Interveiw Questions for SC2

New information about SC2 will be answers in future interviews, and out site was chosen as a place where you can ask all sorts of questions pertaining to StarcCraft2! Any question at all about the game can be asked here (try to make sure it hasn't been answered already) and if you're lucky it may get chosen as one of the questions answered by the actual makers and developers of the game! Joneagle has got interviews with many makers such as Sam Didier, Dustin Browder, Chris Sigaty, and more.


also: any questions for Diablo3 are also appreciated!

~ask questions here and have a happy Blizzard-filled day~
Kurai

 

I am not exactly brimming with ideas at the moment =/

"What is your favorite idea that couldn't make it into the game?"

 

When are you going to show us the remaining three classes for Diablo3?

But seriously... Mainly for Diablo3 for if they have the chance to be asked... And feel free to reword them if you feel like it.

What ideas do you have for incorporating spells and abilities into the Havok(?) physics engine? Are there any plans for spells like Telekinesis to return and how interactive will they be?

How effective will the orb system be during major boss fights? Will players be expected to take them down without healing or will minions often be present if the player needs to heal?

In Diablo2, a lot of creatures had immunities, especially in Nightmare and Hell. This made it especially hard for single specced characters to beat them, as their main form of attack was nullified. Will immunities be making a return in Diablo3? If so, could characters with certain specs be rendered useless against certain enemies?

Can't really think of any StarCraft2 questions. Most of them seem to have already been asked. Now we're really just waiting for the races to be balanced so it can be released.

 

Questions regarding the mapping and modding for Starcraft 2:

