A farmer who grew beets in Australia has become a game developer at Projekt Red and is working on The Witcher 4. Pavel Sasko, deputy game director of Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, shared how it happened.
Moder Eero Varendi caught Sasko's attention several years ago when he posted a prologue of The Witcher 1, recreated in The Witcher 3 game on YouTube. Later he moved to Poland, where he is now developing The Witcher 4.
In an interview with Flow Games, Sasko advised aspiring developers to learn how to modify games. According to him, about half of the people currently crafting quests for Cyberpunk 2 are former moderators. Sasko shared a touching story about senior quest designer Eero Varendi, who used to create mods in the evenings after harvesting beets.
"I saw the video and thought, 'Damn, this is such high-quality work, so I asked [CDPR writer Philipp Weber], who is also a moderator, 'do you know this guy in the community?'. He said, 'Yes, I know who he is', [and I said] message him and ask him to send us his resume.' He sent me his resume, and we did the test, the result was excellent."
Hiring experienced moderators as staff is a common practice for many major studios. In addition to CD Projekt Red, Valve, Activision Blizzard, Bethesda, even Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone is an example of such practice. Eero Varendi's case proves that such a thing can happen to anyone capable of high-quality work. The composition of the Cyberpunk 2 quest team is evidence of this.
Source: GamesRadar
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