America: The Godfather Game Development, Chapter 448
In any case, with the design of the entire equipment-driven architecture resolved, the development of Diablo can now be largely managed autonomously.
At most, it would give Carmack a chance to come over and do some algorithm optimization.
Even though the performance of the Blizzard team is often less than satisfactory, it's only because they are acting under the name of GAMENOVA and have higher expectations.
If they were truly devolved into independent markets, each of the five people present would be a force to be reckoned with.
Now, only one question remains for everyone.
Fine arts, as well as music and voice acting—these are all artistic resources.
Blizzard could have done this kind of work themselves; at most, they would have simply outsourced it.
But this time it won't be that simple.
Because Diablo's art style is somewhat unique.
Blizzard is precisely not good at creating that kind of intense religious horror atmosphere and the oppressive feeling of " Diablo " in a literal sense.
They excel at rock, punk, and Blizzard -inspired fantasy.
Their main battleground is the use of bold, vibrant oil paints and bright colors.
"That is indeed a problem, let me think about it—"
Lin Lixin pondered for a moment.
GAMENOVA's future is destined to include its own art team.
Although the requirements for art are not particularly high at this stage, if there is a real need, asking Lucas for help will basically solve the problem.
However, with the rapid expansion of hardware capabilities, the future is destined to require a truly mature art team of its own, belonging to GAMENOVA.
Blizzard, a company that sells cinematic visuals and storytelling, should pay even more attention to this.
The art department of a video game is actually a highly complex and extremely large team.
Unless you are an independent game studio, you can save time by relying on established workflows or directly purchasing off-the-shelf assets.
After all, indie games mostly sell gameplay or story, and in comparison, there's no need for them to compete with big studios in terms of art.
"We need an art director, and at least one concept designer, character artist, environment artist, prop artist, interface artist, special effects artist, animator, and lighting artist."
Lin Lixin briefly went through the entire workflow in his mind.
For a highly industrialized modern ARPG video game like Diablo, which is also a highly stylized work of art, the number of talented artists needed behind the scenes is truly considerable.
It's no easy task to assemble such a dream team in a short period of time.
The game art world can't compete with the art world and the game industry in terms of creating stars, so Lin Lixin will find it difficult to follow a similar path in this regard.
Moreover, recruiting a large group of people at once would be a disaster in terms of experience integration and management.
This matter requires careful consideration.
"Hmm... take it slow. I'll try to find a suitable art director first, preferably one who can also handle the concept design."
In any case, the original Diablo was not a massive project.
Finding a great concept designer can pretty much handle most of the main tasks.
The roles of CG and background art can be delegated to Lucas and Industrial Light & Magic.
As for the remaining part?
Please, isn't there still CEO Lin, that numerical monster, here?
Speaking of artists who excel in dark fantasy, Lin Lixin was able to sift through his fragmented memories to find a suitable candidate.
No, it's more accurate to say that this person is the one who truly brings things back to the source, the original Diablo team with Diablo.
He even created visual concepts for Blizzard's masterpiece World of Warcraft.
He is currently working at the Legend board game company TSR, designing the cover art and character illustrations for " Dungeons & Dragons".
In a sense, this person truly possesses a congenital Diablo holy body.
His name is Gerald.
Oh, not Lin Lixin's old friend Gerald Lawson, but a young man of similar age to Lin Lixin, only 25 years old this year.
Gerald Brom.
A self-taught, genius dark fantasy artist.
The "Diablo" vibe is actually a very ambiguous and unique style.
Very few people in this world can truly understand it.
Many successors mistakenly believe that simply making the visuals black and the environment eerie and scary constitutes "Diablo."
But in reality, this is just a superficial appearance.
Ultimately, the name " Diablo " is simply a translation issue. The original name, "Diablo," refers to Diablo, one of the seven Prime Evils in the game's lore.
The true essence of Diablo ----
It should be a sense of decadence and decay.
That feeling of helplessness as we watch our Sanctuary, the human world, slowly head towards irreversible destruction.
Watching the Burning Hells slowly erode this land, leading everyone to madness and death.
It was never a grand story narrating an epic tale of heroes.
Aidan the Warrior, the warrior who is the protagonist of the first game, is never the main character of a heroic fantasy story.
In the story, he fought with all his might to defeat Diablo, but he was inevitably corrupted by dark forces, leading to tragedy and becoming the second " Dark Wanderer ".
Ultimately, Diablo possessed his body again.
