Bill Roper Interview Translation Bill Roper, responsible for development at Blizzard, was in Paris last week to present Diablo II, one of the most anticipated games of the year. With his guidance we were able to visit the worlds of Act I and 2, and to meet the first four characters; the Amazon, the Paladin, the sorceress, and the Necromancer. Unfortunately, he jealously guarded the secrets behind Act 3 and the fifth type of character that the player can use, the Barbarian, despite our insistence… GameSpot France: Many players criticized Diablo for it’s linearity. Are you planning on remedying this in Diablo II? Bill Roper: Diablo II definitely plays itself in a manner much less linear than Diablo. But you know even games with a really good scenario, if they don’t give the impression of being linear, they can be overwhelming. The reason why Diablo seems so linear is because the area of the game was really small and involved going back to the same place before going to another. Actually, we saw much recent progress in the art of retelling history throughout a game, notably in Star Craft and Brood War. And we are going to repeat this experience in Diablo II, in particular with the insertion of cinematic scenes. GSF: Will the world of Diablo II surpass the caricature stacking of the dungeon levels of the first? BR: In the second Act, the player really has the feeling of saving the entire world, and not just some poor village with its six inhabitants. In the world of Diablo II all the NPCs will have their own occupations and motivations. Each world possesses its own atmosphere. The first will be very classic, in the medieval / fantasy genre, similar to that of Diablo; Act 2, will have a totally different ambiance, with the surroundings more desert-like. Of the 16 or 17 artists that worked exclusively on Diablo II, one party concentrated on the creation and animation of the characters. While the other occupied themselves with the environment and exteriors, and also the decoration of the rooms inside the buildings. Actually, by accident, we had in our group an expert architect, of whom we then asked to create the design of the interiors. And that worked so well that we recruited other people presenting the same profile. When it comes to Act 3, all I can say for the moment is that it is inspired by a jungle theme… GSF: Let’s talk now about a few of the characters of the game. Will there be real differences from one to another? BR: The Amazon excels in throwing weapons , the spear, and the bow, and can also kick. The Paladin hits will his shield, and this causes more damage than the Amazon’s kick and throw his enemies from behind. He has very efficient spells against the undead. The sorceress is one of those rare classes of people to master particular skills, which are passive, but which many other spells will benefit. For example, if she learns how to control fire, all of the spells implicating fire will require less to cast. If she controls the cold, all her spells have the chance to ignore the armor of her targets. The Barbarian has the ability to master different types of weapons, like the handling of the sword. As for the Necromancer, is certainly the weakest of all the characters when he uses his attack weapons or other offensive spells. Actually, his force resides in his capacity to invoke Golems or undead, casting curses or using the bodies of his victims, blowing them up for example. The Necromancer is a real master of recycling. GSF: What do you see happening with the restriction of "Player Killing" on the Battle.net? BR: We tried to find solutions that were socially acceptable. We wanted to get rid of the systematic Player Killing that some players practiced just for the pleasure of massacring characters that were weaker than their own. In Diablo II, the big difference is that you can no longer automatically target another character. You have to do it manually. This makes things more difficult because they cannot see other attackers in between players in particular. In other respects, we’re using a client/server architecture, where players cannot cheat as easily as before. If a person attacks with a dagger which makes 5 million points of damage, the Battle.net server knows that this is not possible and invalidates the action. For sure, there will be arenas where players who want to duel they have the liberty to do so, without harming other people, and put a price on the game, which could be items or money. Actually, we want to find the means to which players can engage in Player Killing, without acting like morons. GSF: Are you going to find super-powerful characters, like they duplicate in the universe of Diablo? BR: This time, we opted, for potions and other objects which make the character stronger in a temporary manner and not permanent, like the case in Diablo with the elixirs that allow a notable supplementary force. Similarly, for countering possible excesses, we have tried to render certain types of objects as very rare. For example, you’re battling a type monster who casts fireballs at you and who you have killed many times before. You have on you potions of force and other permitting the resistance of fire. Oh good, you drink these before you fight, and the beneficial effects disappear quickly. You are equally endowed with a sword that contains several ice attack charges; you use these also perhaps at this occasion. Within several seconds you attain great advantages, but none more. For sure, in single player mode it is always possible to cheat because all the character files will be on the players computer. But in this case, the player can ruin his experience in the game but not that