For those that are interested in Diablo Immortal, I made a video highlighting as much of the tidbits as possible. It’s rather long and mostly entertaining, though I also created timestamps in the description for those only looking for specific info.
Before the questions roll in, I want to point out that I’m actually playing with a controller with the game displayed on my monitor. I’ve essentially turned my phone into a “console”. Video on that will be coming shortly, as streaming the game while hunched forward, not being able to read chat and play comfortably is a no go for me (although I don’t mind the touchscreen controls when im out and about).
I’m assuming you’re using an MHL link to display on your TV/monitor. That’s doable as long as you keep the phone plugged into a charging source, otherwise you’re limited in how long you can realistically play without the phone going into low power mode and degrading performance by switching to the slower cores used for power saving.
What I’d be curious to see is if someone with say an nVidia Shield could get this game running on that, in which case they’d have the console feel without the limitations of mobile devices. But it would suck to have to buy a Shield (the good one with better storage/CPU) just for this game. Android set top boxes need to really start becoming a thing.
Can we get a summary or some time stamps for the important stuff? No offense, I don’t have an hour to sit and watch a video for what’s most likely a few tidbits.
What people may find important will differ from person to person as a lot was discussed. This is why in the video description, I included time stamps with titles so that you can navigate through the video on topics that are important to you.
Accessibility is a major point of interest for a lot of players, especially those like myself with disabilities. While you went over the fact that your controller is no longer supported in iOS due to Apple’s sandboxing requirements (that’s what you were looking for when describing the “why” it didn’t work anymore), you didn’t go over the actual controller itself or how to configure it for use with this game.
Now, I understand that this was an impromptu “pop up” interview of sorts so I’m not knocking you there. Just pointing out that pointing us to a video and leaving us still wondering “ok, HOW?” doesn’t help anyone that’s interested in investing into this game and/or the setup required to play it.
What we really need is for someone to post info on accessibility with regard to this game. There is in fact interest in D:I outside of the typical “mobile” market, but neither Blizzard nor any of the content creators are really doing anyone any favors by not discussing the finer points of what is required to get into it if you either don’t have a mobile device or are unable to play within the physical constraints of those mobile devices.
Perhaps it might behoove Blizzard to offer up some options for potential players and have the content creators/streamers divulge what those options truly are. I doubt very many players will jump through a bunch of hoops if the experience is poor, and even fewer would be willing to consider jumping through many hoops at all just to avoid yet another case of FOMO.
This is fair. I do want to point out that this video interview of sorts did not have a specific topic and covered a broad range of things. I only made mention that I was using a controller in my original post due to the fact that anyone viewing the video would be able to clearly see that I’m not looking at my phone while playing most of the time, so I figured I’d get it out the way. Looking back at it, I definitely could have worded that differently. I made mention towards the end of the video that I would do a separate video involving using a controller.
You may have missed it, but we did talk a bit about accessibility in general. It ranged from disabilities, to left handed people, to chat integration, etc.
Wyatt also made mentioned about how him and his team are very aware of how popular the request for controller support is. He even mentions that it would solve some of the accessibility issues that the team has been tasked with figuring out. He flat out says even the devs want controller support in the video.
Due to how the skills work, controller support is not a simple task, so they don’t have any concrete answers as there’s not an obvious solution of sorts. For example, how would you aim your skills, move your character and press the button associated with the action necessary? It would mean mapping all skills to trigger buttons, which doesn’t feel intuitive, but it’s the only way you can do all 3 actions at once, which is required. These are some of the challenges I’m sure they face. My controller of course is the exception, as it was built for games like this and mobile mobas, but of course that can’t be the expectation for devs in terms of general support.
They’re listening, it’s just that not all problems have obvious solutions. It’s still alpha, so there’s time You’ve been around long enough to know blizzard isn’t going to “talk” until they know said thing is a sure thing, and that’s exactly why they’ve been scoping out streamers to see our work arounds since you know…comfort and accessibility is a huge issue for us streaming the game, haha.
Since I stream using an elgato capture card, I can pull up the game/stream in OBS and blow it up to near full screen with extremely low latency. Super efficient as I can see exactly what my viewers see and not miss anything in chat.
D3 has controller support on the console and handles aiming fairly well. PoE does as well (you can hold the button down for further distance or tick off a setting for max distance so you know where you’re aiming more readily). And yes, more than two buttons at once and you’ll need to map to trigger buttons for the most part. That’s not exactly new to any game, console or mobile. Not sure how it wouldn’t feel intuitive since it’s a mapping scheme you’d ideally choose yourself (i.e. full customizeable controls). Believe me, I know - I’ve had to create a custom configuration just for World of Warcraft on my dual shock 2 controller so I can hold it in my left hand while I use the mouse to click abilities. Works wonders in 5 man dungeons for healing.
