Greetings,





About two years ago, I was invited to a meeting on Cold War storytelling. The team was trying to figure out how to make a plethora of 'rock, paper, scissors' type of match ups between the USA and USSR. While functionally it worked, I expressed that it didn't feel right, distracting the gamer from all the other theaters of play. Based on the discussions and this feedback we began a redesign that would ultimately change the direction and allowed for the successful mix that makes Terminal Conflict shine for players decision making. My name is Alfred 'Zeress' Frendo-Cumbo and I am a Software Developer for 'Terminal Conflict'.





Award winning modding



I myself went to college for something completely unrelated to game development, namely Chemical Laboratory Technician. While I was in college I meet 'The Donald' where he introduced me to Paradox games. From there I got my introduction into modding with Crusader Kings II. I continued to tweak and adjust things from this basis, getting more ambitious and experienced. Eventually this would lead me to work with Martin ‘Wiz’ Anward on his large overhaul mod, CK2+.





When Wiz left to join Paradox proper, he left our team to continue his legacy of improving the narrative and gameplay aspects that we found lacking in CK2. Aspects like modelling the transition of a more unified Christendom to Orthodoxy and Catholicism, expanding trade routes and more. Eventually I would pick up the leadership of the project and we were recognized by Paradox with “The Royal Award for Outstanding Modding Achievement in CK2” due to our contributions to the community. Paradox then invited me to volunteer on their more internal testing. While I cannot go into detail of the specifics of that, it was a great learning experience and allowed me to network with other like-minded people in the community.





Quality Assurance

I've come a long way from being a modder with Paradox alone and from all that I eventually retired from modding in early 2018 but not before having met Gellert Keresztes. I had worked with him prior on East vs. West as a volunteer but this was my opportunity to do much more than just that. I started out as a QA Analyst, doing things like code testing as well as offering insights into how the game feels. From there I would eventually get folded into the team proper as a Software Developer.





Something some people likely don't know is what exactly is QA? Well it stands for Quality Assurance and a lot of it has to do with making sure things not only work well, but also feel right. For example, in early developments of the Chinese Civil War decision, chains were set out to be much different. They would have the right flavor and the right bonuses but would not feel fluent enough or would not tie up loose ends well enough. This is where QA has an essential role to play.





Bringing back the Cold War

Now-a-days I do a healthy mix of both Soft coding, design as well as QA. In a lot of ways this is similar to my work on CK2+. For example, I designed and implemented the key decisions that involve the Plan of Partition in the Middle East. Those that involve the steps to the potential recognition of Israeli statehood, as well as the role the USSR and USA play in that. This started with identifying a grand meaning of what the Plan of Partition itself is about, from a historical point of reference. By gaining a deeper understanding, we can design elements that give the player meaningful choices. For example, as the USA you may choose to not support Israel but certain movements at home will not appreciate this. This may even cause problems for the USA, if not handled properly. Managing the interests of various opposing interest groups not only makes it plausible but a core part of the game.