Leo & Kevin - Page 3
The only negative reaction we've heard so far is that the Monk introduction cinematic was choppy in a few places, it looked a little rough. You know, usually Blizzard's cinematics are so gorgeous and everything looks like it's out of a CGI movie. Was that put together in-game? How did you guys create that?
Leo: Yeah, that's an in-game done by our AV team. We have two different ways of doing them. A lot of times when they announce patches for World of Warcraft, you'll notice that they'll do in-game ones as opposed to full-on cinematic ones. That's what that one was. Same with our Wizard one last time. They were developing that as we were developing a lot of his skills. I think they did a really good job with the limited tools that we allowed them to have at the time. [laughs] But I thought it was really cool, myself. But I know what you're saying.
Yeah, there was a few times where you were like, "Oh, it's a little choppy" or some of the characters in the background looked all the same, you know. They're facing the same way, moving the same way.
Kevin: They didn't get the assets very early; they didn't have more time.
Leo: We'll take full responsibility for that. [laughs].
Without knowing how much of the game still needs to be developed, what's been the most sort of challenging facet?
Kevin: You know I've been really happy to get the amount of quests and adventures in that we got for this demo. There's a ton of them and they're random and their placement is random and some of them have multiple endings and everything. Seeing that all come together in an area this big – it's much bigger than anyone can finish in 15 minutes of game play. You know, that was a lot of hard work and I'm happy that we got there. Now I'm really anxious to see people's feedback on this. So that's my personal one.
Leo: Yeah, it's just right now I think probably, because me and Kevin worked a lot on that stuff for the demo, it's probably where we're most focused right now. If you asked Jay or any of the guys, they'll probably talk more about the systems stuff because that's probably what they're focused on.
Kevin: Another thing I think to mention is co-op. Co-op is getting much more fun all the time. I've never had this much fun testing a game that's still in development as I've had with this demo.
So the Monk's backstory. Will our Monk in the game encounter other Monks? Will there be a lot of lore given about where they've been, what they do?
Leo: Yeah, I don't know if you'll be encountering other Monks unless they're playing other player characters. That still remains to be seen with story details and all that. But yeah, with all of our characters we want a very rich backstory and we want the world to somewhat react to who you are, where you've been and what you've done. So yeah, I mean that's our goal with this game, is to very much make your character a distinct personality with his own kind of story or her own story so you feel like this is a person in the world.
Kevin: Yeah, the Monk is not a generic tough-guy. He comes from an interesting place. This type of person is known throughout the world and is somewhat notorious, both respected and feared for their martial prowess and there's sort of the mystique about him. So I think there will be reactions to him that will be different than if you play a Barbarian or Wizard type.
And then the last thing. If there was no limit for a Diablo 3 collector's edition, what would you guys like to put in there?
Kevin: Somehow working in a Murloc. Somehow.
[laughter]
Well yeah, you've got to have the crossover reciprocation.
Leo: Some really cool Diablo action figures, I guess, because I would love to get those. I'm sure I will anyways but, you know, I'm sure the fans would love that. I don't know, you know.
Kevin: Did you see the new Barbarian statue?
Yeah, it's pretty awesome.
Leo: One of those, an art book...
Kevin: Like in the box.
Just so you can have the biggest box on the shelf. Well, thank you guys for your time.
Leo: Thanks a lot.
Kevin: Thanks, go play it some more!