HOW VICTORIA 3 IS MAKING LIFE EASIER FOR NEW PLAYERS
Victoria 3 has a staggering scale. Scale in games almost always refers to something vast, something too overwhelming to be absorbed all at once. This is undoubtedly true. You can zoom in on the map to see the whole world, a collection of lines drawn on parchment laid flat on a cartographer’s desk. There’s always the feeling that something is happening, whether political machinations or the grinding gears and industry beyond your reach.
Victoria 3 wants to show scale in the reverse direction. Zoom in, and you will see that many towns and villages of ordinary people are trying to survive. These people aren’t your typical encounters. You won’t see the coal-smeared miners nor the sun-weathered farmer, but you will hear about their struggles when there is a drought or when the capitalists’ desire for automation makes them unemployed. Victoria 3 may seem like a game of empire that spans the globe, but if played in a specific way, it can be a personal exercise in improving your little corner of the world.
You’re not alone if the idea of controlling an empire or a nation and steering its fortunes through the 19th-century Victorian Era seems daunting. Paradox Interactive also understands this. Paradox Interactive has made it a priority to ensure novice players feel comfortable and understand complex simulations.
Mikael Andersson, Victoria 3’s Game Director, explained in a chat that Paradox is interested in understanding how players experience their games.
“Formally, we have two different and complementary approaches,” Andersson states. A User Research team that designs, organizes, executes, studies and reports on the user experience of particular game features or aspects. An Analytics team that creates and maintains telemetry data.
Analytics can be beneficial for iterating on a game after release. Still, we must be careful about asking questions and interpreting data to avoid making wrong conclusions. We do a lot together of playtesting and feedback on each other’s games. “
