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The Witcher Q&A Feature
Derek dela Fuente
10/01/2005
Built upon BioWare’s Aurora engine, TVG takes a look at an intriguing new RPG...
Occasionally a PC games makes you sit up and take notice and The Witcher is a RPG game combining dynamic action with a deep and intriguing storyline. The game uses the modified BioWare Aurora Engine (and was featured across their stand at E3), along with a number of clever and inventive ideas. Derek dela Fuente spoke with Michal Kicinski â“ Studio Director and Michal Madej â“ Senior Designer working on the game.
TVG: Please can you tell the readers a little about the team behind the game, CD Projekt, and the vision for the game?
(Michal) CD Projekt is a company founded over 10 years ago that publishes computer games in Eastern Europe. In Poland we are the market leader and gamers hold us in high regard, particularly for the great quality of our Polish language versions of published games. CD Projekt has published almost every RPG on the Polish market since the first Baldur's Gate.
CD Projekt RED - the studio that's developing the Witcher - is a relatively new subordinate company whose goal is to develop high-quality RPGs. We've always dreamt of creating games and the time has come when we decided that we're ready to take up that challenge.
Most of our team has experience gathered while working on developing other Polish games, though for the most part they weren't large productions with worldwide popularity. Development of suitably advanced games in Poland is only beginning - we hope to contribute towards this trend!
TVG: Readers from the UK and many other European countries might not be familiar with Polish Fantasy author, Andrzej Sapkowski, who is working with the team. Can you explain the reasons for his popularity and the part he played in the making of the game?
Sapkowski's popularity in Poland is an absolute phenomenon - his works are read by basically everyone, including people who do not normally read fantasy. It's hard to name a single defining reason for this; for sure, the main character of the Witcher, Geralt, is very important in this regard - a character that is very interesting, extraordinary and original. Geralt was supposed to be a cold, soulless mutant created for the sole purpose of slaying monsters, but - due to an error in experiments - he still has human-like emotions and feelings. Another significant factor has to be the innovative, mature and post-modern world in which the novels are set. This world does not have the standard good vs. evil divisions, but thrives on real issues, often referring to modern world problems such as racism or even ecology. Lastly, there's probably the most essential characteristic of Sapokowski's writing - his lightness of style and often strong language that is rich beyond compare. (Madej)
TVG: What will in your opinion distinguish the world you're creating?
The Witcher's world's strongest points are its originality and authenticity - it was created by Andrzej Sapkowski in his writing and we are doing everything we can to best render its character in our game. Of course, as any fantasy world, this one is also a figment of imagination, full of magic, incredible creatures and enchanting places; very different, however, are the 'persons' (including elves, dwarves, and even vampires) that people this world. They can truly be called 'flesh and blood' characters, for they do not serve some arcane notions of Good or Evil and are not standard paper dolls with no feelings - they have real human shortcomings, weaknesses and lusts. This is a world in which a monster-hunter can befriend an ancient vampire, and a teenage murdering wench save the whole continent. (Madej)
The game will, as we're told, be a heavily action-based RPG. Will the player be able to control the action in real time? Can you briefly tell us about some of the moves, attack options and the workings of the fighting system?
Fighting in The Witcher combines a number of separate issues that all contribute to the game's playability. It is very important, for example, to prepare yourself for the upcoming fight with a monster - get to know its strengths and weaknesses and use this knowledge to prepare a tactic suitable to this opponent. How will this work in practical terms?
During the game, our hero will learn Forms - the basic elements of Witcher's art of fighting, each of them with specific purposes and effects (both positive and negative). Those Forms can then be combined into whole Sequences of attacks that compound the effects of particular Forms. The player has to choose such a Sequence that will allow him to utilize his opponent's weaknesses and at the same time make it impossible for the foe to utilize his strengths.
Preparing a good Sequence is one thing, employing it in practice is something completely different. While attacks are triggered in a simple point&click manner, the problem lies not in making a given cut or slash, but in doing it perfectly. Only ideal timing of consecutive attacks will result in the occurrence of the desired effect - that's where the player's own manual dexterity comes into play. (Madej)
TVG: We are also informed that you intend the action/battling to be ultra realistic and that you have brought in specialists in a number of areas to ensure this. Can you expand on some of the specialists you are using and the kind or period research you are doing?
