StarCraft II's Design Philosophies
Xerond
Undefined Join Date: 2004-07-09 Member: 29817Members, Constellation
Undefined Join Date: 2004-07-09 Member: 29817Members, Constellation
<div class="IPBDescription">Cool article that UWE should check out... =D</div>(this is just a snip, check the link for the full article.)
StarCraft II's Design Philosophies
Blizzard on catering to the hardcore, making the game accessible and bringing eSports to the masses.
<a href="http://pc.ign.com/articles/100/1002570p1.html?_cmpid=ign18" target="_blank">http://pc.ign.com/articles/100/1002570p1.html?_cmpid=ign18</a>
"This is sort of a Blizzard core design philosophy," Dustin Browder, StarCraft II's lead game designer told us. "We always cater to the hardcore community. Always. From minute one we focus on them, and then we try to make it more accessible after that... A lot of other companies say 'casual first because they're the biggest numbers… and then someday we'll deal with those hardcore guys if we get time to get to them...,' but we say 'look, at the end of the day, everybody has the chance to become a hardcore person if only you'll let them'."
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An interesting read I thought. For all those anti-elite NS fans, this might make you feel uncomfortable. ;)
StarCraft II's Design Philosophies
Blizzard on catering to the hardcore, making the game accessible and bringing eSports to the masses.
<a href="http://pc.ign.com/articles/100/1002570p1.html?_cmpid=ign18" target="_blank">http://pc.ign.com/articles/100/1002570p1.html?_cmpid=ign18</a>
"This is sort of a Blizzard core design philosophy," Dustin Browder, StarCraft II's lead game designer told us. "We always cater to the hardcore community. Always. From minute one we focus on them, and then we try to make it more accessible after that... A lot of other companies say 'casual first because they're the biggest numbers… and then someday we'll deal with those hardcore guys if we get time to get to them...,' but we say 'look, at the end of the day, everybody has the chance to become a hardcore person if only you'll let them'."
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An interesting read I thought. For all those anti-elite NS fans, this might make you feel uncomfortable. ;)
Comments
Realm of the screaming Commanders. And the constant stream of command chair booting votes
Edit:
Choice Quotes:
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->From minute one we focus on them[the hardcore community], and then we try to make it more accessible after that
...
Part of transitioning players from more casual fans to fanatics is about building the right learning curve; the classic 'easy to learn, hard to master'<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Build the depth in first then build the accessibility to that depth. Getting players to be hardcore is about making sure the casual appeal is there so the desire is there. Makes sense.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->If they just play the campaign then click on 'play [online] game', then, oh God, it's going to be horrible."
...
And once players do go online they need to find the right level of competition<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Frank and accurate. Something to ease newbies in, whether it's just newbie servers or some kind of tutorial, is going to be key.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->"If you can teach them a little bit," he explained, "just to get their feet wet, so they understand the big sweeping movements – 'the aliens killed the humans!', right, they'll get the basics and then if you teach them 'oh, you see how he did that micro with the Marauder where he tagged the guy and the guy tried to run but he picked him off anyway'... then your knowledge will grow over time, and eventually you'll understand the depth of it."<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This one is going to be difficult for NS2. How do you explain to the non-comms the strategy of the comms, even at a high level, while they're playing?
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Ensuring that StarCraft II will be entertaining to watch is yet another part of the design balancing act between hardcore and mainstream, intricate and accessible. Blizzard wants to create a game design that will encourage the pros "to play in a way that we think is fun to watch, and be fun to play." An example of this is Zerg versus Zerg match-ups in the original StarCraft, which often devolve into a contest utilising only Mutas, Zerglings and Scourge. "Not a lot of units, right, not what I would want as a designer," Dustin comments, "but, I'll give it this – it's got a lot of micro, and it's got a lot of dancing, and so, there's still a lot of drama, and adventure, to be had in that match-up. But [with StarCraft II] we're obviously looking for a wider expanse as well, I'd like to see that drama, with all the dancing, with six units instead of three."<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
While they're talking about fun to watch, having a wider variety of choices is also more fun to play. If it's just set hard counter after set hard counter your strategy is stagnant. Having the ability to have options when countering, and then using those options open up different options of counter attack is what good RTS is about IMHO(that's my playstyle though).
<!--QuoteBegin-"Blizzard"+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE ("Blizzard")</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->And once players do go online they need to find the right level of competition. "I believe that StarCraft II, like many games, is really really fun so long as you're matched well," Dustin told us. "If you're not matched well, it's pretty soft. If you're much better than the other person, you know what, that might be fun for about three minutes, then it gets really old really quick. Muhammad Ali hits a grandmother, y'know, it's no good! But if you're evenly matched, it's really fun, and so one of our goals is to do really quality matchmaking… and I think we can do it.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This is even a bigger issue in NS1. I hope devs come up with some kind of a creative solution to this problem.