• Will it be possible to protect works done with the level editor, I mean, really protect them, so nobody, I repeat, nobody within the gaming community can just open the map, change the author name, and then connect online and say "look at my map lol"?
• Will it be possible to export the settings applied on a map, like the changes done on all the units, the upgrades etc, in order to possibly release packs of maps with the same modified gameplay? (I don't remember it was possible on WC3)
• Will it be possible to use correctly the abilities of units on customised heroes (I am referring to the possibility to add levels of skills to an ability that originally hadn't any)?
• Will it be possible to exchange ressources during ladder games, like in Warcraft III? Will there be some tax system as well?
• Will it be possible to kick players during custom games (assuming you are the game creator)?
• Will it be possible to use multiple clouds/smokes/particles effects in a specific area of a custom map, without display bugs? (it was not possible much in Warcraft 3 to set a general environment effect, like a dusty wind or some rain, to the whole map, and then to add some smokes or whatever in specific areas. Most of the time, I remember, the local effects weren't just displayed)
• Would it be possible with the level editor to remake the gameplay of the original version (with the classic units and tech trees etc, not that I am much interested myself, but I am sure plenty of gamers would like to know)
• Will it be possible to add custom voices in the level editor, so the moviemakers could use the level editor to make custom cinematics?
• Will it be possible to make a custom campaign, where the player can make some choices in the sequence of the next missions, like in Dune II ideally (where you can select on a map the next region you would like to conquer)? By extension, will it be ultimately possible to make a general strategy map in multiplayer, where two teams for instance can select together the next region where they will fight, leading to a usual multiplayer game, where the team who won get this region on the general map, and so on, until one team conquered the whole general map, leading to the final victory? A kind of macro, world-scale, game within the game...
• Will it be possible to use the corpses (the remains of dead units) in SC2, anyhow? Just wondering if some necro could be done in the editor later...
• Will it be possible to set ingame menus, like for instance to provide some choice to the player, during some solo campaign, that could interact with the whole map (like dialogs with key NPC)?
• Will it be possible to give or offer units to a teammate in multiplayer games? In SC1, it was possible to design a pod where you could send some of your units, and with some triggers, this unit is turned so it belongs to one of your teammate, so he can use it for its own strategies, but this was tedious to make in the editor and to use ingame. I am referring to an option in the game menu you could use to make the unit simply switch its color, so it does not belong to you anymore, but to the selected player.
• Will it be possible to define other types of ressource in the level editor? Like for instance the "flesh": everytime a unit kills an organic unit, it gathers some flesh it can bring back to some collector building, or solar energy, where you can build for instance plants in some specific areas (only), that provide then power, enabling other buildings to run?
• Will it be possible to design a ground carrier (like a bus)?
• Will it be possible to design a unit that can switch from an air mode to a ground mode? I know the viking can, but will it be possible to set different features depending on the mode, like for instance a kind of tank, which is tough and can fire when moving on the ground, but cannot fire anymore when in the air form and takes extra damage? or a zerg gargoyle, that can only attack melee, only air units when in air form, and only ground unit in ground form? Or detector only in one form etc. The possibility to morph, like druids in Warcraft 3. Talking about collision, will it be possible to design a kind of ghost unit, that can basically go through any other unit in the game, like the Blademaster in Windwalking form in Warcraft 3?
• Will it be possible to design a unit that can automatically morph into a stronger form after a given amount of kills or damage done?
• Will it be possible to set new types for the custom units, as the "summoned" type like in Warcraft 3?
• Will it be possible to set that some big ground units can move through smaller ones? I think so, with the Protoss Colossus concept for instance, but wondered if it could be possible to apply it as well for ultralisks-like units over zerglings-like ones on custom games...
• Will it be possible to define passive and/or active vampiric abilities in SC2, like the Vampiric Aura (I am not referring to the possibility to share the ability with units around, just the fact your unit can get back HP depending on the damage done), Mana Siphon and Life Siphon?
• Will it be possible to make in the editor a building that can make a given type of ressource from another (and ideally to switch it on or off, depending on the need)?
• Will I be able to invite, accept, promote and kick members of my clan during a ladder game, with text commands for instance?
• Will it be possible in a map to make a crossroad on different levels, like for instance a bridge over a canyon, where the units can go from North to South for instance in the canyon, and from West to East on the bridge level, without being able to directly meet?
• Will it be possile to destroy possible paths, like specific bridges, in ladder games?
• Will it be possible to change in real time the general environment of the map, like the general lighting, the general special effects (like the rain), the skybox in the background etc, during a game, thanks to some triggers or something?
• Will it be possible to make a custom building for the zergs, where any organic unit can enter, or stand on, or burrow in, in order to have an increased health regeneration rate?
• Will it be possible to enable a unit to move while burrowed, like a mole?
• Will it be possible to define extra features for the custom units, like stamina (ability to move and attack melee) and ammunitions (ability to attack range)?
• Will it be possible to modify the armour/attack types and/or bonuses?
• Will it be possible to have some normal attacks that have special features, like bouncing (like the huntresses'glaives in WC3), going through (like a flamethrower), explosion (release another area-of-effect attack at the impact), shock (lighting orb), feedback (mana burn) etc?
• Will it be possible to make that terrans in some custom games are able to destroy their own buildings in order to get back a part of the ressources?
• Will it be possible to make that some units can use some others as ammos? Personnally I dream about a flying zerg unit, like a pterodactyl, that would be able to grab a couple of zerglings, carry them for a short time and then throw them in the middle of the battle, or an ultralisk taking and throwing zerglings at the faces of marines when it has nothing around to attack and a zergling is passing by (ultralisk airlines)! =D I am not referring much to the possibility to turn a specific unit into potential damage, but the possibilty to carry/transport a unit without the tedious current pick+move+drop carrier system, something more local and instant, that would fit better for most battles.
• Will it be possible to have some autocastable (or passive) debuffer abilities in the editor, you can set in addition of the normal attacks of your custom units, like damage reduction (banshee's curse, somehow), speed reduction (sorceress's slow), armor reduction (DotT's faeries) etc, something that does not deal direct damage, but hamper the target a way or another?
• Will it be possible to send ressources to another player in another ladder game? (this is a joke, sorry)
• Will it be possible to add aggressive creeps in custom maps, like to defend some specific locations? A kind of neutral faction with basic AI...
• Will the attacks of the kamikaze units in SC2 be more efficient than in SC1? I am not talking about the damage points, but the way there work for the scourge for instance: I don't use much them personnally in SC1, because they kind of stop before attacking most of the time, which make their whole concept pretty useless to me.
• Will it be possible to set that some units with some health regeneration have a higher rate (of regeneration) when resting (not moving or attacking either, only with their stand-by animation I mean)?
• Will it be possible to make that a unit explodes when it dies (releasing damage all around, without any action from the player)?

