I almost had a fucking heart attack fearing a serious delay or something. I'm sure this puts some things behind? who knows? Hopefully this makes my baby better... god I hope so... I literally am having a hard time focusing on anything but Diablo 3.
What I find astounding is how many gaming news sites initially tried to actually link this to the fans petitioning/bitching... Do spoilt self-important gamers honestly think they have the divine power to dictate a company's game development?
gosh you'd think there's enough too dark, desatured, monochrome, noise filtered games out there. They can just play around with the gamma and lower the colors on their monitors, easy fix, ship it.
99.9% of your fans rarely mess around with your screenshots and could care less about what the 0.1% is whining about.
Diablo is gonna sell the same millions of units, whether they reply to a bunch of know-better 12 year olds with their pirated Photoshops or not.
Anybody who's shipped a few games has gone through it... you release some screens or even worse videos, most love it, 0.1% complain it would be cooler if things were this or that way.
They should spend their time playing with their pets outside and do their own great and original games when they move out of home.
strangefate - count yourself lucky you're not watching them complain and say how they'd do it before you've even released a screenshot and anyone outside the company has a clue what the game looks like ...
I think the game looks hideous in the fan-altered shots. I get this sudden urge to turn on some emo music and paint my finger nails black when I look at them.
wow really, who is that big of a nerdfag that you need to come on the internet and argue other nerdfags about your game... when you work for blizzard, what in the flying fuck....
They could have ignored the fans and the petitions, and ended up with a long drawn out (possibly snowballing) fanboy bitching hurricane. More screenshots would have been doctored, more fans would be screaming "HURRR THIS DOESNT LOOK LIKE THE DIABLO I REMEMBER, OMG IT LOOKS LIKE WOW"... the whole diablo3 art bitch movement would have grown and grown. If for no other reason than people that spend all day on the internet love nothing more than to bitch and nitpick about popular things.
Instead, Blizzard responded with a simple, respectful paragraph. "We hear what you guys are saying. We changed the style, yes, but we have our reasons. Here's what we did, here's why we did it, and this is why we think it will make the game better." From what I can tell, that took care of almost all the bitching.
Still think ignoring the fans would have been a smarter move? They squelched the art bitch movement without disrespecting the fans... I can't imagine a better way to have handled it.
I understand why they made the artistic decisions they have. But I do like the way some of the photoshoped pics look. .5% shittier art and gameplay would have been a good pay off to make it darker and in keeping with diablo IMO. But meh I guess.
They should spend their time playing with their pets outside and do their own great and original games when they move out of home.
No no no...they should spend their time playing video games and going to Westwood College. Leave the going outside and making games to us.
The art direction is solid, and no amount of bad shoops or online petitions will change it. I'm glad he quit, and wasn't fired (like early reports eluded to). Either way, dead horse is dead. Can't wait to plaayyyyy.
You mean like the green fields of Act1, bright deserts and colourful harems of act 2, lush jungles of act 3, seering molten lava of act 4, and sunny plateaus and blue ice caves of act 5?
I doubt it will change much... Some of the concepts on the D2 site have '2002' written on them, the artist have been working at least 6 years on this game, im pretty sure they know the art direction they should follow by now. I find it odd that they arent assigning anybody else internally for the role of art director, and look for new artists instead...
Act 1 and 3 were still fairly dark and desaturated even being green fields and lush jungles, not many vibrant colors in there, as it seems they may be giving areas of D3. But doesn't really matter odds are I'll play it no matter what, unless they make it pay to play
You mean like the green fields of Act1, bright deserts and colourful harems of act 2, lush jungles of act 3, seering molten lava of act 4, and sunny plateaus and blue ice caves of act 5?
exactly. if it was dark in the same way that II was, everyone would be happy
You mean like the green fields of Act1, bright deserts and colourful harems of act 2, lush jungles of act 3, seering molten lava of act 4, and sunny plateaus and blue ice caves of act 5?
No. I meant in keeping with what most remember from diablo & diablo 2. Dark underground caves, jungles, rainy fields at night time. Primarily the dark, creepy, demoinic aspects. If these weren't the most memorable and characteristic parts nobody would be complaining.
The bright deserts were hardly the most memorable part of the game.
However I think if they have some super fucked up demonic corpses everywhere bits, that would make up for the rainbows. Have to wait and see.
exactly. if it was dark in the same way that II was, everyone would be happy
Wrong! I wouldn't.
