Ask Paradox (almost) Anything Thread (no support/tech or code questions)

[Johan]

Why is Tracid still the Apprentice

Cause I am still alive, and I am the true Master of the Sith!

 

[Kallocain]

We are working on it but hitting several technical problems, I think Kallocain is doing her PhD on Vb/Server upgrading.

Oh, don't get me started!
Yes, the forum will be upgraded. I just did not realize how much work there was before the actual upgrade. Halfway there!

What upcoming (non Paradox title) game are you most looking forward to?

When you buy a loaf of bread, do you eat the end pieces?

Diablo 3, Old Republic, Guild Wars 2... Is those I can recall right now.

If soft enough.

 

[SolSara]

If you could make a game based on any movie or book, that has not already had a game of it made, what would it be?

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

 

[SolSara]

what would you do in it?

As Wikipedia says: "...the book explores a dystopian United States where leading innovators, ranging from industrialists to artists, refuse to be exploited by society. The protagonist, Dagny Taggart, sees society collapse around her as the government increasingly asserts control over all industry, while society's most productive citizens, led by the mysterious John Galt, progressively disappear. Galt describes the strike as "stopping the motor of the world" by withdrawing the "minds" that drive society's growth and productivity; with their strike these creative minds hope to demonstrate that the economy and society would collapse without the profit motive and the efforts of the rational and productive."

The player could play as Dagny Taggart, who tries to rescue the country and defeat the evil Government. Or as John Galt, who builds his own Atlantis, luring Dagny Taggart's allies towards his side and accelerating the country's collapse. Or as the Government which is instituting new laws and decrees while trying to put an end to monopolies and industrialists, let the poor get what they need and the strong stand for what the poor want and need.

 

[SolSara]

Wouldn't that just end up like Bioshock?

It would be better

 

[Johan]

What's your favorite operating system?
Windows 2000? :rofl:

windows 7

 

[Shams]

DOS!

dir /s /p for the win!

/s

 

[SolSara]

What is your favorite type of pastry?

I like donuts, cinnamon buns and cookies. I prefer 'plain' pastries without whipped cream as I'm not a huge fan of it.

What's your favorite operating system?
Windows 2000? :rofl:

Windows 7. LOVE it, so much better than Vista and even XP.

 

[SolSara]

@Paradox Team (Hope this wasnt asked before...the thread gets really big now).
1.) Whats the best Movie you ever saw?

Hard to say. I liked Avatar, Léon is great and the Ghibli movies are fantastic.

2.) Most fantasting Game ever played?

Grim Fandango perhaps. Or Little Big Adventure 2: Twinsen's Odyssey.

3.) How old were you....as you played your first Computer Game.

About four years old, I think.

4.) What car do you use/have?

I don't even have a driving licence

 

[Johan]

@Johan
Have u ever wrote a Game (maybe in Basic) on your C64? Maybe a small one?

Yes, wrote alot of them, me and some friends kept writing games for ourselves and to play.

The four i remember the most are..

- A strategy wargame about the Great Nordic War.
- A big football manager game with a proper windows system, where you could play as any club in the First Division through lots of seasons. (English, before premier league)
- A Ports of Call clone, with more ports, goods and shiptypes but without arcade elements.

and the biggest.. our great RPG me and a friend did together.. a huge Bards Tale style game, with "fake-3d" world to walk through, 50 categories of monsters with unique art. Random encounters, dozens of spells, multiple classes, party management etc.. And actually a "storyline with quests"'

I played the footie game alot myself, and we kept playing the ports of call clone alot.. the rpg we kinda got bored with after finishing it, as it took like 5 months to do, and we had to use 2 disks to keep the entire world on.

 

[Fredrik II]

@Johan
Have u ever wrote a Game (maybe in Basic) on your C64? Maybe a small one?

I programmed an RPG for my ZX Spectrum, I think it was 1984. It wasn't too good...

1.) Whats the best Movie you ever saw?

I remember Jacob's Ladder (with Tim Robbins) as a fantastic movie, but it's a long time since I saw it.

2.) Most fantasting Game ever played?

I guess the games I've spent most time with are the Football Manager series

3.) How old were you....as you played your first Computer Game.

Five I think. I played Space Invaders on an ABC80 in my dad's office

4.) What car do you use/have?

I drive a seven seat Ford S-Max. Need to be able to drive around with a big family

 

[Fredrik II]

i am only here to say 1 thing to Frederik Wester.

You search a new elite Game ?

here i hope you dint know about this one ^^

http://www.infinity-universe.com/Infinity/

auf deutsch:

Elite als Vorbild und eine starke Community als Rückendeckung.
http://www.infinity-universe.com/Infinity/

Wenn du gesehen hast und durchgelesen hast, was die Engine kann (technisch nicht grafisch) die der Typ da entwickelt hat,dann machst du dir vor Freude in die Hosen das verspreche ich ^^

Hoffe du kennst das noch nicht.

Nice

 

[Kallocain]

When the forums upgrade, I wonder if we will lose all our icons, and have to re-register them.

What's your favorite operating system?
Windows 2000? :rofl:

No, I will transfer the system so the icons will stay.

Win 7, but Ubuntu is nice too, just not as good for gaming purposes.

