Over at CVG http://www.computera...e.php?id=193852 Brian Morrisroe, the art director for D3, was interviewed on the 23rd July.

Really just a different voice from the same crew that is the D3 team. What I found interesting was this:

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Scope for our hero then to do some exploring to see if those decrepit senile ramblings of Cain's are true? So Cain was really right after all...

The opportunity for humour as well to balance the dark story line - perhaps Cain drifting off on a tangent, his mind awash with dementia?

Additionally the article made me think about the potion/orb system:

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Yes! The new health system makes it a little harder for us to tag along on the edges of battle in normal mode while our friendly uber helper from hell lays waste to all.

I wouldn't say *much* harder to help at this stage without more details. The effective radius will have to be wide to incorporate ranged party members similar to D2 amazons and necromancers.

Sideshow Collectibles and Blizzard Entertainment are proud to introduce the Diablo III Collectible series with this epic first release. The Barbarian Statue depicts the warrior class in fine form, wielding dual-axes in the heat of battle. Each piece is hand-cast in high quality polystone, individually finished and hand-painted to exacting standards, complete with individually assigned edition numbers on the bottom side of the base. Don't miss this opportunity to begin your Diablo III collection with the limited edition Barbarian Statue.

There will be two editions: The normal one and the Exclusive.  The Sideshow Exclusive version of the Diablo III Overthrown Polystone Diorama includes a unique feature available nowhere else: Interchangeable helmeted head for alternate display!

Within the world of Sanctuary in the Kingdom of Khanduras, barbarians are an ancient class of legendary warriors. Barbarians are known for their immense size, relentless fury and two-weapon fighting techniques and dwell upon their sacred Mount Arreat. Though once misunderstood to be simple and aggressive invaders, they are a noble, proud people, upholding great tradition - protecting Mount Arreat and the mysterious artifact it holds.

License: Diablo III
Product Type: Polystone Diorama
Product Size: 18" H (457.2mm) x 12.5" W (317.5mm) x 13" D (330.2mm)*
Product Weight: 15.00 lbs (6.8 kg)*

The FLEX plan allows you to pay in three easy monthly payments. Pre-Order your Diablo III Overthrown Diorama.

        

     

This week the Diablo III Community Manager Bashiok answered a few questions from the Battle.net forum community continuing the analysis of the gameplay video shown at the 2008 Blizzard Worldwide Invitationals.

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Bashiok: While the crumbling bridge could be taken quite literally, it was intended to get the idea across that Diablo III will have more interactive and responsive environmental hazards. Of course if such obstacles existed in the way they were displayed every class would need some way to proceed. At this time we aren't announcing any additional class abilities though.

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Bashiok: It used the same "tile set" as the Tristram Cathedral dungeon including a specially made entry room. It was a static and specifically crafted dungeon especially for the demo, so yes it includes the look for Tristram Cathedral, but it's not a true piece of the game as you would play through it.

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Bashiok: Hey, are you kind of kid who reads the last page of a mystery first? Who pesters the magician to tell you his tricks? Who sneaks downstairs to peek at his Christmas presents? Nooooo... of course you're not. That's why I'm noooot goooonna teeeeell yoooou!

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Bashiok: What I said was: "... we don't plan nor have any armor items at the moment that are class specific - although the bonuses and stats may be better suited to a certain class - anyone can pick up any chest/shoulder/leg/etc item and wear it. However, there are some weapons/off-hand items that are class specific."

No changes to this yet, there just weren't any drops that were class specific. We essentially "hand placed" every drop that happened in the video. We knew people were going to dissect and scrutinize every detail, and everything that drops in that video was purposefully and specifically chosen to be dropped... everything.

Fun fact: I played as the female barbarian for the recording.

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Bashiok: Well the way we imagined the final fight going down when thinking about the flow of the presentation was to have a few heroes killed off, and thought it would be cooler to see someone get ripped in half by a giant demon than just fall down. While it was an event made for the presentation it could definitely be worked in to the actual end-product. We try not to spend time on anything that can't be incorporated in some way. If there's a mockup or some cool flavor added in somewhere to show something off, we want to build it so that it can actually be used.

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Bashiok: They're for the most part static. With the outdoor environments we felt we could get a lot more out of them by crafting large and visually impressive scenes, which random map generation really just doesn't allow for all that well. By that same token one of the main goals with Diablo III is to flesh out Sanctuary, to make it feel more like you're in this living and breathing world. With towns shifting around everywhere you do sort of lose a sense of cohesion, and an attachment to the places you're visiting.

On a very slight technical note - for random map generation you're essentially creating a bunch of rooms that can all fit together in various ways. It works quite well for a dungeon which is essentially a series of rooms any way. For an outdoor environment though it tends to make it either fairly bland, or fairly linear just by how the edges have to line up. You're either running zig-zag patterns to find the map edges, or you're running down a narrow pathway. Neither are extremely compelling, and at the same time you're losing the visual grandness that could come from a fully hand-crafted and artistically realized environment.

That said, the outdoor areas aren't completely static.

