The Frost Giant Devs answered a TON of questions and asked for feedback/ideas about their new AAA RTS that's in the works on Ep.#109 of ThePylonShow
We deep dived into topics such as how much will the investors influence the company, the making of an RTS with a low skill floor, but also a high skill ceiling and how many races might be included.
★ Timestamps ★ 00. 00:00:00 Intro Video 01. 00:01:42 Welcome back / Show road map / Guest introductions 02. 00:09:32 What does Riot Games have to do with Frost Giant? 03. 00:11:54 Why are RTS games hard to make? 04. 00:17:44 Details of our business model / Building a solid game first 05. 00:23:18 Building a game for longevity that stands the test of time 06. 00:28:53 Making an RTS game that's easier to get into / Game that scales correctly 07. 00:37:55 Can we design an RTS that helps players with good habits? 08. 00:41:12 RTS with a low skill floor, but also a high skill ceiling 09. 00:44:35 What is the focus of game design right now? / Creating content and content tools 10. 00:52:16 How many races will we have? / Loot Boxes? Skin and fun content? 11. 01:00:56 Heroes VS Armies? / Resources and economy models 12. 01:08:00 Unique world design and game depth / The social chat system inside the game 13. 01:15:55 Esports!!! 14. 01:20:10 Patreon Q&A 15. 01:20:38 Dear FGG what should SC2/BW communities do in the meantime? 16. 01:33:56 What could you do differently in a nextgen RTS? 17. 01:38:36 How do you balance an RTS with 3 races? 18. 01:44:46 How can the community support your new studio? 19. 01:47:10 Fantasy or SiFi? 20. 01:48:51 What can be improved from the making SC? 21. 01:53:37 Do we know what the pace of the game will be? / A spiritual successor to WC3? 22. 01:58:56 How important is the solo experience to Frost Giant? 23. 02:01:30 What's it take to make a great campaign? 24. 02:03:52 What's the process in creating factions? 25. 02:09:42 How much will the investors influence the company? 26. 02:11:04 Would you sell merch before release? 27. 02:13:02 Thoughts on a sticky mechanic? 28. 02:14:50 How do you design a salty race? 29. 02:15:58 Obligatory sentient hotdog question 30. 02:16:13 Will AlphaStar appear in a Frost Giant game? 31. 02:19:40 Will you use a preexisting engine? 32. 02:24:44 What is your mission statement? / What areas is the team focusing on? 33. 02:27:25 How are you processing the input from the RTS community? 34. 02:31:56 How was SC2 so successful? 35. 02:35:27 What do you think about addressing some of the common things from SC2? 36. 02:37:55 What would you do if Frost Giant got the rights to SC3? 37. 02:39:47 What are the challenges you'll face as a smaller team? 38. 02:42:14 Thoughts on early access? 39. 02:43:49 What should TPS change its name to when the new RTS takes over Esports? 40. 02:44:37 When will hiring ramp up? 41. 02:45:50 How do you feel about building your own engine? 42. 02:47:23 Are there any plans to develop community tools? 43. 02:48:32 Does military theory from IRL play a role when designing an RTS? 44. 02:51:56 What are your plans to introduce an Alpha? 45. 02:52:48 Is there a target engine/language you guys are looking to build the game with? 46. 02:53:44 Final thoughts / Wrap up / Thanks for watching 47. 02:57:19 Day[9] - THAT'S MY MOM! (Clip used with permission)
Amazing, I cannot wait to see the first concepts of this game! This is like team pure passion, I'm sure they will do a lot better for the community than Activision Blizzard has done.
The biggest question I have is what will you do to set your game apart from the competition and put it in a place to succeed? SC2 had absolutely everything going for it: a thriving, pre-existing esports scene, a marketing budget larger than Frost Giant's enterprise value, tons of hype and passion leading to many independent tournament leagues (NASL, IPL, TSL), and over a year of being the undisputed #1 game on twitch - and despite all of this SC2 has been a failure in terms of an esport, compared to both Brood War (which is still going strong) and League. More people play the co-op mode than the RTS!
How is this studio going to make a modern, competitive RTS and expect to succeed when everything else in the genre has failed? What secret ingredient will Frost Giant use to make their game stand out? If they have an answer to that, I'll be looking forward to their product - if they don't then I'm left to believe this whole venture is a waste of time a la Iron Harvest, Grey Goo, or Dawn of War 3, to name a few.
On October 28 2020 11:27 Monochromatic wrote: SC2 had absolutely everything going for it: a thriving, pre-existing esports scene, a marketing budget larger than Frost Giant's enterprise value, tons of hype and passion leading to many independent tournament leagues (NASL, IPL, TSL), and over a year of being the undisputed #1 game on twitch - and despite all of this SC2 has been a failure in terms of an esport, compared to both Brood War (which is still going strong) and League. More people play the co-op mode than the RTS!
What's incorrect about that statement? It's subjective what counts as "a failure of an esport" I guess but the underlying point in that post seems sound to me.
In terms of monetary value, SC2 esport surpassed BW a long time ago. In terms of an active player base it's orders of magnitude better. in terms of number of tournaments and their relative size it's the same.
I love BW to bits, but don't let that cloud your judgement.
On October 28 2020 22:27 True_Spike wrote: In terms of monetary value, SC2 esport surpassed BW a long time ago. In terms of an active player base it's orders of magnitude better. in terms of number of tournaments and their relative size it's the same.
I love BW to bits, but don't let that cloud your judgement.
