The Witcher: Enhanced Edition Interview
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GB: You've stated that an Enhanced Edition downloadable update will be made available for those of us who already own original copies of The Witcher. Will this download be provided free of charge or will there be some sort of fee associated with it? Tom: We don't want to charge fans of the game for something we feel they deserve, so the plan is to release the in-game content as a free download. As I mentioned earlier, it might be a massive patch. so just keep some hard drive space open :).
GB: How powerful and versatile is the upcoming D'jinni editor and how does it compare to other editors such as The Elder Scrolls Construction Kit or the NWN1/NWN2 toolsets? Will the editor be "officially" supported and well-documented?
Tom: The D'jinni Adventure Editor is essentially the same tool the team used to develop the game, and we've taken the last few months to make it a bit more user-friendly. Since we're not working with a tile-based system, as in Neverwinter Nights, or really any sort of terrain editor, D'jinni won't make it quite as easy to create new areas for new adventures. That being said, we've got some huge areas in the existing game that you can use to create your adventures think of how big Vizima is, for example and I imagine we'll see some mod teams spring up that create their own areas using a 3D tool.
We created a special designer team, the Live Team, whose sole purpose is to help modders get used to D'jinni and to help them create their own adventures. There is a Mod Editor forum (which we'll rename to (Adventure Editor forum) to get in-line with D'jinni's official name) on our website, where everyone can ask any question about D'jinni and the Live Team will try to answer them. We've also made two adventures of our own to give the players some new entertainment, but also to give modders some examples of what they can make with this tool.
Mateusz: D'jinni has many integrated and useful functions like a dialog editor, a cutscene editor and a special effects editor. Of course you also have the possibility to create your own scripts (NSS and LUA) using the built-in script editor.
D'jinni will be released as a BETA version so it won't be supported in a technical manner, but you can count on developers to help with adventure creation, scripting problems, etc. With D'jinni we will be providing documentation, and there will be an official wiki page where developers will post more hints and useful information about the Adventure Editor.
GB: If talented members of The Witcher community begin creating some amazing content with D'jinni, is there any chance you might start some kind of a premium module program like we've seen with the Neverwinter Nights games?
Tom: It's entirely possible that we'd roll out premium adventures for a certain fee. We really want to continue to support the fan community for as long as possible something that's pretty difficult to do with a single-player RPG so new content is one thing we're looking at. We're already working with external groups to create new adventures, and I expect fans will come up with some awesome content soon after D'jinni is released.
GB: CD Projekt is now the majority owner of Metropolis Software. What does this mean for both current and future CD Projekt games? What do the guys at Metropolis bring to the table?
Tom: We're really excited about Metropolis joining the CD Projekt group. With Metropolis on board, we now have three projects in development that constant flow of games should help us make a greater impact on the industry. They've got a really talented team the engine they've developed for their upcoming shooter, THEY, is awesome, and we'd love to make use of their technical prowess to further enhance the other projects we're working on. Going the other way, we're excited about the prospects of having CD Projekt RED's design team ensure that the story in THEY meets a very high standard; we want that game to compete with other great story-driven first-person shooters like BioShock and Call of Duty 4.
GB: With Metropolis on board and CD Projekt having been split into two teams, you now have three titles in development. We know that Metropolis' THEY is an FPS, but can you give us a better idea of what we should expect from the other two games? Will the CD Projekt teams be focusing primarily on role-playing games going forward or will they be branching out into other genres as well?
Tom: For now we're totally committed to making the best PC role-playing games we can. The Witcher was our first internally developed game, and it's done quite well for us. Needless to say, that franchise is our focus on the CD Projekt RED side, and it's really all we're thinking about for the next little bit. Sure, we'll announce other stuff in the future, but let's stick with Geralt for awhile.
Thanks for your time, guys!
