ZakarD
30-07-2010, 12:04 AM
Chinagame.178.com conducted an interview with the Blizzard Art Director, Sam Didier during the launch of StarCraft II:Wings of Liberty in US. In this interview, Sam Didier explains the differences between StarCraft I and StarCraft II but he also talks on various subjects as well. Here is the full interview.
http://img2.178.com/chinagame/201007/74302372161/74303595031.jpg
Q: From the original Starcraft to Starcraft II the primary change is the 3D technology used in the SC2, during the process, what do you think is the most challenging thing for you?
A: I think it is a revolution. Most of great games at present apply the 3D technology in their visual effects, so it’s time for StarCraft to change into 3D. At the moment, I think we did a good job, and players love it. I mean most gamers accept the transition from 2D to 3D.
Q: We find that in Starcraft II the Models are much more complicated than that of Starcraft, especially the Zerg—(they look so real that it even makes people feel uncomfortable); is this an inevitable result of the 3D technology or there is some other reason for that?
A: All of the units have changed a lot, but simplicity is still what we want to keep for players. When you see a Zergling, we want you to know it is a Zergling instead of Hydralisk, and gamers should easily distinguish Marines, Medics and Reapers. We want players know that how many units they are controlling or see how many units in your enemy’s troop, so the simplicity in the picture is very important when designing the detail of a unit.
Q: You almost worked in the development process of every game made by Blizzard. To introduce Starcraft II, what do you think this game has in common with Diablo, Warcraft, and World of Warcraft Series? And what is the difference between them?
A: I think the process of art creation is similar. However, the most difficult part in the development of StarCraft II is there are many honest and senior players who don’t want to see the changes, and still a lot of fans hope to see a totally new game in front of them, so it is a little bit hard to balance. Especially some popular units like Marine, Battle Cruiser and Seige Tank, we know gamers love these units, so we couldn’t change them too much.
Like Firebat, we created new units to replace them, and I think we did great on this aspect. Just like the game you watched tonight, many new units were frequently used such as Marauder and Baneling. (Reporter: personally, I love Firebat very much.) Oh yeah, I miss them too, but you can still see them in the single player campaign, so remember to look how great they are.
Q: We are wondering, what is the most important factor in your eyes when you design the pictures and arts effect in Starcraft II?
A: In the development of StarCraft II, the most important concept is to make it as a StarCraft series. Our artists did a lot work on creating the units, to make the whole game like a product 12 years later from the original StarCraft. Players are supposed to feel that this is exactly StarCraft II.
Q: StarCraft II is destined to be a worldwide game since it was born, how did you find the balance between the different preference in tastes of different areas, especially between the eastern and the western gamers? When you made this game, did you take the eastern gamers into consideration? In Starcraft II, is there any Eastern Elements existing?
A: What we want to show to players is a game which contains a lot factors in the original StarCraft. Of course, we also know E-Sports in Korea and the eastern game culture, the competitive style is also what we expect. However, we should ensure the new players can handle this game easily, and we want everybody to know what to do in the game. So the most important part is we hope to create a game loved by everyone. They look so great right now, and we are very glad to see that.
Many units in Protoss have the elements of eastern elements, like their weapons which is very special. Some more eastern elements exist in the art details. Although they are not so obvious, we indeed took them for references.
Q: Which character or Unit in Starcraft II do you like best?
A: For Terran, Reaper and Thor are my favorite, especially the Thor---they are too huge. (The voices of Thor are from Sam Didier) In Protoss, I like the Stalker best, because it is an upgrade version of Dragoon. (With Blink) And about Zerg, Ultralisk makes me feel so great, and I love its attack style, like cut the potatoes.
Q: We believe that when you designed the death of each unit, you must have put a lot of effort there, but when Starcraft II enter a country, it need to be changed according to the censorship regulation there, we want to know how do you feel about that, when you are asked to make changes of your original design by the local official?
