šŸ‘ D4 Art, Look & Feel - Screenshots catalog

General Discussion
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This is the feedback I can give concerning artstyle, I think some problems are major, others are bearable. Of course I can do mistakes and the list is probably far from complete.

At this Blizzcon, I have to say I first and foremost liked seeing you being honest and open to criticism. Then, yes Iā€™ve been blown away by the fidelity of the models, of the scenes, of the environment, and of the lighting. The game is still far from destination but you proved you worked hard so far, so Iā€™m glad to give my sincere and detailed feedback. I hope other members will discuss my points and add more to the list.

(please close the images after watching them or the server is flooded)

Cinematic

Not enough subtle and undertone. One does not need to show every monster or everyoneā€™s face attitude. Stop making sure every child understands. Too much talks. I feel like the tomb runners behave and talk like people from our times, more than from the middle age. Their hairstyle look too modern. Otherwise, it is superb, itā€™s creative and visually striking and sets the tone.

Gameplay video

The way the narrator speaks is misplaced ā€œOld friend, Hell is coming Brother, hell is comingā€ sounds too modern and recent. (ā€œdude, bro, manā€).

Historical timeline

Renaissance references must be removed, it is too recent. Renaissance starts in the XVth century along with the rise of powder weapons. Castles and architecture become more decorative, Arts come back to its Roman roots: sculpture, fashion, sciences, architecture, philosophy. After the fall of the Roman empire at the 5th century, most arts and techniques were lost across Europe (this is why diablo1ā€™s church has very thick walls and small openings. Because people could not build as well as the romans). Itā€™s the start of the medieval times until Renaissance (re-birth) which goes back to Roman art.
Diablo is medieval. Medieval art must NOT be busy, itā€™s rather non decorative, functional and modest. (Gothic being the transition between Middle age and Renaissance). Baroque style is even more recent and this is the mistake every RPG always make. https://i.ibb.co/5xSXXKb/baroque-style2.jpg
I understand Renaissance paintings served well to communicate ideas among designers, but they should not be taken at face value.

  • In this Renaissance painting, this type of cloth is from the Antique Roman time, And should not be used in Diablo. https://i.ibb.co/gv1mTJL/d4-renaissance.jpg
  • This statue must be removed (huge mistake) https://i.ibb.co/t8Cqv20/diablo4-statue2.jpg. This is Renaissance or Roman. Rome had no influence in north celtic shores. A huge bell over a cave is unrealistic.
  • donā€™t exaggerate size of statues and of objects. Size make the game more impressive at the expense of being less realistic, it alters credibility and immersion. (makes it look like Stormwind or lord of the rings gates of argonath) https://ibb.co/dQHrJ5m
  • Big monsters like this pacific rim world boss, canā€™t fit a medieval theme. Bigness is a problem taken from WOW to d3. Once you are level 40, a level 15 world boss is ridiculous. Bigger = Stronger is BAD design. What will happen for the extension Diablo IV Cataclysm? Independence Day movie? Start clean and classic. (In the middle age, evil is small, hidden, vicious, because people fear deceases, architecture does not allow much light to get in and it increases insalubrity)
  • Treasure goblins belong to high fantasy and must be removed. Key dungeons replace them. Goblins alone are fine.

World

Staged mini encounters are not convincing, repetitive and unmemorable. :

  • These ghosts look cartoony must be removedā€¦ The humor of the scene suit children, comparable to ā€œMeat, goodā€ https://ibb.co/Hg1cWXX

  • ā€œHelp meā€ stay in the middle of the road, 30 meters of town, the woman can literally run to town but stay in the middle https://ibb.co/stLX1NW. Too staged.

  • Cutscenes are not convincing (character crawling). A game needs Structure. Diablo has a classic isometric the way to contrast been has been cinematics. Cutscenes camera angles are uninspiring. Custenes look like half baked cinematics and become very repetitive. Cutscenes never render well, and instead of seing high poly, we see how pixelated it looks.

  • Zooming loading screen does not bring much. In movies, most classic scenes have fixed cameras. Moving cameras fit action and sport movies. The loading screen must contrast with combat and look solemn.

  • Static maps destroys exploration. Outdoors should be randomly generated to encourage replayability. There is no immersion when people rush from A to B. In the demo people know exactly where to go without knowing any quest.

  • Both worldmap and local map look cartoonyhttps://ibb.co/68k8LQF. Itā€™s a copy of wow and d3 and it has to be fully reworked to feel more authentic. Green arrow must go, colors must go,

  • The yellow arrow working as a GPS must be removed. It defeats the purpose to read quests. Time must STOP in town.

None of the demo streamers have red the quests. NONE. They all skipped the quests and followed the arrows. it defeats the purpose to be on our own in this world.
Itā€™s more satisfying to do a quest when you understand what itā€™s about, then must work and THINK by yourself .
Just like working in real life: you appreciate your salary when you understand and know the goal of your task.

