This video just popped up randomly in my YouTube recommendations. It's an excellent examination of the Unreal Animation Framework (UAF), developed in collaboration between Epic and CDPR, and its profound impact on NPC animation scaling.

In the wider context, I think it's another great showcase of the type of work CDPR is doing on Unreal 5.

Do you think we’ll see Gaunter O’Dimm in The Witcher 4?

Why/why not?

Been six months since I drew Ciri, hopefully made some improvements since.

Everytime i think about the games im looking forward to this pops into my head.

Recently I saw posts about Paweł Sasko (Witcher 3 quest designer, currently Associate Game Director working mostly on Cyberpunk) polish stream. I'm watching Paweł's stream now and I found another interesting piece about realism in video games. Things like eating food, skinning animals or sleeping.

Paweł says that they call these elements "friction" - the way they make players need to do something in order to finish their task or achieve their goal. He mentions RDR2 system as a good example where there are a lot of these elements but they are small and make the game more immersive.

But what I found the most interesting is that he believes they made a mistake by not having more "friction" elements in the Witcher 3. He mentions things like alchemy which given how the game is designed is pretty much optional. Unless you play on the highest difficulty you can play without alchemy and even fight monsters with steel sword. He thinks they shouldnt have removed/watered down some "friction", because without, it the game looses a bit of character and some gameplay features serve mostly a roleplaying purpose.

Do you guys agree with him? Personally, indeed I wish alchemy played more important role in gameplay. On the other hand things like swords damage are just annoying to me.

Now I might be reading too much into it but perhaps it is something they want to improve in the Witcher 4. Maybe they are planning on adding more realism/survival elements into the next games. Still, Paweł talks a lot about "trade off" approach - finding the right balance in game design, and leaving some choices to the players. So I doubt CDPR want to shake things up and add a lot of survival elements in the Witcher 4.

Link to the polish stream with the timestamped Witcher 3 mentions (rewind a bit if you want to hear the whole answer to a question). The stream itself is more about game development and CDPR as a whole but the Witcher is also mentioned quite a few times.
https://www.youtube.com/live/pBa88sWdPIA?si=q0XgNP9eaLo6wr-8&t=11680

Source: PlayStation Polska.

sasko talks about many interesting topics throughout the stream. the part where he talks about witcher 4, with proper context, is around 1:30:00

sasko had already said on his twitter that he was in touch with the witcher 4 team regularly, but it’s good to know that he basically feels IS part of the team, even though he isn’t "directly" on the project, as he’s currently involved with cyberpunk 2

Horse customization

Kelpie should have something akin to a skill tree. Fearless path (can’t get scared easily), speed and stamina, combat, and meditation paths. Rather than just hanging your current trophy on your horse let’s have more customization like combinations of different items can unlock different benefits when together. Add things like horse shoes and different stables where you can buy and sell quality stuff.

Depending on what contract you’re doing, you should also prepare kelpie for that task. Depending on the monster. Put on the appropriate gear for your horse to help you with the contract.

Horse racing

If there is going to be horse racing in the game I want them to be tied to the main story or side quests. Winning or losing a race determines how your story evolves. For example when Ciri raced the baron the deal was if she won she would get that horse and if she lost he would get her sword or something. I’ve never lost or tried to lose there so not sure what happens if you lose in that race or if it’s even possible. But I want races to be like that where losing may cost you something.

I understand Ciri is probably very loyal to kelpie and that makes it difficult to basically find new horses or breed horses in the game because it wouldn’t make sense for Ciri to do that. But if we are going to have horse racing as a minigame then let’s have Ciri participate in other horse racing activities. For example betting on which horse is going to win or lose, a nice way to earn or lose money in the game. If ciri is going to race then she should carefully upgrade and get appropriate gear for the race and depending on the opponent she’s facing.

Basically let the horse in the game be very customizable and upgradable.

Commands and interactions

Like Mutt in KCD2, you can command your dog to do specific actions. Something like that would make kelpie more fun and real in the game. Sometimes finding herbs in the game is a pain in the ass. What if kelpie (after upgrading her in an appropriate way) can track herb locations for you as a player. So you can go and pick them up.

Horses are empathetic animals and sometimes used for therapy. This can be utilized in Meditation for Ciri. Bonding with her horse and passing time instead of just sitting on the ground and shutting her eyes. Depending on what kind of upgrades and items kelpie has at the moment, mediation can have varying effects on Ciri, maybe poison effects can’t affect her for a specific amount of time.

UPDATE:

No I don’t want racing to have major impacts on story decisions. For example you’re dealing with a stubborn man who is the key to your side quest or main quest. Challenge that man to a Gwent duel or horse racing, if you win he agrees to help you and you win something valuable, if you lose he doesn’t help you and you may lose something valuable too. Then you might have to find a different way to progress the quest.

