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CK Console DD #2: Discovery in the Crusader Kings Experience

Howdy all! Another week, another Developer Diary

One of the most engaging features of the Crusader Kings franchise is the path of discovery that the user is taken on as they immerse themselves in the unique CK3 gameplay. This is a grand strategy game with an RPG twist as the underlying sandbox nature of the game allows gamers to define their own goals and objectives rather than following a linear path. It’s all about the success of your Dynasty rather than a specific ruler. Dying is not failure... nor is losing wars... the most important aspect is the continuation of a Dynasty through the ages. This can be achieved in many ways, allowing you to carve their own path to power over generations through the use of military expansion, strengthening bloodlines and alliances through marriage, or through the dark arts of subterfuge.

Exercising power during the Medieval period was a complex business and this is reflected in the core gameplay of CK3. Many actions within CK3 require experimentation in order to discover the most successful strategies that suit the user defined goals. For example – starting a war against a perceived enemy requires a number of steps to be completed before war can be declared. This may often involve the acquisition of a Casus Belli (Legal Cause for War), which may require the fabrication of a claim through your head of faith. These steps and other methods of political maneuvering towards are part of the rich gameplay tapestry of Crusader Kings and the route to discovery is a core component of gameplay that should be celebrated and enjoyed when playing the game.

Onboarding for a game with CK3’s level of complexity and depth is a challenge. The PC tutorial has been integrated into the console game with adjustments for the target platform, which will help if you are new to console gameplay coming into the game. The balance is always between giving the community enough information to allow them to play the game vs overloading the user with too much detail. The nature of this title demands that there will need to be some experimentation and discovery along the way, and that’s one of the features of the game that should be celebrated. After all, as stated earlier, having a ruler die or losing a war is not the end of the game... it’s the beginning. Securing your Dynasty over time is the main objective, but there is also the flexibility for the user to define their own objectives and paths through gameplay.
 
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Yes, but the question of why still remains. Writing a dev diary isn't something that should need to be placed on hold while working on the console version.
Again, nowhere has @PDX-Nicou said that PC dev diaries have been placed on hold because of work on the console verision.

They're on hold because, as @PDX-Nicou has said multiple times in the thread, because they don't have anything to share yet.

And as others have mentioned, this console DD is pointless anyhow. It gives a very generic and basic and limited explanation of what CK is. It doesn't give any information specifically related to consoles other than that the tutorial is implemented, which is useless information. If this is supposed to come in so soon, why no screenshots? Why no information on controls and gamepad usage? Why no information on what differences to expect (if any) relating to graphics?
I don't disagree. But that fact doesn't make it any less untrue to claim that Paradox have put PC CK3 development on hold.

If they want to say they aren't doing PC DDs until there is patch information available, that's one thing.
That's exactly what they're saying.

If they are saying the aren't doing PC DDs until the console version is released, then that's entirely different and makes no sense.
They haven't said that anywhere.
 
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Who is the intended audience for this console DD?

It seems to rehash high level CK gameplay, while offering nothing substantive on a console version. It is not a very useful DD/post
 
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in a nutshell:
"Crusader KIngs is a game about kings who crusade. Sometimes they die.
There is a tutorial!
No, we won't show it. You'll have to ・゚✧ discover ✧* everything on your own. "
As someone who is actually vaguely interested in the console edition, I am actually quite pessimistic due to the lack of screenshots and clips with just two weeks to go.
 
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I'm optimistic. Hadn't really occurred to me before how hard it must be to hype a port. I always hated port announcements because they just sort of drop on the table with very little fan fair usually. Like 'by the way I made this' and I'm like 'thanks, i already have one'. But seeing one do the whole roll out I get it now. I would lose my mind if I had to try to hype something for a month and everyone at the table was screaming 'thanks, i already have one'

I recognize now this is far more effort than I actually want to see or apparently deserve. God bless you and god help you
 
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Havent properly played the game since november or so, besides checking out how the dlc was. You guys are making it very hard to want to play your game(delayed buggy dlc, 1 month to update & still bugged) . I got it open, create a character & imagine a campaign, but i never play.
 
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This community really devolved into a bunch of entitled kids. Downvoting the console dev diary just because you want more content for the game on PC, really?
 
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The balance is always between giving the community enough information to allow them to play the game vs overloading the user with too much detail.
Every game mechanic should be clearly documented in detail, available in the in-game encyclopedia. We should not have mechanics like title allegiance and populist revolt resolution[1] that are basically undocumented black holes.

[1] I'm referring here not to the age-old complaint about lieges silently accepting demands and giving away player territory, but the game logic for handing out territory to victorious rebels, which currently does things like revoke titles from *members of the victorious faction* and hand them over to newly generated characters.
 
