Paradox Development Studio

Last updated

Paradox Development Studio
Company type Subsidiary of Paradox Interactive
Industry Video games
Founded1995;29 years ago (1995)
Headquarters
Stockholm
,
Sweden
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
 Johan Andersson
(Studio manager)
ProductsEuropa Universalis, Hearts of Iron, Victoria, Crusader Kings, Imperator, and Stellaris series
Number of employees
150 (2021) [1]
Parent Paradox Interactive

Paradox Development Studio (PDS) is a Swedish video game developer founded in 1995. It is closely associated with its parent company and video game publisher, Paradox Interactive. It is best known for its grand strategy wargame series Europa Universalis , Hearts of Iron , Victoria , Crusader Kings , Stellaris , and Imperator .

Contents

History

PDS is based on the heritage of the Swedish board game company Target Games, and has been a game developer of PC-focused grand strategy games since 1995, including the Europa Universalis , Hearts of Iron , Victoria , Crusader Kings , Stellaris , and Imperator series. The company continued to create PC games and in 1999, the company was divided into two separate entities: Paradox Interactive, which focused on creating grand strategy games for PC, and Paradox Entertainment, which focused on creating board and role-playing games.

In January 2012, the company divided yet again into two studios, becoming Paradox Interactive and Paradox Development Studio. Paradox Interactive became the game publisher focused on PC games of various genres and Paradox Development Studio became the game development studio focused on grand strategy games.

The game development studio was one of the first video game developers to create games in the grand strategy genre, and most of the games the studio has developed fall into that category. Grand strategy games are strategy games that usually cover the entire world map and include elements such as economy, diplomacy and warfare.

Studios

In 2021, Paradox Development Studio has reorganized and split into five internal development teams, with each one handling one of the Paradox's own IPs. [2] [3]

NameStudio LeadGame
PDS GreenRikard Jansson (Åslund) Stellaris
PDS BlackLinda Tiger Crusader Kings III
PDS RedJohanna Uddståhl Friberg Victoria 3
PDS GoldThomas Johansson Hearts of Iron IV
Paradox TintoJohan Andersson Europa Universalis IV

While this left Imperator: Rome without a dedicated development team, PDS leads stated that they are figuring out how they will return to the series in time. [4]

Game engines

To date, Paradox have engineered two main proprietary game engines for their titles, Europa and Clausewitz. Both were also designed to be open to anyone who wishes to modify the original game files to create mods. As a result, games can be modded with as little as a text editor, which has led to the development of strong modding communities for each of Paradox's games. [5]

Paradox developed its debut game Europa Universalis in 2000, and used large chunks of its code for its next games. Although this code overlap was subsequently referred to as the Europa Engine, studio manager Johan Andersson clarified that the 'engine' had not been part of the initial designs of each of the company's first six games, and that it just resulted from copy-pasting large parts of code from one game to the next. [6] In April 2008, Paradox allowed certain indie game developers to freely use the (by then) superseded engine as part of their Europa Engine Licensing Program. [7] [8] [9] The move led to the development of games such as For the Glory , Arsenal of Democracy, Darkest Hour, and Iron Cross.

In 2007, the studio debuted a new game engine, called Clausewitz Engine in Europa Universalis III . [10] Named after the Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz, the new engine is written in the C++ programming language and provides a 3D view of part or the totality of the world map, depending on the played game. Sengoku (released 2011) was the first game utilizing the Clausewitz 2 engine. The studio's 17th game, Imperator: Rome (released 2019), was also built using Clausewitz, but with the addition of new 64-bit software known as "Jomini" (named after 19th century Swiss general Antoine-Henri Jomini) [11] that allows for better 3D rendering and easier creation of mods. The newly improved engine now also features support for DirectX 11. [12]

List of games developed

List of games developed by Paradox Development Studios. [13] Note that in addition to this list there are two other games developed in the early 2000s when the studio was part of Paradox Entertainment, Crown of the North and Two Thrones , both part of the Svea Rike series.

