Posts with tag: blizzcon

Yes, we've played Diablo III, and you can touch us if you like. Perhaps the biggest announcement to come out of BlizzCon this year wasn't even an announcement that had any effect outside the conference: on Thursday night, thumbing through the programs we nabbed in the goodie bags, we saw that Blizzard was offering three different games for play on the BlizzCon floor. Wrath of the Lich King, of course, is the second expansion for World of Warcraft. Starcraft II we'd also played before -- it's due out sometime next year (and, we later found out, in the form of three different games). But the third game was the winner: Blizzard was offering Diablo III, playable, in the very same building we were standing in at the moment. Angels (the good kind, not the Tyrael avenging kind) sang out, and we realized that that very weekend, we'd be touching the next hack-and-slash gift from the gods at Blizzard.

As with many things, there's good news and bad news here. The good: it didn't disappoint. Diablo III looks like the kind of timeless classic that its precursors were and that Blizzard is known for making. The bad news? It's nowhere near ready. It hasn't even begun to think about being ready. It could be a full decade before we see this thing on store shelves.

But how did it play? Click the link below to find out.

While the major announcement this weekend from BlizzCon was the episodic release of StarCraft II, there was plenty more to see in the game itself. There were centers around the convention floor that let fans from around the world get a few minutes with the game. We got a chance to sit down and play a little StarCraft II for ourselves.

The name of the game was multiplayer for us. In one particular game I got to go against a reporter from Hungry for a bit. He was a nice guy, and he knew how to play the game. I was hanging out with my Terran brethren building a massive defensive force, and he was warping around with his fellow Protoss (often getting clobbered by my bunkers).

Read on after the break for a hands on review of StarCraft II.

Another BlizzCon has come and gone, and I'm still trying to recover from it, personally, not only from the blisters on my feet, but from the information overload from Diablo III. With that in mind, here's one last infodump from the last Diablo III panel of the con, the art and lore panel. If you're a lore nerd like me, you'll want to read up on it, and even if you aren't, there's a few little tidbits of gameplay information that are worth checking out.

After you have read this part, be sure to read parts 2 and 3 as as well!

Back to Part One

On Art's Contribution to Lore and Gameplay

Next up was Chris Donaldson, Diablo III's Lead Exterior Design Artist. Says Donaldson, one of the biggest jobs of his team is take written lore and design and use it as a basis to build the world of Sanctuary. They're working on some core values in designing the world of Sanctuary, which he went through: Stylization over realism, dynamic animations, strong silhouettes, art that supports the gameplay, "make it epic," and "don't be afraid of color."

Beyond that, they also want to respect the past of the game, both the strengths in the art and the Horror emphasis. Despite the protests of some that Diablo III is too colorful, the Diablo III team strongly believes that color has been part of the Diablo universe in the past, and should be used again. They also decided to keep the Isometric camera of past games. Not only does it respect the legacy of Diablo, but it also allows them more freedom with the art. Since scenes are always seen from one angle, they can handcraft everything to be viewed from that angle.

When speaking of stylization over realism, said Donaldson, it is important to realize that stylization doesn't have to equal a cartoonish look. In fact, the world of Sanctuary does have a realistic bent to it in some ways. However, it is also a fantastic world where people interact with strange creatures every day.

Strong Silhouettes tie into this and many other aspects of the core values. By establishing large, bold shapes, you open up the game world, both allowing more monsters to occupy the area and allowing the area to be more readable. The large geography can also contribute to the epic feel.

The art team is also not afraid of color. Color used properly can convey mood and contribute to both the epic feeling and the horror vibes of Diablo. Backgrounds with lots of dark blue and green establish the vibe, while brighter colors will hold attention and direct gameplay. In addition, you can emphasize mood and location shifts with color palettes, moving from the bright outdoors to dark dungeons, an important ability in a fast-paced game like Diablo.

Also important are dynamic animations, that is, background art that reacts, such as destructible scenery. Not only does it provide believability and immersion as the world reactions to your presence, but destroying stuff is fun -- in fact, he later assured a questioner that the mechanic was so incredibly popular that they're trying to fit it in wherever it's feasible.

In all of this, it's important to make sure that art supports the gameplay. Detail and beauty, said Donaldson, are all well and good, but they don't matter if you can't see what you're doing. Art needs to take a back seat to and support fun and gameplay.

After speaking about the philosophy of the exterior art team, Donaldson gave us a sneak peak into the design process. They work closely with the level designers, constantly making rough sketches of room layouts. Once they have a foundation laid, they also make sure to talk about what a room will be used for or what might be interactable within it. As an example, Donaldson mentioned a chandelier that could be triggered to fall on monsters (or your buddies), or perhaps some event that would happen as soon as you entered a room, such as a cave-in.

Once these discussions are done and a solid concept has been constructed, it's time to design, model, texture, and polish until the piece is done, always being mindful of the core values.

