An interview with Konrad Tomaszkiewicz. -English Translation-
This is a translated interview that I came across a little while back. I had no role in it other than finding it by chance and pasting it here.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now, this took longer than I expected, but as I promised in one thread before, here's an interview with Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, the director of The Witcher 3, which was included in yesterday's issue of a Czech game magazine.
He talks about himself, game industry, CDPR's work culture, RED Engine, TW3, its story, CDPR's future etc. etc.
Translated by me. English version reaches 24844 characters, spaces included.
And now the actual interview. Page 1 starts.
31-year-old Konrad Tomaszkiewicz started working in the game industry eight years ago as a tester for the first Witcher game. Without predicting it himself, he managed to reach the position of The Witcher 3's director in CD Project RED. Now he can claim he managed to climb game development ladder from the lowest position to the highest. Two years ago he was awarded an European prize for best game design and it's likely similar prizes won't miss him for The Witcher 3 as well. It's pleasant to talk with Konrad - he pridefully admits he's working on one of the most expected video games, but is modest and humble at the same time. If only all developers were like that.
Czech Republic and Poland are neighbor countries, yet we don't know much about each other. How did the game industry look in Poland at the start of 21st century?
Thirteen years ago we had only few big studios. Techland, City Interactive and People Can Fly. Gaming industry was small, noone knew about it and it was impossible to learn how games are supposed to be developed. Today it's a bit better, but we still don't have schools and lectors, who would teach how to make games. We, and Czechs too, are missing the natural evolution of interactive entertainment in the last decades.
We shared a part of 20th century's history. What is your gaming experience from before the revolution? (TL note: Communism fell in Czech Republic and Poland in 1989, "revolution" refers to that.)
Before the revolution in 1989 I was spending my time gaming on ZX Spectrum, later came Amiga and first weak PCs. I knew I enjoy gaming so much I never want to give up on it. But I never thought I would actually work on a game. I didn't believe a person without programming knowledge and experience can just sit before a PC and make a game. Such idea made no sense to me.
Your father's a doctor. You followed his footsteps and went to study the medical school in Warsaw. How does someone move to video games from there?
Family played a big role in deciding my future and those few lines in Visual Basic didn't convince anyone I should become a programmer. That's why father sent me to study medicine. In my last year I found out by chance that CD Project RED is working on a game based on Andrzej Sapkowski's books. I loved the stories and books about the Witcher, so I joined the studio as a tester, thinking I'll make money for holiday by playing games. Later I decided to stay there.
How did your family react?
My mom, friends and classmates said I went crazy and I'm throwing away my career as a doctor away. And that games are for kids and I'm already an adult, so I should spend time doing kid things. But I wanted to work with video games. When I meet the same people today, it's funny to see them react the opposite way, because now they know how successful The Witcher is worldwide.
So you just came to CDPR eight years ago and said: "I want to be a tester for The Witcher"?
No way, I managed to pass though the job interview with a great deal of luck. I was taked to find bugs in a game called The Punisher, which I already finished few times before, so I knew them all. In a moment I wrote them all down and my speed impressed the people doing the evaluation so much they hired me on the spot. Even back then the studio was full of people who wanted to make video games, but didn't know how since sources and experience was lacking.
You started as a tester and now you're directing development of an entire game. That's a very inspirational story.
It's all very unexpected and quick for me. I got moved from testing department to designer den and then they made me a senior. I implemented many things into the first Witcher and for the second one I was already creating and scripting quests. And now I sit in the chair of The Witcher 3's director. Unbelievable.
How to you judge your work in CDPR?
When I think about the way I walked for eight years until now, I see many random events that happened at the right place at the right time. It's like my work life is guided by fate. I met great people and we together made the first Witcher, which became a well-received game even outside Poland. I'm proud, because we are a part of Poland's game industry and we prove we can make games of the global level.
I remember you gave one copy of The Witcher 2 to Barrack Obama.
Yeah, that helped us a lot, since we got on television. Thanks to that my grandparents now know what I'm doing. And I think we managed to show Poland what games are and what they can be.
Page 1 ends.
Page 2 starts.
GO WEST AND EAST, YOUNG MAN
How do you promote an Eastern European game in the West?
It's incredibly hard. At our first E3, the year 2005, we had to run around the show floor and beg people to come see our presentation. Noone knew that out game is - it looked a little bit like Neverwinter Nights, was from Poland and weird people with horrible accents were presenting it. On the last E3 we got over 60 "best game of the expo" prizes, so the eight years to building The Witcher brand is starting to pay off.
During that time did you get a chance to compare work style in CDPR and western studios?
Sometimes we give jobs to western people with experience from working in American companies. They say it's interesting to compare the differences of our and American approach to game development, because apparently we do function like an American company, but like one from twenty years ago.
What does that mean?