<!--QuoteBegin-"Blizzard"+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE ("Blizzard")</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->"My feeling," he continued, "is that well designed RTS games are dramatic and they're fun to watch; just as, you know, poker, is dramatic and fun to watch, or baseball, is dramatic and fun to watch. Now, in baseball, if you don't understand the relationship between the pitcher and the batter, it's actually really boring. I know people complain about it, and they say 'it's the worst game ever', and I say, 'well, do you know about the pitcher and the batter and what's going on there?' 'No', well okay then, you're lost! There's so much going on between the curve balls and the fast balls and throwing them on the inside so he steps off the plate – there's all this stuff going on and you have to know what that is to really get geeked up about it, and be watching every pitch. And StarCraft's the same way."<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Something reminds me of Europe vs NA games! He's definitely on the spot, after understanding the basics, NS is actually very dramatic to watch. Again I think the second reason competitive scene was able to stay alive so long was the ability to watch games, and shoutcast them. Critical!
Also the reason why some sports or games are dramatic, is that its possible with skill and creativity to turn the situation upside down in a flash (eg. hunting fades, pg rushes, clever player positioning made possible by multi-pathed maps, tactical versatility, upgrades/weapon versatility)
Since RTS games are usually about what you can do, and NS is about what your team can do, accurately judging a NS player's individual skill level could be far more complex and time consuming than that of SC. Even if you could judge a player's skill level there's no real matchmaking system in place. The best idea I've heard is for servers to self label and hope the players choose to go to their 'designated' server. Forcing some type of matchmaking would be silly, as friends could very well be split from playing with each other.
So a major point of that article, "finding the right competition," is extremely hard to apply to NS just due to how the two games are naturally different.
Since RTS games are usually about what you can do, and NS is about what your team can do, accurately judging a NS player's individual skill level could be far more complex and time consuming than that of SC. Even if you could judge a player's skill level there's no real matchmaking system in place. The best idea I've heard is for servers to self label and hope the players choose to go to their 'designated' server. Forcing some type of matchmaking would be silly, as friends could very well be split from playing with each other.
So a major point of that article, "finding the right competition," is extremely hard to apply to NS just due to how the two games are naturally different.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Fair point, however it isn't that hard to give people points based on tasks they complete that are productive for the team. Team Fortress gives points not just for killing, but also assists, destroying enemy buildings, etc. So with a similar scoring system its easy to calculate points per minute and make a rank for the player from stats gathered over games.
Quake live has a nice stats system with "tiers". This is based on each game you play, I'm not 100% sure how its calculated. I'm guessing it bases it off wins/losses, kdr, and accuracy just to name a few.
As you touched on, the quake live servers are all labeled with the skill levels without restrictions of joining higher ranked than you currently are. I don't think higher ranked players can join newb servers though. This system seems to work well enough and doesn't totally restrict friends from playing with each other.
I can see only one restriction in this system: If you have played much and are high ranked, then your friend buys the game and you want to give him help and join the same server, you can't and he has to join higher ranked server.
Well actually that isn't so big problem as I thought. They simply join higher ranked server or server without ranking system.
You see your rank in the server browser and the rank of the server. It is your problem if you choose to join a server of your rank or not. But i don't think this is needed for the first version of NS2, but a nice to have later on
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->"Dustin Browder: It's really hard, because the casual gamer doesn't post. His voice is quiet. So we have to try to hear him. We have to try to listen to what he might be saying if he were here. And so that's what makes it really challenging. And that's what's so hard for the pro gamers too, because they don't hear or believe in that voice 100%, but that's okay.
So we definitely sort of have to keep a lookout for them as we're going forward. I've definitely seen some suggestions from the community where the casual gamer would just go out of his mind if he had to play that way. But I understand what the pro guy is going for. Like, your implementation is horrible, but your idea, your core urge, is 100% right. How can I give you what you want without hurting this other guy? And that's the constant tight-rope we walk."<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
via <a href="http://www.shacknews.com/featuredarticle.x?id=1158" target="_blank">http://www.shacknews.com/featuredarticle.x?id=1158</a> (page 2)
via <a href="http://www.shacknews.com/featuredarticle.x?id=1158" target="_blank">http://www.shacknews.com/featuredarticle.x?id=1158</a> (page 2)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Like, your implementation is horrible, but your idea, your core urge, is 100% right. How can I give you what you want without hurting this other guy? And that's the constant tight-rope we walk.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Agree 1000000%
O
L
Too bad WoW wasn't designed with a hardcore mindset. The game is so casual friendly that it was just too easy to play even for me.
But I am looking for SC2, even though I suck at the first one.
Hax! Everyone knows you can't go over 100%