Civ V Art Director Explains Art Deco Look

[Thunderfall]

GameInformer has published an interview with Civilization V art director Dorian Newcomb about the art deco style of Civ5. Dorian Newcomb explains the reason for the style choice, and also sheds light on two of the new leaders in Civ V, what role classic LucasArts adventure Grim Fandango played in the game's early development, and how he and lead designer Jon Shafer "don't want to make a game for dumb people."

Why is Civilization V so art deco?

It stemmed from a conversation I had with the interface artist on the project, Russ Vaccaro. I was describing how much I liked New York, and how New York had the feeling of the most important American city, and the sense that there's a lot of art history in the city. When you walk around New York, you can't help but see a lot of art deco influence in a lot of the Rockefeller Center area as well as midtown and downtown. I'd gone to school in New York, and I said, "Why don't we start off in New York, in the way that New York feels like a city of history, and a city that we're really familiar with?" Russ played a lot of Grim Fandango, a LucasArts game from back in the day, and that was very influenced by art deco and the Day of the Dead stuff. So my love of New York and his love of Grim Fandango pretty much took us down the first step in going toward an art deco look and feel.

Thanks to the author Adam Biessener for posting about it on the forums!

[trevort]

It's official, Civ isn't for dumb people. I have felt that way for years.

[Mannu]

Grim Fandango was an awesome game. I kept my copy and still dust it off every so often.

[Superluminal]

Civ V is a great looking game. I'll spend many sleepless nights aided by coffee conquering the world.

[Ajidica]

I like the art deco look, I wish they had kept it for the box art. Early art deco is the best before it became so pretentious and overblown.

[Le Sage]

Like Jazz, Ajidica. Jazz used to be cool too. in the 20's, when it was rebellious and new. Now they play Jazz in the fine salons of London and Paris. the same thing will happen to Hip hop. Can't wait for the day when Hip hop enters the fine salons! I'd like to see the Queen listen, immersed, to the singing of "Slap ya'll big booty bi@ch up then go out shoot some homies gangstaz style n' rob the liquor store near the meth house!"

As for the art style, I would have preferred to have a different art style for each era and culture. Like Medieval Japan would look like it and perhaps Art Deco could have been kept at Industrial Era Western.

[HypnosTene]

Originally Posted by Le Sage

Like Jazz, Ajidica. Jazz used to be cool too. in the 20's, when it was rebellious and new. Now they play Jazz in the fine salons of London and Paris.

I thought jazz finally got good when Northern Europe picked it up, no? ; )

That aside, I am really happy about the art style. Just hope the very high requirements won't force me to play on low settings and miss the good art altogether...

[LordRahl]

"I would give the greatest sunset in the world for one sight of New York's skyline. Particularly when one can't see the details. Just the shapes. The shapes and the thought that made them. The sky over New York and the will of man made visible. What other religion do we need? And then people tell me about pilgrimages to some dank pesthole in a jungle where they go to do homage to a crumbling temple, to a leering stone monster with a pot belly, created by some leprous savage. Is it beauty and genius they want to see? Do they seek a sense of the sublime? Let them come to New York, stand on the shore of the Hudson, look and kneel. When I see the city from my window - no, I don't feel how small I am - but I feel that if a war came to threaten this, I would throw myself into space, over the city, and protect these buildings with my body." - Ayn Rand

"The skyline of New York is a monument of a splendor that no pyramids or palaces will ever equal or approach." - Ayn Rand

[Eklabiaan]

The choise for Art Deco was a good one IMO. The lines, curves, non-functional additions above and aside of menu's and dialogs; these all form a contrast nicely with the hexagonal stucture of the landscape while at the same time they give the user interface the same feel of detail/granularity as is present in the landscape.

[tazpn314]

I really love the art direction that I've seen. The art deco style gives a nice clean and crisp look that I like. I'm really looking forward to playing this for hours on end.

[AlpsStranger]

Originally Posted by Le Sage

As for the art style, I would have preferred to have a different art style for each era and culture. Like Medieval Japan would look like it and perhaps Art Deco could have been kept at Industrial Era Western.

Sorry, I have to call you on this. Do you pause, for even a moment, to think about development costs?

I love contradictory requests by fans in a community. "I want this game to be niche, don't make it appeal to all those dumb people just to make money!" and then "I want a completely unique UI for each Civ and each Era. This one game did it in CGA in DOS so I know you can do it in 1920x1080 on a modern system at a similar cost! Also, I want 50 distinct civilizations and 36 different types of bronze age archer. After you spend all this money, make sure that you use a niche marketing strategy and that the game only appeals to 1% of gamers. I'll help you fill out the paperwork for those food stamps..."

If fans showed any level of common sense, or even non-contradictory themes, in their rants I would be more inclined to care. I haven't gone back and checked your posts, but I bet you've complained that they "dumbed it down" for the masses at some point.

You want 85 different UI artsets in one game? Then have them dumb it down for the masses.

You want geeky niche appeal? Have a crack at Dominions 3. It's not real pretty, but it is *real* niche.