 

Omg "Your text is too long"...
Sorry for the double post... ><

• Regarding the energy of the units, will it be possible somehow to define a mechanical energy, used by machines, a biological energy used by animals, and a psychic energy used by casters? I mean will it be possible for instance to have some EMP ability that affects only the energy of mechanical units (like the science vessel), some poison that affects only the energy of biological units (like the defiler) and at last a mana burn-like spell that affects only casters (like the templars)?
• Will it be possible to make campaign missions that lead to a different new mission, depending on the result of your game (if you managed to meet given objectives or not for instance), and therefore build a whole tree of missions, with different challenges and ends depending on the choices and/or the strategy of the player?
• Will it be possible to modify minor features to a key character between games in a solo campaign, like for instance, make him/her/it regenerates x% of the lost health points, or gained a new ability, or have a new model with a damaged armor and/or visible wounds etc?
• Will it be possible for the zergs to infest terrans buildings as they were somehow in SC1?
• Regarding the statistics after the game is finished, could it be possible to have the produced / kills stats by support points, instead of units amounts? I don't like much those "produced: zerg player: 200, Protoss player: 50", that does not reflect much the game in my opinion. And not counting the workers at all would be more relevant too to me...

EDIT : 06/10/08

• Regarding the stealth units, will it be possible to turn their attacks off, so they can remain fully stealthy even if there are enemies around? Personnally I hate when my lurkers attack the very first marines, when a terran is about to attach my base, while I would have much more appreciated if they would have kept their attacks for the tanks and the medics behind... >>
• Will it be possible to steal or capture buildings, units and/or abilities between the races? In the ladder games and/or to enable this in custom missions/maps/mods?
• Will it be possible in the level editor to make a standard ability a channeling one, and/or to make a channeling ability a standard one? I mean in one hand, to keep the unit busy on the ability as long as it is running (like the defiler's plague for instance, so if the plague becomes a channeling ability, the defiler remains busy as long as the ability affects the targets, and if the defiler goes or burrows or whatever, the effects of the ability stop straight away), and on another hand, to release a unit straight away while it is usually busy channelling some ability that used to be a channeling one (like a Blizzard that would work by itself once started in WC3)? Will it be possible to turn on of off the channelling feature for every ability in the game?
• Will it be possible to enable hyperlinks in custom maps and/or chat rooms? If so, will it be fully legal to advertise some website (assuming it's not related with porn, warez etc) in Battle.net?
• Will it be possible to save a game in progress in a custom mission? Will it be possible to disable this feature in a specific custom mission (so the player has to complete the mission in one shot, or to redo it)?
• Will there be some special statistics in my Battle.net account showing on how many times I have been disconnected during ladder games?
• Will there be a different way to count in the statistics the ladder games when more than x% of the players left within the first minutes? Personnally I hate having my game considered as a standard loss when I was alone after just one minute of game, when it was first a 3v3 RT...
• Will there be special policies against backstabbers clans, and all those official gatherings of people who play just to ruin the game experience of normal players? I am not talking about cheaters here, but mainly lamers, lose bots etc.
• Will there be any way in the level editor to disable all the units a player own that are over his/her supply limit? I mean for instance, I have a 100 supply points army, and my opponent destroy 50 points of supply in my bases, will it be possible to set that 50 points of supply of my army can't be controlled anymore as long as I don't rebuild enough supply provider buildings/units?
• Will it be possible to randomize some parts of my custom missions or even multiplayer maps? so sometimes a specific door is open or not, a NPC is at his/her location or not, a path is possible or not, an enemy base is here or there etc... To make different sub-versions of a given map within the same map, so the players may not all have exactly the same experience when playing my maps?
• Will it be possible to cast some AMS effects on our units (like the banshee's spell in WC3) in ladder games in SC2, in order to make them temporarily immune against most negative abilities the enemy units may cast on them? Will it at least be possible to enable this in custom maps?
• I heard the new terran carrier unit is now able to heal the marines around. That is a good idea in my opinion, but will this unit be able to heal allied zerg and/or protoss units as well, or is its use restricted to terran infantry only?

