Diablo V Developers Explain How Its Procedural Open World Works
The technology was in development since Diablo III.
In case you missed it
In case you missed it
Blizzard announced Diablo V during BlizzCon, with the world being an ever-changing procedural landscape – terrain, points of interest, monsters, and reward might shapeshift when you return.
During a group Q&A at BlizzCon, the franchise executive producer Matt Zitterman shared with Polygon that the developers decided move away from Diablo IV's static world because players "want that sense of constant discovery."
"One of the reasons that we returned to the procedural world for Diablo 5 is because we saw that it was this great, amazing experience to explore what the full world of the eastern continent looked like in Diablo 4, but that was an experience that you really only were able to have once, and we wanted to be able to provide that as a more constant experience."
Blizzard Entertainment
Also, unlike Diablo IV, the new game will feature overlay maps from day one, shared game director Joe Shely. The state of the locations will also differ depending on who controls the area.
"You might encounter a ruined church, and that ruined church can be represented in different ways depending on the state of the region when you're there," Shely said.
The game director also explained that, to make the world feel diverse and avoid repetition, the developers will create "a lot of content" while striking a balance between keeping locations stable and recognizable and introducing new elements to them. Zitterman called Diablo V's procedural generation a technology that the team had been been building on since Diablo III.
Blizzard Entertainment
In the fifth franchise entry, Diablo has conquered Sanctuary and now holds the throne of Westmarch, wielding Sanctuary's people and souls as weapons in the Eternal Conflict. Players will take on the role of the Heir to Westmarch and navigate across Sanctuary with an increasing number of survivors joining the caravan. The game's release is set for 2029.
During BlizzCon, the studio also unveiled a new StarCraft game, which will be a narrative-driven open-world shooter, a new vampire-inspired hero in Overwatch, a revamped journal in Hearthstone, World of Warcraft's update, and more.
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