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Taking the Fun Out of StarCraft II

Forum Index > SC2 General
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1 2 3 4 Next All
Aetherial
Profile Joined August 2010
Australia917 Posts
April 22 2011 11:19 GMT
#1
Interesting interview with Dustin Browder, lead designer for StarCraft II.


The lead designer, who previously worked on real-time strategy games in Electronic Arts' Command & Conquer series, said he had to make creative adjustments when he joined the StarCraft II team. For him, the main hurdle was learning how to take some of the "fun" stuff out of the game.

"It took me a year and a half to figure this out," said Browder, an enthusiastic designer who might also be around the top 10 percent in the world in terms of speed-talking.

"I kept trying to shove stuff in that was fun but wasn't a sport," he said. "And everybody would tell me 'no,' and I wouldn't understand why. And I thought they were all jerks. I didn't know, right? I couldn't figure it out."


http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/34075/Interview_Making_The_Fun_Meant_Taking_Out_The_Fun_In_StarCraft_II.php
surraymb
Profile Joined July 2010
Austria114 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-04-22 11:23:11
April 22 2011 11:22 GMT
#2
So Dustin Browder finally admits he has a problem figuring out what the starcraft community wants?
Big surprise there...

Thank god for those other people telling him 'no'. Should be more of those around him telling him 'no' to everything he proposes.
BenKen
Profile Joined August 2009
United States860 Posts
April 22 2011 11:26 GMT
#3
Lol, this is such troll bait. The article is mostly fluff actually. It would have been interesting to hear about all the "fun" things he thought up that got shot down, or what the development team's philosophy on what makes something a "sport".
I deadlift for Aiur
NikonTC
Profile Joined September 2010
United Kingdom418 Posts
April 22 2011 11:28 GMT
#4
On April 22 2011 20:22 surraymb wrote:
So Dustin Browder finally admits he has a problem figuring out what the starcraft community wants?
Big surprise there...

Thank god for those other people telling him 'no'. Should be more of those around him telling him 'no' to everything he proposes.


the issue is actually that the starcraft community doesnt know what it wants.
"IdrA crushes the marine push, absolutely demolishes this 2 rax play. Would not be suprised to see a GG from IdrA at any moment" Day[9]
BLinD-RawR
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
ALLEYCAT BLUES51083 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-04-22 11:40:59
April 22 2011 11:29 GMT
#5
this is absolute troll bait.Nobody talks like that in a serious interview.

Some of the funstuff might actually need skill...but you know I think that Wings of liberty is like initiation I think the Expansions will weed out people who break because they can't use X unit as efficiently as the pros.
Brood War EICWoo Jung Ho, never forget.| Twitter: @BLinDRawR
Kokosaft
Profile Joined April 2010
Germany172 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-04-22 11:30:27
April 22 2011 11:29 GMT
#6
actually he said in several interview, that changing from C&C to SC was hard for him - what makes totally sense if you compare those games ...

the philosophy of blizzard is and was to have less stuff in the game to have more overall fun - having tons of "fun" units doesn't necessarily mean the game is fun as a whole

EDIT: 100th!
quentel
Profile Joined March 2011
349 Posts
April 22 2011 11:30 GMT
#7
On April 22 2011 20:22 surraymb wrote:


Thank god for those other people telling him 'no'. Should be more of those around him telling him 'no' to everything he proposes.

kedinik
Profile Joined September 2010
United States352 Posts
April 22 2011 11:33 GMT
#8
"Take out the fun" as in "remove zany imbalanced over the top units and powers like you have in C&C games."

It's a very reasonable thing to say.
Tyree
Profile Joined November 2010
1508 Posts
April 22 2011 11:34 GMT
#9
The article is actually pro esports if anything, he had some ideas for "Fun" units but the team is there to keep everyone in check of their vision for SC2.

It is a positive interview and that Blizzard takes SC2 seriously and wont introduce machine gun wielding dolphins and monkeys with grenades
★ Top Gun ★
cascades
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
Singapore6122 Posts
April 22 2011 11:36 GMT
#10
A year on, I still don't know why Dustin Browder of all people was hired.
HS: cascades#1595 || LoL: stoppin
AcrossFiveJulys
Profile Blog Joined September 2005
United States3612 Posts
April 22 2011 11:37 GMT
#11
Too bad warpgate still made it through the beta :\ reapers were bad and were essentially nerfed out of the game, but warpgate is still what's wrong with the game right now and I guarantee was one of Browder's "cool" ideas.
Dr. ROCKZO
Profile Joined May 2010
New Zealand396 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-04-22 11:45:21
April 22 2011 11:38 GMT
#12
An interesting interview, I wish it had focussed a little more on what Blizzard has done to make the game fun, instead of unintentionally implying that they're trying as hard as they can to make the game not fun.

