Development:Cyberpunk 2077

This page details development materials of Cyberpunk 2077.

To do: Find the source files used to create the various "Cyber Elbuggado" compilations. It comes from a leak that may have been released separately from the source code leaks. Analyze the level blockouts found in the non_production folder. It's likely that many of these blockouts date back to around 2016-2018. This video by ParkerEnterprise shows a few of the blockouts. Document the large amount of changes the HUD received, mainly seen in the bug compilation video linked above.

In February 2021, CD Projekt RED was hit by a cyberattack in which various types of internal data were stolen, including the Mainline Perforce depot of Cyberpunk 2077, which contained a copy of the game's source code.

Sometime between 2017-2018, the game likely underwent a reboot/"changed direction", where the story was modified but reused elements from the original story, such as the q002 quest seen below reworked into the final story. The map of the game was also changed to a new map during the reboot, from 01_nightcity to 03_night_city. Snippets of the old map mainly seen in internal bug compilation videos, but also in the form of reflection probes included with the final game, show the map used in the game pre-reboot. The fact that the game was rebooted around this timeframe is corroborated by the timestamp from April 2017 included with the photo of the Steinbeck building below, a folder named "demo_2017" included with final game that contains files with the prefix "steinbeck" and the fact the 2018 E3 trailer of the game uses the new map seen in the final game, which shows that the game had been rebooted by June 2018.

Audio

q111

Project Ghost - Arasaka Operative Processing Clinic

These files are text-to-speech placeholders with basic writing that would have played inside the Arasaka Operative Processing Clinic, which is related to the cut Project Ghost story arc of the game.

The dialogue shows that this clinic operated by Arasaka would have modified and enhanced people. This would be done with the help of cyberware and storage tanks and that these modifications and people would be used in ways that would somehow benefit Arasaka.

A few more details about the Project Ghost story arc can be found on the q111 and q113 sections of the Quest Data subpage.

q111_03_gp_clinic_mood_scenes

Character	Audio file	Transcript
Man 01		Two technicians talk about the operative in the room behind them.
Man 01		He has a mix of psychological and software problems, one building into the other, creating a negative feedback loop that threatens cyberpsychosis.
Man 01		The diagnosis will be to solve the psychological problems with a software update. Forget psychiatric therapy, it would just take too long.
Man 01		The scientist asks the operative how he feels.
Man 01		The scientist says they are all dead, while he was brutally maimed.
Man 01		The scientist diagnoses the patient in the suspension tank. Too much nervous system damage, he's not going to be compatible with the new line of implants.
Man 01		The assistant asks what to do with him.
Man 01		The scientist says to just flush him and call it a day.
Man 01		Acknowledged.
Man 01		The tech is working on tuning up the operative's cyberware.
Man 01		Another tech tries modifying the sensitivity parameter on the neural interface. How about now?
Man 01		The scientist overseeing the process notes that this feature shouldn't be used, it's not properly debugged yet.
Man 01		Two scientists discuss the properties of a bioplague they are analysing.
Man 01		The scientist asks the tech if the experiment is over.
Man 01		The techie looks at the experiment results. It's not of biological origin. These are machines. A man-made nanite virus.
Man 02		The scientists say they rebuilt him, bigger and better. However, there will be consequences, as most of his body is now company property.
Man 02		It was extracted from one of the operatives in Rwanda. They suspect it's of human origin.
Operative 01		The operative just recovered from a coma. He wants to know what happened to his unit.
Operative 01		The operative says he never asked for this.
Operative 01		The operative is still adjusting to his new possibilities, he doesn't feel comfortable in his body.
Operative 01		The operative says it's better, tests it out a couple of times.
Operative 01		A trainer is coaching two operatives duking it out in the middle of the room.
Operative 01		The trainer is a man's man, so tells the scientist to shut up, nerd.
Operative 02		The operatives fight using their enhanced cyber abilities.
Operative 03		They use force blasts and inhuman moves.

Images

engine_asset.jpg

A photo of the façade of the Steinbeck building as shown in the Prefab Editor of the game. The EXIF metadata contains the timestamp 2017-04-20 15:24:31, which likely shows the exact moment the photo was saved and additionally also gives an indication of the timeframe when the old 01_nightcity map of the game was being worked on.

Videos

CYB-4006(a).bk2

A video that features some very early gameplay of Cyberpunk 2077. The quest id tracked in the video is q002 Evelyn, with the quest objective "Get information about Arasaka security". This quest identifier is unused in the final game, but this scene likely evolved into the braindance sequence with Judy at Lizzie's in the final game.

The file name is likely the ID of a bug in the bug tracker of the game. The source code includes references to bug reports in the CYB-630000 range, which indicates that this video is likely from a very early stage in development, possibly from a prototype.

kereznikov_bullet.bk2

*LOUD VOLUME WARNING*

This video shows the player in Sandevistan mode shooting an enemy, which triggers a bug where damage is constantly applied to the body of the enemy. Features a similar but more developed HUD seen in the CYB-4006(a) video, so the video is likely from an early stage of the development of the game. A similar style of overhead subtitles as seen in this video can be seen at 10:03 and 10:06 in this internal bug compilation video, so this video is likely from the "01_nightcity era" of the game, back when developers worked on a different version of Night City.

gun_inspect_4_bink_video.bk2

A video that contains what is likely a mockup of what the HUD would look like while inspecting a weapon. The pink/magenta theme in the video likely dates the video to around 2018, as it is similar to the HUD seen in the 2018 E3 demo, but different to the blue/magenta style seen in the 2017 build of the game.

studio_720p300k.bk2.bin

Renaming this file to studio_720p300k.bk2 makes it a playable Bink video file, which shows part of a WNS News broadcast that has a very different visual and presenting style compared to the final game, with also a different intro and newscasters. The metadata of the file shows that it was encoded with Bink 2.6g. This version was released in April 2017, which possibly dates this file to around that time.