There is a direct relationship between mass marketing and outrageous Dev expenses.

[Le Sage]

Originally Posted by AlpsStranger

Sorry, I have to call you on this. Do you pause, for even a moment, to think about development costs?

I love contradictory requests by fans in a community. "I want this game to be niche, don't make it appeal to all those dumb people just to make money!" and then "I want a completely unique UI for each Civ and each Era. This one game did it in CGA in DOS so I know you can do it in 1920x1080 on a modern system at a similar cost! Also, I want 50 distinct civilizations and 36 different types of bronze age archer. After you spend all this money, make sure that you use a niche marketing strategy and that the game only appeals to 1% of gamers. I'll help you fill out the paperwork for those food stamps..."

If fans showed any level of common sense, or even non-contradictory themes, in their rants I would be more inclined to care. I haven't gone back and checked your posts, but I bet you've complained that they "dumbed it down" for the masses at some point.

You want 85 different UI artsets in one game? Then have them dumb it down for the masses.

You want geeky niche appeal? Have a crack at Dominions 3. It's not real pretty, but it is *real* niche.

There is a direct relationship between mass marketing and outrageous Dev expenses.

Yeah. I thought about it, and it's really impossible to implement different artstyles, innit. It would be confusing to play the game too, I think.

[AlpsStranger]

Originally Posted by Le Sage

Yeah. I thought about it, and it's really impossible to implement different artstyles, innit. It would be confusing to play the game too, I think.

I'm unsure what you mean by this response, but I think you are mocking me and implying that different art sets would confuse me somehow. This has nothing to do with my objection to your post.

Implementing multiple art sets would be no more difficult than implementing one. It would, however, be vastly more expensive. It wouldn't make the UI confusing-not sure why you think it would. To repeat, it would be expensive. Expensive means mass market and casual, whether people on this forum like it or not. Games that attempt to shoot above the middle of the bell curve need to be conservative when budgeting assets.

Honestly, I wish Civ5 wasn't attempting to be so media rich. Less media richness would reduce the clash between modded assets and stock assets and allow the game to be made for less money. If the game was made for less money it would likely make a larger profit and make Civ6 more likely.

[Le Sage]

Mocking you!? Most certainly not, mate. I'm telling you that I've thought about it and come to the conclusion myself that it's impossible to implement different artstyles for different eras! Nothing more, nothing less. I'm not in the mocking business.

It would be confusing for the player in-game to experience the change in UI for every era, and it would be - as you said in your earlier post - expensive and drain development resources and probably take twenty years to make.

[AlpsStranger]

Originally Posted by Le Sage

Mocking you!? Most certainly not, mate. I'm telling you that I've thought about it and come to the conclusion myself that it's impossible to implement different artstyles for different eras! Nothing more, nothing less. I'm not in the mocking business.

It would be confusing for the player in-game to experience the change in UI for every era, and it would be - as you said in your earlier post - expensive and drain development resources and probably take twenty years to make.

Oh, sorry for being so rude then. This forum has put me on edge and I really shouldn't take it out on random people.

Sorry for being a random internet jerk

[Le Sage]

No problem. Sometimes the discussions on here do tend to go too far.

[Centurio]

I love the art deco style, for many of the reasons I've read in earlier interviews: it conveys a sense of optimism that makes the game world an inviting and comfortable place for the player to inhabit. With some games, I feel awkward in the game-space, as if I am an unwelcome guest, whereas in Civilization games, I've always felt at home in whatever world I've chosen as my playground of the day. The clean, optimistic interface creates a sense of intimacy between the player and his game, and adds a new level of realism and immersion that encourages them to play the game for longer periods of time.

Having read the article, I have to say that I am now more confident in the game's ability to appeal to a wide audience and still keep the interest of more traditional Civilization players. While I am saddened by the loss of some Civilization 4 features, I feel as if 5 has been designed to be elegant: elegant in its gameplay, and more importantly, elegant in its feel. The design makes Civilization 5 seem mature and refined, though not in an overbearing manner.

[AlpsStranger]

Originally Posted by Centurio

Having read the article, I have to say that I am now more confident in the game's ability to appeal to a wide audience and still keep the interest of more traditional Civilization players. While I am saddened by the loss of some Civilization 4 features, I feel as if 5 has been designed to be elegant: elegant in its gameplay, and more importantly, elegant in its feel. The design makes Civilization 5 seem mature and refined, though not in an overbearing manner.

The essence of a good game isn't a list of features, even though many fans act as if this was the case. Is Monopoly a better game than chess? Is Master of Orion 3 a better game than Master of Orion 2?

[Oatse]

but what if steam gets my personal info drains my bank account and puts radios in my teeth then how can i enjoy the art deco look?

[Centurio]

Originally Posted by AlpsStranger

The essence of a good game isn't a list of features, even though many fans act as if this was the case. Is Monopoly a better game than chess? Is Master of Orion 3 a better game than Master of Orion 2?

Not better, just different.