Update 36 - Miriam Turnaround and Donut Aftermath

I just like the SOTN/OoE/AoS older/realistic anime art style more than the DoS/PoR more recent/simplistic anime art style. That's pretty much it for me.

I don't think there was ever any concern or fear about art style bait-and-switch. It felt like people comparing and contrasting art styles and what they want or don't want to happen. It's just what people do.

Some of terminology surrounding both was kinda confusing at first, though. Both "anime" and "realistic" end up being a vague way to describe art styles. I wish there was some sort of universal DnD-style alignment chart to describe them (e.g. photo realistic, Norman Rockwell realistic, Alex Ross realistic, complex anime, simplistic anime, "I can't believe it's not" anime, and "realistic anime" for true neutral).

An internal Wiki would be a godsend (as you say, most external Wiki's are PLAGUED by ads) but until then a sticky thread is still better than nothing? We get an influx of members every time there is an update and sometimes people just forget. It might be helpful just to have something that might catch people's eyes.


Well I mean a bunch of people, and this conversation tends to repeat itself, aren't just stating preferences but saying "I hope Bloodstained doesn't do X!". Considering we KNOW it won't do X, I always find the topic a bit weird and redundant. Like why are people worrying X might happen when we KNOW it won't? That's all.


I mean not all concept art is the same. Stuff made for promotional material is going to look a bit different than art made to demonstrate concepts, attacks, stances, etc. As for your examples, I don't think they are really any different when it comes to details and whatnot. At least not to a significant degree to really be worth commenting on. However, there is certainly concept art that's been put out there that I would call simplified but, again, I don't think that's an issue - not all concept art needs the same level of detail. This is true of video games or anything production in which concept art is going to be produced. Remember, most Kojima art you've seen has been promotional art rather than the whole range of concept art - we are getting more insight into the development of this game than any other Igavania before it.

I was just like several of you and really didn't like PoR's art style. I pre-ordered the game for the bonuses and then sold the game actually because I didn't like what I had seen of it and didn't have a DS yet anyway. I believe it wasn't until after OoE that I went back and actually played the game and loved it. I hope everyone gave it a chance. The game is still for us/the fans/adults. I've seen for kids/childish/Saturday morning thrown around a lot here...and there is some very serious subject matter with this kind of art style shown in Japan. Big eyes and exaggerated expressions doesn't always mean kid stuff. And besides, the game behind it is amazing.

There's nothing to worry about here, really. This is kind of like still now bringing up that someone hopes Bloodstained doesn't play like a MercurySteam game, because we have no indication that it will.

edit: But oh yeah, was great to see croc on time with the animexposition D: hahaha, I've gotten to know some of y'all pretty well.

I'm not a big fan of portrai of ruin but I am a big fan of swords and whips being in the same game. Took far too long for that to happen. Glad that aspect is returning in bloodstained

Except in the concept art, you can see texture detail, the difference in materials. It's the fine, delicate lines, the soft colors, that give it the look of an illustration. The thick borders and bright, shiny colors of shader 3 ruin that effect. It's not that I particularly like shader 1 -- I think the cel-shaded look could be good for Bloodstained. I just hate the specific implementation of shader 3. The discoloration drives me nuts. Where is that purple tint coming from? I think a blend of the two would be far better than either of them.

If you're talking about on the cuffs, ruffles, and straps, I'm pretty sure that's environmental based on lighting.  If you look at the rotating model video, it's much less pronounced, and I imagine that it will look completely different in a room with cool lighting(such as outdoors under moonlight).  To be fair, the coloration was one of my few criticisms of shader 3(before I saw it in motion) in the last update thread, and I had made my own edit with cooler colors.

I do have to agree with castledan about the concept art:  I think you're letting your mind fill in details that aren't actually there.  The art does a good job of creating an illusion, but there aren't any cloth textures there.

The color saturation was pointed out by many feedback comments, especially the blue rim light, when  shader 3 was first revealed. Those feedbacks were translated and sent to Inti Creates. In the rotating video, we can see that the colors fit the environment better and the blue rim light is toned down. Thanks for noticing!

Huh, I didn't mind the saturation in this case (not like it was SF4 or anything) and I kinda liked the blue rim too. I just didn't meniton them because I thought they were fine

What we still have is good, though...still looks flat/painting-esque. I hope they keep that a priority going forward with any more changes and for all the designs that follow.

I just realized that the title of the update uses the word "Turnaround." I'm literally laughing right now, because I just realized that they were referring to Miriam actually spinning around 360 degrees. I thought they meant that they were originally going with something closer to shader 1 and then the shader poll results went with shader 3. I thought that was the "turnaround" they were talking about. Whelp...that clears up some of my previous confusion about the dev teams doing a 180. Sorry for any confusion I caused guys....