DiabloFans

With the announcement of Diablo III fans have exploded in a myriad of emotions getting what they much awaited. The gameplay video and all these new technologies and mechanics added to the game have impacted in a good way the opinion of old school Diablo II players.

However, from what I could read while in Paris during and after the Diablo III panels, some fans are against the color design. Some feedback says it looks too Warcraft III-ish (colorful and cartoonish), and that it should have a color palette that portrays better the dark and gothic essence of what was Diablo II.

Personally, I loved what I saw as is. I would like to gather the feedback of everyone in the community in a organized fashion so that Blizzard's Diablo III Dev Team can read through your feedback. I bet they would appreciate it. Please, make a very concise, respectful, and detailed explanation of what you liked and did not like of the Art Design Direction in Diablo III.

No trolling or insulting please. The thread will be monitored.

UPDATE: Ultramegazord sent via PM that he started a Artistic Direction change petition online. It's up to fans to also sign the petition. However, your feedback on this thread is very important too.

PETITION TO CHANGE D3 ARTISTIC DIRECTION:
http://www.petitiononline.com/d3art/petition.html

UPDATE: Interesting to see the passion of Diablo III fans getting split into two factions. Here is another set of fans who opened a petition to NOT change the D3 Artistic Direction:
http://www.petitiononline.com/DIII/petition.html
http://www.petitiononline.com/d3color/petition.html

I trust Blizzard in making Diablo III how the fans would want it. A few things should be altered, such as the green/blue colors of the textures used in the dungeon area. I've never seen these color bricks/cobbles myself. The outdoors look great, and I'm sure that "nighttime" will change many peoples' opinions.

People have made some pretty good examples of how the game should look by altering those gameplay screenshots.

Some one PMed me a screenshot of how it looks now and how it should look like, but It will take me a while to search through. Could someone link the image and explain? I appreciate it. This is more an official thread to discuss that topic. The dev team could benefit from said feedback.

This is my first time posting, but I've been reading around these forums for a very long time.

Anywho, I really did love what I saw in the gameplay video for Diablo III. Although, I have to agree, it doesn't give the same kind of "dark" and "evil" feel as Diablo I and II. The art design, in my opinion, did not match Warcraft or World of Warcraft in terms of cartoon-style graphics, but they seemed to sway that way. I think that all the game needs right now is the use of a few darker colors to make it have a more gothic feel. Either way though, I'll be happy with what Blizzard puts out.

Also, this may have just been the video quality, but everything seems to be blurred. =/

Just saw the poll now. I agree with some of the other people in this thread, the altered gameplay screenshots looked absolutely amazing. I voted "it needs more work".

I like what I've seen so far, but bear in mind, we’ve only scene about 2 environments out of ... hmm I don’t remember if they gave any clue as to how many environments, but either way, we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg ... so there’s not much to comment on.

i love it how it is, it's completely difference and i know im gonna enjoy the variety of environments they have in store for us, only thing id say that needs to be changed is...nothing

I think its fine the way it is. We only saw two areas on the gameplay. Not all of Diablo is going to be dark and dreary. For example, what is 8 years ago Blizzard should the far oasis and tristram for gameplay footage. We would be complaining about Diablo 2 not being dark and dreary. So right now im not worried.

As i understand it, the game is in it's very basic form. What we saw in the gameplay was a very small minority of locations, and they happened to be inside a dungeon(which isnt done yet, probably) and outside when it's daytime. It's normal to have rainbows outside when its drizzling. The way blizzard is directing its attention at art - as dark as an emotion rather than a color palette - I completely put my trust in blizzard in knowing they will make another epic Diablo game.

Personally I liked what I saw. As much fun as it is to fight in the depths of hell, in caverns filled with elongated shadows and pitch black corners, we need some light. I think the vibrant colors that I witnessed, especially in the Leoric Highlands, was fantastic! It was simply a nice change to see beautiful landscapes, yet, it retained the horror theme we love about the Diablo franchise, especially when the Gameplay Trailer neared the ending courtyard. Personally, I say balance it, just because you have some dark and spooky type areas doen't mean the whole game has to be gloom.

I personally think it needs a tad more of a gothic-feel but I definetly don't want them to simply make everything darker and grayer in order to achieve that effect. They have much more technology open to them than in the previous Diablo games, and they should use this to make the enviornment interesting as opposed to grayed out but at the same time evil. Personally, I'm reserving judgement until I see a place that is supposed to be corrupted and evil, and see how they handle that. I don't mind the colors and brightness as I simply see an oppurtunity to mess it all up and give us a view of just how a place gets corrupted. Even after they show us an evil area, I'm still going to have to wait until I play it and see how it feels. Atm I'm just excited because the game is coming out and the graphics themselves look great and detailed, so they will be able to apply the same detail etc to a truly evil place, and I'm confident the effect will be epic.

