Curiously, Blizzard employ 2000 people of which only 40 are on the Starcraft 2 project and the majority of whom work on WoW maintenance.
So what share of the employee pie do console/mobile developers and Diablo employees enjoy?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
So we've got over the problem of colour in D3. Great. Now let's argue about everything else not yet set in stone and help make this game simply great! Game on.
That was pretty funny. But an interesting interview too. It kind of surprised me that they say they develop the multiplayer first then work toward the single player. But now that I think about it, that makes a lot of sense. Since once they have the game looking how they want it, they'll develop the storyline as they go along.
And so know we know that the game takes place about two years after the end of Brood Wars. And it is pretty amazing when you think about it how the game was being worked on beginning in 2003 and they managed to keep the lid on it for so long.
My problems is is that this interview doesn't do much to give hope to Diablo fans. Since when asked why Starcraft II took so long, Pardo said the team who did it went on to work on Warcraft III. So it doesn't exactly sound like they have more than one specialized development team working on more than one title at a time. My instincts right now are telling me it could be maybe three years until Diablo III is released. Not announced, though; released.
at this time they are going to give full support to SC2, and act like SC2 is their most important project, because it is! now that they have announced it, they are getting hardpressed to work on the game and get it finished, most of this interviews and other stuff about it is a form of stalling to keep us mesmerized to the lighter they wave in front of us as they hurry to finish the game.
PlugY for Diablo II allows you to reset skills and stats, transfer items between characters in singleplayer, obtain all ladder runewords and do all Uberquests while offline. It is the only way to do all of the above. Please use it.
Supporting big shoulderpads and flashy armor since 2004.
PlugY for Diablo II allows you to reset skills and stats, transfer items between characters in singleplayer, obtain all ladder runewords and do all Uberquests while offline. It is the only way to do all of the above. Please use it.
Supporting big shoulderpads and flashy armor since 2004.
Then were the other teams he was referring to merely the support teams for WoW and Battle.net?
Two of them are undoubtedly the teams working on WoW right now; one for content patches and one for the expansion. So it could mean that those two are bigger, but there's always the chance that there is a fourth team working on something else at the moment.
PlugY for Diablo II allows you to reset skills and stats, transfer items between characters in singleplayer, obtain all ladder runewords and do all Uberquests while offline. It is the only way to do all of the above. Please use it.
Supporting big shoulderpads and flashy armor since 2004.
wow, that interview must have ben thrilling. if you read, he talks about skeleton and the way they develope the games. he also said that SC2 was the smallest developement team they have. also i realized that WoW isnt really made by the same team, but by a seperate one. the one that worked on the first starcraft made WCIII and then started on SC2 in 2003.
the only way that diablo 3 will come soon is if there is already a team working on it, and all the core positions are filled in. as the guy said, artists can only work with the technology given to them by the programmers. i dont doubt that they've been working on D3 for all this time, just that they may go one game at a time on this.
the only way that diablo 3 will come soon is if there is already a team working on it, and all the core positions are filled in. as the guy said, artists can only work with the technology given to them by the programmers. i dont doubt that they've been working on D3 for all this time, just that they may go one game at a time on this.
And it's hard to imagine Blizzard doesn't have the resources to have multiple teams working on different projects. I mean, if 40 people can turn out what we've seen so far in SC2, surely they could allocate just enough people to get Diablo 3 started. But I've long believed that Diablo 3 is being worked on, at least with all the conceptual work. But at any rate, I'm glad these games take as long as they do. It's pretty different than games made by companies like EA whose goal it is merely to crank out as many games as possible, while quality seems secondary. Not that EA doesn't have great games, but they've never been special in any way, really.
this thing about the "skeleton teams" kinda makes me more optimistic. Most of the job openings we've seen over the last couple years under "The team behind Diablo and Diablo II..." were looking for artists, not programmers. It Diablo III could be way closer to release than i thought before.
"The artists can’t put anything into the game until the programmers get some technology for them."
if the artists were hired about a year ago or two, doesnt it mean the game is being developed and also isnt too far from pre-alpha versions? At least there should be some material to show when they decide to.
Were you concerned that a title as anticipated as “StarCraft II” might steal thunder away from “World of Warcraft”?
