Hehe... exactly right. Development of this game actually started in 2001 (according to wiki). That's 11 years on making one game! Yeah there may have been a few power shifts. The original development team may have retired and the current development team replaced them... But still - 11 freaking years!
Honestly. If Blizzard fails horribly like this ever again... They will most probably go broke from furious fans.
Blizz North started developing Diablo 3 in 2001 until 2005-ish. They bailed and handed over the project to the current team. Then the current team basically started from scratch AND they developed a brand new physics engine just for D3. The art direction had undergone 3 revisions before the 2008 Paris unveiling.
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And knowing Blizz, Diablo 3 will be played till the end of time, because of the quality and re-playability, which take time. The game have gone through thousands of iterations throughout the development. They could probably make 2 games with all the content that has gone into the development of D3, exaggeration, but you get the idea.
They probably could've released the game in 2010, but it wouldn't have been the quality they wanted. I'd rather have a quality game. But yeah, it feels like forever, probably just because it has been 11+ years since D2, and not actually being 11+ years of continually development time.
Truthfully, this is all speculation. Blizzard never announced that D3 was even in the works till 2008. The information on the wiki about development starting in 2001 is fairly recent news and has no proof/citation. (Not saying its not true but I don't remember this rumor surfacing as late as 2005)
Diablo fans have been hoping and wishing for a squeal but I don't ever remember any true excitement/hope for D3 until we were told about Starcraft 2. The logic being If Starcraft is getting a sequel on its 10th anniversary that means Diablo will get one too.
Again it was all speculation and hope with no basis in reality until 2008.
PS. A Game director/producer is usually in charge of a game from conception till release to ensure the game has a single united vision. Jay Wilson joined Blizzard in 2007.
Releasing D3 in (hopefully! ) Q1 2012 instead of Q4 2011 should be due to some relevant but not huge issue.
What bothers me are all these announcements about revamps/rework/redefine etc.
What is customization in this game: skills you use and items you wear.
They may be refining/creating items, that's ok.
But skills....we don't know if there will be free swapping or something else (CD/reduced effects/whatever), skills are affected by runes (still under construction?), skills are now affected by weapons (this changed in the beta), DH resources and skills unlocking order are being reworked.
I have a feeling development has been so long because mechanics and ideas have been changed. Diablo has a pretty hardcore following, and I don't doubt that they've gone through many iterations in an attempt to preserve the mechanics and systems that made Diablo 2 so great. Unfortunately, it's 2011 and the gaming population and their perception has matured.
Look most recently with Monk and DH changes. Those are pretty significant, regardless if Bashiok wants to play it off as "some changes to a spreadsheet". And these were done quite late into development. I don't doubt that there have been several things that have ultimately been scrapped and gone over countless times in order to preserve the integrity, but modernize the systems.
On top of that, like mentioned in other posts here... Blizzard is all about quality. Their development cycles are much longer than other games due to small development teams and such a standard of high quality. I'm not saying that Skyrim and those examples won't have quality, but nobody can say with a straight face, that any of those games will meet the refinement and overall quality of gameplay that Blizzard puts out. Blizzard could also do a service to their communities and stop announcing games 3 years in advance. Though, I attribute that to the fact that Blizzard has a very, very small library so keeping people interested with a carrot on a stick is nothing more than a PR move, as annoying as it can be as a gamer.
The reason for such a long development is because they closed Blizzard North in 2005. They were working on D3 originally. Assuming you take a year for hiring new blood, shifting of assets and restructuring...you're looking at Q3/Q4 2006. Combine this with the fact that Blizzard probably started parallel development on the engine that would power D3 and SC2, you get 2007. I'm seeing around 4 years of real development time so far.
They're 2 seperate engines.
But other than that you're right, there's probably also been some moments in developement where they couldn't work on D3 due to SC2 or WoW.
I haven't played D3 Beta but judging from screenshots and videos, D3 was built on a custom SC2 based engine. Considering that both projects were on the table and getting started at the same time; Blizzard would've developed a single engine that was flexible enough for both applications. It makes sense from a developer point of view and it lowers the costs.
D3 should of been a Q4 2010 release though. They had plenty of time for engine customization, content creation and "polish". I'm thinking they fumbled about the game's direction and decided to play the "wait and see" card in regards with SC2. Since SC2 had a good reaction, they decided to take the same route with D3 (update and expand existing formula). That's my best guess.
Still not reality though, Blizzard confirmed a long time ago that they're 2 seperate engines, the only reason why they look that much alike is because they obviously share their work internally as well.
