Which version of art / style / atmosphere would you prefer for the final version of Diablo 3?


Remember the angry fans that created a petition and then darkened several screenshots to their liking? Well one gaming blog managed to sit down with the lead designer of Diablo III, Jay Wilson. At which point they showed him the altered screenshots to get his thoughts on them.

He took each one and broke down exactly why it couldn’t be put into a game. Essentially he pointed out that in the end they were just pretty pictures and wouldn’t actually work in a game. Partially because it would make it much harder to see the monsters you’re fighting.
He did state that there will be no rainbows in Diablo III, so at least they got that much. You can see the full break down of his thoughts here and if you’re curious about a particular screenshot, he addresses each one individually.


Which version of art / style / atmosphere would you prefer for the final version of Diablo 3?


Aug 6th, 2008 | Diablo survey
2,588 votes, 10,253 views , 25 comments

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Recent Comments (25)
Cronson
(Reply)

posted Jul 20th, 2011 at 11:37 CDT

I want to play Dead Space with rainbow colours and unicorns in it!

Everlive
(Reply)

posted Jul 18th, 2010 at 21:31 CDT

The retouch looks nice as a screenshot but would be hard to play on. I prefer to play on the original but adding more shadows wouldn't hurt.

Brecmadak
(Reply)
Turkey

posted May 7th, 2010 at 04:05 CDT

dont be fucking GAY ! This game is DIABLO !! so it must be damn dark, creepy and haunting not sunshine rays of kindergarden like WoW is. Damn, it sucks to see the poll results, really...

Randomzz
(Reply)
Maryland, United States

posted Aug 25th, 2009 at 19:07 CDT

hey, i personally like the retouch better, but i have no problem with the original, calm the fuck down and just deal with what you got, they designed the game, if you want to complain about the graphics, just dont play the fucking game, they arent going to change it for you guys, its their fucking game! so take that dick out of your mouth, grow a pair, and fucking deal

Randomzz
(Reply)
Maryland, United States

posted Aug 25th, 2009 at 19:07 CDT

hey, i personally like the retouch better, but i have no problem with the original, calm the fuck down and just deal with what you got, they designed the game, if you want to complain about the graphics, just dont play the fucking game, they arent going to change it for you guys, its their fucking game! so take that dick out of your mouth, grow a pair, and fucking deal

Scottelwick
(Reply)
United Kingdom

posted Aug 9th, 2009 at 22:15 CDT

anyway i dont suppose it matters, hopefully modders will make a retexture and maybe lighting mods to please the diablo fans and then we can all get what we want :P 

Scottelwick
(Reply)
United Kingdom

posted Aug 9th, 2009 at 22:06 CDT

blizz are just making excuses. it makes no sense to say it would be too hard to see... being hard to see is the fucking point of a dark moody and scary game...  imagine doom 3 with no darkness.....

Scottelwick
(Reply)
United Kingdom

posted Aug 9th, 2009 at 22:04 CDT

dark and scary is better than coloufull and easy to see on diablo, that is what gives it the scary atmosphere... blizz excuse that its to hard to see is fuckin retarded

Daitalianman2
(Reply)
New York, United States

posted Feb 8th, 2009 at 00:32 CST

...There are in fact a lot of people who prefer it to be darker not just a few...the Reason is because both Diablo 1 and Diablo 2 were much darker and more gothic looking and Diablo fans feel as though the diablo 3 has a "warcraft" feel to it and has lost the gothic dark side that we had grown to love about this game.  I personally prefer the fan made retouch because it simply just looks like how a diablo game should be after playing the prequals for so many years.  That being said, i trust blizzards judgment and understand that the look they chose goes best with 3d graphics.  Theres no reason to say that the people who prefer soemthing different than you are losers or dumb people because they want to feel like they're playing Diablo and not Warcraft.  Maybe you would understand if you had even played diablo 1 and 2.

Nny69
(Reply)
Minnesota, United States

posted Oct 17th, 2008 at 00:58 CDT

Lol I voted the fan version...just cuz it looks...more...real I guess...but if I was actually playing I'd definitely go with the D3 version just because i like it to be nice and clear when I'm slashin shit up. I wouldn't mind either of them. I just want it to be fun. the graphics don't mean much really.

Ulamss5
(Reply)
Singapore

posted Oct 2nd, 2008 at 03:46 CDT

"DARK FTW FOREVAH!!!!" seriously, if you want dark, play with a black screen, or even better, save money, just paste a black piece of paper onto the wall and stare at it, its black enough all right. Bliz's original - 68% , Fan's retouch - 32%. guess the reason why so many dark supporters appeared is because theres afew of them ,and they got no lifes and made lots of accounts and different profiles on all sorts of sites to complain about it. even bliz's janitor(if they have one) is 10x better and smarter than you losers.

