Piranha Bytes interview

Piranha Bytes earned its reputation with the RPG title Gothic. This unique game won the hearts of gamers, at first in Germany, and later around the globe. Following the same recipe, they created its sequel – Gothic 2, which had the same effect on gamers. The add-on Night of the Raven was also well received. On the wings of success, Piranha Bytes announced the third part of the story about the Nameless Hero. This time the piranhas bit off more than they could chew. When Gothic 3 was released, reactions were conflicting, but it was clear that Gothic 3 wasn't what gamers had expected. Although a somewhat impressive game, it was plagued by a numerous problems, starting with poor optimization, stability issues and bugs to the lack of an involving story. Fortunately, the trademark of the Gothic series – the handcrafted world, was better than ever. But one swallow does not make a summer.

Everything went downhill, and once inseparable partners, Piranha Bytes and JoWood, headed in different directions. The development of the fourth part of the series was handed to another developer – Spellbound Entertainment. Piranha Bytes set itself to develop a new game, under the code name RPB Project.

We had a chance to talk with a member of Piranha Bytes, who answered our questions about the Gothic series and RPB Project.

1. Could you please introduce yourself to our readers and tell us a little about your background and your job at Piranha Bytes?

My name is Ralf Marczinczik and I am working as an Artdirector. Basically I am responsible for all the concept artwork, some texturing and a lot of marketing-artwork. I work very closely with our gamedesigners and develop the monster-, character and environment design for RPB.

2. A lot of RPG gamers are very fond of the Gothic series. What are the series defining strengths that made it so successful?

I assume that the closed system of a believable world, where you can loose yourself in for quite a while and interesting characters are two of the main reasons for its appeal. All the background information of the religious groups and beliefs was carefully laid out long before we started with the game. I think, this kind of thoroughness pays off for the players as well.

3. It's the general opinion that Gothic 3 didn't live up to expectations. We agree that it is still a good game, but not quite what we expected. In your opinion, why has Gothic 3 failed to deliver and where does it differ from the first two games in the series?

A lot of that had to do with the basic design of the game. The sheer size of the landscape was enormous, so the story was stretched somewhat thin over such a big area. Also there wasn´t a lot of time to properly test the game before and after the master phase (very well documented here: http://forum.worldofplayers.de/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=98 ). The whole team spent weeks after the release of the game to discuss with the community about all the things that didn´t work as expected. But it was not all doom and gloom.

4. A few days ago Piranha Bytes and JoWooD announced that all differences of the past months are settled. We are glad to hear that. Is it possible to see some sort of cooperation between the two companies in the future, like a return of Piranha Bytes to the Gothic series?

Nothing is planed at the moment. The settlement allows both ex-partners to develop their own projects without interference. And we are very happy with that.

5. What is your opinion on Spellbound Entertainment? Will they be able to create a game that will stay faithful to the series and the fans?

Actually I personally like them a lot. It´s a good studio. It´s not an easy project to handle- you have to respect that they dared to take it on. They are very capable and have delivered solid games in the past. So we too are quite curious about what they will do with the characters and the world of our games.

6. Could you tell us something about RPB Project? What kind of game will it be?

It is a new RPG (RPB is a funny acronym of Role playing game and PB- Piranha Bytes), single player. The world will be seamless again, and you have to work you way up the ladder to discover new secrets of the world you are living in. It also has some very nice and hopefully unexpected story-twists in it.

 

7. What's the current state of development? How far have you come with RPB Project?

At the moment we are in the thick of it. Parts are playable and a lot of features like the fighting system are ready for fine tuning and completion.

8. What engine are you using – Genome Engine from Gothic 3 or have you developed a new one?

We had to start from scratch- so most had to be developed in house. Of course we take advantage of well established middleware like for example the fmod sound system.

9. According to past interviews, RPB Project will be similar to Gothic I. Could you elaborate on that?

We asked ourselves „what made Gothic such a popular game?“ So we tried to incorporate some of the elements that seemed to work in our favour: Smaller world, clearly drawn groups and cultures of NPCs and a stronger motivation for the player.

10. How will the gameworld look like? We would really like to see more of that handcrafted world we already saw in the Gothic series.

Well- you will have that! No generated landscapes for us. No sir. Again, everything is handcrafted and placed. And we have some graphic-artists like Sascha Henrichs, who have an amazing feeling for nature-objects like stone and plants.

11. The combat system in Gothic 3 received a lot of negative criticism. Have you changed something and what will the combat system look like in RPB Project?

Mike Hoge, our lead game-designer built a new fight system from the ground up. The criticism for G3 had quite an effect on him. And at the moment, he seems quite happy with the result – lets hope the players will feel that way also.

12. How about character development? Would you care to elaborate on this topic?

It´s a lot stronger- and the story twists will be way more interesting. And there will be more women too! Finally!

13. When can we expect new information and media about RPB Project?

Around the E3- and GC in summer.

14.  Is there anything else you'd like to add?

We have quite an active community and actually personally discuss questions about the game and the games-industry in general on a daily basis. You can find us here- in German and in English: http://www.worldofpiranhabytes.de/

 
Thank you Ralf for your time, we wish you the best of luck and success with RPB Project.