The original pitch for Diablo (1994) [pdf]
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The original pitch for Diablo (1994) [pdf]
1–10 of 90 posts
Re: The original pitch for Diablo (1994) [pdf]
#2The title should be "The original pitch for Diablo (1994)", the 4 is in the wrong place.
It would be pretty weird to have a pitch for Diablo 4 in the 90s, before Diablo 3 was released. :)
Re: The original pitch for Diablo (1994) [pdf]
#3Original Diablo pitch is basically Angband. I'm glad that they made it RT :)
I'm also glad they had the guts to add permadeath mode into Diablo II.
Re: The original pitch for Diablo (1994) [pdf]
#4The title should be "The original pitch for Diablo (1994)", the 4 is in the wrong place. It would be pretty weird to have a pitch for Diablo 4 in the 90s, before Diablo 3 was released. :)
I emailed hn@ycombinator.com about this.
Re: The original pitch for Diablo (1994) [pdf]
#5The title should be "The original pitch for Diablo (1994)", the 4 is in the wrong place. It would be pretty weird to have a pitch for Diablo 4 in the 90s, before Diablo 3 was released. :)
It will not be unheard of. Bits of story of Might & Magic 8 were thought out when the original Might & Magic 1 was created, along with most of e.g. magic system.
Re: The original pitch for Diablo (1994) [pdf]
#6Interestingly ahead of its time in that they had the idea of "DLC"'s already, in the form of small interchangeable expansion packs.
Apparently that never worked out, maybe because without the ease of downloading it wouldn't have sold enough against a single big expansion
Re: The original pitch for Diablo (1994) [pdf]
#7The 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
Re: The original pitch for Diablo (1994) [pdf]
#8Interestingly ahead of its time in that they had the idea of "DLC"'s already, in the form of small interchangeable expansion packs. Apparently that never worked out, maybe because without the ease of downloading it wouldn't have sold enough against a single big expansion
I think this idea, at least in the exact form as described in the PDF, was scrapped later due to addition to randomly generated items. Having expansion packs which add more items does not make a lot of sense in that context.
Re: The original pitch for Diablo (1994) [pdf]
#9Worth 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 illustrations looked familiar. They are taken from some illustrations for the Dictionnaire Infernal:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionnaire_Infernal#/media/F...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionnaire_Infernal#/media/F...
Re: The original pitch for Diablo (1994) [pdf]
#10Fond memories of this as a kid. I remember after playing it for a while with friends and coming across BoBaFett's trainer and DooM-Gaze's (sic?) trainer enabling god-mode, fast spellcast, maxed stats, Godly Plate of the Whale armor, King's Sword of Haste, dropping elixirs all over town around Deckard Cain, etc. I was legitimately scared at my age to step into the cracks of hell to go after Diablo when they opened behind Pepin's hut. And the Butcher... kept all the lights on for that quest...
As a 10 year old, it was the first "adult" game I played (alongside Leisure Suit Larry). Dropping the turn based style and keeping classes more simplistic was an excellent decision. It's what introduced me to the online world via battle.net and PKing (player killing) was a joy in itself. Clans, online friends, and memories all shortly followed. Loved reading this.
Diablo 1: still better than the 3rd.
Source: overbearing nostalgia