I know there's a lot of questions as to what has gone on with it.
A brief history of what happened in case you're not fully aware... I posted that youtube video about a week ago, and after the 4th day it started to go viral. I was periodically checking it to view comments when I noticed the hits were going up at about 10,000 an hour... Once it got up to about 150k views with over 300 supportive comments, Activision pulled it. I was really confused seeing as how there were many other World of Starcraft projects attempted and youtubed, and furthermore confused by the copyright issue. Everything inside of Blizzard's editor is copyrighted material so I thought as long as things were being produced within SC2 it was fair game regardless of title.
Kid logic I suppose.
The Deputy General Council from Blizzard contacted me last night to discuss the details of the "World of Starcraft" project. We talked for a while and apparently some people from Blizz were concerned I was developing the game somehow outside of SC2. Anyways I explained the details of the project to him and made it clear this mod was to be developed within SC2. After that was clear he obviously wanted the name to be changed... I'm trying to work with him to get the name Starcraft Universe (Currently in holding by Mille25) or Starcraft Chronicles. I am fully respectful of Blizzard's Intellectual property, and they DO in fact own a copyright on "World of Starcraft" and have EVERY RIGHT to do what they did. If I want to continue this project I'm at the mercy of Blizzard's good graces since they OWN it all.
Anyways yesterday I was contacted by Riot games in Los Angeles for a potential position in game design. I'm not special though I will have to go through the application process and testing like everyone else, and this is not a 100% guaranteed thing, and I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do at the moment. There's a lot going on outside of what I've even mentioned here.
Literally overnight I've grown from a nobody to a guy that half a million people want to design a mod. I've had professional composers contact me, dozens upon dozens of game designers and programmers and organizers. Many professionals seeking a fun hobby project even though there is NO MONEY TO BE MADE.
( At this time premium maps is still just a concept )
Finally I want to say how GRATEFUL I am to THIS website and everyone in it and all my friends here. From the Tutorials to the amazing help I've recieved in the IRC over the last four months. This place is amazing. I could have never made the transition I have from the wc3 editor to sc2 edit without this place, and regardless of what happens to me I will stamp sc2mapster on everything I can from here moving forward.
Mille25 and I are going to discuss the possible fusion of his Starcraft Universe project today with mine, and we'll see what happens. But regardless I know that an instanced based Starcraft MMO will happen somewhay, somehow, eventually - within Starcraft II.
Thankyou: Shawn, Onetwo, Progammer, Proziac, Lillianna, Xaragoth, Sumo, Sixen, JmanV, Helral, Slaydon, SCMapper, A1Win, Skizot, Vjeux, DarkRevenant, Dogmai, Fockewulf, HeyRevolver, Mindful, Skittles, rrowland, Phaos... and all the other names I may be drawing a blank on at this time... If you've ever helped me with the editor, I truly truly appriciate the time.
There's a lot of people here who I know are more technically and creative talented than I am.. and when your skill meets your opportunity, your life might change forever. Never give up.
I saw some days ago news about "World Of Starcraft" and I thought wow, a map from SC2Mapster is now on computer news sites?
It was on two big German news site: www.Golem.de www.gulli.com
I read that. The article is bad in so many ways.
The news is written like WoS is an ACTUAL mod which turns the game into a mmo-type like WoW (actually it doesn't even say that you need Starcraft II for it).
Here's a quote:
Quote:
Während Blizzard die Strategiespiel-Reihe Warcraft I-III in das Online-Rollenspiel World of Warcraft verwandelte, blieb beim Partner Starcraft der Sprung in die Welt der MMOGs aus. Dies soll sich ändern. Eine Reihe von Tüftlern, Moddern und Hobbyentwicklern hat es sich nun zur Aufgabe gemacht, auf Basis von Starcraft 2, ein Online-Rollenspiel à la World of Warcraft auf die Beine zu stellen.
Translation:
"While Blizzard created the online-rpg World of Warcraft based on the strategy series Warcraft I-III, it's brother Starcraft never made the jump into the world of MMOGs. This is supposed so change now. A group of hobby tinkerers, modders and developers started to work on a Starcraft2-based online rpg à la WoW. "
Not a literal translation, but it's obvious that the guy who wrote it has either no clue what he's talking about or totally misunderstood the idea of WoS.
They stated BUFFED (A wow page) to be the source of this news. I'm pretty sure they just went there and brainlessly copied all information. Because the guys from BUFFED also seem to be ignorant of the differences between WoS and WoW and treat it like it's actually going to be a MMO where hundreds of people are happily gathering on a server and raid the hell out of some boss.
Unfortunately I can't view the trailers because Activision blocked them for Germany (and probably other countries too), but I also can't understand the hype about it. The Selection Screen trailer (I saw it before the block) basically only shows the hero preview and how you can change colors. I couldn't see the ghost trailer, though.
