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After the tour of Blizzard HQ, we were back on the bus, this time with a few prized possessions in the form of Blizzard t-shirts and caps, as well as the fabulous Stalker concept by Samwise (signed personally of course). What we didn't realise at the time was that we would have to carry all these things around the entire day (together with camera, notebook, tripod and a video camera ). So, given the slight feeling of being herded like sheep again, we got to the Hilton right next to BlizzCon, and went in there for some lunch. I don't think anyone was still hungry after the breakfast just a few hours earlier, though.
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Rob and Browder at
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Carrying lots of
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At the tables we had to put away all our swag by a wall and take our seats. Rob Pardo sat at one table, and Browder plus Pillars on the other. The seating arrangement was slightly unfortunate, with Browder and some of the most talkative members of the RTS representatives on one table, and Pardo and all the Korean on the other. Obviously, with my luck, I ended up with the Koreans. I have nothing against the Koreans, but they didn't speak English, which effectively quieted down half the table. We still got a very interesting chat with Rob, but at one point the conversation effectively stopped, and he had to ask "so, you have no more questions". That felt a bit odd.
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| Rob having a good time |
Lunch discussions |
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We asked about how they go about creating the story behind the games, and Rob answered that they generally start with a "skeletal story" where they only have some main events that they would like to have in it, then make some simple scripts for these events, and try to puzzle it all together for the story line. Lastly they flesh out the story line as they progress. The "secret" map in the StarCraft: Brood War expansion is, according to Rob (and later also Metzen), canon (meaning that it is part of the story line). So, we will probably hear of, meet, or perhaps even play some hybrids in StarCraft 2! Also, all of the special maps that Blizzard kept releasing from their website, back in the day, is also "generally official". Rob only made the reservation that they might retroactively change some details, to fit "the greater whole". Rob says he does realise that people in love with the lore might get upset when they change things and that they try to avoid that whenever possible, but as the universes expand, some details sometimes needs to be changed to work better for the greater whole.
They did have thoughts about a fourth race early in production, but that was never brought beyond concepts, so there are no models of the fourth race. They made the decision between the two options to either make the current three races more diverse and unique, or keeping them about the same, and adding a fourth. We all know what they decided, and by the looks of it, this was definitely the better choice! Early concepts of WarCraft III had 9 races (!).
We briefly touched the subject of suggestions from fans, and how to deal with that feedback, especially when it comes out as whining. Rob said that it is important to try and figure out why a fan is complaining, as the "solutions" they bring often hurt more things on the greater whole. If you figure out what is the reason behind complaining, they might find that there is imbalance involving the units (or classes in WoW) that need change.
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| Rob having a good time |
Lunch discussions |
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Game balancing consists of "math, science and number" according to Rob. They start with making these outrageous units, that can't possibly be balanced, and then they set out to try and balance them. The point is to try and make everything overpowered, but balanced. It starts with a mathematical structure, with tables for types of damage and types of armour as well as an amount of damage and hit points, and then they balance the rest through gameplay. Most of the changes are done after testing it, as it is relatively easy to set up a changed build to try it. This is for how the unit feels in terms of appearance, as well as actual stats. They see the game creation process as like being in a "training camp" much like "player try-outs" in sports. The question of who actually qualifies to the team will change many times before the season starts. Rob says that there will probably be changes to the team setup all the way into beta.
Asked about if they would allow some "axed" units to be usable in a map editor, Rob answers that there can be problems if the technology used when the unit was axed is significantly different compared to the tech used at release. If it would require a lot of work to put it in the editor, it will probably not be included, but they want as much extra content as possible in the editor. Things they cut in beta have greater chances of coming into the game anyway. Both Browder and Metzen later talked about possibilities of having extra units in the map editor, and it seems they want to have basically any unit they axe playable in a player made scenario. This was asked multiple times, so they seem to understand that their fans would like it.
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Blizzard RTS Community Summit
2007 |
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Rob says StarCraft 2 will have similar matchmaking to Warcraft 3. One fansite representative goes on about the flaws in the current system, but Rob explains that this ultimately has to do with the number of players available. The search pattern quickly widens to include all players, and if you wait extended times for a match, it is because there is no match available. When it comes to the Battle.net usability for StarCraft 2, Rob points at the differences between StarCraft and Warcraft 3 on Battle.net, and how many improvements they had. They are looking for making about the same type of increase in usability between WarCraft 3 and StarCraft 2 as between the two previous games.
From talking to Rob during the lunch, as well as Browder later on in the playtesting, and more Blizzard representatives later still, it is very apparent that there will be some type of beta testing for StarCraft 2. Details of how, or if both players and community representatives (fansites) will get it, are not decided. Either way, it is good news!
Part 3 is about trying out the actual game (as far as it is developed) and talking to Browder.
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Blizzard Community RTS Summit Part 2
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