Art style

[madmax]

With respect to different tastes I have to say I really despise the whole cartoony graphics thing, especially when done in 3D like Borderlands. It gives a feeling of fakeness and takes away of from the immersion for me. And what's even worse, it invariable makes things look cute *barf*.

[madmax]

I don't want cell shaded, cartoony, or cutesy art. I prefer a bit of grittiness and realism. I do think 80's influence on character design would be great, especially the 80's art design for heavy metal magazine, also the original shadowrun art feels about right(minus the magic bit).

Yeah, that looks cool

[madmax]

I don't want grittiness or grimdarkness. They've been done; they're old hat. I don't know if anyone's posted Arne's stuff in this thread yet, so I'll take the opportunity: http://diglett.blogspot.com/2012/03/wasteland-2.html

That's aweful. It's like a combination between Wasteland and Farmville. It's what Wasteland would look like if Zynga made it

[madmax]

[size=150]Many old geezers like us would love an art direction that brings back the style of 80s/early 90s air-brushed sci-fi art and illustration.

Here's what I feel defines the 80s/early 90s look, according to the notable artists of that era. The most defining magazine of that era ought to be HEAVY METAL magazine, the American successor of the French Metal Hurlant featuring high-concept fantasy art.

Yeah this style looks really REALLY cool. It's a universe I'd love to explore. Just seeing the images makes me imagine the characters and the world. It draws you in to the scene and immediately sparks you interest to learn more about it. I remember as a kid buying computer games and magazines and these styles is what drew me into gaming in the first place.

Ah the memories

[hildiri]

I don't want cell shaded, cartoony, or cutesy art. I prefer a bit of grittiness and realism. I do think 80's influence on character design would be great, especially the 80's art design for heavy metal magazine, also the original shadowrun art feels about right(minus the magic bit).

Yeah, that looks cool

Seconded!

[Mort2]

I loved shadowrun when I was young but I don't really see how this style fits with the post nuclear wasteland... Personally, I would rather see more wild west style implemented:
http://nma-fallout.com/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=4153
http://nma-fallout.com/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=4919
http://nma-fallout.com/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=4922
http://nma-fallout.com/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=4155
http://nma-fallout.com/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=4154

[hildiri]

I loved shadowrun when I was young but I don't really see how this style fits with the post nuclear wasteland... Personally, I would rather see more wild west style implemented:
http://nma-fallout.com/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=4153
http://nma-fallout.com/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=4919
http://nma-fallout.com/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=4922
http://nma-fallout.com/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=4155
http://nma-fallout.com/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=4154

Don't they look like a bit Borderland-ish or am I seeing it wrong?!

[krellen]

I still have that book.

[Mort2]

Don't they look like a bit Borderland-ish or am I seeing it wrong?!

I am not sure what Borderland-ish means, I just love the western influence in the character design in those images, much more than the punk, tight jeanes and a black bra, magic and pointy years on the cover.

Otherwise, If you ignore the corporate/magic side, I think that Shadowrun would fit, however I am not sure why would you stray beyound FO style, I think they nailed the raiders and the crumbling outskirts of urban ruins with graffiti and all.

I still have that book.

many of us old timers do, here is mine (probably a diffident localization than yours).

[Wanderer]

I don't want cell shaded, cartoony, or cutesy art. I prefer a bit of grittiness and realism. I do think 80's influence on character design would be great, especially the 80's art design for heavy metal magazine, also the original shadowrun art feels about right(minus the magic bit).

Agreed. 80's art design (Heavy metal magazine) is amazing and would fit hardcore, old-school game design.
By the way, this cover is for Sega Genesis Shadowrun RPG. Great game.

[moomoos]

[size=150]
Just seeing the images makes me imagine the characters and the world. It draws you in to the scene and immediately sparks you interest to learn more about it.)

I agree 100%

[MDF_MadDogFargo]

I'm new to the game, but after having watched a play through of the game, I got the same feeling as OP here and had to write a blurb about it. I also put up some fan-art there in case anyone's interested. After seeing this post though, I decided to play around with the visual...

I don't want grittiness or grimdarkness. They've been done; they're old hat. I don't know if anyone's posted Arne's stuff in this thread yet, so I'll take the opportunity: http://diglett.blogspot.com/2012/03/wasteland-2.html

That's aweful. It's like a combination between Wasteland and Farmville. It's what Wasteland would look like if Zynga made it

I don't want grittiness or grimdarkness. They've been done; they're old hat. I don't know if anyone's posted Arne's stuff in this thread yet, so I'll take the opportunity: http://diglett.blogspot.com/2012/03/wasteland-2.html

Seriously, that looks like shit, it looks like something for a wii game.
Why would you want cute, child-looking cheerful graphics?

