Happy 2019!

[Doomdark]

Hello everyone!

I think it’s pretty amazing that we’re coming up on the seven year anniversary of Crusader Kings II, which was released on February 14, 2012. The journey has been both long and intense so far, with 15 expansions (of varying scope) released. We’ve had our share of hardships, for sure, and the team has changed completely several times over (except for me, of course), but that has only made the triumphs all the sweeter! Expansions like The Old Gods, Way of Life, The Reaper’s Due and Holy Fury are some of my personal favorites, but I’m proud of them all as they now stand.

So, it’s safe to say we have learned a great deal about how to develop and expand upon a game long after release; what works well and what doesn’t. Holy Fury doesn’t just represent the culmination of that knowledge, but was also a labor of genuine passion and love by the whole team (and folks not actually on the team!)

In the nearest future, during the first parts of 2019, we aim to release a couple of free updates to Crusader Kings II including bug fixes, polish and some minor features not warranting their own dedicated expansions. We’ll tell you more about the first one in a few weeks. Rest assured that Crusader Kings II is still very much alive, especially with the Crusader Kings the Board Game coming up as well! Stay tuned for more news later this year!


Meet the Development Team

Speaking of the changes to the CK2 team over the years, here is the 2019 lineup:

Henrik - Game Director - In charge of the overall direction of the game.
Yours truly. Been on the team since… well, Crusader Kings I.

Dan - Producer/ Designer - In charge of planning, budgeting and making sure things get done. Also does design.
Originally got CK2 for free in a magazine, now I work on it.

Joel - Programmer/ Designer - In charge of coding features, fixing bugs and crashes. Also does design.
Lurked on the forums for 8 years before becoming a developer.

Milla - Content Designer/ Designer - In charge of scripting new features and creating content and events. Also does design. Resident plant-keeper who's been bringing you death and drama for three years now.

Andreas - Quality Assurance - In charge of testing and finding bugs.

Unusually pale, introverted and Vitamin-D deficient even by Swedish standards. Has an unhealthy relationship with multiplayer testing. Once beat Johan "Johan" Andersson himself in a game of Boules and still has a shiny medal to show for it.

Daniel - Programmer - Responsible for coding features, fixing bugs and crashes. Not a vampire.


Johan - Programmer - Responsible for coding features, fixing bugs and crashes. Vampire Human programmer.

There is of course a also a whole host of other people working on the game behind the scenes from extra QA to community managers and translators.

Thanks for your time, we’ll be back shortly to share more news on the coming free content update!

 

[Kregritt]

We love you all, you crazy game-developing vampires <3

 

[Palando]

Let's hope 2019 will be as good as or even better than 2018 for CK II!

 

[Embercism]

east asia map expansion next?

 

[King Anund]

Love you, guys, and the work you do, I hope for a lot more time. There is something that I would love to know: after the patches of early 2019 are you planning a new expansion or will the game remain as it is? Maybe it is too soon for you to tell anything but hope is the last thing you lose

 

[0m3r]

can we hope for a stability patch that will allow us to use mods in multiplayer?

 

[Serenity84]

So you're still in charge of CK2? I thought you moved on too, as I don't think I've seen you around during HF

 

[magriboy0750]

So you're still in charge of CK2? I thought you moved on too, as I don't think I've seen you around during HF

He there was at PDXCON.

 

[Nyrael]

"we’ll be back shortly to share more news on the coming free content update!"

By shortly you mean next week or later today? Asking for a friend.

 

[TheDungen]

Wait has Doomdark been lead this entire time? I had gotten the impression he had moved on to other things at some point. Not that I complain his vision for crusader kings fit fairly well with my own so I am glad o hear it. I remember him comparing it to the sims, and those aspects is something I really like about the game.

Also as for CK2 is very much alive, I think we can be fairly sure they'll never tell us "this is the last DLC for ck2" instead the dlcs will get less frequent up until they announce ck3.

 

[Oorlog]

Thanks for the continued development! Looking forward to feb 14th and what might come after..

 

[TheDungen]

east asia map expansion next?

I would much rather see the map pushed south to the northernmost swahili coast. And my guess is the next DLC will focus on giving east africa, the middle east, arabia and the muslim religions the same treatment that europe and christianity got in holy fury.

 

[KaiserNoncehelmIII]

Joel's cat looks more magnanimous than any of my kings in 1500 hours of gameplay!

 

[Alfray Stryke]

Hey Henrik! Couple of years ago I applied with the suggestion of dynamic pagan reformations as part of the application, absolutely pleased that you've implemented them (though differently to my own ideas) - any chance I can convince the CKII team to also use the reformation system for dynamically generated heresies for religions (which was the other half of my religion suggestions)?

 

[Woifee]

Wait has Doomdark been lead this entire time? I had gotten the impression he had moved on to other things at some point. Not that I complain his vision for crusader kings fit fairly well with my own so I am glad o hear it. I remember him comparing it to the sims, and those aspects is something I really like about the game.

Also as for CK2 is very much alive, I think we can be fairly sure they'll never tell us "this is the last DLC for ck2" instead the dlcs will get less frequent up until they announce ck3.

So you expext 4 more years of DLCs

 

[Metz]

Maybe a horror themed dlc? Vampires, werewolves, zombies, goblins, etc. They’d all team up nicely with a random new world map. In a way it would be like a Warhammer version of CK2 and it could bring in a new audience who is into that stuff.

 

[Tuppie]

Joel's cat looks more magnanimous than any of my kings in 1500 hours of gameplay!

That cat looks like it would execute you if it had the chance, you should watch your tongue!

 

[Frank327]

Congratulations on on keeping this game fresh and fun for 7 years! That's no easy thing to do and the DLC's have only gotten better over time!

A nice small feature that would make the game better for veteran players is rebalancing the combat tactics. It's mostly an exercise of changing numbers around to make combat more intuitive. Right now it's either about ignoring the combat tactics part of the game or min-maxing the hell out of it, making some very counter intuitive decisions.

 

[fr-rein]

Thank a lot for a great game!
Hope to hear plans on new features soon

Maybe a horror themed dlc? Vampires, werewolves, zombies, goblins, etc. They’d all team up nicely with a random new world map. In a way it would be like a Warhammer version of CK2 and it could bring in a new audience who is into that stuff.

I kind of like the idea.
But first we need satanist religions and fancy gore ceremonies. A Sodomy DLC dedicated to the religions corruption could be very fitting, with corrupted doctrines penetrating in the religion. Together with Heretics DLC it would be grand.

 

[stargames]

Please update your EU4 converter. Its so bad right now and last decent update was in 2016