14 DAY TRIAL // Just as the newest expansion for Crusader Kings II, called Rajas of India, is set to launch on March 25, the team at the Paradox Development Studio is offering fans of the title some insight into its origins, explaining that it was inspired by the book series from George R.R. Martin, The Sims from Maxis and the classic title Lords of Midnight.
Henrik Fahraeus, the project leader, offered the information during his presentation called “Emergent Narrative In Crusader Kings 2” during the Game Developers Conference and The Escapist says that A Game of Thrones could have been used as the name for the experience if it hadn’t already been associated with another intellectual property.
The developer believes that the success of Crusader Kings and its currently still in development sequel is linked to the way it mixes non-player actors, conflict, randomized events, AI characters, limited scripted narrative and open ended gameplay.
They all make the game almost endlessly replayable because the huge amount of content and the core mechanics always create interesting new outcomes for players to explore and decisions that influence the final faith of characters.
Henrik Fahraeus adds, “We can capitalize on that human tendency to project meaning where there is none.”
This basically means that gamers will create complex stories linked to their experiences even if the events of the game, taken separately, are just the result of intricate system interactions and there’s little individual meaning to be found.
The game maker also mentions that the tendency towards player-created narrative means that Crusader Kings 2 has a high number of female players than other strategy titles.
At the moment, the team at Paradox Development Studio is getting ready to deliver the Rajas of India expansion for the title via digital distribution on the PC.
The new content is set to introduce the entire Indian subcontinent to the game, complete with three religions, new mechanics for rulers, war elephants to use in combat, the jungle terrain type and more events and decisions to make.
Paradox is also delivering a major patch for the core Crusader Kings II experience, which will fix some mechanics, enhance the gameplay and expand the modding opportunities.
At the same time, the company is working on the Wealth of Nations expansion for Europa Universalis IV, which will arrive later during spring, and on Hearts of Iron IV, which will arrive in the first few months of 2015.