Originally Posted by Michal Madej

I think we were also a little faster in noticing that to compete with the more and more popular MMOs, you must offer a completely different experience. Many single-player RPGs still contain too many gameplay elements that are simply more exciting in a multiplayer game, like money grinding and random drops. Instead we focused on elements that just don’t play an important role in MMOs – a captivating storyline, meaningful choices, character interactions and emotions.

Originally Posted by RPS

Would The Witcher would have been very different if made by a Western developer? Or do the fundamental mechanics of a strong roleplaying game outweigh such cultural differences?

Originally Posted by magerette (Post 73486)

Interesting discussion--as always the CDprojekt devs have no problem convincing me of their sincerity when they say "We want to make only perfect games."

Here's a UN map that breaks Europe up into subregions--and Poland is right on the eastern line of the division. Don't know if all in the region agree on it, though. :)

Originally Posted by Amasius (Post 73380)

To much PR bullshit, but still worth reading.

Originally Posted by Tom Ohle (Post 73530)

Michal must have been trained well, then -- alas, my PR wand never really waved in the direction of that interview.

Originally Posted by txa1265 (Post 73557)

Congrats again Tom, and I really hope you can get the Witcher franchise even more attention! (though hopefully not by turning it into every product including a breakfast cereal and lunchbox like they are doing with Bioshock!)

Originally Posted by zahratustra (Post 73564)

Now look what have you done txa1265! Giving man IDEAS!!!! Witcher lunchbox!? Mind boggles! :D

Originally Posted by Tom Ohle (Post 73740)

Witcher elixirs sounds cool, but may be difficult to really sell… like… what would they be? I could see it as a cool promotional item that has some vodka or something similar in each vial… hmm.

Originally Posted by zahratustra (Post 73746)

not your boring, everyday vodka.

Originally Posted by Tom Ohle (Post 73861)

Well obviously they'd be a bit more exotic… but we are a Polish company, so vodka (or wodka) is a pretty natural fit. I'll just make my own blends. Beware!

Originally Posted by RPS

RPS:
Would The Witcher would have been very different if made by a Western developer? Or do the fundamental mechanics of a strong roleplaying game outweigh such cultural differences?

Answer:
Cultural differences definitely have a great impact on the game. The Witcher would certainly have been different, even if it was made by another team in Poland. It might be quite similar if developed by another European company. It’d have been a completely different style of RPG if done by Americans. I can bet I’d never recognize it’s even “witcher-like” if the game had been made by a Japanese developer. I’m not even trying to imagine which would be better… but for sure they would be different. We didn’t want to make a “Polish game” as we did want to make it universal and accessible for everyone all over the world. But still we encouraged our designers to use our own culture as a base for ideas, as it’s something we understand the best and can use to make The Witcher unique. I think it’s a question that requires a much expansive answer.