Plus I'd love to get some more unit concepts too.
or something
HuHEN
Profile Joined February 2010
United Kingdom514 Posts
April 22 2011 11:38 GMT
#13
Hes really talking about the "fun" in novelty, which only lasts a short time, the fun of a sport is that it only gets more interesting the deeper you go, and it has no clear skill ceiling.
eviltomahawk
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United States11135 Posts
April 22 2011 11:39 GMT
#14
On April 22 2011 20:34 Tyree wrote:
The article is actually pro esports if anything, he had some ideas for "Fun" units but the team is there to keep everyone in check of their vision for SC2.

It is a positive interview and that Blizzard takes SC2 seriously and wont introduce machine gun wielding dolphins and monkeys with grenades

Hey, don't hate on my Allied combat dolphins and Soviet giant squid, yo!

Jokes aside, although the current iteration of SC2 does feel slightly watered down compared to the pre-release material, it's quite mind-boggling to think about where we would be if all those over-the-top imba units made it into the final product. Would it end up like BW where the imbalances actually balance out each other, or would it just end up looking like plain bad design?

Anyways, nice interview nonetheless. Making a Starcraft game is hard, and it's interesting to hear that he admits its difficulty.
ㅇㅅㅌㅅ
Eeevil
Profile Joined May 2008
Netherlands359 Posts
April 22 2011 11:51 GMT
#15
When I read Bowder talk about fun units I see Protoss on hooverboards. Good thing they reigned him in just for that.
Thank god for those other people telling him 'no'. Should be more of those around him telling him 'no' to everything he proposes
.
Do you think SC2 is a bad game ? In the end he adapted his view and did a great job considering the legendary status of the original.
Dance like a butterfly, sting like an Intercontinental Ballistic Nuclear Missle.
Bobster
Profile Joined January 2011
Germany3075 Posts
April 22 2011 11:57 GMT
#16
On April 22 2011 20:33 kedinik wrote:
"Take out the fun" as in "remove zany imbalanced over the top units and powers like you have in C&C games."

It's a very reasonable thing to say.

Basically.
ooni
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
Australia1498 Posts
April 22 2011 12:00 GMT
#17
On April 22 2011 20:28 NikonTC wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 22 2011 20:22 surraymb wrote:
So Dustin Browder finally admits he has a problem figuring out what the starcraft community wants?
Big surprise there...

Thank god for those other people telling him 'no'. Should be more of those around him telling him 'no' to everything he proposes.


the issue is actually that the starcraft community doesnt know what it wants.

The issue is grouping 1 million players like you did. Of course the community will not agree on what it wants, there are a lot of ppl in it. =_=
Hi!
sluggaslamoo
Profile Blog Joined November 2009
Australia4494 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-04-22 12:05:06
April 22 2011 12:04 GMT
#18
I dunno, when i think fun, I think of 2 port wraith, 1 gate reaver, defilers, hold lurker, medic walls, etc.
Come play Android Netrunner - http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=409008
Baarn
Profile Joined April 2010
United States2702 Posts
April 22 2011 12:06 GMT
#19
On April 22 2011 20:28 NikonTC wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 22 2011 20:22 surraymb wrote:
So Dustin Browder finally admits he has a problem figuring out what the starcraft community wants?
Big surprise there...

Thank god for those other people telling him 'no'. Should be more of those around him telling him 'no' to everything he proposes.


the issue is actually that the starcraft community doesnt know what it wants.


Oh I think we know what we want.
There's no S in KT. :P
pandaminion
Profile Joined October 2010
United States270 Posts
April 22 2011 12:07 GMT
#20
e-Sports aren't meant to be "fun," they're meant to be played competitively. You can play for fun, but don't expect anyone to give you money for it.

Want to make Starcraft "fun?" Take out harrassment. Harassment is annoying; no one sees mutalisks in their mineral line and thinks to themselves, "Awesome!" But harassment is part of what makes Starcraft worthy of being called a sport. If we wanted the game to be "fun," they should just institute a magical barrier that stops all aggression for the first twenty minutes, so that Starcraft is reduced to a bunch of things exploding after that 20 minute mark. Only thing is, that wouldn't be fun after a few days...
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