This game not only benefits from the art style of heavy metal and those grim looking 80's comics, this game NEEDS that look.

In respect to cute graphics, I think your minds are too influenced by things like Farmville and the Sims. Wasteland comes from a different era when most of the kids playing it were into cartoons and comic books. Think something more along the lines of Watership Down, with cute animated characters and brutal, gory death scenes. The cute/colorful graphics counterpoints the graphic details of destruction. IMO what sims and farmville are missing is the option to mow down the characters with machine guns and gain experience from it.

[homeslice82]

In respect to cute graphics, I think your minds are too influenced by things like Farmville and the Sims. Wasteland comes from a different era when most of the kids playing it were into cartoons and comic books. Think something more along the lines of Watership Down, with cute animated characters and brutal, gory death scenes. The cute/colorful graphics counterpoints the graphic details of destruction. IMO what sims and farmville are missing is the option to mow down the characters with machine guns and gain experience from it.

Yeah. These graphics would be juxtaposed with extreme violence and such, obviously. Even the grittier comic books from the '80s--think Watchmen--were fairly stylized and very colorful. For example:



Here's a more violent page from Watchmen, which I'll put behind a link: http://www.electronicbookreview.com/ebressays/firstperson/mammoth/Figure_3_v1_sm.jpg

The guys who said it looks bad are just insecure about their masculinity. If it isn't HARDCORE GRIMDARK SUPERSERIOUS, then it's girly.

[Mort2]

The question I had at the back of my mind for the past few pages, is how are guys intend to translate that comics art style(or part of it) to the game?

There are many art styles I like, setting, character design, colour pallet etc however I dont think that most of them fit all to well in video game.

[MDF_MadDogFargo]

In respect to cute graphics, I think your minds are too influenced by things like Farmville and the Sims. Wasteland comes from a different era when most of the kids playing it were into cartoons and comic books. Think something more along the lines of Watership Down, with cute animated characters and brutal, gory death scenes. The cute/colorful graphics counterpoints the graphic details of destruction. IMO what sims and farmville are missing is the option to mow down the characters with machine guns and gain experience from it.

Yeah. These graphics would be juxtaposed with extreme violence and such, obviously. Even the grittier comic books from the '80s--think Watchmen--were fairly stylized and very colorful. For example:



Here's a more violent page from Watchmen, which I'll put behind a link: http://www.electronicbookreview.com/ebressays/firstperson/mammoth/Figure_3_v1_sm.jpg

The guys who said it looks bad are just insecure about their masculinity. If it isn't HARDCORE GRIMDARK SUPERSERIOUS, then it's girly.

Good observations. I'm glad not everyone here is 13 year old nerds and we have some 40 year old nerds here too with some sophisticated tastes. I loves me some Watchmen! (The comic, not so much the movie.)

[Leona]

This looks very nice, isometric (locked view), very old school. But I think W2 team will make art style (Andree Wallin) that we'll all love and would of never expected to see. All we (most of us) need is good turn-based combat, great storyline (we got Jason Anderson for that) with 1000's of consequences for our every action (Alan Pavlish and Mike Stackpole thank for that). Huge world map with 10 or 100's of places not just to visit but have impact on.

So I personally think we're safe.

About bunny master - drawing looks amazing. I wish someone make Wasteland remake with this kind of art-style.

[madmax]

In respect to cute graphics, I think your minds are too influenced by things like Farmville and the Sims. Wasteland comes from a different era when most of the kids playing it were into cartoons and comic books. Think something more along the lines of Watership Down, with cute animated characters and brutal, gory death scenes. The cute/colorful graphics counterpoints the graphic details of destruction. IMO what sims and farmville are missing is the option to mow down the characters with machine guns and gain experience from it.

What FarmVille or Sims is missing is to be annihalated into the oblivion from whence they came in my opinion. But if people love it then bless their hearts. I do reserve the right to hate it though. I respect peoples rights and freedoms, not necessarily their opinions

Regarding cuteness: I'm sorry but I just don't like cute. It doesn't matter if it's brutal or not. Cuteness is the anti-thesis of seriousness. I want a serious game for grown-ups. Cute is for children. Brutal cute is for teenagers.

