Warhammer: Geheimnisnacht CK3 - Dev Diary #1
Hello Heretics, Red Skald (and Komi over my shoulder) here with the first dev diary for Geheimnisnacht to talk about the mod. I’ve been awfully quiet on this front especially with the team and especially Komi devoting much of their time to the new releases and mechanics at work with CK2.
I’m releasing this brief dev diary as a quick update on ModCon and the state of the mod in general and to talk about how working towards our vision for the mod is guided by Four Pillars. in order to not just differentiate from CK2 but to evolve from it as well.
1.Variety of play
Geheimnisnacht over the years has never been content with merely creating a new setting or expanding the timeline, we have constantly striven to introduce brand new playstyles and change the way you approach the core mechanics of Crusader Kings. Warhammer is the perfect setting for this as so many factions are wholly unique. Such as the vicious Greenskins, inscrutable Elves, deathless Nehekarans or the arrogant Vampires that have influenced plenty of fantasy worlds ever since. To this end we plan on increasing the variety of play in general, not just in new factions and types of characters but new combinations, something we’ve made some big progress on in the CK2.. We’ve done several deep dives into the lore in order to introduce new starts and factions to areas that otherwise suffered from static and samey gameplay, I guarantee there's no place on the entire map in CK2 that will lead to a boring game (except maybe lustria, but that’s lore friendly) and CK3 will be no different. We want to make every character and faction worth playing, each part of the map worth visiting, and every achievement worth getting.
2.Unique mechanics
Geheimnisnacht has always been at the cutting edge of modding in the PDX sphere and we mean to keep it that way. The other Major Overhauls are doing amazing things and the stuff on the Mod Co-op is absolutely astounding. Utilizing the new flexibility in UI modding and the performance enhancements of the new engine we have plans to provide a truly unique experience unlike any other in CK3. These will include things like regional mechanics for more unique areas (no hints), as well as faction wide ones with some inspiration taken from more recent Warhammer games. As well as game wide mechanics to keep the whole thing in line across the world (hint will be later).
Things like the Doom engine, one of the greatest single mechanics we have produced, for example will be touched and improved upon in the new version and those of you who have spent any real time in the codebase for Geheimninsacht, you know there are so many other things built up and running under the hood and we want to make sure all of that and more translates to the new edition.
3.Character narratives
With the release of the Iron Century from Paradox for CK2 introduced unique character narrative content. Easter Eggs and special events and so on. We quite liked it and have tried to create plenty of our own such things in our work. I would bet you didn’t even know that the Sudenburg start in CK2 has a very elaborate back-story, all told through his relationships and starting set-up. Or that many Devs have their own characters in game. But much of that has been on the backburner as there has been a focus on mechanics and overhauls in CK2. Starting from scratch we are free to build everything piece by piece and elaborate on it much easier for the player and community at large. Allowing for multiple narratives to be developed without any guilt that we are neglecting latent bugs or outdated factions in need of overhauls.
To this end I vow to add not just more interesting characters but ones with fully fledged storylines and unique content, and I promise I will do better than The End Times.
4. Multiplayer
(this part is all Komi) Our discord community has spent a lot of time playing games together, we’ve hosted almost 30 players more than once in massive map-wide games, and when we finish the 1.3.x set of patches for CK2 we will continue to do so. But we didn’t start thinking seriously about multiplayer, and QoL improvements for it, until very late in Geheimnisnacht’s development. This time around, with the increased demand for large strategy campaigns with others created by TWW, we will be orienting resources right from the start to multiplayer gameplay, and how having other players in your game might affect you.
So when you're taking part in the Bretonnian Crusades, start-date as a bunch of Grail Knights, or you're defending the Empire as a group of Elector Counts in the Vampire wars. You’ll have the resources and mechanics required to work together.
As of now we have mostly been working on bringing over the content we have already made, from religion to culture, as well as making new mechanics, as well as work on the map by Komi and I, as well as making DNA for for the various important characters like the Elector Counts and the claimant Emperors, the mod is not coming out any time soon though as we are waiting for some very important mechanics as we want to release only when we can get everything right. We may not even participate in the event but we are working hard to have content to share at ModCon so this is all for now.
