Heya lovely people, my name is Riad, and for the past (almost) five years I’ve been working on Crusader Kings III. I used to be in QA… well, technically I still am, but in a very different capacity. Gone are the days when I was a humble bug-squasher, valiantly clicking buttons until my mouse died of exhaustion. But now, I ascended the staircase of heaven itself and was blessed with the highest honor a person with no practical skills can be given: I became… a manager.
Not just of one discipline, mind you. Oh no. Somehow they let me manage three. That’s right — I wield unholy power over QA, UX, and the 2D Art Team at Paradox Development Studio Black™. My job is to ensure they remain the best they can be, delivering the high-quality™ experience you know and love (and hopefully will continue to tolerate for many years to come).
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Who the hell invited this guy to write a dev diary? Why is he wasting my sacred weekly chance to hear actual news about this game I’ve sacrificed half my lifespan to?”
Well, little Billy, let me tell you:
[Pictured: a very nice producer telling me to help out]
So, yeah. You’re stuck with me.
Saddle up, because I’ve got a fresh unopened package of Baked Sponge Cake™ and a burning desire to prove my usefulness to this studio of talented individuals.
What this diary is (and isn’t)
This isn’t about the next DLC. In fact, most of the things you’ll see here probably won’t show up within the next calendar year. Maybe they’ll never show up *gasp* at all. (Unless you beg really hard. Then maybe.)
What I am here to do is show you the results of one of the most fun weeks we’ve ever had as a studio: our (now) annual CK3-themed game jam — THE BLACK FORGE JAM 🦅
What the hell is a game-jam?
Glad you asked, imaginary heckler.
Game. Jam. Two words. It’s an event where a bunch of devs lock themselves in a room, survive exclusively on caffeine and untreated performance anxiety, all while trying to create something (usually a game) under typically one or more ridiculous constraints. The biggest one is always time, usually spanning 24-72h. The second is usually a theme.
The theme can be anything: a genre (Horror!), a mechanic (You can only press one button!), or even just an adjective (Hot!). There are a bunch of popular jams running each year like Ludum Dare and GMTK Jam that are open to the public. Additionally, many game studios run their own internal jams. Like us!
If you want to see a beautiful, dramatic documentary on this kind of madness, I always recommend checking out Double Fine’s Amnesia Fortnight doc.
Now, while I don’t have Tim Schafer’s creativity, charisma, or luscious curls, there is one thing we share: an uncontrollable urge to make weird game stuff.
[Pictured: Tim Schafer's luscious curls]
“But Riad, you literally said you don’t make games anymore?”
First of all: shut up, nerd.
Second: yes, I did say that, but managers are still great at one thing — telling smarter people what to do.
And two years ago, I told people: “Let’s do the greatest CK3 Game Jam in the world!” … and from that chaos, you got hits such as the “Choose A New Destiny” mechanic and a revamped Court Positions window.
A Brief History of the Black Forge Jam
Back in 2023, we kicked off our first jam with a simple restriction: “Make something for Crusader Kings III.” Three days later, we had 11 projects, which we were incredibly proud of, and all of which taught us valuable lessons about working under brutal constraints. It turns out that limitations don’t just breed creativity — they breed really cute ideas… like pugs, or corgis.
[Pictured: One of the BFJ 2023 projects]
We even made a lovely video of that first jam, featuring many of my amazingly talented colleagues!
In 2024, after much pathetic begging by me, upper management gave us their blessing to do it again. This time, instead of three days, we got a glorious five-day stretch of chaos. Huge thanks to our production team (led by our studio manager, who, contractually, I must remind you is fantastic) for finding us the time in our busy development schedule to afford a full week to jam. We needed it. Badly.
Why I’m Here
Now, Jacob told me I had to hit a 1,500-word minimum, and I think I’m about halfway there just by insulting myself, so let’s get to the good stuff.
In the rest of this diary, you’ll see a selection of projects from the 2024 jam. I won’t show everything (partly because I don’t want to, and partly because some of these projects might actually get turned into real features). After all, as a Professional Game Studio™, we have to maintain the illusion that ALL our features are the product of deep, thoughtful design… not a week of sleep deprivation, imposter syndrome, and 2271.24707 litres (or 600 gallons in freedom units) of free and delicious office coffee.
But here’s the thing: if you see something here that makes you go, “HOLY HELL, I NEED THIS IN MY LIFE” — let us know in the comments. Seriously. The only thing standing between you and these features is the eternal curse of “development costs money.” And since my oven is broken and I can no longer bribe my producer with fresh Algerian baklava and unmarked envelopes of euros, I need you. Yes, you. Your engagement might actually convince someone important to make it happen.
So let’s get jamming.
Faith Syncretism
What if faiths could be more interesting? That was the question this first team set out to answer. Led by our cunning and dashingly talented 2D Art Lead, Gertax, four brave souls embarked on a mission to create a new system for faith compatibility and syncretism.
[Pictured: The Faith Syncretism project team's Miro board]
So, what did they manage to pull off in just a few days? Oh boy, so much. We got things like the ability to create syncretic faiths, the concept of Faith Compatibility, an Eminent Heathen court position, syncretism drift… and that’s not even close to everything.