I'd say it means "human approach." Nowadays American developers must go after money. They're like factories in which every employee is standing at his place at the assembly line and completes given task. He can't decide anything about the game's content, so he loses the personal bond to the game he's working on. That's not good. We function differently. Everyone can voice their opinions and then we all discuss the propositions and changes together. I let individual developers speak their opinions, because they need to know The Witcher 3 isn't just my game, but whole team's game, so theirs too.
So those "factories" do it wrong?
They care only about money. Developers aren't the ones to blame, publishers are, because they give money only to project they perceive as the easiest. I don't mean to say that producing, say an action game, is an easy task, but they only finance games they know are selling well to masses. And that's why linear games are coming one, in which every player experiences the same because their movement and actions are predefined. Such games are much easier to develop than open world games in which the authors don't know where the player will go when.
But even a linear shooter like Call of Duty can be well-made and fun.
Absolutely. But it's a pity big publishers prefer investing in such games and fear the more daring projects. I don't mind playing Call of Duty, but I think it would be good to move the game industry in different directions too. For example like David Cage and Heavy Rain is doing. Many designers would like to work on a game where you really experience unrealistic situations, not on games with just jumping and shooting.
Like a zombie apocalypse?
The Walking Dead is a perfect example. You don't think about the side characters like lifeless figurines, but you consider them real people and make bonds with them. That's a new way of experiencing game stories, which will only become more and more prominent. It will be very difficult to combine it together with gameplay well enough, so the game is still a game and not just a movie.
The Walking Dead forced many people to rethink the significance of the cinematic experience in gaming media. What defines a modern video game for you?
Nowadays it's apparent video games are changing. The Walking Dead, David Cage's work or our Witcher series aren't just simple games like the ones we know in the 90s. Games now need to have and combine good stories, emotions and cinematic approaches. When during gameplay, you change your decisions based on your emotional engagement to game characters, that's what I call a new step in the evolution of entertainment.
Page 2 ends, page 3 starts.
In the 60s we had something called "CinemaMachine" in Czechoslovakia, meaning people in cinema could press buttons and decide how will the film's story continue.
Imax is thinking about something similar - you'll go see a movie and will collectively decide its story and ending. The film industry is trying to find out why he game one is so successful and this is the outcome. It works in reverse too. Games can now offer a cinematic experience, because graphics are starting to look pretty damn good. I think next-gen games will share many procedures known from movies. It makes sense. With a well written script (scenario) you'll be able to choose a role and experience the whole story, even from multiple viewpoints, without losing gameplay. I dare to say games will become a threat to movie industry.
PROJECT: LET'S BE NICE TO EACH OTHER
What's CDPR's company culture?
We don't want our people to consider themselves employees of a big corporation. We don't even flaunt ourselves like the best studio under the Sun. We are managing to keep the atmosphere of just being few guys who like to make video games. Personally I feel like a painter or a sculptor when working and for our team moral it's important to make sure everyone feels like that. Everyone can change elements of the game and become an author. As the result we don't have to force people to work overtime or on weekend because everyone works with interest. When I leave my office at 10 PM, some people are still working and won't let me lure them outside.
That sounds like an utopia.
We spend 80% of out lives working. If I had to wake up every day and go work at something I don't like, I wouldn't enjoy life and that would suck. We try to create a working environment everyone likes and a one where everyone respects each other.
There must be limits somewhere and clear hierarchy, otherwise the project would fall apart.
Yeah, we have work hierarchy, but noone plays the "boss vs. employees" game. My main responsibility is to explain to individual authors why their idea isn't fit for the game. Sometimes the conversation takes several hours, but ultimately it has its purpose. I don't want people in my team who feel insulted. If they felt like that, they could stop thinking about the game as their baby and would stop coming up with new idea.
How do you lead your team?
I found out that total democracy would mean people will kill each other. That's why I have the right to veto anything and decide what gets into the game and what doesn't. Not everyone is happy, because sometimes they have to abandon their ideas, but only that way we can move forward.
As the game's director you need to predict every possible dead end and mistakes in development? How do you manage?
You can think of everything. In USA they released a research about complexity of various tasks. Sending a rocked to the Moon was first and game development was second. You can't predict everything. That's not possible. We move the ship of development forward based on testers' reports and out own experience, which guide us away from shallow waters.
As the director do you even have time to influence game's content? (TL note: Being the director he obviously influences the game's context, so the question is whether or not he has time to program it himself. At least that's how I understand it.)
I would like to do some things myself, but I don't have enough time. That's a pity. On the other hand as the director I can see the game in the context of the third and final installment in the series, so I can guide people to fulfill out goal of making it the best Witcher game.
Page 3 ends, page 4 starts.
How do CDPR developers cooperate with the marketing department?
Our marketing guys know it's better to let us developers speak about the game. When the time comes, they let us speak freely and we take care of what we reveal to journalists ourselves. The game is our work, so we have full rights to speak about it whenever we want. Personally I don't give marketing much thought. We just need to create a game so good its name and reputation will move units, not advertisements.
