changed for this version anyway, so maybe the future.
So, map great, single man armies bahh. Looks like the game Risk or chess. I will love this game anyway.

EDIT: So while the single man armies were perfect for the first two EU games, as the map looked pretty much like
Risk/chess as well, i dont think the idea of huge single man armies roaming the map fits with the idea of 3d and having
a really beautiful map compared to the EU series. Just my 2 cents....
I know it doesnt matter that much for this game as for KoH but it looked nice.
 
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