Author: Trafficblast

As part of The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red’s latest earnings report, the company shared some insight into its workforce. Specifically, the company provided an update on how many people it employs, their gender, and more.

“CD Projekt embraces diversity in the belief that a workplace which respect diversity is the cornerstone of openness and trust. This enables us to fully unlock the creative potential of our employees, which, in turn, translates into increased depth, innovation, and appeal of our products,” the Polish developer said. “We also believe that diversity reinforces and enriches our organizational culture.”

Factors like gender are “irrelevant” at CDPR when it comes to filling executive and managerial positions, the company said.

In regards to specific numbers at the highest levels, the CPDR management board of directors was comprised solely of men in 2019 and 2018. The Supervisory board of directors, however, included one woman.

Overall, CDPR employed 1,044 people at the end of 2019, which is up 18 percent from 2018. 84 percent of people worked for the CD Projekt Red game development groups, and the remaining 16 percent worked for GOG.com. Of the 872 people who worked for CDPR at the end of 2019, 640 were men and 232 were women. The bulk of male and female developers were between the ages of 30 and 50. GOG, meanwhile, employed 130 men and 42 women at the end of 2019.

Overall, women make up 26 percent of CDPR’s total staff, which is an increase from 2018. CDPR also pointed out that it’s much higher than the Polish game industry average of 15.5 percent. The number of female developers working for CDPR has grown every year since 2017, and the percentage compared to men has stayed around the same, fluctuating between 24 percent and 27 percent.

In 2019, CDPR hired 195 men and 82 women, while GOG hired 38 men and 11 women. Most of the new hires, across gender and business division between CDPR and GOG, were under the age of 30.

CDPR also shared some location-based details, revealing that the majority of all developers (713 CDPR staff and 172 GOG staff) worked from the company’s office in Warsaw. The Krakow branch had 108 people, while the Wroclaw office had 38 people. All of these numbers are up year-over-year. CDPR also has offices in Los Angeles, Shanghai, Berlin, Tokyo, and Seoul, but these are non-development offices that handle local marketing and sales. Employee numbers for these satellite offices were not disclosed. In total, 66 percent of CDPR’s workforce consists of game developers.

In terms of the age of employees, CDPR said 51 percent of its workforce is between the ages of 30 and 39. The second-largest group is the bracket of people aged 20-29, which makes up 42 percent of its workforce. The overall average age for an employee at CDPR in 2019 was 31.

CDPR also announced that 21 percent of its employees are foreign nationals, which seems to demonstrate that people are very enthusiastic about joining the developer. That makes sense, given The Witcher is one of the biggest and most acclaimed franchises in gaming, and Cyberpunk 2077 also has a lot of hype behind it. At the end of 2019, CDPR employed people from 44 different foreign countries, including Ukraine (28 people), Russia (22 people), Spain (17 people), Canada (17 people), the United States (16 people), the United Kingdom (15 people), France (15 people), Italy (14 people), and Germany (14 people).

Additionally, the developer confirmed that it employs four people with disabilities, noting that it has undertaken “every effort” to adapt its workplace setup to suit their needs.

The full CDPR report includes many more fascinating details and datapoints regarding the company’s workforce and policies, including its dog-friendly stance. Go read the report here.

CDPR’s next game is Cyberpunk 2077, which is slated to launch in September for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

There are few tunes in gaming more iconic than Final Fantasy VII‘s “The Prelude,” and the new Final Fantasy VII Remake, which speaks to the immense and difficult task of adapting the soundtrack for modern audiences. Episode 4 of the excellent Inside Final Fantasy VII Remake video series is all about the soundtrack, explaining how Nobuo Uematsu’s music has been reworked for the Remake.

Inside Final Fantasy VII Remake

When work on the remake began, producer Yoshinori Kitase put together a video of all the events in the game, set to the music from the original PlayStation release. It outlined his vision for the game, but co-director Motomu Toriyama decided that a modern approach was called for. The game thus has a dynamic soundtrack, where the music dynamically shifts.