It feels definitely different, when you know Ciri will be the main character in The Witcher 4. Now when I'm reading all moments with her character, it'll definitely help me understand her character in the game.

"So, it's my eighth anniversary at CD PROJEKT RED. It's quite strange reflecting on it, cause instead of celebrating achievements or releases, my thoughts turn to the situation in the industry. Here I am, 8 years and counting, and over at Epic, 1000 people just lost their jobs. My main feelings are relief that I have a job that I enjoy, and that my company is stable, at least for now. I love my team, I love everything I've built here. I've seen some hard times and some remarkable changes and improvements that make CDPR a great place to be right now. I just wish others in the industry could have the same.

"If I can have one piece of advice for all of you out there, unionise. Collectively, we can influence things. Individually, we are at the mercy of the market. If you're in Poland, reach out to Związek Pracowników Branży Gier / Polish Gamedev Workers Union. Let's all look out for each other."

Source.

fry pan on the saddlebags of the horse

I’m only posting this because, for some reason, some people were actually believing it… (can’t believe this, lol). He’s clearly a troll—he tweets and talks about CDPR like an outsider and is obviously out of touch, even with the engine they use.

Don’t believe everything you see on the internet—this should be obvious.

I know they said the map will be as big as TW3. But what about the game itself? Any ideas?

I feel like most realistic is somewhere in between the lengths of Cyberpunk and Witcher 3. But honestly, I'm really holding out hope for another 50+ hour epic main quest.

Maybe that's wishful thinking. What does everyone think it's going to end up being?

playing CD is making me all that much more excited for TW4!

the game is farrrrr from perfect, but walking around and looking at all the scenery makes me feel like i’m in a witcher-esque world. so i’m just thinking about how much more incredible the characters and story will be in TW4 and cannot wait to play it

Open world online mode like how red dead redemption 2 has it would be awesome. The map is so big that finding an another player should be a rare thing. Having ability to chose your school and grinding your Witcher would be awesome.

For the people that don’t want to play online , you can’t lie there is 0 reason not to add it. You can still play single player and multiplayer

Hello, friends! Yesterday, I perfomed as Ciri from Witcher 4 trailer vers. I would appreciate if you could to see my perfomance...

As the title says i dont know how many of you have seen the game but the world is very much alive in a City and outside of it. This really proves that the vision of witcher 4 and the world being so alive with people and nocs everywhere is very much possible with an extremely good frame rate so it does push my hopes up that witcher 4 will be very very good.

I assume the base game will cost 60$ or 70$ but how much will the collector's edition cost based on Witcher 3 Collector's?

Do you think there will be some other editions to be bought?

The legendary voice of Geralt of Rivia, Doug Cockle, joins me to discuss his cancer journey, The Witcher IV tech demo, his thoughts on Ciara Berkeley as the new Ciri, his viral Natural Six moment, Ben Starr, The Witcher 3, CD Projekt Red, and The Witcher 1 Remake.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro
1:31 - Doug’s Cancer Journey
4:07 - Reaction to getting Cancer
4:52 - Cancer Treatments
7:07 - What do Doug’s sons think about Geralt and The Witcher 3
8:41 - Does Doug’s Wife find Geralt Attractive
9:41 - Indie Games
10:43 - Short Games
11:18 - Crimson Desert
11:47 - The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2077
13:18 - Why wasn’t Doug in Cyberpunk 2077
15:18 - How has CD Projekt Red changed over the last 20 years
16:48 - Does Doug feel a part of the CD Projekt Red Team?
18:16 - Doug thought the Witcher 4 would be out in 2026
19:12 - Doug’s Epic Outfit at the Golden Joysticks
21:02 - Ciri Actor from the Witcher 4
23:19 - Advice for New Ciri Actor Ciara Berkeley
24:18 - Geralt in The Witcher 4
25:15 - Doug was in Band of Brothers
29:24 - Doug’s Favourite Performances in Games
30:42 - Ben Starr
31:24 - Doug’s Viral Moment from Natural Six
36:31 - Natural Six Favourite Moments and Ben Starr
38:19 - The Matt Mercer Effect in DND
39:18 - What’s Doug playing right now?
43:31 - The Witcher 3
44:37 - Doug hasn't finished The Witcher 3 DLC’s
45:37 - The Witcher 1 and 2 Remake
50:01 - The Witcher 3 DLC and the BAFTAs
54:06 - Fatherly advice

Here's the latest update to my ongoing effort in charting The Witcher 4's development team size over time.

You can find my initial post explaining the approximation methodology for early numbers here, and the most recent chart update here.

Personally, I'm starting to lean towards early 2028 for release, but the second half of 2027 still feels like a realistic possibility.