of others. - Bill Roper, responsible for development at Blizzard, was in Paris last week to present Diablo II, one of the most anticipated games of the year. With his guidance we were able to visit the worlds of Act I and 2, and to meet the first four characters; the Amazon, the Paladin, the sorceress, and the Necromancer. Unfortunately, he jealously guarded the secrets behind Act 3 and the fifth type of character that the player can use, the Barbarian, despite our insistence… GameSpot France: Many players criticized Diablo for it’s linearity. Are you planning on remedying this in Diablo II? Bill Roper: Diablo II definitely plays itself in a manner much less linear than Diablo. But you know even games with a really good scenario, if they don’t give the impression of being linear, they can be overwhelming. The reason why Diablo seems so linear is because the area of the game was really small and involved going back to the same place before going to another. Actually, we saw much recent progress in the art of retelling history throughout a game, notably in Star Craft and Brood War. And we are going to repeat this experience in Diablo II, in particular with the insertion of cinematic scenes. GSF: Will the world of Diablo II surpass the caricature stacking of the dungeon levels of the first? BR: In the second Act, the player really has the feeling of saving the entire world, and not just some poor village with its six inhabitants. In the world of Diablo II all the NPCs will have their own occupations and motivations. Each world possesses its own atmosphere. The first will be very classic, in the medieval / fantasy genre, similar to that of Diablo; Act 2, will have a totally different ambiance, with the surroundings more desert-like. Of the 16 or 17 artists that worked exclusively on Diablo II, one party concentrated on the creation and animation of the characters. While the other occupied themselves with the environment and exteriors, and also the decoration of the rooms inside the buildings. Actually, by accident, we had in our group an expert architect, of whom we then asked to create the design of the interiors. And that worked so well that we recruited other people presenting the same profile. When it comes to Act 3, all I can say for the moment is that it is inspired by a jungle theme… GSF: Let’s talk now about a few of the characters of the game. Will there be real differences from one to another? BR: The Amazon excels in throwing weapons , the spear, and the bow, and can also kick. The Paladin hits will his shield, and this causes more damage than the Amazon’s kick and throw his enemies from behind. He has very efficient spells against the undead. The sorceress is one of those rare classes of people to master particular skills, which are passive, but which many other spells will benefit. For example, if she learns how to control fire, all of the spells implicating fire will require less to cast. If she controls the cold, all her spells have the chance to ignore the armor of her targets. The Barbarian has the ability to master different types of weapons, like the handling of the sword. As for the Necromancer, is certainly the weakest of all the characters when he uses his attack weapons or other offensive spells. Actually, his force resides in his capacity to invoke Golems or undead, casting curses or using the bodies of his victims, blowing them up for example. The Necromancer is a real master of recycling. GSF: What do you see happening with the restriction of "Player Killing" on the Battle.net? BR: We tried to find solutions that were socially acceptable. We wanted to get rid of the systematic Player Killing that some players practiced just for the pleasure of massacring characters that were weaker than their own. In Diablo II, the big difference is that you can no longer automatically target another character. You have to do it manually. This makes things more difficult because they cannot see other attackers in between players in particular. In other respects, we’re using a client/server architecture, where players cannot cheat as easily as before. If a person attacks with a dagger which makes 5 million points of damage, the Battle.net server knows that this is not possible and invalidates the action. For sure, there will be arenas where players who want to duel they have the liberty to do so, without harming other people, and put a price on the game, which could be items or money. Actually, we want to find the means to which players can engage in Player Killing, without acting like morons. GSF: Are you going to find super-powerful characters, like they duplicate in the universe of Diablo? BR: This time, we opted, for potions and other objects which make the character stronger in a temporary manner and not permanent, like the case in Diablo with the elixirs that allow a notable supplementary force. Similarly, for countering possible excesses, we have tried to render certain types of objects as very rare. For example, you’re battling a type monster who casts fireballs at you and who you have killed many times before. You have on you potions of force and other permitting the resistance of fire. Oh good, you drink these before you fight, and the beneficial effects disappear quickly. You are equally endowed with a sword that contains several ice attack charges; you use these also perhaps at this occasion. Within several seconds you attain great advantages, but none more. For sure, in single player mode it is always possible to cheat because all the character files will be on the players computer. But in this case, the player can ruin his experience in the game but not that of others. - Rorschach