Regardless of how readily you consume video games as a medium – you might play them obsessively for hours a day, or you might reserve them for free time during the weekends – one thing that all of us can’t help but wonder at is how these products – especially (but not only) the best of the best – harmoniously combine so many contrasting elements together to create one single cohesive experience.
Music, visual design, level design, programming, writing, and so much more all come together to deliver the final experiences that we all get to play, and if any one of these fell short of what was required of them, the results would be far from preferable. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say, then, that games are very much a product of collaboration, and the best of the best, as I mentioned earlier, can very much be called art in the truest sense (though you’re free to disagree).
CD Projekt RED’s Patrick Mills, who’s working on Cyberpunk 2077 as the quest designer, is of that mindset as well. “We’ve taken something where everyone looks around and you can see the issues,” he said while speaking with Metro. “And you might have different perspectives on them, and even within our development team, the game is being made by huge numbers of people with very different opinions. I have co-workers – colleagues, good friends – that I disagree with very, very strongly, and they very strongly disagree with me.
“And all of us are making this together,” he said. “It’s very likely that when you play this game, just like Witcher 3… there are contradictions in Witcher 3. There’s scenes that say one thing and there’s scenes that say something else. And they may be a contradiction, but that’s great, that’s wonderful. These are not just mass market consumer goods, they are also these collaborative…, this sounds pretentious, but they’re collaborative art pieces at the same time. Just like movies, just like television. I like to think so.”
His words ring true in every way possible. As I mentioned, every single video game is a single cohesive whole when it’s released as a final product, but that whole consists of so many various parts from so many different skillsets and disciplines, that all contribute so greatly toward making the final experience what it turns out to be.
And those different moving parts seem to be coming along nicely for Cyberpunk 2077, if the recent gameplay demonstration is anything to go by. As for when the game launches- that’s anyone’s best guess, but stay tune, and we’ll keep you updated.
