Internal Team : New Patch and Expansion Policy

[Johan]

Hi everyone.

I've posted the details about the policy for how we'll handle patches and expansions from Crusader Kings II and forward.

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...sion-policy-for-the-Internal-Development-Team

Comment here if you want to.

 

[gigau]

Sweet !

How will "true fans" be determined ? Just by buying the game in preorder/first day of sell ?

 

[RedRalphWiggum]

Very, very interesting. So, with the smaller expansions, how many would you expect to do for a well-selling game? Let's say EU3 was released tomorrow. how many would that get, 10-15? Obviously sales will be a factor, but a rough idea would be nice.

 

[Gottskalk]

I like this direction. It is good that you are continuing to ask for customer input and I think that the pre order bonuses are awesome both for the consumer and your company.

Will there be a special pre order forum for ck2 or only games after that one?

 

[Johan]

Sweet !

How will "true fans" be determined ? Just by buying the game in preorder/first day of sell ?

Probably something exactly like that. I wanted to use the word 'early adopter', but got recommended that 'true fans' sounded nicer.

 

[Johan]

Very, very interesting. So, with the smaller expansions, how many would you expect to do for a well-selling game? Let's say EU3 was released tomorrow. how many would that get, 10-15? Obviously sales will be a factor, but a rough idea would be nice.

I got no clue, maybe 12, maybe 20.. we just don't know.

 

[Johan]

I like this direction. It is good that you are continuing to ask for customer input and I think that the pre order bonuses are awesome both for the consumer and your company.

Will there be a special pre order forum for ck2 or only games after that one?

I hope for ck2.

 

[Letar]

Esp. modular expansions are interesting. I'm eager to wait how they work out! Good luck with the new policy!

Side note: There has been special subforums before, so is there something you are trying to do differently this time?

 

[RedRalphWiggum]

I think the new glastnost about patching is a very good idea. I've often felt that, even compared to normal development, patching was very opaque.

So, the new forum. Just to clarify, this is where people who bought early will be able to post with requests, etc for the new smaller expansions? Will this be sort of like an open beta, but only for members of that forum?

 

[gigau]

Probably something exactly like that. I wanted to use the word 'early adopter', but got recommended that 'true fans' sounded nicer.

Well, i think that most "Early Adopters" are "True Fans"... and most "True Fans" are "Early Adopters"... so it's all the same

 

[unmerged(105596)]

So this means you're switching from full-fledged expansion packs to the DLC approach. Oh well.

 

[steveh11]

This sounds interesting. More interesting, if I'm honest, than CK2 which I'm ambivalent about - I wasn't a fan of the original. But I like the idea of 'early-adopters' getting some sort of reward, it seems, well, fairer.

The modular expansion thing, though - doesn't that limit you quite a bit? If you can't make serious updates to the executable, I mean?

 

[BRK]

This is very interesting, and a very bold approach to take, I think. Especially the modular expansions\DLC and this bit in there:

We also aim to release smaller expansions and more regularly, maybe once every second month, containing more focused features so that you can buy the ones you want, skip whatever you like and get the most for your money.

Amazing stuff, I think this is completely going to change the Paradox experience for a lot of people.

The 'true fans' privileges also sound good, I only hope it doesn't lead to accusations of elitism and random catfights on the forum!

 

[Planck]

Will any of that impact the already existing games (e.g. HOI3, V2), at least indirectly? I mean the parts about improved patching/communication.

 

[Lord Strange]

One thing with this is that it may force some "true fans" who could offer good advice (I'm thinking those like Blue Emu etc) out, since not everyone can afford to buy a game at full price/pre-order.

 

[marginoferror]

I am a skeptical about the true fan thing -- as they say about religion, there's no preacher more spirited than a convert. Locking late adopters out of parts of the community will fragment the community unnecessarily.

As for the patching, I worry that there will be features that are neither really patch-level or modular but that are simply not addressed with this system. But I am glad to hear Paradox remains committed to their released games.

 

[Meanmanturbo]

Do you have a price range in mind for these expansions? 5 euro would be ok, but if it is closer to 10 euros it would start to become really expensive considering how many there would be.

Also, I'll copy in what i wrote in the CK 2 thread on the matter :

Heh, seems like P'dox is working hard to fight the "buy P'dox games from the bargain bin when they are patched" mentality that has sprung up with their new pre-order policy. The pre-order bonuses can't be to overbearing though. Don't want to alienate the people buying their first P'dox title now do we

The expansion policy sounds good. But without restraint it almost starts to sound like Free2Play micro-transactions. I do think it wont be as bad as that, and the patches will be for all versions, so it will probably work out alright.

Originally Posted by ThePutty
Modular expansions sounds like a way to release games even more unfinished and then demand money for features every month or so, but maybe I'm wrong. It's all up to CK2 now to prove that.

Hmmm, could end up in a situation were they start to release games with fewer features then normally, but that the features work properly and are properly balanced. And then add new features that way. Could both be good or bad, I'm not sure how I will like it quite yet.

 

[SA_Avenger]

I got no clue, maybe 12, maybe 20.. we just don't know.

that's the part I'm most wary of. I tend to buy main game early when I can but expansions is something I have more trouble to do (not just pdox's, it's a general trend) so I tend to wait for a "pack" or special offer. In a way going the small DLC route might be interesting. I'd probably be much more enclined to pay for 4-6€ features than a 20€ expansion.

 

[Johan]

Side note: There has been special subforums before, so is there something you are trying to do differently this time?

So, the new forum. Just to clarify, this is where people who bought early will be able to post with requests, etc for the new smaller expansions? Will this be sort of like an open beta, but only for members of that forum?

We'll try too look into something like that. The Eu3 collectors edition forum worked nicely like that for the first few months.

 

[BRK]

I've now got a doubt, though: I think most (all?) PI expansions have always received icons and tech support only for those that have the expansions registered, with so many DLCs I guess it wouldn't be very practical to have an icon for each one, so wouldn't these get lost in the crowd, so to speak? For instance currently there's no proof of purchase for the EU3 Spritepacks DLC but those are only a dollar or two, when the expansions themselves are released as DLC wouldn't this lead to a fall in sales? I'm just curious, that's all.