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Risen Q&A with Ralf Marczinczik
 With the help of persistence, the Google German-to-English translator and great luck we managed to catch Ralf Marczinczik - graphic artist @ Piranha Bytes and then quickly proceeded to ask him questions machine gun style :)
Fortunately we did not scare him off and Ralf was kind enough to give us some details on Risen (as much as he could without breaking some deadly publisher agreement as we are told).
Here we go then.
Pixel : How do we address you guys now? Is it still Piranha Bytes or Pluto 13 after the break-up with Jowood?
Ralf Marczinczik : Itīs Piranha Bytes. Thatīs the name of the team. Whatever the legal name for the given Project may be is not a s relevant. Itīs the people that count.
Pixel : Are you still using Genome Engine for rendering ? If not, what sort of engine are you using now.
Ralf Marczinczik : Itīs a complete self-made-engine. It has no name - but we can call it Frank, if you like. ;-)
Pixel : When are we going to see Risen / what is the current status ?
Ralf Marczinczik : We are entering the polishing and debugging phase with alarming speed.
Pixel : Is it still an CRPG ?
Ralf Marczinczik : Of course.
You also have multiple careers you can follow and have the endings according to your actions.
Pixel : Can you drop some details on the story ?
Ralf Marczinczik : Nope. Just the stuff youīve already read elsewhere. You wake up on a mysterious island and have to learn your way around. The inquisition is already on to something - but I canīt spoil that too early. (NR - They're going to get wacked if they leak too much... :)
Pixel : Who's gonna be the baddies ? Orcs /demons / some other evil spawns ?
Ralf Marczinczik : I am sworn to secrecy, sorry. I really donīt wanna loose my job.
Pixel : With Gothic you set the standard for realism with a living-breathing world, character schedules, consequences, etc. In what area are you going to amaze the world this time ?
Ralf Marczinczik : You have tremendous detail in the world- and lotīs of stuff to explore.  And all this is set by hand. No random elements like some other games. Very controlled and tastefully arranged. And of course you have to take into your consideration, that we also have to deliver the standard GFX-FX that people expect from a game like this.
Pixel : What other games do you like ?
Ralf Marczinczik : I am a graphic artist, so if you have a game that is well designed, I am up to buy it: Shadow of the colossus, The Prince of Persia Series, Halo, etc...
Pixel : What size is the gameworld going to be ? Is it a long and epic game ?
Ralf Marczinczik : A bit Bigger that Gothic one- but definetly not as big as Gothic 3. And yes - itīs quite an epic journey with long hours to play around...
Pixel : Send a message to the crowds !
Ralf Marczinczik : We really owe you guys. Thanks for the unparallelled support- especially after the breakup from JW.
That being said, please join me in wishing the best of luck and stamina to our german heroes.
We hope to see more Risen juice flowing soon.
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