Kingdom Come - Interview @Sector

Sector interviewed Viktor Bocan about Kingdom Come: Deliverance and ask where it succeeded and where it failed.

Since the release of Kingdom Come: Deliverance has been running for some time, you've had a lot of repairs and some DLCs. When you look back at the game, what do you think is your greatest success, and what, on the other hand, is the area where you have somehow failed?

I think the best thing is that the game is successful in the sense that we managed to give people a message. We knew we were doing a game that was not entirely for everyone, and we hoped we'd like people to love because we like it. This is a matter we often talk about. We are trying to make games, even if there is only one and in the future we will hopefully be the ones that will be good for us and which we want to play. Which we think are somewhat interesting. It's not about trying to find a hole in the market, trying to get some money, then counting incoming dollars. We did a game where we were not sure that a lot of people would like to be, but we knew they would like us and we were waiting for what people would say. Our success has inspired us to understand that they like it and that they want more.

If I say negatively, of course, I'm not happy with a lot of bugs, but rather the things we could not do. For me personally, it is the biggest disappointment that we failed to make those big battles. I was very happy to bring something up, but it just could not. On the one hand, the engine is not entirely up to date, and a whole new technology has to be developed, and we have failed. So we made the battles the way they can be. I think that if we develop this further, they may be a little better, but the huge and wonderful ones we originally planned with hundreds of soldiers, it is not that technology.

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More information.

I don't know if it is because I quite closely followed the development and "know" Viktor Bocan, but I really like and feel for the explicite confession that they failed on the technical requirements for big battles.

I think we can conclude that there will be at least one more game with the current engine.

Is it known how far the game was a financial success?

Originally Posted by Morrandir
Is it known how far the game was a financial success?

No info outside it hitting 1 millions copies sold about a week after release. It's hard to say how well the game continued to sell after that, but the game cost ~$36m to make (including advertising) and they made near that in a week with those 1 millions copies so it should have made a profit by now.

Originally Posted by azarhal
No info outside it hitting 1 millions copies sold about a week after release. It's hard to say how well the game continued to sell after that, but the game cost ~$36m to make (including advertising) and they made near that in a week with those 1 millions copies so it should have made a profit by now.

Well, it's public knowledge that the publisher was "very happy" with how it sold - so I'm pretty sure it's a reasonable success.

I really like their attitude on game development. I believe design teams should create a vision of something they want to make and stick to that vision statement even though outside forces were pushing them to make something more mainstream. Cheese I say.

Originally Posted by Saxon1974
I really like their attitude on game development. I believe design teams should create a vision of something they want to make and stick to that vision statement even though outside forces were pushing them to make something more mainstream. Cheese I say.

It kinda depends. A vision is only as strong as the person(s) behind it.

That said, in my experience, the best experiences come from the strongest visionaries - and that's usually just one person at the helm.

Vavra is most definitely such a person. Chris Roberts is another such person, with absolutely zero doubt.

Never knew they couldn't design battles the way they wanted to. It probably has to do with crytek engine limitations. Never the less I still enjoy playing this game.

Originally Posted by azarhal
No info outside it hitting 1 millions copies sold about a week after release. It's hard to say how well the game continued to sell after that, but the game cost ~$36m to make (including advertising) and they made near that in a week with those 1 millions copies so it should have made a profit by now.

I remember the leaked Steam numbers just for reference sake had it at 827,988, but that wasn't including GOG sales that put it at over one million sales. Still not bad I say.

Probably more now given it had a few DLC released also.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
I remember the leaked Steam numbers just for reference sake had it at 827,988, but that wasn't including GOG sales that put it at over one million sales. Still not bad I say.

Probably more now given it had a few DLC released also.

It was also released on consoles, so yeah, pretty successful for a first game.

My current dream for Vavra and Co. is that they utilize StarEngine to create a true-to-Tolkien Middle-Earth game in the style of Kingdom Come

I finally bought this game at the last Steam sale…now finished with Pathfinder Kingmaker, so need to give it a go. A bit apprehensive about melee, since I'm not very coordinated…but hopefully it doesn't require that much actual dexterity (!)

Originally Posted by booboo
I finally bought this game at the last Steam sale…now finished with Pathfinder Kingmaker, so need to give it a go. A bit apprehensive about melee, since I'm not very coordinated…but hopefully it doesn't require that much actual dexterity (!)

You could always go stealth+bow

I recommend my own mod!

I like to get up close and personal ;-) … as long as I can flee if I bit off more than I can chew. I imagine if you wear armour, it's not that easy to 'run away!' Of course, I would also like the option of talking my way out of combat if that's possible?

Originally Posted by booboo
I like to get up close and personal ;-) … as long as I can flee if I bit off more than I can chew. I imagine if you wear armour, it's not that easy to 'run away!' Of course, I would also like the option of talking my way out of combat if that's possible?

If you don't play on Hardcore - I found combat very forgiving, actually.

You can't exactly talk your way out of (most) combat - but you CAN try "yielding". I never actually did that - as that's not my style, so I don't know how successful that would be

Originally Posted by Darth Tagnan
If you don't play on Hardcore - I found combat very forgiving, actually.

You can't exactly talk your way out of (most) combat - but you CAN try "yielding". I never actually did that - as that's not my style, so I don't know how successful that would be

Good to know - I certainly won't be playing on Hardcore! I' m curious to see how it plays since it's quite far from the regular sci-fi/fantasy stuff I play.

Originally Posted by booboo
Good to know - I certainly won't be playing on Hardcore! I' m curious to see how it plays since it's quite far from the regular sci-fi/fantasy stuff I play.

You're in for a treat. Game is magnificent - in my opinion. But it's still a little rough - so you have to be forgiving of a little jank.

You know I have this game,was waiting for multiple patches before I play,maybe it is time to check it out….hope it is good as they say

There is so much appetite for swinging a sword in first person. You'd think more developers would take notice of this title seemingly everyone thought would bomb due to its "niche" market assumption (aka lack of high fantasy trappings). There is a huge latent market for swinging a sword or shooting a bow in first person. Add in fantasy trappings and you have to beat them back with a stick.

Originally Posted by Darth Tagnan
You could always go stealth+bow

I recommend my own mod!

What's your mod?

Originally Posted by booboo
I like to get up close and personal ;-) … as long as I can flee if I bit off more than I can chew. I imagine if you wear armour, it's not that easy to 'run away!' Of course, I would also like the option of talking my way out of combat if that's possible?

Might I recommend poison? If you make the stronger of the two kinds, it's really quite deadly. If you use it on arrows, you hardly have to get close to anyone. I imagine it's quite effective on a blade as well.

Originally Posted by Capt. Huggy Face
What's your mod?

https://www.nexusmods.com/kingdomcom…rance/mods/648

It's not a very big or elaborate mod, it just makes a few changes to tone down the insanely overpowered Bow when facing enemies in melee.