hackertube.io

'Diablo': A Classic Game Postmortem

GDC Festival of Gaming · talk · Watch on YouTube

Game history & retro gamingGame design

What it is

David Brevik's GDC 2016 postmortem of Diablo covers how it went from a turn-based claymation DOS concept to a real-time action RPG, plus the story of Blizzard North and development anecdotes.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Frequently recommended whenever Diablo or its origins come up, for its candid account of the human side of game development.

  • 8 people recommended it
  • 7 different months
  • 2 strong recommendations
  • first 2018, last 2023

What HN commenters said

  1. “enjoy the whole video”

    Brevik tells how Diablo became real-time and birthed the ARPG.

    AndrewOMartin, 2018-03 · Strong recommendation · in “The original pitch for Diablo (1994) [pdf]”

  2. “heartily recommended if you want to know about the human aspect behind game dev”

    Shows the human side of game development.

    baristavibes, 2023-07 · Strong recommendation · in “Diablo”

  3. “you really should check the postmortem from the GDC a few years back”

    Postmortem covering Diablo's origins and Blizzard North.

    doikor, 2018-02 · Recommendation · in “Diablo creator David Brevik is back with a new game: It Lurks Below”

  4. “Worth watching for any fans of the original”

    Origins of Diablo and Blizzard North, with amusing Q&A.

    Reedx, 2018-03 · Recommendation · in “The original pitch for Diablo (1994) [pdf]”

  5. “I love the idea that it was originally a dungeon crawl inspired by X-COM”

    Gives new respect for Diablo, including its turn-based origins.

    oraknabo, 2018-06 · Recommendation · in “Diablo devolved – magic behind the 1996 computer game”

  6. “a pretty excellent post mortem at GDC”

    Story of Diablo becoming real-time and other anecdotes.

    wcarss, 2020-07 · Recommendation · in “The Secret Origin of the Action RPG”

  7. “post mortem on D1 from GDC by the way”

    Fantastic postmortem on Diablo 1 development.

    somedude895, 2021-02 · Recommendation · in “Diablo II: Resurrected”

  8. “To find out what happened next, check out Diablo developer David Brevik”

    Brevik's GDC 2016 postmortem on what happened next.

    cpeterso, 2023-06 · Recommendation · in “Diablo Pitch Document (1994) [pdf]”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: diablo, blizzard north, action rpg, gdc, game history

Also recommended by the same people