[Gainne]

Well I was going to post this in the Diablo III Art Direction discussion but it is closed now, so I guess I'll make a new thread, I hope this hasn't been discussed somewhere else.

Here are some of the points discussed at the Diablo III Art Panel, you can watch or download the video at Gamespot, there is also a very interesting Interview with Rob Pardo.

Anyhow here are the pics:

This is the guy behind the art direction and the reason for Diablo III looking as it does now, basically he choose how everything would look and the reason for it.....



A Summary of all the point that were discussed at the Art Panel at WWI 08, I'll point out a few of them (the ones of interest to this thread) and amply it further.






One wonders how Diablo III art direction is going in the direction it's going with guidelines like this ones....




I think this says it all...



And here we can see that the actual use of color in Diablo III in intentional, I'll explain the reason that Bill Morrismroe is giving for it.



Ok so the general idea as they say is to use color as a way to lead you on your way thru the game, supposely we should notice darker more gothic areas as the need to convey that mood grows, he says that Diablo 1 & 2 had a static gothic look going for it all the time and it was harder to make it darker as you got deeper into the game.

He also claimed that the general idea is make Diablo darker in "Emotion" rather than just darker looking.

So.. there you have it, discuss


EDIT:

Oh also this was at the end of the Panel, doesn't mean anything but I'll just add it for the heck of it

[Atrumentis]

I'm going to trust them and just wait until I actually play DIII to see how it feels.

[Alavard]

Atrumentis said:

I'm going to trust them and just wait until I actually play DIII to see how it feels.

Aye to that.

[Ultramegazord]

I saw written "RESPECT THE FRANCHISE" but i couldnt see that respect in the trailer.

[DurinThornaxe]

well.... stylization over realism really sucks.... :(

[luke_lol]

tru megazord

[tkrow21]

DurinThornaxe said:

well.... stylization over realism really sucks.... :(

I agree. Not with your general statement, but in this situation.

[Gainne]

Atrumentis said:

I'm going to trust them and just wait until I actually play DIII to see how it feels.

Well I can understand that, I actually have mixed feelings about it too, since when you hear them talk about it you can sort of feel their commitment, but then I start looking at the the screenshots and I can help being nervous about it, what if it's like we actualy feared? :(

I don't want to run that risk, and I'm sure that a little change in the lighting and pallette colors would do huge improvements about the way most of us feel at the art direction.

[insats]

The whining wont help. You'll love the game when it gets out either way.

When the first screenshots of diablo II came out I was pretty disappointed in many ways, and I still am. That didn't mean d2 was a bad game as a whole.

[remus]

Stylized over realism...big mistake...someone should punch that guy to his balls to let him know what kind of *** is he doing (you can not always make atmosphere by story and things that are happening...I am going to kill you on the field filled with BUNNIES.. it looks like some kind of parody to Diablo)...and stylized doesn't mean cartoony that is truth as long as the world is not painted...

[Demonidas]

insats said:

The whining wont help. You'll love the game when it gets out either way.

When the first screenshots of diablo II came out I was pretty disappointed in many ways, and I still am. That didn't mean d2 was a bad game as a whole.

Not complaining about it does not help either. May be Blizzard might hear the distant cries of its fanbase if they do accept the petition.

[Demonidas]

remus said:

Stylized over realism...big mistake...someone should punch that guy to his balls to let him know what kind of *** is he doing (you can not always make atmosphere by story and things that are happening...I am going to kill you on the field filled with BUNNIES.. it looks like some kind of parody to Diablo)...and stylized doesn't mean cartoony that is truth as long as the world is not painted...

Do punch him with some style please :P

Stylised over realism does not mean that it should resemble the graphic style used in a different franchise (WoW). It should be of the diablo style (dark, sinister and evil).

But the 'stylisation does not mean cartoony' is a breath of fresh hope to be honest.

[LLD_Carnage]

I'm pretty sure its going to get more of that Diablo II feel as you get further into the game. I mean wouldn't you like it a little more if Hell looked a little differently than say a barbie house in D3?
I would.

[meigloo]

new diablo trailer...explore the world!!!
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=2A2Jt4WOxN8

[nasser]

I love the screen that says "stylized does not mean cartoony" then it has that cartoony tree beside it
LOL, gg Blizzard
"stylized" is just another word for cartoony.

they already said "Stylization over Realism"
If it's not realism,--- it's a cartoon.
Please don't make up words for it, Bliz. You're not fooling anyone.

[XanderV]

Why would they make "stylization over realism" a core Blizzard philosophy if it DIRECTLY DISAGREES with one of their core franchises, Diablo?

Doesn't make much sense. It definitely didn't use to be before the golden age of Warcraft (2003 - 2007), which is when they started making all that dough...

[VonVentrue]

Demonidas said:

Stylised over realism does not mean that it should resemble the graphic style used in a different franchise (WoW). It should be of the diablo style (dark, sinister and evil).

Bingo.
Stylisation is not a bad idea per se, it is the execution of this idea that leaves much to be desired for now (improve the textures, apply shininess to armor and all metal surfaces, bring back the light radius, get rid of over-proportioned models and ridiculously vibrant colors in order to achieve perfection).

[7deadly]

Im not really sure what everyone's gripe is about. Lets think about the overall static darkness that we saw in D2. Its definitley true that there was no real progression in atmosphere throughout the game because the whole thing was indeed dark. Also, looking at the gameplay trailer, it really isn't even drastically stylized and certainly not cartoony. There seems to be a good mixture of stylization and realism. In general the art direction looks solid.

[Ultramegazord]

[Etecoon]

Those circled images look not cartoony, but more fantasy like...which is nice imo. I personally hated the overdarkness of d2. act 3 was a horrid mess, dungeons were just ridiculous sometimes. I'm sorry but when i play this game, if the graphics are kept the same, or improved JUST A LITTLE BIT, i'm going to be a happy happy guy. If they switch to what people are suggesting, I'm going to get bored of the scenery real quick like.