CD Projekt Red Aims To Avoid Side Quests Pitfalls In Designing Cyberpunk 2077

CD Projekt Red Aims To Avoid Side Quests Pitfalls In Designing Cyberpunk 2077
Credit: Cyberpunk 2077 via YouTube

Every side quest in Cyberpunk 2077 is “handcrafted” to make sure it contributes to the character development.

Philipp Weber, design coordinator, said they didn’t want to add quests for the sake of adding content. They are focused more on providing quality and quantity. That means respecting the users enough to require quests just to keep them busy.

Perhaps one of the few games that successfully integrated procedural quests is The Witcher 3. Despite being an open-world game, the developers managed to avoid the common pitfalls of side quests. And there are hundreds of procedural quests and side mission on the Witcher.

The open-world format only makes the task more daunting. Just where do you start?

Writer Kuba Szamalek explained to Kotaku that it was a conscious decision on their part to respect the player’s time.

Level designer Miles Tost said the size of the world determines how many quests it can accommodate. In this way, the universe doesn’t keep expanding when designers add more quests.

If the size of the world is too big, they will limit the number of side quests. If the size of the world is too small, they will add more quests and missions.

CD Projekt RED previously seed that The Witcher 3 potentially takes 200 hours to finish. Although on average, you can do it between 70 and 100 hours, including most of the side quests.

Weber said they are making an open-world RPG with Cyberpunk 2077. It’s easy to fill in content because of the expansive universe. He promised that there are plenty of quests in Cyberpunk 2077 so players can spend many hours on the game.

Cyberpunk 2077 is a first-person RPG. You will play an urban mercenary called V, which can both be male or female depending on who you choose. You can also choose the backstory of the mercenary. While you will still arrive in Night City, you can choose your motivation–revenge or romance.

Even if you will choose the attributes beforehand, your character will grow and evolve while playing the game. You can also pick three skill sets — Techie, Netrunner, or Solo. For instance, if you choose Solo, then violence if your calling card. A techie is very handy with robots and machinery, and a Netrunner is an expert hacker.

Introduced during the E3 event last June, the game has become one of the most anticipated titles around. Cyberpunk 2077 has a release date of April 16, 2020.

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