I like colorful but not cute so colorful is fine by me.

Ps The isometric graphics by Arne I really hate for Wasteland 2 but he's a talented artist, deserves credit and has my respect as an artist. I just don't want it for WL2. Ds

[MDF_MadDogFargo]

In respect to cute graphics, I think your minds are too influenced by things like Farmville and the Sims. Wasteland comes from a different era when most of the kids playing it were into cartoons and comic books. Think something more along the lines of Watership Down, with cute animated characters and brutal, gory death scenes. The cute/colorful graphics counterpoints the graphic details of destruction. IMO what sims and farmville are missing is the option to mow down the characters with machine guns and gain experience from it.

What FarmVille or Sims is missing is to be annihalated into the oblivion from whence they came in my opinion. But if people love it then bless their hearts. I do reserve the right to hate it though. I respect peoples rights and freedoms, not necessarily their opinions

Regarding cuteness: I'm sorry but I just don't like cute. It doesn't matter if it's brutal or not. Cuteness is the anti-thesis of seriousness. I want a serious game for grown-ups. Cute is for children. Brutal cute is for teenagers.

I like colorful but not cute so colorful is fine by me.

Ps The isometric graphics by Arne I really hate for Wasteland 2 but he's a talented artist, deserves credit and has my respect as an artist. I just don't want it for WL2. Ds

You want a serious game. That's fine.

I don't want a serious game. The first thing Wasteland asked you to do was create an imaginary character. That is an open invitation to be wacky. My team always consisted of Rocky & Bullwinkle, and Fearless Leader (the cartoons) and they were usually accompanied by a huge Russian female cannibal named Maneater. That's my ideal Ranger squad. But then, I was 14 when I played it.

Tastes don't change though. The isometric crowd likes what they like about a game because they played that when they were young. My nephew plays bullshit like Fallout 3, so he'll like that when when he's old. *shudder*

[homeslice82]

What FarmVille or Sims is missing is to be annihalated into the oblivion from whence they came in my opinion. But if people love it then bless their hearts. I do reserve the right to hate it though. I respect peoples rights and freedoms, not necessarily their opinions

Regarding cuteness: I'm sorry but I just don't like cute. It doesn't matter if it's brutal or not. Cuteness is the anti-thesis of seriousness. I want a serious game for grown-ups. Cute is for children. Brutal cute is for teenagers.

I like colorful but not cute so colorful is fine by me.

Ps The isometric graphics by Arne I really hate for Wasteland 2 but he's a talented artist, deserves credit and has my respect as an artist. I just don't want it for WL2. Ds

Like MDF, I want a game that's true to the pulpy core of Wasteland. Seriousness (while one part of the picture) is not all there is to that idea. The original Wasteland had bright, colorful graphics, comicbook-ish character designs and absurd humor, but it also had a very dark, violent and disturbing edge. Consider a scene in which a thug boss holds a mayor's wife hostage. The thug himself is bizarrely stylized (http://wasteland.falloutwiki.com/images/c/cf/WL_ani_122.gif) but the violence and seriousness of the scene is very real. There's a bomb in the woman's lap, and, if it goes off, you're treated to a non-joking description of bits of her littering the room.

This is why I bring up the comparison to Watchmen. It's serious and violent, but this is offset by the bright colors and traditionally stylized character designs. The original Wasteland took this formula and added absurd humor to it. Comics (or video games) do not have to look like Sin City to be aimed at adults.

[Gizmo]

Tastes don't change though. The isometric crowd likes what they like about a game because they played that when they were young.

Really? The first cRPG that I recall playing was first person (VGA), the second was text based (and obviously an older game than the VGA one). Third were the Isometric-ish cRPGs
* A few years later I discovered a first person dungeon crawler called 'Dungeons of Dagorlad' ~and that's First Person game from 1982.

I would have thought that Isometric was liked because it was functional and suits certain designs. I love first person in games ~I just don't tend to like when it's shoehorned into a game (series) that doesn't need it, and/or results in damaging accommodations made to the gameplay (IMO). *For example, who would want primarily first person mechanics in a Bungie "Myth 4"? (Who would want a shift to a 3D Iso-rotatable point & click interface for Quake 5?)

I don't doubt that you are correct about some players... but I don't think you are right about the "isometric crowd" as a whole.