I like the new direction. Seeing demonic stuff popping out of and creeping into beautiful green fields and jungles is far more disturbing to me than DOOM-ing everything up.
And good lord people, what has been shown is pretty well the BEGINING of the game. You will probably get your deep dark bowels of hell later on. These games have always had a progression in how much the lords of Hell have infiltrated.
I wish he would have touched on the reason behind some of the color choices beside, "it muddies up the profiles, makes the enemies harder to see". I'm glad they took the time to respond and say politely, no its our game, thanks for the feedback. What about mood and contrast, if the game starts in dank demonic hell and never descends anywhere why bother descending?
Some of the greatest parts of some blizzard games have been seeing the world in its beauty and watching it be slowly eaten by taint and then trying to reverse that against impossible odds. How do you fight to regain beauty you never knew you had? Outside of the "HACK HACK HACK HACK" is there a bigger story unfolding, one that light and color are helping to tell? Are they attempting to broaden Diablo on all fronts not just give people more of the same?
That's what expansion packs are for. The next version should of a game should push boundaries, do new things and revisit ideas but not wallow in them.
Maybe people should stop bitching about what D3 should look like, and wait to play it, then they can review it and pass judgment on the entire thing? This whole lets review and critique a game we've never played and hardly seen, is really starting to get old.
maybe I've gone completely crazy, but saturation should have zero effect on profile...If you complete remove all color data from a scene and you can no longer read it...uh then you have bad tonality and need more contrasting shades of value, not hue. More distinguished forms wouldn't hurt either...I don't think the only reason I can tell a zombie from a skeleton should be that one is purple and the other is green.
My biggest complaint though was that 90% of the indoor color came from completely sourceless colored lights. Half of the rooms were flooded with greens and other colors that simply came from nowhere...If you're going to cast a light that is so bright that it completely changes the local color it should probably have a pretty logical source.
I wouldn't mind if their textures had some texture to them either though. It looked like they took away all their tools in photoshop and left them only able to use a hard brush on 50% opacity...
While I agree it doesn't feel as diablo as I'd like to see judging from the media released so far, I do like the art direction a lot. I don't really see this as a bad thing or trent in games though. I've never seen such a widespread discussion among a userbase specifically questioning the art side of a game, nor such an ellaboratly argumented defense of the choices made by the developers. Take the good with the bad, it's just a sign an industry maturing.
It's also nice to see something other than the usual 'games are about all gameplay' response, it's like saying a movie is all about the story.
As for people commenting on pre release screenshots. It's a highly anticipated game with a huge dedicated fanbase. If Blizard chooses to release anything to the general public, of course they're going to get a response... but if you think it looks bad, only then do you have to play the finished game first before you can comment?
iam a big fan of the diablo games of old days. as i saw this new design after years of waiting i thought fuck, it is like wow why to hell do they that.
must the abbo player later deciede hmm play i diablo or wow it is nearly the same style only the camera was different ok ok a bit more too ^^.
but after i saw it moving with all the brutal and liquid animation style and effects i thought wooow cool all is in action and cruel like the old days no matter how colorful it is right now i think the game can be realy great.
the only problem i see is that blizzard doesnt divide now her big game series anymore. stracraft, wow and now diablo gets same CI and i think this can be a problem to reach all people which are online playing junkies :poly124:
maybe I've gone completely crazy, but saturation should have zero effect on profile...If you complete remove all color data from a scene and you can no longer read it...uh then you have bad tonality and need more contrasting shades of value, not hue.
Bottom line....Blizz has a flawless track record. They wont ship, unless the game is gold. Little fan boys can bitch all they want, but they are still going to buy it, and still going to love it. just watch, just watch....
Replies
*joking obviously*
I'm surprised Blizzard even bothered replying.
Diablo is gonna sell the same millions of units, whether they reply to a bunch of know-better 12 year olds with their pirated Photoshops or not.
Anybody who's shipped a few games has gone through it... you release some screens or even worse videos, most love it, 0.1% complain it would be cooler if things were this or that way.
They should spend their time playing with their pets outside and do their own great and original games when they move out of home.
