Hello again everyone! Welcome to this developer diary on the historical research we do for Europa Universalis IV.
When we have in the past asked you guys what you would like us to write about in our developer diaries the suggestion to make one about historical research in relation to the game was quite popular.
I’ll start by noting that Europa Universalis is, of course, a game. And as a game it needs to be fun to play and have systems that makes sense to interact with as a game. That said it is a game which takes it’s setting from history and which uses history as an inspiration for both mechanics and many other things.
Now there’s some form of research involved for many, many things that are in the game and I am not going to be able to cover all of them here. Rather what I will give is an introduction and overview to the research I do as a Content Designer on this game.
As a general rule historical research will fall into one of two categories dependent on what it is to be used for: Database/Setup Research and Background/Content Research. We’ll start with the Content and then continue with the setup research. I will be describing the process as it relates to expansions as I was not part of Content Design for the base game
One of the things I personally like best about this game is that you can play in any location in the entire world. Not all regions have equal amounts of flavor or specific game systems however and generally (though not always) when this is expanded upon it will be concentrated on one region at a time.
When we begin working on a new DLC there will generally be a number of game systems planned by Game Designers, such as the Religious Authority system for the Inti religion in ‘El Dorado’, or more recently the Shinto Isolationism mechanic in ‘Mandate of Heaven’. These systems require fleshing out and to be given life through events and other scripted content.
1: Books
Now while I think it’s fair to say that most developers I’ve met at Paradox have an interest in history, and especially that of their respective games, it is not possible or expected that everyone know everything on their own. It is, however, desirable that we produce an image of a past place and time that tries to resemble that time without reproducing unwanted or outdated stereotypes (you might argue we have at times failed at this but our intention is pretty clear here).
In order to get a proper handle on things I will normally therefore find and order a reasonably new overview from a university publisher (at the end of this diary I’ll list some examples of books for El Dorado and Mandate of Heaven). And then after having read that go a little wider both in real life and online. This way the idea is that a reasonably fair overall vision can be preserved when diving into various details that might be required to fully flesh out a region.
Apart from being a way to “ground” the general ideas and research for a region these books are often themselves the source of many events or other details that make it into the game. They’ll usually be full of underlinings and scribblings that would disturb any librarian.
(example of a random page in one of the books used for Mandate of Heaven research)
2: The Internet & the Community
Since a long while back we also try to be in touch with certain members of the community with a special interest or skill related to the regions and times we like to portray. If you have been following these diaries for a long time you’ll remember we’ve mentioned some of them at times. @Guillaume HJ , @chatnoir17 and @Fryz are just a few examples of posters that have offered us both hard work and insights in relation to both content and our databases over the years.
As Europa Universalis 4 is a mature game we are also able to draw from the existing community it has. The Suggestions Forum has been the source of many good additions in terms of content, sometimes specific and sometimes simply because the discussions there allow us to find more things. I really want to take this opportunity to highlight how useful this forum is. Even if we don’t always reply to everything we read the discussions and the suggestions and much of it improves the game one way or another.
Of course the internet is also a great source of information in general and it is not unknown for development to use information from various online databases. Information secured in point 1 should help in avoiding obvious pitfalls here.
3: Gameplay and other Considerations
It has been said by a former project lead that History is not an argument in itself. Of course Europa Universalis is a game, and the idea is to create an enjoyable experience rather than one that is always strictly faithful (and honestly, it is very rare that we have a clear enough picture of a past to even allow for that).
Sometimes we’ll be in situations where we choose what to portray and how, and the thing that decides this is the overall game design. The idea is not to put things in just for its own sake (though sometimes one likes to indulge, like with the birth of the state of Habsan if stars align correctly in western India) but to make an entertaining game. If you find something to be obviously divergent from how you think things should be it is not unlikely that such a decision was made.
That does not mean you shouldn’t ask us to change it however, the suggestions forum is a great place to do so, there are often things that have not yet been considered.
