• The Witcher 2 features an entirely new engine, built from the ground up, by the development team
• Save games, from the first game, will be allowed to be imported.  Some items, and/or money will carry over, as well as many of the decisions made, with regards to returning characters.
• A branching storyline, affected by imported decisions and decisions made in the game.  Geralt takes a deep look at who he was, before the amnesia, and, through the player’s actions, will decide who he will choose to be from here on.
• “Black and White” story choices and “fetch quests” have been somewhat frowned upon, and the game will try to offer an expansive story without using those elements.
• Feedback from the “mature” content and card system of the first game have been changed to still include relationships, but make them more interwoven with the story and character choices-almost more intimate(no pun intended) and meaningful.

The Witcher Developer Interview

All in all, The Witcher 2 : Assassins of Kings is shaping up to be a great hit, for 2011, especially with the blossoming of all of the heights that CD Projekt plans to take the game to.   We very much appreciated the chance to discuss the game, and can’t wait to see it’s final release!

If you are interested in seeing the Developer Diaries, or more information on the game, check out the homepage, here.

***The music used in the podcast is The Witcher Theme, which can be found on the game’s original soundtrack, and can be purchased on it’s own or found with The Witcher Enhanced Edition.***

Everyday Gamers: In short, how did you get to where you are today?

Dylan Cuthbert: Blood, tears, sweat and a lot of work.

Did you plan from the beginning to release different types of games all under the PixelJunk name? What was your initial vision of what PixelJunk would become?

This is exactly what my vision of PixelJunk was – right from the start I planned to make it a brand for PSN games of a certain type, not casual and bland, but invigorating and interesting.  We don’t do anything the normal way, why copy when you can innovate?

What made you decide to focus strictly on the Playstation 3 console and PSN?

I have a long history with Sony and I like the way their console set its sights solidly on Full-HD/HDMI.  This was really important for the PixelJunk series.

How do you come up with a title as unique as PixelJunk Eden? Where do you start?

You keep trying and throwing out stuff that doesn’t work, then when you think you have it just right, you give it yet another long hard think over.  We were tuning stuff even right at the very end to get everything as exquisite as possible.

Why do you think PixelJunk Eden is a game that everyone should play?

Not just Eden, but the whole PixelJunk series – the games are considered hard but I want to try and encourage players to not be afraid of new things, otherwise everything ends up with the same controls and the same kind of scenarios.  Racers, Monsters and Eden all have some hard core elements in them – these hard core elements are where games originated from.  We’ve tried to wrap them up in a way that allows people who don’t necessarily play games to try them out and feel that “rush” we all used to feel in the era of video arcades. (70’s-80’s)

The more people feel that “rush”, the more they will search out games that give them unique experiences rather than just the “Hollywood blockbuster” type games the market is inundated with at the moment.

Any advice/tips on how to make the most of PJE?

Take it easy!  Learn the rhythm of the game…

Do you have any plans to release more gardens as DLC?

Most likely we do, but no comment as of yet.

How is the future looking for Q-Games and the PixelJunk franchise?

Right now, a day after the simultaneous worldwide release of Eden, it is looking pretty good!  It’ll be interesting to see what is happening around this time next year though.

…one last question, Will you become a fan of Everday Gamers on Facebook?

When I get the hang of Facebook I might just do that.

Stop back for my full review of PixelJunk Eden in the coming days.