I don't want to degrade the map - it's a geat idea, it's probably already fun to play and it'll probably become hugely popular once it's released.
But to me it feels like most of it's current popularity is based on false information from ignorant news sites and the fact that it's WORLD OF WARCRAFT which is a huge popularity boost already.
Look at Project Vector for example. The trailers show much more gameplay already, the looks are great and it's at least as innovative as WoS. Still, apart from a few mentions in a couple of reports which deal with custom mapping in general no one really cares about it (outside the Sc2 community).
Now that I raged a little..
I'm happy that you get that much support now, and I hope it'll help turning WoS into a map that'll steal dozens and dozens of hours of my lifetime. I'm sure you can make it stand up to it's fame (although people will cry when they notice that it's, in fact, not an MMO).
@s3rius: Well I thought the same when I read the articles but Its not clearly at all, they didn't said its a mod without the need of Starcraft2 too.
So its just a bit confusing.
Anyways I don't think that guys without Starcraft2 will think about playing this "mod".
Guys who own Starcraft2 will mostly know of this map anyway.
@h34dl4g: Go
"While Blizzard created the online-rpg World of Warcraft based on the strategy series Warcraft I-III, it's brother Starcraft never made the jump into the world of MMOGs. This is supposed so change now. A group of hobby tinkerers, modders and developers started to work on a Starcraft2-based online rpg à la WoW. "
No wonder it turned out, somebody from Blizzard probably read that and gave the legal department a call and gave them the idea as Creation said that they thought he was making a mod of it outside of the editor.
A good point was brought up. Some of the hype has been based on simply the premise itself. It was WoS which is a hugely popular idea. I'm not too surprised about what Riot Games did. Pendragon_ (from Riot) contacted me regarding Element TD. It seems they are in the business of turning Blizzard maps into full games (DotA and LoL). My advice to the OP is to be careful about Riot Games. At any rate, not trying to put down the game because I'm sure that once this thing is released on BNET it will be top page.
What the fuck, man? people is stupid or what? what I've read depicts this as "a fully complete working unique MMO that doesn't need SC2". God, I can't understand how people is this idiot, don't they know how to check sources or something? or to even simply open the project page at this very site? O_O
I'm with s3rius here, people is stupid, and believed the first thing they heard. I can't believe event Blizzard failed to understand the mod and had to call you all-lame and remove your videos. Seriously, what a bunch of retards, both news-sites and Blizzard.
Anyway, you saw the hype it had, and that makes it a reason to go on and complete it (unlike all that people before that have surrendered). Good luck with it, I'll be looking forward the release :).
Creation25, I am sorry you had to deal with all of this, both good and bad. Even though you have a lot on your plate, we all still support this project and will inevitably help finish it. What creation25 said was right, even though the hype of this project went beserk, its Blizzards right to raise up the caution flag. Furthermore, I like the attitude he have on all of this; he has maintain composure and had no ounce of raging in his post.
Copyright issues can be very confusing especially this situation. He is making an custom RPG map that sets in the Starcraft Universe. What are some specific copyright issues must he avoid? If Creation25 does decide to continue with the project, what can he rename the project to?
I say have a primary and secondary title. The Primary can be specific while the secondary title can generally describe the map.
Examples:
Life as a Marine
The Starcraft 2 RPG
WoSC
The Starcraft 2 RPG
Galaxy Journey
The Starcraft 2 RPG
Quest of Nova
The Starcraft 2 RPG
Raynor's Guild
The Starcraft 2 RPG
Naming is fun, I love to give you more ideas =D
Since this project already has great hype, there is no worry to have the word Starcraft in your map now. Also, the secondary title helps newcomers get a sense of what the map is. In my opinion, I say create a more distinctive primary title and have the secondary be - The Starcraft 2 RPG. Furthermore, i hope the problem with blizz is simply a naming problem since that can be changed right away =)
Thanks for the update Ryan (sorry I missed you on IRC, I was out cold when you messaged me, :P). Glad I newsed your project last week, mwhahaha, :D. Anyway, I understand what's going on now, i'm glad you were able to get in contact with Blizzard. As you said, they are completely justified in what they did, but to completely kill the project would be another story entirely. I had full faith in your project before you've gotten all this publicity, and now look. You have to do it for all these people now, not just me, :P.
If there's anything I can do for you, you know how to reach me.
@QueenGambit: The problem is that he wants to make his map more like an MMO than an RPG.
I know there's a lot of questions as to what has gone on with it.
A brief history of what happened in case you're not fully aware... I posted that youtube video about a week ago, and after the 4th day it started to go viral. I was periodically checking it to view comments when I noticed the hits were going up at about 10,000 an hour... Once it got up to about 150k views with over 300 supportive comments, Activision pulled it. I was really confused seeing as how there were many other World of Starcraft projects attempted and youtubed, and furthermore confused by the copyright issue. Everything inside of Blizzard's editor is copyrighted material so I thought as long as things were being produced within SC2 it was fair game regardless of title.
