Editorial Seeing Red: The Story of CD Projekt (and how they almost went bankrupt)

[bonescraper]

Also calling that blob of decaying commie blocks and factories a town is an insult to towns

Fuck you. Our commie blocks are coated in brand new paint every now and then, and our red brick factories are teh shizz after revitalization.

But seriously, it's still the ugliest city in Poland

 

[Hellraiser]

But seriously, it's still the ugliest city in Poland

Nah, Częstochowa is far worse. It's like a post-nuclear shanty town built on pre-war ruins surrounding a monastery and park that somehow survived the nukes. I kid you not, it is absolutely hideous and even putting commie blocks around the monastery would be incline compared to those shacks they call buildings there.

Also when it comes to revitalized industrial era brick buildings, I prefer the Gdańsk railway station:

The prussians who designed that were fucking genius. But maybe I am just biased for obvious reasons.

 

[cvv]

Interesting how many 19th century factories and railways stations were absolutely stunning.
Compare them to modern airports and logistics centers.

 

[Monty]

Interesting how many 19th century factories and railways stations were absolutely stunning.
Compare them to modern airports and logistics centers.

True, St Pancras in London is another example that springs to mind.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Łódź

Częstochowa

You suckers have never seen Bytom.

 

[Kane]

So trying to suck console cock almost got them bankrupt..

And they are targeting next gen toys for witcher 3?
Should be interesting. ..

I don't get it either.

- development is costly as you need a licence to develop for the console
- simple things like patches can cost 50k or more
- console gamers are all shitbirds

so, the only reason i can think of is hoping to somehow get said shitbirds' attention which would require a subpar game but opens up a giant jar of shitbird's money

if i were to found a game development company i wouldnt put up with these risks.

 

[Rahdulan]

I don't get it either.

- development is costly as you need a licence to develop for the console
- simple things like patches can cost 50k or more
- console gamers are all shitbirds

so, the only reason i can think of is hoping to somehow get said shitbirds' attention which would require a subpar game but opens up a giant jar of shitbird's money

if i were to found a game development company i wouldnt put up with these risks.

I think the rationale is getting that money would basically enable you to realize much larger projects which you currently aren't able to purely because of their scope aka you need more money and console audience is really easy to tap into if you play the cards right because they seem to be willing to spend $60 on anything marketing tells them is good. That was probably Bioware's train of thought when they first joined hands with Microsoft for Mass Effect. Then EA happened.

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

Łódź

Częstochowa

You suckers have never seen Bytom.

And for their sake I hope they won't.

 

[cherry blossom]

So trying to suck console cock almost got them bankrupt..

And they are targeting next gen toys for witcher 3?
Should be interesting. ..

I don't get it either.

- development is costly as you need a licence to develop for the console
- simple things like patches can cost 50k or more
- console gamers are all shitbirds

so, the only reason i can think of is hoping to somehow get said shitbirds' attention which would require a subpar game but opens up a giant jar of shitbird's money

if i were to found a game development company i wouldnt put up with these risks.

They were commissioning the console version to a third party to rebuild the game from scratch based on their own (CDProjekt's) codebase based on somebody else's (Bioware's) console-incompatible technology. They were also responsible for the port and were burning their own money on it plus lack of direct open communication channels and having to lend increasing amount of technical support, taking away from CDProjekt's own financial and technical capability. Those were the reasons why everything went down.

Later on, they developed their own technology from ground up to be console compatible, with that intention in mind. I see nothing but a good business decision.

 

[Infinitron]

(Bioware's) console-incompatible technology

It wasn't console incompatible in KOTOR and Jade Empire!

BTW, I wonder how the Aurora Engine version of Witcher 2 would have turned out.

 

[cherry blossom]

Well, obviously the version of the engine that CDProjekt had wasn't and it is quite very likely that the engine they had by the time the question of a console port was raised at all, had become a different enough beast to not benefit from the knowledge base of KOTOR and Jade Empire. Otherwise, I'm certain that they didn't just go dumb, completely oblivious to the existence of console ports of those games but maybe I'm wrong on any number of those things.