At first I thought that I would hate it if Diablo was more cartoony.

I still hate what Capcom did with Devil May Cry 4, the graphics were definitely better than 3 but the colors were so bright.

Then when I watched the full version of Diablo 3 gameplay trailer, I realized that it wasn't the colors that mattered, it was what was depicted. All those tiny creepy details like flies eating a corpse, rats running around you, walls covered with bones.

take a look at this screenshot

http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/_images/screenshots/ss10-hires.jpg




Sure it looks more cartoony and more WoWish, but there's so much details. The environment looks so dark and devastated, you can even see some scars on the Barbarian's body.


I think that it is what Blizzard meant by something dark in term of emotions instead of dark in term of colors.

Veltras can you please un-IMG that? its stretching my view so much :S, don't need to though, just a request.


This is the only half-decent picture I could find of a before and after picture

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l318/frostwake/Diablo31.jpg

oh and please note - its not too dark for me because i have 100 brightness on my monitor and it is a VERY bright lcd, so I can see the details without it being washed out with the darkness.


p.s. thank you veltras

I might be in the minority here, but my thinking is this: Alright you can have areas of uncorrupted bright color and light, but contrast it heavily with areas of the game which, especially with the new 3D and lighting engine, I imagine will be extremely dark, and evil. Dark and evil in the sense that it will make D2 and D1 look like fairytale landscapes. I'm talking about hint's of dim flickering light to light your way, walls of rotted moving flesh, and the the wails and screams of the tormented writhing in their eternal prison.

I don't think blizzard wants to give to much away, but I don't think they are going to make a mature rated game all posies and rainbows.

I def think that it needs work, and the midday scenes HAVE to go. make it overcast or something, but not some sunkissed field. Vibrant doesnt have to mean bright.

i like it the way it is but i honestly dont care how the game looks

I can't stand those before/after screenshots, I mean really, do you want them to make the beginning that dark? Where do you expect them to go when we get to a place thats actually supposed to be dark? Pitch black?

Furthermore, I don't think its really how it looks (obviously it should still feel evil and dark) but mainly, like Veltras said, what happens. Sure it might look a bit cartoony (I personally dont think it is, as 1. I wouldn't be able to run it if they made it too realistic and 2. Its damn hard to make it much more realistic than that...) but if that supposedly cartoony guy gets bit in half by a Living Siege Engine of Hell, thats pretty damn Diablo-like. Thats what impressed me the most about the gameplay video, sure it wasnt as dark as the other Diablos, but it looked well done and good, and the blood splatters and things like holes in the ground where the barbarian leaps or smashes really made it feel awesome.

Quote from "Jackzor" »

I can't stand those before/after screenshots, I mean really, do you want them to make the beginning that dark? Where do you expect them to go when we get to a place thats actually supposed to be dark? Pitch black?

Furthermore, I don't think its really how it looks (obviously it should still feel evil and dark) but mainly, like Veltras said, what happens. Sure it might look a bit cartoony (I personally dont think it is, as 1. I wouldn't be able to run it if they made it too realistic and 2. Its damn hard to make it much more realistic than that...) but if that supposedly cartoony guy gets bit in half by a Living Siege Engine of Hell, thats pretty damn Diablo-like. Thats what impressed me the most about the gameplay video, sure it wasnt as dark as the other Diablos, but it looked well done and good, and the blood splatters and things like holes in the ground where the barbarian leaps or smashes really made it feel awesome.

Thats what I'm hoping blizzard can convey in this game... A sense of dark vs light. I don't mind if a forest has color and the sun shines through the trees, as long as it is tempered with the next forest being charred and twisted with evil under an ash sky. I think you need both light and dark to have any meaningful contrast. Having everything darker and desaturated just seems to leave you with drab and dull.

Quote from "Tumnayar" »

People have made some pretty good examples of how the game should look by altering those gameplay screenshots.

Agreed, the altered screenshots look much better than the actual game graphics, it just dont catch the dark atmosphere it should be in a game like this.

Quote from "jaik" »

I just copied part of the petition made by (Ultramegazord as far as i remember):

- A more realistic artistic direction, more independent from the Warcraft universe art direction.

We don't want them to change their artistic direction, unless you want the game to take 2 years longer. Their direction has been set in stone and it shouldn't change. All we want is a little graininess and cryptic and creepy details (stuff on the floor) and a light radius.