Time for the next part of our retrospective of last weekend's Blizzard Worldwide Invitational, still concentrating on Diablo 3, with the second half of the World Lore and Environment Art panel. The first half concentrated on the World Lore side of things, so now it's time to step back and take a look at the artwork of the Diablo-verse.

Now it was Diablo 3 Art Director Brian Morrisroe's turn, to speak at some length about the challenges that were put on the Art department for a game like this - how do you reinvent something so hugely popular without breaking what made it originally awesome?

Well. As art staff, the people in the office have to take all the information that's available to them, and use that as a stepping stone for their new designs - creating the art so that it ties in with the existing game design, the details of the lore, and the concepts that people are expecting from the game. A lot of the decisions being made are taking feedback into consideration, really listening to what both gamers and their fellow developers have to say about the game.

What was it that made the original Diablo so enjoyable? Why did we really love this franchise?
...to find out the answers, the artists had to go back to the first game, find out what was truly enjoyable, from the game, what really worked, condense this information down to a core, and then come back to the new game and integrate their findings.

What they discovered was that despite the "action/rpg" tag, Diablo was - at least visually - a horror game - so their new task was to "try to capture that feeling of a horror genre". To do this properly, they suited up for another archaeological dig back through the franchise's history.

The art of Diablo II expanded further upon the creations in the original game, continuing the "horror vibe" and, of course, expanding the actual world and the universe the games were set in. Illustrating just how the mind can change things, the artists quickly discovered that their memories of the game were often quite a bit different to how things actually were!

With their memories refreshed and all of the old presentation taken into consideration, updating that for a modern audience was "a bit of a task". All the artists sat down together, took the core values they'd identified, and started working out and redefining where they wanted to take Diablo 3, artistically.

One of the artistic elements that was obvious from day one was that the game would still be played through a 3D isometric camera angle - just like the earlier titles. It was very important that the game remained true to the Diablo universe in that respect - but this prompted some debate. What new and interesting things could they use a fixed iso perspective to achieve? The camera angle also made things "very interesting" from an art perspective, changing the way they used various shapes and colours in order to get the best effect.


Examples of the ingame artwork, plus a character sketch of the Witch Doctor
Brian explained as well that in addition to the core values they'd identified from the earlier Diablo games, Blizzard itself also had some core values the artist would have to adhere to - and he explained those to us.

Blizzard Core Philosophy: Stylisation Over Realism
The Diablo universe is very dark, where mortals encounter both demons and angels on a daily basis - and while some people equate "stylised" to mean "a bit cartoony", that's not the look that the Blizzard artists were going for. Instead, they incorporate grit and realism into their game world, and explain that the artists have the important task of taking the players deep into a fantasy realm, and to give them something that they haven't seen before. It would be inappropriate for them to just take photos of "suitable" locations and then convert those straight into polygons, as this would still tie the game back to the world as we know it. They instead are aiming to bring a unique and different look to Diablo 3, while trying not to get "too cartoony", or deviating too far from the setup of the previous games.

Blizzard Core Philosophy: Strong Silhouettes
This might sound unusual, but it's a key point in the design of the Diablo games, used to support the gameplay. Part of its appeal is that it really opens up the gameplay space by using bigger shapes - which means that more creatures can be placed on screen... and more creatures means more to kill! It also adds to the 'epic' feel of the games, as well as a much more 'fantasy' effect with large shapes, large bricks, and walls with interesting silhouettes.

If you look around you, the world is full of 90 degree angles, straight lines, very angular structures - which are key points they're trying to avoid in Diablo 3. Instead, they're grounding the game in reality (the walls will still go straight up and down), but they're introducing interesting shapes as contrast, such as oddly-formed bricks or stones, rails and ledges, or things that cast intriguing shadows.

Blizzard Core Philosophy: Don't be afraid of Colour
As he mentioned earlier, Brian discovered upon revisiting the games that his memory was a little different than reality. When the team were asked what they remembered about the earlier Diablo titles, they recalled a lot of grey, washed-out tones, a very dark game full of nooks and crannies, and - overwhelmingly - a lot of black. In reality, after revisiting and replaying the game, they learned it was actually quite the opposite in parts, with some very colourful, very vibrant areas offsetting the darker places.

The team then did a lot of research, both reading books about colour theory, and watching a collection of horror movies and other films they believe capture the 'vibe' they wanted to recreate in Diablo 3. They learned a lot about the use of colour to establish mood, and brought this across to the game, choosing their pallettes very carefully. The colour plan that was created from all the artists' research now means that virtually every design in the game can now come together more seamlessly, with regard to their physical, colourful appearance.

Brian explained that when you're not afraid of using colour, you can use it to lead and direct the gameplay to your advantage. If the character finds themselves in a room that is decorated in different shades of murky green, then the bright orange torch on the wall will attract them, and perhaps lead them to a new area. On the other hand, using dark blues and dark greens can help create a "Big Brother is Watching" feeling in a gamer - who knew?

Blizzard Core Philosophy: Use Dynamic Animations
While this was predominantly a presentation about the in-game environment, individual animations was also an important feature in the game, trying to make things seem more alive. Movement in the background adds a level of believability to the title - which adds immersion - so your character is not just walking around in front of a painted wall, it's more like you are walking around in an all-new environment. Part of the goal of Diablo 3 is that the gamer can use the environment to their advantage - as seen in the 20-minute gameplay trailer, where a character can make entire walls fall and crush their enemy.

"It's frickin' cool to break stuff!" says Brian, who explained that the team had been faced with the question - how much breakable stuff could they put in one scene before it got ridiculous? ...the answer? "Quite a lot, actually!"


These images from the gameplay trailer illustrate the use of colour within the game
Put simply, Blizzard's core philosophies as outlined here are designed to make the game more enjoyable. Without them, the game is dull, boring, and not fun to play. Jay Wilson, Lead Designer on Diablo 3 had earlier gone into some detail about the game's design, and Brian backed this up, explaining that you can't support the gameplay without having a good relationship with the designers.

He then showed off some early concept sketches showing some ideas the team had considered, including details and thoughts for the random dungeon design, and explained that the artists have to sit down with the designers and the story writers, to discuss what needs to be done, and then create the art to fit that, rather than any one team dictating how everything should be done.

So - now that they had environmental elements that can break, the teams also needed to work out what could be interacted with. To figure this out, they looked at encounter ideas - what would happen if something ran into a wall, for instance? Many sketches were drawn up of various possible interactions, to sort out the destructible ideas. Each concept has to start with a sketch, then designs, callouts, colour studies, and the list goes on as things progress bit-by-bit toward the final piece of art, a process that can take quite a while, but is important so that people know how things will shape up.

This iterative process can take a while, but lots of things change between the start and the finish, taking into consideration what each individual team needs to accomplish in order to create the best possble game. After all, that is what they're aiming for, right?

...that was all that Brian had time for, but if you want to know more, we've got just what you need. The next panel is about the Denizens of Diablo, and features Brian again in his Art Director role, as well as Lead Designer Jay Wilson, Lead World Designer Leonard Boyarsky, and Lead Technical Artist, Julian Love.