Warcraft III: The Single Player Experience

Disoriented writes "Cool interview about the Warcraft 3 single-player campaigns. Has me drooling for a June release." Hopefully Blizzard will drop their attack against Bnetd before the release.

Comments

Re:mirror please..

[PepsiProgrammer]

Since we got our hands on the Warcraft III multiplayer beta earlier this spring, we've had plenty of time to see how the game's competitive side has been progressing. There's little more than a month left before the game is expected to ship, but until now, Blizzard has released very little information on the single-player campaign. And as anyone who has played Warcraft II or Starcraft can attest, Blizzard is quite capable of creating a top-notch story and compelling characters for its games. We recently had the chance to talk to Blizzard's Bill Roper about Warcraft III's single-player game. Read on for the latest details on the single-player campaign and rest assured that there isn't a single spoiler below. GameSpot: We've had a chance to watch the progress of Warcraft III's multiplayer through the public beta. How far along is the single-player game? screenshot Special heroes, like Arthas, the first human hero, play a central role in the single-player story. Bill Roper: We're in superhigh polish mode. We're playing all the different levels, going through and making sure everything is as tight as possible. Things have really been coming together. We now have three different difficulty levels in the game. [Warcraft III] easily has the most involved, engaging, and challenging missions I've seen in a RTS. Of course, we have to make sure they're as polished as possible. Bug count is great. Multiplayer is playing great. We're just down to making sure everything in the game is cool. GS: What's different or distinctive about the approach that Blizzard has taken with Warcraft III's single-player campaign? BR: The level of characterization. I have people testing the game who are not familiar with the storyline, and they're pulled in by what happens. It really is just like watching a movie. People come in and say, "I can't believe this or that happened," because they're so into the story events. We're not really used to that kind of comment, but it's been utterly fantastic. The single biggest distinction is that there's so much story, personality, and character. We've wanted to focus on not just how fun the gameplay is, but also on making the individual events [in the story] very compelling. GS: Most missions in RTS games revolve around expanding and fighting the opposition. Does this mean that the missions are more event-driven? screenshot Special heroes have powerful abilities, which means they'll be at the center of the action. BR: There are so many different mission types in Warcraft III. [You won't] just go and take down the other guy. There's one mission that is almost like a race to accomplish stuff. Let me try to say this without giving too much away. You are racing against an opponent to do the same thing with different results. There is no element of attacking his base. It fits within the structure of the storyline, it makes sense, and it definitely has strategy. What's really cool about that is that we move away from it being the same gameplay all the time. It's really moved into what we should do with all kinds of games--and particularly strategy games--which is adding elements that are interesting for nongamers. RPGs draw so much attention and interest because they do engage you--there's an emotional context. Warcraft III is really trying to tap into that level. GS: What kinds of RPG elements are in the missions? Are there quests? BR: Sure. Some quests are story-related. Others are there for you just to build your [hero] character and get rewards. We've tried to have all of the fun elements of RPGs without the grind. Strategy games are all about combat, but we get to infuse it with these RPG sensibilities. GS: When Warcraft III was first announced back in 1999, the concept was even more RPG-like. Now that things are almost done, what is your opinion about how this shift has worked out? BR: Initially we focused too much on the RPG and not enough on the strategy game. The camera angle was closer, and you had fewer units. Those are the things that changed the most. The original idea we had looked a lot more like World of Warcraft. We wanted to push the role playing, but we did that too much and lost sight of it being a strategy game. We got too into making it a cool RPG.