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Blizzard has offered fans a deep dive into its character and monster design process in its latest Quarterly Update for upcoming ARPG, Diablo IV.
The latest extensive blog features contributions from the game’s art director John Mueller, lead character artist Arnaud Kotelnikoff and associate art director for characters Nick Chilano. Each of them talk a little on their respective departments ambitions and objectives when creating characters and monsters for the game, with some specific focus given to the Rogue class unveiled back in February.
The studio talks about how they have “made massive improvements to the level of detail, the surfacing of complex materials like skin, cloth simulation, hair, fur, metal, even down to the details of the highlights of the eyes and rivulets of perspiration.” The blog also states that the game’s character customisation will be the deepest it’s ever been in a Diablo game, allowing you to change the face, hairstyle, facial hair, jewellery, makeup, body markings and colour values of those options too. Dye also makes its return in a big way, with the blog promising you’ll be able to dye each part of your armour.
A couple of the game’s monsters also get shown off in this update, including The Blood Bishop and The Skeleton Lord. The update speaks on how the art teams wanted to create the right level of artistic detail for the game, making things as detailed and realistic to a point to fit the game’s aesthetic, while also remaining readable at a distance and when there’s a lot of action going on on-screen. There’s also a lovely insight into ensuring materials like fur, bone, flesh and blood all look suitably icky and react to light properly to give them the Diablo look.
You can have a read of the whole thing including some work-in-progress video footage over here. Diablo IV still doesn’t currently have a release date just yet, but is currently in development for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and PC.
