'We'll call you back': BioWare's first impression of The Witcher 1 was a bad demo, followed by CDPR declaring that they wanted to 'create the best RPG game ever'
There's no worse feeling than going into a presentation and only being made aware of how underprepared you are after you've finished. I've felt that pit in my stomach a few times, but knowing that the CEO and studio head of CD Projekt Red has experienced this same kind of nightmare fills me with at least some comfort.
Towards the beginning of The Witcher 1's development, Adam Badowski, CDPR's co-CEO and studio head, alongside other team members, showed a demo to BioWare co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk.
To celebrate its 10th anniversary, all this week we're looking back on The Witcher 3—and looking ahead to its upcoming sequel, too. Keep checking back for more features and retrospectives, as well as in-depth interviews with the developers who brought the game to life.
"I presented the demo, and this demo wasn't great," Badowski says. "Afterwards, Ray and Greg ask the question, 'Okay, so what do you want to achieve?' We said that we would like to be the biggest, the best RPG team in the industry. We would like to create the best RPG game ever." That's one way to make an impression.
At this point, CDPR only had 15 people in the team, with the hope of expanding to 35 in the not-so-distant future. Regardless of how hardworking everyone clearly was, it was undoubtedly an awkward moment around the table. After a bad demo, the realisation that it was only a small team working on this project, and the declaration that despite all of this, they wanted to make the best RPG ever. All BioWare could muster up was a "We'll call you back".
But luckily, the lasting impression must've been a good one, as eventually BioWare did get back in contact with CDPR. "They were super supportive," Badowski says. "Our first engine was from BioWare."
The engine that they ended up getting was the Aurora Engine, which powered BioWare's Neverwinter Nights series of fantasy RPGs. But those at CDPR still had their work cut out for them. "We wrote 80-something percent of the code," Badowski says. "We had no multiplayer, we removed so many, so many elements from the engine, and the render was completely new."
So I guess the lesson to be learned here is just to back yourself, no matter how bad things may be going. Yes, the demo that Badowski showed to BioWare may not have been the greatest showcase of The Witcher 1, but it did the job. "The lack of experience and the lack of understanding sometimes helps with your ambitions." Wise words from Badowski.
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