Diablo
II
[01/12/00]
[page 1 of 4]
This month's Diablo II diary looks at the current development of Diablo II and also examines the QA (quality assurance) process of testing the game. Producer Matt Householder and QA manager Chris Sigaty answer this month's questions.
GameSpot: Where in the development process are you right now?
Matt Householder: We are progressing rapidly toward a Battle.net beta CD gold master. The final voice scripts have been recorded in English. We are also putting finishing touches on a number of multiplayer features and organizing everything printed onscreen or said, for localization into other languages.
GameSpot: What is the art team doing?
Householder: Generally, they are now playing the game to help with the QA process, which includes testing for bugs, checking that their artwork went into the game properly, and giving the rest of the team design feedback on gameplay, user interface, sound, quests, layouts - everything and anything in the game. When a piece of art needs refinement or correction, they switch back to that task for a while.
GameSpot: What are the programmers and designers doing?
Householder: This period of time (beta to final) is the most crucial in game development and demands the utmost of the time and skills of all the designers and programmers. In addition to playing the game and testing the code changes recently made, the programmers are tracking down the typical pesky bugs - memory leaks, compatibility problems - refining monster/NPC AI and player skills, and improving the performance of the game on lower-end systems (for example, reducing RAM and hard-drive footprints, increasing graphics' frame rate). They have to squeeze all this in and find time to eat, exercise, sleep, and bathe too.
GameSpot: Is anything being revamped and reworked now? Or is the game essentially just being tested and refined now?
Householder: Well, there is a fine line between "rework" and "refine." But it is safe to say that Diablo II has entered the testing, bug-fixing, and refinement stage. Of course, if something is discovered that needs to be reworked, Blizzard will take the time to do it.
GameSpot: Have acts two and three and the finale been finished yet?
Householder: All of the artwork and code for these acts have been completed. And some of the Blizzard staff have played all the way through [them]. (It isn't easy, and it takes several full days of dedicated, skillful play.) There are play-balance, polish, and layout issues that we will address before the game is released, of course.
Next: How QA works
Diablo
II
