Diablo 3 fans, photoshop, and you!

[HobbesMkii]

Blizzard is among the few companies I trust not to make a total cock up of their games (minus the fact that it should've been "World of Diablo") when releasing sequels (others on that list are Valve and Infinity Ward).

Yes, the Diablo series was dark. Darkly colored, not dark grey and brown. The spells were all bright garish colors, the potions only came in baby-food veggie colors. So what the hell's the problem? "Boo hoo hoo, the fog is blue."

I dunno if fans should influence the developing of a game. They're allowed to call out faults on other games, though (after they've shipped). And then developers are allowed to use that. And they can also run focus groups and betas and all that marketing jazz to see what desperately needs to be changed before the actual game ships.

Sometimes, it might be easier for developers to go "We're making Such And Such 4, leave us alone, it will be done soon." and leave it at that.

 

[The Wooster]

Blizzard is among the few companies I trust not to make a total cock up of their games (minus the fact that it should've been "World of Diablo") when releasing sequels (others on that list are Valve and Infinity Ward).

Yes, the Diablo series was dark. Darkly colored, not dark grey and brown. The spells were all bright garish colors, the potions only came in baby-food veggie colors. So what the hell's the problem? "Boo hoo hoo, the fog is blue."

I dunno if fans should influence the developing of a game. They're allowed to call out faults on other games, though (after they've shipped). And then developers are allowed to use that. And they can also run focus groups and betas and all that marketing jazz to see what desperately needs to be changed before the actual game ships.

Sometimes, it might be easier for developers to go "We're making Such And Such 4, leave us alone, it will be done soon." and leave it at that.

Worked perfectly for Duke Nukem.

 

[mark_n_b]

penny arcade's take on the necromancer [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/8/6/]

This is a hilariously accurate depiction of this particular brand of individual and does highlight why developers and fans are two completely different beasts.

I agree that most of the Photoshop alterations are fans having fun with filters without understanding the practical nature of attempting to implement and recreate these visual styles with a game engine.

I agree that all of the fan alterations look glaringly similar.

I agree that most of the fan alterations do not consider in game functionality, playability, or readability.

I would venture to guess that there are likely levels in Diablo III that reflect this art style.

I am also of the opinion that no matter how huge a fan you are of anything, you do not know better than the creators, for all the criticism Lucas has been getting lately, does anyone actually think that guy in the Darth Vader suit in line at the convention could do any better?

And when all is said and done, I am not paying money to play the game designed by those who frequent Diablo forums.

 

[TOGSolid]

Something I think people forget is that the Diablo 2 hardcore are used to being able to play their game on a PC that the only thing it's useful for these days is as a spot to put your burger to keep it warm.
If Blizzard went totally apeshit and made their game some graphically advanced system raper, they would be alienating quite a few people. Why do you think WoW looks the way it does?

Blizzard thankfully realized that accessibility is important.

 

[meatloaf231]

Blizzard sez STFU [http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/54030]

Hooray!

 

[Deathstop]

"They changed it now it sucks"

That's their argument. If this game was named anything but Diablo 3, every single person's jaw would be gaping at everything about that game. The trailer alone was an exercise of pure awesomeness.

Also, it's really easy to photo shop a 3D screen shot to make it better. I would like to see any of those fan boys create a 3D model of their "improvements". I guarantee that they can't do it.

 

[shadow skill]

Frankly I doubt the chrome balance is going to make a big difference when it comes to accessibility. The camera angle is a much bigger detriment to that than chrome balance and pallet are.

 

[Fire Daemon]

I like the after pictures because they suit the environments better. The top picture appears to have someone fighting skeletons. I expect a place with skeletons to be grey, grey for death. Most games do this so I don't think this is a big deal. The second one is a tomb made of stone. Stone is grey, not blue. The blue makes the scene look cartoony. I'm not saying that something being cartoony is bad; I'm saying that Diablo being cartoony is bad. There are some games that look good colourful, there are some games that do not. Diablo is one of them.

As for the fans effecting game design, well?.

I'm fine with the Fans telling the devs about things that are not good with the game, especially after Beta tests and Demos. The fans can help make the game better. However in this instance they are not trying to make it better, they are trying to make it the way they want it. I agree that the colours would look better if they where not so cartoony but it isn't such a big problem that people need to get in a huff about them. Let the Devs make the game the way they want and only complain when a big problem arises.

(The After pictures look much better though.)

EDIT:I'm not saying that the game should be fully brown, far from it. What I am saying is that the colour of the environment should suit the theme and mood. A temple of Blood for instance should have a lot of Red, a Forest Shrine green, a Graveyard grey etc.

 

[TheKbob]

I needed somewhere to rant, so:

For the love of all that is... Understand something: It's been 20 years in this world with little to no Hell presence. The world will recover and flourish. Grass grows, flowers bloom,... Why not realize that you are going to be on the fore front of some sort of demonic war / assault. You will see the bright and vibrant happy world you live in be torn apart into the dark hues of despair. I WHOLLY imagine the game will start more vivid, and by the end, you will see plenty of darkness and death.

