Diablo III

Diablo III
File:DiabloSplash.JPG Diablo III website splash page
Developer(s)	Blizzard Entertainment
Designer(s)	Jay Wilson (lead) Leonard Boyarsky (world design)
Composer(s)	Russell Brower
Series	Diablo
Engine	Proprietary
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X
Release	TBA
Genre(s)	Action role-playing (hack and slash)
Mode(s)	Single-player, online multiplayer (over Battle.net)

Diablo III is an upcoming dark fantasy/horror-themed action role-playing game developed by Blizzard, making it the third installment in the Diablo franchise. The game, which features elements of the hack and slash and "dungeon roaming" genres, was first announced on June 28, 2008, at Blizzard's World Wide Invitational in Paris, France.

Plot

The game takes place in Sanctuary, the dark fantasy world of the Diablo series. This world was saved twenty years prior by a handful of unnamed heroes in Diablo II. Warriors that survived the onslaught of the armies of the Burning Hells have gone mad from their ordeals and it is up to a new generation of heroes to face the forces of evil threatening the world of Sanctuary. Players will have the opportunity to explore familiar settings such as Tristram.

The only confirmed NPCs are Deckard Cain, who has appeared in both of the previous games, and his stepdaughter, a new character that accompanies the hero in quests from time to time. Cain's journal on the official site brings the player up to speed on the events of the first two games. Diablo's world map is composed primarily of two main continents with several small islands in the Northwest region.

Gameplay

File:Diablo-III-gameplay.jpg

Diablo III's inventory and HUD will retain a feel similar to that found in earlier games in the series, including a viewpoint reminiscent of the old isometric view. At first there was a new inventory system, but it has recently been reverted to the original "tetris inventory", as found in Diablo 2. The inventory is divided into two tabs, one for items that players find, and others for quest items that players will find throughout the game.

Diablo III is similar in style to its predecessor, Diablo II. The proprietary engine will incorporate Blizzard's custom in-house physics, a change from the original usage of Havok's physics engine, and feature destructible environments with an in-game damage effect. The developers are aiming to make the game run on a wide range of systems, and have stated that DirectX 10 will not be required. Diablo III will use a custom 3D game engine in order to present an overhead view to the player, in a somewhat similar way to the isometric view used in previous games in the series. Enemies will utilize the 3D environment as well, in ways such as crawling up the side of a wall from the depths into the combat area.

As in Diablo II, multiplayer games will be possible using Blizzard's Battle.net service, with many of the new features developed for StarCraft II also available in Diablo III. Players will be able to drop in and out of sessions of co-operative play with others.

An enhanced quest system, a random level generator, and a random encounter generator are slated for use in order to ensure the game provides different experiences when replayed. Overall, the game will include both static and randomly generated levels. Additionally, there will be class-specific quests to go along with the main storyline quests. Blizzard originally planned to have in-game cutscenes, but decided these would divert from the gameplay and decided against them. Two new armor pieces will be available: shoulder plates and leggings.

Unlike previous iterations, gold can be picked up merely by touching it, rather than having to manually pick it up. Sidekicks, unlike Diablo II, are now distinct NPCs who join the player, rather than randomly-generated and endlessly replaceable hires. One of the new features intended to speed gameplay is that health orbs drop from enemies, replacing the need to have a potion bar, which itself is replaced by a skill bar that allows a player to assign quick bar buttons to skills and spells; previously, players could only assign two skills (one for each mouse button) and had to swap skills with the keyboard. Players can still assign specific attacks to mouse buttons.

Skill Runes, another new feature, are skill-modifying items that are randomly dropped by monsters and used across all classes. Similar to runes in Diablo II but instead of changing equippable items, they can be attached to skills as though they are items, often completely changing the gameplay of each skill. They also have the ability to make one particular spell in each class more powerful, and give the player options as to how the rune will enhance a particular spell. For example, investing Skill Runes on the Wizard's "Lightning" can allow the players to make the lightning jump towards additional enemies, or, alternatively, adding the runes with explosion effect blows the enemy up and causes damage to the surrounding area.

