Mike Pondsmith, aka, Maximum Mike, is a roleplaying, board, and video game designer. Famously known for books released by R. Talsorian Games like Mekton, Cyberpunk, and Castle Falkenstien, he’s recently done some interviews for Cyberpunk 2077 and Neon Dystopia that you should be checking out. The video below offers some engrossing insight into the original world of Cyberpunk 2020 and how he’s looking to bring that into the digital world of video games.
One of the great classics, Cyberpunk 2020 was a staple of roleplaying for decades as one of the alternatives to Dungeons & Dragons. The game system focused more on style over substance and allowed the story to unfold in nonlinear ways. Hell, if you wanted, a group of gutter punks could liquidate some stolen assets and start investing in companies. Then after playing the markets and hiring mercenaries to sabotage competition, could run their own mega-corps. So needless to say, when CD Projekt RED released a teaser trailer a few years ago for Cyberpunk 2077, I was instantly looking for a way to plug my brain into the nearest machine so I could play. Sadly, it’s been pretty quiet since then. Apparently it takes a long time to make a video game. Who knew?
While you’re waiting for some sweet, sweet cyberpunk goodness, here’s a little something to ease the soul-crushing wait of dystopian game development, as programmers and writers toil away creating code for our consumption. A recent interview with Neon Dystopia asks Pondsmith some fantastic questions. The interview covers a wide range of questions from the creation of RPG games in the late 80’s to the influence of the official Bubblegum Crisis world. Besides being Mike’s involvement in games, they talk about industry crashes, GenCon protests, and even something a bit more hard hitting, but you’ll have to read the interview to find out!
By 2077, what advances do you want to see in technology? I for one, welcome our robot overlords, but what Cyberpunk features are you excited about?
Featured Image Credit: Cyberpunk 2020