What is the likelihood of Andrzej Sapkowski's participation in the creation of "The Witcher 4"?

[Dmitriy_1981]

I know that the author of the saga Andrzej Sapkowski himself was dismissive of games in the past. But he had time to change his attitude.

What if the developers now ask him to participate in the creation of the 4th game as a scriptwriter for additional quests?

For example, the witcher's orders in the third part of the game are very good, but too miniature, too easy to complete. Structurally, they should not bring anything fundamentally new to the gameplay, but they develop those gameplay tasks that are already in the main game. Therefore, the main difficulty in their development, it seems to me, is to come up with a new interesting story, a new conflict, new characteristic heroes, new riddles and ways to solve them, which would be longer and more complex than what was done in "The Witcher 3". And this is exactly what pan Andrzej could do well with his vast literary experience.

He probably would have been able to come up with some ways to solve witcher problems not by following markers on the map, but through indirect intuitive hints. I think witcher senses were a good idea, but they were abused a bit (there is no point in listing examples).
And, in comparison, when you had to find a chest on Ard Skellige by the shadow from the top of a mountain falling to the bottom of a valley at a certain time of day, it was a thousand times more interesting than just following illuminated tracks.

 

[0248991]

Hey,
If I remember correctly, the author finished writing the next Witcher book some time ago, and he had some sessions with CDPR discussing future developments in the universe.

So, who knows? Maybe he already did?

 

[devivre]

Well, Sapkowski has said a few times that he has no interest in games and does not intend to play them. This alone would make a deeper participation tricky. Also, in order to write stories for the game Sapkowski would have to adjust to CDPRs continuation of setting and characters. He doesn’t strike me as someone who would want to do that. But I would love to be wrong here.

 

[Dmitriy_1981]

I think it would be worth at least trying to invite him to participate. Maybe he has changed his attitude over the years.
If the game is about events before the beginning of the book series, for example, about the era of the emergence of witcher schools, then the participation of a talented writer and the author of the witcher universe itself will help in the development of additional, and possibly the main tasks. Or, if after the events of The Witcher 3 some new amazing events occur in the world in which Geralt, Cirilla and other of our favorite heroes of the saga will participate, the participation of the author of the initial ideas as a screenwriter will not hurt in any way.

 

[Riven-Twain]

Based on what I've heard and read about him in the past, I also doubt he'd be willing to participate in the actual writing of a game; however, I think it would be rather nice if the REDs were able to consult with him about story-lines, concepts, and characters. I do know that he has visited the Studio at least once in recent years, and has talked generally about the Series with the developers. Beyond that, I've no idea whether he would be involved in any future projects.

I will note that he has certainly benefited, directly or indirectly, from the success of the games, even if RED Geralt is different from his in a few ways.

 

[tavellone]

He'll probably participate in another court case if it sells better than he expects it to again

 

[Toyen]

Hopefully zero. Sorry not sorry. I respect the original work meaning the books the games are based on but given his foul attitude I would rather have CDPR writers do the job.

When it comes to the Netflix series for example, didn't he basically just take the cash and said do what you want with it I don't really care?

This is from an interview regarding the Netflix Series:

io9: How involved were you in the production process?

Sapkowski: Not very much, on my own request. I do not like working too hard or too long. By the way, I do not like working at all.

Miss me with that attitude. Thanks.

 

[Rawls]

Very unlikely.

 

[FelineWitcher]

In an interview he said once: "the story of Geralt can only be told by his creator. A certain Andrzej Sapkowski". So I'd say probably not.

 

[Balinux]

I'd expect he'd be upset about turning Ciri into a witcher to begin with. But maybe he'd be the most likely to find a lore explanation for that.

 

[pinoko]

Very unlikely.

+1

This is my thoughts:
To begin with, Sapkowski has no expertise whatsoever in game development. In the early stages of the production of the anime Edge Runners, CDPR apparently came up with the original idea, but in the end it was created from the game developer's point of view, which was different from the way the anime was created, so TRIGGER stuck to their own way. CDPR respected TRIGGER's approach and the anime was a success. So it would probably be better to leave the game development to CDPR in the first place.
Sapkowski is a top-tier world-wide author, he must understand the downside of unnecessary meddling in the creative field. As long as CDPR respects the Sapkowski's original work, I don't see a problem even if he doesn't get involved in TW4.

 

[FelineWitcher]

+1

This is my thoughts:
To begin with, Sapkowski has no expertise whatsoever in game development. In the early stages of the production of the anime Edge Runners, CDPR apparently came up with the original idea, but in the end it was created from the game developer's point of view, which was different from the way the anime was created, so TRIGGER stuck to their own way. CDPR respected TRIGGER's approach and the anime was a success. So it would probably be better to leave the game development to CDPR in the first place.
Sapkowski is a top-tier world-wide author, he must understand the downside of unnecessary meddling in the creative field. As long as CDPR respects the Sapkowski's original work, I don't see a problem even if he doesn't get involved in TW4.

Agreed. Even though they have taken some liberties, CDPR has been pretty damm respectful to the source material, unlike certain Netflix show.

 

[Dmitriy_1981]

As long as CDPR respects the Sapkowski's original work, I don't see a problem even if he doesn't get involved in TW4.

Indeed, the fact that Sapkowski will not participate in the development is, of course, not a problem in itself. I believe in the CDPR scriptwriters, of course (well, almost believe. To be honest, I would still like something more complex, lengthy and intricate than the plots in "The Witcher 3").
And I did not know that Sapkowski is such a lazy person that even caring about his creative legacy does not motivate him to work. So, I was wrong in my assumptions, pity...

Post automatically merged: Dec 16, 2024

I'd expect he'd be upset about turning Ciri into a witcher to begin with. But maybe he'd be the most likely to find a lore explanation for that.

This is, by the way, an interesting question. And that original book Cirilla - who was she supposed to become according to Sapkowski's plans? In the book series, Geralt searched for and saved her for about ten years, but when I read the novels in the early 2000s, this question remained open.

 

[AvarageEnjoyer]

Sapkowski actively hates video games as a medium (something that he denies, but slips up occasionally) and has an insane superiority complex. In his eyes, whatever you do, you will never approach his BRILLIANCE as an author - and no, he won't help you or consult you, he will just collect the paycheck.
Honestly, it's probably for the better that he isn't involved. He is terrible at world building and hasn't really shown anything truly creative after his saga has ended in a rather mediocre way. I kinda think that in a way, fanbase cares more about the Witcher than the author.