An interview with the Devs of StarCraft: Remastered
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The Graphics
What was the process behind the revamped graphics? Did the team simply port the graphics 1:1, or did they take any specific liberties in reinterpreting Brood War in HD? The original graphics look a lot “grittier” and dirtier while the remastered graphics look more ‘polished’. Was this a conscious decision or simply an effect of remastering?
Our core objectives with the art were twofold:
First was to maintain the original unit silhouettes and animations. We got feedback from players that the shapes and movements heavily influenced recognition during gameplay.
Second was filling in the details in an authentic way. We talked to the original artists as much as we could to discover, “what did you imagine those handful of pixels actually were?”
You mentioned that SC:R will be available in up to 4k. How will the field of vision and resolution be like? Will the unit to screen ratio be maintained, or will the field of vision look bigger—hence making the units smaller? Can you provide more specific examples?
The screen ratio has been maintained. Your field of view is still that of Brood War. The client supports play in 4:3 or widescreen – and switching between them on the fly – without missing a beat. This switching between 4:3 standard def or widescreen HD can happen back and forth with just the press of a button.
Some of the unit sprites look like a perfect match, but some, like the marine, look quite different. Since fans might have trouble accepting units that look even marginally different, could you explain why these units look different, or if there were any specific reasons to tweak appearances a little?
The shipped version will maintain the silhouettes and animations. The detail work was sometimes a bit tricky. Large units have a lot of flat pixels in the original. Seeing huge swaths of monotone on a Battlecruiser or many of the buildings didn’t strike us as true to what the concepts and original artists intended.
We could have programmatically replaced the art if we were going for that type of effect. Instead, we tried to fill those spaces in with the style and details that matched each race.
Graphics has a direct impact on gameplay. For example, clicking spider mines and selecting just the right number of units. Did the graphics team consider gameplay ramifications while remastering the units?
Maintaining gameplay is our first priority. The game is still built around the original graphics and gameplay engine; everything is still 2D. Collision and associated aspects that affect gameplay are still foundationally the same. We’ve just amped it up a bit to handle 4k.
The Gameplay
You’ve already announced that SC:R will retain most, if not all of the quirks that made BW so special. However, it’s inevitable that some changes could have unforeseen effects on gameplay. How extensively have you play tested SC:R? What subtle differences have you noticed so far?
We’re still using the original gameplay engine. The team plays daily — for specific testing reasons — and on Friday nights for fun on maps like Hunters. While none of us are pro level, the game looks and feels the same as 1.16 to us.
One of the biggest concerns from the community was that ‘modern’ game mechanics (such as MBS, unlimited selection, etc) would be introduced into the game. Was it always the goal to replicate BW exactly as is, or was there an argument for ‘modern mechanics’ during the remastering process? Are there any specific ‘modern functions’ you plan on introducing such as custom hotkeys?
We knew instinctively not to mess with a game regarded so highly for its balance. We haven’t made any changes to gameplay.
One fact that we want to share about the development process is that we interviewed key people in the community extensively about these types of issues, before jumping into full development. Our goal was to gain understanding on what sorts of improvements would be welcome, and which aspects of the game we should not try to change. Those whose feedback we consulted included current and former Brood War pros, casters, modders/developers, and esports operations staff. Based on this feedback, we feel confident about the direction we took, and now that the project is public, we can open up that feedback to the broader community.
The features we’ve added are based on popular add-ons the community has adopted over the years and don’t directly affect gameplay: keybinds, APM meter, auto-saving replays, and others outside the game for matchmaking and similar functions.
How did you go about replicating all the unexpected “bugs” that made BW micro so special? Did you simply reuse code from the original game, or did you find a solution to replicate the nuances of BW’s gameplay?
StarCraft: Remastered is able to achieve this effect as it uses all the same gameplay code as Brood War. This means that Dragoons and Goliaths are still a bit derpy in how they react to movement commands. The Reaver’s shot doesn’t always find a target. Mutas stack.
The fact is that the gameplay is identical enough that old replays from 1.16 will play and work just fine under StarCraft: Remastered.
Have you play tested with current and past professional players? What are some of their more valuable feedback? How has their response been?
We’ve been talking with designers, former pros in our Blizzard office, and current pros since the project began.