Perhaps the most visible research work that goes into Europa Universalis is that to fill out the map. Many have called this game a map-painter and, though I would say there’s a bit more to it than that for me personally, the map is certainly where this game is played and where you can see most of your achievements.
The setup we have now has been worked on continuously since release and yet many parts of it are inherited from previous games. I cannot really speak for how research was done in previous installations but I do know a fair bit about how we do things now.
For the setup we’ve often come to use anything from historical atlases, to books on historical populations, to various other sources. Unlike the region based addition of content there is rarely one big source you can use to get a comprehensive picture of the entire world and era. Instead we have to rely on various historical maps, atlases and/or online databases. Both the suggestions forum and our beta-testers/researchers are great resources here as others have access to sources we do not, either because they speak other languages or because they have special interests. This is something I know well as before I joined the company I was myself involved on a volunteer basis to improve the depiction of India (both before the initial release of the game and for the general upgrade in the patch accompanying Art of War).
As before a grounding in the general era and place becomes crucial to tell good information from bad along with a willingness to keep adding and/or correcting things for the long term when we get better information. And as before the setup is also very much subject to gameplay considerations (this is why there are no wars in the world in 1444 for instance).
This was far from a complete overview of what historical research for Europa Universalis entails but an overview and an introduction that i hope has been an interesting read for all those of you who wished to know more of it
If you have any questions I will try to answer them in this thread. If reading this made you realize you have a pressing suggestion for things to improve then I would like to direct you towards the suggestions forum where we will be happy to read them.
As promised here are some examples of overview books used in the development of ‘El Dorado’ and ‘Mandate of Heaven’:
El Dorado:
The Cost of Courage in Aztec Society
Aztec Archeology and Ethnohistory
History of the Inca Realm
Mandate of Heaven:
Civil Examinations and Meritocracy in Late Imperial China
Cambridge History of Japan. Vol 6
That was all for today. Now I will be hitting the books and next week I will be back to talk a bit about what region is getting improved next...
When we have in the past asked you guys what you would like us to write about in our developer diaries the suggestion to make one about historical research in relation to the game was quite popular.
I’ll start by noting that Europa Universalis is, of course, a game. And as a game it needs to be fun to play and have systems that makes sense to interact with as a game. That said it is a game which takes it’s setting from history and which uses history as an inspiration for both mechanics and many other things.
Now there’s some form of research involved for many, many things that are in the game and I am not going to be able to cover all of them here. Rather what I will give is an introduction and overview to the research I do as a Content Designer on this game.
As a general rule historical research will fall into one of two categories dependent on what it is to be used for: Database/Setup Research and Background/Content Research. We’ll start with the Content and then continue with the setup research. I will be describing the process as it relates to expansions as I was not part of Content Design for the base game
Content, Mechanic related events and DHEs:
One of the things I personally like best about this game is that you can play in any location in the entire world. Not all regions have equal amounts of flavor or specific game systems however and generally (though not always) when this is expanded upon it will be concentrated on one region at a time.
When we begin working on a new DLC there will generally be a number of game systems planned by Game Designers, such as the Religious Authority system for the Inti religion in ‘El Dorado’, or more recently the Shinto Isolationism mechanic in ‘Mandate of Heaven’. These systems require fleshing out and to be given life through events and other scripted content.
1: Books
Now while I think it’s fair to say that most developers I’ve met at Paradox have an interest in history, and especially that of their respective games, it is not possible or expected that everyone know everything on their own. It is, however, desirable that we produce an image of a past place and time that tries to resemble that time without reproducing unwanted or outdated stereotypes (you might argue we have at times failed at this but our intention is pretty clear here).
In order to get a proper handle on things I will normally therefore find and order a reasonably new overview from a university publisher (at the end of this diary I’ll list some examples of books for El Dorado and Mandate of Heaven). And then after having read that go a little wider both in real life and online. This way the idea is that a reasonably fair overall vision can be preserved when diving into various details that might be required to fully flesh out a region.
