• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.

CKIII Dev Diary #28 - Art Focus

Hello my name is Joacim, Art Lead on Crusader Kings 3, I am positing here a developer diary written by Pontus, Art Director on Crusader Kings 3, currently on paternity leave. Our artists will reply to your questions in the comments!

Art Focus
Hey! Let’s talk about the art of Crusader Kings III!

My name is Pontus, Art Director on CK3. I’ve written this dev diary together with the art team, and if you promise to tell everyone this is the best dev diary so far, there will be some sweet wallpapers at the end of it. Cool?

Certainly, you’ve seen a lot of the art already, in various states of completion, with all our diaries and previews. Let’s start by talking about the way we’ve approached creating the graphics for the game!

The starting point for the art direction is, as it should be, the game design. If you recall Dev Diary #0, Henrik Fåhreus’ vision of the game has a big focus on characters and storytelling, as well as approachability and player freedom. Reinforcing that through the art has been the main goal.

To keep ourselves on-track, three key pillars guide the art department on CK3:

A ROLE-PLAYING EXPERIENCE - This pillar is represented by our goal to give life to the characters and their unfolding stories. An example of this would be the characters’ portraits, we did not want them small and static, they are now front and center, and show off their standing or lack thereof through clothing, as well as show how they feel about what is happening to them through body language.

DD28_king_01.jpg
DD28_king_02.jpg


A MEDIEVAL GAME - We made a great effort to keep a good level of historical accuracy in our designs. Our illustrations and icons are made to reflect the time period, just like the 3D art that populate the map. Of course, sometimes we had to try and find good compromises in the designs that would work for the entire timespan of the game.

Where possible, we based clothes on reconstructed sewing patterns from extant medieval clothing. For example, we recreated the "coronation tunic" of Roger II of Sicily, a well preserved garment from the 1130s (though it was actually made some time after the coronation).

DD28_tunic_comp.jpg


Another example would be a loading screen with some really well-painted sunflowers, but these did not exist in europe until the 16th century, which was spotted in time thanks to our Beta testers: so we sent it back to get the flowers repainted…

A ROUGH WORLD - Crusader Kings is not a game for all-ages, you live dangerously and people do terrible, terrible things to each other. This is reflected in the more somber palette and overall mood of the game.

Now, let’s talk about the different types of art you’ll have fun with in CK3:

CHARACTERS
I’m very excited about our new character portraits, and what we can do with them visually. They are varied and have lots of, well, character. Every day there’s a screenshot shared in the dev chat featuring someone they’ve encountered in-game, and we usually agree, yes, that person wears that hat better than most, or indeed, he looks just like the poster boy for the Deviant trait.

For me, the real test for the characters is if they make you feel, and It IS satisfying to throw especially smug-looking Rivals into your Dungeon, and you might feel a bit sorry for some harmless looking characters before you plot to have someone deliver poisonous snakes upon them.

I really want to stress the fantastic work our Lead Character Artist Nils Wadensten and the character team have done in bringing this new generation of portraits to our games, alongside our Engine team.

In fact, he’ll go into the character portraits a bit more in a future diary, hopefully he won’t show the first iterations of the wounds and diseases, some were a bit too much for a lot of people.. :)

For now, I’ll leave you with a sneak peek of Concept art and the final piece of Clothing as how it appears in the game.

DD28_steppe.jpg
DD28_african_pagan.jpg


ANIMATION
Making the characters move was quite a challenge since the movements need to be very discreet, and not call too much attention to themselves as that could become a distraction from the gameplay.

The posing and idle animations are there to help the immersion and storytelling. Keeping the Rough World pillar in mind, they should not be silly and slapstick - while CK has some wonderful dark humor, we play it straight. I do think the look on a character's face when he realises they are locked up together with a Cannibal is appropriately shocked though.

Generally the characters have a pose that reflects their personality or the situation they’re in.


EVENTS
Here is where the role-playing really kicks in. When an event pops up, we showcase the characters involved and how they feel about the current proceedings, set against a backdrop that really helps sell the setting. This means if you encounter the same event in another play-through, the visuals might be quite different due to the characters involved.

