Summer is here and work in Sweden is grinding to a halt. Everyone has shed their winter skin and developed a peculiar form of photosynthesis, and are now idly vegetating in parks and lawns around the country. The season really is tragically short here… I myself am likely doing the same today, trying to develop some sorely needed vitamin D. That’s why I wrote this dev diary last week; it’s all about planning ahead, which brings me to the topic of the week - the future of Crusader Kings II.



Is it time to let go after 11 (soon to be 12) expansions? Not a chance! There are still some areas left to explore, and when we finally decide the time has come, I want the game to be in the best shape possible. We’ll soon be announcing the upcoming expansion, which is slated for release in late August. It’s not a huge one this time around, but there is plenty of good stuff in there as you've probably gleaned from Darkrenown's diaries. After that, we have two more expansions teed up. The first will be somewhat similar to Way of Life in scope and theme, and the second one will likely be huge. After that, it might really be time to let go, but it’s also possible we’ll wind down with another small expansion (nr 15).



We learned some valuable lessons with Horse Lords and Conclave, both when it comes to design and implementation. Crusader Kings II is an old dog now, and it’s getting harder to teach it new tricks. It is unlikely that we’ll mess around with the core gameplay mechanics like we did in Conclave. Instead, we’ll optimize the game and improve the AI (sorely needed, though I've done some work on it for the upcoming patch) and moddability in the free updates, and focus on roleplaying features and quality of life stuff in the expansions. That said, there are still some blanks in the Old World; rulers you cannot play and regions not yet covered…



I'm afraid that will be all this week. Back to my sun lounger... where's my Gin and Tonic? Oh, and let the speculation commence!