Not really, just because we’ve been doing this for a while, and we’ve done multiple products for a while, so we’re excited to do the next big game.
makes me think, by "we're excited to do the next big game." does he mean StarCraft II or perhaps even another future project. Might be my optimism talking here but i think we might hear of Diablo III before StarCraft II release.
If you've ever worked in a software development environment like I have (although NOT gaming) you'll understand that the company has a pool of talent and at different stages of the development life cycle varying numbers of bodies are required. With three or four (the 4th being mobile technology) projects going at Blizzard and with all at varying stages then people would get moved around a fair bit. Key people they'd prefer to keep in the same game. Plus people would be expected to multiskill to an extent, although in gaming that would be hugely difficult - you're either a coder or an artist for example.
So to say that only 40 are working on SC2 is no doubt true but not the full picture. Who knows exactly how many "projects" are going at the moment. Before D3 ships they'll already have a small team going over the high level concepts/design of any expansion. Is that a separate project? But reporting and corporate accounting probably goes through D3.
I think Blizzard have the money to afford a few little teams here and there to explore things as well. They'd be projects too. Even if the people only worked on these ideas for, say, half a day per week. That kind of thing does happen in the IT field.
It must be so much fun (and hard work) to work at Blizzard. If I had only chosen a different career path
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
So we've got over the problem of colour in D3. Great. Now let's argue about everything else not yet set in stone and help make this game simply great! Game on.
this thing about the "skeleton teams" kinda makes me more optimistic. Most of the job openings we've seen over the last couple years under "The team behind Diablo and Diablo II..." were looking for artists, not programmers. It Diablo III could be way closer to release than i thought before.
You might be right, and if you are, I think Diablo III probably started around the time WoW was released, or slightly before that. My question though is if Blizzard had the money at that time to rn three games simultaneously.
Quote from "FingolfinGR" »
if the artists were hired about a year ago or two, doesnt it mean the game is being developed and also isnt too far from pre-alpha versions? At least there should be some material to show when they decide to.
Repeat after me: Blizzcon
Now you've got my hopes up. In any case, it will be released after SC2, so 2008-2009 is probably the earliest we can expect. But still, there is hope
EDIT: And it turns out Paladin comes after Cavalier. Just like in Age of Empires II
PlugY for Diablo II allows you to reset skills and stats, transfer items between characters in singleplayer, obtain all ladder runewords and do all Uberquests while offline. It is the only way to do all of the above. Please use it.
Supporting big shoulderpads and flashy armor since 2004.
And it's hard to imagine Blizzard doesn't have the resources to have multiple teams working on different projects. I mean, if 40 people can turn out what we've seen so far in SC2, surely they could allocate just enough people to get Diablo 3 started. But I've long believed that Diablo 3 is being worked on, at least with all the conceptual work. But at any rate, I'm glad these games take as long as they do. It's pretty different than games made by companies like EA whose goal it is merely to crank out as many games as possible, while quality seems secondary. Not that EA doesn't have great games, but they've never been special in any way, really.
yea, and they also said that SC2 has the smallest production team, meaning they have something else in store. not to mention that they were the creators of WCIII, meaning a project could have been started before that just sitting in a backburner though
his thing about the "skeleton teams" kinda makes me more optimistic. Most of the job openings we've seen over the last couple years under "The team behind Diablo and Diablo II..." were looking for artists, not programmers. It Diablo III could be way closer to release than i thought before.
yes, that is one of the conclusions you were able to expand on and explain better. i forgot to include the artist thing on the employee site, and im glad you of all caught it. ^^
makes me think, by "we're excited to do the next big game." does he mean StarCraft II or perhaps even another future project. Might be my optimism talking here but i think we might hear of Diablo III before StarCraft II release.
it is most likely SC2 they are speaking of, but again we have the possibility that they are making reference to D3. notice he also mentions that they've done multiple products for a while, which can vaguely hint at what we all have our hopes aimed for.
You might be right, and if you are, I think Diablo III probably started around the time WoW was released, or slightly before that. My question though is if Blizzard had the money at that time to rn three games simultaneously.
there is still that rumor that D3 has been started, but was not deemed fun enough to play therefore blizzard held it back. i still lend some leeway towards this because it is like them to do so, and it may be a possibility. they have more than enough money to run three projects simultaneously, its harder though to keep it all under wraps.
