Software:Crusader Kings (video game)

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Short description: 2004 video game
Crusader Kings
Developer(s)Paradox Development Studio[lower-alpha 1]
Publisher(s)
Producer(s)Johan Andersson
Designer(s)
  • Henrik Fåhraeus
  • Joakim Bergqwist
Programmer(s)Johan Andersson
Artist(s)Marcus Edstroem
Composer(s)Inon Zur
EngineEuropa Engine
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X
ReleaseWindows
  • EU: April 23, 2004
  • NA: May 2004 (Online)
  • AU: July 15, 2004
  • NA: September 28, 2004
Mac OS X
  • WW: August 10, 2005[1]
Genre(s)Grand strategy
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Crusader Kings is a grand strategy game developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive in April 2004. An expansion called Deus Vult was released in October 2007. A sequel using the newer Clausewitz Engine, Crusader Kings II, was released in February 2012, and another sequel, Crusader Kings III, was released on September 1, 2020.

Setting

The game is set primarily in Europe in the mid to late Middle Ages in the time-period from December 26, 1066 (the day after the coronation of William the Conqueror) until December 30, 1452 (five months before the fall of Constantinople). Three scenarios are also included in the game, namely: the Battle of Hastings (1066), the Third Crusade (1187), and the Hundred Years' War (started in 1337).[2]

Gameplay

Unlike other Paradox titles (such as the first two Europa Universalis series), Crusader Kings is a dynasty simulator with similarities to role-playing video games in that it focuses on a trait-based individual whose primary goal is the growth and enrichment of their dynasty. In the game, the player attempts to lead their dynastic demesne across four centuries, while managing its familial, economic, military, political, and religious affairs and stability. Rulers are supported by appointed councillors, a Chancellor, Steward, Marshal, Spy Master, and Diocese Bishop, and oversee scutage from their vassals.

In addition, yearly random events, as well as hundreds of pre-scripted ones based on the historical themes, make for varied game play and challenges. Crusader Kings also differs from many similar turn-based strategy games in that time flows continuously rather than taking place in discrete turns. As such, the player is able to pause the game, examine the map and its characters, and make decisions and give orders, then speed up or slow down time as events take their course.

Over time, based on the territories and titles held, characters can be elevated upwards in status (from count, duke, king, to emperor substantive titles) or regress as status and lands are lost. The lowest level count vassal tiers (i.e. castle baron, city mayor, church bishop), as seen in Crusader Kings II are not represented. The game is lost if no direct member of the playable dynasty holds or inherits an imperial, royal, or noble rank.

Development

The lead game programmer was Johan Andersson. The engine for the game was based on the one developed for Europa Universalis II, i.e. the updated Europa Engine, which had been released in December 2001.[3] The similarities between the two games, and the release of a save game converter, allow players to continue their game after 1419 through Europa Universalis II.

In North America, Crusader Kings was originally planned to be published by Strategy First. However, Paradox revealed in June 2004 that it would self-publish the game, which it called "a way for Paradox to secure our intellectual property and to serve our customers in a better way."[4]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic73/100[5]
Review scores
PublicationScore
1Up.com9/10[6]
CGMStarStarStarHalf star[7]
CGWStarStarStarHalf star[8]
GameSpot8.2/10[9]
GameSpyStarStarStar[10]
GameZone7.9/10[11]
IGN7.6/10[12]
PC Gamer (US)69%[13]

The game received "average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic,[5] and many U.S. reviews came in a few months before the game's official U.S. release.[6][8][9][10][11][13]

In the 2013 book Digital Gaming Re-imagines the Middle Ages, the author explains that:

As digital medievalism, Crusader Kings models systems of cultural change in the Middle Ages rather than merely assigning cultural labels to people and geographic areas of Europe at specific chronological dates. The game attempts to avoid anachronism through historically based systems of gameplay, rather than through rote inclusion of historical facts.[14]

Awards

  • Strategy Gaming Online Editor's Choice award[15]
  • Game Vortex Top Pick award[16]

Expansion

A downloadable expansion pack called Deus Vult ("God wills it" in Latin) was released in October 2007.[14][17][18] Improvements to the base game included:[19]

  • graphics overhaul including new windows and alert icons
  • inter-character relations (including the addition of friendship and rivalry)
  • new realm stability and diplomacy options (e.g. sending fosterlings to other courts)
  • new character traits and the evolution of childhood stats from age 0
  • new random events
  • additional tools for modders

As with other Paradox games, within days of release, fan made mods began to appear such as The Deus Vult Improvement Pack, aimed at fixing bugs and making the map, cultures, and characters more historically accurate.[20][21]

Notes

  1. ↑ Ported to Mac by Virtual Programming.

