The Witcher 3
An open-world fantasy RPG about a monster hunter, made by CD Projekt Red.
Where The Witcher 3 comes up4 episodes and tests
Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit testHow Video Game Economies are Designed
Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit testCommanding Shepard
Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit testLegend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - An Open World Adventure
Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit testFollowing the Little Dotted LineThe Witcher 3 shows that a defined hero can work in an open RPG, and its merchants have their own stock, wallets and prices. But the cow exploit needed two patches: the first spawned a level 27 monster after six kills, and its valuable head forced a second fix. Lesson: retest economy fixes for new exploits, and write quests for any navigation aid you remove, since its marker trail overrides its own landmark directions.
- 1Kill cowsWhite Orchard, soon after launch
- 2Sell leatherMerchants buy it for cash
- 3MeditateCows respawn
From The Witcher 3 cow exploit after 2015 launch
What was said about The Witcher 3
1The cow exploit and the monster that fixed it
A cheap respawning tap created infinite money in the first village. Soon after the 2015 launch, players in White Orchard killed cows, sold the leather, meditated to respawn the cows and repeated the loop for unlimited wealth.
Converting resources into power can loop back into grind, and a broken tap like this one can break a game's whole economy. Merchants buying the leather turned a renewable source into endless cash.
Test each economy fix, because the patch itself opened a new exploit. A patch months after launch added the "bovine defence force initiative": killing six cows spawns a level 27 monster. Higher-level players killed it and sold its valuable head for big profit, so CD Projekt Red patched again so the monster spawns only once.
The patch note was cryptic and never explained the feature. Spawning the monster needed only a few dead cows, which made it a new farm. Quote: "Now, the monster only spawns once."
2Merchants with their own stock, wallets and prices
Merchants act as traders, not vending machines, creating trade-route puzzles. Each Witcher 3 merchant has a limited set of items and a limited wallet, and prices vary by shop type and location, so players can buy cheap in one area and sell high in another.
A plain shop is only a converter; a trader with its own inventory and rules behaves like another player. This rewards players who notice how value differs across places, but traders can also feed a runaway wealth loop that designers need to limit. Quote: "enterprising players can buy items for cheap in one area - and then sell them for a profit elsewhere"
3Quest markers that override the game's own directions
A mini-map trail made the written landmark directions pointless. Characters give rich directions using landmarks like a pond, a boulder and a cart, but a dotted line appears on the mini-map the moment the conversation ends, so players follow the line and ignore the dialogue.
Geralt even announces the stone before the player can spot it. Mark Brown argues the markers, side-of-screen commands and GPS trails form an artificial layer over a carefully built world, so even exciting, funny and thoughtful quests are reached by "blindly stumbling from waypoint to waypoint".
A no-marker mode fails when quests are not written for it. With helpers turned off, a quest to find a lost patrol gives only the south shore of Lake Wyndemere, with no signposts or place names, and the player can end up in a bandit camp running from a bear.
Playing without markers needs directions, signage and named places that support it. Mark's proposed ideal is a world playable without markers, with markers available to switch on when lost or rushing. Quote: "The game simply isn't designed to be played this way"
4Geralt and Witcher alchemy as models for other games
A fully defined hero works when his identity fits the game's structure. Geralt has a set name, face, sex and code of ethics, yet The Witcher 3 is counted among the best RPGs ever made, with his morally grey choices rippling through the world.
The contrast is Fallout 4, whose voiced hero and kidnapped-son backstory clashed with an open-ended RPG and limited conversation complexity.
Nintendo studied The Witcher and borrowed its alchemy for Zelda cooking. Breath of the Wild's cooking system echoes Witcher alchemy, alongside ideas taken from Minecraft and the Batman: Arkham games.
The lesson drawn is choosing "which bits of design to use, and which bits to forgo".
How Video Game Economies are Designed
A cow exploit let players kill cows, sell leather, meditate and repeat for infinite money. The patch spawned a level 27 monster after six cow kills, but it dropped a valuable head, so a second patch made it spawn only once. Merchants have their own stock, wallets and prices by shop and location.
A cheap respawning tap created infinite money in the first village. Soon after the 2015 launch, players in White Orchard killed cows, sold the leather, meditated to respawn the cows and repeated the loop for unlimited wealth.
Converting resources into power can loop back into grind, and a broken tap like this one can break a game's whole economy. Merchants buying the leather turned a renewable source into endless cash.
Test each economy fix, because the patch itself opened a new exploit. A patch months after launch added the "bovine defence force initiative": killing six cows spawns a level 27 monster. Higher-level players killed it and sold its valuable head for big profit, so CD Projekt Red patched again so the monster spawns only once.
The patch note was cryptic and never explained the feature. Spawning the monster needed only a few dead cows, which made it a new farm. Quote: "Now, the monster only spawns once."
Merchants act as traders, not vending machines, creating trade-route puzzles. Each Witcher 3 merchant has a limited set of items and a limited wallet, and prices vary by shop type and location, so players can buy cheap in one area and sell high in another.
A plain shop is only a converter; a trader with its own inventory and rules behaves like another player. This rewards players who notice how value differs across places, but traders can also feed a runaway wealth loop that designers need to limit. Quote: "enterprising players can buy items for cheap in one area - and then sell them for a profit elsewhere"
Commanding Shepard
Geralt has a set name, face, sex and code of ethics, yet it is still one of the best RPGs ever made. It shows a very defined hero can still be shared with the player when the identity fits the game's structure.
A fully defined hero works when his identity fits the game's structure. Geralt has a set name, face, sex and code of ethics, yet The Witcher 3 is counted among the best RPGs ever made, with his morally grey choices rippling through the world.
The contrast is Fallout 4, whose voiced hero and kidnapped-son backstory clashed with an open-ended RPG and limited conversation complexity.
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - An Open World Adventure
Nintendo researched it, and Zelda's cooking system recalls its alchemy.
Nintendo studied The Witcher and borrowed its alchemy for Zelda cooking. Breath of the Wild's cooking system echoes Witcher alchemy, alongside ideas taken from Minecraft and the Batman: Arkham games.
The lesson drawn is choosing "which bits of design to use, and which bits to forgo".
Following the Little Dotted Line
Characters give rich landmark directions, but a dotted line appears on the mini-map as soon as the talk ends. With helpers off, a lost patrol quest by Lake Wyndemere has no place names or signposts and can end in a bandit camp.
A mini-map trail made the written landmark directions pointless. Characters give rich directions using landmarks like a pond, a boulder and a cart, but a dotted line appears on the mini-map the moment the conversation ends, so players follow the line and ignore the dialogue.
Geralt even announces the stone before the player can spot it. Mark Brown argues the markers, side-of-screen commands and GPS trails form an artificial layer over a carefully built world, so even exciting, funny and thoughtful quests are reached by "blindly stumbling from waypoint to waypoint".
A no-marker mode fails when quests are not written for it. With helpers turned off, a quest to find a lost patrol gives only the south shore of Lake Wyndemere, with no signposts or place names, and the player can end up in a bandit camp running from a bear.
Playing without markers needs directions, signage and named places that support it. Mark's proposed ideal is a world playable without markers, with markers available to switch on when lost or rushing. Quote: "The game simply isn't designed to be played this way"
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