The most Porky's is this process of sliding into depravity amidst a series of sweet victories.
In comparison, the Butcher's "Ahh Fresh Meat" greeting, which initially sounded horrifying, actually seemed much more approachable.
At least you can get a the Butcher's Cleaver.
Diablo fantasy is not the traditional Tolkien style at all.
Diablo world is a sick world.
It is sick, and it is seriously ill.
Brom possessed a peculiar air of melancholy.
You can even sense a distinct rebellious punk vibe.
Perhaps this is precisely why he became a genius in this field.
Faced with the olive branch extended by GAMENOVA, he did not get excited like the others. Instead, he maintained a strange wariness and stood silently in front of Lin Lixin.
But this is not the kind of leisure that Wynn, as an underground emperor and super-rich man, enjoys.
On the contrary, Brom wasn't a particularly wealthy guy; at best, he was just financially secure.
What truly revealed this attitude in him was—concern.
In other words, it's about cherishing his reputation and not wanting purely commercial things to ruin his art.
The claim that it's "the world's highest-grossing RPG game" wasn't enough to sway him.
"Mr. Lin, I've always been a fan of GAMENOVA and have always admired your rock and roll spirit, but commercial creation? Sorry, that's not what I'm looking for."
Mike, standing to the side, frowned slightly and picked up a few design drafts from the table, intending to take the initiative to produce them.
But Lin Lixin just shook his head, telling Mike not to worry.
"Are you planning to use our messy algorithms to convince an artist?"
"Well----"
Mike opened his mouth, but helplessly sat back down.
He had indeed intended to explain to the other person how addictive the game was and how ingenious its mechanics were.
Lin Lixin turned his gaze back to Brom, who was pursing his lips.
Clearly, refusing this invitation was extremely difficult for Brom himself to accept.
Lin Lixin smiled slightly and said, "You're right. Brom. Gamenova is indeed a commercial company. Moreover, we are an industrialized assembly line company. The game industry is what I've been pursuing."
He did not deny Brom's opinion on Gamenova.
Despite GAMENOVA's tendency to spend lavishly on its works.
Even so, Lin Lixin had to admit that these operations ultimately yielded returns several times over.
These losses aren't necessarily commercial; in terms of influence, technological accumulation, and many other aspects, GAMENOVA has never actually suffered a loss.
As for industrialization?
Lucas, Hans Zimmer, and even Lin Lixin himself are all absolute advocates of this.
Creative companies are only suitable for the early stages, or rather, only suitable for small-scale independent studios.
As the scale of games grows larger and larger, industrialization is the only way out.
Is there anything wrong with the industrialization of the game industry?
Lin Lixin denied this.
The ones who are at fault are those who take advantage of a mature industrial chain and squander it all by running canneries.
A mature and advanced industrialized production system brings superior quality, allowing developers to focus more on game design itself.
Instead of spending all day racking their brains trying to figure out how to solve a technical problem.
"We are indeed an industrialized company, but you've got one thing wrong—"
Lin Lixin's gaze was fixed on Brom's face. "GAMENOVA never stifles the passion and freedom of creators. Hmm—well, it's not far anyway, come with me."
After saying that, Lin Lixin pushed open the door and went out.
Watching his departing figure, Mike paused for a moment, then immediately realized what was happening.
Indeed, this is GAMENOVA's studio complex; there's no better place to demonstrate GAMENOVA's style.
Thinking of the United Kingdom next door— Mike's lips twitched.
That's completely different from what's happening here; compared to that, this place is practically proper.
Upon receiving Lin Lixin's invitation, Brom naturally couldn't refuse and quickly followed in his footsteps, walking around the park as Lin Lixin introduced everything to him.
"Look, Infocom, the class that Caneghem teaches. He usually likes to play RPGs and do some running games in his spare time, like the D&D stuff you drew."
"That's Activision's office over there; headquarters is a bit further away. They're a bunch of really eccentric guys there; they even built a mini-cinema in the office."
As for this place...
Lin Lixin, with Brom in tow, stopped in front of the gate of Zhongyipin, sighing in exasperation.
[ Bullfrog Studio ]
Magic Bull's territory, they're just a bunch of troublemakers.
Aside from playing games, they're always partying or shooting each other with toy guns.
A model of a creative studio.
When Brom saw the donkey standing shirtless on the table inside the house, holding up a poster of his new game and shouting like a celebrity...
When producing.
He felt a sudden buzzing in his head.
It's burnt.
What kind of place is this?!