Ask Paradox (almost) Anything Thread (no support/tech or code questions)

[Kallocain]

Is this better? (hey it's a question! )

Yes thanks. Now I can go to sleep and dream about fluffy things.

 

[Susana]

New fun questions!

1. What are your favourite bar(s) in Stockholm?
2. Are you planing on making more Pdox T-Shirts etc (my old ones are getting.. small)?
3. If no to 2., please?

/F

2. Yepp, we are looking into painless (for us) options to provide Paradox merchandise so hopefully you'll be able to get anything your heart desires in the future.

 

[Susana]

- Susana:
1. By what I could garner, Paradox seems to be having a bigger share and popularity in the European and North American markets, which coincidentially are the biggest. Likewise, pushes have apparently begun in Russia, by connections with Russian companies, all with the supposed aim of enhancing the Paradox brand in Russia. Do you think Paradox can also manage to enter and raise its visibility and compete in the important Far Eastern markets (China, Japan, S. Korea), phreaps by attempting similar connections with Asian developers or developping games on popular Far-Eastern themes and ages with it's design philopsophy, or do you think Paradox would not be able to gain enough visibility and popularity to make such marketing pushes into Asia worth it (Either by political issues, strong competition, lack of contacts and awareness about the Asian gaming world, etc)?

We've worked with distributors in these markets for quite some time already now. Our ties to Cyberfront (Japan), New Era (Thailand, Singapore), Snowball (Russia) for instance go back all the way to Hearts of Iron 2. The reason you don't hear too much about that on these boards is because those versions are localized and releases handled mainly by their local companies rather than us. I've attached a couple of localized examples

Aside from physical retailer, digital distribution has skyrocketed and that has helped our presence worldwide.

 

[Fredrik II]

Serious question: Why did you guys sign on as the publisher for this game?:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalin_vs._Martians

Hehe

It seems like a good idea at the time

Questions for (almost) everyone (I would wish for personal answers/opinions, rather than company statements)!

- Frederik:
1. Having seen the progress done for Victoria 2, considering the time era, and taking all else into account, do you still believe the game will not be able to make a profit?

Considering what I have seen so far, I am convinced we'll make a profit. I played quite a lot of Victoria 1 myself and I hope we can reach a larger audience with No 2.

2. Imagining you were approached by Firaxis (I'd say Sid Meier, but apparently he barely has any true guidance in game development anymore), for a joint-project between Firaxis and Paradox to develop Colonization 2 (For reality's sake, let's say Paradox's programming team would be hired and integrated into the Firaxis development team), and published under Paradox Interactive brand itself. Would you consider such a move (As CEO) or do you think the design philosophies behind both programming teams would be imcompatible?

If we got the opportunity to work with Firaxis we would love to do so. I do not find our approach to games in general to be incompatible.

3. Can you give us a run down at how you became CEO of Paradox Interactive? (If I'm forced to choose a time-line go from college graduation to present-time, but change it at will.)

I have been working for Paradox almost 7 years, the last year as CEO and the years before that as Executive VP. During this time I haven't only focused on Paradox, but built up GamersGate between 2006-2009 and worked with several other projects as well. When we separated GamersGate and Paradox in 2009 we also separated management teams and I was appointed Paradox CEO in April 2009 (Theodore Bergquist, the former CEO is now CEO at GamersGate).

So I'm not new in the company or new to our games, but a year old as CEO.

4. Would you consider expanding the programing team (Thus raising the costs of maintaining the company), using the company's current solid financial situation, if you wished to embark on more ambitious titles?

We have stepwise increased the team during the years I've worked here and are continuing to do so.

 

[Kallocain]

New fun questions!

1. What are your favourite bar(s) in Stockholm?
2. Are you planing on making more Pdox T-Shirts etc (my old ones are getting.. small)?
3. If no to 2., please?

/F

1. Oh I like many of them. I tend to keep to Södermalm though, because I'm lazy. I can tell you that Kelly's, Gröne Jägaren and Tucken are NOT my favourites.

2. I hope so! I want more merchandise too...

 

[Kallocain]

Could we know how many hidden codes there are still on the forums(all of them) and how many there are for respectively game left, please

We place a few of them at the time, and there are many left.

 

[Kallocain]

What other Video Game studio would you like to work at, if you couldn't work at PI? Why?

A long time I though the answer to this was Blizzard, but now I lean towards Bioware. Because I enjoy their games a lot, as simple as that.
It's not like I'd quit Paradox to work there though.

 

[Kallocain]

Did you ever play the text based football games by Wizard Games of Scotland? They have been on every computer I have ever owned. Basic, but lots of fun.

Does piracy push DRM or does DRM push piracy?

Does anyone play any web based games? (I'm currently into Neptune's Pride)

I've played a browser soccer game named Hattrick, does that count? Not a lot of graphics in it.

No piracy discussions in here.

Lord of Ultima and Exile Gods. The latter on facebook, neither is awesome.

