When Diablo III was first unveiled at BlizzCon a few years back, fans were in an uproar over the game's highly stylized art direction, and were a step away from the gothic horror style of the first two titles. Even Bill Roper, one of the series' original producers, had come out to say that he much preferred the darker aesthetic of the original games when he was asked for his opinion in an interview (via VideoGamer.com).
Blizzard was accused of "dumbing down" the look of Diablo III by adding too much color and saturation to the aesthetic. Detractors argued that the shoulderpads worn by the various characters were reminiscent of the ones equipped by World of Warcraft's cartoonish and colorful characters.
The company was quick to dismiss its detractors and some members of its team, including the lead designer Jay Wilson, even wore My Little Pony-inspired t-shirts advertising Diablo III during their presentations.
Newer visuals of Diablo III can be seen sporting much darker tones than those in its first presentation. Whether Blizzard listened to the fan outcry or whether the game finally looks the way its developers intended is up for debate. While most of the fan outcry has died down, it's needless to say that there are still a few unhappy campers out there who argue that the game looks like a "safe standard for casual gamers."
Micah Whipple, Blizzard's community manager, has written up a fairly lengthy post to address the game's art direction to these detractors. He argues that Blizzard as a company is not really interested in pushing graphical limits. Their intent, he says, "is to always provide a timeless stylized aesthetic, while allowing for a broad range of machines to view the game with similar results."
Given Diablo III's heavy emphasis on cooperative and competitive multiplayer, the company's direction for the title is unsurprising.
"The art style for Diablo III is specifically intended to appear as a moving painting, which in general avoids very crisp textures or hard lines," said Whipple.
"More importantly though we specifically separate background from foreground by using by using a visually unobtrusive canvas and sharper and more saturated enemies and spell effects in the foreground to elevate the gameplay."
He elaborated: "We actually specifically call it the 'canvas' because the foreground and midground elements and action are painted on top. With the screen full of enemies, spell effects, minions, and players you don't want a busy background, because it actually detracts from the ability to quickly and easily make important skilled choices during combat. Being able to quickly and effortlessly read what's going on is more important than almost everything else, because if you can't do that then the depth of a combat system is being thwarted by the visual bells and whistles."
"By approaching with a stylized and painterly approach, we intend for Diablo III to be playable and visually appealing for as long as possible," he said.
