One Major Concern for the Cyberpunk Development

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One Major Concern for the Cyberpunk Development

Just one major thing I'm a little bit afraid of.

With the witcher series you guys had a *huge* advantage in that you already had a very rich universe to draw from. The cyberpunk setting is interesting but not nearly as fleshed out or pre-defined as the witcher universe. You had a really massive advantage with the witcher in that the entire team understood who Geralt was, who his companions were and how the universe looked and worked. Heck - probably even your moms knew who Geralt was. He's famous in Poland right.

With Cyberpunk you'll have to create a lot of this from scratch. Don't underestimate this challenge... make sure that the writers have plenty of time to think about the big picture and how everything connects. And make sure that all the people at CDPR understand exactly how this game looks, feels and what makes it tick.

You should probably have a design brief that everyone reads, and then a presentation and then group discussions.... I believe the witcher series became so great because everyone "got it" and everyone was working in the same direction. So if you want to create a game that is equally as great as the witcher 3 everyone needs to be on-board. Everyone needs to "get it".

So, that is my concern. Cyberpunk will be a brand new setting, and one that is not nearly as fleshed out from the start as the witcher universe. So it will take a lot of work to make it feel alive and get all the details right. Just a warning not to underestimate this challenge... Godspeed and so forth.
 
Just one major thing I'm a little bit afraid of.

With the witcher series you guys had a *huge* advantage in that you already had a very rich universe to draw from. The cyberpunk setting is interesting but not nearly as fleshed out or pre-defined as the witcher universe.

Ummmm ... have you looked at the amount of Cyberpunk source material that's been published?
Are you aware the creator of Cyberpunk, Mike Pondsmith, is working with CDPR on this?
 
Ummmm ... have you looked at the amount of Cyberpunk source material that's been published?
Are you aware the creator of Cyberpunk, Mike Pondsmith, is working with CDPR on this?

Well aware. My concern is about getting the entire team working in the same direction, and also what to chose from the cyberpunk universe since they need to pick and choose. The Witcher series was a very coherent universe, cyberpunk is not very coherent. Cyberpunk sprawls in different directions and there is a very real risk of ending up with a mixed bag of things which doesn't really fit together.

And for the record. Mike Pondsmith is not a miracle worker, he's just a writer. The team is what matters and and the team needs to get it.
 
In theory that's what a Project Director gets paid the big bucks for.
In theory ...
 
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Mike is regularly flown out to Warsaw to keep the team on track, and the team are all aware of the existing Cyberpunk material, as well as the loyal fan base that has kept the faith for over 15 years...
 
To the best of my knowledge CDPR made up all the plots to The Witcher games, and although Chapter 2 of the original game simply doesn't want to end, as a whole it is pretty good. On the other hand, they also ended up creating the levelling system as well, and after playing the first Witcher for a bit I have to say that it is not done very well.

So I'm thinking they might be better off in a less coherent universe because they can write pretty good stories and characters to make up for it. On the other hand the Pen and Paper system of Cyberpunk gives them a well established levelling system to work on which helps cover their arses, because that is where their major weakness lies.
 
I'm hoping that we won't have Mass Effect case here on our hands and writers backing themselves in the corner with "epic" stories resolved with by last minute invented mcguffin.
No killing kings or breaking down mega corporations...more focus on character case studies : Hearts of Stone, great example.
 
They have a lot of material to draw from man.

There are so many things they could do with the setting, a crap ton of of characters they could use if they felt so inclined, not to mention the huge amounts of data about pretty much every country in the world.

 
ShinGnosis;n62372 said:
The cyberpunk setting is interesting but not nearly as fleshed out or pre-defined
Wat?


ShinGnosis;n62372 said:
With Cyberpunk you'll have to create a lot of this from scratch.
You realize that this is like telling someone who is just starting DnD tabletop "You will have to create a lot of this from scratch"

When, no, no they really don't have to, thanks to the THOUSAND different stories and arcs in just say, the Forgotten Realms setting alone (without even getting into Planescape, Dragonlance, Etc). I mean Neverwinter Nights, Icewind Dale, Bauldur's Gate, Planescape Torment.... All of that came from background stuff and stories that was in the PnP books

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...unk_2020_books
 
Corewolf;n8279990 said:
Wat?



You realize that this is like telling someone who is just starting DnD tabletop "You will have to create a lot of this from scratch"

When, no, no they really don't have to, thanks to the THOUSAND different stories and arcs in just say, the Forgotten Realms setting alone (without even getting into Planescape, Dragonlance, Etc). I mean Neverwinter Nights, Icewind Dale, Bauldur's Gate, Planescape Torment.... All of that came from background stuff and stories that was in the PnP books

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...unk_2020_books

Not to mention that the Father of Cyberpunk 2020 (which Cyberpunk 2077 will be based on), Mike Pondsmith, is directly involved with the project.
 
Isn't this what devs do while making a new franchise/game?? R&D from scratch . . . . If anything, I am in total faith that CDPR will do some justice and faithful adaptation especially with the creator of Cyberpunk working very closely on the project.
 
ShinGnosis;n62372 said:
The cyberpunk setting is interesting but not nearly as fleshed out or pre-defined as the witcher universe

Many of the greatest games to ever exist were built from nothing. This should not be a concern. Games do not require pre-existing media to be great.
 
Research is a big part of our job, so we basically read/watched/played anything we could get our hands on that could be interesting for us. We're only happy once we're a walking encyclopedia for all things "cyberpunk", as we did with The Witcher. And fortunately there is a whole lot of material.
:thinking:
 
To much in some ways.

The question I'd ask would be - For the most part are the interpretations of various aspects of tech/culture/society based on CP2020 or some of the more science fantasy material? For me the grounding in "reality" that CP2020 has is one if it's greatest strengths. I know others would prefer a much more fantasy and combat centric approach.
(( Not that I expect an answer ... but it's still a question I'd ask. ))
 
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Benzenzimmern;n8312760 said:
Like you guessed, unfortunately I can't answer specifics like this yet. We are keeping these questions in mind though.
More answer then I expected, and that fact that you're keeping such questions in mind I'll interpret as a good sign.
 
Benzenzimmern;n8312410 said:
Research is a big part of our job, so we basically read/watched/played anything we could get our hands on that could be interesting for us. We're only happy once we're a walking encyclopedia for all things "cyberpunk", as we did with The Witcher. And fortunately there is a whole lot of material.
:thinking:

I have confidence in you guys, it was actually Mateuz Kanik that helped me discover a manga I hadn't read yet. (It's called Eden:It's an Endless World for those curious). Ended being one of my favorites.
 
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