Repeat after me: Blizzcon
Now you've got my hopes up. In any case, it will be released after SC2, so 2008-2009 is probably the earliest we can expect. But still, there is hope
EDIT: And it turns out Paladin comes after Cavalier. Just like in Age of Empires II
lets all take a while to make a request, let it be Diablo 3. if Diablo 3 comes out i bet you anything that all blizzard fans will be happy and overjoyed. who knows? maybe blizzard does announce it just to throw everyone off about SCII, and this way they've got an excuse if any of the two dont come out around times of prediction.
btw, just would like to remind everyone about the MMO employment requests on their site. remember, there are different teams. isnt it logical to say that just like the SC2 team, the WoW team can be working on a WoS or WoD?? simultaneous to the games of course.
Please lets all remember the rocky road to D3. Elsewhere, perhaps on this site, the "progress" towards a Diablo project post LoD expansion pack has been documented.
So it's not as though Blizzard is starting with a clean slate. It's not a new project. Picking up the pieces of the previous failed/cancelled/whatever attempts is much easier. Many months will be saved.
Definitely an announcement of something at BlizzCon. People who do know are keeping quiet. Trust me. There are precious beta seats up for grabs here. I don't think this site but other places have received 100's of these and they are not about to divulge anything. Content to be smug until the announcement occurs.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
So we've got over the problem of colour in D3. Great. Now let's argue about everything else not yet set in stone and help make this game simply great! Game on.
Some more thoughts i had today...
its hard to keep balance between announcing a game too early and too late. If Diablo III would be announced too early it might ruin the StarCraft II sales (or just make them bit worse). On the other hand, if they announce it too late, it might just not have the attention it should have (not talking about us hardcore diablo fans, but the rest of the gaming community). There's also the thing as "it goes old in development". If they take too much time both to announce and release, there might be a danger to have an old game at the time of its release that wont sell at all. I think Blizzard knows about these things best but i'm not sure how they'll solve that. Apparently Diablo III is in development for some time now. The question is if its gonna be out before the game grows old.
there is still that rumor that D3 has been started, but was not deemed fun enough to play therefore blizzard held it back. i still lend some leeway towards this because it is like them to do so, and it may be a possibility. they have more than enough money to run three projects simultaneously, its harder though to keep it all under wraps.
Yes, by now they do. But what I'm wondering is if it could have started prior to WoW's success, and whether they had the necessary capital at that time.
Quote from "AcidReign" »
Codename around the office for StarCraft II was Medusa. What do you think Diablo III's codename would be?
The Medusa petrified people with her gaze, possibly alluding to Starcraft being so awesome everyone will freeze when they see it.
In that case, I think Armageddon might be a suitable codename for Diablo III. All Hell will break loose when it is released
Quote from "FingolfinGR" »
There's also the thing as "it goes old in development". If they take too much time both to announce and release, there might be a danger to have an old game at the time of its release that wont sell at all. I think Blizzard knows about these things best but i'm not sure how they'll solve that. Apparently Diablo III is in development for some time now. The question is if its gonna be out before the game grows old.
That is something I'd prefer not to think or worry about until an announcement. If this is the case, then I'd like to keep the image of a flawless D3 in my head for as long as possible.
PlugY for Diablo II allows you to reset skills and stats, transfer items between characters in singleplayer, obtain all ladder runewords and do all Uberquests while offline. It is the only way to do all of the above. Please use it.
Supporting big shoulderpads and flashy armor since 2004.
i dont think it will be the case, even though, even when Diablo II came out the graphics were bit outdated (was in development since 1997-98 and was announced 98-99 if i remember right). Either way, if its in development (and apparently it is) we should hear of it at least within the next year, or they'll just scrap it and start over again (and it will end up like Duke Nukem Forever *shrugs*).
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18925251/
Curiously, Blizzard employ 2000 people of which only 40 are on the Starcraft 2 project and the majority of whom work on WoW maintenance.
So what share of the employee pie do console/mobile developers and Diablo employees enjoy?
That was pretty funny. But an interesting interview too. It kind of surprised me that they say they develop the multiplayer first then work toward the single player. But now that I think about it, that makes a lot of sense. Since once they have the game looking how they want it, they'll develop the storyline as they go along.
And so know we know that the game takes place about two years after the end of Brood Wars. And it is pretty amazing when you think about it how the game was being worked on beginning in 2003 and they managed to keep the lid on it for so long.
