CD Projekt Red Discusses Cyberpunk 2077 Development Challenges Compared to The Witcher 3
Developing Cyberpunk 2077 proved to be a significantly more complex undertaking for CD Projekt Red compared to their acclaimed RPG, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. This insight comes from Charles Tremblay, Senior Vice President of Technology at CDPR, during an interview with the YouTube channel All Out Gaming.
The Protagonist: A Blank Slate vs. Defined Characters
One of the primary challenges, according to Tremblay, stemmed from the protagonist's design. In The Witcher 3, players control well-established characters like Geralt or Ciri, whose personalities and moral compasses are already deeply ingrained. This allows for a more focused narrative and character interactions.
Conversely, Cyberpunk 2077's protagonist, V, is designed as a 'blank slate.' Players define V's background, behavior, and ethical choices. This freedom, while a core tenet of the game's design, introduced significant complexity. Tremblay noted the difficulty in imagining Geralt acting like a character from Grand Theft Auto, committing random acts of violence against passersby, because it simply wouldn't align with his established character. V, as a mercenary, has much more narrative freedom to be good or evil, use diplomacy or brute force, which required a vastly different approach to game design and narrative branching.
Team Growth and Communication Hurdles
Another major factor was the expansion of the development team. Tremblay highlighted that the team size during The Witcher 3's production was ideal, fostering excellent communication and a cohesive workflow. Developers worked closely and efficiently together.
However, when CDPR transitioned to Cyberpunk 2077, the team effectively doubled in size. This rapid growth led to increased communication issues and coordination complexities. Despite these challenges, the studio felt unable to scale back the team due to their own ambitious vision for the project and the high expectations from the audience. CD Projekt Red maintains that endlessly expanding a team to thousands of employees for a single game is not a sustainable long-term strategy.
Navigating a Vertical World
Beyond character design and team size, the shift in environmental design presented its own set of challenges. Developing Cyberpunk 2077 required moving from the largely horizontal, sprawling landscapes of medieval Europe found in The Witcher 3 to the intricate, vertical design of a futuristic metropolis. This change demanded new approaches to level design, traversal, and world-building.
Despite these significant hurdles, CD Projekt Red ultimately adapted, delivering a game that offers a greater degree of character customization and player choice. For those looking to experience these ambitious titles, both Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt were recently available with substantial discounts on Steam, making them more accessible to a wider audience.
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