• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Greetings!

It’s a new year, and we thought it would be interesting to give all of you an update on the status of the team! There’s quite a few of us, and we hope you’ll enjoy this brief insight into who’s working on updates, fixes and exciting new content for your enjoyment!

My name is Carmille and I work as a Producer on CK3; I’ve been with the team for about one and a half years now. CK2 was one of my favorite games and the reason that I joined Paradox to begin with, so naturally I am feeling quite blessed to work on the project :)

Firstly, an announcement! It has been decided that Alexander Oltner (aka @rageair) will be stepping up as the new Game Director for the project! Alexander is the (now former) Design Lead for CK3, and has spent many years designing features for both CK2 and CK3. He started at the company in 2015 and, if you’ve tuned in to any of the pre-release streams or interviews, you surely know who he is already. Long-term fans might even recognize him as the lead designer behind Holy Fury for CK2, or perhaps you’ve seen him in one of the many past Dev Clashes. We have full confidence that Alex will be able to take up the reins and steer the project towards a bright future! The former Game Director, Henrik Fåhraeus (known on the forums as Doomdark), is ascending the ranks and will instead act as the Creative Director for many titles, CK3 included.

With that said, let's move on to the team itself!
You might think that with the release of the base game, the amount of people working on the project would be reduced. We’re actually doing the exact opposite, and are in the process of expanding the team instead! This will give us a lot more flexibility and freedom and should allow us to work on several different things at the same time.
Naturally, we need to train and onboard our new team members so it is not something we can start with straight away, but our hope is that you will see the effects within a not so distant future.

Now, how many are actually working on CK3 and what are they doing?

The team is made up of many different disciplines, working together to create amazing experiences! We’ll go into more details on each of them below.

Producer

We have four people working in Production (myself included). Our job is to help the team bring the design to life and into your hands. We do this by setting up (and iterating upon) processes and workflows, identifying deadlines and milestones, making plans to hit those dates while staying in good shape and ensuring that everybody knows what to do. We can often be seen grooming CK3s task and bug database and making sure everything is according to plan, up to date and representative of the current situation as well as spending a lot of time looking at numbers in spreadsheets.

Game Design

Our Game Designer is working very closely together with the Game Director. Their focus is split between what is currently being developed and nailing down the design for future expansions. They can very frequently be seen playing the game as it is being developed and make tweaks or highlight areas of concern so that the feature feels as great in the game as it looks on paper.

UX Design

Just like Game Design, our two UX Designers have their focus split between what is happening in the game right now and what is being designed for future expansions. UX Design and Game Design work closely together and make sure that new features are both fun and user friendly. They focus on interactions and user interface, although they can often be seen giving feedback on when something just doesn’t feel intuitive.

Content Design

Although the two previously mentioned design disciplines can sometimes be seen creating content for features as they are being developed, it's the Content Designers that create the vast majority of it. We have eight Content Designers working on CK3, and unlike the other two Design disciplines, they are almost entirely focused on working with what’s being developed in the game here and now. They pride themselves on creating historically plausible content, and will spend a lot of their time researching something before it is being put into the game. They are skilled scripters and writers and very passionate about ensuring that all features have a soul made out of supportive events, decisions, interactions, etc.

Code

There are seven Programmers and two Tech Leads working on CK3. The Tech Leads are responsible for the overall technical health and spend a lot of their time setting up (and iterating upon) processes and best practices for the project. They play a major part during all development stages and are constantly aware of the big picture and the challenges that could come with it.

Our Programmers are responsible for building the functionality and foundation of the features themselves. They work very closely together with the other disciplines on their features and can often be seen providing Code Support or in other ways using their skillset to make life easier for the non-coders. They will also keep an eye on performance and the overall stability of the game and jump upon an issue as soon as it appears.

Art Director

There is one Art Director working on CK3, and their responsibility is the overall artistic vision. They work closely together with the Game Director and Production, but also with all of the Artists in the team.

2D UI Art

We have three 2D Artists on the team and they can often be seen collaborating with Code and UX Design to bring the interfaces of new CK3 features to life after Code has provided their framework. They will also create icons and illustrations as well as investigate artistic improvements to the UIs that is not part of the UX design.

2D Concept Art

Our two Concept Artists help the game team by visualizing assets before they are to be created by a 3D Artist.

3D Character Art

Just as the name indicates, our three Character Artists work on anything related to our characters. This not only includes the characters itself, but also the clothing, headgears and hairstyles. In addition to that they are also responsible for creating the Units that are walking around the map. They can often be seen working closely together with Animation.

3D Environment Art

These Artists work mostly on the map itself. We have four of them and they can often be seen creating holdings, ships, siege weapons and other map assets. They are also painting the map as well as making sure that all the units, holdings and other buildings are located where it makes sense, both from a historical perspective and an artistic one.

Animation

There is one Animator working on the project and their main focus is on bringing our characters and units to life. They can be seen working on brand new poses and adding more variety to existing ones to make sure the characters show a wide range of different emotions and visually support different situations.

VFX

CK3 is not a very VFX heavy game, and because of this we do not have a VFX artist working with us full time, but only on demand.

