CD Projekt RED explained why The Witcher 3 waited nine long years for REDKit. Geralt wearing a Cyberpunk jacket is just one of many reasons
Devs from CD Projekt RED discussed the process of creating the REDkit modding tools. Among other things, we learned about the creators' motivations and biggest challenges.
At this year's the modding toolset for The Witcher 3, which was made available in May last year (via PC Gamer).
What took them so long?
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was released in 2015, but we had to wait 9 years for the modding tools. What took them so long? One reason is that the developers needed to reconstruct a large portion of the RED Engine to ensure REDkit run correctly for s. This alone was supposed to take over 10 months, as told by Oleg Shatulo, publishing developer at CD Projekt RED.
What works for internal dev may not work for modders.
The studio has made changes in many aspects of the engine. Besides improving technical interfaces and workflows, the developers also had to add key features such as project management. This is an option used to organize specific modes, which didn't exist in the original version of the engine.
Also, after the release of The Witcher 3, the studio announced that it doesn't plan to release extensive tools. Back then, however, no one expected that the game would remain popular for such a long time. So, in order to extend its life, it was decided to create REDkite.
We were starting to shift our internal focus to other projects slowly, so as our final goodbye to The Witcher 3, we wanted to extend its life by empowering the modding community so that they can keep improving and expanding the game. So it made perfect sense for us to create an official modding tool that we call REDkit.
The biggest challenges
The developers, while preparing REDkit, faced three main areas of challenges, as described by Bence Hambalko, the CEO of Yigsoft, a company collaborating with CD Projekt RED. Hambalko began his journey in the gaming industry by modding The Witcher. These were technical issues, dependencies, and documentation—all three formed a web of problems that could render the tools inconvenient for s.
Moreover, the devs had to clean the code of many remnants that were never meant to see the light of day. For this purpose, an appropriate tool was created, but unfortunately, it was also necessary to do a "painful" manual code search.
Some examples we found were Geralt with a Cyberpunk jacket, ASCII art rewriting the code, and some designers [leaving messages] arguing how to write correct gameplay code within the game engine itself. So you never know what you can find, and you really have to be careful because you might miss something you don't want the public to see.
Community reception
The creators itted that the modding community's ultimate response to the launch of REDkit was extremely positive, even overwhelming. Some players even stated that it resembles more of a full-fledged engine rather than just a tool, which greatly pleased the developers.
After adapting the engine, working through the dependency challenges, building the documentation, testing, finally releasing it, we can clearly say that it was all worth it. We set out to give modders the tools to create something amazing, to push the boundaries of what's possible with the game, and to keep the game alive for years to come. Seeing the community's response and the incredible mods they have made was incredibly rewarding. And hopefully, it will inspire a new generation of game developers who now have access to a tool like this.
If you are interested, the REDkit tools can be ed from Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store. CD Projekt RED has also prepared a special website that will introduce you to the secrets of modding art.
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