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We would like to thank the r/TibiaMMO community for their engagement and contributions to our interview questions. Some of the questions overlapped with ours, some greatly inspired us, and others we simply adapted. For specific questions, you will find the Reddit usernames of the community members who contributed to them.




Hi, Knightmare! The last time we talked was around 6 years ago. What has changed the most for you during that time: in life, work, or in your way of thinking about world-building and quests?

Knightmare: We recently moved into a different office room, which is about the amount of excitement an old man like me can still handle. The past few years have been quite a ride. A pandemic happened and, like for most people, it brought changes and challenges. Our work wasn't immune either.

As for my views, I try to keep an open mind, take feedback seriously, and draw new impulses from experimenting. But in the end, the goal remains the same: to give you the most entertaining quests possible. Everything else is just the usual: getting older, the bones getting rustier, and me not a bit wiser.

From your perspective, how has CipSoft itself and the process of creating Tibia changed over the years? What looks completely different today?

Knightmare: You have to keep in mind that I was involved with Tibia long before CipSoft even existed as a company. So I've witnessed quite a few changes along the way.

Things became professional fairly quickly, but of course there is always room to improve processes and tools. Looking back, many of the workflows we used in the early days feel rather improvised compared to how structured and refined things are today.

Back then, a lot relied on personal initiative and manual work, and even more workarounds. Today we have far more sophisticated systems, clearer pipelines, and many safeguards in place. That doesn't mean everything is perfect now, but the contrast to the early years is definitely striking.

My earliest tool only saved progress when I switched levels. So you had better switch every now and then, because if the tool crashed, and oh boy, it did, you could easily lose hours of work. These days I still forget to save sometimes, but at least crashes have become rare.

Do you sometimes take on the role of a mentor for younger creators? What would be the most important advice you'd give to people who dream of working on game worlds like you do - especially today, when they have modern tools and completely different possibilities than in the past?

Knightmare: Since we work as a team, exchanging experience is a natural process, and it definitely doesn't go only one way. Younger colleagues can teach me a trick or two just as much as I can share mine.

I've grown with and into our tools over the years. New colleagues today face very different challenges than I did. There is simply much more to learn at once. The number of options, such as flags, conditions, and actions, in our tools has multiplied, and keeping track of all of them is quite a task.
For anyone who wants to take a similar path, I would say: start your own small projects or join a team of modders or hobby developers. Test the waters and see if this kind of work truly suits you. And be prepared that not every game you work on will be Tibia. In a company, you will most likely contribute to other people's visions as well, not just your own dream project.

On a more serious note, given the current situation in the gaming industry, with closures and downsizing, it's important to stay realistic. I don't want to crush anyone's dreams, but it's wise not to bet everything on a single path. Having a safety net is never a bad idea.

How does the process of creating a new quest, location, or piece of lore look from the first idea to its release in the game?

Knightmare: It usually starts with an idea. Sometimes it's a story I want to tell, sometimes a theme I'd like to explore, and occasionally it's just a single fight I have in mind that I really want to build around. From there, a framework grows quite naturally until I have a rough concept.

That concept is then pitched internally as a potential update idea. If it gets the green light, we start collaborating with our graphic artists and visualize the direction through concept art. At the same time, the narrative becomes more concrete and the individual steps of the quest take shape.

After that, a rough map layout is created, which is gradually filled with content. Quests, tasks, and battles are implemented, NPCs are brought to life, and the whole thing slowly turns from an idea into something playable. Everything is tested internally, adjustments are made, and eventually all parts are brought together. A walkthrough is finalized before the content moves on to in-house testing and later to the test servers, where players get their first glimpse of what's to come.

Our tools have become far more sophisticated over the years. We have many more options and a lot of safeguards to prevent the most obvious mistakes.

How do you know that a story or quest truly "works"? What signals to you that something is ready and good enough to be introduced into the world of Tibia?

Knightmare: A battle plan is perfect until it meets battle.

In the end, a story is just a form of entertainment. So I would say it "works" when it actually entertains. And that is something only the players can truly decide. Their reception tells you what works and what doesn't.