Kid logic I suppose.
The Deputy General Council from Blizzard contacted me last night to discuss the details of the "World of Starcraft" project. We talked for a while and apparently some people from Blizz were concerned I was developing the game somehow outside of SC2. Anyways I explained the details of the project to him and made it clear this mod was to be developed within SC2. After that was clear he obviously wanted the name to be changed... I'm trying to work with him to get the name Starcraft Universe (Currently in holding by Mille25) or Starcraft Chronicles. I am fully respectful of Blizzard's Intellectual property, and they DO in fact own a copyright on "World of Starcraft" and have EVERY RIGHT to do what they did. If I want to continue this project I'm at the mercy of Blizzard's good graces since they OWN it all.
Anyways yesterday I was contacted by Riot games in Los Angeles for a potential position in game design. I'm not special though I will have to go through the application process and testing like everyone else, and this is not a 100% guaranteed thing, and I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do at the moment. There's a lot going on outside of what I've even mentioned here.
Literally overnight I've grown from a nobody to a guy that half a million people want to design a mod. I've had professional composers contact me, dozens upon dozens of game designers and programmers and organizers. Many professionals seeking a fun hobby project even though there is NO MONEY TO BE MADE. ( At this time premium maps is still just a concept )
Finally I want to say how GRATEFUL I am to THIS website and everyone in it and all my friends here. From the Tutorials to the amazing help I've recieved in the IRC over the last four months. This place is amazing. I could have never made the transition I have from the wc3 editor to sc2 edit without this place, and regardless of what happens to me I will stamp sc2mapster on everything I can from here moving forward.
Mille25 and I are going to discuss the possible fusion of his Starcraft Universe project today with mine, and we'll see what happens. But regardless I know that an instanced based Starcraft MMO will happen somewhay, somehow, eventually - within Starcraft II.
Thankyou: Shawn, Onetwo, Progammer, Proziac, Lillianna, Xaragoth, Sumo, Sixen, JmanV, Helral, Slaydon, SCMapper, A1Win, Skizot, Vjeux, DarkRevenant, Dogmai, Fockewulf, HeyRevolver, Mindful, Skittles, rrowland, Phaos... and all the other names I may be drawing a blank on at this time... If you've ever helped me with the editor, I truly truly appriciate the time.
There's a lot of people here who I know are more technically and creative talented than I am.. and when your skill meets your opportunity, your life might change forever. Never give up.
Cordially, Creation aka RyanWin
@Creation25: Go
Sounds like some nice attention. Id take up the "Riot" offer. They look like a nice place to work.
Funny what a little blood, sweat, and youtube video can get ya sometimes.
You realize if you name the map "StarCraft Universe". You wont be able to upload it to bnet either right?
Id suggest you pick a name for the map that Doesnt Have "StarCraft" in it...... like the EULA and editor tell you to.
Glad we could help ^^
If you need tips/help/advice, drop a note as always ;) Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta get me my job in the industry here in Europe.
Yeah in game I was just going to call it WoSC, but have a "World of Starcraft" loading screen. No loopholes with Bliz though. Understandable.
Wow, nice man :) GL with everything ;)
And if you're gonna go with Starcraft Universe, you can just upload it as "SCU" (Reminds me of SGU, "Stargate Universe")
@Creation25: Go
I must say, the tag regular shmoe really isn't fitting for you at this point :P
Congratulations!
The internet works in strange ways ;) Congratulation on your newfound fame and I hope everything works out to your advantage
Good luck on the project, sc2mapster is always here for any help you might need and don't forget to be awesome :)!
I saw some days ago news about "World Of Starcraft" and I thought wow, a map from SC2Mapster is now on computer news sites?
It was on two big German news site:
www.Golem.de
www.gulli.com
Keep up the good work!
I read that. The article is bad in so many ways.
The news is written like WoS is an ACTUAL mod which turns the game into a mmo-type like WoW (actually it doesn't even say that you need Starcraft II for it).
Here's a quote:
Translation:
"While Blizzard created the online-rpg World of Warcraft based on the strategy series Warcraft I-III, it's brother Starcraft never made the jump into the world of MMOGs. This is supposed so change now. A group of hobby tinkerers, modders and developers started to work on a Starcraft2-based online rpg à la WoW. "
Not a literal translation, but it's obvious that the guy who wrote it has either no clue what he's talking about or totally misunderstood the idea of WoS.
They stated BUFFED (A wow page) to be the source of this news. I'm pretty sure they just went there and brainlessly copied all information. Because the guys from BUFFED also seem to be ignorant of the differences between WoS and WoW and treat it like it's actually going to be a MMO where hundreds of people are happily gathering on a server and raid the hell out of some boss.