The backdrops have a detailed but hand-painted style that complements our stylized characters’ well. In fact, we have some for you as wallpapers without text, icons and characters obscuring them, enjoy.

When we create a new event background, we also do a hand-crafted lighting setup, which relights the portraits to fit the current scene:

DD28_events_01.jpg
DD28_events_02.jpg
DD28_events_03.jpg
DD28_events_04.jpg


ILLUSTRATIONS
Besides the events, there’s plenty of illustrations in CK3!

For the loading screens, we wanted someone who can do images full of mood and storytelling, in a rough, painterly style. We went straight for the top and asked Craig Mullins. Fortunately, he was up for it, and has provided some really exciting imagery.

They all are of course showcasing aspects of the Crusader Kings experience- from Templars in battle to babies in peril!

Besides the loading screens and event backgrounds, we have cool paintings for Decision categories, terrain types, holdings, army movements, legacies… heck, our Personality trait icons and Tenets are small illustrations - there is a lot to discover and keep you entertained and immersed!

DD28_hunt_text.jpg


The Holding Illustrations make for great wallpapers as well, so we included that in our art drop!

UNITS
Our units are really cool! We were very enthusiastic about these, and really added quite a bit of detail. Let us know if you spot the nails that stick the shield handle into the shield at the back.

The units’ appearance is based on culture - We have Western European, Byzantine, Middle-east / North Africa, Pagans, Indian and Turko-Mongol.

A unit has three visual tiers, becoming more armor-clad and sophisticated as it progresses. So it was important for us to make sure a Tier 2 Byzantine looks equally as tough as a Tier 2 Turko-Mongol for instance.

They have a lot of spark to them as we added a lot of different animations, they cheer when they win, bang their shields during sieges and we make use of red liquid particles when they land some nice hits.

Culture, Tiers and Coat-of-arms colors and emblems make the Units look appropriate and unique. Here’s some examples:

DD28_units.png



HOLDINGS
The Holdings were quite a challenge, they needed to be a certain size based on maximum zoom level and minimum Barony size. Since they are small they need to have strong, readable shapes without looking like toys.

Their appearances are influenced by the region they are found in, in this case Western European, Mediterranean, India and Middle-east.

Similar to Units, they have visual tiers, tied to the Holding’s Upgrade level. Temples and Cities have two tiers, whereas Castles and Walls have four tiers.

Of course, we have primitive huts as well, and a big bunch of unique buildings, some easier to recreate (Pyramids) than others (Charlemagne's Palace).

DD28_western_castles.png
DD28_mena_castles.png

DD28_special_01.png
DD28_special_02.png



MAP
There’s a rumor going around that some of you CK2 players rarely look at the terrain map. We didn’t want that for CK3, so we made our map to not only be moody and pretty to look at, but also more useful, so you’d have more reasons to go there.

CK is information heavy, so we try to make sure that everything in the terrain map serves a function, and is easy to see. Thus a cleaner look, to make sure the icons, borders, text and 3D models that sit on top of the land read well. At a glance, you should be able to see what terrain type a Barony has without consulting another map mode.

DD28_map_02.png
DD28_map_03.png
DD28_map_01.png


If you are into Political Map modes though, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. You’ll notice it feels familiar.

It seems our Paper map has been received well, we’re glad you like lobsters too! Getting the right amount of sea-monsters without making it look cluttered wasn’t easy, but I think we managed in the end.

DD28_papermap.png


UI
A PDS game has a lot of UI. It is something made in close collaboration with UX and Game Design departments. It is constantly iterated upon and is one of the most challenging aspects of our games.
Visually we took inspiration from game design’s character focus pillar and pulled in visual influences from Roleplaying games. To make it approachable we tried to keep it clean, and give everything some breathing room.

DD28_Character_Screen.png
DD28_MAA.jpg


DD28_letter.jpg


We use a lot of illustrations in our UI’s to help immersion and flavor, and we have a cool system where some of the image types are context sensitive, so for instance your Sultan will not stand in front of a western European throne room if he is hanging out in the Middle-east, and if you are dealing with Catholicism in Religion View, well you’ll see churches and similar imagery.


