The old and the new

Aylear

Norway3988 Posts

May 11 2009 22:49 GMT

Reading up on the latest StarCraft 2 news, I find myself missing the Reaver already. My brain starts to hurt at the thought of a War of the Worlds walker tramping around my game. Forget that it makes sense for us to one day build robots that walk on legs; it's an absolutely shitty unit, both stand-alone and thematically for the Protoss race. The Reaver, with its unique scarabs and their hit-and-miss aspect, is a wonderful and creative concept. The Colossus is Blizzard saying they're out of ideas.

Colossus: The pinnacle of innovation.

As I look over the feature list on Starcraft2.com, my thoughts fly down familiar paths. Are they serious? Why is the new Jim Raynor a hip emo dark hero? Why do all the Battle Reports showcase only three different units? What'll be changed before release? If Jim Raynor was twenty-nine years old during the events of SC/BW, and StarCraft II takes place four years later making Raynor thirty-three, how did he spend time in a brig for insubordination twenty years ago? When did the Terran ally with the Autobots? What, in short, is Blizzard doing?

They're letting normal people observe and participate in the progressive growth of StarCraft II.

Unless you're indifferent towards StarCraft II, the full weight of that statement should give you pause. Not because it's StarCraft, but because it's Blizzard. Blizzard's reputation in the past was that of a closed-off group of computer geeks. Updates were sporadic, press releases few. Focus was always on the games, not the developers. Once in a while they prepared some public teasers, acquired some feedback, then went back to work.

For most gaming companies existing in this age of instant media, the sad truth is that you have to post two hundred screenshots and three gameplay videos, per second, in order to even register on the average gamer's radar. Not so for Blizzard. In fact, they could have unveiled the game's development, shown some teasers, then reaped the rewards of silence. They didn't. They chose another route.

The deeper reason - the more inherently tangible reason - of why their decision to involve fans at this level should give you pause, is because they're a group of designers and artists letting people see their early design in all its flawed glory.

When I compose music, I rarely let people hear my alpha version. At that point, it still sucks. It's not my vision come to life. In asking for feedback, I get answers I already know. Requests for development in the direction I wanted to take it anyway. As a designer, I find what Blizzard is doing to be compelling, important, and stupid.

Compelling, because few other gaming companies do this. They have an excellent rapport with their community. It gives people a glimpse into the world the designers inhabit, and allows for two-way communication with the people their product is for.

Important, because getting feedback from the very professionals that make a living off playing StarCraft is the best way to repeat the RTS perfection they fluked more than 10 years ago, and so create the game they claim to be aiming for: The real-time strategy game that will replace StarCraft/Brood War as the penultimate in balance, gameplay, and professional exhibition.

Stupid, because people are at risk of becoming disillusioned by all the inane bullshit.

As a, shall we say, consumer of a certain commodity, I'm free to criticise the commodity of which I so yearningly partake. However, when you see something like the Soul Reaver, you tend to waver from the righteous path of humble appeals and into the more malignant path of explosive indignation and disbelief. Just when you're having a really good day, a day when your cynicism is at an all-time low and you think there may be hope for the universe, the most recent news of StarCraftian dismemberment - that the man responsible for the immeasurably vital gameplay balance and thematic concepts of StarCraft II is also the man who did the same for Command & Conquer - is there to gleefully reduce you to a quivering ball of consummate terror. Once you have assumed your fetal position, you will be handed some videos of a skateboarding Protoss shooting ray beams and taking peoples' souls.

So, I'm floating in the ocean of anxiety. The knowledge that StarCraft/Brood War will live on regardless of the fate of StarCraft II is my life jacket. I worry about the designer being inept, about MBS, about Soul Reavers, about balance, about thematic decisions and whether or not I'll get into the beta test. I worry about Colossi and Autobots and Raynor's new emo look and overpowered Banelings and whether Metzen agrees with the designs. I worry that StarCraft II matters this much to too many people for it to be as successful as it should be.

Then I remember that StarCraft was once in Alpha, too.

[image loading]

As is well known, when Blizzard announced StarCraft to the public, the response was "tepid at best". It was "Orcs in space", "Warcraft goes purple". There were "Nightmarish Invaders", which became Zurg and then Zerg. Looking at it now, the first early alpha version was a conglomerate of 'are you kidding me?', though at the time it was something on which developers toiled. This early alpha incarnation didn't last long, and soon a new game engine, and a new version, was unveiled.

Time passed, and alpha turned to early beta, early beta to beta. The game progressed, developed.

Those were the glory days. Siege Tanks shooting at aircraft. Pylons the size of a Nexus. Arbiters not cloaking units. Add-on buildings as large as the main structure. Repair bays. Archons were created from three Templars. Dropships carried bombs. Wraiths and Scouts shot missiles at ground targets. Hydralisks were the only units that could burrow. The Defiler had an attack. Overlords and Guardians had Avenger parasites living inside them that would burst out and chase down whatever killed their host. Firebats could light forests on fire.