Feel free to revise my english if necessary.

 

Dang. You've really opened up your stash. Where'd you pull all of them from?

 

Personally I just want to ask:

Will the water be utilised in SC2 for more than just breaks in the land mass as it was in SC 1?

Because it seems a little pointless having it there and doing nothing.

****************************************

To Jissé:

I've read all of your points and there are many good questions there. And also a few I'm rather not see in the game. But you're asking the SC 2 devs for their answers and not me for my opinions.

 

Ark, that's been answered here.

My questions:
Protoss
1. The colossus has long legs and can walk over units. Can it walk in water?
2. Being so tall, can the colossus scout more than one level of elevation?
3. Is force field a channeling ability?
4. How long does force field last?
5. Does charge monitor straight line or walk path?

Zerg
6. Can Zerg mutations (baneling, lurker, etc.) be cancelled before they are completed?
7. Do you plan to make burrow more useful than it is in SC?
- 7.1 If so, how?
8. Do long units (corruptor, guardian) bend when turning slightly or are their bodies "static" (not counting movement animation)?
9. Can the larva be ordered to move?

Misc.
10. Vulture grenades do not track their targets. Will projectiles in SC2 follow their targets?
11. Is there a chance to see four levels of upgrades?
12. Do non-offensive units (workers, casters) have "0 kills" displayed when created?
13. Does switching elevation via a ramp affect movement animation (e.g., leaning)?
14. Will both toggle options (burrow, viking shift, crucio modes, etc.) be available when having units selected with opposite stances?
15. Will all abilities be listed for use in a group of varied units?

 

How will you improve battle.net's game search system? In example, finding a specific map you would want to play on UMS/Melee etc. Rather than just looking for a map by size (like wc3) or blindly searching/scanning (searching for act1 games in diablo2), what are you planning to do to make battle.net more flexible and easy in finding desired games?

Edit:

Oh yeah, two more questions.

In the current built, units below a cliff can not see who is shooting at them from above. In the editor, can we change this so that it is more similar to original Starcraft (where they can see them but have a chance to miss when attacking)? I like to build maps based on this mechanic.

Also, if there are bridges that extend over canyons and passages (as stated above and below), can units walk under then and will the Colossus not be able to?

 

If a marine is standing sideways on a ramp(so the slope is higher on his left and lower on his right) will his feet actually be on the ramp, or will his feet be at the same height level(as if there is no ramp at all)?

Hope that's not to confusing...

Also..

That I too really wanna know...

 

i think i can answer some of your questions Kuvasz.

i think so, i remember seeing a pic. of it walking over water but this was before the zergs were even released so it might have been taken out of the game.

yes, if they couldnt then they wouldnt be considered tall enough to be attacked by air to air attacks.(blizz. answered this in a old batch i believe and im to lazy to search for it, and my answer is not that same words that they would have used)

no, because the Nullifier are able to make another one right after casting the first one.

im very sure that they will have this in the game, it was there in SC1, so its very possible that it will be in SC2.

well now all ground units(except for the Infested Terran, Broodlings, and the Changelings) are able to burrow, also the Infestor is able to move and cast spells while burrowed but you would have to have burrow researched first.

no, only Mutant larvas from all the reports that ive seen

im pretty sure that this will happen.

if you looked at some of the vids, you see that the command box is bigger, and it is bigger for this exact purposed. if thats not the reason then i will allow you to shoot me with whatever gun you feel like using.