But before I leave you I will give you that hint as to the subject of the next DD
Hello Heretics, Red Skald (and Komi over my shoulder) here with the first dev diary for Geheimnisnacht to talk about the mod. I’ve been awfully quiet on this front especially with the team and especially Komi devoting much of their time to the new releases and mechanics at work with CK2.
I’m releasing this brief dev diary as a quick update on ModCon and the state of the mod in general and to talk about how working towards our vision for the mod is guided by Four Pillars. in order to not just differentiate from CK2 but to evolve from it as well.
1.Variety of play
Geheimnisnacht over the years has never been content with merely creating a new setting or expanding the timeline, we have constantly striven to introduce brand new playstyles and change the way you approach the core mechanics of Crusader Kings. Warhammer is the perfect setting for this as so many factions are wholly unique. Such as the vicious Greenskins, inscrutable Elves, deathless Nehekarans or the arrogant Vampires that have influenced plenty of fantasy worlds ever since. To this end we plan on increasing the variety of play in general, not just in new factions and types of characters but new combinations, something we’ve made some big progress on in the CK2.. We’ve done several deep dives into the lore in order to introduce new starts and factions to areas that otherwise suffered from static and samey gameplay, I guarantee there's no place on the entire map in CK2 that will lead to a boring game (except maybe lustria, but that’s lore friendly) and CK3 will be no different. We want to make every character and faction worth playing, each part of the map worth visiting, and every achievement worth getting.
2.Unique mechanics
Geheimnisnacht has always been at the cutting edge of modding in the PDX sphere and we mean to keep it that way. The other Major Overhauls are doing amazing things and the stuff on the Mod Co-op is absolutely astounding. Utilizing the new flexibility in UI modding and the performance enhancements of the new engine we have plans to provide a truly unique experience unlike any other in CK3. These will include things like regional mechanics for more unique areas (no hints), as well as faction wide ones with some inspiration taken from more recent Warhammer games. As well as game wide mechanics to keep the whole thing in line across the world (hint will be later).
Things like the Doom engine, one of the greatest single mechanics we have produced, for example will be touched and improved upon in the new version and those of you who have spent any real time in the codebase for Geheimninsacht, you know there are so many other things built up and running under the hood and we want to make sure all of that and more translates to the new edition.
3.Character narratives
With the release of the Iron Century from Paradox for CK2 introduced unique character narrative content. Easter Eggs and special events and so on. We quite liked it and have tried to create plenty of our own such things in our work. I would bet you didn’t even know that the Sudenburg start in CK2 has a very elaborate back-story, all told through his relationships and starting set-up. Or that many Devs have their own characters in game. But much of that has been on the backburner as there has been a focus on mechanics and overhauls in CK2. Starting from scratch we are free to build everything piece by piece and elaborate on it much easier for the player and community at large. Allowing for multiple narratives to be developed without any guilt that we are neglecting latent bugs or outdated factions in need of overhauls.
To this end I vow to add not just more interesting characters but ones with fully fledged storylines and unique content, and I promise I will do better than The End Times.
4. Multiplayer
(this part is all Komi) Our discord community has spent a lot of time playing games together, we’ve hosted almost 30 players more than once in massive map-wide games, and when we finish the 1.3.x set of patches for CK2 we will continue to do so. But we didn’t start thinking seriously about multiplayer, and QoL improvements for it, until very late in Geheimnisnacht’s development. This time around, with the increased demand for large strategy campaigns with others created by TWW, we will be orienting resources right from the start to multiplayer gameplay, and how having other players in your game might affect you.
So when you're taking part in the Bretonnian Crusades, start-date as a bunch of Grail Knights, or you're defending the Empire as a group of Elector Counts in the Vampire wars. You’ll have the resources and mechanics required to work together.
As of now we have mostly been working on bringing over the content we have already made, from religion to culture, as well as making new mechanics, as well as work on the map by Komi and I, as well as making DNA for for the various important characters like the Elector Counts and the claimant Emperors, the mod is not coming out any time soon though as we are waiting for some very important mechanics as we want to release only when we can get everything right. We may not even participate in the event but we are working hard to have content to share at ModCon so this is all for now.
But before I leave you I will give you that hint as to the subject of the next DD
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