To you have some specific example in mind?
I really enjoyed Dragon Age: Origins. The second installment had great marketing, but in reality the game really disappointed me. I felt like someone deceived me and sold me the game's alpha version. That won't happed with us. We won't release an imperfect game just because marketing is pushing us to do so. Of course you'll find small problems, those can't be fully avoided, but we'll fix them right after release. And we'll keep releasing fixes until players are satisfied. After all, players are the ones who decide the game's success.
CDPR is famous for it's benevolent approach to DRM. Is that a part of your "closer to players" strategy too?
DRM is the worst thing that happened to the game industry. It restricts our rights to play video games we own. I don't see a reason why shouldn't I be able to play a game I bought when I'm not connected to the internet. No wonder people torrent video games because of such policies. When you release a DRM-free game people will pirate it too, but perhaps tell about it to their friend and some of them buy it. I'm certain out openness pays off with more numerous and loyal customers than we would have if we supported DRM.
Your DRM policy won't fly on consoles, eh?
We will release the game on consoles and we actively communicate with Microsoft and Sony about the DRM issue. But ultimately the platforms are theirs, so things will be according to their decisions. People, who hate any DRM, can play the PC version.
I heard somewhere that console sales profits de facto pay for losses from the PC release. Is that true?
That's a hoax. Our sales on consoles are bigger, that's true, but that doesn't mean we will focus just on them. We grew up on PC, we develop for PC, PC sales are making profit and PC games are most important for us. We release games for consoles too, because it would be stupid to ignore them, but we let you decide what platform will you play on.
This thread's OP !!zop7LNz56vu Sat Aug 24 2013 21:54:30 No.206589478 Report
That's a hoax. Our sales on consoles are bigger, that's true, but that doesn't mean we will focus just on them. We grew up on PC, we develop for PC, PC sales are making profit and PC games are most important for us. We release games for consoles too, because it would be stupid to ignore them, but we let you decide what platform will you play on.
Do you have problems with parallel development for PC and consoles?
The biggest brain twister was designing pleasant control schemes for both KB+M and gamepad. Other than that we had to rewrite the rendering engine for consoles and other technical stuff, but as far as gameplay is concerned, we don't make the game less complex because of console players.
RED Engine and your own custom developer tools are helping you with technical stuff. Are you still happy with them?
Sure thing. We needed an engine to replace Aurora (Neverwinter Nights), which we used for The Witcher. We wanted something of our own, an easily understandable engine in which we can just copy-paste things we would have to manually rewrite in other engines. Our goal is to create tools to easily assemble RPG games. Thanks to those we can create questlines, dialogues and decide behavior of NPC in greater world context much easier than in other engines. And by saving money by not having to licence an engine, we can spend more money on creating game content.
What tools did you customize the most?
The most important thing to ensure stable pace of development is the ability to easily move situations and characters with dialogues along and between questlines. That way we can find out where they fit the most. Our tools can do this and without them it would be impossible to create a complex RPG like The Witcher.
THERE'S NO WITCHER WITHOUT A STORY
Do you consider yourself a conservative or innovative developer?
In the case of the Witcher trilogy, I make sure not to change what people love. People have certain expectations from sequels and we can't betray those. Of course we don't throw innovation away, but it's not the main drive behind creation of sequels. You can easily destroy the entire brand with it. Look at the Diablo series. The first game was great, the second one was good and I didn't like the third one, cause they tried to innovate it and destroyed the series' legacy. Drastic innovations are needed, but they have to be handled carefully in established series.
For example innovations of classic quest templates wouldn't hurt.
The number of variations of quests in RPGs is limited. You saw majority of them in other games, movies or read about them in books. Take this letter to the next village. Clear the cellar of rats. Solve someone's problem. It's hard to come up with something new. To avoid feeling stale we can grab the player's attention by a character or an event, which is engaging enough to make the player think about it and forget how ultimately genetic the quest is. Quests aren't about their structure, that's a technical issue, but about how we tell them. When the player starts thinking about it, it's an well-written quest and evidently he will remember it for some time.
In The Witcher you decided to go open world. It almost seems like you got seduced the success of Skyrim and now want to leech on it.
I hear this comparison everywhere and it irritates me. The Witcher 3 isn't and won't be Skyrim. Skyrim was a great lesson in open world design and also has shown us how it ends up when someone makes a generic RPG. Our game will have good stories.
When talking about open worlds, procedural generation gets mentioned a lot. Do you use it?
No. We create everything manually and I'm sure players will appreciate that. When exploring the world they'll feel like in real landscape. Procedural fits somewhere and doesn't elsewhere. I liked it in the first Diablo. Under the chapel in Tristram there was a manually created quest set in randomly generated dungeon. The first time you finished it, it didn't feel unique at all, but the second time you found new loot and got new rewards. This approach to procedurally generated content is good when someone can make good use of it. Hopefully we'll be able to do it too one day.
