|
Our creative process on StarCraft II was very different than the creative process I've used on other RTS games I've worked on or even on WarCraft III. We didn't set out with any goals in mind, and I'm sure that this will upset the fans terribly. What we did instead was that we said, "We want to make a bunch of cool units, and we're going to make each unit as cool as we can possibly make it, and then we'll see how it all works together, and we'll tune as necessary from there." So it was never our intention specifically to do anything exactly with the races. Our goal was to make the units as interesting as possible and as different from one another as we possibly could. From there we could see how the races changed and evolved. That's definitely how it has worked out.
-Dustin Browder (Starcraft 2 Design Director)
http://gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2010/04/08/an-extensive-interview-with-starcraft-ii-design-director.aspx
Allot of interesting stuff in that interveiw. Apparently their was a Zerg unit called a "Spore Beast". He also explains why roaches and thors were changed, the problems with the old corruptor mechanic and suggests that the Warpgate may be getting further nerfed in the future.
|
|
|
The quote in the OP is confusing when you read it and then look at the Zerg.
|
So the siege tank is now more unique because it's totally useless?
|
hahaha....wow ---------___________________----------------------------------------------
they tried to make interesting units and they came up with roach/marauder/immortal? YAWN
|
well i dont know about you guys, but the hydralisk blew my mind
|
Wow, these are really in-depth answers that he gave. I can't remember seeing an interview where each question was answered by like 2-4 long paragraph responses.
Thanks for the link OP.
|
I guess the Roach armor / Hydra Hp nerf now makes some sense. Apparently, it was the "core" of most Zerg armies.
|
Seems very strange how you'd go into designing a sequel to the a absolute classic RTS without any set goals.
This probably explains how all the races have tier 1 - 1,5 tank units which to me makes the races less distinct from each other then in BW.
Starcrafts call to fame was presenting three very different races to play and I can't believe they would go into making a sequel and not having that as a design goal.
|
"Ha, I've got a thousand stalkers!"
|
On April 12 2010 14:41 Lordpen wrote:
Seems very strange how you'd go into designing a sequel to the a absolute classic RTS without any set goals.
This probably explains how all the races have tier 1 - 1,5 tank units which to me makes the races less distinct from each other then in BW.
Starcrafts call to fame was presenting three very different races to play and I can't believe they would go into making a sequel and not having that as a design goal.
The did present the three unique races as the design goal. That was in the OP's quote. They just didn't have balance goals, esports takeovers, etc.
Personally, I think it all ended up alright, so I'm happy with however they chose to design the game.
|
Don't really know what to make of that interview. I'm glad that at some point zerg had 18 units. Really, great for alpha testers. But we're at half that right now and it blows.
The supposed lack of direction in their development (i.e the whole build cool units and then try to balance them out) is interesting. I can appreciate the urge to make players feel powerful but not necessarily almighty.
I don't know what else to add. I kind of feel empty after reading that interview. I know it's beta, but where's the umph? He made it seem like they were going at it pretty slow right now (which makes sense given the 3 line patches for the last couple months). There's a lot of beta feedback, no developer response and weak patches.
Where's the magic? Is it the April content patch that we were told about? Bleh. Very odd feelings about that interview right now.
|
On April 12 2010 14:44 shindigs wrote:Show nested quote +On April 12 2010 14:41 Lordpen wrote:
Seems very strange how you'd go into designing a sequel to the a absolute classic RTS without any set goals.
This probably explains how all the races have tier 1 - 1,5 tank units which to me makes the races less distinct from each other then in BW.
Starcrafts call to fame was presenting three very different races to play and I can't believe they would go into making a sequel and not having that as a design goal. The did present the three unique races as the design goal. That was in the OP's quote. They just didn't have balance goals, esports takeovers, etc. Personally, I think it all ended up alright, so I'm happy with however they chose to design the game.
The qoute is saying they wanted to make the units as different from each other as possible, not the races. But I'm sure they did have a goal to keep the races different, but to me in some cases it feels like a step backwards from BW in that area (The tier 1.5 tanky units for both terran and zerg).
|
I wonder if that interview was done before or after the change in research time for warp gates, as some of the strategies he's describing do seem to be a few patches old.
|
dustin! proxy gate is not unbeatable, don't nerf protoss gateway/warpgates =p
|
The threat of a planetary fortress rush at any moment makes it a very emotional experience 
|
On April 12 2010 14:36 faseman wrote:
hahaha....wow ---------___________________----------------------------------------------
they tried to make interesting units and they came up with roach/marauder/immortal? YAWN
im thinking he meant the individual units, not the combinations that would later be made and turn out to be good.
roach itself seems pretty cool. good damage and health, low cost, can move while burrowed, and burrowing is more healh.
marauder is pretty cool too, IMO. an attack that slows? it might not have as much going for it as the roach, but still pretty fun to micro with.
immortal. personally, ive never used one, so i cant say, but being able to take the hits that no other unit in the game can take? an ultimate tank? soundspretty cool to me.
|
Dustin answered those questions like he's posting in TL.net... at least that's how it turned out for me 
|
that seems like a pretty unprofessional way to go about designing a game...
|
very nice read, kool stuff. Id personally like to see drop pods! lol but o well. Maybe like have 2 drop pods per 75 energy, and they have the same unit limit that a dropship has, and can only be used within the range of a sensor tower!! Must be upgraded at the Drop Pod Station, units must enter the drop pod station, onlly a maximum of 2dropships worth of units can fit in it for every use of drop pods is a cooldown time of w.e. anywho good read loved it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPT
