Jeff Kaplan: belief

Transcript context

…So, what do you want the tone of the game to be, the feeling of the game? This is really different. It’s been hard for people. When people were talking to us about, you know, they know me and Tim, and they’re, “Oh, the Blizzard guys, the Overwatch guys. You’re making, like, a bright, aspirational future team-based hero shooter, right?” And I’m like, “Why would I want to do that?” I felt like, first of all, respects to Blizzard, and I don’t want to try to crib Blizzard and make a pseudo-Blizzard game, you know? This is… I want to make a Kintsugiyama game, you know? Me and Tim and this crack team, you know, we’re only 34 people. We want to define what a Kintsugiyama game is, and this world seemed so inspiring to us, you know? The setting is really interesting. You know, I think California can be a game world. I think we can make it beautiful and interesting. We don’t have to follow history or geography. We can kind of do a spin where, you know, it feels authentic. We can have guns that feel like they’re kind of from that time period, but we’re not spaceships and aliens and steampunk. That’s what we would have done at Blizzard. We’re gonna be a little different here. So, the tone of this game, you know… Metzen would describe Blizzard as the hero factory. You know, we make… And what he means by that is not only are we making heroes, but we make the players into heroes. This game is gonna have an edgier tone. You’re gonna enter this world. It’s gonna feel lonelier. It’s gonna feel mysterious, larger than you. You’re gonna feel small until you earn the right to feel big. It’s gonna feel really dangerous. You’re gonna want to see what’s over that next hill, but if the sun is setting, like, get to shelter. Can’t wait to get back to my ranch and put my cozy fireplace on and wait till morning, you know? We want more of that vibe. It’s more solitary, almost scary but beautiful. That mix, that tension. I hate to ask this question, but given our previous discussion about a timeline slide, what do you think a timeline looks like? When do you think it’s possible for somebody in the world to be able to play this game?…

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