Do you have Linux running on any Computer at your office?
Are you using IE, FF or what else (don't get me wrong, I do not
intend to gather information for a hack to get Vicky 2 before others )

BTW: T-Shirt

Yes.
People can use whatever web browser they like, so I have seen IE, FF, Safari and Opera.
Which one would you try to hack first?

1.) Whats the best Movie you ever saw?

2.) Most fantasting Game ever played?

3.) How old were you....as you played your first Computer Game.

4.) What car do you use/have?

1) Not sure, but Pan's Labyrinth sure is great.

2) It is so hard to say, but right now I'd go with Resident Evil 5 or Fallen Earth.

3) I played NES before, but an actual computer game was not until I was 14 I think. We did not own a computer until then...

4) Don't have a licence, but I did own a car a few years ago. An old Renault.

The most important question:

Which is your favourite beer?

Left Hand Milk Stout!

 

[Kallocain]

Since you're wanting an iPad, does that mean Paradox might be looking at the iPad as a new platform to make games for?

I don't know, but I'd like that. I have Civ on my iPhone...

 

[Fredrik II]

How much influence will the new investor have in practice and in theory on Paradox decisions?

Nothing in daily work

 

[Kallocain]

Interesting, an R4 or R5 and which type?

I have no idea. It did look rather similar to this one though:

Once we drove it to a festival where someone stole one of the wheels. I was very upset. The guards asked who we had picked a fight with.

 

[Kallocain]

IE of course. Microsoft creates very hacker-friendly pieces of software.

Here are some more for you

1) Personal question:
If you could talk to a person who pirated all your games face to face,
what would you want to say to him without using the words "F*ck" and "off"?

2) Do you publish the number of your sold copies somewhere? What was is in pure numbers the most succesfull paradox-game?

3) Do you usually take a copy of not yet released games with you at home? If yes, where do you live and are there any security-systems at your home? Is the key somewhere hidden outside?

3) b) Do you have a dog?

Sorry, I'm afraid you won't like my answers.

1. Sorry, no discussing piracy on the forums!

2. No/can't say

3. Not on CD's, and mostly just no. b) no dog. I had a very kind dog as a kid though.

A question, let's say you have a new computer, you lost your HoI2 cd. Would it then be okay to download a Pirate version of it?

No piracy discussions allowed.

How has using a professional test company been working out for Vicky 2?

That phase has not started yet, but I'm very hopeful.

So if one of us forumites won a large lotto and wanted to have Paradox program a game of our design. Would that be possible, and how much would that be (as a general figure)?

Well.. in theory I guess, but I really have no idea. Fredrik II might have a better answer.

What is the game doing when it says "Map properly initialised"? Shouldn't it be telling me what it's doing right now instead of what it just finished? EU3 BTW.

I guess it should say something else (like initializing interface), but other bugs were prioritized higher...

 

[Castellon]

2) Have you ever considered during development to change anything to make it more friendlier to a wider audience that isn't typically considered strategy/sandbox players? (Females, older people, teenagers)

3) Do you ever get surprised in your travels or encounters with fans by their backgrounds (as above)?

5) Would you ever make a in-depth game developed in preference to Female players as other companies have done in the past? (such as Square-Enix doing Final Fantasy X-2)

Just as an aside, I can tell you that there are MANY MANY more female members than you think!
Either that, or a lot of guys use their wife/GF 's e-mail accounts, and like to call themselves for example "Mary or Christine" when they communicate with me through the Admin e-mail. (based on this solely empirical evidence, I would say the female demographic for Pdox games is growing.)
Also the development team is not completely male.

 

[SolSara]

I have a few questions I have read through most of this topic but sorry if I've repeated someone else's questions:

1) My Wife hates Paradox Interactive and hates me playing your games. What do your significant others (or close family) think of the games you make and the time you spend on it (developing, testing, playing)?

Well, my boyfriend also develops games so he understands the business My parents thinks it's kinda weird but accepts it and my sisters thinks it's very cool

2) Have you ever considered during development to change anything to make it more friendlier to a wider audience that isn't typically considered strategy/sandbox players? (Females, older people, teenagers)

As Castellon wrote, there are all sorts of people playing our games. I think the assumption that certain people (Females, older people, teenagers) play certain games (Females play The Sims or Singstar, older people don't play games at all, teenagers only like FPS like CS) is wrong, there are all sorts of people playing all sorts of games.

3) Do you ever get surprised in your travels or encounters with fans by their backgrounds (as above)?

Haven't worked that long at Paradox so I don't know.

4) You made it out that a lot of the staff enjoyed EU: Rome in particular, what is it in that game that stands out for you over the others? Would you make more games of that style in the future?*

Same answer as above

5) Would you ever make a in-depth game developed in preference to Female players as other companies have done in the past? (such as Square-Enix doing Final Fantasy X-2)

Same answer as to your second question.

What is the strangest thing that happened to you in the office (and out)?

In the office: fire-drill where no one reacted at first, then slowly made their way out of the office.

Outside the office: Will be back with an answer later perhaps.

 

[Castellon]

If Johan is forum member number 2, who is member number 1?

Already been a discussion about this in the thread already.
Patric is the original one that set up the forms.