Poly: Why did you decide to leave CDP RED?
Marek Ziemak: My departure from CD Projekt Red is due to a lot of personal and professional factors. Of course, such a decision was extremely difficult for me and it cost me "a few" sleepless nights. As a result, the comfort of working in a company in which I grew up, and which I know quite well, lost to the temptation of starting a new adventure in a new environment, and based on different rules. In addition, the creation of indie games, and that's what I will be doing now, is extremely interesting to me, both from the perspective of player and producer. The production process of such games is governed by different rules than the production of AAA games and I want to give it a go. I think that the experience that I'll gain at the current (new) position will help me to develop skills and give a chance to look at the production process from another, slightly more global perspective.
Poly: What will you be doing specifically? Will it be a bigger game than previous productions of 11 bit studios?
Marek Ziemak: We will not be making a big AAA shooter, that's for sure. The way I see it, is that the scale of the game is not determined by the number of people involved, but by the number of people who are enchanted by the game's world. That's why both The Witcher and Prison Architect are big games. The project I am working on at 11 bit has a huge potential.
Poly: You abandon Witcher 3 at the end of the production process, before the launch. Aren't you sad?
Marek Ziemak: I do not want to consider this in terms of abandoning anything. My adventure with The Witcher game series lasted quite a long time - since the end of 2006 (excluding a short break to manage my own business/company). I feel that this was a period of hard work, during which I had the opportunity to learn and acomplish a lot. I leave The Witcher 3 project after almost two years of intensive development, at a stage where I feel comfortable with that, and that certainly does not hurt the remaining work. Our decision was not a surprise to the company, and the exact date of departure stemmed largely from game production schedules and the time required to transfer the duties to our colleagues. I do not feel sad. Although I will not be present at RED during the premiere of The Witcher 3, I still feel as a co-author, and I will remain friends with many developers from our team. I am extremely pleased that I could be a part of this incredibly talented team and that I can use the experience I gained in my future carer.
Love CDPR and The Witcher series.