A: This problem seems not that important if the gamers in all regions can play this game. Of course I feel a little upset about this, but not every player has the same feeling. However, this doesn’t influence the gamers to enjoy the whole game. It is too hard for us to remove Terran from StarCraft II because of their dying actions. We just hope players in all regions can enjoy StarCraft II.
http://img3.178.com/chinagame/201007/74302372161/74303645796.jpg
Sam Didier, the art director of Blizzard
Q: I believe many Chinese gamers are curious about one question here! It is: in a great game like Starcraft II, what does an Arts Director do, during the development of the game?
A: I’m responsible for giving the outline of art design, and making the fundamental concept setting for the team. The team needs to know what exactly to do, so StarCraft II will look like the real StarCraft II. About the prototype of art designing, I would give some advice to ensure they belong to the style of StarCraft series.
Q: If the arts effect conflicts with the gaming experience, what would you do to solve the problem?
A: Gameplay first is most important, and we should make every unit as cool as possible based on this. Take Ultralisk for an example, we expect the unit is huge enough, but it is impossible to make it real in the practical gaming, if so, you cannot even move the unit. Ultralisk was a real problem for us, and it has changed smaller and smaller till right now. Gameplay is always most important.
Q: You have been working in Blizzard for nearly 20 years, would you please share something about the motivation that supports you to work for such a long time here? Do you have any change in your job in the last 20 years?
A: The company has grown a little, OK, a lot… OK, too much… But for me, it doesn’t change at all, including the StarCraft development team. Blizzard is my home, and my colleagues are my family which I know even longer than my wife. It is like working with your neighbors. We have created the original StarCraft, and now we have finished StarCraft II. We loved my family, we will never leave.
Q: How is your knowledge of Chinese game industry? How do you like the arts effect there?
A: I have seen a lot of illustration paintings of Chinese and Korean, and I chose many of them to put in the Fan Art in Blizzard. The best are all from Chinese fans.
Q: During BlizzCon this year, would you give some performance again?
A: (Laugh) I hope there will be.
Source: 178 (http://chinagame.178.com/201007/74302372161.html)
http://img2.178.com/chinagame/201007/74302372161/74303595031.jpg
Q: From the original Starcraft to Starcraft II the primary change is the 3D technology used in the SC2, during the process, what do you think is the most challenging thing for you?
A: I think it is a revolution. Most of great games at present apply the 3D technology in their visual effects, so it’s time for StarCraft to change into 3D. At the moment, I think we did a good job, and players love it. I mean most gamers accept the transition from 2D to 3D.
Q: We find that in Starcraft II the Models are much more complicated than that of Starcraft, especially the Zerg—(they look so real that it even makes people feel uncomfortable); is this an inevitable result of the 3D technology or there is some other reason for that?
A: All of the units have changed a lot, but simplicity is still what we want to keep for players. When you see a Zergling, we want you to know it is a Zergling instead of Hydralisk, and gamers should easily distinguish Marines, Medics and Reapers. We want players know that how many units they are controlling or see how many units in your enemy’s troop, so the simplicity in the picture is very important when designing the detail of a unit.
Q: You almost worked in the development process of every game made by Blizzard. To introduce Starcraft II, what do you think this game has in common with Diablo, Warcraft, and World of Warcraft Series? And what is the difference between them?
A: I think the process of art creation is similar. However, the most difficult part in the development of StarCraft II is there are many honest and senior players who don’t want to see the changes, and still a lot of fans hope to see a totally new game in front of them, so it is a little bit hard to balance. Especially some popular units like Marine, Battle Cruiser and Seige Tank, we know gamers love these units, so we couldn’t change them too much.
Like Firebat, we created new units to replace them, and I think we did great on this aspect. Just like the game you watched tonight, many new units were frequently used such as Marauder and Baneling. (Reporter: personally, I love Firebat very much.) Oh yeah, I miss them too, but you can still see them in the single player campaign, so remember to look how great they are.