They could have ignored the fans and the petitions, and ended up with a long drawn out (possibly snowballing) fanboy bitching hurricane. More screenshots would have been doctored, more fans would be screaming "HURRR THIS DOESNT LOOK LIKE THE DIABLO I REMEMBER, OMG IT LOOKS LIKE WOW"... the whole diablo3 art bitch movement would have grown and grown. If for no other reason than people that spend all day on the internet love nothing more than to bitch and nitpick about popular things.
Instead, Blizzard responded with a simple, respectful paragraph. "We hear what you guys are saying. We changed the style, yes, but we have our reasons. Here's what we did, here's why we did it, and this is why we think it will make the game better." From what I can tell, that took care of almost all the bitching.
Still think ignoring the fans would have been a smarter move? They squelched the art bitch movement without disrespecting the fans... I can't imagine a better way to have handled it.
what he said
No no no...they should spend their time playing video games and going to Westwood College. Leave the going outside and making games to us.
The art direction is solid, and no amount of bad shoops or online petitions will change it. I'm glad he quit, and wasn't fired (like early reports eluded to). Either way, dead horse is dead. Can't wait to plaayyyyy.
exactly. if it was dark in the same way that II was, everyone would be happy
No. I meant in keeping with what most remember from diablo & diablo 2. Dark underground caves, jungles, rainy fields at night time. Primarily the dark, creepy, demoinic aspects. If these weren't the most memorable and characteristic parts nobody would be complaining.
The bright deserts were hardly the most memorable part of the game.
However I think if they have some super fucked up demonic corpses everywhere bits, that would make up for the rainbows. Have to wait and see.
Wrong! I wouldn't.
I like the new direction. Seeing demonic stuff popping out of and creeping into beautiful green fields and jungles is far more disturbing to me than DOOM-ing everything up.
And good lord people, what has been shown is pretty well the BEGINING of the game. You will probably get your deep dark bowels of hell later on. These games have always had a progression in how much the lords of Hell have infiltrated.
top right
http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/diablo-fan-04.jpg
Though they say they got rid of it.
BTW despite my mild enthusiasm for the paintovers, I don't think they should make it look this fucked out.
and if you don't think so, you're emo and probably live with your parents and don't kiss girls. :poly124:
TOPICALLY - I'm glad the dude wasn't shit-canned [would they really say if he was?] and hopefully this won't delay the game any.
KP - I'm still trying to get LOD to work. I'll probably just fucking buy it again from the Blizzard Store.
Some of the greatest parts of some blizzard games have been seeing the world in its beauty and watching it be slowly eaten by taint and then trying to reverse that against impossible odds. How do you fight to regain beauty you never knew you had? Outside of the "HACK HACK HACK HACK" is there a bigger story unfolding, one that light and color are helping to tell? Are they attempting to broaden Diablo on all fronts not just give people more of the same?
That's what expansion packs are for. The next version should of a game should push boundaries, do new things and revisit ideas but not wallow in them.
Maybe people should stop bitching about what D3 should look like, and wait to play it, then they can review it and pass judgment on the entire thing? This whole lets review and critique a game we've never played and hardly seen, is really starting to get old.
My biggest complaint though was that 90% of the indoor color came from completely sourceless colored lights. Half of the rooms were flooded with greens and other colors that simply came from nowhere...If you're going to cast a light that is so bright that it completely changes the local color it should probably have a pretty logical source.
I wouldn't mind if their textures had some texture to them either though. It looked like they took away all their tools in photoshop and left them only able to use a hard brush on 50% opacity...
It's a matter of our constitutional rights.
Wow.... just... wow....
It's also nice to see something other than the usual 'games are about all gameplay' response, it's like saying a movie is all about the story.
As for people commenting on pre release screenshots. It's a highly anticipated game with a huge dedicated fanbase. If Blizard chooses to release anything to the general public, of course they're going to get a response... but if you think it looks bad, only then do you have to play the finished game first before you can comment?
just kidding, couldnt resist the cheap shot
must the abbo player later deciede hmm play i diablo or wow it is nearly the same style only the camera was different ok ok a bit more too ^^.
but after i saw it moving with all the brutal and liquid animation style and effects i thought wooow cool all is in action and cruel like the old days no matter how colorful it is right now i think the game can be realy great.
the only problem i see is that blizzard doesnt divide now her big game series anymore. stracraft, wow and now diablo gets same CI and i think this can be a problem to reach all people which are online playing junkies :poly124:
Don't be dense.