It’s been four months since Blizzard was revealed Diablo 4 Rogue class during BlizzConline 2021, which means the developer is back with another major quarterly update, this time exploring character art.
Diablo 4 will bring a handful of pretty significant improvements in terms of cut scene rendering and overall graphics, while also having more character customization than any of the previous ones in the series.
“When I think back to the beginning, I think at the highest level, our goal was to make the Diablo IV characters look as artistic and handcrafted as possible using the latest tools and techniques.” Art director John Mueller said.
“We wanted to use the latest tools and techniques, but we were concerned about leaning towards ‘realism’ in a way that didn’t have that handcrafted feel that we thought was essential for a Blizzard game. We didn’t want the characters to feel procedural or generic due to these processes. We also embrace realism in terms of materials and appearance of the characters. I think the point of contact is the amazing pre-rendered look of the Diablo III cutscenes. “
The Diablo IV team had to “Completely rebuild our rendering engine and authoring tools”, And judging from the screenshots shared in the latest quarterly update, it’s clearly paying off.
“We made massive improvements to the level of detail, the surface of complex materials such as leather, fabric simulation, hair, skin, metal, even down to the details of the reflections of the eyes and rivulets of perspiration. We created a robust character customization system that is completely new to Diablo and was a daunting amount of technical work. “ Mueller explains.
That is due to the fact that all these improvements have to work “For hundreds of component armor sets, different body types, dozens of unique characters, and completely unique art for five different classes (to start with)”, instead of a single protagonist.
Another significant change in Diablo IV is that most of the story scenes will be rendered using this rebuilt engine, using actual models from the game.
“In previous Diablo games, the cinematic moments of the hi-fi story were all pre-rendered. We’ll still have those amazing Blizzard Animation cinematic moments, but now we also have cinematic moments that introduce your character up close, rendered in our game engine. “
Though much of the quarterly update, Blizzard has assured fans that the game will look great when viewed from an isometric perspective, which is the way most of it will be played. You can learn more and take a look at some of the gruesome monsters in the game by following the link above.
Diablo 4 is coming to PC and consoles, but currently has no release date.
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