Battle.net

This week’s feature comes all the way from our StarCraft II community in China. Our Blizzard offices in Shanghai ran a contest for the best game made using the StarCraft II Editor and BarCraft came out on top. Game designer “Crusade of Blader” and his team have done an amazing job in creating a turn-based card game set in the Blizzard universes. Not limited to StarCraft lore, players can choose heroes from Diablo and World of Warcraft to duke it out against seven other players in this highly strategic and psychological game.

Our China team sat down with the makers of BarCraft to ask them about its development. Give the interview a read and start your first bar fight with BarCraft, now featured in the StarCraft II Arcade.  

Q: When did you decide to make games for the StarCraft II Arcade?

A: It was probably back in March 2010, when StarCraft II and its official editor hadn’t come out yet. A few friends and I disassembled the editor and did some analyses on its structure. We were all very intrigued by what we discovered and what it can potentially do for us.

Q: What was the inspiration for making a card game?

A: Well, the editor is so powerful that making conventional games really wasn’t a challenge for us. We aspire to do something that is unique. Our hope is that the StarCraft II Arcade will be full of a variety of mods so as to bring more depth to the community. We chose to make a card game because there is so much we can create with this platform. Actually we started to work on a card game back in last year’s Arcade Contest, but that project ultimately stalled as we didn’t yet possess the same kind of mastery of the editor as we do now.

Q: What about this game makes it so compelling?

A: Players will be faced with tons of interesting and strategic choices during the game. For example, which hero do I pick? What are the identities of other players? Which target should I attack? Should I hold on to the cards and which ability should I use? Luck also plays a part in the game, and when you combine all of these factors it makes the game very unpredictable and fun to play. On top of that, doesn’t it sound exciting to take on the role of our favorite heroes from the Blizzard universe and matching wits and fists in a bar fight?

Q: How many people worked on BarCraft? How long did it take to develop this game?

A: Primarily we have four people working on the game: two programmers, one artist and one producer. We also had another data analyst working on the project on and off. We started in mid-August and the whole game took about four and half months to create.

Q: Do you plan on developing other games? If so, what kind?

A: We plan on working on our next game this year and while we can’t say what it will be, we know it will be something you haven’t seen before. Other than that, we’ve been working on a groundbreaking tower defense game which has just passed its alpha-phase. Hopefully you’ll love it! We’ll probably release this year.

Q: What is the essential ingredient required to make an awesome game?

A: It’s the combination of creativity and execution. Other than that, attention to detail is really, really critical. The final product won’t shine until every single detail is polished to perfection. That is a lesson that we learned from Blizzard.

Q: What advice would you give to someone who is interested in making their own StarCraft II Arcade game?

A: We all know that the editor is a powerful tool, but it also comes with a deep learning curve. Start with the basics. Once you master that, design an outline for your game and then gradually start to fill it out. Don’t design something that’s too big though as you can easily become overwhelmed. It takes time and dedication to make something that other players want to play, so be patient.

If you ever need help, forums like Goblin Academy and SC2Mapster are great places to search for answers.