Paradox Development Studio - A Brief History

[Johan]

This post will contain all the history eventually, but for now its a work in progress..
For a quick briefing, read "Paradox: Past, present, and future" interview at Destructoid
http://www.destructoid.com/paradox-past-present-and-future-232917.phtml
http://www.destructoid.com/paradox-past-present-and-future-232917.phtml
For a quick overview of our games, check Paradox Development Studio at Metacritic:
http://www.metacritic.com/company/p...ons=games&num_items=30&sort_options=metascore

Paradox Development Studio Profile Video Tells The History of Historical Strategy

Project names

Epic - EU2
Dawn - Victoria 1
J - Eu3
Mayhem - HoI3
Regina - V2
Serpent - CK2
Glory - Sengoku
Eisenhower - March of the Eagles
Truman - EU4
Nero - Runemaster
Armstrong - HoI4
Augustus - Stellaris
Sulla - Imperator


We didnt really have a project name for Hoi1/HoI2, and I dont remember the v2, and rome codenames.. Does anyone recall?

The History
1995-1997

The studio began its life by developing the computer versions of Svea Rike, at an office in central Stockholm, as part of Target Games. In the autumn of 1997, the development of Europa Universalis I was started.

1998
In January, Johan Andersson was hired as the senior programmer, and the actual game development took off. The original team was a few people, including Linus Blomberg as graphics programmer, who later went on to found Avalanche Studios, and the producer was Henrik Standberg, who since then has worked on Atari and Turbine amongst others. Philippe Thibault was involved
The development of EU took longer than originally expected, and the game did not reach a fully playable alpha this year. The interface was redone multiple times, as well as the graphics to bring it up to par.
Svea Rike II was released late in November that year to the Swedish market.


1999
The studio is now a part of Paradox Entertainment, as Target Games restructures.
Dick Sjöström, Artist
Marcus Edström, Artist

2000
October 20 - German Release of Europa Universalis I
December 2000, Joakim 'Greven' Bergqwist was hired as designer

2001
March 14 - Europa Universalis I was released in the US.
September 2001, Henrik 'Doomdark' Fåhraeus was hired as Programmer
December 11 - Europa Universalis II was released in the US.

2002
November 24 - Hearts of Iron 1 released in the US

2003
January 10th, Jonas 'Bjering' Bjering was hired as programmer.
November - Victoria 1 is released worldwide

2004
March - Development of the Clausewitz Engine started.
April 20th - Thomas 'Besuchov' Johansson hired as Programmer.
April 23, Crusader Kings I is released in Europe
May 5th - Pontus 'aberg' Åberg was hired as a Programmer
August 16th - Florian 'Flori' Santer was hired as Supporting Developer
September 28, Crusader Kings I is released in North America

2005
May 5th, Adam '' Skoglund was hired as Programmer.
November 11th, Anna 'Chiwiss' Drevendal was hired as Scripter.

2006
April 25th, Christopher 'King' King was hired as QA.

2007
Due to lack of interest in Strategy Games, Adam, Dick & Marcus left to pursue other interests.
July, aberg left the company to have fun coding for banks.
July 23rd, Dan 'podcat' Lind was hired as Programmer, Jonas 'yonaz' Jakobsson was hired as artist & Mikael 'miqe' Olsson was hired as Artist.

2008
Jan 2nd, Boel 'Regina Bermann is hired to do PR.
December, Miqe left to move to Göteborg.

2009
January 7th, Fredrik 'Aerie' Toll was hired as artist.
August 3rd, Linda 'Kallocain' Kiby was hired as Community Manager
September 28th, Fredrik 'tegus' Zetterman is hired as Programmer & Olof 'Birken' Björk is hired as programmer.

2010
January 7th, Sara 'Solsara' Wendel-Örtqvist was hired as Scripter
October 4th, Niklas 'Captain Gars' Strid was hired as Scripter & Johan 'johanlerstrom' Lerström was hired as Programmer.
October 18th David 'Darkrenown' Ballantyne hired as Scripter

2011
Tomasz Kowalczyk
June 27th, Rikard 'Zoft' Åslund was hired as Programmer

2012
January 1st, Paradox Development Studio is now a separate company with their own identity!
January 2nd, Aline 'Adrenaline' Gladh was hired as Artist
March 1st, Jimmy 'Nusia' Rönn was hired as Programmer, Carsten 'Forzaa' Mannetje was hired as QA & Henrik 'Goosecreature' Eklund was hired as Scripter.
May 2nd, Niklas 'K-vald' Tampere was hired as QA
September 3rd, Daniel 'Hericage' Eriksson was hired as Programmer.


