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- Jun 18, 2002
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Tags: CD Projekt; Michal Kicinski; Witcher, The
Some time ago - namely before yesterday's news item about CD Projekt cancelling the console Witcher port and their other projects - we sent Monolith to interview Co-Founder Michal Kicinski. <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=189">Here's what he had to say</a>:
<br>
<blockquote><b>7) In the press release announcing The Witcher selling a million copies you implied that The Witcher is going to be ported to consoles. Let's assume that will happen - what's involved in porting The Witcher and what exactly would have to be changed?</b>
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<br>
The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf is the console equivalent of the PC version of The Witcher. From day one we knew it would be great if the game could be brought to a broad audience, not exclusively PC owners. However, you've got to remember that this was our first project and creating such an extensive RPG just on the PC was already bordering on impossible. Adding other platforms would have been beyond what was possible for us and above all, we wouldn't have been able to concentrate on making The Witcher the best RPG on the platform that is PC. The Witcher was very well received by gamers and the media. That strengthened our conviction to introduce the product we have created in the course of many years to the broadest audience possible. Right after the release of The Witcher we started to create a console adaption. One of our conditions was that RotWW ought not postpone the development of CD Projekt RED's other projects. That's why we decided to cooperate with an outside company, the French White Screen Games team, which provides the modern DaVinci engine specially designed for next-gen consoles. WSG is responsible for technical side, adapting and improving game assets while a small team of our people oversees everything concerning content - working out a new and console-typical combat system, changed GUI, and a lot of other changes needed for The Witcher to be a fullblooded console title use their potential to the fullest. Except the plot which remains the same all other elements of the game are changed or totally new. That's why I believe The Witcher will also be well received by the console crowd, because there aren't any PC remnants that could lessen the console experience. Of course, if we succeed has yet to be varified by the console gamers.
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[...]
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<b>4) And now that we've discussed the strengths, what are the game's flaws? Where did you fail and, most importantly, why? What would you have made different?</b>
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<br>
Everybody seems to see different flaws. Painful, from my point of view, was the fact that on release day the game was plagued by bugs and failures which hindered enjoyment. Especially the long loading times. Also painful were the cut and shortened English dialogues - something that was advised by „experts" of the western markets, but which was an absolute mistake and, since it was done in a hurry, resulted in unlogical and inconsistent dialogues, but above else hurt the atmosphere. There was also a great deal of small bugs but taking into account the scope of the Witcher that was to be expected (although I personally disapprove). Compared to games like Gothic 1, The Witcher was quite a polished product
. Nonetheless, with our next project we'll certainly go much further when it comes to polishing the game. It's quite distressing if what's been created in the course of several years gets crossed out due to some bugs that could be removed with a couple of weeks' work.</blockquote>
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Like I said, it was before yesterday's news. <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=189">Read the rest</a> to find out about the game's strengths, weaknesses, that problematic English translation and most importantly, the how and why behind the hype.
<br>
<br>
Special thanks to Monolith for the translation from Polish, with a bit of assistance from Elwro.
Some time ago - namely before yesterday's news item about CD Projekt cancelling the console Witcher port and their other projects - we sent Monolith to interview Co-Founder Michal Kicinski. <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=189">Here's what he had to say</a>:
<br>
<blockquote><b>7) In the press release announcing The Witcher selling a million copies you implied that The Witcher is going to be ported to consoles. Let's assume that will happen - what's involved in porting The Witcher and what exactly would have to be changed?</b>
<br>
<br>
The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf is the console equivalent of the PC version of The Witcher. From day one we knew it would be great if the game could be brought to a broad audience, not exclusively PC owners. However, you've got to remember that this was our first project and creating such an extensive RPG just on the PC was already bordering on impossible. Adding other platforms would have been beyond what was possible for us and above all, we wouldn't have been able to concentrate on making The Witcher the best RPG on the platform that is PC. The Witcher was very well received by gamers and the media. That strengthened our conviction to introduce the product we have created in the course of many years to the broadest audience possible. Right after the release of The Witcher we started to create a console adaption. One of our conditions was that RotWW ought not postpone the development of CD Projekt RED's other projects. That's why we decided to cooperate with an outside company, the French White Screen Games team, which provides the modern DaVinci engine specially designed for next-gen consoles. WSG is responsible for technical side, adapting and improving game assets while a small team of our people oversees everything concerning content - working out a new and console-typical combat system, changed GUI, and a lot of other changes needed for The Witcher to be a fullblooded console title use their potential to the fullest. Except the plot which remains the same all other elements of the game are changed or totally new. That's why I believe The Witcher will also be well received by the console crowd, because there aren't any PC remnants that could lessen the console experience. Of course, if we succeed has yet to be varified by the console gamers.
<br>
[...]
<br>
<b>4) And now that we've discussed the strengths, what are the game's flaws? Where did you fail and, most importantly, why? What would you have made different?</b>
<br>
<br>
Everybody seems to see different flaws. Painful, from my point of view, was the fact that on release day the game was plagued by bugs and failures which hindered enjoyment. Especially the long loading times. Also painful were the cut and shortened English dialogues - something that was advised by „experts" of the western markets, but which was an absolute mistake and, since it was done in a hurry, resulted in unlogical and inconsistent dialogues, but above else hurt the atmosphere. There was also a great deal of small bugs but taking into account the scope of the Witcher that was to be expected (although I personally disapprove). Compared to games like Gothic 1, The Witcher was quite a polished product
. Nonetheless, with our next project we'll certainly go much further when it comes to polishing the game. It's quite distressing if what's been created in the course of several years gets crossed out due to some bugs that could be removed with a couple of weeks' work.</blockquote><br>
Like I said, it was before yesterday's news. <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=189">Read the rest</a> to find out about the game's strengths, weaknesses, that problematic English translation and most importantly, the how and why behind the hype.
<br>
<br>
Special thanks to Monolith for the translation from Polish, with a bit of assistance from Elwro.
Argh.
