An interview with Dustin Browder discusses what decisions were made in the process of updating and modifying the Zerg.
How the identity of the Zerg has changed and with it a lot of game changes as well.
GameSpy: Did you find that StarCraft's success as a multiplayer game restricted your single-player design in any way?
Dustin Browder: No, single-player is pretty flexible. We can always add units and structures to single-player if we want to. They (multiplayer and single-player) don't have to be exactly the same. You're limited to the number of units you can have for a race in multiplayer before things get out of control.
But you can do things differently for single-player. This is a game where you have to buy your own technology, which is different from any single-player game we've made before. If we want to have an extra five or six units, like Goliaths, Wraiths, and Vultures, and make these available in solo play, and give players more choice as to the kinds of purchases they'll want to make, then that's a choice that makes a lot of sense to us.
We're allowed to break any rules we want, so solo play is more free in the sense that there are fewer balance requirements. The challenge of remembering all the controls is not as frightening. The game generally plays at a slower speed, we default you to a medium speed setting, which you can turn up but most players don't. Most multiplayer games are played much faster. I think solo is the easier space in that respect.
Will balance issues surface as the new identity of the Zerg also comes to surface?
To view the entire interview click here.
Links
pc.gamespy.com - Interview