Artisans

Artisans are NPCs who sell, craft and enhance equipment. Three types of Artisans can be acquired by completing a quest for each: a blacksmith, a mystic, and a jeweler. Artisans create items using materials the player can gather by scrapping acquired items and reducing them to their component parts. Unlike Diablo II, rare and magic items can be enhanced, not just basic weaponry and armor. These materials are used to create items which will have random bonuses. Crafting can also be used to train and improve the skills of the artisans rather than create new items. When Artisans gain new levels, their shop reflects their higher skill level. The process of salvaging items into materials also make inventory management easier. Blizzard stated that this crafting system was designed so that it would not slow down the pace of the game.

Character classes

File:Diablo III Character Classes.JPG

The five character classes of Diablo III.
^L-R Wizard, Witch Doctor, Demon Hunter, Barbarian and Monk

There will be five available character classes: the Barbarian, the Witch Doctor, the Wizard, the Monk, and the Demon Hunter. The Barbarian is the only class that Blizzard is planning to bring back from Diablo II for the initial release. Blizzard has also stated that the Monk is not related in any way to the Monk class from the Sierra Entertainment-made Diablo: Hellfire expansion. The Archivist was presented on April 1, 2009 following Blizzard's April Fool's Day joke tradition.

The Witch Doctor is a new character reminiscent of the Diablo II Necromancer, but with skills more traditionally associated with voodoo culture. The Witch Doctor has the ability to summon monsters, cast curses, harvest souls, and hurl poisons and explosives at his enemies.

The Barbarians will have a variety of revamped skills at their disposal based on the use of their incredible physical prowess. The Barbarian is able to Whirlwind through crowds, cleave through swarms, leap across crags, and crush opponents upon landing.

The Wizard is a version of the sorceress from Diablo II or the Sorcerer from Diablo. The Wizard's abilities range from shooting lightning, fire and ice at their enemies to slowing time and teleporting around enemies and through walls.

The Monk is a melee attacker, using martial arts to cripple foes, resist damage, deflect projectiles, attack with blinding speed, and land explosive killing blows.

Demon Hunter is the newly announced class. Demon Hunters use crossbows as their main weapon and also throw small bombs at enemies. Some of their skills have been revealed and among them are arrow skills such as Chain Arrow.

The combat system is being revamped as well. Instead of the previous skill selection system used in Diablo II there will be an action bar at the bottom of the screen. This change will replace the area where the potion-belt used to be in Diablo II.

In the previous two games each class had a fixed gender, but in Diablo III players may choose the gender they would like to play. Although Blizzard initially revealed only one gender per class, the alternate gender has been revealed slowly in the lead-up to the game's release.

Development

File:DiabloIII cain.jpg

Deckard Cain speaking to a barbarian player in an in-engine cutscene.

Development on Diablo III began in 2001 when Blizzard North was still in operation. The original artistic design differed from that shown at Blizzard Worldwide Invitational 2008 demonstration, and had undergone three revisions before reaching the standards felt necessary by the team behind Diablo III. Each development team is composed of fifty people. Most of the game mechanics and physics are complete, and are undergoing minor revisions. Most of the current and remaining development will focus on adding game content.

Diablo III's lead designer is Jay Wilson, a former Relic Entertainment designer credited with work on Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War and Company of Heroes as well as Blood II: The Chosen for Monolith Productions. Its lead world designer is Leonard Boyarsky, one of the six co-creators of Fallout.

The game is being planned for a simultaneous release on both Windows and Mac OS X platforms. Blizzard is considering a concept design for consoles reportdly they have also started hiring programmers for the console version, while stating this concept will not affect PC/MAC release dates.

Music

Russell Brower composed the music for Diablo III. When composing for the orchestra, he tried to respect the Wagnerian style from Lord of Destruction expansion of the second game in the series. The Overture is considered the main theme of the game and it has been performed by the Eminence Symphony Orchestra. A similar composition was used on the Cinematic Teaser Trailer of the game. The Tristram theme from the first Diablo videogame, also used in the second game, is present in Diablo III with few changes to it.

External links

• Official website
• Template:Dmoz