Poll: For Civ VII, which art direction style do you prefer?

[AntSou]

No need to be sarcastic if that was your intent.

I was perfectly serious about what I said.

Hmm, don't think it was sarcasm.

 

[Thormodr]

Hmm, don't think it was sarcasm.

Ok. No worries.

 

[queenpea]

Ok. No worries.

No sarcasm meant, just agreeing with you -- I hadn't thought of the consequences of a photorealistic war in Civ VII, but you are right.

 

[The_goggles_do_nothing]

I said 'other' because all the styles listed would be fine. That's assuming stylized doesn't mean anime, big heads, or lego styles.

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

The cartoonish style was great for Civ 6's cheeky, non-serious attitude ('this is the only true faith, please ignore all the other ones!) (rockbands acting as religious units) but it was terrible for communicating the pathos of natural disasters.
I would like a stylised approach to the art style as well, but I have little faith in Firaxis' aesthetic sense, which is why I voted for realism.

 

[Caesar of Bread]

They could do some puppetish thing like the clip below

Spoiler Warning: profanity :

I unironically love the Civilization VI style, and maybe they could make it either look like Civ I/II more or advance it even more!

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

The only true answer to portraying leaders is puppets à la Spitting Image

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

April 1st, they should announce Civ 7, the Muppet Civ.

 

[arik24]

like the civ 6 palate color better then civ 5 it bright and colorful the one thing I would change is the plains hex to be orange like it was in civ 3 also make the resources bigger and easier to tell a part form one another.

 

[W|M]

if anything civ 5 looks too cartoonish, make 7 look more like civ 3

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

I've been playing about with an AI image generator, and here are some results for historical leaders as Spitting Image characters:

Ivan IV

Elizabeth I

Charles V (of Spain)

Selim I

Nero

Otto von Bismarck

Genghis Khan

Julius Caesar

Napoleon

 

[AntSou]

They could do some puppetish thing like the clip below

All characters in Blark and Son style

if anything civ 5 looks too cartoonish, make 7 look more like civ 3

There isn't a single leader in Civ 3 that does not look cartoonish.
---

@Bonyduck Campersang Wow, nightmare inducing stuff. I should try it out myself. They all look so disturbing.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

I went with Stylized, but I admit I wouldn't object to a CiV art style either.

 

[W|M]

I'm not just referring to leaderheads

 

[pokiehl]

I'm not just referring to leaderheads

The leader art is bad enough -- the worst in the entire series -- but nothing else about Civ 3 looks particularly good to me either...

 

[Leucarum]

Cartoonist is my preference. They make it very easy to read the map at a glance.

Whatever style they go with, as long as you don't need more than a quick glance to work out what's going on I am good with it though. Function over form.

 

[Bibor]

Blizzard's (think Diablo 123 or Starcraft 2) art direction is the one I prefer, because it accomplishes two important points:
a) interactive elements are clearly visible and usable. These need to be halfway in the realm of abstract (icons) to work properly, so they dip into the cartoonish. Think app icons on a mobile phone.
b) non-interactive elements can and should be "realistic" in a sense that they don't distract.

Example: Diablo 1's "photo-realistic" hero and environment, but drops (potions, gold, items) are clearly cartoonish.

The same is true for sound. Civ4's classical music soundtrack, but cartoonish sounds for war/peace annoucements etc.

 

[LMT]

I said 'other' because all the styles listed would be fine. That's assuming stylized doesn't mean anime, big heads, or lego styles.

I know this would be hugely unpopular, but I wouldn't mind anime-style artwork if done well. Especially if it gave off some type of dark and dismal vibe because lets face it, for most of humanity's history on Earth, life was not all that pleasant.

 

[kaspergm]

Honestly if they did 2d non-animated leaders in the style of those Leader Pass Card Portraits they did I'd be happy.

Jesus, those were UGLY imo.

 

[Zaarin]

I've been playing about with an AI image generator, and here are some results for historical leaders as Spitting Image characters:

Oh, hey, those do look like Civ3.