Coats of Arms
Heraldry is essential to the medieval immersion of Crusader Kings, and so heralds will be excited to hear that we have totally overhauled the Coat of Arms system.

We started from scratch, poring over history books and contemporary armorials to ensure every detail is authentic. We designed accurate CoA for over a thousand titles and dynasties to complement a new scriptable random system that weights hundreds of unique elements based on culture, religion, and everything in between. We modeled minute differences across regions, so frequencies of designs and tinctures are different in Germany, France, and Spain. The amount of possible combinations? Millions.

We achieved our primary goal of making our feudal European heraldry as accurate as possible, but we didn't stop there—we wanted to go into extra depth for all regions. For example, the eastern hordes decorate the Great Steppe with their special tamgha emblems, while the Islamic world is fleshed out with immersive Saracenic heraldry (no more endless stars and crescents). Emergent cadet houses differentiate their new arms by quartering, and yes, England's coat of arms will change if William wins the Norman Invasion.

Here’s some examples of the heraldry system in action - firstly how England’s arms can react to gameplay, and secondly a selection of randomly-generated COA from around the world.

DD28_COA_1.png
DD28_COA_2.png


In summary:

The art team has worked very hard and it is a delight every day to see whatever new stuff is coming in. Making games is a group effort though, so we get invaluable help and feedback from the rest of the team: code, design, QA, sound, production all contribute as well.

Of course, seeing pictures in a dev diary is one thing, we can’t wait for you to get your hands on the full experience! As always, your feedback will help guide us as we continue to make content and improvements for CK3!

And for being good sports and reaching the end of the dev diary, here's links to some sweet wallpapers!
 

Attachments

  • DD28_council.mp4
    8,9 MB
  • DD28_event.mp4
    9,5 MB
  • DD28_combat_vid_1.mp4
    18,7 MB
  • DD28_combat_vid_2.mp4
    19,2 MB
  • DD28_western_castles.png
    DD28_western_castles.png
    1 MB · Views: 0
Last edited:
  • 175Love
  • 141Like
  • 20
  • 9
  • 3
Reactions:
Hey!
Thanks for the great dev diary!
I'm new here but I've been a CK fan for some time. I'm from Finland and I just wanted to say that first of all I'm happy about how you have represented Northern Europe. It really makes me feel that even the smallest of places matter to you the developers.

From my viewpoint though it would make some historical sense to make Karelia and Finland equal in realm rank. Because in many ways they were separate but equal realms in Finland historically. But honestly I trust you guys much that you probably already know that in some level because you guys are so brilliant ❤️❤️❤️

Jag hoppas at du vill ha en trevligt och glad midsommar! (I hope my swedish is correct)
 
  • 1
Reactions:
Yeah I totally get that and understand why it's a thing, I just think some forms of quartering looks a lot better than others. Look at this one:

View attachment 582154

It would look a lot less awkward to me if the cross was overlaid the inset instead of the other way around. Anyway, not a huge deal (and a lot better than the mess that was CK2 COAs, lord)
Wouldn't white on white like this break rules of heraldry anyway?
 
  • 1
Reactions:
It's a balancing act. I agree with everyone that the map needs a little more sign of life/civilisation but it can very easily become too much. Especially in places like Germany, for example, with many small baronies and high development. I'd be happy with a small walled town, with a few different levels of development, attached to the castle. The sprawl can become far too much, this was a period of rural living.
If the sprawl was depicted as little houses, I think it could nicely represent the rural aspect of medieval life. The majority of people lived in the countryside, not in cities or castles, so the "urban sprawl" could be in fact "rural sprawl" around holdings. It would be a nice touch; events in CKII often mention peasants apart from citizens, clergy, and nobles, so a couple of huts in the fields here and there would be great.
 
  • 7
  • 5Like
Reactions:
Wouldn't white on white like this break rules of heraldry anyway?

The rule of tinctures doesn't apply to brisures (quarterings, cantons, chiefs, lambels, etc)

Sometimes they themselves broke the rules (but they did it only with metals, like or and argent in Jerusalem, and probably because Jerusalem was supposed to be the coolest kingdom of all).

Anyway, I hope they have more cantons than this one. Cantons were a staple of English heraldry, but they were not common anywhere else, really.
 
