At gamescom we (instarcraft.de, a german fansite) had a chance to do an interview with Jonny Ebbert, Senior Designer for Heart of the Swarm, and Bob Colayco from Blizzard's PR team. Here are some quotes which are related to maps and custom games.
Can you talk about some of the new features for the Galaxy Map Editor in the next expansion?
Jonny Ebbert: I'm not sure if I can. We are working on things for the mod community, but don't have to announce anything. We are constantly working on the editor, not only for the fans, but also for us. So it's constantly work in progress. We see the mods that are cool and so amazing and we do hear about the limitations and frustrations. We do listen to that and when it is possible we try to add this things to the editor.
Quote:
Features like Waaagh!TV where you can just jump into a game and watch it?
BC: (smiling) That stuff is always on our internal wish-list, but it is always a matter of prioritizing: What can we do? How may resources do we have for this instance? So it is a matter of prioritizing which things first. We can say that the Market Place related stuff is really improving the custom game search. Players [will] being able to weight their new custom games, making that whole process of finding a good mod better. That's at or near the top of the list right now. Everything else is just kind of aligning after that.
JE: What's really awesome on Battle.net is that we don't have to wait for a product to come out to release the improvement. So if something doesn't get in with Heart of the Swarm, we don't have to wait until Legacy [of the Void] to ship it.
Quote:
Can you give us some information about Blizzard DotA? Do you plan a release this year or with Heart of the Swarm?
I can't tell you about this. What I can tell is that we're working on Blizzard DotA. We will definitely have a lot to tell you at BlizzCon.
So do you think that Blizzard DotA could compete with DotA 2?
That's for you to decide. We will release it and then the fans will decide how awesome it is.
BC: One of the things that we can say is: If you guys were at BlizzCon last year and saw it and maybe played it, it's a lot different now.
JE: I would say completely. We completely wracked it. We basicly redid it after last years BlizzCon, so yeah, expect a lot of changes.
Quote:
Also between the missions, so that there will be something for the player to do?
Oh, definitely. There are kind of three things we are focusing for. First one, we want to make each mission as exciting ans unique as possible and have a tone-like mechanic that is special to that mission. The other thing we wanna do is to give you even more compelling choices in each of the missions than you had in [Wings of] Liberty. So Liberty had like Tech purchases and Mercenaries, it has research and in Liberty you have the ability to upgrade your units. Here you have the ability to split your units into new sub-species. You also have the Kerrigan powers that you can choose between each mission and there are possibly some other things we haven't revealed yet.
But no „Last Viking?”
BC: That game on the arcade machine...
JE: Oh... I'm not sure if the Zerg should have an arcade machine.
Maybe an infested arcade machine...
Yeah, an infested arcade machine. Actually I should write that down. (laughs)
Quote:
In StarCraft II the observation system with the stats and everything was a huge enhancement compared to your previous games. Can we expect further eSport enhancements for the community in Heart of the Swarm? For example the ability to watch you replay together with many other people is missing or the ability to follow a competition like it used to be with Waaagh!TV.
JE: We will not tell you about that until BlizzCon, like new features for eSports or things like that.
BC: It's kind of a similar question like what we talked about earlier: All of those things, they are on the list of things that we want to do. It's just a matter of prioritizing. Just because we have an expansion doesn't mean this is the only chance we have to cram these things in. We patched in a lot of improvements to Battle.Net and we added the chat rooms, we had some new content with the custom maps. So those kind of features can come in between releases and then post. So I think there is many more room to add some of those. At the top of the list right now is improving the custom game experience.
Quote:
A lot of people do criticize the ladder map pool. What are the reasons for rather making your own maps instead of using community made maps for the ladder pool?
BC: I think the way we look at the map pool and the ladder is that... I think a lot of the hardcore community, they want every map to be a macro map. They always want that third expansion to be easy to take and so every game has to get to 200 food. But that is not necessarily what - you know StarCraft has sold more than four and a half million copies - that is not necessarily what everyone wants. Sometimes you want to play rush maps, sometimes you want to play regular size maps and sometimes you want to play macro. If you look at the map pool as a whole it kind of gets all those points. The hardcore tournaments make their own maps and then they integrate that into their high level play and that's ok, that's ok form them to do that.
So might it be a solution to just increase the amount of maps in the pool and give the players more vetos?
JE: The map pool is not random. We cycle out maps we don't like for some reasons and we add maps for other reasons. And also the map pool has a size that is for a reason. We kind of consider them as an experience for players that pushes players in different reactions. If the map pool is gonna push you out of your comfort zone. Some people like to turtle, some people like to rush and some people like to hard-macro but we're gonna give a variety of maps and there is gonna be a certain number of each type of map. And the other thing is: We do take into account certain things in the metagame that are unfair across different races based on the maps. So if we wanted to use a player map, we need to make sure that it meets that criteria like “Can the Zerg defend all rushes?” ... The placement of the Watch Towers is also not random, it is very clear what is revealed with these Watch Towers and what's not. That's kind of the reason, but I also can't say we would never release a player map. If a player map is so awesome, maybe we would one day say “Hey, we're gonna add a player map”.