You have to keep your ego in check. No matter how much I might love a story, if players feel it doesn't entertain them, then it didn't work.

I can only hope that my ideas, which grow out of my own experience with Tibia and the stories I've woven over the years, ultimately fit into the world. The fact that both players and creators are still here after all this time gives me some confidence that I'm at least on an acceptable track so far.

Has it ever happened that something you disagreed with was added to the game? How did you cope with that?

Knightmare: Game development is always a collaborative effort with many stakeholders involved. It's only natural that not every idea aligns perfectly with your own preferences.

When you work in a team, you are not a dictator whose word is law, and you can't endlessly argue over every detail. Over time, you learn to trust the collective perspective and the strengths of your colleagues.

Looking back, some ideas I might not have been particularly enthusiastic about at first have turned out to be very positive additions. It's one of the advantages of working collaboratively, that the final result often benefits from viewpoints beyond your own.

Do you have a way to see whether a quest has been started or completed by any player? What portion of quests in the game has not yet been discovered? (Aid_Angel, _Adp)

Knightmare: That depends very much on the quest in question. For most modern quests, we can look at server data and see whether they have been started or completed.

Older and more obscure content is much harder to track in that way. Back then, systems were not designed with the same level of monitoring in mind.

So to be honest, I can't say for sure what might still be undiscovered. I would assume that if someone solved something truly ancient and hidden, we would eventually hear about it through the forums or other community channels.

Tibia is today a huge, multi-layered world created over decades. How difficult is it to maintain consistency in the lore so that new content doesn't contradict what was created 10, 15, or even 20 years ago?

Knightmare: For someone with a memory as unreliable as mine, it can feel like a nightmare at times. When I intentionally connect elements across years, or even decades, I make sure to look things up beforehand.

It helps that I've never been a big fan of providing definitive answers directly in the world/game. I prefer leaving certain aspects vague, open to interpretation, and occasionally even presenting contradictory pieces of lore on purpose. That way, players can decide for themselves what the true core of a myth might be and which parts should perhaps be treated with skepticism.

There are also fragments of lore that have stayed with me because they were never fully resolved. They sit quietly on a kind of internal backlog of ideas I would like to revisit one day. But I would never want to force them into the game where they don't naturally belong or where they wouldn't have the right environment to truly flourish.

Tibia is famous for its mysteries and unresolved puzzles. From your perspective, to what extent are these a conscious part of building atmosphere and player imagination, and to what extent are they the result of older ideas, limitations, or content that eventually took on a life of its own in the community's theories?

Knightmare: The idea for a puzzle often grows out of personal history, whether that's other games, TV shows, books, or even real-life experiences. Those influences form the fertile ground from which new mysteries can emerge.

Some puzzles are very much a conscious design choice. Leaving room for speculation, encouraging players to connect dots, and allowing imagination to fill in the gaps can add a lot to the atmosphere of the world.

At the same time, Tibia has been around for decades. Not everything that turned into a grand mystery started out as one. Some elements were shaped by technical limitations or simple experimentation, and over time the community gave them a much bigger meaning than they originally had. That's part of the magic.

And of course, feedback sometimes inspires new directions as well. Some things simply grow beyond their original intention. Hail the man in the cave, anyone?

Some classic storylines like the Sword of Fury, Samael, or the 469 language, have inspired huge theories over the years. How do you feel seeing players build such elaborate interpretations around elements of the world that sometimes had much simpler beginnings? (fmania3)

Knightmare: I believe the imagination of players is one of the most powerful tools in any game world. Some of my fondest memories in Tibia were about trying to figure things out. In those moments, it was never just about the final answer, the journey itself was the real reward.

When players build elaborate theories, even around elements that may have had simpler beginnings, I find that fascinating rather than frustrating. Sometimes those theories turn out to be wrong, but that doesn't make them meaningless. They often spark creativity of their own. People might use those ideas in their own projects, or they might dive into real-world history, cryptology, or other fields simply because their curiosity was triggered.

I genuinely enjoy leaning back and watching theories unfold, seeing players unpack history, connect the dots, and try to glimpse the bigger picture behind the stories we tell through our updates.

