'Diablo III' Developer Talks Console Release, Changes From PC Version

Diablo III is one of those games that stirred up plenty of controversy at launch but still managed to sell more units than any PC game in history.

Over the past year, the PC version of the game has seen update after update, with added Paragon levels, new balancing, and better Legendary gear. More changes are on the way, especially in the upcoming Reaper of Souls expansion, which also adds a Crusader class to the game.

Next week, the game goes live on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, marking the biggest console release for Blizzard in years.

Some big changes are coming to the console version of Diablo III, including a new user interface and four-player local co-op.

I spoke with Diablo III Lead Software Engineer, Norbert Szabo, about the game and whether or not any of the changes introduced for consoles will make their way to PC.

FORBES: Diablo III launched over a year ago on PC. What led up to the decision to release the game on consoles, or was that always part of the plan?

SZABO: While we always thought that Diablo III on the console was something that would be a lot of fun, our development team was completely focused on the PC version of the game from the very beginning. We only really started working on a console version around the end of 2011 when we brought in additional developers to focus on the project.

The Diablo III console team has been pouring blood, sweat, and hellfire into their version of the game ever since then. We’ve taken the time to make sure that the game feels great with the controller and that we’d be delivering a Blizzard-quality experience to the console audience.

The console version of the game is getting some neat additions like a dodge move and a new UI. Will PC players see these additions in an update at some point?

With Diablo III, our goal is to provide players the best possible experience, regardless of platform. The features you refer to specifically, the right stick dodge move and the new console UI, are specifically designed around usability for a player with a controller in hand. When our console designers came up with new features for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game, we had to take a big picture look at the change and decide whether it would be a good fit for the PC audience, with each addition being decided upon on a case-by-case basis.

As for the new console UI in particular, I don’t think that it’s very likely that it will be translated to the PC as-is. We think the existing PC UI serves the game much better for an audience used to point-and-click interfaces and graphical UIs. We might take some design cues and concepts and bring them over, but we are happy with the current PC UI. We can say that we do plan to bring PC players some of the console design changes that improve the game in ways that everyone can enjoy. Specifically, PC gamers can look forward to exciting new changes to itemization, loot, and boss fights.

Will PC gamers get gamepad support at some point?

I would never rule it out, but this is not something we are actively working on. The PC version was designed with a mouse and keyboard in mind, in ways that go beyond just the interface. When developing the console version, we made countless tweaks to all the powers, the movement abilities, and other aspects of the game. If we were to make those same changes on PC, then the game wouldn’t feel as good or control as well for those who play with a mouse and keyboard.

The “feel” of combat in Diablo III is so crucial to the experience that we aren’t willing to compromise it just to tack another feature as a bullet on the back of the box. If players would prefer to enjoy Diablo III with a controller, then we’re confident that they’ll love either console version.

What’s the biggest challenge porting a PC game to consoles?

The biggest challenge was definitely the UI. We just about redesigned the UI from scratch because it was clear from the onset that a simple port of the mouse-and-keyboard-focused UI would be insufficient. We went through multiple iterations and we conducted multiple user experience sessions with console gamers to ensure that we nailed the controls and UI—key aspects of the game.

I’d also like to call out our awesome engine programming team. Those guys worked really hard to optimize the console version in many ways. I am really proud of the things they‘ve accomplished.

For one, we don’t require an installation. You can pop in the disc and just start killing demons!

Also, Diablo is an intense action RPG, with lots of enemies on screen at any given time, so maintaining a high frame rate is very important. We spent a significant amount of time optimizing the game so that it performs smoothly on the consoles.

We also wanted to provide a great “drop-in and drop-out” experience for multiple players. This was another challenge I feel we delivered well on.

All in all, it was pretty challenging bringing the game to consoles, but part of the reason for that is because we didn’t want to take shortcuts and compromise on the game experience.

source :  forbes