Diablo’s narrative is not the main reason why people keep coming back to the show, but after more than 23 years, the franchise has created an impressive tradition Bible. Believe it or not, the Blizzard team spends a lot of time developing the story quests that provide players with the context for cracking thousands of demon skulls. To gain insight into the process, we teamed up with Jesse McCree, lead game designer, and Luis Barriga, game director.
Has it taken a while to get acquainted with Diablo’s traditions? It’s pretty complicated stuff, right?
McCree: I’ve been playing Diablo games since Diablo. I read the manual then, and I read it today to look for clues or to remember a tradition. There are still many stories to tell that are based on this one manual only. Since then, we’ve added many more games, manuals, books, comics, pen and paper RPGs, and more. There’s a lot to know, and luckily we have a dedicated team of historians and passionate fans who are also developers helping us to tell and supplement these stories. Since we have more than 20 years of information, editing is the hardest part. We can tell so many stories in so many ways and the fans have told us that they want them, but if we do it all at once, I think they might lose their impact. For Diablo IV, we work with a complex and rich set of lore and want people to feel the mood and the dark tone we seek only by playing the game.
How do you manage to tell an interesting and complex story without distracting players who only want to kill monsters?
McCree: We have a philosophy that is “show do not tell”. Environmental storytelling is very important for this. We like to use our traditions and stories as a tool to give a context to the monsters you fight against. If we get it right, you can get some information about a monster family by playing the game. The drowned monster family we’ve added for Diablo IV is a good example. Players will find these monsters near the ocean, and as you walk out and meet them you will find that their surroundings reflect their story – they attack water, sometimes watering it and using parts of ships for weapons , You do not need to know your backstory to understand their relationship to the environment, but if you want to know it, you can find traditional books or take care of quests that specifically deal with them.
Has the team ever experimented with different camera positions? I know there has been a rumor for a while that the game involves a more traditional third-person perspective, with the camera more closely tied to the character.
Barriga: Since the beginning of Diablo IV, we have had an isometric or nearly isometric camera. We have moments when we look at other cinematic aspects or show you something specific, such as when we show you the city of Corbach, as you emerge from the dungeon of the demo. We also occasionally adjust the gap, as in the case of the World Boss, where we withdraw it to better capture the size of Ashava and all its players.
What was going on in this movie trailer anyway? Who are these people, where are they and what are they trying to do?
McCree: The demon summoned here is Lilith. Legend has it that it contributed to the creation of humanity, and the Horadrim tell us that she is the daughter of Mephisto, one of the greater evils. Diablo has always been about adventurers trying to earn their fortunes or solving a problem, going into great trouble and facing a particularly dire situation involving a lot of death and destruction, giant demons and worldwide evil , Maybe it’s not such a good idea to go carelessly into a deserted dungeon with a disguised demon worshiper and put your hands in old blood magic. Hatred, greed and terror lead to human sacrifices and demon summons, which are the roots and a core theme of our world. These events will shape the world with some dark and desperate situations.
Can you give us a backstory about the Drowned Queen quest from the recent BlizzCon demo?
McCree: This kind of quest is a great example of the situation where an adventurer thinks he’s dealing with a problem and soon finds out that things are worse than they thought. You find a sick boy in a village, and while you’re trying to find a cure for him, discover the fact that his ancestors cursed the family. Instead of looking for a simple cure, you are now involved in a monster invasion from the sea, while both the boy and the city are suffering. In Diablo IV you will encounter situations like these, and often they will be involved in a bigger story that we will tell about Lilith and her return to this place.
For more information on Diablo IV, visit our online reporting center, which includes more detailed dives into the Sorceress, Barbarian, and Druid classes. As well as rare gameplay material.
