Diablo IV will have over 150 random dungeons to explore in new public environment art film Diablo IV

《Diablo 4“The development team shared the first quarter of 2022 quarterly update blog today (30), and simultaneously released the environment art introduction video. The R&D team revealedDiablo 4There will be more than 150 random dungeons to explore, all of which will be presented in a way that stays true to Blizzard’s fundamental game principle, “Return to Darkness.”

• This topic focuses on how each area in the game is designed, and how to integrate areas and create immersive environment art

《Diablo 4》The R&D team includes art director Chris Ryder, associate art director Brian Fletcher, associate lighting director Ben Hutchings, chief interior environment art designer Matt McDaid and chief props and interactive object art designer Chaz Head and other members, this time through the official blog to share How areas in the game are designed, and how to integrate areas and create immersive environment art.

Officially, theDiablo 4will be the darkest and most realistic-looking entry in the series, but the team focused more on creating an immersive gaming environment than outright realism. Chris Ryder said that they are building “Diablo 4》The game environment is darker and more immersive than previous works in the series. The goal is to allow players to fully immerse themselves in the game, rather than simply pursue realism. They must use the right materials, building structures, and object styles to allow players to integrate into the atmosphere of the game as they explore dungeons and open worlds. The regional climatic conditions, diverse ecosystems, and historical background of the storyline also laid the foundation for a medieval-style game world like St. Hughary, allowing the visual design of items and locations to have patterns to follow.

He pointed out that the atmosphere of the game environment is expressed almost in a tangible way, because “Diablo 4》The visual system is more focused on weather and light. When it rains, the floor will get wet, there will be small puddles where the wheels and horseshoes pass, the ground will become muddy, and the surrounding environment will become heavy, depressing and humid. At this time, if the player enters the dimly lit inn to shelter from the rain, he will immediately feel the sharp contrast between the indoor and outdoor environments.

• 《Diablo 4” is the darkest and most realistic-looking work in the series, but the team focused on creating an immersive game environment rather than being completely realistic.

• dimly lit hotel

The official pointed out that in order to achieve this goal, the design team has set two basic principles for concept art, game scenes and actual installation design: “medieval style art” and “return to darkness”. The main axis, Medieval Style Art, provides the team with a benchmark for sifting artworks, incorporating techniques used by famous painters such as Rembrandt, and adjusting the level of detail, tonal range, and attention to color. The main axis of “Return to Darkness” is applicable to all the game contents of “Diablo 4”, from dungeons to light, and hopes to make San Huarui a dangerous and dark medieval brother German world. Guided by these two basic principles, the team designed the game environment to create a unique visual style. Climate and physically oriented light are also important in creating the dangerous atmosphere of Santius Ari, which will give the world a more realistic feel.

• Climate and physically oriented light are also important in creating the dangerous atmosphere of Santius Ari, which will give the world a more realistic feel.

The R&D team said, “Diablo 4” will be the first shared open world in the history of the series, with a total of 5 areas to explore. From the Great Dry Plains, the Scorsglen Coast to the Glacier Ridge, each area is defined by theDiablo” art and design team to create. There are dynamic objects in many areas, making the building structure and terrain environment full of vitality; this time, the team has further created a realistic and diverse destruction mechanism, and interactive and destructible objects will also appear in the environment.

Chaz Head is an example of dynamic objects, such as the part of the coast of Scorsglen, where ships float and sink with the waves, and the fishmongers’ nets are dried in the market. Their goal is to construct structures for nearby buildings. And the topography is infused with vitality. With the designed objects and village-specific items, further in the “Diablo” in the game world to create a sense of reality that can only be found in the real world.

In addition, the R&D team also introduced the features of regions such as Obei Monastery and Kowalshad in the blog.

Brian Fletcher mentioned in the introduction that by combining hand-crafted and automatically generated game content, “Diablo 4》 will have over 150 random dungeons. To make the dungeon design process more efficient and flexible, the team decided to create a series of landscape pattern sets that can be used and reused in clever ways with a variety of different objects, interactive props and lights. In order to make the landscape look natural, the team specially designed the pattern group transition scene as a new feature to facilitate seamless transition between two different pattern groups in the same dungeon.