Features of visual design World of Warcraft
Game “World of Warcraft»From Blizzard Entertainment For many years he has been a leading position among all other MMORPG, And millions of players are still returning daily to Azerot for new and new adventures. But few people know thanks to what visual techniques and stylistic features this game was able to break into the leaders, leaving behind all those whom she herself was once oriented.
As in other areas of art, almost every video game (or a video game series) has its own often easily recognizable visual style.
It can be complete 2d And Zd Realism, pixel art, low-polygonal graphics, or stylized realism (when several hyperbolized models stretch the photorealistic texture, as, for example, in many in Asian projects).
But the most important drawback of half of the above -mentioned styles (I think you yourself will guess what) their actual quick visual obsolescence.
If the game was created in the conditional 2012 with all modern, at that time, technologies, then after 10 years it will most likely be strongly inferior to younger competitors.
And in the context of Mmorpg, another problem appears – you need to make games so that the computer of the average player does not turn into the oven already on the character selection screen. For any potential decrease in the mass of the audience in the Mass Multipolitical Role online game, which is logical, reduces the chances of the project for success.
And, by and large, realism was practically the standard of online games until 2004, when Blizzard Entertainment With their “World of Warcraft»Brought their own view of the visual of this genre.
In this regard, today I will tell you: what MMO Blizzard Developed before “World of Warcraft“And why did the choice fall on fantasy setting. What questions do designers pose for themselves while working on the world around the game. And thanks to what visual tricks the world Warcraft He conquered millions of people.
And don’t worry – this time there will be no spoilers.
Well, we start!
Fantastic experiment
At the time of the beginning of the 2000s, when the development began “World of Warcraft“, Blizzard Entertainment I have already enjoyed success among players thanks to franchises such as “Diablo“,”Starcraft“And, of course, strategies”Warcraft“. But inspired by successes “Ultima Online“,”Lineage“And especially”Everquest“, The company decided to create something new, in an experimental MMORPG genre for them.
Few people know, but before “World of Warcraft»The studio has already worked on one online project of this format. Fans of previously named “Ultima Online“From among the ordinary employees of” Metelitsa “created the game of the genre of the Scientific and Fantastic Command RPG under the code name”Nomad“. In it, players had to create their own combat detachments, improve their weapons and abilities, and then challenge other players or various NPSs. However, many in the team of developers did not inspire such a development of the game, and they wanted to create something more adventure, like “Final Fantasy“. So that it causes a sense of a big trip in the spirit The Lord of the Rings.
Unfortunately, besides a few concept arts, there is nothing in public access to Nomad.
Unfortunately, besides a few concept arts, there is nothing in public access to Nomad.
But the choice of fantasy as the main setting was justified by even more intuitively conducive elements, such as swords, magic and dragons, which were clearer than a simple layman than invented technologies and unusual blasters.
In his book “Wow Diary»Dedicated to the development of the project of the same name, John Stiatas, The former leading 3D-level designer in Blizzard wrote:
“To shoot someone from a neutron accelerator, from a distance was not as close or familiar as a battle in close combat. Fantasy was easier to understand, games in this genre were more popular and better sold. Most random buyers were determined with the purchase, looking at the box with the game, and fantasy was sold faster than games in other genres. Blizzard had “Warcraft“And this made the choice of a setting for the game obvious”.
In those years, many gaming https://play-jango.co.uk/ companies have hardly coped with the transition from 2D to 3D. They desperately hired people with experience with 3D and fired all those who were not able to make a quick leap. And all this led to the fact that the developers had to completely abandon the re -use of the engine “Warcraft 3“, Since it turned out to be imperfect for the development of MMO. It was decided to write a completely new engine, as well as switch to the creation of most game elements in 3D Studio Max, which was very different from the design tools they previously used.
And this, in my opinion, is one of the key solutions that still allow “World of Warcraft»Occupy a leading position in the genre.
Landfills, questions and gnomes
As I mentioned at the very beginning, in those bearded times, many MMO had a more realistic style that shows the world with completely normal proportions and a set of colors approximately corresponding to the real world.
Because of this, the developers decided what to do “World of Warcraft»Visually distinguished from other games, so that when looking at the game shelf, it instantly stands out among all other competitors.
But the main problem was that in the state of Metelitsa hired artists who worked in the style of realism, which caused many problems when trying to create a new look at the whole environment of the game world. Despite the fact that they had the main stylistic inspirer in the person “Warcraft“, Where were the sketches and various bastards, artists who experimented with textures drawn by hand in a” cartoon “style, often did not know how subsequently they would all look in the game.
