We’d always had these elaborate briefings in StarCraft. I don’t think Mass Effect was even out yet when we started creating this, so that wasn’t a reference we could use, but it was one we could use later on. What inspirations were you drawing on when you came up with these segments, and why did you feel that they were necessary for the game?Ĭertainly Wing Commander is one that was talked about frequently in the studio when we first started this project. Many players have mentioned how this recalls the Wing Commander games, and it even reminded me a little bit of the Mass Effect series. One of the most interesting choices in the game from my point of view is the between-mission segments in the ship where you can click on different items and talk to characters and learn additional information. That first couple of weeks when the reviews were coming out was truly terrifying, just to see what the response was from the community and the critics. Our baby is going out there, and there’s nothing we can do for it now. As we got closer to the end and more unable to change things, I know my personal level of terror skyrocketed.Įven on launch night, I’m smiling and happy and excited that we’re done, but we’re about to put it in the hands of the consumer. There’s not much you can do in the last month-and-a-half except fix the bugs. I think you’re doing a really great job.” But as we got closer to the end, we lost more control. Even people internally who’d been skeptical for quite a while started turning and saying, “No, I think you’re good. We were getting more and more positive feedback from the beta and positive feedback from people internally.
And I’ve got to tell you, it got worse as we got closer to the end.
So we ultimately put our heads down at some point and said, “Look, we’ve got to make the best game we know how to make.” We had to not worry too much about the fear and just focus on quality.ĭid you ever have those moments of panic, though? Like, it’s the middle of the project, and suddenly you realize, “Oh my god, I’m making StarCraft II.”Ĭonstantly. It’s so important for the fans and us, as fans ourselves, to walk away from this and know that we did a good job. Throughout the development process, from when we first started working on it until the last bit, there was a lot of concern that maybe we wouldn’t hit that quality level. We hoped that we could come up to that standard at the end of the day. We tried to be aware of that, but I think at some point we just put our heads down and just tried to focus on the game as it was and make the best game we knew how to make. We just knew that expectations were really high. There was a lot of fear obviously, because we know that we have a lot of responsibility to hearken to the legacy of this game and to do it justice, to be worthy of the name StarCraft II. How did you approach dealing with the clearly high level of expectations out there and the amount of stress that brings to the process of creating the game? It was number 35 on our top 200 games of all time. It’s a sequel to a game people have been waiting over 10 years for, and the original is on a lot of best of all time lists.
Read the full interview below to discover what influences the team had in their design decisions, why they weren’t interested in bringing wild changes to multiplayer, and some early hints and what we can expect from the next game in the StarCraft II trilogy, Heart of the Swarm.Īny game that Blizzard does has a high level of anticipation going among gamers, but I think in StarCraft II’s case, the hype and excitement around it reached crazy proportions. To get an inside look at how StarCraft II was created, we talked with lead designer Dustin Browder. It takes years of hard work, dozens (if not hundreds) of lengthy meetings and debates, and a truly talented and passionate team. But a game of this level of quality doesn’t happen out of nowhere.
A truly elite title that is nearly perfect in every way.” That’s how the GI review scale describes a game that receives a 10, and it’s also a description that I think fits quite comfortably with StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty.