Designer Notes 1: Rob Pardo - Part 1

[Arathain]

I don't think it's about ego. He's been intimately involved in producing some of the best games of their respective periods. Balancing Brood Wars, for crying out loud- considered by many the most balanced and competitive of all e-sport games. He wouldn't have gotten where he was without some belief in himself.

 

It's easy to understand why newer players don't like rushing. In the brutal atmosphere of competitive RTSs it's logical to seek security, and some space to think and act, especially when you lack confidence. But you do get past that, and you come to understand the key role rushing plays (countering econ boom strategies) and the tradeoff involved in turtling (sacrificing flexibility and map control). It's a better game out the other side. 

 

i was interested in the issue heroes introduced to WC3, where you were disincentivised to split your forces. The multiplayer RTS I spent most time with was Dawn of War 2, which also had powerful hero units leading your forces, which operated similarly to those in WC3. In that game resources came from capturing distinct points on the map, rather than harvesting . This meant you were often splitting off units to go capture a point, or raid a generator farm, and spontaneous meeting engagements between your forces would be happening constantly.This very much leads back into attention as a resource, since the easiest way to lose a squad was to forget about it and miss the sound cues in the heat of action elsewhere. Losing a squad was a heavy blow in that game. 

 

Abilities could also factor into attention-attrition in interesting ways. A few units could throw a grenade for generous damage. If you saw the throw animation begin you had a short window in which you could get your squad out of the way of the grenade before it went off. But this would mean you'd have to watch that unit whenever it was in combat- in essence, they were attention sinks that could distract you from whatever else might be going on. 

[malkav11]

Personally I just like turtling because something deep in my lizard brain likes building forts and huddling in them while my mighty defenses dismantle oncoming forces. As such, tower defense is a genre that's been pretty good to me, although it's not -quite- scratching that itch just right. Maybe a little too abstract or formulaic. I dunno.

[osmosisch]

malkav11, did you listen to the recent talk about castle defender games on 3MA? They might have some tips.

[malkav11]

malkav11, did you listen to the recent talk about castle defender games on 3MA? They might have some tips.

 

No, I'm well over a year behind on my 3MA because I've been trying to listen to them in order from the beginning and even despite days where I binge 4 or 5 in a row, that's still a tall order. (I did eventually make it with Idle Thumbs, though! So maybe I'll get there with 3MA.)

[Arathain]

Supreme Commander vs. the AI is glorious for professional turtles. Sit back behind your carefully layered and overlapping cannons guarded by point defense and anti-air, screened by fighter and gunship patrols. Build vast spider robots and nukes. Win at your leisure.

[sclpls]

Part 2 of interview ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ

[ilitarist]

I'm late to the party but I want to clarify what Soren had mentioned when talking about Warcraft 3 percursors. He mentioned Battlecry and meant Warlords Battlecry.

 

It was Warlords Battlecry spin-off. Later Warlords 4 game used its graphics. It was popular enough to get 3 games. Soren probably meant Battlecry 2. It came before Warcraft 3 and focused on heroes. This game was an example of "Throw it in" design philosophy. It had dozen of races (including stuff like Dark Dwarfs and Fairies), many hero classes and abilities, Risk-style campaign map. Maps themselves featured 4 resources, had neutral treasure sites requiring you to answer riddle (by typing the answer on your keyboard, yep). Heroes had many equipment slots, every unit got EXP and could join hero's elite retinue as a named character. And races were unique - e.g. Undead had two basic units (skeletons and ghosts) who evolved based on the buildings you had. Or, say, Dark Elves could summon extremely powerful demons by sacrificing their slave workers. Third game came after Warcraft 3 and had RPG-style overworld map but couldn't compete.