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GameBanshee has an interview with Diablo III World Designer Leonard Boyarsky.

When Diablo III was finally announced, we were pretty excited. When we found out that Fallout/Troika alumnus Leonard Boyarsky would be working on it, our excitement spiked considerably. And, when it became clear that Leonard was committed to expanding the franchise’s storytelling and dialogue, we knew we had to get an interview. As it turned out, Leonard was willing to set aside some time to answer our questions:    
 
 
GB: It’s good to hear from you again, Leonard! What have you been up to since the closure of Troika Games and how did you wind up being the lead world designer on Diablo III?

Leonard: It’s good to be back to a place where I can be heard from, especially working on this project. After Troika closed, I took a year off to recover from severe burnout. I wasn’t sure I wanted to work in games anymore and began to get my art portfolio together to possibly pursue freelance illustration work. While that was enjoyable, I found that I missed designing games and working with a team. And when Blizzard asks if you want to work on the story and RPG elements for the next Diablo game, that’s hard to turn down.
GB: What are your responsibilities on the Diablo III team? What do your day-to-day activities consist of?

Leonard: Officially, I am responsible for expanding the lore and world of the Diablo universe and helping to create the story for Diablo III. As far as my day-to-day work, I work on quests, write lore, work with the cinematics department to plan out our movies, make sure our RPG vision is being implemented — basically, I work on anything and everything design-related that doesn’t have to do with numbers or game balance.
GB: Why was the decision made to keep the isometric viewpoint of the original Diablos and was there ever any doubt or discussion on using the same camera scheme in today’s market? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using an isometric viewpoint for a game like Diablo III?

Leonard: There was never any question that we’d be using the isometric view. The advantages for this camera angle are many: It is the established camera angle for the series; we want our game to expand and improve on the classic Diablo feel, which is irrevocably tied to isometric gameplay; and we are able to create art specifically for that camera angle, which allows us to place polygons and textures strategically, so our game looks great and highly detailed while also running well on a wide range of systems. I suppose one possible disadvantage is that it is harder to involve the player on an emotional level for scripted scenes, because the characters are small and aren’t in the player’s face like they are from other camera angles — but that’s what we have our cinematics for.

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