Diablo IV Team Interviews Game Designers: The Best of All – PCM

“Diablo IV” (Diablo IV) is scheduled to launch in 2023. “PCM” was invited to try out the development version and conduct interviews with the production team, including: Zaven Haroutunian, the lead game designer responsible for dungeons, combat and art, and Angela Del Priore, lead game designer responsible for home consoles and controllers, and user interface. Zaven did not shy away from describing this episode as a “love letter” to loyal players.

I was invited to try the development version of “PCM”, and saw many designs close to the second generation, such as more complex skill trees, game mechanics, and narrative methods than the third generation. But chief game designer Zaven Haroutunian believes that “Diablo IV” is a combination of the dark feeling of the first generation, the rich and varied skills and equipment of the second generation, and the smooth combat process of the third generation. He said that in the early planning of “Diablo IV”, the narrative and visual effects had been requested to “return to darkness”, and it was one of the main axes of this episode.

100-level capped free exploration

As for “Diablo IV”, the demon Lilith returned to the main role again, and what impact will her appearance have on the work and the overall direction of the work? Zaven explained that the story of the demon Lilith was originally set by the creator of “Saint Huary”. Returning to the game world this time is not a good thing for all beings, after all, she is a demon.

“Diablo” used to encounter random events on the map, such as defending the target or repelling all enemies in a protracted battle. Lead game designer Angela Del Priore explained that the random events in this episode will be very rich, and some of them will be relatively simple The event allows players to complete it in a short period of time. There is also a “regional event” that requires 4 players to participate. In the end, they have to face a powerful world boss, which requires the cooperation of a large group of players.

For the story campaign, Angela said that the game time is about 35 hours, depending on the speed of the player to read the game text dialogue, and the completion of the story campaign will enter the final content. In this episode, the player level will be capped at level 100, including the peak level starting from level 51. It will take a long time for players to complete the main line and reach level 100. Zaven mentioned that the monsters in this episode use dynamic levels, and players are allowed to go anywhere without restricting the progress of the story, but the monsters still have a certain starting level. For example, some regions will not start at level 1 like the player.

Skill tree related

The skill tree in this episode uses node design, and there are also unique character skill pages, such as the barbarian’s Weapon Expertise (Weapon Expertise), the Rogue’s Specialization (Specializations), and the Codex of Power (Power Code) that can be obtained by playing dungeons. ), new players may feel complicated. Angela said that the relevant teaching and instructions are still being improved. In addition, the skill tree has added a “keyword” search, which makes it easier to find specific skills.

For the Codex of Power and character specialization skills that can be obtained through dungeons, Zaven hopes that the mechanism can show the uniqueness of the character. For example, barbarians have weapon specialization, while magicians have enviable double enchantments, and the characters are presented through skills unique. Zaven added that Codex of Power will be shared at the account level and will not be assigned roles. Unless the player changes the “world” they are in (ie HARDCORE mode).

Regarding skill resets, Zaven said that it is easier for players to reset points in the early stage, but it is hoped that players can meaningfully develop their characters, and the cost will become more and more expensive in the later stages.

The host version interface is more unified

“Diablo IV” will be the first simultaneous multi-platform release in the series, and it has taken care of playing on big TVs, and is evaluating the display effect of the game text. On the other hand, the team is still evaluating the special support for individual platforms such as the PS5 controller. Compared to Episode 3, which was later transplanted, Diablo IV has decided to have a unified interface experience on each platform from the beginning. In the PC trial version, it is also possible to seamlessly switch between keyboard and mouse and XBOX controllers. However, in the trial play, several scenes seemed to be dark at the beginning, and players had to drastically change the screen brightness. Angela said that the content effects were still being adjusted.

“Diablo IV” is scheduled to be launched on Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4/5 platforms in 2023.

further reading

Returning to the second generation of Diablo IV, the development version of Diablo IV is the first to try

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