D2 Team Interviewed on D3

We've scored another interview today with an ex-Bliz North employee, giving his thoughts on Diablo 3. This time it's Michael Huang. He worked at Bliz North from 1997-2003, was the Technical Director on D2, and was involved in the earliest planning of the original version of D3. In this interview Mike answers the same 7 questions Ben Boos did last week, and isn't afraid to discuss the different design choices Bliz North made than what we see in the game today.

Diii.net: Was the original Blizzard North vision of D3 greatly different than D2, or more of an evolution?

Michael Huang: I think it was more of an evolution. I left Blizzard North in 2003, when prototype work was still being laid out, like what classes were going to be in it, and what the environment should be like, and basic storyline stuff. 5 years is a long time in game development, and with all the changes that can occur during that time, I expect to see very little of what I saw 5 years ago end up in the final product.

When I look back on the original design concepts for D2 and the game we shipped, there were a lot of changes that we made inbetween to tweak gameplay and the environments, but the story was basically set. We always knew that we'd be chasing the Wanderer from different areas of the world and having a showdown in Hell.

You might also enjoy reading this guest article Mike submitted back in 2006, in which he reminisced on his days at Blizzard North.

Tags: interview, michael huang

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