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The original pitch for Diablo (1994) [pdf]

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Re: The original pitch for Diablo (1994) [pdf]

#31

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

AndrewOMartin wrote: post #20
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #9

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 EDIT: I also thought some of the side illustra…

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 wind…

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.

Re: The original pitch for Diablo (1994) [pdf]

#32

Post by Tokiin »

Reedx wrote: post #15

David Brevik released that just after the Diablo postmortem from GDC a couple years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VscdPA6sUkc Worth watching for any fans of the original and if you want more context around that pitch. Lots of interesting tidbits about the origins of Diablo and Blizzard North. And an amusing moment during the Q&A: Someone in the audience went up and gave David some money to make up for pirating…

Related vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D_bVgplit0

IGN Unfiltered episode with David about his origins and the creation of Diablo/Blizzard North.

Re: The original pitch for Diablo (1994) [pdf]

#33

Post by lou1306 »

hitekker wrote: post #29
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #9

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 EDIT: I also thought some of the side illustra…

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.

> 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).

Re: The original pitch for Diablo (1994) [pdf]

#34

Post by callinyouin »

badgers wrote: post #7

The turn based gameplay, square tile floor design, randomized levels and loot, fantasy medieval world of sword and sorcery remind me of an earlier 1990s game called Castle of the Winds - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_of_the_Winds

Thanks for mentioning this! I used to play the shareware version that I got from one of those "1001 Games" type discs back in the day. I see the creator released it into public domain so it looks like I'll be wasting a few hours with this later this week.

Re: The original pitch for Diablo (1994) [pdf]

#35

Post by munificent »

It's crazy how close the original pitch was to classic Roguelikes — turn-based, random dungeon, single town at the top, and a stack of dungeon levels descending below. It's basically Rogue/Moria/Angband + graphics.

Of course, going real-time fundamentally changed the feel of the game, but the initial pitch was much more "bring Moria to the masses".

Re: The original pitch for Diablo (1994) [pdf]

#36

Post by jstarfish »

callinyouin wrote: post #34
badgers wrote: post #7

The turn based gameplay, square tile floor design, randomized levels and loot, fantasy medieval world of sword and sorcery remind me of an earlier 1990s game called Castle of the Winds - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_of_the_Winds

Thanks for mentioning this! I used to play the shareware version that I got from one of those "1001 Games" type discs back in the day. I see the creator released it into public domain so it looks like I'll be wasting a few hours with this later this week.

Ha! I got my copy the same way.

I ended up giving up on it quickly when I got to the first dungeon/castle and couldn't figure out how to move through the diagonal passages. In later years I unlocked the secrets of the numpad.

Re: The original pitch for Diablo (1994) [pdf]

#37

Post by firethief »

badgers wrote: post #7

The turn based gameplay, square tile floor design, randomized levels and loot, fantasy medieval world of sword and sorcery remind me of an earlier 1990s game called Castle of the Winds - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_of_the_Winds

Or NetHack ('80s) with the Falcon's Eye graphics patchset ('90s). Still the best game ever made if you like a wide-open sandbox with an unforgiving demand for resourcefulness and creative problem solving.

Re: The original pitch for Diablo (1994) [pdf]

#38

Post by zf00002 »

Thought I'd toss this out there for anyone interested that doesn't know. David Brevik and his wife stream regularly on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/thejunglequeen. It's mostly his wife playing various games while David is next to her playing/working on something. He will often talk about various experiences making games.

He's been working on a new game, "It Lurks Below", you can find it on Steam (not released yet). The game is in closed beta though. He's mentioned that one of his daughters did some of the artwork and has actually released at least one game of her own on Steam as well.

Re: The original pitch for Diablo (1994) [pdf]

#39

Post by c0l0 »

Good to see plenty of people in the comments experiencing nostalgia due to fond memories of playing this great, great game :)

You may be unaware that there is "Belzebub", a "HD mod" for the original Diablo, available today, that taches the original engine a few tricks (besides the obvious 1080p resolution), and also re-introduces a lot of the game's planned content that had to be cut from the final release shortly before the gold master was spun. And IT IS AWESOME! Even if you never tried the original classic, you should probably give this a go if ARPGs in a dark fantasy setting are something you might like.

To whet your appetite, check the trailer (https://youtu.be/m4PfLbMJCoA) on the (afaik, unfortunately discontinued) mod's website: https://mod.diablo.noktis.pl/features

The 1.045 release you may still download there (you need to provide a copy of the game's assets in the form of the main CDs ".mpq" data file yourself) is essentially a polished and extended re-make of the original Diablo 1. I played for hours each day for a few days straight after I discovered the project in 2015. Hope someone else in here enjoys it as much as I did! :)

Re: The original pitch for Diablo (1994) [pdf]

#40

Post by indigochill »

valbaca wrote: post #16
nilkn wrote: post #13

I'd really enjoy seeing a modern ARPG that is legitimately unsettling and dark in the way that Diablo was (and D2, to a slightly lesser extent). We've got D3, which has really fun gameplay but feels commercialized and looks like WoW, and we've got PoE, which has a lot of really brilliant ideas and has a darker theme but at no point is ever actually unsettling.

I'd really recommend "Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice". Headphones REQUIRED :D

As a fan of horror, my observation is that the best horror (that is, the kind that sticks with you long after you've finished the story) doesn't come from spooky monsters (as much as I love imaginative monsters) or grisly gore, but the nightmares woven into real life. And that's Hellblade in a nutshell. "Unsettling" is a good word for it.
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