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Diablo 4's New Game Director is Joe Shelly

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After Luis Barriga left the company in August, Joe Shelly, a longtime Blizzard veteran who worked as a designer on multiple WoW expansions, before becoming Senior Game Designer on Diablo 3, has become Diablo 4's new Game Director.

Joe Shelly introduced himself in Diablo 4's latest quarterly update.

Blizzard Logo(Source)

Hello, and welcome once again to a new Diablo IV Quarterly Update.

I'm Joe Shely from the Diablo IV team. As a design lead who has been working on this dark, shared, open world action role-playing game from the beginning, I’m honored to continue the vision of Diablo IV as its new Game Director, and I’m humbled to represent the team pouring their hearts into this game.

Like many of you, our team has been reflecting upon recent events. A lot has happened since our last blog and the hard work of practicing the values we aspire to must continue. In parallel with that important work, development of Diablo IV continues too.

Over the past few years, we've assembled a strong team with incredible passion for Diablo IV. You, Diablo’s fans, are a critical part of this team. With the help of your valuable feedback, we've steadily refined and deepened the game experience. We have ways to go, and while much has changed, our commitment to the game is unwavering.

Sanctuary should always be items glittering in dark dungeons. Tales of powerful heroes standing against the onslaught of hell. Lands where trials, treasure, and terrible monsters lie around every corner, equal parts familiar and boundless in its possibilities. Doing this world justice is a solemn responsibility. Today, we're taking a deep dive into the sound design of Diablo IV. Sound is a sometimes underappreciated yet integral element of the game's design, serving as a channel for communicating everything from incoming damage, to confirmation that a button press was registered by the game, to the intensity of a combat sequence. Try turning off the sound in a Diablo game sometime; you'll find your eyes have to work a lot harder to follow the action.

Sound also conveys the subtext of the world through which you adventure. It supports the rising and falling action of the campaign and immerses you into the ambient life of a region, transporting you into the game world. While you're reading through the blog, I encourage you to listen to the ambient tracks and pay attention to their effect on your heartrate and emotions. Try closing your eyes while listening to get a better sense of how much is being communicated.

Crafting Diablo's sound requires science, art... and the occasional ball of fire. Sound Supervisor Kris Giampa and his team have fascinating insights to share in this behind-the-scenes look at how it all works.

We hope you enjoy this update and look forward to your thoughts and reactions. As promised, our next blog will cover endgame systems and visual effects. It's been a while since we looked at systems, and there's a lot we're excited to share. Let us know what topics you'd like to hear about in the future too!

We are grateful to have you with us on this journey. Thank you for playing the stuff we make.

-Joe Shely,
Game Director, Diablo IV

Source: PC Gamer

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How can you not trust that smile? 😁 General direction has probably already been set by previous director, so he might not change it that much.

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Diablo IV is looking pretty good thus far. Wishing him the best of luck with his new endeavor! 👏

Edited by Draketh

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Well after the disaster D3 was (in the beginning) and how boring it became, I hope they have learned their lesson well.

Not many franchises left in the quiver to finally turn the tide.

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