I think combined with the new patch notes this really shows that blizzard is trying hard to improve the custom game section of sc2 :)
At GamesCom 2011 our staff member HorstSchlemmer hat the chance - together with other european fansites - to do an interview with Jonny Ebbert, Senior Designer for Heart of the Swarm, and Bob Colayco from Blizzard's PR team.
I've been saying it from beta but what they need most is the ability to see games are ACTIVE. Most people don't go past page three, however if they see a game from page 5 that is actually being played, they'd be more inclined to join it. That happened alot on WC3, especially when the dota spam hit. You almost never saw most of the good maps but if you actually hosted one, you almost always got a full house.
People want to play the maps farther down the list, but that's the key here. They want to PLAY those maps, not sit alone in an empty lobby. Seeing how many hours has been played doesn't tell us if it's being played NOW. And that's what blizzard really needs to bloody add already. Let us sort by games that are being hosted at this very minute, so we know what people are playing and can finally get some goddamned diversity in here instead of the same dozen maps endlessly.
I've been saying it from beta but what they need most is the ability to see games are ACTIVE. Most people don't go past page three, however if they see a game from page 5 that is actually being played, they'd be more inclined to join it. That happened alot on WC3, especially when the dota spam hit. You almost never saw most of the good maps but if you actually hosted one, you almost always got a full house.
People want to play the maps farther down the list, but that's the key here. They want to PLAY those maps, not sit alone in an empty lobby. Seeing how many hours has been played doesn't tell us if it's being played NOW. And that's what blizzard really needs to bloody add already. Let us sort by games that are being hosted at this very minute, so we know what people are playing and can finally get some goddamned diversity in here instead of the same dozen maps endlessly.
No they just need to give us the WC3 custom game search feature back and it will fix 99% of our problems. This includes naming our god damn games.
Hey guys, I can see this coming, so please don't turn this into a "popularity system" feud thread. There are some interesting details here that can be discussed, but please, please, please don't go back to the pop system complaints...
Why would you want to name your games? please explain, I find it ridiculous and redundant, considering you can invite people by yourself.
Because it brings an otherwise lifeless battle.net some human interaction in which it desperately needs. And it is extremely boring searching through the list of games.
Hey guys, I can see this coming, so please don't turn this into a "popularity system" feud thread. There are some interesting details here that can be discussed, but please, please, please don't go back to the pop system complaints...
It's a valid complaint. As mappers we have the right to be annoyed by it.
That is an opinion. (I realize by far the popular one here). I cannot control what you talk about, but I'm just asking to keep it to a minimum, just for the sake of this discussion has taken place at least 100 times. But if you feel that what you have to say is really important, by all means say it. Every opinion is one that can make a difference. However, they just said that they were not just working on it, but making it a "first priority". We can at least try to be positive, right? :)
But yeah, on topic, this looks too good to be true. I really hope the follow through on this one. I just have to trust the Blizzard knows what they are doing. Their goal is to make money. A community of people "working" for them for free is too amazing of an opportunity for them to pass up. If they don't listen to us, they will completely lose us, and they know that. They wouldn't do that. Their goal is to make money, and that would lose them A TON of money. If they don't do what we say, they will do something to make up for it. They will do something, even if they keep the popularity system, to keep people interested in mapping.
If not, well then they need to hire some new employees. But I highly, highly doubt that will be necessary. Have some faith. Blizzard is a company that wants to do things right. Give them some time. They tried to rush things (Fun or Not) because of all the complaints, and look how that turned out. I am sure there are reasons on their end that they cannot just "go back to the WC3" system without re-writing a bunch of code. Blizzard only has so much time, and so much money.
All in all, I am truly excited for hots. I am almost excited for this as I was for WOL, maybe even more so. They will do it right, you will see.
Because it brings an otherwise lifeless battle.net some human
interaction in which it desperately needs. And it is extremely boring
searching through the list of games.
Er, the point?
You can invite people by yourself, you don't need to spam your gn around. Why make people search you when you can invite them directly to lobby?
Also, the architecture of Battle.net works around "you press join X game, you get in random lobby of x game", and it's fine like that, imo. We just need to show modes and to have a special category where "current not-full-for-more-than-2-minutes lobbies are displayed".
I make an RPG with several zones, featuring levels 1-60. Experienced players want to host 'level 40+ doing X boss run', whereas many other players are wanting to do 'New players only < level 10' and so forth.
As a map creator I can't predict all of this with 'game modes' or 'categories'. Having players able to name their games is a solution.
