Game Development Giant

Hear Rob Pardo say that.

Jester also pondered for a moment. The Diablo he was going to make was a production plan that he had started to finalize before. It was not only designed based on the original Diablo game, but also based on a large number of references. The second game of Diablo, its Lord of Destruction expansion, and some of the subsequent excellent Diablo games, such as Titan Journey, Path of Exile, and even the many excellent games of Diablo 3 that were later criticized. design.

A production plan was completed after careful selection.

He originally believed that making Diablo into an online game was the most suitable way for this game, but now listening to what Rob Pardo said, it seemed that the online version of Diablo he envisioned was completely unnecessary. .

In fact, by modifying some of the Battle.net settings of Diablo 3, and then adding a setting that allows the game to be played on a single player, his requirements can be fully met.

You're right.

Jester thought for a moment, and then nodded to Rob Pardo.

Then I will give up the idea of ​​an online version of Diablo, and we will make a complete Diablo with outstanding online functions. Jester quickly made his decision.

No one sitting here expressed any surprise that Jester changed his decision. In fact, in Mars Entertainment internal discussions like this, the producers of the game project team would often be suggested by other members. There are not many times when he changes his original intention, but it is definitely not many, even though Jester is supreme in the company.

However, Jester is also the best at listening to other people's opinions in the company.

According to the statistics of boring people in many companies, Jester has almost twice as many examples of accepting the opinions of his subordinates and then changing his design ideas than the second-ranked designer.

Therefore, they saw Jester listen to Rob Pardo’s advice. It doesn’t feel weird if you change your original intention.

To them, this is a normal thing.

Europe and the United States have this kind of development atmosphere, brainstorming, what exactly is a game like, how should it be made, what style is it, is it good to do this...even, does this music sound good here, all these things Everyone can participate. Everyone can put forward their own opinions. Everyone is a designer. They are very different from the strict hierarchy and strong personal style of Japanese game development companies.

After that, it’s time to discuss how the game should be made. The development platform must be established at the beginning.

If a console version is to be developed, some initial settings must be modified to adapt to the console version. Many things that are not suitable for console use will be abandoned. Although this is a very good idea and creativity.

In fact, before the Diablo 3 motherboard was released, many loyal Diablo fans did not believe that Diablo 3 could be successfully ported to the console. The simplest reason is the directional function, you know, the skills in the Diablo series. Many of them are directional skills and do not require accurate mouse operation. Pointing skills are difficult to release on the handle.

After much thought, Jester decided that it would be better for the first Diablo game currently being developed to be completely based on the PC platform.

In Jester's view, making the game the best possible is more worthwhile than being able to run on more platforms. Jester's decision was also supported by the developers around him. They also believe that making the game more fun is what they should do.

The core gameplay of the Diablo game is not complicated, and its highlights are very simple.

One is the establishment of characters, commonly known as build, and the other is the collection of equipment.

These two characteristics are the core of the gameplay of Diablo. A character or a profession has different gameplay, allowing players to try it again and again. Suppose there are seven professions in a game, and each There are three different routes in the profession, so in this game, there are as many as 21 choices in terms of character selection.

This is still relatively small.

For example, in the later Diablo game Titan Journey, there are even thirty-six completely different professions to choose from. Moreover, because it is composed of dual professions, the gameplay of choosing first and choosing second is actually completely different. , so, there are as many as seventy-two different ways to play.

And like the later Poe, that is, The Path of Exile, his character creation principles can be said to be countless.

For example, Diablo 3 chose the skill pool method, so the gameplay is also diverse.

However, in fact, these so-called character creation methods range from dozens of ways to hundreds and countless ways, but in the end, only a few can be saved at the end and can be often chosen by players.

Each profession can have one or two different ways of playing, and the efficiency is about the same, which is great. The other so-called ways of playing may be more fancy and may have stronger attack power, but they are definitely not the most efficient or the most comfortable to play.

It's hard to balance between careers.

There is something that so many talented producers in later generations have not solved, whether it is the Path of Exile method or the skill pool method of Diablo 3, in fact, the final gameplay is still fixed in a few types.

When Jester heard many people discussing this issue enthusiastically, he just smiled.

But he didn't stop it.

Because he knows that this is all in vain, and there is no need to consider so many balance issues. Because of the gameplay of Diablo, although the character build is important, it is far from the most important. The most important thing is the equipment. collect.

honestly.

Before the game Diablo came out, neither game developers nor game players would believe that just by collecting this one element, so many players could play the game intoxicatedly over and over again. Jester has even seen some people playing Diablo 2, km, killing Mephisto.

Three or four times a minute, with great interest for several hours.

Including a friend he knew had never played Diablo 2 before, and even dismissed Diablo games, thinking that they were all kimchi games.

However, when the Chinese version of Diablo 3 opened, I was disappointed because the first four chapters were free.

This friend of Jester tried it when he was extremely bored, and then he became addicted to it. (To be continued...)