DIABLO IV: LORD OF HATRED

Background

Atanos Finale

When I joined the Quest Design team roughly a year before release, I was tasked with quickly ramping on the quest workflow and I hit the ground running with design and implementation. I was given 6 quests to design, implement, iterate, and polish. The largest and most challenging of these quests to design and implement was the campaign's finale in Atanos. It was imperative that the 3 finale quests in Atanos would deliver a satisfying climax to the campaign. The first quest was designed to be a large scale battle where the player is run through the gauntlet of high monster density and variety to truly test their skills. The second quest saw the player navigating through an unstable temple that had just risen out of the sea. The third quest, which one could call “calm before the storm”, where the player walks through an ancient ritual site on their way to the final fight against Mephisto. The entire finale was designed to keep the intensity of gameplay and narrative as high as possible while showcasing moments never before seen in a Diablo game.

To deliver this satisfying finale, I needed to collaborate with almost every discipline on the project. I worked closely with the environment art and interactive design teams to create an experience for players that conveyed the feeling that Hell had come to Sanctuary. We collaborated on scripted sequences where the environment would shake and shift around the player. I spearheaded work on set pieces to sell the idea to the player that the temple they were navigating had just risen out of the sea while it was still crumbling. I also worked closely with engineering and character art to get as many NPCs on the screen as possible when the player finally confronts and exposes Mephisto.

Atanos 1

The first quest in Atanos was designed to be the narrative-heavy midpoint of the campaign. The player had just experienced a gameplay-heavy battle sequence in Athulua, and we wanted to give the player some respite while reminding them of their ultimate goal: stopping Mephisto. During this quest, the player learns of a sermon being delivered by Akarat (Mephisto in disguise) in the area. The player attends this sermon to learn more of Mephisto’s plan and ultimately confront him to expose his lies. This plan backfires, and Mephisto is able to reveal to his disciples the player’s connection to the demon Lilith. The player must flee and find their allies since they do not have the weapon they need to take down Mephisto.

This quest presented a challenge of creating an engaging experience with limited gameplay. I was tasked with designing a sequence with low intensity gameplay while significantly raising the intensity of the narrative. To do this, I created a sequence where the player must navigate through a crowd of Mephisto’s disciples that are fully committed to his false story. The player listens to Mephisto expertly spewing lies as they slowly make their way to confront them. This confrontation illustrates the stalemate the player and Mephisto find themselves in. The player cannot defeat him without the weapon they are seeking, and Mephisto cannot yet reveal his true nature until he lures his flock to their demise after the eclipse. Ultimately this quest does a fantastic job of narratively raising the stakes, delivering a unique narrative moment with Mephisto, and showing just how commited and deceived his followers are.

Cosmic Archives Stronghold

Before joining the Quest Design team to work on the main campaign, I was on the World Design team working on a Stronghold for the expansion’s new region. This Stronghold became the Cosmic Archives, an ancient building housing angelic and demonic artifacts studied by the Oracles of Skovos. My main work on this Stronghold was designing, prototyping, and implementing the escort mechanic where the player must help free Oracles from demonic influences while keeping them safe. This work allowed me to use the skills I had previously developed working on the Kichuk Stronghold in the first expansion, like quest implementation and encounter design, while learning new ones. Specifically, learning how to design the AI behavior for the Oracle NPCs.

With my previous experience of working on a Stronghold in the first expansion, I was partnered with an associate designer that did not have the experience of creating this type of content. During our time working on the Stronghold together, I assisted them by demonstrating how to implement certain parts of the content and giving them feedback on their work. When I was given the opportunity to join the Quest Design team, I passed off full ownership of the Stronghold to this associate designer. Ultimately I am very proud of the end result that shipped with Lord of Hatred and the work they did to get it across the finish line.