Europa Engine

NameReleasedExpansionsDate
Europa Universalis 2000—
Europa Universalis II 2001—
Hearts of Iron 2002—
Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun 2003Revolutions2006
Crusader Kings 2004Deus Vult2007
Hearts of Iron II 2005Doomsday2006
Armageddon2007

Clausewitz Engine

NameReleasedExpansionsDate
Europa Universalis III 2007Napoleon's Ambition2007
In Nomine2008
Heir to the Throne2009
Divine Wind2010
Europa Universalis: Rome 2008Vae Victis2008
Hearts of Iron III 2009Semper Fi2010
For the Motherland2011
Their Finest Hour2012
Victoria II 2010A House Divided2012
Heart of Darkness2013
Sengoku 2011—
Crusader Kings II 2012 Sword of Islam 2012
Legacy of Rome
Sunset Invasion
The Republic2013
The Old Gods
Sons of Abraham
Rajas of India2014
Charlemagne
Way of Life
Horse Lords2015
Conclave2016
The Reaper's Due
Monks and Mystics2017
Jade Dragon
Holy Fury 2018
March of the Eagles 2013—
Europa Universalis IV 2013Conquest of Paradise2014
Wealth of Nations
Res Publica
Art of War
El Dorado2015
Common Sense
The Cossacks
Mare Nostrum2016
Rights of Man
Mandate of Heaven2017
Third Rome
Cradle of Civilization
Rule Britannia2018
Dharma
Golden Century
Emperor2020
Leviathan2021
Origins
Lions of the North2022
Domination2023
King of Kings
Winds of Change2024
Stellaris 2016Leviathans2016
Utopia2017
Synthetic Dawn
Apocalypse2018
Distant Stars
MegaCorp
Ancient Relics2019
Federations2020
Nemesis2021
Overlord2022
First Contact2023
Galactic Paragons
Astral Planes
The Machine Age2024
Cosmic Storms
Grand Archive
Hearts of Iron IV 2016Together for Victory2016
Death or Dishonor2017
Waking the Tiger2018
Man the Guns2019
La Résistance2020
Battle for the Bosporus
No Step Back2021
By Blood Alone2022
Arms Against Tyranny2023
Trial of Allegiance2024
Götterdämmerung
Graveyard of Empires2025
Imperator: Rome 2019The Punic Wars2019
Magna Graecia2020
Heirs of Alexander2021
Crusader Kings III 2020Northern Lords2021
Royal Court2022
Fate of Iberia
Tours and Tournaments2023
Legacy of Persia
Legends of the Dead2024
Roads to Power
Victoria 3 2022Voice of the People2023
Colossus of the South
Sphere of Influence2024
Pivot of Empire

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References

  1. ↑ "Update of the organization at PDS". Paradox Interactive Forums. 30 April 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  2. ↑ "Update of the organization at PDS". Paradox Interactive Forums. 30 April 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  3. ↑ Smith, Graham (1 May 2021). "Paradox Development Studio has "split into three distinct studios", and none are working on Imperator: Rome". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  4. ↑ "Update of the organization at PDS". Paradox Interactive Forums. 30 April 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  5. ↑ "GDC Vault - Blurring the Line Between Community & Studio". GDC Vault. Archived from the original on 20 February 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  6. ↑ Dickle, Mark; Woodsworth, John (12 November 2019). "The History of Clausewitz | PDXCON2019". YouTube. Archived from the original on 15 October 2020. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  7. ↑ Susana (25 April 2008). "Free engine for gamers released!". Paradox Interactive Forums. Archived from the original on 15 October 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  8. ↑ "Europa Engine". Indie DB. 13 March 2000. Archived from the original on 8 March 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  9. ↑ Andersson, Johan (18 April 2008). "License the Europa Engine, and get your work published on Gamersgate". Paradox Interactive Forums. Archived from the original on 15 October 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  10. ↑ Savage, Phil (21 August 2015). "Stellaris: how Paradox plan to make an infinite grand strategy". PC Gamer . Archived from the original on 4 April 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  11. ↑ Brown, Fraser (14 October 2018). "The engine behind Paradox Development Studio's future games". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on 25 July 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  12. ↑ Horti, Samuel (14 October 2018). "Future Paradox games will be easier to mod thanks to engine upgrade". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 7 December 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  13. ↑ Publishing Development Studio Jobs Contact Internships (30 April 2013). "Development Studio - Paradox Interactive". Paradoxplaza.com. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
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