I am *#$&ing tired of anyone bitching about the art style. Why don't you close your mouth before you think and realize that we have not seen the entirety of game still a year or more from released. You aren't a game designer or developer for Blizzard, you don't control the art style, and you need to stop complaining about it because it's not going to change it. How about you guys go play Titan Quest, the best Hack N Slash on the PC since Diablo 2. There is plenty of color and vibrancy and it does not stop it from being a great game. The dark caves are dank and the bright fields are filled with waving grasses that part as you run through them. Making it pretty doesn't mean it sucks ass.

So until we see the end game in the final days before release, just stop it. If all else fails, don't buy the game and let me enjoy it online with one less whiner...

... wait, no buy the game, because I love getting the better deal in trades off idiots. The kind that would whine about the color level in a game over a year away from release.

 

[Alex_P]

I know how to please the "hardcore" fans (... some of whom don't seem to even remember how the last game actually looked): add a "saturation" option in the graphical configuration, next to the gamma. Turn both of them down -- instant dark, gray world!

Well, okay, I guess to fully pacify them you would need a rainbows on/off option, too.

-- Alex

EDIT: There should be an "extra rainbows" option, too.

 

[Theo Samaritan]

I like the After of the first pic - its dark and colourful.

But still I like the diablo style anyway.

 

[Niccolo]

I'm thinking when these people who have done these photoshopped images actually create some 3D environments that they'd like to see in D3 i'll give them a listen.

Ten points for having brains.

I've done very, very little work with 3D graphics and lighting and even my MINOR experience with it tells me it's a bloody pain in the behind. And my friend, busy doing a degree in computer games design, would likely agree. Actually, he'd probably volunteer to shoot the morons who came up with this trash.

 

[Meado]

EDIT: There should be an "extra rainbows" option, too.

Seconded. And if there isn't, I'm sure someone will make a mod for it.

 

[AyaReiko]

All I will say to the Photoshoppers is "Go cry in a corner emo boy"

Devs like Blizzard never caters to the "hardcore" fans since they represent only a tiny slice of the overall fanbase.

It's like complaining that a FPS level isn't all brown or gray. I'm happy to be leaving the Gray Sea and the Brown Ocean, there are more colors available to use than those two.

 

[shadow skill]

This cuts both ways really there are plenty of idiots that think having everything be gray makes a game gritty. Even in a city torn apart by war the whole colour scheme probably shouldn't be gray but that does not mean it should glow with friggin rainbows for example. Luckily for Diablo 3 it does not look like the developers are being particularly unreasonable with their choice of pallete even though from what I have seen it is a touch off.

 

[Nohra]

As I have posted before in other contexts, racking up tons of frequent flier miles does not qualify you to fly a 747. You may have informed opinions on how the cabin service should be handled, but without hands-on experience with the engines and actual controls you ain't no pilot.

For the same reasons, fan suggestions for game designs are suspect because they're not always fully informed; many times their requests are unreasonable, or beyond the capabilities of the hardware/software, or would mung up the game. Game developers should certainly watch how test copies of their games are played... but I definitely hold with this article [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/72/14] and say that developers incorporate posted feedback from the hard-core at their own peril.

-- Steve

One of the most idiotic problems I see, well, you could just take the WoW suggestion forums for example. "Nerf X, buff Y" or "X is underpowered in arena." I actually asked one guy who made the latter thread if he had any 70s other than his druid (which the 'buff' thread was for). He said no. But he thought he was the absolute authority on how his class should be and what it should do in relation to the other 8.

I'll just say this: The tone in 300 was fine, but there's a line that has to be drawn when trying to make things more gritty, because things can become dull that way very easily. The fan-photoshopped texture of a darker D3 world made me want to turn up the gamma on my monitor. I think Blizzard made a fantastic decision with the color scheme. Game environments don't have to be gritty to be realistic.. They can pull off the same effect if they're vibrant. Those kind of environments just take more effort to make, with today's advanced graphics, than just darkening and sepia-ing everything. Hence why there are a decreasing number of those kinds of environments these days.

If it has to be gritty to be realistic, clearly areas of the world are doing it wrong with too much greenery.

 

[SeniorDingDong]

Hehe, eight years ago, I was even unhappy with some of the designs that has been made for Dialbo 2 like the music and most of the new monsters, but I played the shit out of it, because it is so awesome.

Again, I could complain about some things like the addition of the goofy witchdoctor who will obviously be a replacement for my beloved Necro , the colours are a little bit too strong and I never asked for ingame cutscenes that interrupt you from playing.

Whatever : I am sofa-king sure, DIII´ gameplay will be kickass again and we will life with it.

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

I agree that most of the fan alterations do not consider in game functionality, playability, or readability.

bingo

and i would also like to add that creating designs with "readability" is a highly underrated artistic skill and almost an art unto itself. when dealing with games with a withdrawn camera and small characters it can be easy for an artist to forget scale and to waste time with what would end up being non viewable model details and flat color schemes.

Daikatana and the 100 polygon arrow anecdote came to mind. basically, it was an art design driven game where the artists were given too much control and lacked the technical oversight to understand the relevance of what they were doing in relation to the project. it degraded so badly that an artist actually created an arrow model consisting of 100 polygons with detail that wouldn't even be visible.