Keiji Kawamori talks about how the music on the soundtrack needed to be repurposed for different scenarios, depending on the tensions and intent of each scene, and composer Mitsuto Suzuki talks about how interactive music is becoming more popular, and how it works in this new game. In some scenes, three versions of a track are playing in parallel, and the game crossfades between them depending on what the action calls for. “It’s like a really top-class DJ performance,” Suzuki says.

Aerith’s theme used multiple times in different ways throughout the game now, and its sound changes a bit depending on context. There was a lot of pressure in adding new music because the original soundtrack was so good, the teams say, and because there’s dialog in cutscenes to consider now.

Uematsu wrote a single track for the game, too–it’s called Hollow, and it’s the game’s theme. Beyond this, the composers did not want to copy his original score too much with their new arrangements.

The video also delves into some cool behind-the-scenes insights into how AI generates sound effects, and you can see Cloud running around with a bunch of code spilling out of him that dictates the sounds he makes. It’s a cool, unusual insight into the making of Final Fantasy VII Remake.

According to GameSpot’s 10/10 review of Final Fantasy VII Remake–only the 18th 10/10 in the site’s history–Tamoor Hussain wrote: “The wait for its release was a long one, but in gameplay, story, characters, and music, it delivers–the wait was worth it.” Final Fantasy VII Remake releases April 10, and is exclusive to PlayStation 4 for one year.

You can add your own creative touch to your island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons by creating your own patterns and designs to use all over the island. With the Custom Designs application on the NookPhone, you can customize and decorate furniture, clothing, and even the ground with your very own designs.

There are even converters online that will turn your favourite images and photos into downloadable patterns. Any pattern you find online, or previously made, from Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons can be used.

How To Unlock Pro Designs

While designing patterns for in-game use is not new to the series, New Horizons raises the bar with the use of Pro Designs. These designs are for players who wish to get more in-depth with making their own clothing designs for specific garments in-game.

These Pro Designs can be made for tank tops, short-sleeve shirts, long-sleeve shirts, sweaters, hoodies, coats, a variety of dresses, robes, brimmed caps, knit caps, and brimmed hats.

In order to make your own Pro Designs, you will need to purchase the Pro Design upgrade in the Nook Stop machine. The Pro Design feature costs 800 Nook Miles and can be purchased after the Resident Services building has been constructed.

How to Unlock QR Codes

In order to download your own or other players’ designs from New Leaf and Happy Home Designer, you will need to download the Nintendo Switch Online App. This can be installed on either iOS or Android.

Once installed, you will need to log in to your Nintendo Account. After logging in, select the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Game-Specific Service, otherwise called “NookLink.” (You will need a Nintendo Switch Online subscription to access NookLink.) To scan QR codes, simply select Designs, at which point the QR code scanner should open. Scan and save the designs to be transmitted to your game.

Connect your Nintendo Switch to the NookLink from the Animal Crossing: New Horizons title screen by pressing the Minus button to open up the settings menu. Select NookLink settings and then “Yes, please!”. Make sure you are connected to the internet, otherwise it won’t be able to connect.

After the game has been paired with the app, your designs can be found in the Custom Designs app underneath the “Pro Designs” tab. You will need to download your designs just one last time; press the Plus button on the Custom Designs screen and select a space for the design to fill. Press R when in the app to switch between Pro and Custom designs.

How To Use Custom Designs

In order to use these custom designs you’ve either made or downloaded, just open the Custom Designs app in your Nook Phone and select the design. At this point you will have four options: wear, display here, display on ground, and erase.

If you want to wear the custom design, just select wear and the design will be placed upon your person as a new clothing item. Pro designs will create the proper garment that it was designed for, while standard custom designs will just be a simple t-shirt.

The “display here” option will create either a mannequin wearing the clothing item or a painting. The painting can be placed on your walls inside your home, while the mannequin can be picked up and then, by selecting the new clothing item in your inventory, you can display it on the walls like any other apparel.

“Display on ground” is generally used by players designing their own paths, wallpaper, or flooring. When outside, the “display on ground” option will lay the design down in a single space, and you can remove the design by pressing Y when facing it. When inside your home, the option will change to “spread in room,” with the option to use the design as a wallpaper or flooring.

