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Worth noting to those who haven't read the pitch: the original design for Diablo was turn-based. The hexagonal movement system was causing a huge headache for

Worth noting to those who haven't read the pitch: the original design for Diablo was turn-based. The hexagonal movement system was causing a huge headache for the programmers, however, and eventually they decided to make it real-time. The now-defunct Gametrailers did an amazing retrospective on the Diablo series at some point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83bFa9qL8XQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83bFa9qL8XQ EDIT: I also thought some of the side illustrations looked familiar. They are taken from some illustrations for the Dictionnaire Infernal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionnaire_Infernal#/media/File:Bael.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionnaire_Infernal#/media/F... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionnaire_Infernal#/media/File:Astaroth.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionnaire_Infernal#/media/F...

digi_owl 9y ago
I swear i have seen some video from a conference or similar where Brevik talks about being staunchly in the turn-based camp, until he sat down and implemented real-time (the game already ran on a system of ticks so he basically allowed the ticks to run even without any input from the player) over a weekend and had his proverbial mind blown by the experience.
- AndrewOMartin 9y ago
  Haha, I was typing my post before I saw yours, else I would have made it a reply! For "over a weekend" read "in a few hours" :)
AndrewOMartin 9y ago
Allow me to quote Diablo developer David Brevik describing when he finally yielded to demands and hacked together a "real time" version of his turn-based Diablo, by making turns elapse the rate of 20 turns a second. 'I remember taking the mouse, and I clicked on the mouse, and the warrior walked over and and smacked the skeleton down, and I was like "Oh my god! That was awesome!".' 'And the sun shone through the window, and God passed by, and the angels sung, and sure enough that was when the ARPG was kind of born at that moment, and I was lucky enough to be there.' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VscdPA6sUkc?t=27m https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VscdPA6sUkc?t=27m If you're in this part of this comment thread, you'll probably enjoy the whole video.
- AdmiralAsshat 9y ago
  Mm, yep, thanks for that. Primary sources always better than secondary. I kinda take issue with saying "the ARPG was born at that moment", though. We had JRPGs for almost a decade before that included realtime combat.
  - netzone 9y ago
    ARPG is not the same as a realtime RPG...
- amsilprotag 9y ago
  If you're interested in Blizzard history, there's a 4-hour interview with Rob Pardo hosted by Civ 4 lead and Offworld Trading Company creator Soren Johnson. Pardo also recounts the beginnings of Diablo in part one around ~1:27:00, although he wasn't involved in the project at that time. Starcraft, WoW, and Hearthstone are also discussed. Warning: audio quality is not great. https://www.idlethumbs.net/designernotes/episodes/rob-pardo-part-1/ https://www.idlethumbs.net/designernotes/episodes/rob-pardo-... https://www.idlethumbs.net/designernotes/episodes/rob-pardo-part-2/ https://www.idlethumbs.net/designernotes/episodes/rob-pardo-...
  - hsljekskfh 9y ago
    on that note, i read a book on blizzard's history "stay awhile and listen" that was not worth it. maybe it was because i read it right after masters of doom, but it felt like they were afraid to say anything negative, and as a result it's boring and also very hard to learn from whatever failures and successes they had.
- frenchie4111 9y ago
  Timed link is wrong, use this for that exact moment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VscdPA6sUkc&t=27m https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VscdPA6sUkc&t=27m
- e12e 9y ago
  This is really significant ; I remember playing a real-time (multilayer) Angband variant for like a minute: the gameplay didn’t translate at all to "realtime". It's one of my strongest experiences of ux ever. The actual realisation of going from turn based balanced fun to tick based balanced fun is far from obvious!
hitekker 9y ago
Generally, isometric grids don't work well in gameplay. I beat "Into The Breach" 3 times on hard mode with 3 different classes, and I can safely say that a top-down perspective would have been more intuitive. It feels like every time I look at the map, I need to rotate the image 45 degrees in my head before I could process what unit needs to do what.
- lou1306 9y ago
  > Generally, isometric grids don't work well in gameplay. As with any general rule, there are some great exceptions, such as RTSs (Age of Empires, Starcraft) and city builders (SimCity 3000, Caesar 3).
  - danso 9y ago
    And X-COM, and Jagged Alliance 2, and Ultima VII

digi_owl 9y ago

I swear i have seen some video from a conference or similar where Brevik talks about being staunchly in the turn-based camp, until he sat down and implemented real-time (the game already ran on a system of ticks so he basically allowed the ticks to run even without any input from the player) over a weekend and had his proverbial mind blown by the experience.

AndrewOMartin 9y ago
Haha, I was typing my post before I saw yours, else I would have made it a reply! For "over a weekend" read "in a few hours" :)

AndrewOMartin 9y ago

Allow me to quote Diablo developer David Brevik describing when he finally yielded to demands and hacked together a "real time" version of his turn-based Diablo, by making turns elapse the rate of 20 turns a second. 'I remember taking the mouse, and I clicked on the mouse, and the warrior walked over and and smacked the skeleton down, and I was like "Oh my god! That was awesome!".' 'And the sun shone through the window, and God passed by, and the angels sung, and sure enough that was when the ARPG was kind of born at that moment, and I was lucky enough to be there.' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VscdPA6sUkc?t=27m https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VscdPA6sUkc?t=27m If you're in this part of this comment thread, you'll probably enjoy the whole video.

AdmiralAsshat 9y ago
Mm, yep, thanks for that. Primary sources always better than secondary. I kinda take issue with saying "the ARPG was born at that moment", though. We had JRPGs for almost a decade before that included realtime combat.
- netzone 9y ago
  ARPG is not the same as a realtime RPG...
amsilprotag 9y ago
If you're interested in Blizzard history, there's a 4-hour interview with Rob Pardo hosted by Civ 4 lead and Offworld Trading Company creator Soren Johnson. Pardo also recounts the beginnings of Diablo in part one around ~1:27:00, although he wasn't involved in the project at that time. Starcraft, WoW, and Hearthstone are also discussed. Warning: audio quality is not great. https://www.idlethumbs.net/designernotes/episodes/rob-pardo-part-1/ https://www.idlethumbs.net/designernotes/episodes/rob-pardo-... https://www.idlethumbs.net/designernotes/episodes/rob-pardo-part-2/ https://www.idlethumbs.net/designernotes/episodes/rob-pardo-...
- hsljekskfh 9y ago
  on that note, i read a book on blizzard's history "stay awhile and listen" that was not worth it. maybe it was because i read it right after masters of doom, but it felt like they were afraid to say anything negative, and as a result it's boring and also very hard to learn from whatever failures and successes they had.
frenchie4111 9y ago
Timed link is wrong, use this for that exact moment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VscdPA6sUkc&t=27m https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VscdPA6sUkc&t=27m
e12e 9y ago
This is really significant ; I remember playing a real-time (multilayer) Angband variant for like a minute: the gameplay didn’t translate at all to "realtime". It's one of my strongest experiences of ux ever. The actual realisation of going from turn based balanced fun to tick based balanced fun is far from obvious!

hitekker 9y ago

Generally, isometric grids don't work well in gameplay. I beat "Into The Breach" 3 times on hard mode with 3 different classes, and I can safely say that a top-down perspective would have been more intuitive. It feels like every time I look at the map, I need to rotate the image 45 degrees in my head before I could process what unit needs to do what.

lou1306 9y ago
> Generally, isometric grids don't work well in gameplay. As with any general rule, there are some great exceptions, such as RTSs (Age of Empires, Starcraft) and city builders (SimCity 3000, Caesar 3).
- danso 9y ago
  And X-COM, and Jagged Alliance 2, and Ultima VII