Boards›Story, Art, & Sound

WHY Do We Have Splash Arts?

Dreamspitter·4/24/2015, 10:13:03 PM·1 votes·877 views

Let's see the problems with splashes.

  1. They may not actually look, or exactly match game models.

  2. Every time you update a champion, you have to redraw so much artwork -thus reworks only have 1 new splash.

Now, let's compare this to a newer game in the same genre. http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/heroes/thrall/

That web page, is what the Hero select and Shop look like in HoTS. Because they actually feature the models, everything including skins are all represented exactly as they are in game plus you can turn them around and rotate them.

Should we continue to have splash arts or....should we have an in game model viewer?

Now mind you, this does not mean firing a section of the art team, as many, many many things (most of them) get drawn on paper first before they are modeled.

Beyond this, I am also interested in facial animations for champions, newer champions have more animations. HoTS in place of a portrait has a view of the characters face, so you can actually see them speak and the expressions on their faces clearly.

8 Comments

Sharjo4/24/2015, 11:48:15 PM6 votes

League is specifically made so everyone can play it, down to the graphics, animations and everything else. That's how the game can be enjoyed by so many millions. Essentially, in terms of its graphics is crafted specifically so it works for everyone and also doesn't waste anything; what's the point of facial animation on a character whose face is almost unviewable for the vast majority of the time? There isn't one. As such characters like Jinx, Yasuo and Lucian have no facial animation going for them, where as Tristana and Gnar, who have very prominent heads that take up large real estate on their models do.

The splash art is made to be the "perfect" iteration of the character; that champion in their full attire, full glory, and their natural environment, doing what they do best (most of the time). At least that's how it is from my point of view.

On the subject of hots; just because characters can move their mouths doesn't mean they're really animated. Their eyes are still just painted on, they don't have tongues in their mouths, they don't smile unless it's necessary for the thing they're saying, which also very rarely occurs in the speech of ANY of the heroes in hots.

To summarise: League's models are made specifically for the purpose of playing League and nothing else. If stuff ain't needed then it's not included. Splash art is intended to show how the characters actually are in the lore and stuff. Hots uses its character models for far more than just hots itself, and even then its still follow the same mandate as League, if something ain't needed, it's not included. Also the facial animation in hots isn't that good.

IcyPepper4/24/2015, 10:14:43 PM4 votes

It's part of the art, man.

Ebonmaw Dragon4/24/2015, 10:40:23 PM1 votes

There is a small detail that you forgot.... Heroes of the Storm is not considered from the "same genre"... LoL is a "MOBA", HotS its a "Hero Brawler"

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/blizzard-explains-why-it-doesn-t-call-heroes-of-the-storm-a-moba/1100-6416084/

Only Play Darius4/25/2015, 5:33:41 AM1 votes

No.