Apr 08, 2023 18:00:00

The director of CD PROJEKT RED, who created 'Cyberpunk 2077' and 'Witcher 3', talks about the points that should be emphasized in game production

Paulo Sasco, who was involved in the production of '

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt ,' which can be said to be the monumental work of open-world RPGs, and ' Cyberpunk 2077, ' a near-future RPG that became a top seller on Steam after getting off to a bad start full of bugs. Talks were given on topics such as how to deliver important information to players in an open world exploration game and how to convey the complexity of the story without wasting resources.

Key lessons from the quest design of The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/gdc2023/10-key-takeaways-from-the-quest-design-of-cyberpunk-2077-and-the-witcher-3

According to Mr. Sasco, who took the stage at the world's largest conference for game developers 'Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2023', in order to create a game that players are enthusiastic about, players 'move in search of the next story' It is necessary to encourage action. It is usually achieved by intentionally excluding important information, and it seems that it is necessary to create something that stimulates the player's 'willingness to obtain information'.

When Mr. Sasco's team created the game, it seems that the above goal was achieved by making ``the goal of emotionally affecting the player'' an important pillar of the story. Emotional goals are stories or scenes that are memorable, emotionally moving, or impactful to the player.

When drawing these scenes, it seems important to give each scene enough time and 'never rush'. Sasco added, ``Real life can be unhurried,'' he said, noting that it's important to give players the opportunity to bond with their characters by creating moments that are human rather than intense.

For example, in 'Cyberpunk 2077', there is a scene in which a character called Panam puts his feet on another character's lap and speaks. These small gestures can have a big impact on the audience.

Another way to attract the player's attention is to use 'succinct expressions'. You can achieve this goal by eliminating repetitive expressions in your conversations with NPCs and eliminating the 'noise' that mixes into your conversations.

For example, less important dialogue should be shown while other actions are taking place, such as when the player walks to another point with an NPC. On the other hand, important conversations are displayed in a scene where the player can concentrate.

RPGs with long stories often present players with 'choices'. Among the options, if you choose a certain option, the NPC will die, or the faction that will become an ally in the future will change. , is important to give meaning to the game. Presenting options itself is 'not necessarily exciting', and when presenting options, it is important to give the player a chance to think.

Finally, Mr. Sasco said, 'It is important to create a design that allows other areas of the team to appeal to their respective specialties and interests. I need to know,' he advised.