Diablos
Diablo series, revisited
Diablos, envisioned as an honorary reproduction of Diablo II, is a free online action RPG
currently under development by a small group of enthusiasts of the original game
The vision is to provide players of Diablo I, and to a greater extent Diablo II, a new experience
by recycling the original game content, mechanics and general ideas and producing a game reminiscent of
the original game yet greatly improved and expanded upon.
Most of the game design details are being ellicited in parallel with the development of the game engine thus
making a comprehensive overview of the gameplay impossible at this stage. However, the following aspects and goals
are considered to be constant:
- 7 classes: Barbarian, Sorceress, Paladin, Necromancer, Amazon, Assassin, Druid
- 5 Acts in respect to lore however implementation will likely differ
- Vastly similiar item system in regard to random properties, classification, ect
- Economy based on currency with ample facilities to support trade
- Greatly expanded towns, dungeons, regions.
- Formally implemented guild system with potential in-game representation
To elaborate further on the relationship between Diablos and the Diablo series; Diablos reuses the concepts,
art assets and general aesthetics of [primarily] Diablo II but is otherwise a completely independent product. You
could describe it simply as "take Diablo II; fix the problems; add new content"
Other talking points are best presented in a QA format
Q:
What of the associated legal issues?
A:
Presumably none; there is no challenge to Blizzard's revenue (infact it may conceivably bolster it) nor are there
any reprecussions to Blizzard's public reputation given Diablos is an entirely seperate product. In a show of good
faith to Blizzard, Diablos will require a CD key as per distributed with a licensed copy of the original game.
Additionally, development is coordinated outside of the United States thus rendering legal action considerably more
difficult.
Q:
"Diablos"?
A:
Diablos is the linguistic ancestor of Diablo which means "Devil". Diablos is the projects working title and may not
remain on final release.
Q:
Will I be able to use characters I have in Diablo II?
A:
No, Diablos is an entirely seperate game. Even if conceptually your characters represents the same object they are
inaccessible in the case of Battle.net and irrespective of that problem they are stored in a different format.
Q:
Will there be any prerequisites to playing the game?
A:
It is possible (depending on technical feasibility) you may require a preexisting installation of Diablo II to enable
quick migration of the content however this is undecided as of yet. Additionally, as per noted, you will require a
legitimate (valid, authorized) Diablo II and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction key to utilize the online play service.
Q:
What are some of the technical differences between Diablos and the Diablo series?
A:
The Diablos engine is written from scratch (in C, some assembly) and utilizes a unique (as far as I know) method
of isometric rendering which does not require extensive art post-processing or z-buffers. Presently a native
resolution of 1024x768 is expected with arbitrary scaling to suite any desired physical resolution. Rendering
is done entirely in software and can use either DirectDraw, Direct3D or OpenGL for frame-buffer access.
The network model also differs from the original game by using a distributed synchronized state-machine model
to both lower bandwidth requirements and to facilitate a far more thorough anti-cheating mechanism (if you've done
any work on warden; imagine the modules were dynamically generated and performed game-state checks). Rather than the
dead-reckoning/archaic approach of Diablo II, Diablos will employ client perception filters to hide latency from
the player and will enable these filters to be adjustable within the spectrum of accuracy->responsiveness.
Q:
What about maphack, dupes, ect?
A:
Again, Diablos is technically not the same game and is therefor not subject to the same exploits that plagued Diablo II,
and although it is absurd to suggest Diablos will be immune to such attacks (as one naive Blizzard employee did many moons
ago regarding the prior) it is of the highest priority that these sort of issues be resolved and more importantly lack potential in the first place.
Q:
Diablo III?
A:
What's that?
Q:
What will the system requirements be?
A:
That cinderblock you sometimes use to change the lights. Realistically any x86 processor, 64MB system memory, and Windows 2000 or later.
Unofficial support for Mac and other *nix based operating systems will come from Wine.
Q:
What will the game look like?
A:
Exactly like Diablo II.
Q:
Why bother with this project at all?
A:
Apart from furthering nostalgia? programming is fun! especially when the requirements include things you love doing.
Q:
What's the expected release date?
A:
Soon™