References

  1. ↑ "Virtual Programming offers Gangland, Crusader Kings" (in en). https://www.macworld.com/article/176606/vpltd-3.html. 
  2. ↑ "Crusader Kings for Macintosh (2005)". https://www.mobygames.com/game/crusader-kings. 
  3. ↑ "Crusader Kings - PC" (in en). https://www.gamepressure.com/games/crusader-kings/z21557. 
  4. ↑ Calvert, Justin (June 16, 2004). "Paradox to self-publish Crusader Kings". GameSpot. Archived from the original on March 11, 2005. https://web.archive.org/web/20050311072733/http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/crusaderkings/news_6100766.html. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Crusader Kings for PC Reviews". https://www.metacritic.com/game/crusader-kings/critic-reviews/?platform=pc. Retrieved May 15, 2020. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Durham Jr., Joel (June 4, 2004). "Crusader Kings". Archived from the original on June 25, 2004. https://web.archive.org/web/20040625111405/http://www.1up.com/article2/0,2053,1607559,00.asp. Retrieved December 3, 2017. 
  7. ↑ Goodfellow, Troy S.. "1066 and All That". Computer Games Magazine (165). Archived from the original on November 29, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20111129081834/http://www.cgonline.com/computer-games-magazine/article/crusader_kings/. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Liberatore, Rafael (August 2004). "Crusader Kings". Computer Gaming World (241): 80. Archived from the original on June 17, 2004. https://web.archive.org/web/20040617092616/http://www.computergaming.com/article2/0,2053,1607445,00.asp. Retrieved December 2, 2017. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Todd, Brett (June 10, 2004). "Crusader Kings Review". https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/crusader-kings-review/1900-6100385/. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Chick, Tom (June 8, 2004). "GameSpy: Crusader Kings". GameSpy. http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/crusader-kings/521613p1.html. Retrieved December 3, 2017. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Hopper, Steven (May 25, 2004). "Crusader Kings - PC - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on January 25, 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20090125224033/http://pc.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r20135.htm. Retrieved December 3, 2017. 
  12. ↑ Butts, Steve (September 24, 2004). "Crusader Kings". http://www.ign.com/articles/2004/09/24/crusader-kings. Retrieved December 3, 2017. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Crusader Kings". PC Gamer: 74. July 2004. 
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Kline, Daniel T. (2013-09-11) (in en). Digital Gaming Re-imagines the Middle Ages. Routledge. ISBN 9781136221828. https://books.google.com/books?id=AYG_AAAAQBAJ&q=deus+vult+expansion&pg=PT64. 
  15. ↑ "Award-Winning Crusader Kings Now Available in Stores". Paradox Interactive. September 28, 2004. https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/award-winning-crusader-kings-now-available-in-stores.168016/. Retrieved October 29, 2016. [yes|permanent dead link|dead link}}]
  16. ↑ Horwitz, Andrew (2004). "Crusader Kings". Game Vortex. http://www.gamevortex.com/gamevortex/soft_rev.php/1203/crusader-kings-pc.html. Retrieved October 29, 2016. 
  17. ↑ "Crusader Kings: Deus Vult - PC" (in en). https://www.gamepressure.com/games/crusader-kings-deus-vult/zd216d. 
  18. ↑ "Crusader Kings: Deus Vult launched on GamersGate" (in en). 4 October 2007. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/crusader-kings-deus-vult-launched-on-gamersgate. 
  19. ↑ "Announcement - Crusader Kings: Deus Vult" (in en-US). https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/announcement-crusader-kings-deus-vult.315818/. 
  20. ↑ "The Deus Vult Improvement Pack" (in en-US). 7 October 2007. https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/the-deus-vult-improvement-pack.325865/. 
  21. ↑ "FilePlanet - DVIP The Deus Vult Improvement Pack" (in en). https://www.fileplanet.com/archive/p-6900/DVIP-The-Deus-Vult-Improvement-Pack. 
  • Original Release Video - YouTube
  • Crusader Kings Tutorial (5 part series) - YouTube
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

On February 13, 2025, Freyholtz stepped down as the site lead to move onto new projects, leaving operations to Tracy Poff, a veteran coder on the site, and Atari staff.[18]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
  18. ↑ "An update on MobyGames leadership". 2025-02-13. https://www.mobygames.com/forum/3/thread/269628/an-update-on-mobygames-leadership/#post-269628. 
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