How should the art style be like?

[DooM_RO]

What kind of art style would fit a modern Doom game best? Should it be vibrant and colorful like the original Doom or rather have lots of shades of gray like Doom 3?

I think the art style in Doom 3 was very good, especially for its time, it's one of the things that made the game so atmospheric and good looking but I always get the feeling that they could have put in more color to make it more interesting and it also could have used completely different assets for the tech bases after hell to freshen things up. It was good but I wanted more, much more.

In my opinion, they should keep the art style of Doom 3 but they shouldn't be afraid to use a little color. Also, completely different assets for basic things such as doors, floor and wall panels or switches every 5 or 6 levels would help a lot as well. For instance the first few levels could be in a grimy maintenance facility with rusted and old machinery, the next could be set in human experimentation labs and the last tech base levels could be set in a gigantic computer that has been taken over by demons! This could be a great setting for a SHODAN-like AI that besides demons, uses the environment against you...like crushers, which were sorely missing in Doom 3(it only had 2!). Doom 3 did this to an extent but again...it was not quite good enough.

I think establishing a fitting art style for Doom 4 is going to be one of the greatest challenges in the development of Doom 4. On one one hand you could have a vivid and colorful art style like in Doom 1 but the average gamer might interpret it as childish or cartoonish even if it's very good. On the other hand having mostly only shades of gray like in Doom 3 might get boring after a while EVEN IF it is good.

If Doom 4 looks similar to these shots, I'll be very pleased.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/phobos/images/cargo-bay#imagebox
http://www.moddb.com/mods/phobos/images/media-update-e1m4e1m73#imagebox
http://www.moddb.com/mods/phobos/images/rail-tunnel#imagebox

[mtm5925]

we've already seen the leaked shots, didn't we?

[DooM_RO]

mtm5925 said:

we've already seen the leaked shots, didn't we?

There is no proof that they are from Doom 4 "oh I see. Those images have nothing to do with what you're gonna see in Doom4. When we officially show things you'll see awesome" taken from here https://twitter.com/id_Hooper

[mtm5925]

yeah, he said that. but matt hooper has done enough pr bullshit during promotion of rage. i really don't think he's trustable.

furthermore, the leaked screenshots are form the artist (thao le) who was not listed on credits of rage. and id software had only two aaa titles (rage, doom 4) in development since his join. (july 2008, only 2 months after announcement of doom 4)

it's possible they scrapped the project then started over. but anyway, the leaked shots should have something to do with doom 4, based on the employee's resume and the credits.

[DooM_RO]

mtm5925 said:

yeah, he said that. but matt hooper has done enough pr bullshit during promotion of rage. i really don't think he's trustable.

furthermore, the leaked screenshots are form the artist (thao le) who was not listed on credits of rage. and id software had only two aaa titles (rage, doom 4) in development since his join. (july 2008, only 2 months after announcement of doom 4)

it's possible they scrapped the project then started over. but anyway, the leaked shots should have something to do with doom 4, based on the employee's resume and the credits.

I still doubt it, there are a few RAGE buildings and models in a few of the screenshots(a skyscraper and a wrecked car among them) which makes me believe that this is either some scrapped content from RAGE(they had to scrap a lot because of the huge space requirements) or it may be DLC but Id has tendency to reuse textures and objects as homage to older games(this goes as far as Doom 3 and RAGE) so I don't really know what to say.

Anyway, lets get back on topic, what kind of art style would suit Doom 4 best and why?

[mtm5925]

i forgot to mention this. an ex-employee's website also has one of the leaked image for doom 4. and he only worked on doom 4 at id.

http://www.waylandfong.com/game-development/doom-4/

and even if those stuffs are some scrapped content from of rage, they should list the artist on the credits if he worked on rage for months. making dlc contents for 4 years also doesn't make sense.

back on topic, i always imagined future (but not too future) settings and abstract art style for doom 4. i think that will allow them the most creative ideas for level design and weapons which can't be found in generic military shooters on these days.

i didn't liked the hell level in doom 3. i thought that's very generic image of hell that is not too different from what we saw from many hell-themed horror movies and games like diablo. i want more abstract visual like classic doom, and more color than red.

[idSoftware981]

I always imagined the art style looking vivid like Classic DOOM. But having the same kind of art style like DOOM PS1. But then it would be 3D and very gritty like DOOM 3. It would be vivid and gritty.... the best way to describe it is like Cryengine 3 Graphics... or Cel-Shading meets photorealism.

[Deeforce]

>Colorful like the original Doom< , but I like Doom 3 anyway and for sure Doom 4 too (it will not be colorful!).