I think Blizzard has the option to give the dev as much time as its needed because of WoW, and becuase of WoW, they also dont need to rush the game out until the current WoW story is finished. Also, with the release of Titan being slated for 2013, I dont see much left for WoW, maybe one more expansion, so I think they are just milking WoW for all its worth. Releasing D3 right now would have a lot of people quit WoW prematurely knowing Titan is on the horizon and D3 can hold them over until the next epic story begins in so called Titan.
I know I would pretty much quit whatever current mmo I was playing if D3 was released today.
I think Blizzard has the option to give the dev as much time as its needed because of WoW, and becuase of WoW, they also dont need to rush the game out until the current WoW story is finished. Also, with the release of Titan being slated for 2013, I dont see much left for WoW, maybe one more expansion, so I think they are just milking WoW for all its worth. Releasing D3 right now would have a lot of people quit WoW prematurely knowing Titan is on the horizon and D3 can hold them over until the next epic story begins in so called Titan.
I know I would pretty much quit whatever current mmo I was playing if D3 was released today.
Titan in 2013? Are you out of your mind? From the date they tell us what the game is until the time the game released will most likely be at LEAST 3 years, so I wouldn't expect Titan until sometime after 2015. From the time they announced D3 and SC2 until release was well over the timeframe that Titan was, and since it's not a sequel I imagine they will put a lot more effort into promoting it because they can't just say "it's another StarCraft Game"
Titan in 2013? Are you out of your mind? From the date they tell us what the game is until the time the game released will most likely be at LEAST 3 years, so I wouldn't expect Titan until sometime after 2015. From the time they announced D3 and SC2 until release was well over the timeframe that Titan was, and since it's not a sequel I imagine they will put a lot more effort into promoting it because they can't just say "it's another StarCraft Game"
Did you see the leaked screen shot from months ago?
Titan was slated in on that screen shot at 2013. Who knows if thats the announcment date, or release year. Who knows really. But seems release year cause D3 was on there planned for late 2011. This was before D3 was pushed back to 2012 officially.
It also wouldnt supprise me if they just drop this game onto the public without a lot of warning. They have been taking a lot of heat for over hyping things lately.
All you really have to say is "Blizzard is releasing a new MMO" and millions of people will sign up right there without even knowing the IP.
Blizzard is top of an entire gaming platform. They produce their games way more than anyone else and have small teams with vast QA to keep that top position in an industry that is very time-sensitive with multiple installments usually being pushed out for a series in order to garner quick money rather than large profits over long periods of time (WoW). Also, anyone remember a little game that FINALLY CAME OUT? Almost in the same annoyingly painful time frame? StarCraft 2. Likewise, (and I know I'm starting to sound like a Blizz-fan-boy) I don't know of many other PC/Mac platform games that have enjoyed the same availability and longevity that the original Starcraft and Diablo games have. I know multiple people who have just downloaded the "Anthology" for the first time since starting a BNET account. That alone should attest that as frustrating as it seems, longer wait times for games, at least in the case of Blizz, makes for a better overall product.
The main thing that Blizzard is doing wrong with all their gaming developments (something that will make the game development time not seem so long) is the fact that almost all the information they release about the game in question is never accurate. They are sooooooooooo unorganized, we here one thing and then a few months later what we heard as taking a complete back-flip. This is what is making D3's development length so frustratingly overbearing!
If blizzard like almost all the other companies out there were to give us clear and concise information about one of there games for once... everything will be a hell of a lot smoother and all this nonsense of raging fans would be removed. Why even say that the game has the potential to release in 2011 if they are not sure, why release information about skill-points if it had the potential not to be in the final game and why provide information about the talisman system if they were going to scrap it anyways! I say - DO NOT SAY ANYTHING UNTIL WHAT IS SAID IS 100% ACCURATE!
Its these approximations and guesses that Blizzard so often claims that causes people to believe that they are incompetent and have no idea what they are doing! I know blizzard make unbelievably fun and successful games, but it doesn't give them a reason to be such d-bags and piss everyone off all the time with their misleading information.
Blizz has small development teams, which are better for quality but bad for time. This, coupled with their high standards means their dev cycle is long as all hell.
Size doesn't factor in as much as you might think, since generally bigger games have farther spread content. Depends on the game.
/thread
I wonder how many thousands of fans died waiting for the sequel of the series to be released...probably lots...
The man that introduced me to the diablo series, my best friend of 18 years died Oct. 14, 2010. He was so excited about the announcement and was going to roll a barb. Goddamn your comment Deventh. You made me shed yet another tear over my fallen brother.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The blind mind's eye replies with a sigh and a tear of contempt for those who see the world as it truly is.
The real reason is Mothers Against Videogame Addiction and Violence have made a new law where not only the player has to be over 18 to make a legal decision about playing a video game as addicting as this, but the game must now be over 18. So sadly we have 7 more years to wait until Diablo 3 is released.