  • 2
  • 1
Reactions:
Yeah I totally get that and understand why it's a thing, I just think some forms of quartering looks a lot better than others. Look at this one:

View attachment 582154

It would look a lot less awkward to me if the cross was overlaid the inset instead of the other way around. Anyway, not a huge deal (and a lot better than the mess that was CK2 COAs, lord)

brune-rockley-in-1st-quarter1.jpg


1590502936090.png


You might've missed it but those are some real examples. You are right that graphical designers of today would probably find some interesting way to combine it but they didn't do it at the time. I'd rather have them go for an authentic look than start making too many changes to make stuff look "better".
 
  • 4
  • 3
  • 1Like
Reactions:
Yeah I totally get that and understand why it's a thing, I just think some forms of quartering looks a lot better than others. Look at this one:

View attachment 582154

It would look a lot less awkward to me if the cross was overlaid the inset instead of the other way around. Anyway, not a huge deal (and a lot better than the mess that was CK2 COAs, lord)


The quarter being over the cross indicates that the original coat of arms would have been the white cross on red. At some point after that they've apparently acquired some sort of augmentation that is represented by a quarter of Brittany.

It *would* be plausible for real world heraldry to have the quarter be behind the cross, but that'd be a different coat of arms in many ways.

Wouldn't white on white like this break rules of heraldry anyway?

No, because the quarter and the cross are both considered to be on the red field (and quarters used for augmentation unfortunately often don't follow the rules anyway).
 
  • 2
  • 1
Reactions:
The rule of tinctures, and other norms in heraldry, were not hard law, they're just habits (based on shared aesthetic concepts; I've never seen a real (not attributed) coat of arms that breaks the rule of tinctures blatantly, even if some Castillian arms are messy and it's hard to tell). Later on, by the 1300's, heralds and kings of arms were more bossy about them, and it's then where we begin to see the famous rule "no two nobles should have the same arms", at least in the same kingdom.

I think the first trial of arms about this issue was where the Grosvenor family lost their arms "azure, a bend or" to another family that sported it. The other family sued them and won. The Grosvenors had to change arms to azure, a garb of wheat or. These guys went on to become the fabulously wealthy Dukes of Westminster, and they have been salty about them losing their ancestral arms for like 700 years.

To the point that they have a horseracing course called Bend Or, and several people in the family were called Bendor. The most famous, Duke Hugh, was called Benny affectuously. He created a nazophile circle in Britain, amazingly named "the Right Club", and was Coco Chanel's lover for a while, before WW2.

Those people...
 
  • 1
Reactions:
The rule of tinctures, and other norms in heraldry, were not hard law, they're just habits (based on shared aesthetic concepts; I've never seen a real (not attributed) coat of arms that breaks the rule of tinctures blatantly, even if some Castillian arms are messy and it's hard to tell).
Jerusalem (gold on silver)

Albania. (red on black - although regionally this seems to be more accepted)

There are also a few where it depends whether a divided field is *next to* itself, or one part is on top of the other - which varies depending on which heraldic authority is involved.

However, it's all ultimately to do with visibility. Metal on metal tends to be difficult to see at distance, and the same for colour on colour.
 
  • 1
Reactions:
Jerusalem (gold on silver)

I said before that Jerusalem is the only exception, and it's or on silver (metal on metal), seen as something noble. I have yet to see real arms from the period 1200-1500 which include colour on colour.

Albania. (red on black - although regionally this seems to be more accepted)

I'm not sure the current flag of Albania is Medieval in origin. I wouldn't be surprised to see black on red in the Middle Ages, and Albania being in the margins of Western Europe, I guess they could have developed their own idea of what's acceptable on a flag.

There are also a few where it depends whether a divided field is *next to* itself, or one part is on top of the other - which varies depending on which heraldic authority is involved.[/QUOTE]

Those don't count, the rule of tinctures doesn't apply to brisures. As you can see by the fact that, when quartering, borduring, labeling, chiefing, cantoning or brisuring in any way, the rule of tinctures is ignored constantly. Just look at the cadency of the Capetians in Anjou, Bourbon or Valois.

However, it's all ultimately to do with visibility. Metal on metal tends to be difficult to see at distance, and the same for colour on colour.

