Today’s issue of Weekly Famitsu included an interview to Cyberpunk 2077 Environment City Coordinator Hiroshi Sakakibara, who provided some intriguing details about the creation of the game’s main setting, Night City.
Interestingly, Sakakibara-san mentions that Night City is very large, so it’s difficult to make every single building from scratch. In order to provide diversity, when the same model is used in different location he changes the colors or details like the signboards. Assets are created with an eye on how they can be made interesting and diverse.
We hear that the team has a rather large concept art team, with six artists dedicated to creating environmental concepts. Normally the Art Director asks the concept artists to design an area or the view of a street, then the team starts iterating from that. Skakakibara-san extracts a basic design from the artwork and analyzes the kinds of buildings he needs and how to combine them. He then lists all the assets required to create each building and calculates how long it’ll take and how many developers are needed. Then each task is assigned to each artist. When each piece is finished, the process is repeated over and over.
The game’s Director told the team that Cyberpunk is a mix of future and tradition. It’s not science-fiction, but it’s not contemporary either. You can find an old and dirty Asian-style building with a wooden door, but a cybertech device is used to control the door’s lock. This creates the mixed feel of the setting’s aesthetics.
CD Projekt RED is trying to achieve something slightly different from previous Cyberpunk. They want Night City not to look as gloomy. The iconic neon lights at and rainy nights are still there, but there are also colorful buildings, palm trees, and blue skies. This is a conscious choice.
According to Sakakibara-san, the overall effect feels really good when everything is assembled. The concept art itself is also quite amazing. Since there are so many interesting designs, it’s a fun task to combine decorations inspired by the artwork. At times he follows the design as is, and other times he adds his own twist to create something new. As a result of that, each developer’s creativity leaves a mark in the city.
Interestingly, he is also injecting some Japanese culture in his work om Cyberpunk. Basically, he tries to understand what his Polish colleagues find cool about it and tries to implement that.
Sakakibara-san believes that Night City will be “the face of the game.” Since he’s trying to create a city that will be different from other Cyberpunk games while preserving a similar atmosphere, it will feel fresh. He feels that it will be a great city portraying the entire worldview of the game. Since it’s a city, it won’t be as big as The Witcher 3, which included entire regions. Yet, in terms of perception, it’ll feel the same size or even bigger due to how it’s designed.
Cyberpunk 2077 doesn’t have a release date, but it’s set for release on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. If you want to see more, you can check out the recent gameplay reveal, and read about the team’s goals in terms of quality.
Source: Weekly Famitsu