We recently let Flash, Jaedong, Stork, and Bisu play a build. Despite all the hours of research we spent gathering feedback from key people in the Brood War community, this was quite a nerve-wracking moment for us for obvious reasons.
Much to our relief, these pros seemed to have great fun. They didn’t fight each other. Instead, they macroed up, built a bit of everything, and started microing against their own buildings. That was our true test. Their feedback to us was positive, and they were incredibly pleased with the state of things. The only criticism we got was for a few pieces of art that weren’t finished yet.
The Game and Its Future
Who was involved in the remastering process? Were there any original BW developers or Blizzard employees that helped in the remastering process? Could you give us a little more background on the team that worked on SC:R?
Classic Games is a good mix of original devs and ones that grew up playing these games. Original developers who are on new projects were liberally consulted as well. This is a project close to the hearts of everyone at Blizzard.
How long has Blizzard been working on SC:R?
We started preproduction about 18 months ago. We’re about a year in on active development.
Do you foresee any future patches for BW? What was the reason behind this patch? Will you simply be making QOL patches, or do you have any other plans for patching?
We don’t have concrete plans for after release. Our focus has been on the community during development, so we’d like to take some time after release to let the community react. You’ll continue to be our guiding light after release.
Two bugs that are planned to be patched are goons getting stuck and the valkyrie sprite bug where if enough valkyries were present on the screen, they would stop shooting because of the sprite limitation bug. Can you please explain which bugs, if any, will be fixed in this release?
Happily, those two bugs will be fixed in Remastered. Some bugs have become ‘features’ over the years, but we found everyone we talked to thought those were good fixes.
One important area that needs fixing is replays, which are currently plagued with bugs. Will Blizzard look into fixing replays for classic BW?
One of our testers created a bot that plows through replays endlessly to look for aberrant behavior. We have no issues with replays from 1.16, though we don’t currently have plans to support older versions.
We’ve seen the BW meta evolve on its own with very little intervention. Are these any plans for more balance patches or will Blizzard leave the players to their own doings? What are Blizzard's expectations?
No plans. As you’ve pointed out, new strategies are still emerging and we agree that changes are unnecessary.
What kind of matchmaking will be available for classic Brood War? What kind of ladder system will be available? How closely will the menus and matchmaking mimic classic BW? Will the menu and GUI structure simulate classic Brood War?
We’re maintaining the Chat Channels and other defining features. We’re giving an aesthetic that mimics what players are used to from the original game if you prefer the old-school style of custom game lobbies and negotiating game terms before hopping into a game. For the sake of modern convenience and an accurate ladder, we are also giving the option of jumping more quickly into a match, with fewer buttons and menus to navigate. More details about the online UI will be released in the coming weeks, so stay tuned to the official website.
You mentioned that antihack will be made available for BW. Any details on its implications on third party software that previously allowed players to play BW on different third party servers and other minor tools?
One of the reasons we wanted to replace the more popular add-ons was to be less disruptive with the new anti-cheat measures. We attempted to reach many of the add-on makers, but some have moved on or couldn’t be found.
Right now, players enjoy playing on multiple accounts, especially for different races. Will Blizzard continue to allow multiple accounts in BW and SC:R, or will you have a different solution for this?
We have created a feature to permanently link legacy accounts to your modern account. No more 90 day timeouts either.
Will there be esports support for SC:R in the future? E.g. observer tools like gameheart, zoom out.
We are adding a few features to improve the experience for viewers at home and Observer slots in game lobbies.
Feedback from the shoutcasters was to temper our enthusiasm for data though. They believe the excitement of Brood War is often in the discovery of what is about to happen. We’ll introduce a few new key features and gauge feedback. As usual, we’ll err on the side of caution with change.
Are there any plans to make BW and SC:R compatible? If gameplay is designed to be identical between both games, can players choose to play BW and SC:R and play against each other? Would replays be playable in both graphic modes?
Players will be able to connect and play, watch replays, or share saved games seamlessly between free Brood War, and the SC:R upgrade. It’s all the same client! Each player and observer in the game can opt to play in standard or high def individually, and you can switch instantly and seamlessly at the press of a button right inside the game or while watching a replay.
