Written by rise |
Tuesday, 11 March 2008 23:00
News -
StarCraft II
During the recent
StarCraft II press event in Irvine, California,
GameSpy conducted an interview with
Dustin Browder.
The interview is standard; however, in response to the "kind of feedback [the Developers are] getting back from the pro players", Browder replied in-depth about the automation and optimization of the RTS genre. Specifically, Multiple Building Select (referred to as MBS) - a highly debated issue - is referenced. This is part of his detailed response that addresses an important aspect of
StarCraft directly:
One of the really interesting things about the original StarCraft was the tension between micro and macro gameplay. Which one do you do, and which one are you better at? Players that are really good at macro could sometimes overwhelm players that are just good at micro. You could find your place on the scale, if you were good at micro, or good at macro, or somewhere in the middle. If we make macro too easy to do, we lose some of that tension, and then it becomes more like WarCraft, and it'll be all about the micro to determine player skill. We still want that tension between strategy and tactics.
In StarCraft, you had five things to do, and time for two. If you have five things to do, and time for three or four, maybe that's not as good a game? We'll see.
To summarize the debate, some think that
StarCraft's high skill requirement (also called skill ceiling) is preserved through basic interfaces while others think that removing the arduous aspects of macro-management (such as selecting individual production buildings) will create emphasis on micro-management. This debate is characterized by the tension between healthy, vibrant original gameplay and the will for innovative contemporary design. In the context of the balance of MBS, consider that engineering the delicate interplay of micro- and macro-management is a fickle process. Artificial changes (unlimited unit selection, MBS, etc...) to the human aspect of RTS has the possibility to backfire; the edge is razor-thin.
You can read the full interview
here.
On a sidenote,
Blizzard Entertainment auctioned artwork in support of the "Child's Play" (a charity). This is the simple truth: they are people too. Consider that as you vilify or praise someone because of a computer game.
Sources:GameSpy - StarCraft II: Designing the ZergNucleus - Art of Blizzard's Benefit Show for "Child's Play"
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