Q: We are wondering, what is the most important factor in your eyes when you design the pictures and arts effect in Starcraft II?
A: In the development of StarCraft II, the most important concept is to make it as a StarCraft series. Our artists did a lot work on creating the units, to make the whole game like a product 12 years later from the original StarCraft. Players are supposed to feel that this is exactly StarCraft II.
Q: StarCraft II is destined to be a worldwide game since it was born, how did you find the balance between the different preference in tastes of different areas, especially between the eastern and the western gamers? When you made this game, did you take the eastern gamers into consideration? In Starcraft II, is there any Eastern Elements existing?
A: What we want to show to players is a game which contains a lot factors in the original StarCraft. Of course, we also know E-Sports in Korea and the eastern game culture, the competitive style is also what we expect. However, we should ensure the new players can handle this game easily, and we want everybody to know what to do in the game. So the most important part is we hope to create a game loved by everyone. They look so great right now, and we are very glad to see that.
Many units in Protoss have the elements of eastern elements, like their weapons which is very special. Some more eastern elements exist in the art details. Although they are not so obvious, we indeed took them for references.
Q: Which character or Unit in Starcraft II do you like best?
A: For Terran, Reaper and Thor are my favorite, especially the Thor---they are too huge. (The voices of Thor are from Sam Didier) In Protoss, I like the Stalker best, because it is an upgrade version of Dragoon. (With Blink) And about Zerg, Ultralisk makes me feel so great, and I love its attack style, like cut the potatoes.
Q: We believe that when you designed the death of each unit, you must have put a lot of effort there, but when Starcraft II enter a country, it need to be changed according to the censorship regulation there, we want to know how do you feel about that, when you are asked to make changes of your original design by the local official?
A: This problem seems not that important if the gamers in all regions can play this game. Of course I feel a little upset about this, but not every player has the same feeling. However, this doesn’t influence the gamers to enjoy the whole game. It is too hard for us to remove Terran from StarCraft II because of their dying actions. We just hope players in all regions can enjoy StarCraft II.
http://img3.178.com/chinagame/201007/74302372161/74303645796.jpg
Sam Didier, the art director of Blizzard
Q: I believe many Chinese gamers are curious about one question here! It is: in a great game like Starcraft II, what does an Arts Director do, during the development of the game?
A: I’m responsible for giving the outline of art design, and making the fundamental concept setting for the team. The team needs to know what exactly to do, so StarCraft II will look like the real StarCraft II. About the prototype of art designing, I would give some advice to ensure they belong to the style of StarCraft series.
Q: If the arts effect conflicts with the gaming experience, what would you do to solve the problem?
A: Gameplay first is most important, and we should make every unit as cool as possible based on this. Take Ultralisk for an example, we expect the unit is huge enough, but it is impossible to make it real in the practical gaming, if so, you cannot even move the unit. Ultralisk was a real problem for us, and it has changed smaller and smaller till right now. Gameplay is always most important.
Q: You have been working in Blizzard for nearly 20 years, would you please share something about the motivation that supports you to work for such a long time here? Do you have any change in your job in the last 20 years?
A: The company has grown a little, OK, a lot… OK, too much… But for me, it doesn’t change at all, including the StarCraft development team. Blizzard is my home, and my colleagues are my family which I know even longer than my wife. It is like working with your neighbors. We have created the original StarCraft, and now we have finished StarCraft II. We loved my family, we will never leave.
Q: How is your knowledge of Chinese game industry? How do you like the arts effect there?
A: I have seen a lot of illustration paintings of Chinese and Korean, and I chose many of them to put in the Fan Art in Blizzard. The best are all from Chinese fans.
Q: During BlizzCon this year, would you give some performance again?
A: (Laugh) I hope there will be.
Source: 178 (http://chinagame.178.com/201007/74302372161.html)