2013
January 14th, Martin 'Wiz' Anward was hired as Programmer, Kandra'Pallidum' Dahlgren was hired as DLC Manager, Mats 'Siderburnout' Virtanen was hired as Artist.
April 9th, Henrik 'groogy' was hired as Programmer, Andreas 'Jazzhole' Waldetoft was hired as Composer
June 3rd, Joakim 'Larre' Larsen was hired as Artist
September 3rd, Marcus 'marcusb' Beausang was hired as Programmer, Jonas 'mrop' Wickerström was hired as Programmer & Tobias'The Witch-King' Bodlund was hired as Scripter.
October 3rd, Alexander 'Alexivan' Ivannikov was hired as Programmer.
November 4th, Mario 'Mr.Nibbles' Lasan & Zeke 'TheLetterZ' Lugmair were hired as QA.

 

[Johan]

Sengoku was "project Glory"

Thanks

 

[Castellon]

At no point in my involvement in V2 was I aware of a codename.

Project "Shave Head"

 

[Captain Gars]

Lets cut to the important part:

October 4, 2010: Niklas Strid starts working as a scripter

 

[Kallocain]

I look forward to reading this, I just have a very shallow view of things that happened before I started.

And Gars... No way. August 2009.

 

[Castellon]

Let me blow your mind: I remember the Internet before there was Google.

Let me really blow your mind then and tell you I was on the Internet before DNS, real men did not need fancy names we used numbers dam it and we liked it.

 

[Kallocain]

Let me really blow your mind then and tell you I was on the Internet before DNS, real men did not need fancy names we used numbers dam it and we liked it.

Haha, nice! I only remembered some IP addresses that I used for troubleshooting DNS issues.

 

[Captain Gars]

So was the EU games just based on this Svea Rike board game? And if so, what's the history of that game in particular? Does PDS own the rights? If so, do they plan on making more?

No, EU was based on the boardgame Europa Universalis designed in the early nineties by Philippe Thibault (of AGEOD). But I believe some people involved in making the Svea Rike computer games also took part in making the EU computer game.

 

[Kallocain]

I guess this Thread is dead?

*Poke* Johan! Update! For Christ sakes you still have East vs. West Coming in Q2 2013! Plus only Victoria II: A House Divided expansion and Crusader King II: Sunset Invasion DLC. What do you have to do around here to get some PI history?

Sooo, I removed the list of games. I linked to the same list on the website instead, one that we actually update.
Regarding adding more to the history, that is really Johan's thing to do when he is at work and idle, and right now he is on vacation, so that is going to be a while more. I could fill in with stuff I know, but he is just up to 2007 and I didn't start until 2009, so that will have to wait!

 

[Aerie]

I look forward to reading this, I just have a very shallow view of things that happened before I started.

And Gars... No way. August 2009.

2009 was definitely THE year. 5 years, so fast.

Fun fact, when i started in 2009, i looked at the games and though, "what do I need to make these games look great", made a mental list, and started nagging about the things we NEED. 4 years late, we have Eu4, all the things I had on that list are now in. (Shadows, particle effects, smooth terrain, Normal-mapping, Units walking, etc)
So in many ways, Eu4 was the culmination of several years work, spanning multiple projects. I was really proud of Eu4 on release.

 

[Jazzhole]

I was hired 2013 april 2nd Johan.

Ive been working with paradox as a freelancer before that since 2004 I think. Loved every minute of it.

 

[Johan]

A very nice article!

I wonder what Paradox Entertainment's failed "ambitious free-to-play massively multiplayer first-person shooter" was... It says: "Had the title been completed it could have been revolutionary".

Warzone.. those guys working on it became a company called Avalance Studios..

 

[Kallocain]

I was hired 2013 april 2nd Johan.

Ive been working with paradox as a freelancer before that since 2004 I think. Loved every minute of it.

Added you.

Edit: and Regina!