- I don’t think making a “competition masterpiece” has ever been a specific company goal. We generally start with “fun multiplayer” as one of our main focuses. A side effect of any fun game is competition, whether it’s with your high score, versus an AI, or other players. While concentrating on the aspects that will make a fun multiplayer game, we try to follow the motto “easy to play, hard to master.” This philosophy has always resulted in a game that turns out to be great for competition, even though it wasn't an initial focus.
2. The StarCraft community has greatly appreciated Blizzard's interest in the tournament scene and the hosting of the Mystery-Map Invitational event. Are more events of this sort coming up for StarCraft?
- Absolutely. We have some plans up our sleeve to bring more StarCraft events to the community, although the announcement of details will have to wait. We were surprised by the wide interest in the two Mystery-Map tournaments. While they weren't on the scale of something like the World Cyber Games, or even the larger online leagues, they brought some unorthodox ideas to the table with the new maps. We see many of those maps continuing to be used in future tournaments. In the past, it was extremely rare to see map makers or events deviate from the standard "Lost Temple" model or something that wasn't already being used in the Korean pro leagues. Although our next community event won't be employing this same format, the mystery-map concept is something we hope to revisit in the future.
3. How do you look upon the real time strategy genre as of today and its future?
“ We were and still are blown away by Korean interest and love for StarCraft.” |
- Real-time strategy continues to grow and evolve with each new generation of titles. However, at their roots, RTS games are built on some very simple concepts of strategy and competition. Although the interfaces, stories, and the high-level layers on top will shift and change, the core of these games will remain. Under all the layers, the central focus will still be planning, spending resources wisely, and executing attack and defense strategies. There are so many different stories to tell and play mechanics to put on top of these fundamental values, that I believe the genre does not have an end in sight.
Currently, we are seeing some very exciting strides in graphics and physics in RTS games that will make more and more things possible. I believe the future will continue to focus on just how far we can push the graphical and physics limits so RTS players can continue to more easily manipulate their playing fields and be dazzled while doing so. In addition, I think the community will continue to focus on making multiplayer an even more accessible and fun experience than it already is.
4. Which game format do you believe is the future for e-sport and gaming in general?
- It really depends on how broadly one defines "e-sports." Most of the large international events run anywhere from two to eight different titles, and almost all genres now offer competitive gaming events with prize support. That said, it's likely that both RTS and FPS games will remain the most prominent competitive platforms. Previously, the distinction between the two genres was mostly regional. In North America and Europe, FPS games were used in more competitions, while RTS reigned supreme in Korea and China. As the lively Warcraft III competitive scene in Germany and other western nations shows, those geographic lines are blurring. E-sport communities depend on a critical mass of both player and fan participation. We expect as the regional boundaries continue to fade, both formats will be able to sustain lasting interest.
E-sports are still 10 years away from being at the stage where the two formats will be cutting slices from the same pie. In that sense, the growth of both the RTS and FPS genres as e-sport games is mutually beneficial. With each successive event of either format, the awareness among media, the casual gaming public, and sponsors grows for e-sports as a whole.
5. Do you have any plans on a stronger anti-hacking system, working against programs such as WinBot, etc? Any ladder reset coming up?
- We will indeed be improving hack detection in StarCraft in the future. Technically, there are challenges we need to overcome to bring StarCraft to the level of protection that Warcraft III enjoys, but it's a goal we're working towards. Battle.net exists with three goals in mind: providing a fun, safe, and fair place to play Blizzard titles. Our work, even with an older title like StarCraft, isn't complete until all those criteria are met and maintained.
6. Does Blizzard have plans to make a spectator feature for their real-time strategy games?
- We are constantly investigating the casual and competitive gaming community as a whole and evaluating what can be done to make things better for the community at large. Although we are not currently working on a spectator function for our real-time strategy games, this is something that is constantly being evaluated and would certainly be highly considered if we to work on any future RTS games.
7. What's the engine of the passion and struggle for perfection that so truly is reflected in your games?
- Honestly, I believe the passion and struggle for perfection is the result of two things. First, we try our best to hire and foster developers that are passionate gamers, not necessarily always hardcore, but certainly passionate. Secondly, we truly listen to our community (both hardcore and casual) and try as best as possible to address their concerns and desires to the best of our abilities. Finding a balance between both is often extremely difficult, especially when it comes to game balance, but the end result is that we are driven to constantly tweak and polish things in our quest towards a perfect game.
8. The huge Korean interest in StarCraft surely must have influenced Blizzard as game developers. In what ways has it affected your design?
- We were and still are blown away by Korean interest and love for StarCraft. It has been extremely exciting and humbling for us at the same time. The remarkable thing is that Korean interest was not immediate. StarCraft didn’t really take off in Korea until almost a year after its release. Once the Korean community started to embrace the game, we definitely tried to be as aware as possible of Korean interests and desires. For example, Korean gamers were really the first to take APM’s to a whole new level in RTS. The design and efficiency optimizations for the Warcraft III UI were made specifically in response to their capabilities and skills. Korean gamers, along with all of our fan communities, have strongly influenced the decisions we’ve made in our games. We try extremely hard to listen to and respond to all the feedback we receive.
9. What was your reaction when BWChart was released, measuring APM? Were you aware of the APM factor when creating StarCraft?
- Stunned is the best way I can describe our reaction to actions per minute. Certainly during development of StarCraft, we never anticipated just how quickly players’ might be able to act. Watching pro gamers bang away at StarCraft has made us marvel at how our UI has been able to handle their demands. As a result, ensuring that Warcraft III had a UI capable of handling the same stress became an important focus.
10. We know you won't announce any new titles in this interview but GosuGamers felt that we had to ask you. StarCraft 2? World of StarCraft?
- We haven’t announced anything at this time. As you can see from Ghost and from what you’ve probably read before, the StarCraft universe is something that’s near and dear to our hearts. Although we don’t have anything to announce at this time, we certainly intend to visit the StarCraft universe again in the future.
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