This was another short session presentation wise, but that means there was plenty of time for questions. Many of them were repeats of questions from previous panels, but there were also a few interesting revelations to be had.

On to Part Three!

Back to Part Two

Questions and Answers

The first person asked a pretty straightforward question: Given that his soulstone was shattered, how is Diablo coming back? Boyarsky joked about that a bit, "Boy, just because his name is in the title, everyone assumes he's coming back!" More seriously, he said that they won't give away all of their secrets, but that the plot will have many interesting twists and turns, based very solidly on past lore. They don't plan to throw any complete curve balls.

Another couple questions dealt with the status of Paladins and the religion of Zakarum now that the Zakarum religion has been discredited and their temple destroyed. Zakarum itself, said Boyarsky, is bouncing back. For a while, it was so detested that it was illegal to practice, but now it has a growing foothold in Zakarum, where its followers insist that they are a "true church," the domination of Mephisto only an unfortunate but distant memory.

As for Paladins themselves, they along with many other old NPCs and cultures, will be seen in Diablo III. You may even see your Paladin NPC from Diablo II, or at least find out what happened to him. They won't be playable though. Similarly, he confirmed later that there will be Necromancer PCs in game, and that we will probably find out what happened to the Druids and Barbarians after the Worldstone was shattered and their mission of protecting ended in failure. Apparently, the reason the Female Barbarian PC takes up the mantle of warrior is specifically because most of the males are too despondent to fight themselves after their perceived failure at Arreat.

Another questioner wanted to know if characters from the books will appear in game, and Boyarsky said that, while he couldn't give specifics, they will try to integrate the Diablo books more fully into the game lore, whereas before they've just been side stories of a sort.

Another couple of questions dealt with the cinematic. Will Leah, the girl from the cinematic, be in the game, asked one person? Yes, answered Boyarsky. In fact, the Cinematics will matter much more to the game than Marius' separate, non-interactive story. The cinematics will follow your hero's story and actions, making you feel like you are driving the story, rather than showing that your character is one step behind the villain almost the whole time, like in Diablo II.

A few more questioners asked about Deckard Cain. How can he call himself the last of the Horadrim if he's just going off old tales he heard of the order? According to Boyarsky, his heritage is that of the Horadrim. He great-grandfather, Jared Cain, was one of their order. Because of this and because of the lore and stories he has gathered, he calls himself last of the Horadrim. Someone else asked how Cain has survived when so many others have died, and Boyarsky speculated that his Hordadric blood may be especially hardy -- although he also admitted that it is as much because he's needed for the story.

In graphics questions, someone asked what tools Donaldson wished he had to draw the game or what tools he was looking forward to. Donaldson answered that the team vastly preferred hand-painting whenever possible. Tech, like Art, is secondary to fun, and what is important is that they're strong artists, and that Diablo III is accessible and fun. Another question was as to whether spells would have graphical changes in level, to which the answer was that they would have some graphics changes due to runes. Anything besides that is still to be determined, although Boyarsky said he thought it would be a good idea.

In other lore questions, one person asked whether we'd see Baal again since we'd never specifically seen his soulstone destroyed. Boyarsky said it was a good idea, and jokingly told Donaldson to write the idea down. He did said same about someone's question about Diablo movie rumors, at the same time saying that he had no information about a Diablo movie.

One questioner wanted to know if we'll get more visible armor. Boyarsky revealed that things such as belts are a bit too small to show up, but that we'd be seeing shoulderpads and pants that would show up on the character.

To questions on whether we'd see a new cow level or Wirt's fourth leg, the answers were, "We are not disclosing the amount of Bovine material in the game," and "We can't give away our easter eggs," respectively.

One person asked if we'd be able to pound down the gates of Heaven and raise holy hell, to which Boyarsky replied that it's likely we'll see Heaven in a future game in the series, but probably not Diablo III itself.

One person complained that Multiplayer in Diablo II is often too chaotic, with it being hard to tell who is casting once. Boyarsky said that they are planning to deal with this in the new game, perhaps by making your own spells brighter or otherwise marked uniquely for you alone in multiplayer play.

One person wanted to know if there would be ways to combine spells in cooperative play, which the devs seemed to think was a good idea.

Another person asked not only for the Horadric Cube back, but a model of the cube in the Diablo III Collector's Edition. Boyarsky reiterated that the cube would not return in game as a usable item, but that they might include more Horadric Cube lore somewhere in the game.

Another person wondered if story progression would be linear or if there would be branching story lines. Boyarsky cited random quests as a way to add some variety to the storyline, and revealed that many quests are optional and can be rejected as well. Your character will also often assign themselves quests in internal dialogue upon seeing something or entering a new area.

Another question was if we'd get closure at the end of Diablo III, or if it would like Diablo II, where Baal escaped and set up the story for the Throne of Destruction expansion. Boyarsky said that they hope to provide closure to many hanging questions in Diablo III, but that they definitely don't want to close the doors on the franchise, and want to leave plenty of room for a sequel.