 

[norolim]

You suckers have never seen Bytom.

Or Walbrzych

Spoiler

 

[Roguey]

The lead combat designer also has a background in third/first person shooters.

This sardonic post brought to you by Roguey who has a posting background of similarly sardonic or sarcastic posts

I don't understand what you're getting at here.
http://ryanpergent.wordpress.com/curriculum-vitae/

• December 2012 - Current | Gameplay designer at “CDProjekt”
  • Combat gameplay design on Cyberpunk 2077

...
SKILLS

Level Design:

Good experience with Third Person Shooters (TPS), Puzzle Games

I made a mistake, he's not the lead.

 

[cvv]

You suckers have never seen Bytom.

Or Walbrzych

Wow, that's a...uh...fantastic opportunity for urban investment!

 

[Cowboy Moment]

Also, very little is told of what made CD Projekt so successful as a publisher.

So if suddenly somebody came out and offered people a popular game they could not only play but also understand, it was bound to be an instasuccess, no matter the quality of the localization (if the early Czech translations of RPGs are anything to go by, the Polish BG one was just a notch above Google Translator, but hey, who cares about that shit.)

Actually, CDProjekt's localizations for the Infinity Engine games were very good, not only were the translations of a high quality (to the point that the potato version of PST easily survives comparison to the original, and this is from someone who reads/watches/plays everything in english), but they've somehow gotten what was essentially the cream of the crop of Polish theatrical actors to do voiceovers for them. I remember an argument about the potato voice actor for Irenicus being superior to the english one on this very forum.

You have to give credit where it's due, that was one hell of a localization. It's no surprise that BG2 is considered the bestest RPG ever amongs potatoes.

 

[hiver]

I dont think they really scrapped that material from the failed console port.

 

[Magellan]

The impression I get is that it's a reskinned TW3 with more roleplay elements, a la V:TMB. That's my hope, anyway.

That would be quite alright with me. I hope you're right.

 

[Duraframe300]

(Bioware's) console-incompatible technology

It wasn't console incompatible in KOTOR and Jade Empire!

BTW, I wonder how the Aurora Engine version of Witcher 2 would have turned out.

Kotor and jade empire weren't aurora. Kotor was odyssey and jade empire was a special thing. I think there was an article about it.

 

[Infinitron]

Kotor and jade empire weren't aurora. Kotor was odyssey and jade empire was a special thing. I think there was an article about it.

It's all the same underlying thing based on the Infinity Engine. Ask Anthony Davis.

 

[Volourn]

Not the same thing. Espicially if you are one of the idiots who try to pretend that NWN2 wans't the Aurora.

JE and KOTOR are well removed from the Aurora. They are no more Aurora than NWN was IE. You dumbnutz.

 

[Infinitron]

Not the same thing. Espicially if you are one of the idiots who try to pretend that NWN2 wans't the Aurora.

JE and KOTOR are well removed from the Aurora. They are no more Aurora than NWN was IE. You dumbnutz.

Sorry Volourn: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...-it-work-tb-vs-rtwp.76280/page-4#post-2278216
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...-it-work-tb-vs-rtwp.76280/page-5#post-2278235

 

[Duraframe300]

[

Kotor and jade empire weren't aurora. Kotor was odyssey and jade empire was a special thing. I think there was an article about it.

It's all the same underlying thing based on the Infinity Engine. Ask Anthony Davis.

Of course they reused code (as does any company in existence), but at least on JE I'm sure it was quite different. Which your AD quote doesn't really talk about.

 

[Volourn]

No, still different engine. Yeha, uses the same base code . Big deal, everyone does it. But, to say that the Aurora and IE are the same exact engine is bullshit just like trying to pretend that Aurora and DA engines are the same is bullshit.

Then again, it's probably the same crowd claiming that that will claim to to the death that NWN2 doesn't use the Aurora. LMFAO

 

[Infinitron]

ITT fanboys think they know more about engines than a professional game programmer

 

[Volourn]

So, the are EXACTLY the same? L0LLIGAGZ!