Mike Huang: When I left Blizzard in '03, Blizzard North had done quite a bit of pre-production work on Diablo III, as well as some protoyping on the 3d-game engine. Today at the Blizzard Invitational in Paris, they announced the release of Diablo III. Since much of the work we had done on Diablo III was concept and prototype work, seeing the development they've done over the last 5 years was very interesting; while some of the concepts we were developing definitely looks like it made it through to the version of the game they displayed, some of the design choices they appear to have made seem counter to the decisions the original Diablo team members would have made had they remained on development of the title -- the most apparent change that I can point to is the appearance of "floating numbers" as seen in the gameplay video -- this was a feature that Blizzard Irvine continually "suggested" during development on Diablo II, which Blizzard North refused to implement -- with development now located within Irvine, the decision to add floating numbers to the game isn't one which surprises me.
One of the design choices which again shows Blizzard Irvine's hand in the changes made is the re-appearance of the Barbarian character class -- the original design documents for Diablo III included a set of all new character classes, with no reappearance of old character classes (our reasons for this was simple -- since we were enhancing and improving the skill system, we didn't want to try and adapt old skills into a new system -- we'd rather create all new skills for the new character classes. The return of the Barbarian class feels like a change that was made after development of the title was moved to Irvine 3 years ago. -- this is an excerpt only. Read the full article at
Mike Huang's blog
all those shoops show us is that a fag can apply 1 layer of grain
I for one hope they cell shade it so I never have to come across dumb asses like drake while playing
There ya go. Quote fixed.
If you have yet to see the connection MANY people have drawn between D3 and WoW then you're actively trying not to. There's countless sigs like mine, countless "before/after" screenshots, and dozens of people who have explained it. From over sized shoulder pads to the goth sculpture over to the light issues; and this ex-employee statement, in my mind, even furthers it.
Agreed x2. I honestly believe we're going to see a noticeable difference in the production and play of D3 then we have in the past games. Now I know to that people would say "Of course... it's a sequel and a different game". But I don't mean it like that. I mean in more of the feel of the game and the flow of it and everything else that goes into the Diablo series that we love. And a difference in the D3 we imagined for 10 years and the D3 we're going to get.
What the Hell are you talking about? The dude said 'Blizzard north can blow me' and cited Hellgate: London as an example to why a group of company workers can orally please him. As if Hellgate is all Blizzard North has produced. That's why I quoted back and mentioned Diablo I/II because, ya know, Blizzard North is the reason any of us give a shit about all this.
not happy? go make an action rpg that is "true" to d1 and 2
the "47,000" sigs are from people w/o any inkling of a clue on what it takes to produce and program a game
also 47,000 vs 10,000,000 ?
this isn't Sparta, you will all most assuredly lose
LOL Blizzard doesn't need Blizzard North and you will see this when the game is released. This franchise is possible only because of Blizzard as they handed out the cash do not forget that. Blizzard North failed misserably without the money backing or are you to blind to see this? Blizzard made these guys what they were and when they left they ate all there crying when WoW raked in all the doe that they didn't get any part of. Must suck to know what could have been if they just kept their mouths shut about what they thought they knew.
I'm sure you understand that was 10 years ago. Let me say this then. Blizzard North was notyhing more than a 1 hit wonder. We all get lucky or have you forgotten. BTW y is everyong saying a gothic looking gargoyal should be in Cain's Sanctuary? After all he has been through don't you think he would want a peaceful scenery? I do not understand what all you people are smoking but you really need to focus here and think.
As a matter of fact, I DO know what it takes to make a video game - as someone who is 2/3 way complete with a 3D Game Art and Design degree, I can tell you its not easy, it takes lots of work, patience and talent - but thats common sense - but you know what? I DID sign the petition, and I back up my signature. It would of taken no extra work for Blizz to make D3 more gothic if they would of gone that direction from the start, which is how I am assuming Blizz North had originally taken the project. Whoever it was that said Huang sounded tactuflly dissapointed is correct, I think all of the former D3 crew is looking at the current stuff and performing a mental /Wrists.
You say 47,000 vs 10,000,000 - vs 10 million what? Players that are afraid to voice their opinon? Casual gamers? New commers to the genera? Or mabey just those sad and pathetic souls who are satisfied with whatever developers throw their way.
I said earlier, no doubt whatever is released will be an excellent game, I mean come on, its Blizzard, but whether or not that game will be deserving of the Diablo namesake has yet to be determined.
What is Hell? What is a demon? Can't they take any form they choose? Not all demons are ugly or cute. Not all demons are able to be killed by a mortal blade. Who cares? It is a video game and nothing more. Stop bitching about it like you are going to change something is all I'm saying. The graphics do not make the game. Gameplay is fun then it will be successful. If the gameplay sucks it will flop. Nothing else matters. Play it or don't. They release trailers to build hype not to here people bitch. People that bitch are just hateing on the game which we have barely any info on. If this was said after they played the final cut I wouldn't say a word. And since you are in school for this by the time you get out then you can make whatever mod you need to make to change the graphics.
So the world is instantly supposed to be dark as soon as Evil steps foot in our would?
Well if they re-release Diablo 2 I'm definately not buying it. The game in a cathedral doesn't need to be dark. Outside there is a sun you know. Water mist when hit by sunlight does make a rainbow. That many lights should light up a room. The amount of gameplay we have seen is nowhere near enough to start a petition over. The armor is fine the way it is. Adding noise to it ruines the used of higher resolution. Adding dark clouds from some paintbrush palet looks like crap. The artist who designed in the game want there talents to be shown off and not hid away where noone can see it. I can keep naming off and have just as much credability as anyone else has that isn't a blizz rep.
Did you see something that I didn't? There were no dungeons in the trailer that I saw. Just a small part of the cathedral that cain was ambushed on. The rest was outside.