 

What's the release date?

.. WAIT! Don't shoot me! I was just kidding ....

Whew...

Seriously, though. What will the ranking system be like? WarCraft III had levels. What will StarCraft 2 have?

 

Feel free to express your opinions about my questions, I would be glad to discuss them if I consider them relevant.

I added few extra questions by the way.

Countless hours playing Starcraft, Diablo 2 and Warcraft 3, countless hours realising how great these games are, but how greater they could be if that feature was enabled, if it was possible to do that etc...

I tried to start a mod project on Warcraft 3, the "ten races mod", where you would have been able to play ten different races, with the usual gameplay of ladder games (heroes, rushes, exps etc), and had enough ideas for at least 50% of the heroes and units, but was way too much unexperienced to lead this project until the end...

http://www.jisse.net/web/TRM/races.htm
(the website is very old, and I was pretty unexperienced at this time. I just put this link to provide a sample)

 

So did you write them all up on the spot just as they came to you or were you copying from an old list?

 

No paper list, I wrote everything as it is in my mind.



I did not include the part where I would like enemy units to drop items.

 

But, seriously... About that release date

 

Ok thanks. I'm not so sure how much of my ramblings will be relevant though. But at least it'll be something to think about.

I've heard a rumour that this will be possible. Yes they'll still be able to rip off your map as you said above. But there will be an option to put in the data of your map, a user. So when you select a map to play in it'll have the user of it there. For everyone to see. And you can lock this so they cant just download your map and edit the data. Well that's the rumour I've heard.

Yes. I read it somewhere in a interview with one of the Blizzard devs. Something about expanding that feature in battle.net 2.0 Only how exactly it will work they didn't say.

I'm sure this feature was in the SC 1 map editor. Sure the sounds you imported could only be used on the map during gameplay via triggers. I dunno if custom cinematics will be possible. But custom sounds during game play like those little parts where the game essentially stops and then there's a little chat using the avatars of the units before you go back to the fighting. I'm pretty sure it'll be in SC 2 as I've seen it done in SC 1.

That would depend on how long the corpses last on screen before disappearing.

In one of the Blizzard interviews they said the only resources will be minerals and gas. They didn't specify if that was single or multiplayer or both.

Yes. But I fail to see how this will be at all useful apart from used as a decoy. Unless they made it a really fast or heavily shielded bus. More like an APC I think.

Only hearsay here. Not exactly sure here. But the general consensus was this was a bad idea. Because the idea is that skill was supposed to determine the winner. And some zerg players who use units like suicidal attackers will get no use out of this. I don't have any hard info here but I remember it was generally not liked.

If the game is as 3D as they claim it is. Then this should be possible as each layer (ie low ground, ground, high ground etc) will be a seperate thing. And then you could interact with the same point on two different layers at the same time. Like you said have a unit walk over a bridge and another walk under it at the same time. But in true 3D that is only the same for the X and Y co-ordinates but for Z they are different.

Unless they make the space under the bridge a void and the units magically teleport from one side under the bridge to the other, giving the illusion they walked under it.

You could already modify most of the stats of units and the number of upgrades some abilities had in the SC 1 editor. I'm sure this would be expanded in SC 2.

As the above answer.

Well that's all I know about your questions. Hope that helps.

 

@ the8thark. I think you answered a lot of those questions in relation to melee games, when they were more directed at custom games. Not that that's a major problem, as you still shed light on them, but just to keep that in mind.

About multilayer bridges, were you able to in WarCraftIII? I don't remember being able to, but if there was a way to then, I'm sure there'd be a way to in StarCraft2, especially with all their new inter-tier mechanics and everything.