Controller support will always have limitations based on the particular controller in use, but it doesn’t have to be rigid like Overwatch’s controller support is (no DirectInput, can’t remap strafe at all, pathetic accessibility overall).
Perhaps they should be talking to, I dunno, the disabled community to see what they need? Abled streamers aren’t going to be very representative of folks with different needs. They don’t have to necessarily talk to me specifically - I’m just one of many. But by not specifically engaging those players directly, it’s like trying to design disability access by trial and error like they used to do back in the 20th century before the ADA became a thing.
I’m not trying to come off as scoffing at you and especially not Wyatt. This isn’t his first rodeo after all and he’s had enough mud slung his way to last a lifetime. I’m just frustrated that Blizzard says they’re listening to disabled players, but outside of an email to the accessibility team that doesn’t guarantee a response and/or a lucky hit from one of them on twitter, they aren’t really engaging with us directly.
I won’t fully judge until closer to launch. I like the offerings in terms of activities D:I has in the core game. It looks like what D3 should have been, MTX market notwithstanding. I just hope they don’t go the half baked route like they did with Overwatch.
Difference is that D3 and PoE on consoles were designed to use a controller, since that is the primary option on a console by a long shot. Mobile games are designed to be used with touchscreen in mind first, with controllers and other methods being an “option”. The way skills work on D3 console is not the same way it works on diablo immortal.
I thought you were against jumping through hoops?
Right. All I said is that there are challenges for creating controller support. This doesn’t mean they won’t figure it out
Blizzard’s communication has always been on the lackluster side of things, but it’s unfair to assume they haven’t spoken to any disabled individuals. In fact, one of the streamers who does play the game is a disabled veteran and has given a ton of feedback. I don’t want to mention who this is without permission as I don’t want to be disrespectful.
I urge you to go to the timestamps in the video i put up and really listen to Wyatt talk about accessibility and how high of a priority it is. It is a genuine concern, and as frustrating as it can be in terms of blizzard’s direct communication with it’s base, the people working on these games absolutely do care.
No, but that isn’t necessarily a limitation either. See: D2R, which has both controller and mouse/keyboard controls. Just because there is one defined way of using a skill doesn’t mean additional means can’t be added, ideally as toggles based on input mode selection. To say otherwise is a cop-out in this day and age.
Many would be against it if it could be avoided with good foresight from the developer. I did so because back in 2003 there was no other methodology to play the game that I could use without extreme pain. WoW has rudimentary controller support built in now, but it’s just that - rudimentary. No UI configuration at all. It’s entirely driven by CVARs in the same vein that Blizzard uses when internally testing features such as the fog level control in WoW that was just exposed in the retail client in the 9.1 patch. I still use USB Overdrive in macOS because WoW’s built in controller support isn’t ready for prime time yet. Baby steps, but they’re happening excruciatingly slowly.
They’ve got multiple blueprints to start from, including from competitors. Just as long as they don’t go the Overwatch route…ugh.
Oh I know the devs care. Outside of one or two in WoW’s history that didn’t care a whit about player concerns, nearly everyone else does and has. Oftentimes it’s management that doesn’t care. They’re the primary reason the wheels churn so slowly at Blizzard these days.
I’d stream to be more prolific (known), but I prefer to play on my own clock, not others’. That and I talk to myself constantly while I’m playing games. I’ll actually dictate possible tactics out loud to myself while playing solo in WoW. It’s weird.
Now this makes more sense. Wyatt (dev) and I (random content creator) are just the unfortunate bystanders taking the beating I can only speak from experience playing the game, and ofc Wyatt as the actual dev in terms of your topic.
Can’t help much more than that, however if you’re interested in playing D:I and want to talk accessibility/options or things I can help you with, feel free to add me on bnet/stream. I’d be more than happy to help anyone.
Controller support seems to be an evolving topic for Diablo Immortal, even the setup Dieoxide uses today is subject to change as the game gets closer to launch.
Die did you put together a video guide for replicating your setup?
Thanks for posting it and Thanks Blizz Employee for replying so the Blizz trackers picked it up.
It’s really cool to see this dev interaction, I especially like how Wyatt has just accepted his fate in regards to the “do you not have phones” memes.
It’s super cool to have this dev insight into D3, it gives me a lot of hope for D:I and D4 when you hear these acknowledgements of the issues that were in D3.
I hope the dev’s drop by streams more often, these free flowing formats are great because you get to hear bits that are not really something they would talk about in a planned promo.
You’ve been around long enough to know blizzard isn’t going to “talk” until they know said thing is a sure thing, and that’s exactly why they’ve been scoping out streamers to see our work arounds since you know…comfort and accessibility is a huge issue for us streaming the game, haha.
I can only speak from experience playing the game, and ofc Wyatt as the actual dev in terms of your topic.