Everything was complicated by a standard working principle Blizzard:
You need to find something interesting (possibly from someone else’s game), and then constantly process this, until a polished ready-made individual design is obtained.
The process of creating any game elements in Blizzard is based on several simple issues related to the residents themselves Azerota and their everyday life:
This is a fairly universal approach, but for simplicity of understanding, let’s take a game of trolls in the example.
So, trolls in “World of Warcraft“Live a tropical environment, sometimes located at the junction with barren deserts. Since they worship their own gods, and their religion of Voodoo is close to a real prototype, there should be many bones, dried wood, palm leaves and ritual objects around them. Well, for their architecture, they use a lot of bent tree as building structures, since there are not very many other materials in this area.
In the design of objects, most often developers use from 4 to 5 types of various materials for medium -sized objects.
And such frames are inherent in almost all areas of the graphic development of this game. So, when modeling the object, the developers closely monitor the number of landfills for models.
In the case of “World of Warcraft“Less means better and most often their number is from 3 to 5 thousand. But this figure, of course, can change from object to object, depending on where it will be used in the game.
The same gnomes now consist of 5408 landfills (and before the mass update in 2014 – there were only 956 of them).
For comparison, u Lara Croft from “Tomb Raider»There are only 230 of them, and Ellie From the first part “The Last of US “ – 31,537.
For comparison, u Lara Croft from “Tomb Raider»There are only 230 of them, and Ellie From the first part “The Last of US “ – 31,537.
For comparison, u Lara Croft from “Tomb Raider»There are only 230 of them, and Ellie From the first part “The Last of US “ – 31,537.
You need more color!
But besides 3D models, other aspects of graphics occupy a very important place. For example, one of the main chips of the design of the game that highlighted the world “World of Warcraft“Among other competitors is the use of visual deepening textures.
Starting from the first days of the existence of the game, the developers were constrained by many restrictions, which is why it was not possible to draw everything that they wanted and the way they wanted it. I had to go to some tricks, including in order to achieve a more natural image, to create an illusion of depth, without changing the real form of the object.
Designers created depth reflecting it on the texture itself, instead of highlighting the object using lighting technologies. So, for example, an artificial shadow from plants and beds in the fields worked, with a fleeting look at which a feeling of surroundings was created, and not the usual flat carpet from grass.
But here it is important to note that artists from Blizzard They always try to avoid pure black color, paying more attention to work with saturation than with a change in the brightness of objects. Thanks to this, even in the darkest and gloomy corners of Azeroth, all colors contrast noticeably with each other.
Honestly, I don’t even remember any location where the colors of the environment would merge into a continuous poorly divided mess.
Such a choice of now recognizable bright colors had other good bases. Many developers from the Metelitsa team previously worked on several console games Super Nintendo And Sega Genesis, where the games required more dynamic colors, since the TVs of that era displayed the colors much worse. Because of this, console games on TVs with a lower resolution with all these pixels and blurry blinking required a high-cost picture for a good display.
And, in addition, the former president of the company Jay Allen Brack instructed all artists to draw all arts and textures in very strong lighting conditions. All due to the fact that most players will play in well-lit rooms, and therefore, the image should be clear and recognizable in any conditions.
He regularly wandered along the corridors Blizzard, including light and opening all the blinds, which greatly annoyed many employees, but this eventually significantly influenced the final design.
And, in fact, there are many other important components of the visual “beauty” of this game, which you can talk about for hours.
The recognition of key characters in the game, which stand out both with flowers and a general design that emphasizes their personality and character;
And the living world itself with all these flying birds, hunting animals and local relaxing drinks.
“World of Warcraft»Never has been a game with innovative technologies or unique functions. But she was a gestalt “Significant and elegant systems”, who, achieving great difficulty, eventually allowed players to enjoy the immense world of Azerot.
Both in 2004 and 18 years later.
That’s all, thanks for reading!
Your Visoda.
The best comments
Looking at Dragonflaite, you understand that the artificial department has no more (
In general, play with a bright light on when turned on. In the dark, “in the light of the lamp”, I personally fall asleep after a maximum of a couple of hours, and the general mood is some kind and not really play.
A very important point in WOW is a view in dynamics. Somehow played and made screenshots to make a beautiful gallery. Nothing came out, in statics everything looked just disgusting, even for an unpretentious taste. But in the game this is not at all noticeable. But it was a long time, since then they probably sawed the graphone.
I agree, before in statics the game did not particularly stand out with some “bombing” species (at least for a wide audience). Now everything in this regard is much better – of course, not every screenshot will want to put on the desktop, but there is something to admire.