Original Diablo Dev Lukewarm on Diablo 3 Look
Blizzard Entertainment’s games have very loyal fan followings thanks to many of its games being so close to many gamers’ hearts. But when Diablo III was announced, the fan base was divided on the visual palette.
Rather than continue with the first two Diablo games’ dark, gritty, almost reduced-color palette look, Diablo III appeared to have more in common with Warcraft’s style and its predecessors. The more colorful look sent some fans into a frenzy, with some even starting online petitions in hopes to sway the new art direction.
Now one of the series’ original creators, Bill Roper, chimes in on his own personal feelings on Diablo III’s look, despite having no connection to the development of the title. (Roper left Blizzard to form Flagship Studios, which produced the ill-fated Hellgate: London MMO. He is now design director and executive producer of Cryptic Studios, and in charge of Champions Online.)
"You know, I liked the darker grittier. I liked the differences in art style, to be honest. So, I think I would personally from a player standpoint prefer that,” Roper said to VideoGamer regarding Diablo III’s visual style.
“I think that one of the things that we always tried to get across was that Diablo was Gothic fantasy and I think there was just a need that was put in there from the visuals that I didn't necessarily get. I got it from the architecture and to a degree from the character design but not the feeling of the world,” he added. “I can't say that I dislike it. I didn't look at it and go, oh my God that's horrible. But I looked at it and went, it's not really... to me as a player it just didn't really ring with Diablo.”
Roper went on to theorize why the change in art direction, attributing it mainly to a different creative team at the helm. Diablo was developed by the now defunct Blizzard North team, whereas the new game is being made by Blizzard Irvine.
“One of the things I always enjoyed about that separation between Blizzard and Blizzard North was that the Diablo games had a very distinct art style. ... Diablo was I think grittier and darker and a little more leaning towards the photo realistic. Whereas the Craft games that were being built down in Irvine were bigger and broader in scope, brighter colors, just different pallets and different presentation,” explained Roper. “It wasn't that I looked at it and went, oh my God that looks terrible. I was like, that looks like Blizzard. The guys in Irvine. That's what it looks like to me. Their interpretation of it.”
So there you go, one of Diablo’s fathers isn’t completely in love with the new look, but accepts it for what it is. Diablo III, like any other Blizzard game, has no promised release date, but we’ll keep you posted if we hear anything.
I was one of the victims of Hellgate
Too bad it was sooooooo repetitive and glitched out.
Also, I think there will come mods of the community to make D3 like it sshould be colour wise.
i agree though. i prefer outside to be brighter and happier, especially in the beginning zone. if you're thrown into hell at lvl 1 and the palette stays the same throughout the game; to me that would very very boring.
I also feel it's wrong for Bill Roper to come comment D3 while he's not there anymore and it looks like a competition comercial maneuver other then an independent evaluation as a player.
I really don't mind if D3 will bring more colors or a less dark gameplay environment if the gothic look is still present, gameplay is as interesting as D1 and D2 and the game comes finally out to be sold which is IMO the major problem for us gamers...
Blizzard has released just tiny fragments of the game through gameplay footage and screenshots, but by the crying you see, you'd think they already released the game.
Stop pretending like you won't play or enjoy the game. Who are you kidding?
The reason you like dungeon crawlers is the same reason that half the population, including myself, likes dungeon crawlers.
You play a character, you get a big hard-on when an item drops with a fun new color and unknown stats, and you try and make your character bigger, stronger and tougher than everyone else's character, so you can kill things faster and get more fun colored items.
Before you know it, you'll be following this pattern, while at the same time bombarding the forums with reports that all the other classes are stronger while yours sucks.
Rinse and repeat.
Cold turkey and good riddance.
I totaly disagree with what you say about it not being right for Bill Roper to comment on his opinion about the game's look. The established popularity of the franchise belongs to him and his team. He did'nt lost credibility by releasing a kindda bad game. The game is still 'OK' to me, just not great. His studio was newborn, and that was their first 3D game. IMO the fact they pushed the technology a bit too far really helped to undermine this game's developement. Piss me off to see Blizzard take all credits for Diablo when it don't belongs to them. The game only belongs to them financially speaking. Meaning the only credits for it they deserve is the fact they backed it well finacially to ensure the shipped game was as good as it could get.
And seriously, since when was diablo 1/2 DARK AND GRITTY. Looks pretty damn colorful to me, the gritty is maybe because of 10 year old graphics?? I wish roper would just disappear, just seeing his name invokes rage.
i even find the new starcraft has to much "color"