My problems is is that this interview doesn't do much to give hope to Diablo fans. Since when asked why Starcraft II took so long, Pardo said the team who did it went on to work on Warcraft III. So it doesn't exactly sound like they have more than one specialized development team working on more than one title at a time. My instincts right now are telling me it could be maybe three years until Diablo III is released. Not announced, though; released.
Siaynoq's Playthroughs
Siaynoq's Playthroughs
Siaynoq's Playthroughs
the only way that diablo 3 will come soon is if there is already a team working on it, and all the core positions are filled in. as the guy said, artists can only work with the technology given to them by the programmers. i dont doubt that they've been working on D3 for all this time, just that they may go one game at a time on this.
Siaynoq's Playthroughs
if the artists were hired about a year ago or two, doesnt it mean the game is being developed and also isnt too far from pre-alpha versions? At least there should be some material to show when they decide to.
makes me think, by "we're excited to do the next big game." does he mean StarCraft II or perhaps even another future project. Might be my optimism talking here but i think we might hear of Diablo III before StarCraft II release.
So to say that only 40 are working on SC2 is no doubt true but not the full picture. Who knows exactly how many "projects" are going at the moment. Before D3 ships they'll already have a small team going over the high level concepts/design of any expansion. Is that a separate project? But reporting and corporate accounting probably goes through D3.
I think Blizzard have the money to afford a few little teams here and there to explore things as well. They'd be projects too. Even if the people only worked on these ideas for, say, half a day per week. That kind of thing does happen in the IT field.
It must be so much fun (and hard work) to work at Blizzard. If I had only chosen a different career path
Repeat after me: Blizzcon
Now you've got my hopes up. In any case, it will be released after SC2, so 2008-2009 is probably the earliest we can expect. But still, there is hope
EDIT: And it turns out Paladin comes after Cavalier. Just like in Age of Empires II
yea, and they also said that SC2 has the smallest production team, meaning they have something else in store. not to mention that they were the creators of WCIII, meaning a project could have been started before that just sitting in a backburner though
yes, that is one of the conclusions you were able to expand on and explain better. i forgot to include the artist thing on the employee site, and im glad you of all caught it. ^^
it is most likely SC2 they are speaking of, but again we have the possibility that they are making reference to D3. notice he also mentions that they've done multiple products for a while, which can vaguely hint at what we all have our hopes aimed for.
there is still that rumor that D3 has been started, but was not deemed fun enough to play therefore blizzard held it back. i still lend some leeway towards this because it is like them to do so, and it may be a possibility. they have more than enough money to run three projects simultaneously, its harder though to keep it all under wraps.
lets all take a while to make a request, let it be Diablo 3. if Diablo 3 comes out i bet you anything that all blizzard fans will be happy and overjoyed. who knows? maybe blizzard does announce it just to throw everyone off about SCII, and this way they've got an excuse if any of the two dont come out around times of prediction.
btw, just would like to remind everyone about the MMO employment requests on their site. remember, there are different teams. isnt it logical to say that just like the SC2 team, the WoW team can be working on a WoS or WoD?? simultaneous to the games of course.
So it's not as though Blizzard is starting with a clean slate. It's not a new project. Picking up the pieces of the previous failed/cancelled/whatever attempts is much easier. Many months will be saved.
Definitely an announcement of something at BlizzCon. People who do know are keeping quiet. Trust me. There are precious beta seats up for grabs here. I don't think this site but other places have received 100's of these and they are not about to divulge anything. Content to be smug until the announcement occurs.
its hard to keep balance between announcing a game too early and too late. If Diablo III would be announced too early it might ruin the StarCraft II sales (or just make them bit worse). On the other hand, if they announce it too late, it might just not have the attention it should have (not talking about us hardcore diablo fans, but the rest of the gaming community). There's also the thing as "it goes old in development". If they take too much time both to announce and release, there might be a danger to have an old game at the time of its release that wont sell at all. I think Blizzard knows about these things best but i'm not sure how they'll solve that. Apparently Diablo III is in development for some time now. The question is if its gonna be out before the game grows old.
The Medusa petrified people with her gaze, possibly alluding to Starcraft being so awesome everyone will freeze when they see it.
In that case, I think Armageddon might be a suitable codename for Diablo III. All Hell will break loose when it is released
That is something I'd prefer not to think or worry about until an announcement. If this is the case, then I'd like to keep the image of a flawless D3 in my head for as long as possible.