Here's the thing: I can go to the store right now and buy a box of cheezits with an Overwatch character on the front telling me to watch OWL. A major US fast food chain (buffalo wild wings) is an official sponsor of LCS. These are mainstream brands and these esports have mainstream recognition. Brood War had an even higher level of mainstream recognition in Korea prior to Starcraft 2.
Now, read this article about investing in Esports. Activision Blizzard is the first name listed, for Overwatch and Call of Duty. Starcraft is not mentioned. The fact is that over the past decade Starcraft has lost it's brand value as an esport. No one cares anymore.
Don't get me wrong, I love starcraft. But when you look at the growth of other esports this past decade and then take a look at starcraft, well, I don't see how you can call it anything but a failure.
On October 28 2020 22:27 True_Spike wrote: In terms of monetary value, SC2 esport surpassed BW a long time ago. In terms of an active player base it's orders of magnitude better. in terms of number of tournaments and their relative size it's the same.
I love BW to bits, but don't let that cloud your judgement.
Here's the thing: I can go to the store right now and buy a box of cheezits with an Overwatch character on the front telling me to watch OWL. A major US fast food chain (buffalo wild wings) is an official sponsor of LCS. These are mainstream brands and these esports have mainstream recognition. Brood War had an even higher level of mainstream recognition in Korea prior to Starcraft 2.
Now, read this article about investing in Esports. Activision Blizzard is the first name listed, for Overwatch and Call of Duty. Starcraft is not mentioned. The fact is that over the past decade Starcraft has lost it's brand value as an esport. No one cares anymore.
Don't get me wrong, I love starcraft. But when you look at the growth of other esports this past decade and then take a look at starcraft, well, I don't see how you can call it anything but a failure.
These are good points but I really think there is a limitation for RTS games as major esports competing with other genres. I would love for Frost Giant to prove this trend wrong.
Now, read this article about investing in Esports. Activision Blizzard is the first name listed, for Overwatch and Call of Duty. Starcraft is not mentioned. The fact is that over the past decade Starcraft has lost it's brand value as an esport. No one cares anymore
.
I don't know if starcraft being smaller than OW and CoD means that 'no one cares' or that it's a failure of an esport. Is rugby a failure of a sport because soccer, football, and tons of other sports are more popular? Is it a failure because there are certain sponsors that would for sure put their money towards the NBA or NFL first? I'm not saying that things couldn't be better, but to argue that SC2 is a failure doesn't seem correct.
On October 28 2020 22:27 True_Spike wrote: In terms of monetary value, SC2 esport surpassed BW a long time ago. In terms of an active player base it's orders of magnitude better. in terms of number of tournaments and their relative size it's the same.
I love BW to bits, but don't let that cloud your judgement.
Here's the thing: I can go to the store right now and buy a box of cheezits with an Overwatch character on the front telling me to watch OWL. A major US fast food chain (buffalo wild wings) is an official sponsor of LCS. These are mainstream brands and these esports have mainstream recognition. Brood War had an even higher level of mainstream recognition in Korea prior to Starcraft 2.
Now, read this article about investing in Esports. Activision Blizzard is the first name listed, for Overwatch and Call of Duty. Starcraft is not mentioned. The fact is that over the past decade Starcraft has lost it's brand value as an esport. No one cares anymore.
Don't get me wrong, I love starcraft. But when you look at the growth of other esports this past decade and then take a look at starcraft, well, I don't see how you can call it anything but a failure.
Judging by your anecdote it looks like you think OW succeeded with their esport scene? If anything OWL has taught has how NOT to get your game e-sports ready, what a disaster that is
I mean, more and more research shows that the majority of gamers - a recent survey in Belgium among youngsters for example - that only about 13% prefer single player and the vast majority (over 60%) want to game 'together with friends'.
Single player RTS just has a player potential of 1/5th of coop stuff like fortnite, LoL and Overwatch.
Unfortunately, the good old RTS games are dead. Players nowadays find them too hard and too anxiety inducing to play solo. it' much easier to play with 4 other guys where the weight of losing and winning is not squarely on yourself.
BW will be the last RTS game with a decent pro scene. I expect SC2 scene to die off in a year or two. BW will probably continue as long as Kespa wants it.
On November 02 2020 02:05 Odoakar wrote: Unfortunately, the good old RTS games are dead. Players nowadays find them too hard and too anxiety inducing to play solo. it' much easier to play with 4 other guys where the weight of losing and winning is not squarely on yourself.
BW will be the last RTS game with a decent pro scene. I expect SC2 scene to die off in a year or two. BW will probably continue as long as Kespa wants it.
Why are they dead?
The Soulslike genre is basically predicted on hard games from people who want a challenge and became rather large.
Just takes one good game to capture a pretty sizeable niche market really.
On November 02 2020 02:05 Odoakar wrote: Unfortunately, the good old RTS games are dead. Players nowadays find them too hard and too anxiety inducing to play solo. it' much easier to play with 4 other guys where the weight of losing and winning is not squarely on yourself.
BW will be the last RTS game with a decent pro scene. I expect SC2 scene to die off in a year or two. BW will probably continue as long as Kespa wants it.
On November 02 2020 02:05 Odoakar wrote: Unfortunately, the good old RTS games are dead. Players nowadays find them too hard and too anxiety inducing to play solo. it' much easier to play with 4 other guys where the weight of losing and winning is not squarely on yourself.
BW will be the last RTS game with a decent pro scene. I expect SC2 scene to die off in a year or two. BW will probably continue as long as Kespa wants it.
EPT