Apart from being a way to “ground” the general ideas and research for a region these books are often themselves the source of many events or other details that make it into the game. They’ll usually be full of underlinings and scribblings that would disturb any librarian.
(example of a random page in one of the books used for Mandate of Heaven research)
2: The Internet & the Community
Since a long while back we also try to be in touch with certain members of the community with a special interest or skill related to the regions and times we like to portray. If you have been following these diaries for a long time you’ll remember we’ve mentioned some of them at times. @Guillaume HJ , @chatnoir17 and @Fryz are just a few examples of posters that have offered us both hard work and insights in relation to both content and our databases over the years.
As Europa Universalis 4 is a mature game we are also able to draw from the existing community it has. The Suggestions Forum has been the source of many good additions in terms of content, sometimes specific and sometimes simply because the discussions there allow us to find more things. I really want to take this opportunity to highlight how useful this forum is. Even if we don’t always reply to everything we read the discussions and the suggestions and much of it improves the game one way or another.
Of course the internet is also a great source of information in general and it is not unknown for development to use information from various online databases. Information secured in point 1 should help in avoiding obvious pitfalls here.
3: Gameplay and other Considerations
It has been said by a former project lead that History is not an argument in itself. Of course Europa Universalis is a game, and the idea is to create an enjoyable experience rather than one that is always strictly faithful (and honestly, it is very rare that we have a clear enough picture of a past to even allow for that).
Sometimes we’ll be in situations where we choose what to portray and how, and the thing that decides this is the overall game design. The idea is not to put things in just for its own sake (though sometimes one likes to indulge, like with the birth of the state of Habsan if stars align correctly in western India) but to make an entertaining game. If you find something to be obviously divergent from how you think things should be it is not unlikely that such a decision was made.
That does not mean you shouldn’t ask us to change it however, the suggestions forum is a great place to do so, there are often things that have not yet been considered.
Databases, Setup and the Map:
Perhaps the most visible research work that goes into Europa Universalis is that to fill out the map. Many have called this game a map-painter and, though I would say there’s a bit more to it than that for me personally, the map is certainly where this game is played and where you can see most of your achievements.
The setup we have now has been worked on continuously since release and yet many parts of it are inherited from previous games. I cannot really speak for how research was done in previous installations but I do know a fair bit about how we do things now.
For the setup we’ve often come to use anything from historical atlases, to books on historical populations, to various other sources. Unlike the region based addition of content there is rarely one big source you can use to get a comprehensive picture of the entire world and era. Instead we have to rely on various historical maps, atlases and/or online databases. Both the suggestions forum and our beta-testers/researchers are great resources here as others have access to sources we do not, either because they speak other languages or because they have special interests. This is something I know well as before I joined the company I was myself involved on a volunteer basis to improve the depiction of India (both before the initial release of the game and for the general upgrade in the patch accompanying Art of War).
As before a grounding in the general era and place becomes crucial to tell good information from bad along with a willingness to keep adding and/or correcting things for the long term when we get better information. And as before the setup is also very much subject to gameplay considerations (this is why there are no wars in the world in 1444 for instance).
This was far from a complete overview of what historical research for Europa Universalis entails but an overview and an introduction that i hope has been an interesting read for all those of you who wished to know more of it
If you have any questions I will try to answer them in this thread. If reading this made you realize you have a pressing suggestion for things to improve then I would like to direct you towards the suggestions forum where we will be happy to read them.
As promised here are some examples of overview books used in the development of ‘El Dorado’ and ‘Mandate of Heaven’:
El Dorado:
The Cost of Courage in Aztec Society
Aztec Archeology and Ethnohistory
History of the Inca Realm
Mandate of Heaven:
Civil Examinations and Meritocracy in Late Imperial China
Cambridge History of Japan. Vol 6
That was all for today. Now I will be hitting the books and next week I will be back to talk a bit about what region is getting improved next...