Page 4 ends, page 5 starts.
Openness is sometimes a bait players catch on only to find the world is barren and lacks content. How will you handle this?
I think our world doesn't lack content. Quest density per square pixel is as high as it can be. Players will always upgrade their abilities, craft items and of course fight in unexpected skirmishes. You won't see everything during one playthrough either, because even this time we'll have decisions, which will affect the story. The Witcher 3 will last a long time. And I didn't even mention DLC and modding.
Will you continue to tackle controversial issues?
Of course, that's what Sapkowski's Geralt-centric work is all about. Such approach isn't popular in America, but we make games for players, not for regions. Player have to know we're making games for them and trust us, otherwise we can just close down.
Do you have information what elements Czech fans want in the game and do you let it influence the development?
Our artists travel around neighbor countries and get inspired by castles, chateaus and landscapes. We visited Prague few times and Kaer Morhen, the Witchers' keep, is inspired by the Spiš Castle in Slovakia. We read reactions from Czech fans on out forums. I don't just say it for no reason - we have people on the forums, who collect suggestions and then we choose ones, which we feel will make the game better.
The first Witcher felt very Slavic, the second one so much. How's the third one?
The second one was different, because we wanted it to be a visit to a "different" world. In the third installement we come back to our roots and handle the Slavic culture and landscape in an area called "Noone's Land". It's south of Novigrad, close to Brokilon. Players will encounter many things they saw in the first Witcher there. Other stylizations are for example Skellige archipelago, which will feel very Scandinavian, and Novigrad itself is supposed to have the atmospehere of medieval Amsterdam. I would say we're getting close to the grimness and harshness of the first game.
How do you localize Polish names to English?
We have a specialist, his name is Boris. He usually doesn't translate names literally, but looks for English words with meanings close to the Polish ones. That's because we want English translations to evoke cultural impressions similar to the original Polish words.
Page 5 ends.
AUTHOR! AUTHOR!
You work with characters strongly rooted in the source material. Did their strong characterization from the books ever stop your from telling some story with them?
I perceive our games as next installments in the book series. That's why we create psychological profiles for every character based on their descriptions in the books. We make them the same as they are in the books, but give them new experiences at the same time. A traumatic experience can change character's nature for example, and that's a literary device we sometimes use.
Which character's are the hardest to use?
Surprisingly the ones well characterized in the books, for example Triss or Radovid and other people close to Geralt, who are specifically described. Everyone has his own idea how such characters look and how are they supposed to act. On our forums there's a group of players, who point out any inconsistencies with the books. Those guys are usually insufferable, but when they say the game's characters are as good as in the books, it's a big reward for us.
The Witcher's author, Andrzej Sapkowski, said a book is a book and a game can't ever continue or rework it well.
Yeah, he said that. Sapkowski doesn't agree that we continue his work well. I hope if he ever writes something new about Geralt, he'll acknowledge events we described in our games. We follow the events for the books, work with his characters and are very consistent, which fans of the book admit. Hopefully Sapkowski will take the third game's story as a challenge and will write another Witcher book with even better story.
Come to think of it, does he consult some game elements with you?
Not really. He doesn't play and doesn't like video games. When we were designing the second Witcher, he helped us with the setting and geographical names. After that he made clear he has wants no connection to the story or dialogues. By the way, I like Sapkowski's books more than Tolkien's. They show real issues, realistic characters and controversial themes. Tolkien's books are nice, but they are "noble literature".
SOMETHING ENDS, SOMETHING BEGINS
Eight years with The Witcher, that's a long time. Aren't you tired of it?
Sometimes I catch myself thinking: "What would Geralt do? What would he say now? How would he feel now?" That's like spying on someone's life. But that will end with the third game. We started new projects set in the environments with new themes. At least our developers won't run away if they're already tired of The Witcher.
Opening a new studio in Krakow and announcing new games sounds risky.
We need new projects now, because otherwise we're just a studio with one successful brand and Cyberpunk 2077 in the works. That's not a healthy situation. We need to create stable and secure financial basis for our company, so we need to release games more often. Ideally one new game every 18 months, because our development cycle is three years.
Will your new project be tied to literature?
I can't answer that, but let me say that it's always better to have a defined IP than create everything anew. Paradoxically it gives us more freedom in creating content and out game then fits into existing media universe of the IP - players can play a desk game, watch a movie, read a book or play our game - all that from the same universe. Players profit from it, because they go into something they're already familiar with.
What are you thinking about now?
How to process The Witcher 3 feedback I got from the entire studio. And how to make it a best game possible. I trust my intuition and experience, but every human makes mistakes and sometimes I fear it won't be the best Witcher game. But E3 feedback has shown us we're going the right way, so I sleep better now.
What awaits you now?
Until the end of this year we'll be recording the dialogues. And it has to be perfect, because any story is hard to listen to without good dubbing.
Page 6 ends.
