Diablo 3 - Post-Mortem with Jay Wilson

Diabloii.net has interviewed game director Jay Wilson about Diablo 3 in what is to be a 5 part interview.

I've been gone a while but I come back with what I can say is the biggest interview I've ever had, both in word count and the interview itself: Former game director for Diablo 3, Jay Wilson. I reached out to Jay after I noticed him talking about the game on twitter after a long hiatus. It felt like a long shot, and I understood any hesitation in talking about the franchise, however to my surprise he agreed. Due to length I'll be breaking it up into five parts and making the whole interview viewable as one after that. What follows is a candid, introspective look at the genesis of D3 and the man behind it.

What is your gaming background? Favorite games?

I've been playing video games almost as long as there have been video games. Childhood is a blur of Atari, arcades, Commodore, and the NES. Most of my life I've been a big fan of action, strategy, and sandboxes where I can wreak havoc. Here are some of the games that had a big impact on me:

Starflight 2 - The scale of it blew my little mind. Explore a galaxy, land on planets, interact with aliens, and eventually go back in time and see what the galaxy looked like in the past. On top of that you built and progressed your ship and your crew. Few games do so much, and I remember it doing it all pretty well for the time.

Populous - First strategy game that made a big impression on me.

Tie Fighter - For the campaign, and for being the first game that really made me feel like I was ‘in' the Star Wars universe.

X-com (original) - I love turn-based squad strategy, but I also loved the completely open metagame of worldwide base management, and the theme. If I had to pick a favorite game of all time this is it.

Doom - I played Doom for countless hours. It was really a revolution in what games could accomplish. Making levels for Doom as a hobby was how I got into the game industry.

Magic Carpet - A theme I'm starting to notice with this list is I always loved games that redefined my sense of scope and possibility. Magic Carpet did that in spades. The first time I created an earthquake that destroyed the terrain for what felt like miles I was hooked.

Diablo - First RPG I played that combined my love of action games while putting me directly into the dungeon. For me it immersed me in the world even more than Ultima Underworld (which was also awesome). I also loved the more grounded fantasy. Just people and demons and squigglies (bad things that aren't demons).

Starcraft - This is really the game that got me heavily into the RTS genre, and eventually I got a job making them.

City of Heroes - First MMO I really liked, primarily because it gave me a sense of real power. Most MMO's you fought really tiny, unimpressive stuff early on, and the combat was very slow. I also love superheroes.

World of Warcraft - First MMO I played like it was a job.

Minecraft - Mostly heavily modded, but I actively avoid playing it now because when I do all other life events get put on hold, except maybe eating.

Honorable mentions: Pools of Radiance, Mechwarrior, Outlaws, Fallout 1-4, Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, the new X-com games.