The Evolution of CD Projekt Red's Level Design Philosophy Following Cyberpunk 2077

Gaining insight into the development of a major AAA game like Cyberpunk 2077 is a rare occurrence. However, Max Pears, formerly a senior level designer at CD Projekt Red, provided a glimpse into the studio's inner workings and philosophies during his Develop Brighton talk last month. The presentation, titled 'Johnny Silverhand's Porsche: Designing levels for Cyberpunk 2077,' primarily targeted level designers but also delved into the developer's work environment and Pears' experience with the level design team on Cyberpunk 2077 and its upcoming DLC, Phantom Liberty. According to Pears, level design was a relatively new concept for CD Projekt Red when approaching Cyberpunk 2077, as the developer had previously relied on environment artists and quest designers. The team working on Cyberpunk 2077 was significantly larger than that of The Witcher 3, comprising experts from various fields. In addition to Pears, the design team included quest director Paweł Sasko, environment artist Timur Ozdoev, gameplay QA analyst Paweł Kucal, and writer and narrative designer Ola Motyka. Pears, who joined CD Projekt Red in 2017 as the studio was completing The Witcher 3's Blood and Wine DLC, noted that the developer was initially wary of working with a dedicated design team. To address this, the team focused on establishing a pipeline that centered around how their roles and individual priorities would fit together. The level designers would block out spaces and consider the elements of available routes for different playstyles, while environment artists would focus on designing Night City and building the base layer. Quest designers would work closely with narrative design, scripting dialogues and collaborating with animators to ensure sufficient space for cutscenes and communication scenes. The design team collaborated on various levels, including the side mission Chippin' In, which required balancing a substantial workload. Pears worked on multiple main missions, side missions, and smaller side quests, as well as designing sub-districts. Other team members, such as Sasko, Ozdoev, Kucal, and Motyka, also worked on multiple missions and side missions while handling additional responsibilities like mechanic and engine development and producing promotional material. The challenge in designing as a team was balancing the workload while working across different locations in Poland. CD Projekt Red had clear guidelines in place to keep the team on track, with three core principles focusing on freedom in the story, world, and gameplay to guide developers when building levels. These principles included observing how the player's choices impact the narrative, allowing the player to freely explore the open world, and catering levels to specific playstyles. The team sought to focus on five main playstyles and facilitate them in different ways, providing decision points throughout the level for players to use and plan their next move or adapt different tactics. To streamline this process, Pears and the team implemented a funnel design, ensuring that players could reach the same objective regardless of the path they chose. This approach allowed players to 'mix and match their paths but not miss key narrative beats.' The team's mantra was that 'story and narrative is king,' and they needed to ensure that the player did not miss any crucial narrative moments. For example, the level featured in Pears' talk underwent a significant change in objective during its design, with the original major boss fight being scrapped in favor of highlighting important narrative moments. As the objective and design of the location changed, Pears decided it was best to start over and redesign from scratch to meet the new design. The drastic change in objective resulted in a lot of time lost and a lot of time spent moving quickly, with the team working under pressure to research, design, block, create, and test the level within a narrow timeframe. This caused the team to struggle to maintain a unified vision across the game's development. Rectifying this was a high priority for Pears, who noted that one level could be more vital to the narrative in some instances, making it difficult to define what exactly makes a quintessential Cyberpunk level when some team members may be working on something else. The team's lack of time to play through each other's levels also meant that feedback was not always constructive. In retrospect, Pears believed that the team should have found time to listen to each other for the sake of the mission and their work. CD Projekt Red's VP of PR and communication, Michał Platkow-Gilewski, echoed Pears' sentiments, stating that the developer needed to restructure how its teams collaborated. The goal was to avoid a repeat of its troubled history with crunch culture, with the hope of creating a smoother and more efficient development process for future projects, including the upcoming DLC Phantom Liberty.