The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Interview

Giant Bomb has an interview with senior producer Tomasz Gop on The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. It gets particularly interesting when talking about dialogue:

I’ve read that Geralt’s interactions with NPCs will be much more important this time around. How so?

Tomasz Gop: One thing is the community subsystem we’ve implemented with our new toolset. People have their own lives, their names, houses and families and things sometimes happen independently of player’s actions. What I’m trying to say is, it’s always good to have a closer look at what’s going on in some place, not only because your attitude toward someone might determine the outcome of your dialogue, but also to learn more about the surrounding environment. If you know who sticks with who and/or what the history is behind a place, you’re the man!

Can you explain the new dialogue system to me?

Tomasz Gop: Interactive, dynamic and visually attractive. When you’re trying to introduce characters or unveil a plot in your game and you reach for means typical for a game, you’re fine. You will make it. But if you reach outside and use tricks found in movies, books or, I don’t know…advertisements, you’re definitely going to have player immersed longer and stronger.  

There were many things we couldn’t do in dialogues in the older Aurora engine, so now, after having rewritten our engine we’re glad to be able to use means limited only by our imagination. Again, we want you to spend less time reading your dialogue lines and more time enjoying the story.