diablo-ii posts

The shutdown of Hellgate London developer Flagship Studios earlier this summer continues to be felt in the game industry with its former team members either joining established teams or forming their own studios. It's the latter case today as Shacknews reports that two former Flagship execs have joined to form the dev studio called Gravity Bear.

The CEO of Gravity Bear is Phl Shenk who was a lead artist at Blizzard on Diablo II before moving to Flagship Studios to serve as art director on Hellgate London. Another former Flagship member, Kevin Klemmick, has also joined Gravity Bear as its technical director. There's no word yet on what projects the company will be making and Gravity Bear doesn't even have a web site yet.

We are now less than 24 hours from the "official" launch of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (although at least a few 7-Eleven stores have already jumped the gun and sold some copies to folks). However it looks like Blizzard decided to do some house cleaning ahead of the launch of their fantasy MMO expansion.

Blizzard's Battle.net site reports that in an effort to reduce cheating on their online service, Blizzard has banned over 350,000 Battle.net accounts. These folks were banned for their actions in Starcraft and Diablo II. In addition the CD keys for Diablo II found to be used with the closed accounts won't work for 30 days. While technically this has nothing to do with World of Warcraft the timing could be to get people ready for plans to have players sign into one Battle.net account to play all of Blizzard's current and upcoming games, including Starcraft II and Diablo III.

We've all been told that Blizzard wasn't -- and continues to not be -- affected by Activision. But is that really the truth? I hadn't questioned the claim until recently, when changes began to trickle out of BlizzCon 08.

At first, there was an announcement of a new StarCraft II singleplayer addition each year, for the next three years. Blizzard says: We wanted to make so much StarCraft II, that we needed to split it into three separate games that each need around a full year of development -- huzzah! I was ecstatic, it was Blizzard-nerd nirvana. Then these pesky questions began creeping into the forefront of my mind, buzzing about like infuriating flies that refuse to leave your room on a particularly hot summer day.

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.

As the typical five-year lifespan of a console winds toward its conclusion, gamers inevitably pose questions of backwards-compatibility. They wonder, as is only logical, whether the dozens, hundreds, or thousands of dollars they invested in their gaming library will be relevant when the new generation of hardware emerges. Sometimes, as with the Xbox 360's update-oriented system, most last-gen titles will still function properly. Other times, as with the PlayStation 3's confusing array of SKUs, the answer alternates between "maybe," "hopefully," and "who knows"?

Despite occasional hardware hiccups and OS woes, the PC platform has managed to retain its awe-inspiring catalogue of titles, thanks in large part to an active community of uber-geeks intent on doing whatever must be done to ensure that disk-based classics don't fade into obscurity.

Welcome to Boot Disk, a weekly column dedicated to covering PC gaming's impressive and length history. Every Tuesday, we'll examine one of the platform's many titles that still lend themselves to eminence five, 10, 15, or decades' worth of years later. This week's Boot Disk reflects on Diablo II, arguably the best action-RPG ever made.

Read Boot Disk: Diablo II, or browse the Boot Disk archive.

Games from Blizzard Entertainment not only have great gameplay and terrific CGI cut-scenes they also have some of the best music soundtracks in the industry. Earlier this week we reported that a free song from the Diablo III CGI trailer has been made available for free on iTunes and today Blizzard announced that soundtracks from a number of their older games have now been made available via Apple's music download service.

Some of these tracks have only been available until now in collector's editions of Blizzard games or on sale at part Blizzcon events. Six soundtracks are currently available for Starcraft, Diablo II, Warcraft III and three World of Warcraft soundtrack albums. Blizzard's podcast can also be downloaded via iTunes.

Ah, E3. The time of year when game writers go into overdrive. The next week ahead will involve long nights, lots of transcription, and spending quality time with the lovely and talented C₈H₁₀N₄O₂ -- caffeine. We here at Big Download will be no exception to this, and as such, we bring you the E3 roundup for WRUP; the "dude, where's my plane" edition.

Our fearless Managing Editor, Steven Wong suggested a networked game of Diablo II before we all jumped on planes this weekend, but several of us who still had packing to do just looked at him funny. As such, he's been hanging out in Civ4 and City of Heroes. John Callaham figured he'd take the "jump in, frag someone, jump out" route and opted for a little Team Fortress 2 to ease the stress. David Craddock was one of the people who thought Steven had a good idea, though and replied to Steven's request with "Is there any other game besides Diablo II? Yes - there's Diablo III. But that's not out yet. So I play Diablo II. Always. For long time."

On the writer side of the table, both Rafe Brox and Xav de Matos expressed plans to spend some time in WoW. Of course, Rafe said he'd also be playing with power tools, and Xav expressed the intent to play the "omg, get caught up on features" game, which this blogger certainly knows all too well and will be joining him in playing. James Murff is relaxing (not having to jump on a plane) with some zombie love in Survival Crisis Z. When he's not buried in brains, he'll be hopping between Team Fortress 2 and Dwarf Fortress. And of course, most of the crew will be playing the uber-leet Sleep Deprivation game. Luckily, we've all managed to beat that game several times over and we've memorized the content.

So, readers -- What aRe yoU Playing this next week? Will you play Sleep Deprivation with us and stay glued to the tubes for all the news, or will you instead kick back with your favorite game and relax?

This is the first time any one franchise has dominated our Big Downloads list. It's been almost exactly one week since Blizzard announced Diablo 3, and since then everything with the Diablo name attached to it has blown out through the door.

So four out of five of this week's top downloads are Diablo-related. We've thrown in the also-popular S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky trailer for some variety. To the Americans: have a great holiday weekend. To everyone else: have a great normal weekend!

	Diablo 3 Cinematic Teaser Trailer Blizzard has always been known for making lavish cinematics. Check out this gorgeous and forboding introduction to Diablo 3's story.
	Diablo 3 Gameplay Trailer Not much for flair and flash? Want to just get to the point? Download this for gameplay footage from Diablo 3.
	Diablo 2 Demo (Windows) After Diablo 3 was announced, everyone started playing Diablo 2 again. If you can't find your old discs, and aren't sure you want to spend any money yet, grab this demo.
	Diablo 2 Demo (Mac) Ditto for Mac users! Blizzard's a friend to Apple.
	S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky Atmosphere Trailer S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl was praised for its deep atmosphere, inspired by a film of the same name by Russian art-house director Andrei Tarkovsky. Clear Sky aims to follow suit, as this video demonstrates.