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

[Mattias Lilja]

Any pen & paper RPG players at PI?

Oh yes, many of us love the sight of a well used character sheet and tremble with excitement at the sound of rolling dice. Plastic figures on a 1-inch grid is not beneath us either - we stop at nothing to enjoy ourselves!

Me: D&D 4th edition, and Coriolis (ok, I wrote most of it but still...)
Shams: Shadowrun 4th edition (likes 3rd ed better)
Boel: board games, currently Battlestar Galactica - and a bunch of Swedish rpg's like Svavelvinter
Johan: D&D 2nd edition (had a hard time choosing a favourite)

Cheers,
Mattias

 

[Eärendil]

Häcken!

Hehe, let me guess, for you the more important question is who should win Superettan?

 

[Johan]

Johan: D&D 2nd edition (had a hard time choosing a favourite)

I play casual boardgames nowadays, havent played d&d since a planescape campaign back in 94.

 

[Walker85]

Which of your games was in development for the longest period of time, and which was for the shortest (from first idea to release)? How long was that?

 

[Count of Reval]

Just an idea... with your experience, have you ever pondered an option to write some economy/market/business simulation software for business schools and universities' departments of economics (and home users)?

 

[Shams]

Going to answer a bunch of questions in one giant go!

Could you provide some background info on yourselves? E.g. hometown, age, education, etc etc; whatever you feel like sharing!

Hometown: Uppsala/Stockholm
Age: 26 (27 in a month)
Education: Cinema Studies, English Literature & Linguistics, Bachelors in Media Technology from RIOT (Royal Institute Of Technology)
Other: Grew up in Scotland. Big gamer, I play more or less everything. Poker'ed my way through college, competed in the Swedish Nationals in Magic (the card game) on several occasions (Fredrik teases me constantly about it). Played a lot of pen&paper rpgs. Currently wasting time on warhammer. I hate WoW. I consider farts to be a form of entertainment.

In your opinion, which is the field of development in which the next generation of strategy games will focus its evolution?

I speak for the genre as a whole, not Paradox: Roleplaying elements. We've seen the phenomena in first person shooters and in some RTS's already. In a sense it's always been there (numbers under the hood) but I think we're going to see a huge surge in RPG elements in all kinds of games.

When do you think that you might get more impressive offices for the Paradox HQ? Very easy to miss if you don't know where to look!

I think it's pretty impressive now. I'll try to hook you up with some pics.

In case that a release or patch utterly fails to impress us, when the tides are high and anger and frustration are all around - how do you handle this situation? Personally and in your position at Paradox.

I gnash my teeth at the ungrateful fans! No but seriously, a few years ago when I started seriously studying game design and development I came to a realization which communities(any community) generally lack:

Game development is not democratic nor does it "belong" to the community. Fans often treat games as if they are stockholders and that how the game turns out depends on them. The blizzard fans are the worst. I mean if you love Diablo 1 and 2 more than anything else in the world how the hell do you freak out and start signing petitions against a game just because the screenshots of Diablo 3 aren't more like what you envisioned. Fans should trust the developers more, after all they made the previous games that you loved so much.

Professionally we start by asking ourselves: Did we fail in our communication with the press/community? why are people disappointed? How can we make a win out of this?

Any pen & paper RPG players at PI?

I've played lots of swedish ones Drakar och demoner (ad&d), Kult, Mutant. I still play those but read newer RPGs.

Who is most likely to give you too much information?

Johan

Approximately how much do you "work" on your freetime on this forum per week? (Providing help, answering questions, posting in this thread)

2-4? depends on what's going on. I always have a browser with the forum up.

Favorite beer?

Heineken. Not the taste, more the look of it on a cold day

And I got a good one:

What do you enjoy most about working for Paradox Interactive?

The colleagues and all the inside jokes with the colleagues and the fans.


I have a question for you guys. I answer yes without blinking, which my girlfriend really hates.

You are on your way home late at night. You are almost home and your street is strangely deserted. Suddenly a bright light and the Millenium Falcon lands next to you and Han Solo appears. He asks you if you want to come and fly off to a Galaxy Far Far Away. There is no time to say goodbye to loved ones. This is your chance.

Do you leave?