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This community really devolved into a bunch of entitled kids. Downvoting the console dev diary just because you want more content for the game on PC, really?
Downvoting because this DD lacked any substance.

PDX DD: "The tutorial has been ported too".
Community:
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Again, nowhere has @PDX-Nicou said that PC dev diaries have been placed on hold because of work on the console verision.

They're on hold because, as @PDX-Nicou has said multiple times in the thread, because they don't have anything to share yet.

When straight up asked if we would get a general DD for the PC version, Nicou replied:
"The next few weeks, until Console release on March 29, will be dedicated to the consoles.
More details to the gameplay, the controllers and other options to follow shortly.

For PC, we are working on an Update for 1.5.1 at the moment. As soon as we can share details about this, we will let you know :)"

Unless those first two lines are not true and Nicou just put them in for stuff and giggles, he did say just that.



As for them not having anything to share about the PC patch, Nicou said:
"Many issues reported have been logged, tested, confirmed."

It'd be nice to know which issues those are. Issues were logged, tested, confirmed before the recent patch as well. Some were actioned, some were not. It'd be nice to at least get a general idea of what will be fixed in the next patch.

Besides, let's be honest: they had nothing to share about the console version either, but that didn't stop them from posting this dev diary. ;)




This community really devolved into a bunch of entitled kids. Downvoting the console dev diary just because you want more content for the game on PC, really?
*calls other forum users "a bunch of entitled kids" because he doesn't like how they vote on posts*
*unironically thinks he's in a position to judge other people's maturity and behavior*

Oy vey...
 
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I feel like I just read a 8th grade essay about Crusader Kings 3.

Is all I'm supposed to get from this DD That CK3 is a nontraditional console game and that you're just porting the PC tutorial to console? Do they have a minimum word count necessary to publish these that they were trying to meet?

Honestly I'm more surprised that the console port is so similar that you don't have to change the tutorial.

I feel bad for Pariah because it feels like someone hire up told them to write a DD but the only thing they were allowed to reveal was never something anyone wondered.
 
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Hi everyone,

I understand this Dev Diary can be somewhat frustrating to read as we had no substansial content to show like a preview, screenshots, or more details for Console players. This is something we are working on at the moment and we hope to share more Console details with you all as soon as we have the greenlight on our side of things.

While it is not the news you were expecting, I will try to answer some of your questions & concerns here below.

there is something a bit odd about how ck3 communication and development is being handled compared to other PDX titles.
The different PDX brands are managed by various teams, so plans & communications are different.
What would you like to see or read with CK3, compared to what the other PDX titles are doing?
Your feedback can help us redirect efforts & resources.
We are doing our best to support the communications for Crusader Kings III, with what we are given. There are many information that are private and getting an approval to release the information publicly can take a while sometimes.
If you have any questions, let us know and we will give you the most up to date information that we are allowed to share with the community.

Alliances will be changed in the next update?
I haven't heard about an update to Alliances for our next Update, but we have heard feedback from the community regarding the negotiations of peace, non-agression pacts, marriages & alliances in general. While I can't guarantee that changes will be made in that area in the near future, we are always keeping an eye on your feedback.

So had to ask if you can't answer I perfectly under but alot of us future console players have had one burning question. Will the console versions have command cheats like PC. Incase any future rulers get stuck in a bind lol
I'm not entirely sure about this one, let me ask tomorrow and I'll get back to you.

in a nutshell:
"Crusader KIngs is a game about kings who crusade. Sometimes they die.
There is a tutorial!
No, we won't show it. You'll have to ・゚✧ discover ✧* everything on your own. "
:oops:

When straight up asked if we would get a general DD for the PC version, Nicou replied:
"The next few weeks, until Console release on March 29, will be dedicated to the consoles.
More details to the gameplay, the controllers and other options to follow shortly.

For PC, we are working on an Update for 1.5.1 at the moment. As soon as we can share details about this, we will let you know :)"

Unless those first two lines are not true and Nicou just put them in for stuff and giggles, he did say just that.



As for them not having anything to share about the PC patch, Nicou said:
"Many issues reported have been logged, tested, confirmed."

It'd be nice to know which issues those are. Issues were logged, tested, confirmed before the recent patch as well. Some were actioned, some were not. It'd be nice to at least get a general idea of what will be fixed in the next patch.