Agreed.
 
  • 1
Reactions:
Graphics are arguable the least relevant aspect of the CK franchise to me,

but assuming a stable performance is assured, I certainly do not mind eye candy on top of solid gameplay. Kudos for the nod towards researching frigging Medieval SEWING PATTERNS for your clothes design. Can't get much more authentic than that, I would wager.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions:
It doesn't strike me as either Guinean or Sahelian nobility.
As said, it is just random-tribal-fantasy design rather than actual historic clothes. West Africa have various rich clothing traditions, it seems weird that despite the declaration of trying to be as accurate as possible, the devs switched to stereotypical tribal stuff. Why not give them kente? It was used originally only around Akan area, but it's better than random Aztec robes (and devs have already stated that atm cultures like Slavs and Scandinavians will have the same clothing style, so a bit of generalization for now is better than fantasy).
1590583894074.png

will the game engine be able to support non-humanoid characters? for all those fantasy mods. even if they aren't animated, will we be able to put a 3d model in their place or replace them with a 2d image?
I think that dwarves and hobbits could just use reskinned child/person-with-dwarfism models, and for elves you just need to add another earshape. Who knows how hard it could be though.
 
Last edited:
  • 4Like
  • 4
  • 3
Reactions:
A canton ermine does not mean a canton of Brittany but the reverse actually : the modern arms of Brittany evolved from a canton ermine (a very common design in early heraldry, nothing extraordinary here and theres no specific symbolism attached to it or anything ermine really) featured in the arms of a branch of the capetian house of Dreux. It is in fact a recurring well known example in studies. The evolution tree in this case is Capetians > Dreux > Dreux-Bretagne > Bretagne.

The canton itself will (usually) follow the rules of tinctures and its association will always be with the field, not the charge : if the field is Gules, the canton will usually be Argent, Or, Vair or Ermine and the charge does not interfere with that. As for the "cutting of things" that's simply not what's happening here. Think of heraldry as a layered system : the canton is on top and the arms are read by layers from the background to the foreground (if there's only two it's often 1. group of individuals > 2. individual). The most ancient (and often the most prestigious) design is the one at the bottom and individuals or groups of individuals can derive their arms from it adding new layers on top of it. Thats how they represent their relationship with the other individuals in a same group. They dont have to do it but it's also a good way of associating yourself with the prestige of your predecessors, ancestors or relatives, so win-win.

To illustrate this lets keep the example of Brittany. Pierre de Dreux as a cadet of the house of Dreux chose for himself an emblem that can be read as a map of his dynasty and his position within it : that house being a cadet branch of the capetians, individuals chose a design constructed around the emblematic colours of the dynasty, Or and Azure (cf Vermandois & Bourgogne). They added the border Gules to differenciate themselves from the Vermandois dynastic group (so Dreux : Checky Or and Azure, a bordure Gules). And as a cadet himself, Pierre added the canton ermine to differenciate himself from his relatives : his father count Robert was the one using the plain arms of Dreux while his elder brother used a label. Many people in armorials arent identified by a legend but you can still identify them by reverse engineering their arms from the context (up to a point of course).

Also arms breaking the traditionnal rule of tinctures are fairly common in fringe areas (in Hungary and Romania for example, or in Scandinavia). Those rules were closely followed in the craddle of heraldry area but the further away you go the less discipline there is in regard to those (in part bc of the very origin of those rules).
 
  • 4
  • 1Like
  • 1
Reactions:
Those don't count, the rule of tinctures doesn't apply to brisures. As you can see by the fact that, when quartering, borduring, labeling, chiefing, cantoning or brisuring in any way, the rule of tinctures is ignored constantly. Just look at the cadency of the Capetians in Anjou, Bourbon or Valois.
Not brisures - divisions of the field.

Some authorities hold that (for example) barry has to be colour and metal (because the bars are on top of the field), some hold that barry can be metal and metal or colour and colour because they're next to each other. The same applies with "per X", depending on which heraldic authority you fall under.
 
