Read more about Cyberpunk 2077➜ https://cyberpunk2077.mgn.tv
In this video we chat with Senior Cinematic Designer Paweł Ochocki and Narrative Director Igor Sarzyński about the unique challenges that come with telling a story entirely from a first-person perspective.
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Special Thanks:
Paweł Ochocki – Senior Cinematic Designer (Twitter: https://twitter.com/vithren)
Igor Sarzyński – Narrative Director
00:00:00 – Start
00:02:06 – What does your job entail?
00:03:36 – The Witcher 3 clip – conventional cinematics
00:08:16 – Why do First Person Perspective?
00:12:38 – Building on other FPP storytelling language
00:15:10 – “We want the player to be an actor in the scene”
00:17:51 – “noise vs. signal” – conveying information to players
00:19:26 – How you direct player attention
00:23:25 – Creating “tiers” of player freedom
00:26:19 – Guiding the player to create interesting visual frames
00:30:54 – The “Half-year montage”
00:32:34 – Starting “The Heist” Mission / Discussing this film-theater-hybrid mode of storytelling
00:35:29 – An example of “forcing” players to naturally stand in a spot
00:37:37 – Tons of invisible choices
00:39:25 – Challenges of making the player feel inside the body of V
00:41:18 – Creating “body presence”
00:43:26 – Giving the FPP camera parallax to simulate head turning
00:46:35 – Creating continuity is the most expensive thing
00:50:13 – The tension that comes with a “long take” style
00:51:31 – “Body presence” example
00:54:59 – “Immersion multiplies everything.”
00:59:51- What they’re learning from watching playthroughs
01:01:06 – Tiny choices that let players express themselves
01:06:55 – What are your biggest takeaways?
01:09:48 – The future of FPP
Founder-level Patrons
Sharon Fagen
Arne Meyer
Kunal Nayyar
Story Mode Team
Michael Tucker (https://twitter.com/michaeltuckerla)
Brian Bitner (https://twitter.com/BrianBitner)
Alex Calleros (https://twitter.com/Alex_Calleros)
Vince Major (https://twitter.com/VinceMajor)
Wyatt Strain (https://twitter.com/wyattari)
Featuring the song:
“Detached” by Emil Rottmayer
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/7cxBKVNrfK9xoJAL2L3gDr?si=z63tF_7AT_-9XcYEbsFglQ
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/emil-rottmayer/sets/detached-ep
source
CDPR breaking down First-Person Storytelling in Cyberpunk is as exciting as Ubisoft breaking down Open World design in Far Cry 6. Mediocre
I wish they kept the 3rd person cutscenes
I find the videos illuminating.
still shit game
Fascinating video. It's great hearing developers go into such depth.
I've been playing games since the 80s, and Cyberpunk 2077 easily sits in the top 5. Purely for the level of immersion and storytelling.
after the first hour and a half, you literally just become a camera with barely any animations [they literally couldnt even be bothered to add an actual hand pressing a button on the elevators] , not seeing V in 3rd person doesn't let me sympathize with them because i cant see their face and therefore emotion. Either add a lot more animations in fpp or add some tpp into the mix
Really appreciate this content, i learned a lot
I really really want Cyberpunk to make a massive comeback, with 100 new missions, all the locked doors unlocked, everything interactable and able to take the metro, also finish pacifica and build further out, lets get some megacity vibes.
The whole half year montage explanation sounds to me like he is saying rpg boring action game cool! I mean they advertised it as work your way to the top! But in reality it is save yourself from dying!
Great video, great channel that I wish I had found earlier.
The reason I really don't buy the "We made the story shorter by decision" thing is that, if it were really the case, they would have made the game much, much less linear as a result to compensate.
Clearly a matter of lack of time/means and cut content
i love this game, i had actually one of the best times of my life, playing this😭
First-person storytelling just doesn't work for me. That magic that was in the Witcher just isn't there in CP2077. I don't know how many times I paused and just watched when I had to select the dialogue line in a scene. Watched subtle movements, emotions and so on. In CP2077 the camera is always in the wrong place which is inherent to FPP, can't go around this because it is you that's controlling the character. If you place yourself in the wrong spot then the mood is gone, and it is not the fault of the creators but you. To give you a better comparison, it is like visiting a movie set or watching a scene without the director present. So I think TPP scenes are far superior when it comes to storytelling. I have no qualms about FPP when it comes to pure gameplay in CP2077, it works well as TPP works well in TW3. In the Witcher, the control was in the hands of the directors which did an excellent job. In CP2077 the control was in the hands of the player the outcome varied.
At the beginning, I thought I'd never accept that this is a first person game. But after some hours, it felt right. It would be very nice, if sometimes an optional 3rd person mode would be added in the game, but I don't need that anymore. You just have to get used to it.
The hole storytelling in CP2077 is so intense. The whole story about Panam is so perfectly written, I felt so emty after I played her sidequests and her ending. I have never seen or played a video game character as perfectly written as she is. I really really hope, that Panam will get (much) more screentime in coming dlcs. Even more interaction (romance) after you finished her sidequst path would be so great. Not to mention possible missions after you choose her in the final ending.
But I also want to appreciate another two perfect sidequests, "I Fought the Law" and "Sinnerman". Both have such an unbelievable good writing <3
18:43 "There's never actually a cut between the narration and the gameplay part" says Pawel at the exact second there is a cut 😂
Glad this game is finally getting the examination it deserves. The composition of the game and its narritive is great. The characters that move and talk like real people must have been so hard to implement and move to get it just right.
Loved the interview. God I am still pissed off that CDP leaders decided to ship the game too early and for two wrong platforms, causing so much amazing work in it be overshadowed by lastgen console problems. Here is hoping the relaunch on next gen and the expansions will cause a widespread re-evaluation of this masterpiece to give it the appreciation it deserves.
No, I'd still rather have normal, well crafted cutscenes like from the Witcher 3 than first person perspective all the time. It just works better, has higher production value, you can do so much more with it than making your character sit down and observe NPCs. Sure, you have close shot, medium shot and so on, but your perspective from which you are observing the action is always in the point your character is sitting. It is not dynamic, it is not engaging, it is not unique in any way.
Love game thx cdpr 💖
Very fascinating interview, it definitely shows how much passion and dedication these devs got for the game and trying to make it as well-rounded as possible. Managing so many characters on screen at once, in a continuous take without ever doing a single cut is a huge feat.
First Person Propaganda