This took what felt like forever.
This is a translated interview that I came across a little while back. I had no role in it other than finding it by chance and pasting it here.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now, this took longer than I expected, but as I promised in one thread before, here's an interview with Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, the director of The Witcher 3, which was included in yesterday's issue of a Czech game magazine.
He talks about himself, game industry, CDPR's work culture, RED Engine, TW3, its story, CDPR's future etc. etc.
Translated by me. English version reaches 24844 characters, spaces included.
And now the actual interview. Page 1 starts.
31-year-old Konrad Tomaszkiewicz started working in the game industry eight years ago as a tester for the first Witcher game. Without predicting it himself, he managed to reach the position of The Witcher 3's director in CD Project RED. Now he can claim he managed to climb game development ladder from the lowest position to the highest. Two years ago he was awarded an European prize for best game design and it's likely similar prizes won't miss him for The Witcher 3 as well. It's pleasant to talk with Konrad - he pridefully admits he's working on one of the most expected video games, but is modest and humble at the same time. If only all developers were like that.
Czech Republic and Poland are neighbor countries, yet we don't know much about each other. How did the game industry look in Poland at the start of 21st century?
Thirteen years ago we had only few big studios. Techland, City Interactive and People Can Fly. Gaming industry was small, noone knew about it and it was impossible to learn how games are supposed to be developed. Today it's a bit better, but we still don't have schools and lectors, who would teach how to make games. We, and Czechs too, are missing the natural evolution of interactive entertainment in the last decades.
We shared a part of 20th century's history. What is your gaming experience from before the revolution? (TL note: Communism fell in Czech Republic and Poland in 1989, "revolution" refers to that.)
Before the revolution in 1989 I was spending my time gaming on ZX Spectrum, later came Amiga and first weak PCs. I knew I enjoy gaming so much I never want to give up on it. But I never thought I would actually work on a game. I didn't believe a person without programming knowledge and experience can just sit before a PC and make a game. Such idea made no sense to me.
Your father's a doctor. You followed his footsteps and went to study the medical school in Warsaw. How does someone move to video games from there?
Family played a big role in deciding my future and those few lines in Visual Basic didn't convince anyone I should become a programmer. That's why father sent me to study medicine. In my last year I found out by chance that CD Project RED is working on a game based on Andrzej Sapkowski's books. I loved the stories and books about the Witcher, so I joined the studio as a tester, thinking I'll make money for holiday by playing games. Later I decided to stay there.
How did your family react?
My mom, friends and classmates said I went crazy and I'm throwing away my career as a doctor away. And that games are for kids and I'm already an adult, so I should spend time doing kid things. But I wanted to work with video games. When I meet the same people today, it's funny to see them react the opposite way, because now they know how successful The Witcher is worldwide.
So you just came to CDPR eight years ago and said: "I want to be a tester for The Witcher"?
No way, I managed to pass though the job interview with a great deal of luck. I was taked to find bugs in a game called The Punisher, which I already finished few times before, so I knew them all. In a moment I wrote them all down and my speed impressed the people doing the evaluation so much they hired me on the spot. Even back then the studio was full of people who wanted to make video games, but didn't know how since sources and experience was lacking.
You started as a tester and now you're directing development of an entire game. That's a very inspirational story.
It's all very unexpected and quick for me. I got moved from testing department to designer den and then they made me a senior. I implemented many things into the first Witcher and for the second one I was already creating and scripting quests. And now I sit in the chair of The Witcher 3's director. Unbelievable.
How to you judge your work in CDPR?
When I think about the way I walked for eight years until now, I see many random events that happened at the right place at the right time. It's like my work life is guided by fate. I met great people and we together made the first Witcher, which became a well-received game even outside Poland. I'm proud, because we are a part of Poland's game industry and we prove we can make games of the global level.
I remember you gave one copy of The Witcher 2 to Barrack Obama.
Yeah, that helped us a lot, since we got on television. Thanks to that my grandparents now know what I'm doing. And I think we managed to show Poland what games are and what they can be.
Page 1 ends.
Page 2 starts.
GO WEST AND EAST, YOUNG MAN
How do you promote an Eastern European game in the West?
It's incredibly hard. At our first E3, the year 2005, we had to run around the show floor and beg people to come see our presentation. Noone knew that out game is - it looked a little bit like Neverwinter Nights, was from Poland and weird people with horrible accents were presenting it. On the last E3 we got over 60 "best game of the expo" prizes, so the eight years to building The Witcher brand is starting to pay off.
During that time did you get a chance to compare work style in CDPR and western studios?
Sometimes we give jobs to western people with experience from working in American companies. They say it's interesting to compare the differences of our and American approach to game development, because apparently we do function like an American company, but like one from twenty years ago.
What does that mean?
