5 Quest Design Lessons from CDPR
Quick takeaways from CDPR Quest Director Pawel Sasko's GDC speech.
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5 Quest Design Lessons From CDPR
Pawel Sasko, the Quest Director of CDPR, talked about CDPR’s approach to quest design in his GDC talk last year. The speech was quite informative so I wanted to share my takeaways. Let’s go!
1. Absence of Information
We want players to be immersed in the story and be part of it. According to Sasko, one way to achieve this is to subtract key information about the story and let the player uncover it through effort. This way, we can increase the player's engagement and keep them eagerly involved in the story. Let me quote myself from previous issue: Mysteries create excitement; definitive answers create boredom.
“Player’s drive to obtain information increases engagement with the story.”
2. Noise vs Signal
Expositions need to be delivered strategically, without boring or overwhelming the player, but also ensuring that they get all the required information. For this, Sasko talks about Signal and Noise Theory. The "signal" represents all the information we want to convey to the player, while "noise" represents everything the player can do while the info is being delivered, potentially obscuring the signal.
CDPR designs scenes in a way that when delivering a crucial information, the player’s control is restricted (low noise, high signal). However, for less vital details, players have more freedom; they can jump around do whatever when the information is being delivered (high noise, low signal). So the exposition is divided depending on their importance and shared among scenes with different levels of signal and noise. As a result, players stay engaged and informed throughout the game without feeling overwhelmed or disconnected from the narrative.
3. Choices with No Context
As we talked about it before in Intriguing Choices, CDPR likes to force players make a choice in ambiguous situations. There are many quest in both Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 where player has to make an important choice without sufficient context and knowledge. This forces players to use their own interpretation and take risks accordingly, making the choice more intriguing and memorable.
4. Design for Visibility
It's absolutely vital to make the consequences of players' choices crystal clear. If they can't see the results of what they've done, it's like those choices never really mattered. That's why we want to make sure to show those outcomes boldly, sometimes even throwing them right in the players' faces, so they know their decisions were impactful and meaningful.
5. Not Afraid to Get Human
The reason characters in the Witcher and Cyberpunk universes are so memorable is that CDPR try hard to capture human moments. Characters don't just stare and talk at you; they interact with you and the environment, express their thoughts, and act according to their own desires. They authentically respond to the player's actions and events unfolding around them. They may even deceive you due to their individual plans. Because they are not just there for the player. They are there for their own goals.
“They [characters] do not talk about the plot. They do not talk about what’s next to happen about… [story]. They are people, and they talk about what’s important for them.”
TL;DR
Absence of Information: Subtract key information and let players uncover it to boost engagement.
Noise vs Signal: Divide and share the exposition between scenes with different levels of signal and noise.
Choices with No Context: Force players to use their own interpretation and take risks by putting them in ambiguous situations.
Design for Visibility: Make consequences of players’ choices visible.
Not Afraid to Get Human: Design NPCs that talk about what’s important for them.
There are so much to learn from the speech, so be sure to check it out!
To-Do List
Read: Workflow For Creating a Low Poly Western World Game in Unity
Watch: Marketing is NOT Why Most Indie Games Fail
Learn: The Entire History of RPGs
Me
Reading: Nine Princes in Amber (The Chronicles of Amber 1) by Roger Zelazny. I'm a big fan of fantasy, and I particularly admire Roger Zelazny. That's why I decided to give this series a chance. It was enjoyable, but it fell slightly short of my expectations.
Watching: Actually nothing. With a new full time job, a game to make and a newsletter to write, there is no time left to sit down and watch stuff.
Playing: Picked up Baldur's Gate 3 from where I left off. I finished ACT 2 last time, and ACT 3 is off to a good and fast start. I'm looking forward to finishing it.
Listening:
Thanks for reading!
And that’s it from today’s issue of GameDev’s Journey. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful. If you did, please like and leave a comment. Reach out for suggestions, objections, questions, or just say hi.
But regardless, thank you so much for reading, and have a great game dev journey!
