How CD Projekt Red's Experience with Cyberpunk 2077 Influenced Its Approach to Level Design

Gaining insight into the development of a major game like Cyberpunk 2077 is a rare occurrence. However, Max Pears, a former senior level designer at CD Projekt Red, offered a unique perspective on the studio's inner workings and development philosophies during his talk at Develop Brighton. Pears' presentation, titled 'Johnny Silverhand's Porsche: Designing levels for Cyberpunk 2077,' focused on level design but also explored the studio's work environment and his experience working on Cyberpunk 2077 and its forthcoming DLC, Phantom Liberty. Level design was a relatively new concept for CD Projekt Red when it began working on Cyberpunk 2077. According to Pears, the developer had previously relied on environment artists and quest designers. The team working on Cyberpunk 2077 was significantly larger than the one that worked on 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 cautious about working with a dedicated design team. The team addressed this concern by establishing a pipeline that centered around how their roles and individual priorities would fit together. Level designers would block out spaces and consider the elements of available routes for various playstyles. Environment artists focused on designing Night City and building the base layer, while quest designers collaborated with narrative design and handled dialogue scripting and animator communication. The design team worked together on various levels, including the side mission Chippin' In, which required balancing a substantial workload. These side quests and optional encounters can be just as demanding to build as main story missions. Pears worked on multiple main missions, side missions, and smaller side quests, while also designing sub-districts. Other team members, such as Sasko and Ozdoev, had similar workloads, which added to the pressure they faced. Pears stated that 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, including three core principles that focused on freedom in the story, world, and gameplay. These principles guided developers when building levels, emphasizing the importance of player choice, open-world exploration, and catering to specific playstyles. While there is no fixed class system in Cyberpunk 2077, the game features a skill tree with over 200 passive abilities that cater to particular playstyles. Instead of accommodating hundreds of different outcomes for each level, the team focused on five main playstyles and facilitated them in various ways. This was achieved by providing decision points throughout the level for players to plan their next move or adapt different tactics. The team implemented a funnel design to ensure that players could reach the same objective regardless of the path they chose. Pears emphasized that 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 players did not miss important narrative moments. For example, the level featured in Pears' talk underwent significant changes in objective during its design, with the original major boss fight being replaced by a focus on key narrative moments. As the objective and design changed, Pears decided to start over and redesign the level from scratch. He used this side mission to guide the audience through the intricacies of blocking a level, including implementing pinch points, safe areas, and clear pathways for different playstyles using the funnel method. However, the drastic change in objective resulted in 'a lot of time lost' and a 'lot of time moving fast.' The team faced pressure to research, design, block, create, and test the level within a narrow timeframe. This caused the team to struggle with maintaining a 'unified vision' across the game's development. Pears noted that having a shared vision makes it easier to break the rules and ensure quality. The team often found it challenging to set aside time to play through each other's levels, which is essential for providing constructive feedback. In retrospect, Pears believed that the team should have made 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, also recognized the need for change, stating that the developer needed to restructure its team collaboration. The goal was to avoid a repeat of the studio's troubled history with crunch culture, which had been a concern during the development of Cyberpunk 2077. As the studio prepares to release the Phantom Liberty DLC, Platkow-Gilewski expressed excitement to see how players will respond to the changes made to the game and the new expansion.