Substitute Starwars with Twilight, world of warcraft or whatever it is you kids like nowadays


Bring on more questions!

/s

 

[Johan]

Do you leave?

yes.

 

[Susana]

Thought I'd just compress some of the questions here

Favorite beer?
Samuel Adams Boston Ale

What do you enjoy most about working for Paradox Interactive?
The passion everyone displays for their job and their products. We have fun almost every day.

Favorite vacation spot, for any of the employees?
I love going to New York, but that’s usually work. But it’s still one of my favorite spots to visit.

Who is the company's practical joker?
Shams is crazy.

Who wears their emotions on their sleeve for all to see?
Hmm, I think I’m def up there.

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
We actually hug quite a lot in the office, just ask any of the dev teams we work with!

Could you provide some background info on yourselves? E.g. hometown, age, education, etc etc; whatever you feel like sharing!
Stockholm, 34 yrs old, Bachelor of International marketing and management from Stockholm University. Joined Paradox in 2004. Have two 1,5 year old twin boys. Parents from Chile and Brazil, grandfather from Italy and married to an Irish man .

What was it like being offered a job with Paradox? How exactly did it happen?
Paradox was looking for someone with international marketing experience and I had just returned from London. I interviewed and I was Fredrik’s first pick. When I first came in, the dev team was very skeptical, I was told “a good game sells itself”. Then we released Hearts of Iron 2 - and I never heard it again. It’s been a very exciting journey since!

What kind of music (if any but Falalalan) do you listen to?
I listen to a lot of Classic Rock, favorite band: The Doors.

What are some specifics on Paradox Interactive as a company? (Total Number of Employees, Average Time of the Work Week, etc.)
Since Johan posted about the dev team I’ll give you the scope on the publishing team. We are 4 in the Stockholm office, and 2 in the US office. Average time of work week is anything from 6 hrs to 20 hrs depending on how close we are to release and how much grief the release is.

EDIT - OMG Shams, we had the exact same thought. Great minds think alike...

 

[podcat]

Do you leave?

as long as its Han Solo. If its a sexually frustrated vampire or Tauren I'll probably just run for my life.

 

[Weijun]

Do you leave?
/s

Absolutely.

 

[Kallocain]

"The Octagon"

I did not know it before, but now this is probably my favourite thread/post as well. Or the usual weird OT ones like "should men shave their arm pits?"

 

[Galliun]

as long as its Han Solo. If its a sexually frustrated vampire or Tauren I'll probably just run for my life.

That's a very loose interpretation of the word "vampire".

 

[Kanalratte]

You are on your way home late at night. You are almost home and your street is strangely deserted. Suddenly a bright light and the Millenium Falcon lands next to you and Han Solo appears. He asks you if you want to come and fly off to a Galaxy Far Far Away. There is no time to say goodbye to loved ones. This is your chance.

Do you leave?

Substitute Starwars with Twilight, world of warcraft or whatever it is you kids like nowadays


/s

No way, unless it is a universe without bugs.
Remark: Yes, I am a programmer.

 

[RELee]

Favorite beer?
Samuel Adams Boston Ale

Ah. We are friends of the stomach. We share similar tastes, although I tend to drink more lager and less ale. I never turn away a Sam Adams though.

Do you leave?

No. This would probably be the last straw to prompt me to seek out professional help.

 

[Shams]

I'm pretty sure they can cure any number of mental ailments with the proper droids in a galaxy far far away.

/s

 

[TheLoneGunman]

Do you guys get annoyed with all the requests for CK2?

Or does it make you happy to know we demand sequels to your games?

Or is it a little bit of both?

 

[RedRalphWiggum]

Do you leave?

No, but if it was the Death Star and Vader, I'd consider it

So Shams is a Scot, eh... is that some form of 'Seamus'?

Any of ye ever visit Ireland and what did you think?

 

[RELee]

I'm pretty sure they can cure any number of mental ailments with the proper droids in a galaxy far far away.

/s

Heh.

I didn't say "psychiatrist".
o

 

[Samilou]

I think somebody missed my question with no question marks, so:

Something I have always wondered, is the precise sales figures for Paradox games, the profit situations for Paradox Interactive each year and the sources of these profits.

 

[Johan]

I think somebody missed my question with no question marks, so:

you wont get any replies to those.