 

[Kallocain]

I've got three:

1. What foreign languages (beside English) do you know well?

2. When will you update Crusader Kings: DV?

3. What is your favourite novel?

1. None

2. Dunno

3. The Foundation by Asimov. When I had read it, I remember thinking I was jealous of those who have not read it and will get to read for the first time. This was years ago though, I think I might be ready for a second read-through.

 

[podcat]

Polemic question:
Have any of you guys played the new CnC4? What are your thoughts on it? (I personally think it was a hard fail)

I personally never liked any of the CnC games (I found them a bit soul-less and rush-prone). I havent tried the new one tho. on second thought, red alert was ok:ish.

Planescape Torment was an awesome game, and is still easily in my top 5 favorites of all time. someone needs to re-do it with modern graphics badly. please pretty please

 

[Kallocain]

I'm surprised nobody's asked this yet.

What's your favourite Paradox?

Are you more concerned about the lack of apparent signs of intelligent extra-terrestrial life or does your inability to run faster than a tortoise worry you?

Fermi.

 

[SolSara]

I'll do as Susana did and answer a bunch of questions right away.

Favorite beer?
Rasputin

What do you enjoy most about working for Paradox Interactive?
My co-workers. The multiplayer game we usually play every Tuesday. Beer Fridays. Scripting ^^

Favorite vacation spot, for any of the employees?
Any lake with a sand beach, preferrably Vänern.

Who is the company's practical joker?
Shams?

Who wears their emotions on their sleeve for all to see?
Um... I don't know.

Who would be most likely to give me a hug should I acquire enough money to buy a plane ticket and show up on your doorstep?
If you offer anyone a hug, they will probably hug you.

Could you provide some background info on yourselves? E.g. hometown, age, education, etc etc; whatever you feel like sharing!
Hometown: Karlstad.
Age: 22 (23 in October)
Education: Studied Computer Games Development - Design at the University of Skövde, graduated 2009. Bachelor of Art.
Joined Paradox 7 january 2010.
Random trivia: I love beef jerky, I always bring an apple to the office for Mr. Nibbles and I am a huge fan of Terry Pratchett and Robert A. Heinlein.

What was it like being offered a job with Paradox? How exactly did it happen?
It took me exactly eleven days to get the job. On 7 December 2009 I was looking through Facebook and saw that Paradox was looking for a scripter. I fixed my CV and wrote a cover letter and sent it in on 9 December. The very next day I got a phone call from Johan who asked me if I was available for an interview on 15 December. They offered me the job on 18 December and I said yes, of course.

What kind of music (if any but Falalalan) do you listen to?
Poets of the Fall, The Killers, P!nk, Serj Tankian and many more.

 

[Susana]

@Susana:

Do you have a boyfriend?

No, I don't have a boyfriend. I have a husband

 

[Johan]

i just looked at your website and saw FTG as the 3rd most sold game, i love FTG and its concept(historical events ftw) but are you guys suprised by its success for a game whose graphics are substandard and relies on the player to do all of the imagining for themselves and do you think the gaes success shows content is the way forward, not graphics?

Actually, thats the 3rd most sold game that day.

To be entirely honest, the sales of FTG have not been as good as we had hoped or expected.

 

[podcat]

Has anyone photoshopped Fredrik's hair away and posted it in the office yet?

I'm not sure if anyone has photoshopped away his hair yet, but there are pictures of some of the staff with very large black mustaches circulating at the office.

 

[Mattias Lilja]

How many times have you seen 'The Princess Bride'?

Many, many, many times. o

Cheers,
Mattias

 

[Johan]

Could be asking to much, but: Could you give a ranking (without showing actual sales figures) of the overall most sold games of paradox?

Eu3
HoI3
Hoi2
HoI1
Rome

is the top 5 afaik.

 

[Johan]

Wow, I didn't see that coming...I mean i expected EU3 and Hoi3 and 2, but i would certainly expect to see EU2 in the list. Let's be honest, it was the game that actually made Paradox's name, is it not? Unless sales that old are not documented properly...

Eu2 is about same level as diplomacy, victoria and ck. eu1 did better.

As for the FTG sales Johan, was that a real surprise? I know it was hard work and a nice idea altogether, but the price was a bit high, especially for us who already owned an original EU2...I truly believe that had it been in the 10 euros scale, it would have fared much better in the long run, just like AOD would.
And just to satisfy my curiosity, could you please post a complete list of all the Paradox titles in order of sales? Or at least reveal where EU2 stands in that list?

I doubt it would have sold more at any price. The market for deep rigid historical event games are not that huge as we've noticed. I'd have hoped that an EU2 remake to a forum that was so in uproars over Eu3 going sandbox would sell at least a 1/20th of an average EU3 expansion.

 

[Kallocain]

You guys have started asking questions that takes research to answer. :/

 

[Johan]

Do you ever find the idea that hundreds of hours of your work is going to be picked over and criticised in public here soul-destroying? I mean, the vast majority of posts on paradoxplaza are positive, so that's got to be encouraging, but there is always going to be some criticism, no matter what. Do you ever dread logging on?

Yes. There are times I avoid reading certain forums.