See.. It could be worse!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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Blizz North started developing Diablo 3 in 2001 until 2005-ish. They bailed and handed over the project to the current team. Then the current team basically started from scratch AND they developed a brand new physics engine just for D3. The art direction had undergone 3 revisions before the 2008 Paris unveiling.
---------
And knowing Blizz, Diablo 3 will be played till the end of time, because of the quality and re-playability, which take time. The game have gone through thousands of iterations throughout the development. They could probably make 2 games with all the content that has gone into the development of D3, exaggeration, but you get the idea.
They probably could've released the game in 2010, but it wouldn't have been the quality they wanted. I'd rather have a quality game. But yeah, it feels like forever, probably just because it has been 11+ years since D2, and not actually being 11+ years of continually development time.
Diablo fans have been hoping and wishing for a squeal but I don't ever remember any true excitement/hope for D3 until we were told about Starcraft 2. The logic being If Starcraft is getting a sequel on its 10th anniversary that means Diablo will get one too.
Again it was all speculation and hope with no basis in reality until 2008.
PS. A Game director/producer is usually in charge of a game from conception till release to ensure the game has a single united vision. Jay Wilson joined Blizzard in 2007.
What bothers me are all these announcements about revamps/rework/redefine etc.
What is customization in this game: skills you use and items you wear.
They may be refining/creating items, that's ok.
But skills....we don't know if there will be free swapping or something else (CD/reduced effects/whatever), skills are affected by runes (still under construction?), skills are now affected by weapons (this changed in the beta), DH resources and skills unlocking order are being reworked.
Lot of changes, most of them related to skills.
Just hope they are messing with us.
Look most recently with Monk and DH changes. Those are pretty significant, regardless if Bashiok wants to play it off as "some changes to a spreadsheet". And these were done quite late into development. I don't doubt that there have been several things that have ultimately been scrapped and gone over countless times in order to preserve the integrity, but modernize the systems.
On top of that, like mentioned in other posts here... Blizzard is all about quality. Their development cycles are much longer than other games due to small development teams and such a standard of high quality. I'm not saying that Skyrim and those examples won't have quality, but nobody can say with a straight face, that any of those games will meet the refinement and overall quality of gameplay that Blizzard puts out. Blizzard could also do a service to their communities and stop announcing games 3 years in advance. Though, I attribute that to the fact that Blizzard has a very, very small library so keeping people interested with a carrot on a stick is nothing more than a PR move, as annoying as it can be as a gamer.
Still not reality though, Blizzard confirmed a long time ago that they're 2 seperate engines, the only reason why they look that much alike is because they obviously share their work internally as well.
I think Blizzard has the option to give the dev as much time as its needed because of WoW, and becuase of WoW, they also dont need to rush the game out until the current WoW story is finished. Also, with the release of Titan being slated for 2013, I dont see much left for WoW, maybe one more expansion, so I think they are just milking WoW for all its worth. Releasing D3 right now would have a lot of people quit WoW prematurely knowing Titan is on the horizon and D3 can hold them over until the next epic story begins in so called Titan.
I know I would pretty much quit whatever current mmo I was playing if D3 was released today.
Titan in 2013? Are you out of your mind? From the date they tell us what the game is until the time the game released will most likely be at LEAST 3 years, so I wouldn't expect Titan until sometime after 2015. From the time they announced D3 and SC2 until release was well over the timeframe that Titan was, and since it's not a sequel I imagine they will put a lot more effort into promoting it because they can't just say "it's another StarCraft Game"
Did you see the leaked screen shot from months ago?
Titan was slated in on that screen shot at 2013. Who knows if thats the announcment date, or release year. Who knows really. But seems release year cause D3 was on there planned for late 2011. This was before D3 was pushed back to 2012 officially.
It also wouldnt supprise me if they just drop this game onto the public without a lot of warning. They have been taking a lot of heat for over hyping things lately.
All you really have to say is "Blizzard is releasing a new MMO" and millions of people will sign up right there without even knowing the IP.
If blizzard like almost all the other companies out there were to give us clear and concise information about one of there games for once... everything will be a hell of a lot smoother and all this nonsense of raging fans would be removed. Why even say that the game has the potential to release in 2011 if they are not sure, why release information about skill-points if it had the potential not to be in the final game and why provide information about the talisman system if they were going to scrap it anyways! I say - DO NOT SAY ANYTHING UNTIL WHAT IS SAID IS 100% ACCURATE!
Its these approximations and guesses that Blizzard so often claims that causes people to believe that they are incompetent and have no idea what they are doing! I know blizzard make unbelievably fun and successful games, but it doesn't give them a reason to be such d-bags and piss everyone off all the time with their misleading information.
Give us hope then crush us down!
/rant
Lol anyways... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!! =)
See.. It could be worse!