Dancing with StarCraft 2

[Jason]

<strong>[ Interview ]</strong>

Blizzardian Dustin Browder <a href="http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/5827/starcraft_ii_building_on_the_beta.php" target="_blank">spoke to Gamasutra</a> about the <strong>StarCraft 2</strong> beta.
<blockquote>I'd heard you actually tried to implement a Relic-style cover system, like in Company of Heroes or Dawn of War.

DB: We did actually try a cover system. We tried it frequently, and what it did to our game was prevent a lot of movement from happening on the battlefield. It slowed the game down. Players would move to cover and stop. The other player is like, "Can I get around it? Screw it. I'll just fight." Or, "I'll just build up." The game stagnated.

Our game is about dancing: advance, retreat, advance, using the choke point -- until, "Oh no, the enemy went air, the choke is useless!" It's about give and take. For our game, it was a disaster.

It wasn't a perfect cover system. We never got that far, but the early indications were very poor. A lot of players view RTS as a continuum: RTS was this, and now changes have been made, and now RTS must start from there. We don't view it that way.

We think each game has its own style and flavor. Each game has its own strengths and weaknesses. What works for us would never work for a Dawn of War, and what works for Dawn of War would never work for us. They're different games, and that's the way it should be.
</blockquote><p>Spotted @ <a href="http://www.gamasutra.com/">Gamasutra</a></p>

 

[CrusaderTemplar]

Good. Games need to be their own style and not a copy of another that's popular.

 

[Konjad]

Indeed.

 

[Angthoron]

Blizzard doesn't need to copy from others, they know that others will copy from them for years. And yeah, good call about no cover and sticking to their own style. More devs should try developing their styles.

Then again, Blizzard can afford their own style.

 

[circ]

Their own style? What? Blizzard is built on copying other peoples ideas. They don't have an original bone in their body. They take no risks whatsoever, they just turn someone else's concept into a slick LCD property and market the hell out of it. They are the relatively bugfree and slick equivalent of Obsidian.

 

[Angthoron]

Yes, basically, but there are underlying features that have been different from, say, C&C series and the likes. They do take concepts from other games, but only to the point that suits their overall direction. It works relatively well I guess, no point of taking features that would make Starcraft into something completely else.

 

[Ryuken]

Good. Games need to be their own style and not a copy of another that's popular.

Indeed, the same own style from more than 10 years ago. Nobody asked them to copy from recent RTSs (or even old RTSs which tried new things before StarCraft 1 came out); cover ain't sacred just like Strategic Zoom isn't.

What a lot of people do want is for Blizzard to come up with something really new themselves. For now, I am only seeing a little bit promise in the singleplayer campaign and that's it. A fourth race or a deep new gameplay mechanic would have been a lot more thrilling than the remake this is becoming in skirmish/multiplayer. At least the Diablo III team know they have to change the game mechanics thoroughly. Diablo II was a great game but it was far from perfect, same counts for the original StarCraft.

 

[MetalCraze]

Best cover was in Westwood's RTS'es - buildings and bunkers. Relic cover is meh so Blizz did good to avoid it.

 

[Fens]

"Our game is about dancing: advance, retreat, advance, using the choke point"

my favourite dance move

cover systems work best in games with small squads... can't imagine hiding hordes of zergs behind rocks and playing peek-a-boo with the enemy

meh.. i think i'll go and replay tiberian sun or something now... you know... games that don't rely on the developer still existing/caring to be playable

 

[Suicidal]

Best cover was in Westwood's RTS'es - buildings and bunkers. Relic cover is meh so Blizz did good to avoid it.

Wise words.