We're generally concerned with the game presenting the late Middle Ages/early Renaissance realities in areas as varied as architecture, fashion and people's living conditions. Also the Witcher's fighting system was created on the basis of existing records of longsword fencing from that period. During our works on the whole fighting system concept, various attacks and final motion-capturing of particular sequences, we were greatly helped by Warsaw's Weapon Academy in general and the swordsmaster Marcin Żmudzki in particular. Thanks to his involvement our game boasts one of the most spectacular and at the same time most authentic sword fighting systems in the whole world of computer gaming. (Michal)
TVG: Who will be the hero of the game, and what are some of the tasks and challenges he'll have to face?
The hero of our game is the Witcher Geralt - a monster-slayer of legendary fame and abilities, though perhaps not as good a reputation. Some parts of the world see him as a hero, others as a butcher and murderer, but everyone believes him to be dead; rumour has it that he was killed during the Rivia uprising. What is more, he himself remembers nothing and knows not what caused his 'resurrection'... Before the player uncovers this mystery, he'll have to learn many abilities anew, save some friends, reclaim the Witchers' secrets and slay numerous monsters... For the right price, of course. (Madej)
TVG: Could you acquaint us with the background story to the game?
The game includes three main storylines that mingle during play and finally come together in the ending, when every mystery is explained and seemingly unconnected events combine to create a logical whole.
First of those story threads is the already mentioned mystery clouding the game's hero's identity, or lack of it, more precisely. Everyone knows who Geralt is - except the hero himself, who does not remember anything! A second thread is concerned with reclaiming the Witchers' caste's secrets that were stolen from their mountain fortress of Kaer Morhen. The third, political thread, is developed with the game's progress and describes the (Madej) conflict between the Nordling lords and the ever-more-powerful Order of the Flaming Rose.
TVG: What are some of the settings within the game?
The graphics and level of realism in the game world's portrayal can also be counted as the game's strengths. The places that the player will visit will surely astound him with their grand scale, picturesque qualities, overall feeling and attention paid to details. Take Vyzime for example - a city containing two separate parts, an old district of poor people, outlaws and plague with crude shacks ready to come apart any moment, and a new, representative capital built of stone with a beautiful palace of the king. The parts are connected by a grand bridge hanging over a long dike with a beautiful view of the Vyzime Lake and its numerous fishing vessels. The city holds many secrets - few remember that it was originally build over the ruins of an ancient elven metropolis... Those that braved the canals running under the city tell stories about strange and fantastic things that can be encountered there. As well as strange and fantastic monsters that live there... (Madej)
TVG: How detailed will the RPG aspects of the game be? What's the progression and creation of the game's hero going to look like in terms of skills, weapons and set-up?
In order to fully render the unique character of our hero, we had to develop our own RPG system, complete with character descriptions, development and fighting mechanisms. The hero is graded by three main attributes (Strength, Agility and Stamina) and two additional skills of Fighting and Magic. The main strength of the system, however, lies in the complex system of special abilities including well over twenty Witcherâs gestures and secret attacks (some employing magic). Character development is similar to most cRPGs - you gather experience points, get promoted to next levels and on each of them can 'spend' a number of development points on adding to your attributes or buying abilities.
As far as the hero's weaponry is concerned - Witchers are swords-masters and as such use two exquisite blades, one forged out of meteorite, one out of silver. Although the weapons that the player has at his disposal at the beginning of the game have seen better times, they are still great blades that only need to be brought back to former glory. (Madej)
TVG: How focused are you on the technology? You are using Biowareâs Aurora Engine. Tell us what has impressed you in it.
In the beginning, we wanted - as most companies do - to develop our own technology, but we realized in time what a complicated and drawn-out process this required. We also understood that what is most important is the content and not the technology - a rich and interesting world, well-developed characters, immersing storyline, that's what makes an RPG valuable. Technology is only a tool that helps us obtain this goal and that's why we decided to buy a license for Aurora and not to further develop our own engine. Aurora includes a number of tools that make RPG development a lot easier - after all, BioWare has huge experience in the field - and even though other engines might offer better visuals, we decided quickly in Aurora's favour. Our programmers then concentrated on best suiting Aurora for the Witcher's purposes, with one of the first changes being a basically complete revamping of the graphics display module. The graphics are no longer built from tiles, but created directly in 3DMax, which makes it much more detailed and varied. The game has also full DirectX 9 support and the graphics look very good - which you can best judge yourself by looking at our various screenshots and game movies. (Michal)
MANY THANKS FOR YOUR TIME
Weâll have more on The Witcher soon.
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