 

Thank you for your attention,

That is my point.
In a game where it is not possible to kick people once the game started, nubs can join and ruin the game, by spamming, backstabbing etc, depending on the type of the game, but on another hand, if the game creators have full rights, the nubs will then be used to create their own games, where they will kick at will all of the people who annoy them, ie just by attacking their bases for instance, or not suiting with their autority, like in some of those Counter-Strike servers where low admins kick everybody daring attacking them and not doing all what they are told to?

How will Blizzard deal with that?

This is just a detail.
The point of my question is "Will the corpses exist?", as a fully selectable entity, with its own type etc, like somehow in Warcraft 3.

I may have not been clear enough, but my question is "will it be possible to define extra and/or other types of ressources?", like for instance blue and red minerals, with their own requirements for each buildings, their own display in the game HUD etc.

What about oil wells, cattle farms, power plants, or gold mines etc?

The point is not to discuss what you would consider as being useful for you, it is to define what will it be possible to do with the level editor. The more the limits of this piece of software are pushed away, the more the creative community will be able to design beautiful worlds and crazy games.

Here are few suggestions:

• APC for your ghosts, C&C-like engineers and demolishers, SCV, SC1-medics etc.
• A moving bunker,
• A faster and safer way to move your infantry, than if they were sent from A to B by walking.
• The possibility to perform fake attacks (you attack with 20 APCs in some area, so the enemy is calling back his troops, but the APC are all empty, while you finally attack some other places...)

Haha.
I was not referring to standard ladder games (unless...), I was referring to custom games, like those "Heroes Arenas" in WC3, a kind of level-up system for morphing units, nothing more...

Even if I dream of a zerg unit that starts in a larva form, with low HP, speed, DPS etc, and then build its power from its kills. A kind of butterfly you know, except at the end it just turns into a kind of Diablo muhaha!

I am 100% sure they will not make it, and I will tell you why:

This kind of possibility will disrupt the game mechanics of the game:

• How about the mini-map radar (if two units are on the same x/y coordinates)?
• Will the units that are below the bridge be considered as stealthy, or under cover from possible air units?
• What about the area of damage of large attacks, like nukes?
• Will it be possible to fall from the upper path to the lower one?

They will not bother with this kind of problems, I can bet €100 on this, and just would like this point to be confirmed if possible.

My question is somehow "Will a single marine or zergling be able to destroy a whole (but defenseless) base by him/itself?".

The point into this stamina and/or ammos system, would be to limit the maximum efficiency of combat units in time in war areas, by pushing the player at some stage to call these units back to retreat and recover for a while. This is a very important detail in "realist" strategy games: You can have the best sniper/bazooka/demolisher unit whatever, but if he has very limited ammos, and no supply around, he is just useless, no matter on how many damage he would be able to do with his weapons...

I know Starcraft is not a realist RTS, I just would like to confirm if it could be possible to make a more realist strategy game with the editor, thanks to this kind of additionnal features to the units.

 

I am pretty sure blizzard already confirmed support for 1 custom resource.

I would be very surprised if it was not possible to do this, considering how easy it was in warcraft 3s editor (even defining specific units to be carried with a custom ability).

this would effectively be the hero system that has been confirmed possible time and time again. As for actually morphing into a different unit, you could use a ability that you unlock at a certain xp that is just a dummy and a "ability used" trigger replaces the unit.

Ammo seems relatively easy, could probably frankenstien some abilities the units in the map editor have (vultures spidermine limit, medivac autocasting) making the units use a autocasting spell with a limit on uses as an attack, not sure about incorporating it with actual attacks, doubt that would work.

Staminas interesting, be awesome if you could make it recharge when the units still and go down when its moving or attacking, possible having a change in performance

I like that idea actually, although i think if it is implemented it will be more of a thing for ease of movement in a map than an actual terrain feature. I'm guessing they would use a "blindzone" where you can't tell your units to move before you would be ordering them onto the bridge so you wouldn't have really any control under the overpass.