Game News Bigger, badder, stranger: Mike Pondsmith talks about the world of Cyberpunk 2077

[Infinitron]

Tags: CD Projekt; Cyberpunk 2077; Mike Pondsmith

It seems that CD Projekt RED are continuing the publicity blitz for Cyberpunk 2077 with full force. One of our users noticed a new video on Youtube, featuring Cyberpunk 2020 creator Mike Pondsmith.

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City lights, fog, strangers passing by... Watch Mike Pondsmith the creator of the pen-and-paper RPG Cyberpunk 2020® and learn about his inspirations for creating a dystopian metropolis of Night City. ​

CD Projekt RED is proud to collaborate with Mike and bring this city to life in its upcoming RPG -- Cyberpunk 2077. The game will be set in the near future in which advanced technologies have become both the salvation and the curse of humanity. A multi-thread, nonlinear story designed for mature players (a CD Projekt RED trademark) will give players a chance to freely roam the open-world and visit places well known from the pen-and-paper RPG "Cyberpunk 2020®", including a combat zone completely taken over by gangs, the legendary Afterlife joint and the nostalgic Forlorn Hope. ​

The video starts with an interesting meditation on the nature of cyberpunk that seems almost like a swipe at Deus Ex. According to Mike, Cyberpunk 2020 was about "early cyberpunk" while Cyberpunk 2077 will be a "more mature form". Players familiar with the original setting will be able to see the outcome of various plots and themes that the original only began to touch upon. Apparently he's having a blast collaborating with CDPR - the man's definitely no Andrzej Sapkowski.

Spotted by undecaf

 

[Mrowak]

Pondsmith sounds totally like a bro. I hope he will have close creative oversight over that project so that CDP Red does not streamline make it more wellcoming too much.

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

Guy has great voice, would like to hear him ingame.

"Dragging my butt all the way to Poland several times a year" - he sounds as if he doesn't enjoy our great weather, perfect roads, welcoming locals, and tasty potato.

 

[Necroscope]

Cool guy, I empathize with his words. Moving through the city where I studied at night often brought similar thoughts to my mind, especially when listening to "You Belong To The City" (and smoking ).

BTW, someone made this:

 

[mindx2]

nonlinear story designed for mature players (a CD Projekt RED trademark)

Booby-cards confirmed...

 

[snoek]

I think and I sincerely hope he and cdpr are going to do a good job. As said above, he seems to be a cool bro.

 

[Dexter]

cross-pole(-)ination

 

[ghostdog]

And I was was wondering who the hell is that black dude in the CPD photos. Sounds like a cool dude, and it's great the pnp developer is actively engaged in the project.

 

[InspectorRumpole]

Dont screw this up CDPR...

 

[Pegultagol]

I'm wondering if the game would reference 80s cultural tropes as fondly or not so fondly remembered in the US as Fallout draws from the 50s. It'd be pretty cool and will satiate my desire to play some open world game based in that era like Vice City combined with sci-fi.

 

[Hellraiser]

I'm wondering if the game would reference 80s cultural tropes as fondly or not so fondly remembered in the US as Fallout draws from the 50s. It'd be pretty cool and will satiate my desire to play some open world game based in that era like Vice City combined with sci-fi.

In the interview from gram.pl that I summarized in the OP of the Cyberpunk 2077 topic, they said they want to keep the retro feel. Not sure how it applies to the tropes but it definitely applies to the art style judging by the material released so far. If you look at some of the concept art you can see 80s inspired aesthetics. The clothes that the guy on this wallpaper has for instance. Or in the teaser look in the background around 0:45 for a storefront with a display, there's a hologram or some other display based on this old art from the rulebook:

They colored and shaded it that it looked like those old 80s movie posters.

 

[Pegultagol]

That is very close to how I envision it as being ideal at least on the art style front. It will be interesting for sure how the aesthetic affect the rest of the game.

 

[Machocruz]

Always found the 80s punk component more interesting than the Cyber, although Punk with the Cyber makes the Punk even more interesting.

I'm not an expert on punk through the decades by any means, but 80s brand is visually the best pairing with high tech dystopia imo.

 

[Irxy]

One might think the game is coming in 2 weeks, not 2 years...

 

[Xi]

"It's not about saving humanity, it's about saving yourself."

Awesome!

Also, I note that he is a fellow Psychologist. ;P

 

[catfood]

Cool guy, I empathize with his words. Moving through the city where I studied at night often brought similar thoughts to my mind, especially when listening to "You Belong To The City" (and smoking ).

BTW, someone made this:

This sounds really good. If those potatoes are smart they will hire this guy to do their music for the game, or even just a couple of tracks.

 

[Necroscope]

They are at least aware of him, as you can read from the description:

I'd like to express my gratitude to mr. Gene M. Rozenebrg of CDPR for finding time to not only give it a listen, but also to write a great review pointing out main flaws in a very proffessional manner.

 

[BlitzKitchen]

I'm glad that they have this guy working on the game. All I really hope for now is original character creation and not playing as some predetermined dude. The latter may have worked for The Witcher, but being yet another faceless person should be pretty important for this setting. It would be very unimpressive to be surrounded by cyberpunk decadence and then find out you are the cyberborn or some shit.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

"It's about being there."

 

[Murk]

If the game meshes well in its gameplay and me listening to Perdition City -- I'm down.

 

[Brayko]

Excellent! Looking forward again, despite the wtf trailer.

I'll be sure to follow this dude around online and see what he's doing, you know, like how we stalk Fargo and Avellone.

 

[Broseph]

Yeah, seems like a really genuine guy. I'm thinking this could turn out to be a pretty well done ARPG. Also, that fan made track was pretty great. I could see that being used as combat music, or maybe music for an enemy faction HQ.

 

[winterraptor]

R. Talsorian Games was an awesome company and CP 2020 was one of the best PnP games ever IMHO. Certainly stands as my nostalgic favorite. 'Style Over Substance' was a motto and also a GMing direction (despite the many challenges of getting players on that same page at times...). The GM book Listen Up You Primitive Screwheads is like GM advanced training, and was also great for seeing the inner workings of how the designers thought. I always felt the design was trying to capture something 'more', had a great vision to it, a 'feel' that I can't fully describe. A battery of intangibles. And somehow, despite emulating a genre made up of various particulate works of fiction, it had a stamp all it's own.

Pondsmith is a smart guy and I'm sure any involvement he has will be a positive. Glad he still has outlets to push the vision.

 

[GarfunkeL]

I'm wondering if the game would reference 80s cultural tropes as fondly or not so fondly remembered in the US as Fallout draws from the 50s. It'd be pretty cool and will satiate my desire to play some open world game based in that era like Vice City combined with sci-fi.

In the interview from gram.pl that I summarized in the OP of the Cyberpunk 2077 topic, they said they want to keep the retro feel. Not sure how it applies to the tropes but it definitely applies to the art style judging by the material released so far. If you look at some of the concept art you can see 80s inspired aesthetics. The clothes that the guy on this wallpaper has for instance. Or in the teaser look in the background around 0:45 for a storefront with a display, there's a hologram or some other display based on this old art from the rulebook:

They colored and shaded it that it looked like those old 80s movie posters.

If I remember correctly, that's the girlfriend of Johnny Silverhand, the hacker/decker-girl who gets kidnapped and subsequently trapped in the 'Net during the introduction scenario. Man, CP2020 was so cool, had some awesome games both as a player and a GM.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

I wonder if they still use brick-sized cell phones in 2077.