QA

Our QA is the glue that keeps everything together. We have a core team of seven QA, but expand to a lot more once we are starting to wrap up and getting ready for a release. They can often be seen playing the game and testing the new features as they become ready, but it is important to note that this is not the only thing they do. They have a holistic view of quality and work closely together with all disciplines to make sure that the end product is as great as possible. Sometimes this is achieved through testing alone, but other times they can identify a need to redesign / introduce more content to a feature that feels a bit weak or perhaps a need to tweak a process or workflow within the Project itself.

Audio

The Audio team works on all PDS games, so we can’t really claim them for ourselves.
When they do work on CK3, they are often around two to three people and can be seen working on sound effects for our new features as well as composing music that fit the theme of the expansion.

Naturally, we don’t all work on the same features or fixes at the same time, that’d be very confusing! We’re divided into smaller groups, each focusing on their own set of features or content. Once a week we have a couple of hours set aside to make sure that everybody on the CK3 team has time to sit down and play the game and see for themselves how everything is being tied together.

The team is currently busy working on two things: one is big and the other is smaller. The smaller of these you'll be hearing more of in the coming weeks...
 
I feel like another delay would have gone down better than this. We were first told a dev diary would come in January, then it was delayed to mid February which was fair enough, but then this is all we get? Its no stretch to say we expected some actual news regarding content, even if it was just a patch fixing a few bugs and issues.

This diary is of course a welcome one, and its nice to know about, but this dosnt feel like it should be THE dev diary we have been waiting for.
 
  • 24
  • 5Like
  • 1
Reactions:
There are many things I wanted to address in this thread, but I'm restraining myself. I will not lie and say I'm not disappointed in the reception of this developer diary, but I was also anticipating it, after all I've been part of the Paradox community for a long time on both sides of things, and I know how it goes. Still, I will not be demotivated by the harshness of some of our more outspoken fans. Damned if you do, damned if you don't, I'm going to make sure I do.

Dont take it personally mate and hope you enjoy being on the team. People just get much too involved in the process and emotionally invested and usually tend to forget there are humans on the other side of the screen. Everyone is just impatient for CkIII to be as good as CKII.
 
  • 7
  • 4Like
  • 1Haha
  • 1
Reactions:
I feel like another delay would have gone down better than this. We were first told a dev diary would come in January, then it was delayed to mid February which was fair enough, but then this is all we get? Its no stretch to say we expected some actual news regarding content, even if it was just a patch fixing a few bugs and issues.

This diary is of course a welcome one, and its nice to know about, but this dosnt feel like it should be THE dev diary we have been waiting for.

They never said that there would be a dev diary in January. They said that the next dev diary wouldn't arrive until "mid-January at the earliest".

The "delay" is a figment of the communities imagination.
 
  • 23
  • 18
  • 2Like
Reactions:
Probably the most useless dev diary of all time. Not that I fault anyone personally, but its kind of weird from communication management standpoint.
From a customer standpoint it makes no sense. It's like a car company posting they've hired a couple of new engineers and are working on designing next year's model. That's business as usual, not news. It's like someone got the dev diary post mixed up with the internal company memo welcoming new team members. I'm not even one of those customers who is particularly salty about "they took my money and haven't kept me updated every 5 minutes". If I couldn't afford to "waste" money paying for a DLC in advance I wouldn't. But, to tell customers you'll have an update (which most would rightfully assume is going to be about the product) and then post this instead. Weird choice.
 
  • 31
  • 4
  • 2Like
  • 1Haha
Reactions:
They never said that there would be a dev diary in January. They said that the next dev diary wouldn't arrive until "mid-January at the earliest".

The "delay" is a figment of the communities imagination.

Think we're just spoilt on these forums, too used to having weekly post release feedback from the devs. Dont think people appreciate how rare it is the feedback we get and the post-release life of the core Pdox games.

Dissapointed as everyone is you should all recall that the first dev diary of a game is usually just this, a blah blah blah filler post introducing you to the team. Clearly post-release CKIII is essentially now a new product mostly being worked on by new people. Its probably slowed them down a bit on NEW content and had them restricted to minor QOL and bug/code tidying up.
 
  • 21
  • 5
  • 1Haha
Reactions:
Hypes have been generated on way less.

That's my point. The community mis-read a post. That created an imagined "next dev diary coming in January" view amongst some. When that imaginary January deadline wasn't met, that created an imaginary "They've delayed the dev diary and therefore it's going to be a big announcement". And here we are in this thread reading the "Paradox implied this was going to be a big announcement and have let us down" posts.
 
  • 12
  • 11
Reactions:
Don't worry. I don't think anyone in this thread have something against programmers like you, or any other dev who actually making game. You are cool. On the other hands, thoose, who think what keeping silent for months, and then announce DD, and them fill it with info what obviosly, not that interesting for most playrs, would be good idea... Well, they not so cool, honestly.
Marketing people are always the baddies in a company!

I say that as a marketing person myself.
 
