In today’s Cyberpunk 2077 news we will be looking at how CDPR is developing the world of Cyberpunk, Night City and NPCs, and how they are making it truly unique, As well as how CDPR has stepped up their game with their revamped animation system and how it relates to dialogue.
So first we have a discussion with Environment city coordinator Hiroshi Sakakibara, who delivers some new details about creating night city and what their design philosophy is.
Now whilst he says making every building unique is a difficult challenge, he assures us that the world of Night City is very large and that in order to provide a visually interesting world, assets are created by eye and details like color and signage will be diverse and as non repetitive as possible. In the gameplay demo you can recall that a lot of the signage was the same, and we saw repeated vendors at times so that is something that they are iterating and working on for release.
The game director also made mention that Cyberpunk is a fusion of future and tradition and that it’s not quite science fiction, but at the same time it’s not contemporary.
Youll be able to find an old dirty Asian style building with a woodern door, with a cybertech device used to control the doors lock and this creates a mixed aesthetic of the setting.
Now CDPR also wants this Cyberpunk version of the city to feel distinctly Californian, as opposed to the rainy gloomy Cyberpunk dystopias weve seen before. Iconic neon lights and rainy night are still there, but there are also colorful buildings, palm trees and blue skies. As someone who really feels the depth of a dark and twisted world more deeply when its juxtaposed with color, I think this is a great design choice.
Due to it’s design, Night City isn’t bigger than the world of the witcher but Sakakibara believes it will feel the same size if not bigger.
Next we have a comprehensive PCGamer article where some interesting details regarding NPCs are unraveled.
In this article Stanis Swieciki talks about the creation process of NPCs. He claims that crowds are generated semi-procedurally to avoid repetition, mixing body parts, faces, clothes and hairstyles. In the final game they’ve promised to feature a great variety of heights, weights and body shapes. We’ve seen hints of this through the gameplay demo with some characters being beefier, leanier and having variations in their builds. We have also seen some pretty blatant repetiton, which signals that there is still work to be done in this department.
The article also goes in to a little depth regarding the animations and how the perspective changes will influence the dialogue. (Machai) Maciej Pietras, lead cinematic animator says “The third person camera in the witcher floated slightly above NPCs which we took into account when animating them. But now you can really look at what theyre doing close up and weve improved animations to reflect this. When we animate characters, even the NPCs, we think about their personality and their past. The way they move or something in their face might reveal something about them, we work from the inside out.”
Now this clear attention to detail can be seen in the Mexican holdup scene in the meeting with the Maelstrom. Although not a facial animation, we see V take her finger off the trigger when things have cooled down, a detail that could have been forgone by studios who aren’t as detail oriented.
When it comes to facial animations specifically however, they’ve changed the way they do them. Moving to a new muscle based system, and having a huge library of facial animations lets them pick out subtle details to incorporate in the face. Pietras adds the example of a street vendor and his excitiement through his body language and warmth of face as he ushers you over to his pop up noodle hut to take a look at his food.
Finally we have disappointing news about the VGAs. Marcin Momot tweeted yesterday that there wouldn’t be anything Cyberpunk related shown at the Video Game Awards and thus ive decided to cancel the livestream for December 6th. We will still have livestreams in the future, so follow me at Twitch.tv/theneonarcadeNA for cyberpunk realted content there
Thanks for watching guys and remember to subscribe to the arcade and become a part of the notification squad so you don’t miss a video!
Tag: cyberpunk 2077 vgas
Cyberpunk 2077 News – Q4 Release, Video Game Awards, Tweet!
In today’s Cyberpunk 2077 news well be looking at an interesting tweet sent out by Cyberpunk 2077 , a shareholders conference featuring some Cyberpunk 2077 release predictions by analysts involved, A great RedBull article pointing out some things in Cyberpunk 2077 we may have missed and The Video Game Awards.
So first up we have a polish article referencing a CDPR conference call, where some interesting details were revealed. Now this Article is very roughly translated using google translate so the wording may be off here and there, but you can kind of get the gist of it based off this rudimentary translation. First up in the article, We have the fact that CD Projekt Red wants Cyberpunk 2077 to be as detailed as Red Dead 2, something we have mentioned in previous videos. We do also have some analyst projections and predictions when it comes to Cyberpunk 2077.