But wait, what the hell is syncretism actually? Good question. In short, syncretism is a measure of how much one faith has adopted traditions from another. In this version of the system, syncretism drifts annually towards the “compatibility value” between two faiths, influenced by factors like fervor. Have two faiths with high syncretism? Congratulations, they are now less hostile towards each other, which in CK terms means fewer angry neighbors trying to set your house on fire because you accidentally prayed to the wrong god.
[Pictured: Varying degrees of syncretism between faiths]
And here’s the kicker: when syncretism between two faiths is high, a ruler can create a syncretic variant. This new faith gets a fourth tenet (because three wasn’t enough, apparently), allowing it to use special buildings and artifacts from both parent religions. You take one tenet from Faith A, one from Faith B, and then a juicy third “convergent” tenet that ties it all together.
[Pictured: Hybridizing faiths in action]
[Pictured: The resulting event window for a hybridized faith's creation]
You can task your Court Chaplain to go to a county and promote syncretism between your faith and theirs. This will also decrease your Faith fervor to improve organic syncretism, whereas Religious Relations will increase it to counteract it.
[Pictured: Syncretism map mode when assigning your Chaplain]
There’s way more to this system, but like I said earlier, I don’t want to spoil too much. This is genuinely something I’d love to see in the game someday.
And because I’m a terrible person, I wasted Gertax’s time with a mini-interview for this diary. Thanks Gertax, you’re the best.
Q: Hello
A: Hey!
Q: How are you doing today
A: I am very STP today.
Q: Why did you come up with this project for the jam?
A: I felt like faith creation is a bit too arcadey, where the player can simply come up with something wild from scratch instead of having it be an organic development from the intersection of ideas from different religions. The change would be sudden instead of the result of a continued interaction between worshippers of two different faiths. I think the new system would also empower the AI rulers to create their own syncretic faiths without having too much narrative dissonance for the player.
Q: What was your favorite part of working on this jam project?
A: My favorite part of working on this project was sitting down with the team and coming up with the systemic solutions for this project.
Q: What inspiring life advice would you give to our fans
A: Live for others and your own troubles will assume their real significance.
Terra Obscura
Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or just have a healthy social life), you’ve probably heard of the mod obfusCKate by Jp78. It’s a brilliant mod that hides information your character shouldn’t logically know, like the exact percentage of a murder scheme or the stats of some random count you’ve never met.
It’s one of my favorite mods, and I recommend everyone to give it a shot (though unfortunately the mod creator has held off with updating it for now). If you want to know more, a certain Proud Bavarian made a great video on it a couple years back.
This jam project was partly inspired by that mod… but with a twist. While obfusCKate tries to really hide people and have different effects for them with more visibility levels. Terra Obscura is focused more around diplomatic contact and visualization. Led by one of our most senior programmers, @joror, his team set out to create an entirely new CK experience: one where not only characters, but also the map itself is shrouded in mystery.
[Pictured: Terra Obscura]
The core concept hinges on Diplomatic Contact — a measure of how much knowledge you have about another realm. Want to expand that knowledge? You send out a new court position, the Diplomatic Envoy, to explore the Terra Obscura and establish ties with other rulers.
[Pictured: A total stranger]
The idea is to limit the overwhelming flood of information you normally have, and instead let you “discover” other realms as your diplomatic range expands. It adds immersion, focus, and a creeping sense of dread when you suddenly learn that the neighbor you just uncovered has 20k troops and a personal grudge to settle with you for making love to their spouse.
Q: Hello
A: Hi
Q: How are you doing today
A: Busy! Working out kinks in the systems.
Q: Why did you come up with this project for the jam?
A: I am a player who likes discovery in my games, and so while I also enjoy 'peeking' around the map, I wondered what it would look like if I only knew my surroundings in CK3. Visually and mechanically it could add a cool angle. The data-hiding part I see as a togglable optional, on top of more diplomacy mechanics.
Q: What was your favorite part of working on this jam project?
A: Seeing the map-realm-hiding work out nicely visually on the paper map.
Q: What inspiring life advice would you give to our fans
A: Understand that every person can experience the world in a radically different way from your own. We have eight billion players in the world, each running and modifying their own client software. There no one correct way to play.
[Pictured: Extending diplomatic ties into the British Isles to learn more about the political layout]
✨Astronomicon✨
Now, I may be biased here because I actually joined this team. But remember that part earlier where I said I have no useful skills? Yeah… unfortunately, that was not a joke.
Thankfully, our team lead Chaddling was merciful. He gave me a task: “Hey Riad, just come up with some flavor text for the 12 zodiac signs. It should take you an hour; we will handle the rest.”
Reader, it took me all five days.
Astronomicon introduced an astrological system to CK3. Characters got zodiac signs based on their birthdates, which affected their traits, relationships, and of course gave everyone new reasons to bully Scorpios, not just on TikTok, but also in Crusader Kings.