  • 8Like
  • 6
  • 2Haha
Reactions:
Before I provide my take on this, I would like to briefly introduce myself - I am Scarecrow, a recently hired Content Designer for Crusader Kings III. I have only been at the job for about three weeks, but I feel that I can provide 'a view from the trenches' so to speak. I recognise that this dev diary is probably a disappointment for many of you, and your passion for this game does you credit, however I particularly need to stress this part of the diary:


The Crusader Kings III team has grown exponentially and continues to hire and acquire more team members as we speak. In point of fact, I would draw your attention to the current advertisements placed on our Careers page, including for another Content Designer on CK3. This hiring spree is absolutely crucial in understanding why this dev diary is lacking in detail about what is coming; not only does it take a while for new employees to find their feet and integrate into the team, but I would also remind everyone that we are still living through a global pandemic, with all the difficulties that entails. I was informed that I had been offered this job at the end of November, and it took until the end of January for my relocation to be completed, because of necessary bureaucratic procedures and the additional strains of pandemic precautions. However, upon starting work three weeks ago, both of the projects Carmille mentioned were already well into their development cycles. I assure you that Paradox have not been idle, and although I cannot talk about what exactly I am working on either, all I will say is that additional employees like myself have been brought on for a reason.

This is precisely why we don't want to give much away at this stage. Mismanaging hype and therefore misleading our loyal player-base is not something we are prepared to do, even if it means we have to disappoint you for a bit longer.
I mean promising a dev diary and knowing everyone is expecting news on the game is pretty much the definition of mismanaging hype
 
  • 26
  • 3Like
Reactions:
Alright then since there are quite a few of you that don't know how to behave I'm making this very clear:

If you don't have anything relevant to add to the thread don't reply.

This DD wasn't for everyone, we get that, but that doesn't mean it's fine to post trollish comments, make completely irrelevant posts and being a general nuisance. This thread will be pruned and warnings will be handed out. More will be handed out if this continues.

I really shouldn't have to explain this but clearly even more veteran members have lost touch with acceptable behavior.
I Understand trolling but I have not seen toxic behavior, people just expressing them selfs respectfully, What concerns me is that distasteful comment on our veterans.
 
Last edited:
  • 23
  • 3
  • 2Like
Reactions:
Ok so whats in the new patch? New DLC? Is this is it?
 
  • 4
  • 1
Reactions:
I preordered the Royal Edition of the game in August. Then received a bugged and raw game... I have paid for the future DLC's... and they show all of us such disrespect in so called "Dev Diary" and more in the comments... I will never buy something from Paradox again, period.
 
  • 19
  • 10Haha
  • 2Like
  • 1
  • 1
Reactions:
I preordered the Royal Edition of the game in August. Then received a bugged and raw game... I have paid for the future DLC's... and they show all of us such disrespect in so called "Dev Diary" and more in the comments... I will never buy something from Paradox again, period.
You can always buy them for free KAPPA
 
  • 3
  • 1Haha
  • 1
Reactions:
Great to hear that the team is growing, and that Alex got a promotion, this makes me really excited about the future of the game! And even seeing Hot Rod commenting in here, it gives me "last Summer" vibes of when I draydeamed with the release of CK3!

Having said that, as a Royal Edition buyer (which I bought on Paradox's website so they wouldn't have to give a slice of the pie to Steam, with the purpose to support the game), the lack of communication of future DLCs and hearing "soon" everytime I log in into the forums really disappoints me, and even gives me a sour taste on my wallet for buying the royal edition.

I don't have any doubt that the content that I've paid for last Summer will NOT disappoint, everything points against that, and knowing that you're not rushing a release means the quality will not drop - if anything, it will be even better than expected, given the successful release and growing team.

But I do feel a little bit like my trust has been broken, 6 months of wait is a little bit long to get a return for the money - even if not in the form of a DLC being released yet, at least some info would be welcome. Waiting for the game release, I waited for months and savoured every single weekly DD, and I'd be ready to do it all again with expansions info and teasing. I honestly have fond memories of the Summer jus reading stuff up, watching OPB's videos on the DDs, chatting with other eager gamers about it.
In another words: I'm buying a DLC in advance, not investing in BitCoin, so I'd expect a return sooner for my money. Even if just information of something work in progress. I did "invest" in it, after all. Would a random guy that buys the game cheaper today, and the expansion on release date get a better deal for the whole package than me? It's not about the money, just a matter of principle.

One good positive from this DD, apart from the great news about the team, is to see so many different Paradox people here answering in the thread. Hi to all the new ones and thanks for coming speak with us, for all devs! That's all we want! :)
 
  • 26
  • 6Like
  • 4
  • 1
Reactions:
I preordered the Royal Edition of the game in August. Then received a bugged and raw game... I have paid for the future DLC's... and they show all of us such disrespect in so called "Dev Diary" and more in the comments... I will never buy something from Paradox again, period.
Exactly dude exactly and they want to call anyone whos upset that we literally got no information about any new content after months toxic. its getting silly
 
  • 22
  • 9
  • 4Like
Reactions:
Last thing I'm gonna say is this dlc better be pretty fire other wise there's gonna be fires on this forum if you catch my meaning lmao. Anyways I'm off to play my daily dose of ck3 for a while, still love the game regardless just.... disappointed
 
Last edited:
  • 11Like
  • 1
  • 1
Reactions: