Cryptic's design director discusses two of the most anticipated PC titles.

[  « Previous Page | 1 | 2  ]

Star Trek Online screenshot

VideoGamer.com: What do you think of Diablo III?

BR: I'm very interested to see, I think not only how the game comes out, but also how players react to it. With Hellgate: London at Flagship we definitely did it in a different setting, we did it with some different viewpoints, but the core mechanic was really what I would consider that Diablo mechanic. Fighting lots of enemies, lots of loot dropping, built entirely on the concepts of randomisation. Beyond the issues we had when we launched the game, we actually found that there was a lot of feedback that they just felt the gameplay was repetitive and boring. It was really interesting because it pointed to me wondering if that style of game is still going to be engaging for players. It very well may be. We certainly may have just not hit the mark with the presentation of the game mechanic, but the mechanic itself was very solid. So I'm somewhat interested to find out if players are going to go through and be content with clicking on a lot of stuff, killing guys and having lots of loot drop off in random areas. I don't know.

 Advertisement

I am positive that the game will be highly polished, very well put together, very fun when it comes out, though I think players have seen also some of the changes that are going to occur with that. With the fact that the creators of the franchise don't work there any more. That it's not the Blizzard North (now defunct) guys that always worked on the Diablo titles that are on it but the core teams in Irvine (Blizzard's HQ in California). The first outward sign of that was when the first screens and video came out. Diablo players were like, it's not dark and it's not Gothic! It all looks cartooney! One of the things I always enjoyed about that separation between Blizzard and Blizzard North was that the Diablo games had a very distinct art style. They had different art directors, they had different people working on it, they had a different sensibility about them. Diablo was I think grittier and darker and a little more leaning towards the photo realistic. Whereas the Craft games that were being built down in Irvine were bigger and broader in scope, brighter colours, just different pallets and different presentation. Both of those were very strong from that visual standpoint, for example. But it makes complete sense to me where they went because they basically took the Diablo universe and then approached it from the Blizzard Ivine stance for the visuals. That's the way they approach things. It wasn't that I looked at it and went, oh my God that looks terrible. I was like, that looks like Blizzard. The guys in Irvine. That's what it looks like to me. Their interpretation of it.

There are some things that seem like they're going to be pretty cool. There's a higher level of interactivity with the environment. They've done some really cool stuff with some of the powers. When I saw the video at first, they had the Witch Doctor cast the Wall of Zombies or something like that, and I was like, that's just the coolest spell ever. It's such a great idea. It's just a wall spell but the fact that they decided to make it zombies, I'm like, OK that's just really cool! So I have no doubts that it will come out as what we all know a Blizzard product will be, which is having a lot of time and care put into it, very polished and a very complete product. I'm excited and interested to see what it's going to be because it'll be the Diablo franchise but without the people that shepherded it before. I am hopeful that it's going to be what I'm expecting as a Diablo fanatic for it to be. But time will tell.

VideoGamer.com: You mention that you can understand the art style and direction Blizzard has taken with Diablo III, but are you pleased with it or disappointed with it? You were one of the chief architects of the original Diablo games which, as you've said, were darker and grittier than the Craft games.

BR: You know, I liked the darker grittier. I liked the differences in art style, to be honest. So, I think I would personally from a player standpoint prefer that. One of the things that we always tried to get across was that Diablo was Gothic fantasy and I think there was just a need that was put in there from the visuals that I didn't necessarily get. I got it from the architecture and to a degree from the character design but not the feeling of the world. I can't say that I dislike it. I didn't look at it and go, oh my God that's horrible. But I looked at it and went, it's not really... to me as a player it just didn't really ring with Diablo.

VideoGamer.com: It seems to have split the fan base right down the middle. Were you keeping tabs on that reaction?

BR: Yeah we definitely saw that. I wasn't shocked by it but I was a little surprised at how vocal people were. There are still a lot of people I'm sure that play Diablo II and the expansion but at the same time there are a lot of people who have their memory of what the game was. They've seen it come out and it's so obviously not that from that visual standpoint. It triggers all those, ah what are you doing with my fond memory?! Like, oh my God! And as we found the people that are online, that will get online and post on forums, are very vocal. And typically vocal with displeasure. People that like stuff don't go online and say, this is the best thing ever! My God I love it! They tend to just be enjoying it. Whereas the people that want to get on there and have issues are the ones that yell the loudest. So it's difficult to judge accurately what that will really mean. Probably to be honest all those people that were online talking about how they hated how it looked will be the first ones in the store to buy it and hate it in person.

The thing that's good about that, and any developer that sees people posting in forums, following these stories, voicing pleasure or displeasure, the huge part about that is that they are passionate about what you're doing. That's the good takeaway. If they didn't care about the game they wouldn't say anything. So even when they're on there saying, ah I really hate this decision you made, they're expressing that because they love the core product. That's a huge thing to look at. As developers look at these things, to not become entirely discouraged when people are online bitching about something that you said or that you're doing. At least they care enough to be upset about it.

Champions Online is due out this spring. Star Trek Online is due out in 2010. Cryptic has an unannounced MMO due out in 2011.

[  « Previous Page | 1 | 2  ]