Former Witcher, Gwent designer Damien Monnier hired by Dying Light dev
To work on the new, open-world fantasy IP.
Former notable Witcher and Gwent designer Damien Monnier has a new job - one not a million miles away from his last. He's landed at Techland, Polish developer of Dying Light, as lead designer of a new IP.
It's the new IP Techland announced in May, the studio told me this morning. This is an open-world fantasy game with RPG elements, co-op multiplayer and single-player. Fits well with the experience Damien Monnier accrued working on The Witcher series from 2012 to 2016. Plus, Techland's open-world fantasy team is in Warsaw, as is Monnier and CD Projekt Red.
Monnier was a senior gameplay designer during The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt development, then lead designer of breakaway title Gwent: The Witcher Card Game, currently in closed beta. Before CD Projekt Red, Monnier worked as a level and game designer at Sony, at Evolution Studios, developer of MotorStorm and DriveClub.
Techland said to me in a statement: "As a whole, we're extremely excited to welcome all the recent additions to the Techland family. We've got really big ambitions for our next internally developed games so people with ingenious ideas as well as the skill and knowledge to bring them to life are absolutely essential."
It isn't clear why Damien Monnier left CD Projekt Red but the studio told me it was a mutual decision and he was well liked. Monnier's publicly thanking the studio suggests an amicable departure.
It's worth bearing in mind there's a natural amount of staff movement following the end of a big project like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Remember, expansion Blood & Wine was finished and released in spring this year.