According to those involved in the conference call, some are predicting a quarter 4 2019 release of CDPR’s new open world RPG. Just for reference quarters are as you can imagine in 3 month cycles during the year, making a quarter 4 release sometime in either October, November or December. It’s important to note that the analysts have made these predictions, and it’s not something straight from CD Projekt Red.
Next in analysts forecasts is how many copies of the game will sell upon release. According to the analysts they’ve maintained the assumption that there will be 19 million copies sold in the first quarter equating to 525 million us dollars. For reference Red Dead 2 sold 725 USD in 3 days, 15 million copies in 8 days, and 17 million copies in 12 days, and only came out for PS4 and Xbox 1.
The analysts also mentioned that they think the Sci-fi cyberpunk world has more mass appeal than a western setting and that their forecast for Cyberpunk’s sales are conservative. The article then goes on to question the analysts, as whoever wrote it doesn’t seem to think 19 million is conservative.
Now again this article is very roughly translated, but to me the fact that they believe a sci fi cyberpunk world has more mass appeal, but sales being considereably lower than RDR2, which is not even available on PC, makes me question these forecasts. If we are reading this right, I think Cyberpunk should have considereably more sales than 19 million assuming it accrues sales the entire 3 months, which spans holiday seasons which will inevitably sell more games, but hey im no analyst.
Next we have an interesting little tweet from CDPR that was sent out on Cyber Monday. Now, yes it could just be because the word Cyber is in it, but judging by how infrequently the 2077 page tweets, and their responses to some comments, im thinking this is a more loaded tweet than it first appears to be.
Next we have an amazing article from believe it or not, RedBull. In this article they lay out some of the details carried over to Cyberpunk 2077 from cyberpunk media and content that has come before it. In this article it shows how the red UI and HUD are inspired from the terminator series. Kiroshi even seems to follow the same terminator aesthetic with its eye augmentations. Next is the Stanley Kubrick and steven Spielberg collaboration film Artificial Intelligence and how an overpopulated earth deals with issues stemming from the loneliness and isolation that is created as a by product of service robots who can provide all the human essentials in love, sex and laughter. This may be something that Cyberpunk may decide to deal with. We already see the isiolation and sadness in V’s face upon the departure of a Joyboy prostitute from her apartment in the gameplay demo.
Next we have the themes of braindance which exposes humans dependence on technology and cross-references that with the novel Neuromancer, about a drug addicted computer hacker who uploads his consciousness onto the internet to steal data. This sounds very much like netrunning, a pivotal part in the Cyberpunk lore and world. This concept of speed hacking and web consciousness was also made more popular by the Matrix Movies.
Next we have Ghost In The Shell and its heady questions on individuality and human existence. It deals with the transfer of consciousness into a robotic shell, which in essence draws upon parallel concepts in Cyberpunk 2077’s cyberpsychosis and the humanity cost associated with cyberware.
Finally we have Blade Runners inspiration for the look of the city of Cyberpunk with its neon lights, filthy dark streets and and decrepit living conditions. Although Blade Runner is set in perpetual darkness, the world of Night City is modelled off a very similar street aesthetic and feeling.
Finally we have the Video Games Awards coming up soon here on December 6th, so tune in and check that out because it’s the last big event of the year, and CDPR might hit us with a trailer or some cyberpunk content like they’ve done with the witcher in the past.
Cyberpunk 2077 – What’s Next? (GamesCom, VGA’s, E3)
Cyberpunk 2077 – What’s Next? (Gamescom, VGA, E3)
With Games Com being less than 2 weeks away, Today we are going to be looking at what kind of exciting new things well see not only there but over the span of the next year or more of marketing from CD Projekt red and what we might see in the Tokyo Games Show, E3 2019, GDC, Pax and other big gaming events where Cyberpunk 2077 will be present for new information
Stay tuned to the end to see what I think the Cyberpunk 2077 marketing schedule will be like month by month, and what content we might be getting!
Getting right into it Let’s look at how they unveiled the Witcher 3 to get a better idea how similar it is to Cyberpunk 2077 and the possible marketing timeline they are aiming for. CDPR has stated they want a bigger marketing approach to Cyberpunk 2077, so we can expect sizable chunks of content to be coming out regularly. Now whether they stick to this “bigger and better” approach or veer off on a different route is anyone’s guess, but again, the best thing we can look at is How the Witcher 3’s marketing unfolded.