GDC 2025 Session Viewer
Masterworking Systems: Lessons Learned from the Engineering of Season of Loot Reborn in 'Diablo IV'
Patrick Ferland (Lead Software Engineer, Gameplay, Blizzard Entertainment)
Location: Room 2006, West Hall
Date: Wednesday, March 19
Time: 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass - Get your pass now!
Track: Programming
Format: Lecture
Vault Recording: TBD
Audience Level: All
Diablo IV is a live service Action RPG focusing on propulsive player advancement across regular releases of new content. For a live-service game intended to keep player interest over time, player and community sentiment are key for success. Therefore, after identifying player feedback on itemization following a successful launch, the team decided to invest time and resources in a large rework of this core gameplay system. Diablo IV's live-service model made that investment possible, but that same model meant rebuilding the tracks beneath a moving train. In this session, one of Diablo IV's lead gameplay engineers will describe key technical approaches used: developing large system overhauls in parallel to existing systems, enabling the larger development team to continue working while major systemic changes were in progress, and choosing to focus on data stability through the overhaul, maintaining the integrity of millions of players' progress – all beginning with a single player quality-of-life improvement.
Takeaway
Attendees will learn about some of the specific changes made to support two parallel itemization systems, and how item data was made more resilient to future changes, as well as some stories of pitfalls encountered along the way.
Intended Audience
This talk is most relevant for engineers and technical designers working on games with persistent progression loops, especially live-service games.