The island of Rookgaard holds many secrets, locations, quests, and mysteries. Do you have a favorite part of the island or a story that particularly stayed in your memory while creating it? Or perhaps you had an idea for a place, quest, or other element that never got implemented or didn't turn out as planned? (Gaines-NL)
Knightmare: Rookgaard is full of small details rather than one single defining moment. When I created and later expanded it, I added countless little jokes and references — some subtle, some less so.

As I mentioned earlier, our tools were far more limited back then. I had to work with what was available and be creative within those constraints. In a way, that actually helped shape the island's character.

My goal was to recreate the atmosphere I had experienced during my own early days in Tibia, that mixture of excitement, danger, uncertainty, and a bit of mystery. I wanted new players to feel that same sense of wonder. And yes, I couldn't resist sprinkling in a dose of slightly silly humor here and there.

After more than twenty years, it's hard to single out one specific element. But I still remember adding Captain Iglue's treasure. That might count for something.

Were the mysterious, seemingly inaccessible locations and unresolved storylines on Rookgaard intended from the start to build atmosphere and a sense of a larger world, or did they result from experimentation and the limitations of that time?

Knightmare: As I mentioned before, with Rookgaard I wanted to recreate the feeling I had during my own early days in Tibia. So yes, many of those mysterious or seemingly inaccessible places were meant to hint at a larger world beyond the island. I wanted to "broadcast" that there was more to come, that Tibia was bigger, stranger, and deeper than what you could immediately see.

At the same time, we were genuinely limited by the tools and systems available back then. There wasn't even a rudimentary quest system in the way we understand it today. So I experimented. I created what you could call proto-quests by imposing self-limitations. Some items simply didn't drop from monsters, you had to explore, find them, and understand how to obtain them.

In the end, both aspects shaped Rookgaard: intention and limitation. And sometimes limitations force you to be more creative than full freedom ever would.

The island has a very distinctive atmosphere: harsh, full of danger, history, and myths. What inspired you when creating Rookgaard and its unique feel? More generally, what inspires you or the team today?

Knightmare: As mentioned before, Rookgaard was very much inspired by what captivated me during my own early days in Tibia. I wanted to recreate that sense of danger, uncertainty, and quiet mystery, the feeling that the world is larger than you and doesn't explain itself too easily.

Today, inspiration works a bit differently. We think more consciously in terms of overarching narratives and long-term developments. There is a growing body of lore to draw upon, sometimes very visible, sometimes quietly in the background. New ideas often grow out of that existing foundation.

At the same time, we are still working within a fantasy world, and there is no shortage of themes, concepts, or stories to explore. If anything, the real limiting factors are time and resources, not imagination.

Over the years, you've co-created countless stories, mysteries, and secrets in Tibia. Do you ever forget your old ideas? If you entered the game now as a regular player, do you think some of your own quests or puzzles might challenge or even surprise you again?

Knightmare: Oh, absolutely. As I mentioned before, my memory can be somewhat unreliable. I often have to look things up from the past, and I'm sometimes surprised by how differently I remembered certain details.

At the same time, it can be a strangely pleasant experience. A glimpse at old notes, a screenshot, or simply visiting a place in the game can open the floodgates to long-forgotten memories.

If I entered Tibia today as a regular player, I'm sure some of my own quests or puzzles would challenge me again. Not because they were impossibly complex, but because time changes perspective. And perhaps that's not such a bad thing.

Rookgaard is a cult place for many players. How do you view the island today as its co-creator - more as a closed chapter in Tibia's history, or still an important foundation of the whole world?

Knightmare: I feel genuinely grateful to all the players who grew fond of Rookgaard and whose presence helped this small piece of land endure the passage of time. In many ways, it is as much part of Tibia's history as it is part of my own.

It may no longer serve as the same springboard it once was, and some players might never experience it in the way earlier generations did. But for me, the island, its inhabitants, its NPCs, and the countless players who passed through it or chose to stay there still hold a very special place.

Is there an element of Rookgaard - a location, character, or story — that you feel particularly fond of as a creator? What's behind it "behind the scenes"?

Knightmare: Rookgaard consists of so many small elements that together create its atmosphere that it would feel almost superficial to single out just one. It's less about a specific location or character and more about how all those little pieces come together.

