Giant Bomb Presents: Chronicling the Creation of Diablo

This is the first I've heard of this. I better check that book out!

My favorite video game series! Thanks Patrick.

Here's a link to the book if you're interested:

http://dm-press.com/books/stay-awhile-and-listen-book-i/

That screen shot.... so many memories

This is a fantastic book by the way. Definitely check it out.

I still hate the butcher.

The history of Blizzard is really interesting to me, I'll definitely check this book out

Oh shit. I didn't even know this book was even a thing. Definitely gonna check this out.

Thank you Patrick! I heard something about this book awhile ago but it totally slipped from my mind. This brings up so many "behind the scenes" stories I would like to know more about, like Nintendo vs Sega or the rise and fall of Midway.

Thanks for the interview, and because of it letting me know about his book.

I loved Masters of Doom and have been itching for another book even somewhat like it.

Mmmmm, fresh meat! So scary the first (and every) time I fought him. Should be an interesting cast.

Nice, I'm really getting interested about background stuff in the gaming industry (love Mattchat on yt, and also books like Masters of Doom). Will keep an eye open for these books.

Wow, this is like a fantasy come true! Thank you so much Patrick, I think I can finally part with my SoJ's.

Edit: I wonder if the books will touch up on how brutally dark (atmospherically) the first two games were, which were the key reasons why they are my top favorite games of all time.

Wow, sounds amazing!

Well, I mean the idea sounds amazing. We'll see how it really sounds just yet!!

*runs to listen/install Diablo*

I sure hope so and I totally agree with you. When explaining why the first two Diablos became classics, people usually only refer to the near flawless gameplay. But the dark and somber atmosphere was probably an even bigger part for why I loved those games, especially the first one. Now that Diablo 3 went all Saturday-Morning-Cartoon, the Souls games will have to fill that void for me.

Oh man I fucking love the first Diablo, the thumbnail/picture alone speaks to me! It tells me that the setting and feeling is what I love about it, or as David Craddock says: "the spirit". He also speaks about Diablo as "fun" and "handmade", that died in the third one, so sad :(.

This is cool and I will check out the books!

You should try Path of Exile, it's free to play (the good kind, don't need to pay anything to play the whole game) on Steam and feels more like the sequel to Diablo 2.

blizzard need to show off what they are trying to do with Titain . I remember seeing early world of warcraft stuff in 2003 I think. I forgot about it for 2 years till the xmas after launch but I still remember it now. That game changed my life and ever since i quit that playing blizzard games since just hasn't been the same. I remember a april fools maybe in 2005 about putting warcraft 3 within wow.. and i think in a way that's what they did with SC2 and Diablo3 .. they are really subsidiary games in a way still.

Blizzard needs to take its next steps even if they stuff up (is ok to release flawed things) i miss the feeling.

@oginam:

I second Path of Exile, it has it's end game issues but they are not nearly as severe as D3's was and its faster paced

I have pretty much followed the studio of Blizzard-North since I was young and I have always had a great admiration for people who worked there.

I may not be a fan of Diablo 3 (not because of the internet stuff I actually don't like some of the design decisions they chose) but I would stay say the loot based dungeon crawler is one of my favorite genres.

Yeah, I love Diablo 1, never was quite as fond of Diablo II, and Diablo III didn't grab me at all.

Is this a dumptruck?

For certain. People scoffed at those that complained about the artstyle, but the change really did greatly impact the Diablo "experience" and atmosphere in a negative way (on top of the writing; don't even get me started on that). I would definitely agree that Dark Souls is what Diablo 3 should have looked like if they really had to abandon the classic sprite work.

Not that I hated Diablo 3 by any means, but there was definitely something lost in translation.

Really makes me wonder what the original Diablo 3 (that was still using sprite-work) would have been like if it wasn't scrapped.

Ah, I remember David Craddock from his IGN days.

Can't state enough how much I dislike the morning show "cooking section" intro music, creates a strange atmosphere, the first music you guys ever used was the best.

http://www.giantbomb.com/podcasts/giant-bomb-s-interview-dumptruck-christopher-willi/1600-424/

its good to hear from somebody so into skeletons

Was this book only release digitally? If so that's a bummer.

This seems really interesting either way. I look forward to reading it!

Thanks!

Still have the fondest memories of Diablo 1 on PC. Looking forward to the interview!

Fresh meat! I played the first Diablo obsessively for like a year.

the music from the dungeon will haunt me forever...

This should be interesting, that first game has one of my favorite video game atmospheres.

Can I make some intro music for this segment?

Great interview. Great job Patrick!

This is awesome I need to check this book out. I have a personal friend who worked at condor during the Blizzard North buyout and ended up leaving with a few guys, who I imagine from this interview was one of the "young guys" that staged a walk out. They ended up creating Click Entertainment who went on to create Throne Of Darkeness.

Thank you @patrickklepek I'm probably buying this, might be the first eBook i've bought in a long while.

This was interesting. I'll probably end up reading the book/s. I listen to, unfortunately, few of Patrick's industry podcasts, though this isn't quite the same, but you know what I mean. Giantbomb's developer stuff has always been one of the most appealing things for me from the site, but Patrick doesn't bring the humor (self-admittedly) that the rest of the crew does (nor does Brad very much, for that matter), so the draw isn't as strong when seeking lighthearted entertainment. I hope they start bringing more developers in for stuff. (Granted, a lot of their buddies seem to be doing well, getting promotions, and very busy.) That said, Patrick has been a font of quality content since the move, it just throws in stark contrast the lack of developer stuff the other guys are doing.

@dryker: I think the industry stuff from Patrick complements the humorous work of the rest of the crew perfectly. That's basically what I want from a good gaming site nowadays.

Interesting stuff Patrick. More of this, less feminism.

Ugh, please stop with that shit. You have to bring up stuff you don't like even when it's not the topic?

@amyggen: you're right I don't have to. Do you have to complain about it though?

@dr_mantas: Yeah I do, because that discussion is annoying enough when it's on topic, so don't bring it up when it has nothing to do with the actual content.

You don't even know the proper definition of feminism, or else you wouldn't be saying this. Do you think women should be treated equally? Congratulations, you're a feminist.

Back to the main topic; great interview, Patrick! I'm always interested in hearing more behind the scenes stories.

I would have never known this book existed. Thank you.

False. You described a humanist. Feminism has grown into something grotesque and misbegotten.