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Geek Culture / The Creation of Diablo 2

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Phaelax
DBPro Master
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Location: Metropia
Posted: 30th Jul 2010 11:21
I came across an interesting article that gives some insight on the development behind Diablo 2. What's interesting to read is that Blizzard was not the well-oiled organized machine I would have expected from such a large company who produces some of the most popular games. With the lack of a proper design document and only a few outdated in-house tools and some guess work in design, it almost seems lucky the game came out so well.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3124/postmortem_blizzards_diablo_ii.php?page=1


As a side note, they point out the criticism they received for the graphics when the game launched. Despite the low resolution, I thought the graphics were amazing and very detailed. Am I alone with that thought?


"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" ~ Arthur C. Clarke
Quik
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Location: Equestria!
Posted: 30th Jul 2010 13:20
you know, back when blizzard was making Starcraft and diablo, they were a pretty new company, they were founded 1991 and their first big game was The Lost Vikings, which came out in 1992, and before Diablo 2 they hadnt really done much huge projects, the only ones were probably Warcraft 1 and 2, diablo and Starcraft. However since they by that time had different teams for each game, and therefore the team making diablo 2 had only been involved in making diablo 1 of all those game, therefore iam pretty sure since it was the second game that team made, that was pretty organised =) too bad the whole staff left or got kicked or whatever it was, and now it is a new team doing diablo 3 =/

at the graphics of diablo 2, for being in the year of 2000, it is acually rather cool! I enjoyed Diablo 2 so much, i LOVED diablo 2 just as much as i loved WC3 or starcraft, Blizzard, are in my opinion, the god of game creation. I mean they went from being a small company just making 2d for fun free games (1991 - 1994) into becoming a great company (the year after they made the first warcraft) and today, they only make top notch games, just as then. Starcraft 2 is just as excellent as starcraft 2, if not better, and thats unusual for sequels!
WoW is an excellent game aswell, and i doubt Diablo 3 will be bad.

I hope Blizzard will continue being this much of an symbol in the future, as much as they have been so far.

Long may they live, so to speak.


[Q]uik, Quiker than most
Green Gandalf
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Playing: Malevolence:Sword of Ahkranox, Skyrim, Civ6.
Posted: 30th Jul 2010 14:09
Interesting article.

The bit on page 3 about saving the game caught my eye - the frustration of having to replay an enormous number of scenes when I made a silly mistake and merely wanted to reload from my last decent position was probably the main reason I never finished D2. If I recall correctly it was possible to cheat the system by leaving D2 and copying your latest save to a safe location so D2 didn't overwrite it when you next died or saved. But the hassle got tiresome after a while and I gave up.

Perhaps it's time I dusted it off and had another go? I might even have a decent saved game file lurking somewhere. Now which computer is it on ... ?
BearCDP
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Location: NYC
Posted: 30th Jul 2010 19:14
Awesome article, Phaelax, thanks for posting it. It's really interesting to see how they approached development and tool creation. When I initially started out with DB, I was trying to shoehorn Gamespace 1.5 (*shudder*) and other tools into working with DB. I'm starting to realize how important content processing tools are for larger game designs.

Since Starcraft 2 was released, I've been on a Blizzard kick. Trying to get through the original Starcraft campaign, and after that and SC2's campaign, I will likely start working through the Diablo games. Not multiplayer though, unless it's LAN with friends.

Check out this WIP flash game from the Global Game Jam!
Virtual Nomad
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Posted: 31st Jul 2010 00:51 Edited at: 31st Jul 2010 00:55
Quote: "As a side note"

the graphics were great, with the exception of the Lord of Destruction add-on pack. i remember most of the (additional) graphics being sub-par, including (and especially?) the cut-scenes which were definitely different from previous blizzard renderings and a disappointment, for me.

@GG, for me, re-visiting games (and movies, etc) that we hold near and dear for so long only taints the memory. subconsciously, we apply current technology to those old relics, allowing us to maintain their position in our hierarchy of "favorites". the only exception that i've found was the original Unreal; this was because they programmed it to take advantage of future (mainstream) technologies. ie, beefier systems that most gamers couldn't afford at the time. when those beasts become mid or low-range, i re-install U and relive the "updated" game. the effect is similar to the re-issue of Star Wars with the graphics cleaned up, etc.

Virtual Nomad @ California, USA
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Green Gandalf
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Posted: 31st Jul 2010 01:32 Edited at: 31st Jul 2010 01:32
Quote: "@GG, for me, re-visiting games (and movies, etc) that we hold near and dear for so long only taints the memory."


I think I know what you mean - seems to depend on the game (or film) though. There are some games I happily return to again and again - usually the ones with randomly created worlds, monsters, etc. But you never re-capture the magic of the first few times you played them. Like Xmas I suppose.
Virtual Nomad
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Posted: 31st Jul 2010 01:37
another example, for me, was the movie mazes & monsters.
yeah, great back when i played ad&d after school... then i suggested/forced a gf to watch it a few years ago. <10 mins in & i hit "stop", apologized, and sent another memory to the incinerator.

Virtual Nomad @ California, USA
AMD Phenomâ„¢ X4 9750 Quad-Core @ 2.4 GHz . 8 GB PC2-6400 RAM
ATI Radeon HD 3650 @ 512 MB . Vista Home Premium 64 Bit
Green Gandalf
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Posted: 31st Jul 2010 13:12
Yes, sometimes our favourite memories are best left as just that and not put on display.
Hobgoblin Lord
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Posted: 31st Jul 2010 18:30
about the only game I return to again and again is Alpha Centauri

Play Sim Games- still in development

Phaelax
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Posted: 1st Aug 2010 00:53
Quote: " hold near and dear for so long only taints the memory. subconsciously, we apply current technology to those old relics, allowing us to maintain their position in our hierarchy of "favorites". the only exception that i've found was the original Unreal;"


I can agree with that for the most part. I used to love Jet Moto on the first Playstation, but last time I tried to play it I thought the graphics were so incredibly terrible I couldn't even tell what I was looking at. My exception, however, is Deus Ex, which I just reinstalled last week for some fun.


"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" ~ Arthur C. Clarke

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