Dev Diary 2: What we do!

[Birken]

Hi everyone!

I know you probably want more info about the upcoming expansion, but we’ll have to keep a lid on it for the time being. Instead I’m going to give you some information about how we work. Our current team consist of me, Doomdark, 4 programmers (and one of those started last Thursday), 3 scripters, 1 designer, 2 artists and 4 QA. On top of this the talented people from Paradox South are working on a content pack and there is also sound and music in production.

The core team is using a subset of the SCRUM methodology and a lot of focus is put on working more closely with QA than before in order to keep quality as high as possible. Our sprints are 3 weeks, and the final week has a focus on fixing bugs (old and new). Nearing the Gold Master (this is the version of the game we will release), we stop developing new features and focus fully on bug fixing and balancing. Since the Gold Master milestone date and the actual release date usually are a couple of weeks apart, we keep working on bugs and minor improvements for the first patch until the release (and beyond). In some cases (like with Horse Lords) the first patch is released the same day as the expansion, but sometimes it’s better to wait for the initial feedback before releasing a patch. As someone in QA noted for Horse Lords: one day after the release the players have tested the game several more hours than the QA team has done during the development of the expansion.

A tidbit of extra info about the expansion: the changes that go into the patch will fundamentally change how a portion of the game is played.

 

[Birken]

You can safely assume that we won't release two more expansions this year.
The dev diaries won't contain all that much about the expansion (or the patch released at the same time), until we're closer to announcing anything official.
If that bothers you, then feel free to consider these as non-dd:s and just random posts from the dev team. We won't take offense

Are there topics that people would like us to have for these dd:s? If it's not related to the expansion/patch, we might consider putting it in.

 

[Groogy]

It must sound obvious to you, but I would be curious to know what do programmers actually do. I think scipters are those that make most moddable files (.txt). Is it about game interface?

As a programmer this is how I spend my days.

 

[Moah]

 

[Groogy]

The Holy Roman Empire is neither Holy, Roman or an Empire.

 

[Groogy]

He is just saying we promised Military navy stuff, which I am pretty sure we haven't.

 

[Birken]

I'd be interested in hearing about how you guys decide what to focus on for any given DLC, and what to hold off for later.

It must sound obvious to you, but I would be curious to know what do programmers actually do. I think scipters are those that make most moddable files (.txt). Is it about game interface?

You could say that the programmers build the structure and rules of the game in which the scripted content can be executed. Programmers also write text in a formalized manner, that in turn is converted into the .exe (depending on platform) that you guys run to start the game. There's also a lot of problem solving going on and detective work involved in finding and fixing what's actually causing bugs. Sometimes it involves pulling of one's hair and crying in despair.

Just want to apologize if my post further upthread about "meatiness" seemed ungrateful. I'd been hyping myself up for this week's diary since last week, and was thrown for a loop by what the DD actually consisted of, as I has assumed it would be like the pre-announcenment HL diaries. Sorry.

I just want to say this: It's not that you don't post anything about the expansion but you don't post anything about the game. Why can't you do the same things you did with with Horselords? From the first dev diary you talked about patch features. While talking about the creative process and other stuff like that is interesting, you should at least try to make it about the content in your game.

The pre-announcement HL diaries started pretty close to the actual announcement, which meant that we were better positioned to share info on the patch.

As hinted in the first page, does anyone know if you can select focus when you are underage? Or if at least the button appears clickable even if it does nothing? If now the button does not do/is unclickable before you turn 16, that might be a new addition: revamped regencies, which would be a nice little addition to be honest...

I can't comment on regencies at this time...

I have this strip on a t-shirt.

I'd like to hear about the experiences from the PR people at PDS who have to censor all of the profanities that the developers would like to direct at abusive forum members. How white is their hair by age 35, usually?

There's very little censorship, so no white hairs. Sometimes we discuss a post in the team and decide against posting it though.

Something that will force the players to actually send armies to allie's wars would be nice. Right now it's too easy to say "sure mate, I'll join your war" and then don't do anything. While the AI will usually send everything they have once they accept to join the war.

Interesting thought.

So what if two customers disagree/want mutually exclusive things?

It creates something similar to this:

Which is actually how we power the whole office.

I'm curious to know more about Paradox' dev cycle. For example; we know from EU4 dev diaries that DLCs are usually designed by Johan + Groogy or Wiz (depending on which game it's for). What happens after that? How long does it usually take to make a feature? (maybe use examples of features you've created in the past).

I'm also curious to know what the design pillars of CK2 are. It's pretty obvious that CK2 is not as meticulously balanced as EU4 and that it doesn't have as much historical railroading. Any particular reason why? (I have my own theories about this, but it'd be nice to hear it from the horse's mouth, as it were.

CK2 dlcs are actually mainly conceived and designed by Doomdark and the team (which Groogy is a part of). Johan is highly focused on EU4 in that regard.

Heh, thanks! Though I believe Groogy once said someone from QA had done the HL CoA's. I suppose if you have a small team things can flow over.

We have some very dedicated people on the team that sometimes do amazing stuff outside of their roles (and paid time).

Well, you're not wrong. I expect the hard truth is that they don't do detailed human QA scripts either (except to verify bug fixes and make sure no major features are obviously broken before a release) and huge numbers of permutations don't get tested, but with the complexity of the game and their tiny team size it's the best that can be done.

Well we have over 60 dlc, testing every combination would need more than 2^60 tests ~= 10^18 meaning that most combinations have never been tested. That said, I'd be the first to admit that we've missed some serious shit over the patches. We're constantly improving that process to try to raise the quality though.

 

[Groogy]

Wait didn't doomdark leave for stellaris?

He didn't leave completely, he just don't work full-time on ck2 but he still is the person who design all of our features for every patch and expansion.

 

[Doomdark]

Thanks, but sadly you answered the question I was least curious about I'd be more curious to learn what CK2's design pillars are, for example.

CK Vision: "The ultimate medieval power trip."
CK Pillars:

• Grand Strategic Depth and Scope
• Character Focus
  
• Procedural Storytelling (Comedy and Drama)
  
• Historical Immersion

PDS Mission Statement:
"PDS makes the games we want to play ourselves; strategic, challenging and deeply rewarding for dedicated players. We develop experiences that grow over time, relying heavily on feedback from our fans."

PDS Principles (because Replayability is God!):

• Player Freedom (sandbox, simulation.)
  
• Moddability
• Accessibility (easy to learn, our Moby Dick!)
• Depth and complexity (hard to master)
  
• Multiplayer (CK2 lags behind here, many features were not initially designed for smooth MP)