  • Showing the World map of the world is very questionable, it kills immersion. Maps in the middle age were rather inaccurate, expensive, and very incomplete (many parts of the world were unknown) Only people of power could afford getting maps. Maps were not designed for an effective travel. (I am not expert in this, but I feel like itā€™s more a conquest and political instrument) http://a54.idata.over-blog.com/0/11/17/04/patrimoine/carte-colomb.jpg

  • The auto map should look like a simple path, it must look like a mere idea or sketch, like if the adventurer were taking notes of his itinerary. It is NOT a world map he is drawing. It adds to the sense of being lost. https://ibb.co/4ZVFCwQ

Inventory

  • Inventory and items are still looking like d3 with this useless color wallpaper. Bake 3d models and apply the right lighting just like in d2 ( at least some items) https://ibb.co/7K8kCNW

  • potions look cartoony, Runes look fine

  • Icons look cartoony, gold icon looks too modern. Perhaps one should simply display text without icons. https://ibb.co/m8XqWp5

  • The interface must look and feel like mechanical shifting elements. Like a stone or a metal toolbox D2ui https://ibb.co/r6tjr8r. Paper is not convincing in its current iteration and too western medieval connotated. Close button: look for d2 and add a hover version of it if possible.

  • The image of the character must be removed, one is enough.

  • The image of the item must not be repeated. Items description need more solemnity and less color text.
    (a very modest proposal of direction with less colors: https://ibb.co/k1M69Cm)

UI , Labels

  • The labels and windows on the screen are positioned on too many different spots. Again, keep it structured and simple and look for d2 always left or right. https://ibb.co/99kgMpN

  • The dialog box of the npc must always be the same one. The text must unroll as the npc speaks, to slow the pace of the game in town. Because the texts unrolls, you can now right MORE Text in the dialog box https://ibb.co/NVKJQJR. Town must have purposes, the players must read the quests to actually play and understand the quest without GPS yellow arrow. ITā€™s the only way to enjoy and understand the game. The player must be imbued by the gravity of the quest.

  • Label names over the other characters should be off by default, and activated on hover just like any unit. (Or On on both by default)

  • Clock must be removed. The interface should be clean and immersive. Movies donā€™t include the clock. Diablo is not a utility software. /time is enough.

  • This label is too clean, too smooth. Keep it simple and remove the gradient, keep one or 2 fonts for the game.
    *Times font from the Roman or Renaissance. Again itā€™s simply wrong. Roman art and techniques were lost and rejected after the fall of the empire. https://ibb.co/MydQxzJ

  • Rework the flashlight when a unit takes damage, blood bleeding instead. Red halos around selected units donā€™t feel natural https://ibb.co/M2M1BF6. They should be highlighted hover just like in the firecamp selection screen.

  • Quests must not reward exp and money like in wow. Why would saving someoneā€™s life provide money? https://ibb.co/TLPPWWb Why would saving the world give money? Each quest must be unique to provide diversity, not kill 12/12 zombies. Quests must serve diverse aspect of the game and not just leveling up.

  • In the character screen selection, the background must be defined, there are multiple background with undefined shapes.(Landscape photography). The foreground is right, excellent.

  • The cartoony barbarian icons must be removed. Nobody drew these type of icons 1000 years ago. https://ibb.co/KhPKnFw

  • d4 logo looks too modern. The shape of the font is too sporty and the material too shiny. This could be the logo for the movie Saw IV, or ā€œMurder in the shopping mallā€.

  • Orb decorations donā€™t seem to match any historical artstyle https://ibb.co/KXPDSRb

Overall, the game needs more solemnity and structure. I hope you will find some of my points helpful, and hope other members will discuss some of them further

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great post man! you should post this over in the /r/diablo at reddit aswell!

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It looked like they were trying to do Zeldaā€¦Only it looks bad lmao

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Your repeated use of the word ā€œmustā€ amounts to inappropriate form of a command or demandā€¦ just my opinion. Attempting to make the D4 world rigidly conform to medieval Europe I think would be a big mistake.

I donā€™t particularly find the art style in the UI of the D4 demo visually appealing. Iā€™m find D3ā€™s sharp looking art style, full of rich color, and visually appeal. While I donā€™t find the D4 demo art style visually appealing its OK I guess though.

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I agree. I actually really loved the Diablo 3 cutscenes art style. Like a book coming to life, it was pretty awesome. Unique. Like you were reading a story that was literally walking off the page.

Diablo 4 cut scenes need something in a similarly unique style.

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Hi Bossdogg. Of course d4 should not be limited to medieval Europe. But it has to look consistent. The idea is to give the most detailed feedback very early, to avoid to multiply a small problem into a bigger one. (for the other regions for example)

Sorry if it sounds commanding, but Itā€™s also to keep the text compacter and direct. People donā€™t like to read wall of texts.

