Diablo 4 Character Customization & Monster Art Detailed In New Blog

In Diablo IV‘s most recent quarterly update, key members of the game’s art team (Art Director John Mueller, Associate Art Director for Characters Nick Chilano, and Lead Character Artist Arnaud Kotelnikoff) as well as the game’s director revealed new assets for the game and went in-depth on how character customization has evolved in this newest game. Diablo IV and Blizzard release quarterly updates on the game’s development to keep fans updated with progress and spotlight different aspects of the game. This was the first quarterly update since BlizzConline, where new gameplay and the Rogue class were showcased.

Diablo IV is an RPG that was first announced in November 2019 and BlizzCon. It is another game in the dungeon crawler franchise, but this one is rumored to be returning to the dark and gory glory of the older Diablo games. So far, there will be at least four playable classes, and Lilith, the succubus queen, is returning as the main villain for the first time since Diablo 2. Blizzard is combining the traditional and expected aspects of Diablo, such as replayable dungeons that can be run solo or with friends, with newer aspects, such as open-world elements and a PVP mode.

In this most recent update from Blizzard, all things character art are discussed, from player characters to monsters and NPCs. All of which play an essential role in-game immersion. The goals they had with detailing of skin, hair, fur, and so on required them to completely redo their rendering engine and author tools.

A big aspect of Diablo IV is focusing on returning to the darkness of older games and from the available pre-alpha images, it is clear they are doing just that. The development team is making monsters more gruesome, horrifying, and realistic in their detailing without losing the art that makes Diablo, Diablo.  Arnaud Kotelnikoff explains that the monsters are not the only part of the game that has this realistic detailing, but the character customization will have this in-depth detailing as well. This is possible thanks to physically-based rendering (PBR), which is an approach that renders images in a way that they react to light in a realistic way.

Although there is no new update of a time frame or specific date for Diablo IV‘s release, it is evident the team is very hard at work to bring a new experience to Diablo that old fans and new will enjoy. With more detailed customization options for player characters, from personality to physical looks, and monsters that are more frightening and scary than previous games due to PBR, Diablo IV is sure to make a grand entrance when it arrives.

Source: Blizzard, Diablo/Youtube

About The Author