The DevDiaries' content

[Piotrzeci]

Developer Diaries are kinda a thing that Paradox brings up as their rather unique thing (+ DevClashes on unreleased versions of the game), where they talk about features as they are getting implemented and provide an opportunity for the players to give feedback (though I can't say I feel like it is heard most of the time).

So Leviathan got announced and with it the Steam page with a description of the expansion and some features that were not talked about previously. "About this content" on Steam mentions changes to regencies (topic of DD from 19.01.2021). As far as I can tell everything else in this section are things not discussed before

• "new diplomatic and economic tools that help small nations punch above their weight",
• new ways of developing capital,
• curry favors (mentioned in DD from 19.10.2020 without much explanation what it does),
• "changes to colonial management".

It wouldn't be too much of the problem if not for the fact that the DDs for this expansion were rarely any big. There were initially some on the missions and mechanics in SEA and Indonesia, but as time went by they didn't start introducing much. Mostly just talking about like missions for natives, a Christmas break, Tinto... with few weeks of just "No DD this week I guess". Now that it's announced that there is a DLC with multiple unannounced mechanics while there was time to talk about them, really makes it feel like Paradox just didn't want to talk about them.

There is a chance that they will be talked about in the upcoming DDs, but it feels like it's somewhat late for that. It's not really gradually introducing content to the players, if it's just telling what an announced DLC will have in it. I don't even think there will be a possibility of suggesting any changes at this point.

It just makes me feel like DDs just didn't do their job this time and I can't anymore say that Paradox does anything interesting with announcing their content (at least for EU4) as I've been rather disappointed with the lack of information that were being given and then surprised with an announcement.

 

[EarlKonrad]

Additionally, DDs don't always clarify what will be part of the patch and what will be part of the DLC.

Edit: And apparently some stuff has been rebalanced.

- Expand Infrastructure got its cost changed and it appears that you can now un-expand it;
- There are two mothball buttons on the province screen;
- Two green warnings without icons;
- Can now see heir claim before he ascends and the claim shows decimals;
- We finally got to see the added options to spend favours on.

 

[Weyird]

I love reading dev diaries, but it does seem like it's more of a weekly sneak peak to maintain interest in their games than to communicate or involve the playerbase in the process. I'm thinking of Diablo dev updates which only come 4 times a year but they discuss massive updates to the system and various things they are considering, and then respond to whatever feedback people give.

I feel like, what I'd like from dev diaries, is more of "we are thinking of doing mechanics like this, that, or this other thing; what would you, the players, like to see most?"

 

[Borgratz]

I agree with everything you said, but would like to point out that this isn't your standard patch.

It was produced in the middle of a studio change in the middle of a pandemic that kept changing the rules on how you are allowed to communicate with your team members.

I think it's totally forgivable that we just got a whole bunch of "what is the guy who is currently actually working doing this week?" dds. We can go back to projects that have a vision, a testing and feedback phase and then an announcement after this.

Especially since they did the smart thing and focused on improving content on mass instead of trying to introduce a giant new feature. I don't really need a whole lot of back and forth for mission trees, events and some minor QoL buttons for tall players.

 

[Johan]

It was produced in the middle of a studio change in the middle of a pandemic that kept changing the rules on how you are allowed to communicate with your team members.

Building a new team takes a fair amount of time.

Its been a huge challenge getting a team up and running, training them on the systems and getting a new expansion going.

Considering everything, I'm superhappy with the result that my studio has made in the months since we started getting staff working this autumn.

 

[Arthrodira]

You know the Totemism mechanics were unplanned, right? That only happened because of feedback. If anything, I think this cycle has been the exact opposite of your contention. We have seen an exceptional amount of early, not-fully-implemented concepts. Also, there's no release date on the expansion announcement. What makes you think that your feedback will be ignored once the other new features are announced? Did your feedback get ignored on something that was already announced? If so, was there a good reason? You're not going to see abstract concepts or raw code - that would be a waste of everyone's time. You'll be shown something when it's implemented enough to be shown, which for PDX means there's still coder art all over the place