EPTOn July 04 2013 15:51 Insoleet wrote:
What if the SC2 Arcade zone become free2play so that people can play to games like this ? :o
What if the SC2 Arcade zone become free2play so that people can play to games like this ? :o
I wouldn't be surprised if that's basically what they are doing-- Blizzard All-Stars was originally going to be something like that (I think) but they decided to expand it out beyond a simple custom SC2 map. I'd bet it still uses the SC2 engine, and is basically a custom map that will launch from the Blizzard universal client.
Once you have a unified client that can launch only specific maps for an engine (downloading BAS would just be downloading SC2 and the map file) you have the means to create the Blizzard Map marketplace. Even if at first they only allow / approve a virtuously meaningless fraction of community maps for sale (in the same vein as BAS-- bet your ass that if I'm right it's still an SC2 map it won't be something you can edit and re-release), it helps lay out revenue streams to fund expanding the approval process for paid community maps.
I would say this last generation of Blizzard games are laying the framework for a Steam-like (but ultimately very different) platform:
--D3, integrating in-game purchases and payment platforms
--SC2, the powerful, Blizzard controlled, map (interactive application) development tool
Even WoW has done a ton of innovative things (disclaimer,not trying to say nobody did them first, but from a programmatic perspective there's only so much you can learn hearing about failure vs failing yourself)
--IRL codes redeemable in game
--zone "phasing"
--Instancing
--From before D3, offering a place to buy in-game rewards (spectral mount, w/e)
--Rewards from buying other games they sell (standard Steam)
I'd argue that the pet battles system in cataclysm was basically a test-case for player interest in "serious" subgames (well, more accurately, how can we create something with a shared interest in both the hardcore and casual crowds). The comparison isn't perfectly analogous to SC2 customs, but TBH as a reformed WoW addict it was the only thing I gave a shit about for the two weeks I played after cataclysm. They probably never went, "well, we should try to add a subgame to WoW to see if it would fly w/SC2" but having tried something analogous in-house enriches the developer's local culture.
Even IF* every innovation is just the result of a problem that needed to be solved ("How do we stop/profit from people selling diablo items?" "How do we make it easier to iterate / share / develop SC2 storyline missions?" "How should we sell in-game promotional items on an external portal?") they all are critical infrastructure and learning opportunities to build exactly what you are suggesting.
*IF-- even if it wasn't thought about from the higher-ups, I have a hard time believing any serious developer wouldn't think (at the very least occasionally) "Hmmm, I wonder if something like the XYZ I'm building here might have a use in other company project QRST there...."
[edit] grammar and a word.. or two