Since we were working on All Under Heaven, our upcoming major expansion, we based it on the Chinese Zodiac. A simplified version, sure, but it featured 12 signs with both active and passive effects tied to the current year. If you were born in the Year of the Dog, “your" year is one of challenge and transformation, where your abilities are tested.
[Pictured: Zodiac signs can have a tangible impact on how people perceive you]
We also experimented with marriage compatibility based on zodiac signs, because why let dating apps have all the fun?
[Pictured: Characters are more willing to agree to marriage if they have a compatible sign]
And the pièce de résistance: we added a spinning wheel. Sadly, restrictions prevent me from showing you a .gif of the wheel in motion, but trust me: we have the technology. Instead, please enjoy this picture of a snake @egghorse drew for the zodiac.
[Pictured: A wheel capable of spinning. We ended up using this for the Dynastic Cycle in [/i]All Under Heaven!]
Here is a short interview with @chaddling
Q: Hello
A: Hey!
Q: How are you doing today
A: I’m doing great!
Q: Why did you come up with this project for the jam?
A: I came up with the idea for Astronomicon based on my interest in ancient & modern astrology. I've read passages from Manilius' Astronomica and I think it's fascinating to track the changes in belief systems like this which span multiple cultures, time periods, and even religions.
Q: What was your favorite part of working on this jam project?
A: I don't have a ton of knowledge about the Chinese zodiac, so the best part of this past Black Forge Jam was getting to research that and come up with a basic astrology system which could support multiple types of systems while remaining moddable (think birthsigns in The Elder Scrolls).
Q: What inspiring life advice would you give to our fans
A: My one piece of advice is to just start; you're only limited by your own misconceptions.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “What is astrology doing in my hardcore medieval map painter??” To which I reply: shut up nerd. Secondly, if now we do decide to include this in the game, we would of course have to adapt the feature accordingly to ensure that all supernatural elements would be purged. For example, we have “witches” in the game. Clearly witches don’t have powers in real life, so instead we focus on the psychological effects now (or effects that can be explained as psychological).
Now, secondly, the reason we do the Black Forge Jam isn’t always strictly to make stuff that could or should be in the game. For us, it’s a way to challenge ourselves to experiment with unfamiliar systems. For example, I learned our scripting language during the jam, while our poor UX designer and programmer spent two entire days trying to make the damn wheel spin.
Fun fact: it is apparently absurdly difficult to make a wheel spin in this engine. This is not Unreal Engine, son.
Sigh
Anyways. For the last one, here is something many of you have asked about for a while.
City Sprawls
There was a comment ages ago asking how cool it would be to see sprawling cities on the map. And when I saw that, oh boy, my heart skipped a beat, since I knew we’ve already done this! Honestly, that single comment inspired me to finally sit down and write this dev diary. As I was supposed to do months ago.
So picture this: you’re playing Crusader Kings III. Greatest game in the world. You’ve just conquered some shiny new land, zoom in on your freshly vassalised city, and… disappointment. A “sprawling city” of tens of thousands of people represented by, like, three huts and a goat.
But then our next team lead appears, shining with divine light, she declares:
[Pictured: City sprawls]
C I T Y S P R A W L S
This team of brave artists and our genius tech lead created a system to dynamically generate city layouts. As your development level increased, the cities would visually sprawl out — more houses, more density, more “oh no, my peasant housing bubble is collapsing” vibes.
Low development? Sparse clusters of buildings. High development? Bustling medieval metropolis. I’m simplifying, but the tech and art work behind it was phenomenal.
Did it run at 4K 120 FPS with RTX ON? NO. We had five days, not five months. But it does work, and it looks damn fucking cool.
[Pictured: 25 development. Quite developed, but it could be MORE]
[Pictured: 100 development. A medieval mega-city.]
Q: Hello
A: Hi!!
Q: How are you doing today
A: Amazing
Q: Why did you come up with this project for the jam?
A: A little chitchat with our game director sparked this idea
Q: What was your favorite part of working on this jam project?
A: Teamwork! The results were also very satisfying
Q: What inspiring life advice would you give to our fans
A: Be true to yourself
[[i]Pictured: what happens when you crank the MaxHousesToGenerate variable to “chaos.”]
So… What’s Next?
Like I said at the start: I’d love for some of these to eventually make it into the game. But since free labor went out of fashion centuries ago, actually finishing them would take time and budget. We can’t promise all of them, but we’d like to focus on the ones you, the community, are most excited about.
So let us know what you think! And hey, we’ve got another jam coming this December. Is there something you’d love to see us tackle? Pitch it! Who knows, maybe your idea will get stolen by a team leader and turned into a Black Forge Jam 2025™ project.
Before I finish off the last half of my Japanese baked sponge cake (it’s coconut flavored!). I want to leave you with one last thing. What I’ve shown you here is just a fraction of the total jam. In 2023, we had 11 projects in total; in 2024, we had 13. So technically, I’ve only spoiled about 16.6% of them. (Yes, I did the math.)
So to compensate for this. Here are some random screenshots from other jam projects!
Can you guess what they were about? Every correct answer, I’ll post a dog picture on our forums
Fare-thee well! Until next time a dev diary gets delayed!