Thoughts?
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At gamescom we (instarcraft.de, a german fansite) had a chance to do an interview with Jonny Ebbert, Senior Designer for Heart of the Swarm, and Bob Colayco from Blizzard's PR team. Here are some quotes which are related to maps and custom games.
You can read the full interview here: Jonny Ebbert interview (or read the german translation).
I think combined with the new patch notes this really shows that blizzard is trying hard to improve the custom game section of sc2 :)
Sounds interresting, im really looking forward to Blizzcon this year! :)
I'm waiting for better way to publish single player campaigns most.
I assume you mean gamescom, not blizzcon?
Gamescom is over already.
@s3rius: Go
He was asking if the OP was talking about what Blizzard did at Gamscom, seeing how Blizzcon hasn't yet happened.
From the source page. So yes, its from gamescom.
Yes, thanks for the hint.
Wazzup Rodri; oh, wait :O.
I'm glad they seem to be caring. Let's see if they manage to fix everything fast :).
*Makes grumbling stereotypical post about how Blizzard is in it for the money, this is all a lie and they're out to ruin the mapping community*
This thread is now complete.
Thanks for sharing btw, Peeeq!
I've been saying it from beta but what they need most is the ability to see games are ACTIVE. Most people don't go past page three, however if they see a game from page 5 that is actually being played, they'd be more inclined to join it. That happened alot on WC3, especially when the dota spam hit. You almost never saw most of the good maps but if you actually hosted one, you almost always got a full house.
People want to play the maps farther down the list, but that's the key here. They want to PLAY those maps, not sit alone in an empty lobby. Seeing how many hours has been played doesn't tell us if it's being played NOW. And that's what blizzard really needs to bloody add already. Let us sort by games that are being hosted at this very minute, so we know what people are playing and can finally get some goddamned diversity in here instead of the same dozen maps endlessly.
No they just need to give us the WC3 custom game search feature back and it will fix 99% of our problems. This includes naming our god damn games.
@Mozared:
HAHAHAHAHA SO CLEVER.
Why would you want to name your games? please explain, I find it ridiculous and redundant, considering you can invite people by yourself.
Hey guys, I can see this coming, so please don't turn this into a "popularity system" feud thread. There are some interesting details here that can be discussed, but please, please, please don't go back to the pop system complaints...
Great to be back and part of the community again!
Because it brings an otherwise lifeless battle.net some human interaction in which it desperately needs. And it is extremely boring searching through the list of games.
It's a valid complaint. As mappers we have the right to be annoyed by it.
@ST4RKiLL3R: Go
That is an opinion. (I realize by far the popular one here). I cannot control what you talk about, but I'm just asking to keep it to a minimum, just for the sake of this discussion has taken place at least 100 times. But if you feel that what you have to say is really important, by all means say it. Every opinion is one that can make a difference. However, they just said that they were not just working on it, but making it a "first priority". We can at least try to be positive, right? :)
But yeah, on topic, this looks too good to be true. I really hope the follow through on this one. I just have to trust the Blizzard knows what they are doing. Their goal is to make money. A community of people "working" for them for free is too amazing of an opportunity for them to pass up. If they don't listen to us, they will completely lose us, and they know that. They wouldn't do that. Their goal is to make money, and that would lose them A TON of money. If they don't do what we say, they will do something to make up for it. They will do something, even if they keep the popularity system, to keep people interested in mapping.
If not, well then they need to hire some new employees. But I highly, highly doubt that will be necessary. Have some faith. Blizzard is a company that wants to do things right. Give them some time. They tried to rush things (Fun or Not) because of all the complaints, and look how that turned out. I am sure there are reasons on their end that they cannot just "go back to the WC3" system without re-writing a bunch of code. Blizzard only has so much time, and so much money.
All in all, I am truly excited for hots. I am almost excited for this as I was for WOL, maybe even more so. They will do it right, you will see.
Blizz, don't let us down. :D
Great to be back and part of the community again!
@ST4RKiLL3R: Go
thats actually perfect way to descrive bnet. It feels lifeles. Naming maps sure would be good....i want it!
Er, the point?
You can invite people by yourself, you don't need to spam your gn around. Why make people search you when you can invite them directly to lobby?
Also, the architecture of Battle.net works around "you press join X game, you get in random lobby of x game", and it's fine like that, imo. We just need to show modes and to have a special category where "current not-full-for-more-than-2-minutes lobbies are displayed".
@Lonami: Go
I'll tell you why:
I make an RPG with several zones, featuring levels 1-60. Experienced players want to host 'level 40+ doing X boss run', whereas many other players are wanting to do 'New players only < level 10' and so forth.
As a map creator I can't predict all of this with 'game modes' or 'categories'. Having players able to name their games is a solution.
Thoughts?