I'd say it means "human approach." Nowadays American developers must go after money. They're like factories in which every employee is standing at his place at the assembly line and completes given task. He can't decide anything about the game's content, so he loses the personal bond to the game he's working on. That's not good. We function differently. Everyone can voice their opinions and then we all discuss the propositions and changes together. I let individual developers speak their opinions, because they need to know The Witcher 3 isn't just my game, but whole team's game, so theirs too.
So those "factories" do it wrong?
They care only about money. Developers aren't the ones to blame, publishers are, because they give money only to project they perceive as the easiest. I don't mean to say that producing, say an action game, is an easy task, but they only finance games they know are selling well to masses. And that's why linear games are coming one, in which every player experiences the same because their movement and actions are predefined. Such games are much easier to develop than open world games in which the authors don't know where the player will go when.
But even a linear shooter like Call of Duty can be well-made and fun.
Absolutely. But it's a pity big publishers prefer investing in such games and fear the more daring projects. I don't mind playing Call of Duty, but I think it would be good to move the game industry in different directions too. For example like David Cage and Heavy Rain is doing. Many designers would like to work on a game where you really experience unrealistic situations, not on games with just jumping and shooting.
Like a zombie apocalypse?
The Walking Dead is a perfect example. You don't think about the side characters like lifeless figurines, but you consider them real people and make bonds with them. That's a new way of experiencing game stories, which will only become more and more prominent. It will be very difficult to combine it together with gameplay well enough, so the game is still a game and not just a movie.
The Walking Dead forced many people to rethink the significance of the cinematic experience in gaming media. What defines a modern video game for you?
Nowadays it's apparent video games are changing. The Walking Dead, David Cage's work or our Witcher series aren't just simple games like the ones we know in the 90s. Games now need to have and combine good stories, emotions and cinematic approaches. When during gameplay, you change your decisions based on your emotional engagement to game characters, that's what I call a new step in the evolution of entertainment.
Page 2 ends, page 3 starts.
In the 60s we had something called "CinemaMachine" in Czechoslovakia, meaning people in cinema could press buttons and decide how will the film's story continue.
Imax is thinking about something similar - you'll go see a movie and will collectively decide its story and ending. The film industry is trying to find out why he game one is so successful and this is the outcome. It works in reverse too. Games can now offer a cinematic experience, because graphics are starting to look pretty damn good. I think next-gen games will share many procedures known from movies. It makes sense. With a well written script (scenario) you'll be able to choose a role and experience the whole story, even from multiple viewpoints, without losing gameplay. I dare to say games will become a threat to movie industry.
PROJECT: LET'S BE NICE TO EACH OTHER
What's CDPR's company culture?
We don't want our people to consider themselves employees of a big corporation. We don't even flaunt ourselves like the best studio under the Sun. We are managing to keep the atmosphere of just being few guys who like to make video games. Personally I feel like a painter or a sculptor when working and for our team moral it's important to make sure everyone feels like that. Everyone can change elements of the game and become an author. As the result we don't have to force people to work overtime or on weekend because everyone works with interest. When I leave my office at 10 PM, some people are still working and won't let me lure them outside.
That sounds like an utopia.
We spend 80% of out lives working. If I had to wake up every day and go work at something I don't like, I wouldn't enjoy life and that would suck. We try to create a working environment everyone likes and a one where everyone respects each other.
There must be limits somewhere and clear hierarchy, otherwise the project would fall apart.
Yeah, we have work hierarchy, but noone plays the "boss vs. employees" game. My main responsibility is to explain to individual authors why their idea isn't fit for the game. Sometimes the conversation takes several hours, but ultimately it has its purpose. I don't want people in my team who feel insulted. If they felt like that, they could stop thinking about the game as their baby and would stop coming up with new idea.
How do you lead your team?
I found out that total democracy would mean people will kill each other. That's why I have the right to veto anything and decide what gets into the game and what doesn't. Not everyone is happy, because sometimes they have to abandon their ideas, but only that way we can move forward.
As the game's director you need to predict every possible dead end and mistakes in development? How do you manage?
You can think of everything. In USA they released a research about complexity of various tasks. Sending a rocked to the Moon was first and game development was second. You can't predict everything. That's not possible. We move the ship of development forward based on testers' reports and out own experience, which guide us away from shallow waters.
As the director do you even have time to influence game's content? (TL note: Being the director he obviously influences the game's context, so the question is whether or not he has time to program it himself. At least that's how I understand it.)
I would like to do some things myself, but I don't have enough time. That's a pity. On the other hand as the director I can see the game in the context of the third and final installment in the series, so I can guide people to fulfill out goal of making it the best Witcher game.
Page 3 ends, page 4 starts.
How do CDPR developers cooperate with the marketing department?
Our marketing guys know it's better to let us developers speak about the game. When the time comes, they let us speak freely and we take care of what we reveal to journalists ourselves. The game is our work, so we have full rights to speak about it whenever we want. Personally I don't give marketing much thought. We just need to create a game so good its name and reputation will move units, not advertisements.
