Blizzard's VP of game design Rob Pardo delivered an awesome presentation to a packed room at GDC, explaining the company's approach to multiplayer games - the approach that has helped them make mildly successful online games like World of Warcraft and Starcraft. It was great to sit in on and very impressive to see how big a deal multiplayer is for Blizzard and just how much of a focus it gets during their game development process. If you're into multiplayer game development, have a gander at our write-up of Blizzard's approach to multiplayer game design.

them make mildly successful

lol wow is more like hugely successful

I see what you did there trog... he didn't :)

gj Ad, you're mildly retarded.

haha evis

gj Ad, you're mildly retarded.

+1

last edited by Ad at 14:27:04 23/Feb/08

give up man, you've already been owned once in this thread

As ugly as nf might be, that was uncalled for.

Please just stop, you are just digging the hole of your own ignorance deeper and wider for all to see, let this thread go about it's original intended purpose, go lick your wounds and come back wiser in the end.

rofl take a hit Ad. it aint the end of the world.

is he banned yet?

also <3 blizzard, everything they touch turns to gold. im not a big SC2 fan, but i appreciate its prowess.

diablo 3, now thats whats getting me all excited (im guessing 2010/2011 release maybe?)

go lick your wounds and come back wiser in the end.

actually, dont bother

Nice read, but more importantly hahaha Ad is a noob (probably NE Hunter).

Aiya!, lets just hope Diablo 3 doesn't end up being World of Diablo :p
Other than that I am looking forward to that game more than anything else Blizzard looks like releasing.

lol Ad is more like hugely retarded!

Anyway, companies should know that MP is what sells games best. WoW, CS, TF2, Q3 etc.

rofl

blizzard just know how to make a game completely balanced. <3.

Aiya!, lets just hope Diablo 3 doesn't end up being World of Diablo :p

I'm not holding my breath on that one.

Blizzard know how to make a great game now - so great that the term 'WoW addiction' was coined. D3 will be the same as WoW's successful business model.

I'm not about to put my life on hold for a few years to enjoy it to it's fullest though.

I'm a hardcore pc gamer - not a hardcore nerd

last edited by koopz at 22:47:11 23/Feb/08

Anyway, companies should know that MP is what sells games best. WoW, CS, TF2, Q3 etc.

u huh. Mario *, Metal Gear *, Final Fantasy *, Portal, Metriod *, Sim *, Civilization *

Do I need to continue to list hugely successful non-multi player franchises?

Multi player helps with game longevity but it isn't the be all and end all of making a popular game.

blizzard just know how to make a game completely balanced. <3.

So they have stopped tweaking classes in wow now have they? how long did that take?

oh man a MMO metroid style game would be so cool if done right

I thought they got rid of the whole Diablo team ?

They still own the IP, but it would essentially be a new game with none of the art/programming/design team.

I thought they got rid of the whole Diablo team ?

They've actually lost the vast majority of their development team since WoW.

Blizzard know how to make a great game now - so great that the term 'WoW addiction' was coined. D3 will be the same as WoW's successful business model.

MMO addiction did not start with WoW. People were talking about being addicted to MMOs as far back as (at least) everquest and UO.In fact if you look hard enough you could probably find mention of some MUDer being accused of being addicted in precisely the same way as MMO people are right now.

The reason that the term "WoW addiction" was coined is only because WoW is what brought MMOs to mainstream media. Now while you may argue that that is because "blizzard know how to make a great game", the amusing part is that WoW in many ways broke Pardo's design rules(which i mostly agree with, they are all pretty good guidelines at least).

Lets be honest here, PvP was thought up on the fly with alternating patches improving and then destroying chunks of it(i'm looking at you here world pvp). Hunters were hackily patched in barely weeks before release because they were promised. Paladins were completely remodeled 2 weeks before that(and from what i remember the new remoddeling of paladins that occured with BC turned them back into what they were). PvP Balance was a foreign concept to the game for at least a year particularly with their weapons. If i had to define a game that crammed a whole heap of things in and then patched them into working order, WoW would definately be on that list. To be fair, every mmo has done much the same thing however I would not consider WoW to be the best example of well thought out software.

