EPTOn November 03 2025 02:52 Slydie wrote:
Be careful what you wish for. The result will be either that:
-Individual units will be too small to control
or
-You will control much smaller armies.
I guess you are a BW player, but that kind of Army control is not fun for many players, and was frustrating to some even at release.
Be careful what you wish for. The result will be either that:
-Individual units will be too small to control
or
-You will control much smaller armies.
I guess you are a BW player, but that kind of Army control is not fun for many players, and was frustrating to some even at release.
Hmm, I don't understand your first point Slydie, like why the units would be too small to control? I would never shrink my units down to accommodate for their having a larger footprint. And on that topic, I am a huge proponent of a tighter zoom and larger units and buildings in general. There is a small tradeoff but it's way better for immersion and micro.
For your second point about smaller armies--not necessarily. The armies could definitely be smaller, but that's a design decision. The only thing that should happen is fewer units on screen at once.
Is all of this an ultra-modern take, or super casual friendly? Maybe not at first glance. But I am always careful about assuming anything. If the goal is to make the most fun game possible, then it will be casual friendly even when choosing this other path. In the end, it's all about implementation. We can theorycraft all day about what could work despite popular opinion. It ultimately comes down to convincing people of this different way once they see and feel it for themselves, that might seem or feel uncomfortable in the first moments but is soon understood to be better or at least in competition with what they find more familiar.
And also to add, this bulkier unit footprint doesn't have to mean units move like drunk potatoes, but it could. I think at least a little wobbliness and jank is good. That dial can be tuned accordingly, but I think players have gotten very lazy and just want shit to work despite their lack of effort. Games pander to players way too much, for obvious reasons. But if the goal is to make a better game, and not just give people exactly what they want, then i think you encourage players to put more effort in. The kicker is to offer much higher rewards for the effort imo. I wouldn't expect or want a game to necessarily recreate all the frustrations of Brood War, but it bothers me that Brood War's strengths are pretty much unanimously disregarded by modern devs. Again, it's a dial that can be tuned.
edit: In general, I'm a big fan of warcraft 3's unit behavior. I very much like Brood War too, but Warcraft 3 has less jank and inherent frustration (like sometimes a dragoon literally freezing and not attacking AT ALL when you tell it to) while assuming probably one of the coolest combat styles. Warcraft 3 is super unique, but then again so is Brood War. Two of the Chadliest of all time. And yet people still turn up their nose!
