CK3 Dev Diary #35 - User Testing Before Release

[Froggie]

Sure, I will find a nice tree outside the great temple at Uppsala

I was waiting for this.

 

[Agamidae]

The imaginary person asking you questions is rather rude...

Thank you for your work. I imagine it's very important, so the games are made for players, not the devs who already know how everything works.

 

[Werther]

Liege

 

[Spaninq]

Oh, and please be nice to my vanity character if you encounter her - she’s very, very weak.

View attachment 603542

She may be weak, but her learning is amazing, especially since CK3 has no artifacts or societies to bump that stat (and she's not even a Mastermind Theologian)!

 

[Vohen]

in this case - PDS strategy players

Huh, I think using exclusively players already familiar with PDX games might not be quite a good indicative of the overall picture.
CK3 being played by someone coming from CK2 (or even another PDX game) will look very different from someone fresh into these games, it's worlds apart.

Also, we are now 4 DDs away from release, might be nice to use them to showcase the rest of the world outside of Western Europe.

 

[LeandroB]

Yours is one of the most important jobs. Thanks for the hard work!

 

[PapaRocks]

Those old portraits look like they'd be right at home in some tacky, outsourced free-to-play mobile social spin-off. Crusader Friends™ perhaps?
I hope that's not giving any ideas

I'm sure they are scheming some kind of mobile freemium game. It is a sad path companies like to go down for some reason.

 

[tribnia]

Could you please show us more easteregg characters in CK3? Then we could compare them with themselves in CK2.

 

[TheVoodooPope]

Cool how much thought has been put into this game.
My user experience with this dev diary would be improved greatly by more screenshots ... even if they are of just random characters and things.

 

[Nitan17]

These portraits are mobile-tier awful, why in the world were they considered a viable option? Jesus, had you stuck with them you would just drown in negative feedback and your playerbase's faith in CK3 would be irreparably shaken right after its announcement.

Please slap the person who came up with them.

 

[CassCD]

View attachment 603581

I just noticed the Lieges hair is clipping quite badly through his hat

WAD. He's bald, that's just his spaghetti hat.

 

[Olden Weiss]

So you're saying you and your team were responsible for setting portraits off the cartoony path and on the path to what we have today? In that case, you're my heroes and I wish I could buy you all a grand feast. The new portraits are a big reason I'm so excited for CK3, and those early ones... I don't know how excited I would have been if that were the style of the final look...

Oh, and please be nice to my vanity character if you encounter her - she’s very, very weak.

View attachment 603542

I wouldn't take her lightly if I came up against her. They say the pen is mightier than the sword, and look at that 27 Learning stat!

 

[Alenarae118]

These portraits are mobile-tier awful, why in the world were they considered a viable option? Jesus, had you stuck with them you would just drown in negative feedback and your playerbase's faith in CK3 would be irreparably shaken right after its announcement.

Please slap the person who came up with them.

This is why you don't do drugs, kids. lol

 

[SirPenetrator]

Bless the 3D Portraits/Models

Interesting Dev Diary, nice insight, thank you!

 

[Olden Weiss]

I'm sure they are scheming some kind of mobile freemium game. It is a sad path companies like to go down for some reason.

Probably because a great many people have mobile devices and use them regularly. I don't expect PDS will be going there anytime soon, though. Their games fit a popular niche, and they do so because of depth that would be incredibly difficult to capture with mobile hardware.

 

[Knotz]

Clearly the user testing people know what they're doing if people dislike something with such intensity upon exposure to it that they can't help but complain about it even though they know it isn't a thing anymore.

 

[vyshan]

So this is rather neat. I like learning more about how things work behind the scenes.

 

[ashbery76]

Wow, those portraits would have caused a war.

 

[Ezumiyr]

Huh, I think using exclusively players already familiar with PDX games might not be quite a good indicative of the overall picture.

If you read the entire dev diary, you'll see that they perform many tests, and one of them at least involved total newbies.

 

[arosenberger14]

Great to hear about your work; this is something paradox games definitely need in addition to bug testing. Would it be possible to use these methods to help with balancing and the late-game experience too? While not entirely practical, seems you'd also want some data on how the back end of a centuries long campaign goes in order to help keep CK3 a great experience throughout an entire campaign. Could also help with some other Paradox titles such as Stellaris or EU4 where the fun tends to die down after a certain amount of time...