WoW was successful in large part because Warcraft 3 was successful. An alternative way of looking at it is that WoW was successful because Blizzards rep was good. Either explanation fits.

last edited by Xyzzy at 11:00:37 24/Feb/08

They've actually lost the vast majority of their development team since WoW.

This is hardly unusual - its been 4 1/2 years since it was released, very few people stay in a job for longer than 5 years. Blizzard have a rather unique retainment problem as their dev teams concistently produce absurdly popular titles.

You can imagine what the words World of WarCraft do for your resume. Its happened before, people have consistently pointed out that Blizzard's team significantly changes after every blockbuster yet they continue to produce them.

WoW was successful in large part because Warcraft 3 was successful. An alternative way of looking at it is that WoW was successful because Blizzards rep was good. Either explanation fits.

The reputation of polished and quality games combined with their high profile franchises is compelling and no doubt gave WoW a huge head start. But that doesn't really account for the success of WoW - if it was tripe it just wouldn't have been the game that redefined the size of the MMO market. It also doesn't explain the large number of people who have been playing it from November '04 to today.

last edited by Hogfather at 11:21:18 24/Feb/08

It blows my mind every time I walk into a store and see a relatively high priced Diablo II on the shelf in plain view, amongst all the other top selling games.

They certainly earn their credibility.

The reputation of polished and quality games combined with their high profile franchises is compelling and no doubt gave WoW a huge head start. But that doesn't really account for the success of WoW - if it was tripe it just wouldn't have been the game that redefined the size of the MMO market. It also doesn't explain the large number of people who have been playing it from November '04 to today.

You underestimate inertia with the MMO market.

When you spend effort on a single game(not to mention money) the knowledge that you'll be back at square one again is a proven demotivator to move. Everquest would have to have been one of the most complained about games ever(particularly per player) and it's numbers didn't drop significantly until World of Warcraft(and EQ2) came out.

I'm not really saying WoW was complete tripe. If nothing else the sustainability of WoW is explainable by simply being "better than everyone else". This however doesn't mean its awesome or perfect. It just means it's passable and no-ones done the whole package better.

And having said all that, i don't really rate blizzard that high in game system design. Game art and Game world design are always phenomenal but for mine there is almost always some technical flaws that their games suffer under.

This is hardly unusual - its been 4 1/2 years since it was released, very few people stay in a job for longer than 5 years. Blizzard have a rather unique retainment problem as their dev teams concistently produce absurdly popular titles.

They actually lost most of their development team, including the ones had been with Blizzard for ~10 years in the months following WoW’s release. Most of them left because of internal politics rather than the way their resumes were received by competitors.

Game world design are always phenomenal

Yes, the lasers pew pew pew aspects of their 'world design' truly show their design skills.

Yes, the lasers pew pew pew aspects of their 'world design' truly show their design skills.

OK i'll grant that they lost it a bit with that. Personally i chose to believe that some newb designer came up with that and their continuity guy decided to close ranks rather than say "sorry, that guy spoke wrongly and he will be beaten soundly for it later". Just like i choose to believe that molyneux didn't really have complete control over Black and White, so that that piece of crap doesn't stain his otherwise awesome record.

They actually lost most of their development team, including the ones had been with Blizzard for ~10 years in the months following WoW’s release. Most of them left because of internal politics rather than the way their resumes were received by competitors.

This rumor is constantly refuted by the WoW community managers.

Warcraft 3 > Warcraft 3 Expansion > World of Warcraft
Starcraft 2 > Starcraft 2 Expansion > World of Starcraft
Diablo 3 > Diablo 3 Expansion > World of Diablo

Warcraft 3 > Warcraft 3 Expansion > World of Warcraft
Starcraft 2 > Starcraft 2 Expansion > World of Starcraft
Diablo 3 > Diablo 3 Expansion > World of Diablo

It's a little bit early to be declaring that World of * is crap consider we haven't even seen what they're up against.

If Starcraft 2 is the worst RTS since C&C 2(or DR 2, your choice) then world of starcraft could either be a) stillborn or b) better than it.

i think u all forgot how well pokemon sells... the figures on that is also fkn insane.