The Guardian caught up with Diablo III's Lead World Designer Leonard Boyarsky and got a chat in about what audience the game is going for, balance, blending old with new, online/co-op modes, and more. It's a sweet interview if you're keen on gobbling up every bit of information about the title you can like I am. So first up is the topic of audience:
What audience are you going for with Diablo 3? Newcomers? WoW players? Or just fans of the original games?
One of the great things about Blizzard as a company is that we if we make a fantastic game then people will play them. If Diablo 3 is as good as we think it will be then we will attract new players. But the Diablo fans are vital to us. They are the guys waiting for the game and we want to make them happy. We want to make it accessible but need to make sure the gameplay is fun and deep enough for fans too. We test it with all kinds of players. WoW dragged in new players who had never played an MMO before and I think Diablo 3 could be equally inclusive.
I love this, because I was thinking the same thing, personally. Blizzard, you got me pegged. I really think the previous Diablo games are great, and many others like it, and have nothing but respect for the developers of these sorts of games - they're immensely deep and complex, and I admire a team that can pull that off and pull it off well. But, for whatever reason, it's just not my thing. Recently I decided to finally have a real sitdown with Diablo II, and while I liked it more than I thought, it didn't suck me in like some RPGs do. Personally I absolutely love what Snowblind Studios does with these kind of RPGs. Champions of Norrath, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, oh, I love those games dearly. And I played the sequel to Dark Alliance and didn't like it, even though on the surface it appears very similar. That's just how picky I am, I guess. Anyway, perusing the web yesterday I discovered the sequel was developed by a separate dev team, Black Isle Studios, the company behind the other Baldur's Gate games, and a bunch of other great ones. I didn't like the PC Baldur's Gate games for the same reason I don't like the Diablo games (I have no idea what this reason is). So, that explains a lot. Anyway, my point is I see Diablo III as running a bit more like Snowblind's work than Blizzard's previous work, though I expect it'll be a roughly even mixture of the two, which is awesome, and why I'm looking forward to the game very much. The only real problem is, as my co-worker Kevin pointed out, it's going to be a painful wait (by the looks of it, we'll have it holiday season next year).
Back to the interview, Boyarsky (I wonder if they call him Chef Boyarsky around the office?) comments on something you rarely hear addressed in RPGs of any kind:
Diablo 3 sounds like it will be more structured and quest driven than the older games?
It's a balancing act. We don't want to make it feel too structured and it needs to remain open ended. But we want players to get interested and immersed in the story and lore. This is something we can definitely improve on from Diablo 2. Diablo 2 was great with action and the story was ok but the questing and justification for action was often quite weak. We don't want to make it feel you are being pulled along or hemmed in but we want to make it feel like something big is going on. So yes, a real balancing act.
DIII team: it's like you're reading my mind. From this and the rest of the interview, you can tell they're just as geeky over this stuff (and I say that in the best way) as the gamers who play it are, if not moreso. I just love a team that are really into the game they're making, and you can tell how thrilled they are to be working on it. This shines through Blizzard as a company, and through their games. Gamers who play Blizzard titles know this, and it works out for the better for everyone. Blizzard is one of the few 'huge' companies in the industry I have no qualms about being as big as they are, because they make kickass games and love doing it.
But now I must reduce myself to the likes of a childish fanboy: Diablo III, gimme gimme gimme.
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