Ghidoran
(Reply)
Canada

posted Aug 27th, 2008 at 08:44 CDT

haha cry more

Jebasaur
(Reply)
Michigan, United States

posted Aug 16th, 2008 at 13:55 CDT

Those who complain are fools. Blizzard is making the game. Not only should we already trust them enough to make a great game, but come on. It's BLIZZARD. Every dumbass complainer out there will get the game anyway.

(Reply)
posted Aug 9th, 2008 at 13:54 CDT

thats why its better with the fanpics, first of all more scary and you have to explore what it really is that is waiting for you

(Reply)
posted Aug 9th, 2008 at 13:50 CDT

haha didnt know that blind people could write ^^

(Reply)
posted Aug 7th, 2008 at 19:19 CDT

Haha! Gears of War? Are you kidding? Sure that style might have worked ok ish for that game but look at UT3, Epic tried to use the same style again and it SUCKED. You can barely see who your shooting at half the time and everyone looks the same, it was a real step back from UT2k4 which is a shame because the Unreal 3 engine can look amazing.All theses screenshots and videos are still only from a very very early version of the game, theres still a lot of time and new textures to be painted before release. People should wait till then to decide if its good or not and stop jumping to conclusions about how awful its supposedly going to be.Its just like people complaining that life orbs healing you automaticly while you fight take away the realism of the game.. its just a pathetic strike at elements of the game which look like theyre going to give D3 really fluid gameply.

Alunaris
(Reply)
Canada

posted Aug 7th, 2008 at 07:20 CDT

DI had what going for it? I acknowledge that it is a very old (in terms of PC gaming) game, and I am a fan of the series, mood, lore, and gameplay in all, but I'll admit DI was shit, because it was. No char-specific skills (read: reason to pick one char over another) and everywhere looked dark, gothic, and identical. Along with a whole host of various other problems, I bleev those two stand out the most.Part of the game's challenge should not be trying to differentiate between zombie and dirt.

Oden
(Reply)
United Kingdom

posted Aug 7th, 2008 at 05:07 CDT

isnt how things looks and feel a major part of any game gameplay experience?

Oden
(Reply)
United Kingdom

posted Aug 7th, 2008 at 04:46 CDT

Honestly i just love Blizzard's art and design.everything they touch becomes totally amazing and everybody knows that.never the less, as an hardcore Diablo fan, the one thing i loved the mostis the dark and gloomy atmosphere in previous Diablo games.not being sure what you're actually seeing and letting your imagination work  is what makes the experience even more scary.as all fans know, in the game we will surely have lots of areas that will be designed differently.so it doesn't have to be that dark from start, but as you'll go deeper into the Diablo pitsi'll expect it to get darker and darker as shown on the fans version.

(Reply)
posted Aug 6th, 2008 at 23:22 CDT

Quite honestly the "fan version" looks like shit.

(Reply)
posted Aug 6th, 2008 at 22:24 CDT

New Blizzard comps remind me of WestWood's Nox. Which is not a bad thing at all. Really enjoyed this crisp, high-res style. On the other hand, the Rogue jail in Act 1 of D2 was brilliantly dim, and conveyed a powerful macabre theme. Hopefully, Blizzard throws in a mix of these environs in D3. You know, when it comes out five years from now.

(Reply)
posted Aug 6th, 2008 at 20:39 CDT

Sure, the dark ones might look good - but I looked at them and said, "Yeah, I won't be playing that." You can't freaking see anything to fight it.

(Reply)
posted Aug 6th, 2008 at 19:38 CDT

Really? The fans like that bright crap better?Ugh... wonder if these 'fans' play wow. DII was a bti to bright, and DIII is even brighter. Slowly loosing everything that DI had going for it... Looking at the original DIII screenies, I wasnt even slightly impressed, but when I say the fan reinditions, it instantly reminded me of the grungy awesome graphics of gears of war, adn I instantly thought 'now, THAT I would buy'.Warcraft used to be dark too, now it some bright and crappy game :/

Drowlord
(Reply)
Texas, United States

posted Aug 6th, 2008 at 12:12 CDT

The fan art version looks a lot less "playable."  Dark environments and heavy post-render processing makes it harder to see what's going on.

Darkkatana
(Reply)
Utah, United States

posted Aug 6th, 2008 at 11:03 CDT

I can't wait for this game to COME OUT !!! Ever since I saw the REAPER added to the roster I NEED TO PLAY IT !

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