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OP: I can only say Iā€™m glad youā€™re not in charge of art direction.

Why: your anti thesis to the art of Diablo is so rooted in the box of real world history, of which Diablo doesnā€™t follow or exist in, that you want to stifle all things creative to ensure everything fits neatly into the pages of a textbook. Thatā€™s not what Diablo is, or I believe should be. You can go analyze Civ games for that purpose.

OP you MUST self reflect and realize historic architecture, design and art are all inter related and not static nor 1 dimensional nor rooted in one time or place. As such in a made up video game world you pull elements of desired qualities together to create consistency within the make believe world, not as a representation of the real world or history.

PS: I am not saying I agree with the art direction of D4, however, itā€™s one of the best cinematics ever created by Blizz and D4 already looks a hell of lot better visually than D3 ever did.

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Would be cool if she turns into a monster after your ā€œrescueā€ her, it was all a trap.

Yesterday i was thinking about this event, and had the idea that people in the open would be in big trouble, many demons would be capturing them and torture them and even eating them. In the end i forgave that particular event bcs it was close to town, maybe they just caught her.

Mounts

The mounts are very nice but in the drawing they show, the weapons they carry look like they are in the wrong position.

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Blizzardā€™s creative direction is unquestionable.
Delete this

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Art is subjective as is personal taste, thus the OPā€™s criticisms are valid. I disagree with some of his points but the criticism is valid.

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If there is one thing I love from Blizzard is their art and polish for their games. They are unmatched for me.

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Totally agree with this. It definitely breaks immersion being told where to go by a blinking beacon rather than familiarizing yourself with the environment. Removing GPS will definitely make the game feel more immersive especially during the first playthrough.

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Donā€™t take criticism personal. Itā€™s meant to be usable for brainstorming, as precise as possible and as complete as possible. There are things more important than my person or of other peopleā€™s ego, the project is more important.

The RPG industry is flooded of so called ā€œmedieval gamesā€ that are in reality high fantasy games in which ā€œcreativityā€ actually hides their lack of knowledge. This is the comfortable positions of lazy developpement to justify creativity. A silly story where all the genre are mixed, where nothing really makes sense.
I play other games, and very modern ones. Donā€™t think Iā€™m only interested in the past and civilisations. Good games have a defined, clear and recognisable artstyle.

Sebastian Stepien Creative director stated this Blizzcon ā€œThe way people imagine hell in middle ages is something that really inspires usā€
And If you saw every panel of saturday, you know how many times they said they want to go back to the roots, make the game more grounded, and look into history of weaponry, arts, architecture and religious themes.

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This really is an awesome post. I agree with most of it but expecting this kind of specificity and consistency is asking a lot from the devs imo. I would LOVE it, but weā€™re not dealing with Blizzard North anymore.

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Agreed, what the panel is saying.

Basic learning is defining boundaries and gaining conprehension to later be broken. By using interdisciplinarity of arts and elements to create their Diablo environment, they are not be lazy, they are simply not limiting themselves by basic academic learning boundaries. In fact the devs are going beyond basic limitations and driving creativity by not binding creativity as you think must happen.

Undergrad and secondary level thinking that creates bland regurgitated outcomes, rather than something unique, is not what I believe is best for this game. People donā€™t create games to ā€œhideā€ lack of knowledge. Putting in subtle insults into an argument only weakens your own position in a debate.

If you want something phenomenal and mindblowing, youā€™re never going to achieve it the way youā€™ve implied by MUST limit creativity.

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You can apply most of the artistic arguments to D2, Blizzard North.

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Iā€™m referring more to Northā€™s attention to finer details. I realize there were inconsistencies but I just feel North would care about this more than the current team.

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Definitely agree North made magic. I would like to think the devs on the current project are as passionate gamers as we here on the forums are as well as the predecessors.

Letā€™s hope the corporate stiffs have very little to no say on the direction of the game from here out and let the gamers, the devs and the community build the rest.

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Great topic! I agree with most of your points. About the subtlety of the storytelling, the UI and the unnecessary WoW bigness and flamboyant Baroque style art I agree with both hands.

BTW https://ibb.co/Zdvdq4C This looks sharp. IMO, only colors there should be red filling the talent tree progress and dulled colors showing the unlocked talents.

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What i hope they dont do is ā€œover-polish itā€ D3 is a great example of polishing the game and sound too much.

Specifically things like Crusader slash has a very sharp sound that is unpleasant to listen too. Same goes for the animation there is no smoothness to it, it feels like a square while it should feel like a circle. Cleave and more has the same problems.

Same thing goes for graphics/art. Make it seem like a world that has been lived in. D3 graphics looks like a castle that has just been built.

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