EU4 - Development Diary - 20th of June 2017

[Anona]

Hello!

I’m Anona and I’ve been the Project Lead for EU4 for the last year + a few months. This means I’ve been driving the development of processes within the team and making sure we’re on time and budget - and not to forget team activities . Mare Nostrum, Rights of Man, Mandate of Heaven and Third Rome have been awesome to work on with such an amazing team as the EU4 team. On one hand it feels good to focus on only one project from now on: CK2, but on the other hand it’s sad to leave such a high-performing, experienced, competitive and positive team with a strong will to become even better.

Luckily I leave the project in good hands to our new Project Lead Linda Tiger, who has lots of experience, the right attitude and good knowledge of work methodologies.

To say something about the year that has passed there have been some changes to the team: Our ex AI programmer Chaingun has gotten a replacement in Gnivom and Ihki has gotten replaced by Groogy since they have moved on to other projects outside and inside of the Paradox Universe, respectively. DDRJake has become even more responsible for the design of the recent expansions and Johan is currently on a long holiday lasting three months. But of course he can’t keep himself completely outside Paradox so he pops up now and then anyway…

One of my best memories is the release of Rights of Man. We had all put a lot of effort into the game and I was extra nervous since it was the first EU4 expansion for which I had been Project Lead from start to finish. But the release went smooth and steam reviews were fantastic, on par with Art of War and El Dorado. Not sure if the following event was related to the Rights of Man success or not but some time later we got gingerbread cookies sent to the office from a fan, some of which were showing the art of the loading screen for Rights of Man. I kept one and everytime I look at it nowadays I feel pride for what we did with Rights of Man.

Thanks for all the feedback you’ve given the last year, it’s been incredibly valuable for our games!

Did you know that several people in the team have been eternalized in EU4 event pictures?

/Anona

So hi everyone,

And big thanks Anona for the introduction! I am super excited to join such a talented team and continue the journey with our magnificent Europa Universalis IV - lots of exciting stuff in the future for sure. Looking forward to get to know you all and to be part of this dedicated community - let’s do this!

//Fogbound

 

[Anona]

So the EU4 lead is disconnecting from it to work solely on CK2, a game that should have its last expansion currently in development if Paradox's account is precise? I suppose either CK2 still has some more steam left or the next DLC is going to be huuuge.

Our aim at PDS is to have one project lead per project in order to increase focus and efficiency.

 

[Anona]

Is that you?

Confirmed!

 

[Trin Tragula]

Which type of event is it used in?

It's from Mare Nostrum. Trade League events 5 "Is A Pirate In Hand Worth Ten In The Gallows?" and 6 "Pirates For Everyone" use it and they are both tied to getting trade league event 4 "Pirates Smell Booty".

I was away during the development of Mare Nostrum but as far as I can tell this is a pretty rare event on the biggest random pulse, and it requires you to be a trade league leader.

 

[Groogy]

"Groogy since they have moved on to other projects outside and inside of the Paradox Universe, respectively."
@Groogy watcha doiiiiiiiiiing?
Working on something new?
Something unannounced?

HALF LIFE 3 CONFIRMED

No I got moved to EU4

 

[Trin Tragula]

In the previous dev diary Jake did warn us that the few dew diaries left before their summer vacation would be rather different.


I knew Wiz appeared in one of the estate events but I didn't know there was more of the team, new mini game for EUIV: Find the Team members!

There are many more to find. Not me though

*looks @The Real Timor 's way*

 

[Groogy]

This is all very confusing. Why do you guys move around so much, anyway?

I was doing work I didn't want to do but Ihki wanted to do it so we switched

 

[Trin Tragula]

Could you explain the logic behind this approach? I'd imagine that having an experienced project lead stick with one project would be better. Certainly better in terms of focus. I imagine the first question every new project lead asks is "alrighty, so where were we?"

The point is that up until this point ck 2 and eu4 shared one project lead. Now they get one each

 

[Groogy]

So, next DLC will have secret bears and hedgehog cavalry?

you kid but...


edit: I am trying to find an old picture of where I photoshopped a hedgehog riding a chicken. It is somewhere on the forum, please help me find it!