Past Forward

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Andersson: You mean features? When we start developing a game, for the first month we have loads of ideas and then we start cutting them. For the last year of development we don't cut any more or introduce new features since we have a plan and need to leave enough time to balance what we put in.

Crispy Gamer: So there's nothing you regret dropping?

Andersson: I'm not sure. I kind of like how it turned out. We had plans for more advanced internal political systems like a Senate, but now when we are playing the game we realize that you already have enough to do. It's a mixed bag. It would have been cool to have those features but I think it would have been more micromanagement in the end.

Crispy Gamer: Given how much content your games do have in them, when do you know you've hit the limit of how much a single gamer can handle?

Andersson: I think Victoria was over the edge. Looking back at it, I think the design we had for Crusader Kings was perfectly planned. The problem with that game...oh, I don't want to admit it, but it's probably cursed.

Crispy Gamer: Cursed?

Andersson: Yeah. It seems that whenever we do something with it, it turns out badly for us. . It was in development for years and years and the programmer who was working on it quit -- long story. It's a great game. It's one I play a lot on my own. I'd love the chance to do a new Crusader Kings with a new engine.

Crispy Gamer: So Victoria was too much, Crusader Kings was just right?

Andersson: To be honest, 'I base my opinions on what I can play, and when I go back and look at old games today, Victoria is far too complex. I can't make the effort or dedicate the time to get into it, and I'm the one who designed it. I programmed it. When I can't make the effort to get into it, it's probably too complex.

Crispy Gamer: In February, Neil Sorens wrote an article for Gamasutra about story telling in strategy gaming. He pointed to Europa Universalis 3 and its end-of-game summary as a small step forward in helping gamers develop narratives. Is this something you take seriously as a designer?

Andersson: That's one of the features I originally wrote for Europa Universalis 3. Some day if I have time I want to implement an interactive history book into the game. The version currently in EU3 is a pale representation of my original vision. My whole vision was that in EU3 you create history, you don't replay it, and the idea was that the game should be a history book as well. It would save screenshots of how the map looked at certain points and it would write a story book about, say, the "Great Nordic War" with battles and all that. Unfortunately it would have taken three or four times the development effort, so it was cut. I would love to introduce more storytelling like that into games, though.

Crispy Gamer: The move to 3-D is not always a popular one, but you stuck with it and it seems to look better in Rome. What does the third dimension bring to a game like this anyway?