Emperor Pan I
Respected Member
Members of Blizzard to answer concerns about SCII.
Enjoy
"I have collected a bunch of questions and comments from the various forums I have been reading and I thought I would respond to a few of the issues I have seen. Sorry it's not more.
Question: I have seen something in a screen shot that has not yet been explained. What his this thing?
I probably cant answer that question yet.=( Chances are its something old (not still in the game) or something in testing (something we arent all that sure about yet). So if you see it and there is no official word it means you get to guess while we are trying to make it work or are about to cut it.
Comment: The art doesnt seem as clear as it was in StarCraft 2. I worry I wont be able to instantly read what is going on in the game and that it will be confusing.
StarCraft played at a very fast speed. StarCraft 2 is going to maintain this same fast game play. So this is a very legitimate concern. We are always working on the balance between what looks great and what is easy to understand and read. This does take us a lot of time to do. Sometimes stuff doesnt read that well and you guys get to see it. The Zerglings that we showed in Korea are a great example. They dont have enough team color on them and they dont read that well. We talked about it a lot around here before we went to Korea and we decided that we were better off showing Zerglings than just leaving them out. So we are working on that unit, as we are working on lots of units and effects. The Mothership effects are in a similar state. They look awesome but they can (at times) cover up too much of the action. So we will be making every effort to dial these in to something that looks great but also allows you to instantly read everything in the middle of a complicated fight.
Comment: Unlimited selection or auto-cast or some other interface improvement is going to take all of the skill out of the game.
This is a very real concern that we talk about a lot on the team. Obviously we want to update our interface but at the same time skilled players MUST be able to show off their abilities. Our goal is to update the interface and then add a bunch more stuff that players can do to show off their skill. Ultimately there will be more to do in StarCraft 2 than there was in StarCraft. The only way players could handle this added functionality is to have an easier-to-use interface. My best current example is the Stalker, which requires a substantial amount of skill to use well in a game. There are some other examples from other races that I cant talk about yet. =( Also, on this front we are trying to add more. The Protoss are not done yet. I wish they had more stuff that would allow skilled players to show off their abilities. We will keep working on this.
Comment: I dont like the art or sounds on a particular unit. Or I dont like the unit idea at all.
I encourage folks to make posts about what they do and dont like. We do look at these boards (and at lots of others). Our community managers do collect a lot of feedback for us from these boards. We will definitely be taking note when the community doesnt like something and see what we can do. We still have a lot of time left to make this game so dont panic if you see something you dont like, but DO post about it. We want to hear what you think.
I also cant wait to see what folks think after Blizzcon. There is some new stuff to show as well as some changes to stuff you have already seen (and no I cant say what those changes are, we havent finished them yet). =) We are working really hard to make the game as fun as we possibly can so that the community can get a good look at the game in just a few weeks."
source
Enjoy
"I have collected a bunch of questions and comments from the various forums I have been reading and I thought I would respond to a few of the issues I have seen. Sorry it's not more.
Question: I have seen something in a screen shot that has not yet been explained. What his this thing?
I probably cant answer that question yet.=( Chances are its something old (not still in the game) or something in testing (something we arent all that sure about yet). So if you see it and there is no official word it means you get to guess while we are trying to make it work or are about to cut it.
Comment: The art doesnt seem as clear as it was in StarCraft 2. I worry I wont be able to instantly read what is going on in the game and that it will be confusing.
StarCraft played at a very fast speed. StarCraft 2 is going to maintain this same fast game play. So this is a very legitimate concern. We are always working on the balance between what looks great and what is easy to understand and read. This does take us a lot of time to do. Sometimes stuff doesnt read that well and you guys get to see it. The Zerglings that we showed in Korea are a great example. They dont have enough team color on them and they dont read that well. We talked about it a lot around here before we went to Korea and we decided that we were better off showing Zerglings than just leaving them out. So we are working on that unit, as we are working on lots of units and effects. The Mothership effects are in a similar state. They look awesome but they can (at times) cover up too much of the action. So we will be making every effort to dial these in to something that looks great but also allows you to instantly read everything in the middle of a complicated fight.
Comment: Unlimited selection or auto-cast or some other interface improvement is going to take all of the skill out of the game.
This is a very real concern that we talk about a lot on the team. Obviously we want to update our interface but at the same time skilled players MUST be able to show off their abilities. Our goal is to update the interface and then add a bunch more stuff that players can do to show off their skill. Ultimately there will be more to do in StarCraft 2 than there was in StarCraft. The only way players could handle this added functionality is to have an easier-to-use interface. My best current example is the Stalker, which requires a substantial amount of skill to use well in a game. There are some other examples from other races that I cant talk about yet. =( Also, on this front we are trying to add more. The Protoss are not done yet. I wish they had more stuff that would allow skilled players to show off their abilities. We will keep working on this.
Comment: I dont like the art or sounds on a particular unit. Or I dont like the unit idea at all.
I encourage folks to make posts about what they do and dont like. We do look at these boards (and at lots of others). Our community managers do collect a lot of feedback for us from these boards. We will definitely be taking note when the community doesnt like something and see what we can do. We still have a lot of time left to make this game so dont panic if you see something you dont like, but DO post about it. We want to hear what you think.
I also cant wait to see what folks think after Blizzcon. There is some new stuff to show as well as some changes to stuff you have already seen (and no I cant say what those changes are, we havent finished them yet). =) We are working really hard to make the game as fun as we possibly can so that the community can get a good look at the game in just a few weeks."
source