I think it's worth keeping in mind that, despite the turbulent development phase, with all its constant changes and its spurring of outcries from the community, StarCraft II is undergoing the same kind of mutations. The Mothership might be the Arbiter that's not cloaking units. The Colossus might be the Dropship carrying bombs. The Baneling might be the triple-Templar Archon, the Viking the Wraith shooting missiles at ground targets. What we saw then, we see now.

I find a little comfort in the knowledge that the designers aren't flying blind. To see them waver between multiple concepts of a single unit over and over doesn't look good from the outside, I'll grant you. In the end, they're the ones with the game on their hard drives, and they're the ones that are going to have to figure out whether or not something works. And although I dislike some of the routes they're taking, I can at least close my eyes to the obvious lack of polish.

Finally, I wonder at the route they've chosen. To so deeply count on fans to provide enough support as to practically design aspects of the game for them. The publicity associated with this move is a little over the top. I don't need them to answer fifty questions every month to remain excited. I don't need them to respond to the whims of the rabid fanbase. I don't need consistent updates showing nothing new just for the sake of updating. I want my familiar group of closed-off computer nerds to be working on composing a masterpiece.

And I want the designer who was brought in from Command & Conquer to be kept under close surveillance.

Dear Blizzard.

In spite of everything, I'm still excited.

All I ask for is StarCraft II.

Everything else is secondary.

The Soul Reaver is still inexcusable, though.

Zoler

Sweden6339 Posts

May 11 2009 22:53 GMT

This is soo true, well written!

Myself am not afraid, since I played it I have loved it. And thinking of that it's not even beta yet... wow, it's gonna be so good!!!

OmgIRok

Taiwan2699 Posts

May 11 2009 23:01 GMT

5/5

Aylear

Norway3988 Posts

May 11 2009 23:04 GMT

Resources.

+ Show Spoiler +

Early Alpha:

Alpha:

Early Beta:

Beta:

Brood War Beta:

Other:

If anything in my blog entry is glaringly erroneous, please let me know so that I can fix it.

If you don't like the entry, well, I'm sorry to hear that. At least I had some fun researching and making it.

If you don't agree with my views, well, you're a moron. Okay, not really, but how else can a guy keep his credibility?

BuGzlToOnl

United States5918 Posts

May 11 2009 23:14 GMT

rushz0rz

Canada5300 Posts

May 11 2009 23:20 GMT

Good read. I really do miss the Reaver.

lokiM

United States3407 Posts

May 11 2009 23:30 GMT

amazing write-up, 5/5 I can completely agree with most of your views

ZeeTemplar

United States557 Posts

May 11 2009 23:33 GMT

haha what the? :p. amazes me how much the game has developed. Makes me feel a bit more at ease with sc2

GrimAngel

United States416 Posts

May 12 2009 00:00 GMT

damn all those pictures of alpha and beta sc looks so different from what we're used to now. gives me hope that some of the oddities in sc2 will go away as well

wander

Japan45 Posts

May 12 2009 00:36 GMT

#10

Awesome. Thanks for the write-up and all of the SC alpha/beta/.. pictures.

Daigomi

South Africa4316 Posts

May 25 2009 16:18 GMT

#11

Wow, nice post. I've never seen alpha/beta pictures, absolutely amazing that what we have today comes from what looks like a bad clone of war1/dune/c&c. There are some cool things in those old pics, like white valkyries!

Aylear

Norway3988 Posts

May 25 2009 21:04 GMT

#12

On May 26 2009 01:18 Daigomi wrote:
Wow, nice post. I've never seen alpha/beta pictures, absolutely amazing that what we have today comes from what looks like a bad clone of war1/dune/c&c. There are some cool things in those old pics, like white valkyries!

Not to mention three types of Archon!

Thanks for the comments. Those were interesting days indeed.

Chef

10810 Posts

May 26 2009 05:27 GMT

#13

Those are hallucinated DAs o.o

Oh nevermind, I see what you mean... The colouring on 2 of the real DA's is kind of messed up. That might be the casting animation though.

FragKrag

United States11552 Posts

May 26 2009 05:38 GMT

#14

man, I have never seen half that stuff :o

Marauders, Science Vessels with legs.. wtf? Faith in Blizzard gains a level!

Aylear

Norway3988 Posts

May 26 2009 05:49 GMT

#15

On May 26 2009 14:27 Chef wrote:
Those are hallucinated DAs o.o

Oh nevermind, I see what you mean... The colouring on 2 of the real DA's is kind of messed up. That might be the casting animation though.

Actually, now that you mention it, it seems likely. There was a lot of weird stuff going on in the BW beta, but three types of Archon apparently was not included in that list.

seppolevne

Canada1681 Posts

May 26 2009 06:10 GMT

#16

Wow, great write-up! I've seen the alpha pic but none of the early beta pics, nice work!

DoX.)

Singapore6164 Posts

May 26 2009 12:34 GMT

#17

nice

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