View source for WWI 2008: D3 Lore and Environmental Art Panel

==Unexplored Potential==
We saw there was a lot of unexplored potential in the previous games. Diablo is unique in fantasy worlds since there are no elves or dwarves. It's a much darker world, in fact it was created by angels and demons, and now it's being fought over by the forces of dark and light. We think that's a fascinating setting and we've only scratched the surface in the previous games. Lot of depth yet to be mined. Not looked into previously.

We start with the world. We start somewhere. Civilizations don't just pop up out of nowhere. They are the result of environment and political forces.  Where do they come from? People like? Ruling classes?

As an example of that we're going to look at Caldeum, one of the new cities in D3. It's the largest trade center in all of Sanctuary. Lut Gholien, the act two town in D2, was an outpost of Caldeum.  Historically speaking a trade center lke Caldeum is a place of innovation. Lots of cultures and people meeting and talking there. Lots of innovation. The government just makes sure money keeps flowing.  Main city of the area was Kurast, the jungle-overrun town of Act Three in Diablo 2. When Kurast fell, the government and elite moved to Caldeum, and their influence changed the place.  Culture clash. How does that change day to day life for the citizens? We considered that sort of thing when we looked at the area, and designed the story and quests.

We also went deep in our world exploration in areas you won't see in the game. Places the characters came from had to be understood so we could flesh out their background. That background information helps us as developers, and we want the player to feel that there's a world outside their immediate exp.  

[[Image:Skovos-overhead-map.jpg|thumb|350px|Skovos overhead view.]]Skovos is a great example of this.  Place where Askari society is from.  They gave us the rogues in D1 and amazons in D2, but their society has never been explored in the games. They're very ancient and haven't had much contact with the outside world.  No trade or exchange of philosophies. How do they develop differently in isolation? They trace themselves back to the mythology of the angels.  They were founded by angel and her human lover, and this gives them a very different view of the world than other societies.

That's the extent we go to as designers to flesh out the world.  Make feel like living place.

We don't want to belabor this sort of thing when player is running around playing the game, but we think about how we'll get the information across to the player? One way is that some of the NPCs reflect upon where they come from. This helps us in 2 ways.  For a great RPG you need great NPCs. When they give you a quest, you should feel as if you are playing in a living world with depth to it.  To make living characters, they need to have culture. Characters reacting and speaking and dressing to reflect their culture tells the player about it without long monologues. We research places in our world and use them as influences for the game designs. We styled the residents and architecture of Caldeum to give a certain vibe to the player. An Eastern feel in the buildings, clothing, daily life, etc.