Marek “Hitman” Černý is a member of the quality assurance team at Warhorse Studios. Born in Czech Republic, he joined the Studio in late 2015. His task is to find bugs, especially in the combat system of Kingdom Come Deliverance, and sometimes he also provides technical support.
Do you have any additional questions regarding him and/or his work? Just ask here!
1) Where can we usually find you lurking in the holy halls of Warhorse?
At my desk, sometimes in the kitchen and rarely on the toilets. If you tried to find me in the morning or in the late night, check the elevators.
2) How did you hear about Warhorse? How/When did you join?
I don’t remember to be honest, probably in some article. I joined in November 2015.
3) Describe your position. What is it about being a Quality Assurance?
I must assure that everyone´s work is nothing less than pure quality.
4) Please describe one of your colleagues or your department:
I love to talk about myself for hours. Can we just talk about me and no one else?
5) Describe your usual day at the studio?
Long story short - I always try to check things that worked a few days ago and then I check some new features with all possible combinations that I can think of. And when I found something that’s weird, I start to bully the guy who made the mistake.
6) What are you currently working on?
I am working on the combat system and some quests. We have different kind of weapons, unarmed combat and even stealth kills. It’s important to try every combination of weapons and learn how to use them based on the type of environement you are in. There’s a difference between fighting in a forest with an open area or fighting in a house and where you attacks are more limited (space-wise).
You can have a scenario when someone is standing far away and shooting arrows at you, you can have some weapon and shield in other hand, but try to imagine that this in the middle of night – is it better to have a shield or a torch in other hand? With a torch everyone see where you are, but without the torch you see nothing. Or, you can be patient, sneak behind them and stab them with the dagger (or do special moves with the dagger in close combat, if you are a real badass). Lastly, you can even try our new polearms. For example – the halberd. This huge slicer is crazy and very devastating. But as I said, it´s long, long enough that you need to hold it in both hands. That’s the ultimate asskicker.
7) What are some of your notable accomplishments?
I’ve suggested a few improvements and Dan Vávra liked them all (so far). No one will add them in the game, but they seemed cool.
8) What do you like the most about Kingdom Come: Deliverance?
The atmosphere is unique, thanks to the environment. So everything - quests, combat or walking around is a new experience for us as players. And we still didn’t mention all of our ideas.
9) How, when and with what platform or game did you first get acquainted with videogames?
Atari 2600 and Sega Master System 2. Probably the first game that totally blew my mind was Lemmings. Later on, I fell in love with adventure games. Then the Playstation came out and… you know… PS3 and 4.
10) What would a perfect game according to your wishes look like?
Silent Hills PT. or combinations of Deus Ex (possibilities), Metal Gear Solid (story) and Death Gate… and Planescape Torment with lots of freedom and not much action. It’s cool when you don’t need to kill anybody to finish the game.
11) Most hilarious bug you have ever encountered or worst video game experience?
Thief 4. An NPC was standing in the middle of street, holding a torch and then for whatever reason, he started to spin around at a ridiculous high speed while styaing in just one spot. That was crazy.
12) What game have you been really looking forward to but turned out to be a total disappointment?
I recently bought the Syberia series. Locations are nice, but rest is mediocre and some of the events and dialogues are really childish.
For example there was this situation where one guy on your side who works as a security guard at the borders. He doesn´t want to let you go in or out because he has seen a threatening soldier through his binoculars from his window. Basically, this soldier is standing there for “years” and therefore nobody can pass the border.
You can also take a look through the binoculars and you will see a blurry image. As you change the focal length, you will notice that instead of seeing a soldier, you will just see a harmless tree!
Your assumption is that the security guy has very bad eyesight, and you have to make a potion for him, telling him that it is just wine and after a sip he will be immediately cured. As he checked the spot once again, he will have noticed
that what he havsseen for years was just a tree. With only a little bit of surprise he will tell you “Oh, ok, alright, you can go further.” Sorry, but that’s just totally ********.
13) How do you relax after a hard day at work?
I just play other games, because nothing is more exciting.
14) Your favorite music/Spotify playlist
Gojira - Magma is still album of the year. But I’m waiting for at least another four records that will be released this year. Maybe some of them will be better, but Magma is truly a perfect record, one of the best of all time.
15) What species is your spirit animal?
Snorlax.
16) Sport is:________?
Don’t ask me, I’m not sure. But I’ve always get goosebumps when I hear the word.
17) Do you have a Bucket List? (things to do before you die)
Just in my head. There are hundreds of games which I want to try and finish. After that, I don’t have any other meaning in my life.
18) What will be your famous last words?
If I would die tonight, I would shout out every spoiler of the last Game of Thrones episode. Problem is that I haven’t seen it yet.
19) If you could fight 100 duck-sized horses or 1 horse-sized duck, which would you choose?
That depends on how hungry I would be in that situation. But to be honest - punching horse-sized ducks would probably be the biggest badass moment in my life.
20) Knight or Samurai?
Knight Rider. But seriously, I would say Tenchu. Just imagine – a modern Tenchu stealth game. That would be sweet.
Chris is super sweet guy, so why don’t use his art? I like his games and he give me a lots of good advices. He literally helped me to achieve my dream. How can someone be more awesome than him?
21) If you could say something to the fans of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, what would it be?
Thanks for the support! Without you, we wouldn’t have had the opportunity to make this game!
If you have any question for Marek “Hitman” Černý and/or his work? please ask here.