In other miscellaneous news: There will be 5 classes total, and there will be unique named monsters. No word if Bishibosh and Rakinishu will return.

While you can argue that none of the information was earth-shattering, it was certainly interesting, and more than enough to keep feeding the fuel on this fanboy's flame of enthusiasm. If the game ends up half as good as these panels make it sound, it's sure to be my newest addiction when it comes out.

With all of the attention given at BlizzCon to games like World of Warcraft, Diablo III and Starcraft II, many have wondered if Blizzard plans to release a fourth game in the Warcraft RTS series. Warcry has word that that the prospects for a Warcraft IV are likely but don't hold your breath getting your hands on it anytime soon?

Why? It's pretty simple. The RTS team at Blizzard is in the middle of making Starcraft II and with the decision to split the title into three full games its likely that they will be working on that game for the next few years. Blizzard's J. Allen Brack stated that he thought it was "extremely likely" that Warcraft IV would be made eventually but for right now Blizzard's development plate is full.

Starcraft fans were shocked this past weekend when it was first revealed at BlizzCon that the long awaited sci-fi RTS sequel Starcraft II would in fact be split up into three separate games, with each having a single player campaign focusing on one of the three races in the franchise. MTV's Multiplayer site has a little more info on how that will work.

According to the game's producer at Blizzard, Chris Sigaty, the decision to break up the game was not due to a request from the newly merged Activision Blizzard executive team. In fact the decision was made last year before they knew of the coming merger. Sigaty states, "We were running up against basically having a huge story with big scope." So instead of cutting elements our of Starcraft II they decided to try a new way of presenting the type of story they wanted. "And because it wouldn't affect multiplayer at all, and that each product would have upgrades to multiplayer - expanding and improving upon multiplayer - we thought it was a positive move."

The first game, Terrans: Wings of Liberty will be followed by Zerg: Heart of the Storm and finally Protoss: Legacy of the Void. Sigaty states that all three are considered to be full games at least on the single player level but declined to say how much each game would cost. Also it could be a year or even more between releases of each title althought he does state, "We want to hit the shortest amount of time possible." Of course there's still no release date for the first title.

It's a subject that was certain to raise some people's temperatures. During BlizzCon this past weekend it was brought up that Blizzard is looking to "monetize" their Battle.net multiplayer online service which has been free to use for all of Blizzard's non-subscription based games.

Now our sister site Joystiq has a quote from Blizzard's vice-president Rob Pardo who has a little more info on how Blizzard might go about making Battle.net generate some cash. Thankfully he states, " I think World of Warcraft is a great example to look at. We charge people if they want to switch servers or if they want name changes, things that aren't core to the game experience, they're really just optional things that some people want." He added, "We would never do something like say to get the full game experience, you'll have to pay extra." So it appears being able to play games like Diablo III or Starcraft II online for free is still safe and sound.

Geeze...what a busy week...full of ups and downs...and the stock market was busy too. We kid. Anyway, check out our highlights for the past week.

Exclusive features

• BlizzCon: Check out our coverage of the Diablo III class panel and the DVD production panel and stay tuned for more BlizzCon coverage next week.
• Interviews: We had Pete Hines talk about Fallout 3, Tilted Mill chatted about Mosby's Confederacy and American McGee talked about American McGee's Grimm.
• Neverware: Cancelled PC Games Part One: Check out part one of our look at various cancelled PC games over the years.
• Video Game Cosplay Gallery: We are getting close to Halloween so here are some video game related costumes you might want to check out.
  
• MacMonday: This week's look at Mac gaming takes a look at the puzzle title Magic Match Adventures
• MODMonday: Our look at Max Payne mods takes a look at the total conversion Polar Paradise
• Big Ideas: Should technology drive the PC game industry? Our latest look at themes in the industry says, "No".
• Big Iron: Our weekly hardware column asks the question: "32-bit or 64-bit?"
• Alt-Tab: Our weekly column takes a hands-on look at the Demigod beta test.
• Freeware Friday: Our weekly look at free games is for a title that's just hard to describe:Barkley, Shut Up And Jam: Gaiden, Chapter 1 of the HoopZ Barkley SaGa
• Virtual Bargin Bin: Our weekly look at cheap games is for BioShock and the Grand Theft Auto Collection

Our sister sites WoW Insider and Joystiq have been covering all aspects of BlizzCon this weekend and now that it's over we can look over their coverage. WoW Insider concentrated on World of Warcraft and their Day 2 coverage is now front and center with, among other things, a Q&A panel article, coverage of the World of Warcraft tournament finals, and the BlizzCon dance finals.

Over at Joystiq, the team had a report on the Diablo III gameplay panel, an interview with Starcraft II's lead producer, and coverage of the closing ceremonies. Stay tuned as Big Download will have our own hands-on impressions of both Diablo III and Starcraft II in the coming days.