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Prophecy · 10-22-2008, 07:34 AM

I'm sure Blizzard wants all three games to be compatible with each other online. Fragmenting the player base would be bad for business. So I doubt Blizzard eliminates cross game multi-player., i.e. not allowing "Terrans: Wings of Liberty" owners to play with online with "Protoss: Legacy of the Void" owners. I see Blizzard potentially doing one of three things:

1) Blizzard releases all three games with all the single player elements from each game in the multi-player code. In turn each game's single player campaign will have certain elements turned off (RPG elements only in Zerg, diplomacy only in Protoss) so each game can remain unique beyond just offering more story. This allows all copies of the game to play with each other online with all the bells and whistles while still offering different single player experiences.

2) Blizzard removes all the special single player elements from multi-player (again the RPG elements, the diplomacy, etc). This allows all copies of the game to play with each other online, but only offers content that is the same in all three games, i.e. updated graphics, new maps & certain new units, etc. The MP is essentially built as a separate game which is streamlined just for online and is made available on all three stand alone games.

3) Blizzard locks the games. Each game is truly treated as a stand alone product. Diablo II owners couldn't play online with Warcraft III players. So "Terrans: Wings of Liberty" owners can play only with "Terrans: Wings of Liberty" owners, "Protoss: Legacy of the Void" owners can only play with other "Protoss: Legacy of the Void" owners and "Zerg: Heart of the Swarm" owners can only play with other "Zerg: Heart of the Swarm" owners.

If Blizzard goes with option #1 then that means all three games use the exact same engine, the only difference is the single player maps. No special tweaking was done to the engine for the Zerg RPG elements or the Protoss diplomacy. So why sell each game as a full stand-alone product instead of releasing the last two as expansions? All we would be getting is new story/campaigns. That does sound like a money grab if the two later games (Zerg & Protoss) are sold at full price. If anything since it's stand alone each game should be sold for slightly less than full retail. Perhaps knock $10 off three games?

However, if Blizzard goes with the second option or even the third option that means each version (Terran, Zerg & Protoss) has priority tweaks to the engine just for the single player experience. Then, perhaps the only way to allow all three games to play together online is cut what isn't in all three games. They make the single player more robust and MP is built around making all three games work together online. In the end the MP is toned down to prettier version of the original Starcraft and/or Starcraft: Broodwar. That said, just because the new MP would uniform across all games doesn't mean it couldn't be more robust than StarCraft: Broodwar.

I get the impression SC II has special tweaks for each version of the game, so I hope they do number 2 but I figure we'll get number 1 or 3.

10-22-2008, 07:34 AM	#15 (permalink)
Prophecy Oracle & Apollyon Location: Limbus Patrum	I'm sure Blizzard wants all three games to be compatible with each other online. Fragmenting the player base would be bad for business. So I doubt Blizzard eliminates cross game multi-player., i.e. not allowing "Terrans: Wings of Liberty" owners to play with online with "Protoss: Legacy of the Void" owners. I see Blizzard potentially doing one of three things: 1) Blizzard releases all three games with all the single player elements from each game in the multi-player code. In turn each game's single player campaign will have certain elements turned off (RPG elements only in Zerg, diplomacy only in Protoss) so each game can remain unique beyond just offering more story. This allows all copies of the game to play with each other online with all the bells and whistles while still offering different single player experiences. 2) Blizzard removes all the special single player elements from multi-player (again the RPG elements, the diplomacy, etc). This allows all copies of the game to play with each other online, but only offers content that is the same in all three games, i.e. updated graphics, new maps & certain new units, etc. The MP is essentially built as a separate game which is streamlined just for online and is made available on all three stand alone games. 3) Blizzard locks the games. Each game is truly treated as a stand alone product. Diablo II owners couldn't play online with Warcraft III players. So "Terrans: Wings of Liberty" owners can play only with "Terrans: Wings of Liberty" owners, "Protoss: Legacy of the Void" owners can only play with other "Protoss: Legacy of the Void" owners and "Zerg: Heart of the Swarm" owners can only play with other "Zerg: Heart of the Swarm" owners. If Blizzard goes with option #1 then that means all three games use the exact same engine, the only difference is the single player maps. No special tweaking was done to the engine for the Zerg RPG elements or the Protoss diplomacy. So why sell each game as a full stand-alone product instead of releasing the last two as expansions? All we would be getting is new story/campaigns. That does sound like a money grab if the two later games (Zerg & Protoss) are sold at full price. If anything since it's stand alone each game should be sold for slightly less than full retail. Perhaps knock $10 off three games? However, if Blizzard goes with the second option or even the third option that means each version (Terran, Zerg & Protoss) has priority tweaks to the engine just for the single player experience. Then, perhaps the only way to allow all three games to play together online is cut what isn't in all three games. They make the single player more robust and MP is built around making all three games work together online. In the end the MP is toned down to prettier version of the original Starcraft and/or Starcraft: Broodwar. That said, just because the new MP would uniform across all games doesn't mean it couldn't be more robust than StarCraft: Broodwar. I get the impression SC II has special tweaks for each version of the game, so I hope they do number 2 but I figure we'll get number 1 or 3. __________________ La Disciplina È La Mia Spada, La Fede È Il Mio Schermo, Non salti Ciecamente In Incertezza, E Potete Raccogliere Le Ricompense. Last edited by Prophecy; 10-22-2008 at 11:37 AM..