Unfortunately I can't view the trailers because Activision blocked them for Germany (and probably other countries too), but I also can't understand the hype about it. The Selection Screen trailer (I saw it before the block) basically only shows the hero preview and how you can change colors. I couldn't see the ghost trailer, though.
I don't want to degrade the map - it's a geat idea, it's probably already fun to play and it'll probably become hugely popular once it's released.
But to me it feels like most of it's current popularity is based on false information from ignorant news sites and the fact that it's WORLD OF WARCRAFT which is a huge popularity boost already.
Look at Project Vector for example. The trailers show much more gameplay already, the looks are great and it's at least as innovative as WoS. Still, apart from a few mentions in a couple of reports which deal with custom mapping in general no one really cares about it (outside the Sc2 community).
Now that I raged a little..
I'm happy that you get that much support now, and I hope it'll help turning WoS into a map that'll steal dozens and dozens of hours of my lifetime. I'm sure you can make it stand up to it's fame (although people will cry when they notice that it's, in fact, not an MMO).
@s3rius: Well I thought the same when I read the articles but Its not clearly at all, they didn't said its a mod without the need of Starcraft2 too.
So its just a bit confusing.
Anyways I don't think that guys without Starcraft2 will think about playing this "mod".
Guys who own Starcraft2 will mostly know of this map anyway.
No wonder it turned out, somebody from Blizzard probably read that and gave the legal department a call and gave them the idea as Creation said that they thought he was making a mod of it outside of the editor.
A good point was brought up. Some of the hype has been based on simply the premise itself. It was WoS which is a hugely popular idea. I'm not too surprised about what Riot Games did. Pendragon_ (from Riot) contacted me regarding Element TD. It seems they are in the business of turning Blizzard maps into full games (DotA and LoL). My advice to the OP is to be careful about Riot Games. At any rate, not trying to put down the game because I'm sure that once this thing is released on BNET it will be top page.
First of all, I'm really happy for you, Creation.
Second, nothing against your or your work but...
What the fuck, man? people is stupid or what? what I've read depicts this as "a fully complete working unique MMO that doesn't need SC2". God, I can't understand how people is this idiot, don't they know how to check sources or something? or to even simply open the project page at this very site? O_O
I'm with s3rius here, people is stupid, and believed the first thing they heard. I can't believe event Blizzard failed to understand the mod and had to call you all-lame and remove your videos. Seriously, what a bunch of retards, both news-sites and Blizzard.
Anyway, you saw the hype it had, and that makes it a reason to go on and complete it (unlike all that people before that have surrendered). Good luck with it, I'll be looking forward the release :).
Neat my name was mentioned. =D Gl again, hope it gets all sorted out.
Creation25, I am sorry you had to deal with all of this, both good and bad. Even though you have a lot on your plate, we all still support this project and will inevitably help finish it. What creation25 said was right, even though the hype of this project went beserk, its Blizzards right to raise up the caution flag. Furthermore, I like the attitude he have on all of this; he has maintain composure and had no ounce of raging in his post.
Copyright issues can be very confusing especially this situation. He is making an custom RPG map that sets in the Starcraft Universe. What are some specific copyright issues must he avoid? If Creation25 does decide to continue with the project, what can he rename the project to?
I say have a primary and secondary title. The Primary can be specific while the secondary title can generally describe the map.
Examples:
Life as a Marine
The Starcraft 2 RPG
WoSC
The Starcraft 2 RPG
Galaxy Journey
The Starcraft 2 RPG
Quest of Nova
The Starcraft 2 RPG
Raynor's Guild
The Starcraft 2 RPG
Naming is fun, I love to give you more ideas =D
Since this project already has great hype, there is no worry to have the word Starcraft in your map now. Also, the secondary title helps newcomers get a sense of what the map is. In my opinion, I say create a more distinctive primary title and have the secondary be - The Starcraft 2 RPG. Furthermore, i hope the problem with blizz is simply a naming problem since that can be changed right away =)
Thanks for the update Ryan (sorry I missed you on IRC, I was out cold when you messaged me, :P). Glad I newsed your project last week, mwhahaha, :D. Anyway, I understand what's going on now, i'm glad you were able to get in contact with Blizzard. As you said, they are completely justified in what they did, but to completely kill the project would be another story entirely. I had full faith in your project before you've gotten all this publicity, and now look. You have to do it for all these people now, not just me, :P.
If there's anything I can do for you, you know how to reach me.
@QueenGambit: The problem is that he wants to make his map more like an MMO than an RPG.
Well at the very least it's nice they took the time to actually speak with you 1on1.
A simple clever renaming should solve everything thou.
How did everyone get ur phone number?!
Well internet stupidity, cant blame for that. Good luck to you anyway.
Btw its ProzaicMuze, not Prozaic :)