Game For Windows Magazine

Quote: HANDS-ON

Noble gases don’t know whether they’re destined to become a sun in some planet’s sky or a balloon at a Roy Rogers grand reopening; neither do the High Templars or Banshee gunships in StarCraft II. Pedigree tips the odds in sundom’s favor. And lead designer Dustin Browder and lead producer Chris Sigaty clearly know what a star is made of: a trillion moving pieces, one of which – a Protoss Mothership with its air-unit-engulfing black hole generator – just wiped out an entire enemy fleet with a single mana bar. Browder laughs and acknowledges that, yup, she’s way too powerful right now, as a dozen of my opponent’s expensive ships unfairly blink out of existence. If the delicate chemistry is off, the whole thing goes supernova. One minute, millions are playing – the next minute, nobody.

Playing a multiplayer round of SC2 at this stage of development (Protoss versus Protoss only, at least for now) feels a lot like playing chess before someone decided that bishops could move diagonally, or that knights could pass through other pieces, and while there was still a piece called the duke who could warp from one edge of the board to another. The Mothership is the Protoss’ queen, and Browder’s team is still devising a counter that doesn’t involve sacrificing an entire row of pawns.

“We want to create relationships for the Mothership that allow you to deal with her mana threat,” says Browder, “so you can deal with her black hole even before she fires it, so you don’t just have to lose seven units [before] you get to kill her…and hopefully it’s not ‘You build this unit, and then she dies.’”

Browder’s irked by the standard rochambeau shorthand that folks commonly use to describe unit interplay, but that’s how I’m naturally playing (blame partly goes to inexperience with the new stuff, partly to a heavily rock-paper-scissors-oriented presentation at SC2’s May 2007 unveiling in South Korea). My scout spots a startling airfield of Tempest carriers; I pour resources into researching black holes (even though for now they’re basically an exploit) and scanning unit descriptors for phrases like “antiair” or “really good at killing Tempests.”

“Our goal is definitely not to create an environment where it’s just rock-paper0scissors,” says Browder. “We want the game to be very much about position-based gameplay. So yes, I brought a unit that’s a bit of counter for your unit. But hey, if you maneuver around the terrain in the right way or set up certain combos of units, it doesn’t necessarily matter. For instance, in the game right now, Zealots [short-range Protoss melee brawlers] absolutely, dollar-for-dollar, will counter Stalkers [long-range gunners]. But if there’s a choke point, then all that overlapping firepower from the Stalkers will tear up the Zealots because only two or three can get through at a time. Or if the Stalk blinks away from the Zealots, they can do this rolling retreat where, if the Zealots are trying to gank one, he [warps] to the back of the line. We want to have lots of different options to deal with any threat on the battlefield so you don’t just say. ‘Well, I brought the wrong units; I guess I’ll just type GG and quit.’”

A placeholder tech tree, crafted in what looks like Microsoft Paint, mentions the “Eye of Amun” (a second Protoss defensive structure in addition to the mobile Phase Cannon) and other units that are no longer part of the Protoss’ repertoire. The Eye’s gone now, according to Browder, because playtesters constantly challenged the need for two types of “boring” protective towers. “We don’t want to have a unit list of 40 units per side,” says Browder. “We’re still feeling out what’s the maximum we can get away with before it seems like there’s just way too many units and they start overlapping their abilities.” So as new units are born, old ones naturally retire: Firebats, a common Terran defense against the infamous Zergling rush, aren’t a part of StarCraft II – neither are Medics, but Browder says any of these may still return, vanish, and return again in some mutant forum.

“We’re trying to give you all-new strategies and tactics,” says Browder, “but stil make it feel like you’re playing this game that you love from 10 years ago.” That familiar feeling’s already there – vespene gas, crystalline minerals, warped-in Pylons; I know these – though comfort vanishes once you start drilling down into the tech trees and realize you have no idea exactly when or why you’d want to build a Star Relic…or how you’d respond if your opponent sent over a dozen of them.

Change is always terrifying to any fan base (just ask Fallout 3 developer Bethesda, who finds little support among old0school Fallout fans online), but fear of the unknown doesn’t faze Blizzard. “Where it could have gone bad,” says Sigaty, “is if we [had] gone really crazy and tried to reinvent the genre. And then everybody’s like, ‘What did you just do to my game? They is my game…and you screwed it up.’”

Sources:
Windows Magazine
SC2Battle - Starcraft 2 News

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Founder - StarcraftVanilla.com

Finally, someone says exactly what was needed to be said. XP

Actualy alot that was needed to be said was said. AKA Races, units, and FAQ.

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Thanks BaMvC

Well a lot of people were complaining about "rock paper scissors" gameplay and the mothership, and I'm glad someone finally explains it all..

so are they saying there not afraid of screwing up starcraft 2?

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"Bundy, The Soloution to all of Life's Problems"

go Stork WCG 2007 Protoss reign supreme

im sure they are plenty afraid its just even if SC2 bites there getting 200 billion dollars a month from nerds who play Wow everyday and night

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PWN3D

I'm not worried, there's always the original to fall back on.

yer but what if someone kills all of the staff at blizzard for killing starcraft 2?

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"Bundy, The Soloution to all of Life's Problems"

go Stork WCG 2007 Protoss reign supreme