Every now and then I visit the island and find myself smiling when I remember what I was thinking while adding a certain line of dialogue, an NPC, or a tiny detail in some corner of the map.

So rather than one particular element, it's Rookgaard as a whole that I feel most fond of.

Is there something designed in the early years, not just on Rookgaard, that today you would do completely differently, given your current experience and technological possibilities?

Knightmare: With the systems we have today, I would probably add more structured quests and perhaps even a small low-level boss encounter to create additional variety. There are so many mechanics available now that simply didn't exist in the early days.

Back then, we had to work within very strict limitations, and much of the content relied on atmosphere and exploration rather than layered systems. If I were to design something like Rookgaard 2.0 today, it would likely feel different in terms of mechanics and structure, though I would still try to preserve the original spirit.

Looking back, what do you think Tibia did better in 2000–2010 than it does today? Are there elements from that period that should be refreshed or brought back in a new form? (_Adp)

Knightmare: I think nostalgia plays a powerful role when looking back at that period. Many things feel special because of the time and circumstances in which we experienced them.

At the same time, a lot has changed and rightly so. Keeping a game fresh for more than 25 years without fundamentally breaking what makes it unique is quite a challenge. If players from that era stepped back into the exact version from 2000, they might quickly realize that some of the "magic" was also tied to limitations we wouldn't necessarily want back.

It's a bit like remembering old TV shows as better than anything today. But if you actually had to watch them in black and white and get up every time you wanted to change the channel, the romance might fade quickly.

That said, modernizing older elements and reinterpreting them in a contemporary way is absolutely possible and sometimes even desirable, as long as it makes sense within today's game.

How far into the future do you plan the development of the world and content? Do you have a general vision for the direction of Tibia in the coming years? (_Adp)

Knightmare: A few years ago, I jokingly drafted something like a twenty-year plan for the world. Unsurprisingly, only a fraction of those ideas has actually made it into updates so far. New inspirations emerge, priorities shift, and sometimes the level range or scope of an update simply doesn't fit an older concept.

Still, there are plenty of ideas waiting for their moment. I do have a general sense of direction, certain story arcs, themes, and revelations that I would love to unfold over time.

Sometimes it's almost torture not being able to talk about them yet. All those dramatic twists and shocking revelations waiting in the background… but I suppose a bit of patience is part of the fun.

Tibia has also gone through a big technological change: with sound, new visual effects, and more advanced tools. How do you think these possibilities will affect storytelling in the game in the future? (naner00)

Knightmare: We are definitely experimenting and tinkering with the newer possibilities. There is always something to refine, and some of these advancements do open up new ways of supporting storytelling.

That said, not every improvement needs to be loud or flashy. A lot of progress happens "under the hood." Better tools, smoother systems, and more flexible mechanics can strengthen immersion without players necessarily noticing the technical layer behind it.

Ideally, technology should serve the story, not overshadow it. If we do things right, players won't think about the tools at all — they'll simply experience a world that feels richer and more coherent.

Looking back at your contribution to Tibia over all these years - is there something specific you are most proud of as a creator, even if players don't know it came from you?

Knightmare: That's a difficult question. Many of the ideas that made it into the game carry fond memories for me.

If I had to single out one thing, I would probably choose "20 Years a Cook." I consider it something of a love letter to Tibia and its players.
Time constraints were the only reason you were spared even more of my antics, and it was a great joy to design and introduce that quest.

Are you currently involved in other CipSoft projects?

Knightmare: My focus is on Tibia and its content. Given our current release cadence, there isn't much room to take on additional projects.
This is our final question: if you could leave one message or piece of wisdom for the players and fans of Tibia - what would it be? We thank you very much for sharing your time and thoughts with us.

Knightmare: I'll go with a simple classic that has helped me more than once to keep things in perspective: Wherever you go, there you are. In the end, Tibia is about the experiences you create and the people you share them with.


Knightmare has also sent a screenshot to have some fun with you! Anyone who replicates the location and its state completely and takes a screenshot on their own character by the end of the day (March 17th) will be entered into a draw to win one of 5 rune emblems!