The latest issue of PC Powerplay, an Australian Gaming magazine (Issue #155) has featured a cover story on Blizzard with a main report on Diablo 3 consisting of a a five page write up, with exclusive screenshots and information about the game.

The issue also features a preview of Starcraft 2 and a feature on popular Diablo 2 mods for those of you still playing the good old game.

Blizzard Guru has uploaded scans of the magazine, which include an interview conducted some time after WWI about the game's art direction, the implementation of health globes and some general talk about how the game is shaping up to be. There's also a separate article on item randomization and talk about the new classes, and a snippet of rumors on what the new Battle.net 2 will bring to the table.

PCG podcast #139 (entitled Bugged) has revealed that Diablo III is the next cover story of PC Gamer magazine at newsstands. Apparently there will be new art revealed in this magazine, a Q&A with the Lead Art Director, and possibly an interview with Mike Morhaime (Blizzard president). It's mentioned after 7:00 of the podcast, and they also talk about the online petition.
www.pcgamerpodcast.com

"Diablo III will be in the cover of our PC Gamer October 2008 issue, on newsstands by August 19th."

Thanks, dunhac82

Bashiok rolls his engines to answer a few concerns from the Diablo III Gameplay Video.

Q u o t e:
Here are some smaller information I gathered from watching Diablo 3's gameplay video. Some may be obvious but have not been posted, so here it goes!

Undead Comes Back for Revenge

http://img261.images...torsc813de9.jpg

At 8:13 of gameplay, an already dead creature comes back to life. A zombie of the undead!

Bashiok: This is the detached torso of a Walking Corpse. After death the torso of the Walking Corpse has a chance to survive, detaching itself and crawling after the hero.

Q u o t e:
Critters

http://img169.images...ters1409zl6.jpg

14:09 of Gameplay - Besides from there being cute bunnies in Diablo 3, critters don't die. Man, I always liked killing critters in Starcraft. This image is the Witch Doctor throwing a random fire ball which directly hits a critter, but the critter receives no effect.

Bashiok: This was unfortunately a bug that existed in the build that was being used to record the gameplay video. Those critters die, and there's nothing more satisfying than seeing a bunny corpse flung across the screen. It just wasn't working for the demo, which stinks.

Q u o t e:
Leader doesn't die until new spawns come?

http://img169.images...tdie1525jy4.jpg

15:25 of Gameplay - That same leader of the post above this one, leads the Witch Doctor and Barbarian to the hill where it was the supposedly "nasty trap" they got caught into. But this leader was not able to get hit or damaged in any way until after the new enemy spawns came.

Frozen

http://img110.images...ozen1530nx5.jpg

15:30 of Gameplay - The Witch Doctor and Barbarian are frozen by the same group leader. It shows 2 red effects on the bottom left of the screen, one looking image looking like a time thing (forgot what its called lol) which may show how long the effect lasts or just slows target down, and second being ice image, which is for the completely frozen effect. Also when frozen, your whole skill bar goes red. (Frozen effect seems dangerous for Hardcore players !)

Bashiok: It was a scripted event to pretty much have a cool way to introduce the female Witch Doctor and Barbarian, so yeah, it wasn't necessarily indicative of something that would show up in the actual game.

Q u o t e:
Jumping/Dodging?

http://img157.images...ping1653kl5.jpg

16:53 of Gameplay - During the end of gameplay, the Siegebreaker Assault Beast boss makes his entrance by slamming through the wall, charging against the players. They all jumped. Either its automatic jump reflexes, which seems kind of weird, or theres a jumping button.

Another part when the jumping is really seen as, what's really going on?
http://img115.images...gain1738rc5.jpg
The Siegebreaker charges at the Witch Doctor at 17:38 of gameplay. The Witch Doctor clearly dodges the attack somehow. I would assume, this cannot be automatic reflexes because that would make no sense. Just let him stomp on the damn player, or are the players really dodging somehow?

Bashiok: This is a knock back effect when the Siegebreaker would use its "charge" type ability. It effectively damages your character and pushes them away from the charging path.

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Bashiok: Aw, of course we care! A large part of my job is specifically to ensure that the valid concerns, comments, and critiques are brought to the appropriate people's attention. That doesn't mean that every idea or suggestion is something we agree with, or are going to base changes on though. There's a point where, as a game designer, you have to stick to your guns and know that your choices and direction are what's best for the game and ultimately those that will be playing it. There's a point where you have to be confident that you're making the right decisions. So at the end of the day you're staying true to your vision and design, and doing what's best for the game.

A good example of us paying attention though was the concern and thread about corpses not sticking around long enough. I read that thread, brought it up, and some discussion was happening on it. Later our lead tech artist Julian was reading through the replies, and got some ideas of how we may want to keep corpses on screen a little longer. Now we're playing around with some changes that shouldn't have a huge performance hit, while still keeping the corpses on screen for variable amounts of time. Hopefully it works out.

Would any experimentation for corpse decay have happened had it not been brought up on the forums? I don't know, maybe, but we're not just dismissing good, valid, and well reasoned concerns.

As I said not every suggestion, comment, or idea is going to be considered, but we're definitely watching and reading.                                                                  

Thanks, jinx_spam