You can also use custom designs with the Island Designer app to make paths more easily and efficiently. See our Island Designer terraforming guide for more details.

How To Use The Kiosk

Custom designs can be browsed in the game itself without the use of the NookLink application or QR codes. Once you have unlocked the Able Sisters clothing shop, you will have access to a kiosk that will allow you to upload your own designs and search through designs other players have uploaded. This requires a paid Nintendo Online subscription to use.

Once you’ve unlocked the Able Sisters shop, make sure to speak to Sable every day. Sable is the older sister working on the sewing machine in the left corner. At first she will ignore your advances, but over time she will start to be more friendly towards you, eventually sharing stories about the sisters with you. You will need to speak to Sable for 10 days straight in order to get the QR kiosk in the store.

After this point, Sable will start to give you custom designs of her own creation.

The kiosk allows you to share your creations to every player in the world. Players can find your designs via the Creator ID or Design ID search functions in the kiosk. This allows players to search for designs by friends or people online. These designs include Pro Designs.

Ubisoft outlined what’s coming to The Division 2 this week in a new blog post. And the big feature is the launch of the Northeast League, which runs from April 8-22 on PC, PlayStation 4, Stadia, and Xbox One.

The Northeast League is “a series of challenges and progression levels featuring time trials, high difficulty missions, and unique enemy eliminations,” according to the post. These challenges can be played either solo or in a group and “offers players 10 additional rewards” like two unique cosmetic items, an exotic cache, and more. Ubisoft said more Leagues are coming to The Division 2 in the future that will focus on different factions, missions, and challenges throughout Warlords of New York‘s Season One, Shadow Tide.

Elsewhere in the post, Ubisoft made a mention to the suspended accounts of players who exploited a DPS glitch. The bug, which allowed those who took advantage of it to stack augmentations in order to unfairly bolster their damage stats, has since been ironed out and those accounts that were suspended for one week were fully restored as of April 7, according to Ubisoft. All suspended accounts have had their accounts rolled back to a March 17, 2020 save file, meaning all progress made from then to now has been deleted.

Lastly, Ubisoft said that while Title Update 8.5 recently dropped, the studio is already preparing another The Division 2 patch. The update, called Title Update 9, will arrive “late April” on all platforms. Ubisoft isn’t talking explicitly about what’s in the update just yet, but it did say that one new feature will be the ability to level exotics up to 40.

In other The Division 2 news, Shadow Tide just started, introducing new story elements and loot rewards to hunt. One such new challenge is a brand-new Rogue Agent to track down: Venus.

“I don’t want to be part of a long line of Batman movies where this is just another one,” The Batman director Matt Reeves said in a new interview wherein he reveals the two Batman movies he admires the most and sheds light on what makes his forthcoming Bat-film different

Speaking with Nerdist, Reeves heaped praise on the 1992 sequel Batman Returns — “What Tim Burton did was really singular.” — and Catwoman actress Michelle Pfeiffer. (Zoe Kravitz plays Catwoman in Reeves’ The Batman.)

“I love Batman Returns. Michelle Pfeiffer was incredible. I love it, I love it so much. It’s so incredible and she’s so incredible in it. I just think it’s such a beautiful movie,” said Reeves. “I love the Penguin stuff when he’s going down the sewers as the baby. It’s just like, wow. This is the beautiful thing about Tim Burton at his best in that way that he’s got that connection into the fantastical that feels very, very personal.”

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Reeves also singled out Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight as “incredible” and Heath Ledger’s “indelible” interpretation of the Joker. But Reeves particularly responded to film’s “profound” message about the terrifying and nihilistic aspects of human nature that Ledger’s Joker represents.

For his own Batman film, which is currently shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, Reeves loves the idea of exploring a Caped Crusader who’s “not yet fully formed. Where there’s something to do in this context with who that guy would be in this world today, and to ground him in all of these broken ways. Because at the end of the day, this guy is doing all of this to deal with trauma in his past.”

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For more on Reeves’ The Batman, learn what composer Michael Giacchino had to say about scoring the film, trace the origins of the new Batmobile, and what Zoe Kravitz had to say about new Batman Robert Pattinson.

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