  • 2
Reactions:
Yeah I totally get that and understand why it's a thing, I just think some forms of quartering looks a lot better than others. Look at this one:

View attachment 582154

It would look a lot less awkward to me if the cross was overlaid the inset instead of the other way around. Anyway, not a huge deal (and a lot better than the mess that was CK2 COAs, lord)
Wouldn't white on white like this break rules of heraldry anyway?
The canton isn't argent, it's ermine. Furs are often treated as being a separate class of tinctures, alongside colours and metals.

nd
 
  • 1
Reactions:
Not brisures - divisions of the field.

Some authorities hold that (for example) barry has to be colour and metal (because the bars are on top of the field), some hold that barry can be metal and metal or colour and colour because they're next to each other. The same applies with "per X", depending on which heraldic authority you fall under.

That's just a "sex of the angels" kind of rumination. Show me an example of barry which doesn't follow the rules of tincture. Even one example wouldn't suffice; for heraldists to establish rules, a wide array of examples would be necessary.

A canton ermine does not mean a canton of Brittany but the reverse actually : the modern arms of Brittany evolved from a canton ermine (a very common design in early heraldry, nothing extraordinary here and theres no specific symbolism attached to it or anything ermine really) featured in the arms of a branch of the capetian house of Dreux. It is in fact a recurring well known example in studies. The evolution tree in this case is Capetians > Dreux > Dreux-Bretagne > Bretagne.

The canton itself will (usually) follow the rules of tinctures and its association will always be with the field, not the charge : if the field is Gules, the canton will usually be Argent, Or, Vair or Ermine and the charge does not interfere with that. As for the "cutting of things" that's simply not what's happening here. Think of heraldry as a layered system : the canton is on top and the arms are read by layers from the background to the foreground (if there's only two it's often 1. group of individuals > 2. individual). The most ancient (and often the most prestigious) design is the one at the bottom and individuals or groups of individuals can derive their arms from it adding new layers on top of it. Thats how they represent their relationship with the other individuals in a same group. They dont have to do it but it's also a good way of associating yourself with the prestige of your predecessors, ancestors or relatives, so win-win.

To illustrate this lets keep the example of Brittany. Pierre de Dreux as a cadet of the house of Dreux chose for himself an emblem that can be read as a map of his dynasty and his position within it : that house being a cadet branch of the capetians, individuals chose a design constructed around the emblematic colours of the dynasty, Or and Azure (cf Vermandois & Bourgogne). They added the border Gules to differenciate themselves from the Vermandois dynastic group (so Dreux : Checky Or and Azure, a bordure Gules). And as a cadet himself, Pierre added the canton ermine to differenciate himself from his relatives : his father count Robert was the one using the plain arms of Dreux while his elder brother used a label. Many people in armorials arent identified by a legend but you can still identify them by reverse engineering their arms from the context (up to a point of course).

Also arms breaking the traditionnal rule of tinctures are fairly common in fringe areas (in Hungary and Romania for example, or in Scandinavia). Those rules were closely followed in the craddle of heraldry area but the further away you go the less discipline there is in regard to those (in part bc of the very origin of those rules).

Always a pleasure reading your dissertations!
 
That's just a "sex of the angels" kind of rumination. Show me an example of barry which doesn't follow the rules of tincture. Even one example wouldn't suffice; for heraldists to establish rules, a wide array of examples would be necessary.
I found three examples on wikimedia:



I have previously seen other examples of barry violating the rule of tincture, but cannot find the sources at short notice.
 
  • 2
Reactions:
In portuguese, cavaleiro is a very context sensitive word. It can mean both horseman or knight depending on the context and there is no immediate common way of differentiating them. There are older words that could be used, of course, but in normal discourse if you ever talked about a cavaleiro people would only know what you mean by context. As in by saying a "cavaleiro medieval" (a medieval knight). It's funny how language works like that lol When talking about a group of mounted soldiers we usually use the group noun cavalaria.
That's why there are different types of "Cavaleiro".
What I said about the Castilian nomenclatures applies to Portuguese as well.

cavaleiro-Vilão - Lowborn Cavalry
cavaleiro-Fidalgo - Highborn Cavalry
Cavaleiro - Knight

By using Caballero/Cavaleiro alone, one must assume they are talking about a Knight and not a mere horseman.