Besides, let's be honest: they had nothing to share about the console version either, but that didn't stop them from posting this dev diary. ;)
I'm trying not to waste my time and the players time so you can be sure that the team and I are giving you all the information we can share, when we can share them. Indeed, the next few Dev Diaries will be about Console, but that doesn't mean you won't get a single news about PC and its upcoming updates.
The development on PC and on consoles are led by different teams (PC = Paradox Interactive // Consoles = Lab42), however the Marketing & Community teams have to currently focus their efforts on Consoles to welcome these newest communities and keep them update with what we have in store for them.

We are also indeed working on the next PC update to improve the current 1.5.1 build.
The Known Issues thread has been improved in our draft yesterday, and we are waiting for a fresher batch of news/changes before we can update the Known Issues 1.5.1 thread on the forums.

Again, we really appreciate your patience & understanding.
Let us know if you have any question and we will be there for you.
 
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I haven't heard about an update to Alliances for our next Update, but we have heard feedback from the community regarding the negotiations of peace, non-agression pacts, marriages & alliances in general.
Honestly, this bit was way more informative than the DD. Now we know that developers are at least considering improving this particular area.
 
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Again, nowhere has @PDX-Nicou said that PC dev diaries have been placed on hold because of work on the console verision.
Maybe we read this differently, but "The next few weeks, until Console release on March 29, will be dedicated to the consoles." says to me that they are not doing PC DDs because they are "dedicating" DDs to the console version instead. It is true that later, it was said that until patch information is available, they can't say anything about the patch, but that doesn't mean they can't still put out a PC DD relating to other things. Instead, this quote says they won't do so because they are dedicating the next few weeks to console DDs. Perhaps I was simply unclear in my wording. I wasn't meaning that we don't get PC DDs due to actual development work on the console version. I was meaning that we aren't getting them due to the console version. Why specifically they are focusing on the console version is likely related to trying to hype it up (though this DD does anything but that), but in either case, the console version is the reason as stated in the quote I gave.

That said, he the gave a more specific explanation just a couple posts above this that does better clarify what he is meaning. It at least clarifies that the marketing team (DD writers, I guess are there) are the same for both PC and console, so they are working on console DDs and don't have time for PC DDs (I'm reading into that a little, but it seems accurate to word it that way). I do appreciate that he provided the longer and more detailed explanation for us.
 
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Maybe we read this differently, but "The next few weeks, until Console release on March 29, will be dedicated to the consoles." says to me that they are not doing PC DDs because they are "dedicating" DDs to the console version instead.

I read it as they're working on PC 1.5.1, haven't got anything to share with us on that yet and so are filling the "empty" DD slots with Console dev diaries.

The fact that this is such a "light" DD lends further credence to the idea that it's simply something thrown together to fill a gap that already exists - rather than something of such vital importance to Paradox that it neccessitates the cancelling of PC dev diaries.
 
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The different PDX brands are managed by various teams, so plans & communications are different.
What would you like to see or read with CK3, compared to what the other PDX titles are doing?
Your feedback can help us redirect efforts & resources.
It'd be cool to see dev diaries of the form, "here's a mechanic in the game, a deep-dive into how its intended to work, and our thoughts about what works well about it and what doesn't". It'd be a way to collected targetted feedback on a narrow mechanic, and give the community a sense of what areas of the game might see improvement in the future. For example, a lot of people have mixed feelings about the fervor mechanic, so it'd be interesting to see a discussion of what the motivation behind the mechanic is (for example, why is it driven so strongly by the virtuous/sinful priest even? What is the desired ebb and flow of fervor over the course of a game? How do you envision fervor working differently for large faiths and tiny faiths?). Even if it's not at the top of the priority list, it'd be interesting to know whether fervor is something the dev team intends to revisit in the future, or if it's something that's considered to be working well and is more-or-less finished. Players could discuss how the mechanic has been performing in their games, and give feedback about what sort of improvements they'd like to see, if any.

The mechanic doesn't have to be something that's being actively worked on, or something that's slated to be revised in the next DLC or patch - just an area of the game that players might appreciate a bit more insight into. It'd be good filler for times when you're not ready to reveal information about upcoming content or features.
 
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The different PDX brands are managed by various teams, so plans & communications are different.
What would you like to see or read with CK3, compared to what the other PDX titles are doing?
Your feedback can help us redirect efforts & resources.
We are doing our best to support the communications for Crusader Kings III, with what we are given. There are many information that are private and getting an approval to release the information publicly can take a while sometimes.
If you have any questions, let us know and we will give you the most up to date information that we are allowed to share with the community.
A dev diary about how events are imagined, like how do come up with events? Do you have dedicated writers for events? Do devs do all events and writing themselves? Do devs have any development plan to follow when making events? Do devs have to check with each other how to balance their events? If there aren't any dedicated writers are there plans to hire story writers to write some interesting events that tie the game together?

:)
 
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