To you have some specific example in mind?
I really enjoyed Dragon Age: Origins. The second installment had great marketing, but in reality the game really disappointed me. I felt like someone deceived me and sold me the game's alpha version. That won't happed with us. We won't release an imperfect game just because marketing is pushing us to do so. Of course you'll find small problems, those can't be fully avoided, but we'll fix them right after release. And we'll keep releasing fixes until players are satisfied. After all, players are the ones who decide the game's success.
CDPR is famous for it's benevolent approach to DRM. Is that a part of your "closer to players" strategy too?
DRM is the worst thing that happened to the game industry. It restricts our rights to play video games we own. I don't see a reason why shouldn't I be able to play a game I bought when I'm not connected to the internet. No wonder people torrent video games because of such policies. When you release a DRM-free game people will pirate it too, but perhaps tell about it to their friend and some of them buy it. I'm certain out openness pays off with more numerous and loyal customers than we would have if we supported DRM.
Your DRM policy won't fly on consoles, eh?
We will release the game on consoles and we actively communicate with Microsoft and Sony about the DRM issue. But ultimately the platforms are theirs, so things will be according to their decisions. People, who hate any DRM, can play the PC version.
I heard somewhere that console sales profits de facto pay for losses from the PC release. Is that true?
That's a hoax. Our sales on consoles are bigger, that's true, but that doesn't mean we will focus just on them. We grew up on PC, we develop for PC, PC sales are making profit and PC games are most important for us. We release games for consoles too, because it would be stupid to ignore them, but we let you decide what platform will you play on.
This thread's OP !!zop7LNz56vu Sat Aug 24 2013 21:54:30 No.206589478 Report
That's a hoax. Our sales on consoles are bigger, that's true, but that doesn't mean we will focus just on them. We grew up on PC, we develop for PC, PC sales are making profit and PC games are most important for us. We release games for consoles too, because it would be stupid to ignore them, but we let you decide what platform will you play on.
Do you have problems with parallel development for PC and consoles?
The biggest brain twister was designing pleasant control schemes for both KB+M and gamepad. Other than that we had to rewrite the rendering engine for consoles and other technical stuff, but as far as gameplay is concerned, we don't make the game less complex because of console players.
RED Engine and your own custom developer tools are helping you with technical stuff. Are you still happy with them?
Sure thing. We needed an engine to replace Aurora (Neverwinter Nights), which we used for The Witcher. We wanted something of our own, an easily understandable engine in which we can just copy-paste things we would have to manually rewrite in other engines. Our goal is to create tools to easily assemble RPG games. Thanks to those we can create questlines, dialogues and decide behavior of NPC in greater world context much easier than in other engines. And by saving money by not having to licence an engine, we can spend more money on creating game content.
What tools did you customize the most?
The most important thing to ensure stable pace of development is the ability to easily move situations and characters with dialogues along and between questlines. That way we can find out where they fit the most. Our tools can do this and without them it would be impossible to create a complex RPG like The Witcher.
THERE'S NO WITCHER WITHOUT A STORY
Do you consider yourself a conservative or innovative developer?
In the case of the Witcher trilogy, I make sure not to change what people love. People have certain expectations from sequels and we can't betray those. Of course we don't throw innovation away, but it's not the main drive behind creation of sequels. You can easily destroy the entire brand with it. Look at the Diablo series. The first game was great, the second one was good and I didn't like the third one, cause they tried to innovate it and destroyed the series' legacy. Drastic innovations are needed, but they have to be handled carefully in established series.
For example innovations of classic quest templates wouldn't hurt.
The number of variations of quests in RPGs is limited. You saw majority of them in other games, movies or read about them in books. Take this letter to the next village. Clear the cellar of rats. Solve someone's problem. It's hard to come up with something new. To avoid feeling stale we can grab the player's attention by a character or an event, which is engaging enough to make the player think about it and forget how ultimately genetic the quest is. Quests aren't about their structure, that's a technical issue, but about how we tell them. When the player starts thinking about it, it's an well-written quest and evidently he will remember it for some time.
In The Witcher you decided to go open world. It almost seems like you got seduced the success of Skyrim and now want to leech on it.
I hear this comparison everywhere and it irritates me. The Witcher 3 isn't and won't be Skyrim. Skyrim was a great lesson in open world design and also has shown us how it ends up when someone makes a generic RPG. Our game will have good stories.
When talking about open worlds, procedural generation gets mentioned a lot. Do you use it?
No. We create everything manually and I'm sure players will appreciate that. When exploring the world they'll feel like in real landscape. Procedural fits somewhere and doesn't elsewhere. I liked it in the first Diablo. Under the chapel in Tristram there was a manually created quest set in randomly generated dungeon. The first time you finished it, it didn't feel unique at all, but the second time you found new loot and got new rewards. This approach to procedurally generated content is good when someone can make good use of it. Hopefully we'll be able to do it too one day.
Page 4 ends, page 5 starts.
Openness is sometimes a bait players catch on only to find the world is barren and lacks content. How will you handle this?
I think our world doesn't lack content. Quest density per square pixel is as high as it can be. Players will always upgrade their abilities, craft items and of course fight in unexpected skirmishes. You won't see everything during one playthrough either, because even this time we'll have decisions, which will affect the story. The Witcher 3 will last a long time. And I didn't even mention DLC and modding.
Will you continue to tackle controversial issues?
Of course, that's what Sapkowski's Geralt-centric work is all about. Such approach isn't popular in America, but we make games for players, not for regions. Player have to know we're making games for them and trust us, otherwise we can just close down.
Do you have information what elements Czech fans want in the game and do you let it influence the development?
Our artists travel around neighbor countries and get inspired by castles, chateaus and landscapes. We visited Prague few times and Kaer Morhen, the Witchers' keep, is inspired by the Spiš Castle in Slovakia. We read reactions from Czech fans on out forums. I don't just say it for no reason - we have people on the forums, who collect suggestions and then we choose ones, which we feel will make the game better.
The first Witcher felt very Slavic, the second one so much. How's the third one?
The second one was different, because we wanted it to be a visit to a "different" world. In the third installement we come back to our roots and handle the Slavic culture and landscape in an area called "Noone's Land". It's south of Novigrad, close to Brokilon. Players will encounter many things they saw in the first Witcher there. Other stylizations are for example Skellige archipelago, which will feel very Scandinavian, and Novigrad itself is supposed to have the atmospehere of medieval Amsterdam. I would say we're getting close to the grimness and harshness of the first game.
How do you localize Polish names to English?
We have a specialist, his name is Boris. He usually doesn't translate names literally, but looks for English words with meanings close to the Polish ones. That's because we want English translations to evoke cultural impressions similar to the original Polish words.
Page 5 ends.
AUTHOR! AUTHOR!
You work with characters strongly rooted in the source material. Did their strong characterization from the books ever stop your from telling some story with them?
I perceive our games as next installments in the book series. That's why we create psychological profiles for every character based on their descriptions in the books. We make them the same as they are in the books, but give them new experiences at the same time. A traumatic experience can change character's nature for example, and that's a literary device we sometimes use.
Which character's are the hardest to use?
Surprisingly the ones well characterized in the books, for example Triss or Radovid and other people close to Geralt, who are specifically described. Everyone has his own idea how such characters look and how are they supposed to act. On our forums there's a group of players, who point out any inconsistencies with the books. Those guys are usually insufferable, but when they say the game's characters are as good as in the books, it's a big reward for us.
The Witcher's author, Andrzej Sapkowski, said a book is a book and a game can't ever continue or rework it well.
Yeah, he said that. Sapkowski doesn't agree that we continue his work well. I hope if he ever writes something new about Geralt, he'll acknowledge events we described in our games. We follow the events for the books, work with his characters and are very consistent, which fans of the book admit. Hopefully Sapkowski will take the third game's story as a challenge and will write another Witcher book with even better story.
Come to think of it, does he consult some game elements with you?
Not really. He doesn't play and doesn't like video games. When we were designing the second Witcher, he helped us with the setting and geographical names. After that he made clear he has wants no connection to the story or dialogues. By the way, I like Sapkowski's books more than Tolkien's. They show real issues, realistic characters and controversial themes. Tolkien's books are nice, but they are "noble literature".
SOMETHING ENDS, SOMETHING BEGINS
Eight years with The Witcher, that's a long time. Aren't you tired of it?
Sometimes I catch myself thinking: "What would Geralt do? What would he say now? How would he feel now?" That's like spying on someone's life. But that will end with the third game. We started new projects set in the environments with new themes. At least our developers won't run away if they're already tired of The Witcher.
Opening a new studio in Krakow and announcing new games sounds risky.
We need new projects now, because otherwise we're just a studio with one successful brand and Cyberpunk 2077 in the works. That's not a healthy situation. We need to create stable and secure financial basis for our company, so we need to release games more often. Ideally one new game every 18 months, because our development cycle is three years.
Will your new project be tied to literature?
I can't answer that, but let me say that it's always better to have a defined IP than create everything anew. Paradoxically it gives us more freedom in creating content and out game then fits into existing media universe of the IP - players can play a desk game, watch a movie, read a book or play our game - all that from the same universe. Players profit from it, because they go into something they're already familiar with.
What are you thinking about now?
How to process The Witcher 3 feedback I got from the entire studio. And how to make it a best game possible. I trust my intuition and experience, but every human makes mistakes and sometimes I fear it won't be the best Witcher game. But E3 feedback has shown us we're going the right way, so I sleep better now.
What awaits you now?
Until the end of this year we'll be recording the dialogues. And it has to be perfect, because any story is hard to listen to without good dubbing.
Page 6 ends.
This took what felt like forever.
