English interview - WarCraft : Armies of Azeroth, mod SC2

[M] TinkeR : So first things first, I can see few people here, could you introduce yourselves and your role in the team ?

Escapist : Ahner Nick or « Escapist ». I am the founder of the project and the manager at the same time.  Besides management, I also work with graphics, interface and textures in Photoshop.

Jusper : My name is Aleksandr Nikolaev, so called « Jusper ». I'm media manager, responsible for video production (opening development, assembling) and also a StarCraft II cinematic director. When you are talking with the Official Facebook page, you are actually talking to me.

LongbowMan : My name is Ivan Lozinsky aka « LongbowMan » and I'm from Moscow. I'm one of the modelers of this project. Particularly, a building and structure modeler, so most buildings geometry is my work though I'm not the only one who does it, neither do I imagine myself being more skilled than other modelers in our team. In future, I'm planning to do some level design as well.

Duke911 : Dzuke, I'm from Belarus, 29 years old. My parts of development are based on StarCraft II editor directly and different conversions or even development of new content in 3ds Max.

Artem : I'm a modeler. I'm currently working on Horde faction buildings and units. I'm fond of modeling and two or three years ago, I've joined the project :)

How many people are involved in the project ?

LongbowMan : Well, there are more people in our project than we have here now. Actually, I don't even remember how many :) Probably, Nick knows the exact number.

Escapist : There are 12 active members at the moment. However, due to the non-commercial side of the project the exact number always fluctuates.

When did the project start and why choose WarCraft III ?

LongbowMan : It seems that Nick prepares a very detailed response :)

Artem : He decided to tell the whole story of our project.

Escapist : I don't think that there is a firm date of the start. The project and its idea have been both evolving for several years. It started in 2011, originally as a WarCraft III mod and evolved from just « putting World of WarCraft models into WarCraft III" to an ambitious project, which aims to recreate the original WarCraft III using StarCraft II engine with better models and textures.

I think that the vast majority of players who played the original WarCraft III game has a kind of pain because of impossibility to experience something close to the original WarCraft with better graphics. We have the same pain, but we decided to be more stirring than others.

Moreover, there is a huge amount of stuff in Blizzard games, which gives us a perfect opportunity to recreate WarCraft III with a lesser expenditure of labour. By the way, most of the materials which are already in the game were created approximately in just a year of hard work. Furthermore, I am deeply concerned that the new generation of players can not experience the same feelings I did 12 years ago. WarCraft III has a perfect storyline, it just needs to be updated.

WarCraft III Orc heroes, reviewed and updated by Blizzard themselves

You are talking about the things Blizzard provides in their games, did the WarCraft III assets that have been released in the StarCraft II editor recently were of any help, in a way or another ?

Escapist : I think that the asset pack they released is a little bit outdated. We will use only sounds and some effects. The style of the few HD models is absolutely different from ours. So, the answer is obvious.

Duke911 : Most of the Blizzard's assets added to StarCraft II are just WarCraft III assets without any changes.

LongbowMan : In fact, we're talking about materials from World of WarCraft. For example, we use textures from World of WarCraft instead of handpainting them. Some models also suit our mod as decorations or part of the buildings and units.

What modes are you currently planning to implement at a short/mid-term ? (like the campaign, 1v1, custom games, team games, arranged teams, etc.)

Escapist : We're planning to release the mod step-by-step. That means actually that the first set of the mod will contain two races and one campaign. Also there will be a classic multiplayer mode just like in WarCraft III.

Duke911 : Players will be able to play melee maps for 2-4 players and the campaign. There is a discussion inside the team about implementing a 2-players cooperative mode in the campaign. Development of custom maps will be possible for modders after the release of our assets.

Jusper : Yeah. They will be able to do their own Footmen Wars, Sheep Tags, Warchasers, Extreme Candy Wars, AoS based on our assets. Old times will come back. Just try to imagine!

That's pretty cool ! maybe we'll be able to see a DotA mod ?

Jusper : Sure. DotA 1.5.

Screenshot from WarCraft : Armies of Azeroth

Talking about melee maps, how many maps will there be at the beginning ? We've seen Turtle Rock on the video you released, will there be any other "classic" ones at the first set? Are you considering creating new ones as well or - as you're saying - you're going step by step for the maps too?

Escapist : The number of them will be from 10 to 15 at the very moment of release with various landscapes, some of them will be expanded according to the contemporary World of WarCraft data. Not the maps, but the landscapes. We'll try to fit the classic RTS proportions and create our maps comfortable for multiplayer.

So 10 to 15 at the beginning with a mix of old maps (TM, LT, etc.) and new ones I suppose ?

Duke911 : Yes, sure.

Escapist : Yes.

Besides graphics obviously, what will be the main differences between the original game and your mod, if any ?

Escapist : Movement system, improved interface, every item in future will have its own model.

Jusper : StarCraft II selection system instead of 12 unit selection limit.

Escapist : Better cinematics in the campaign, expanded story according to the WarCraft lore, harder difficulty, the campaigns will be totally reworked in the proper way, maybe co-op mode of walkthrough.

Jusper : We are trying to make both old and new players love this mod. There are a lot of ideas, coming from the team members and the community (you can't even imagine how many). Generally speaking, we are trying to make the remake of WarCraft III, that we all were dreaming about, combining the best it had in 2003 and the best we have now.

Yes, the community seems quite crazy about that ... (and I'm part of them). You had more than 10k Likes on Facebook last time I checked, for a mod that isn't released yet! How do you feel about the expectations you've created among the fans?

Escapist : We'll do our best to meet the expectations of players, because we feel responsible for both the mod and expectations created.

Jusper : Expectations is our main motivation. We know that fans love the idea, we know that fans love all what we have at the moment, we know that fans love us. Can you sleep well when you know that there are a lot of people waiting for you to create something big and cool?

It is great power, but also a great responsibility. © Uncle Ben

Have you had any contact with Blizzard so far ? Greetings, interest, etc. ?

Jusper : Well... Twitter says "Yes":

x

Escapist : Yes, in a week after the first trailer was released we were contacted by the StarCraft II Arcade Manager of Blizzard Rafael « Traysent » Raudry, who suggested us help and support. Also he informed us about the upcoming WarCraft III assets.

Do you still play/watch StarCraft II games nowadays? Do you feel like StarCraft II is lacking something that the Armies of Azeroth mod could fulfill in terms of multiplayer, fun, etc.?

Long story short : do you think and hope that one day, this mod could be played competitively ?

Escapist : I play StarCraft II sometimes and it is a fact that StarCraft II and WarCraft III are quite different games. In my opinion StarCraft II is a very high-quality and polished product made by professionals. So we don't want to compete with StarCraft II. We can not name ourselves equal to Blizzard in any case. But we hope that we will be able to create the mod in which top WarCraft III players will play as they did in the original game.

Jusper : Surely. I've got beta key long, long time ago and been playing like a devil. StarCraft II was, is and will be V.I.P. RTS (considering that nowadays RTS is becoming less and less popular among the games).  I've also played a lot of custom maps. Can't say that they are worse, they are just not « the same as they were in WarCraft III » or it's just me getting old. We hope that our mod will create one united field of people that can enjoy the old WarCraft III on the level of StarCraft II.

Game mechanics of both these products are close but different. WarCraft III is a RTS/RPG with hero leveling and middle-speed fight.  StarCraft II is a pure RTS. But keys to victory are same for both: monitoring you ennemies, react on its unit choices, economics, right moment of attack.
Still, WarCraft III RPG part is interesting and popular and its remake in our mod will refresh every player's brain.

Well, time for my last question, and I'm sure you already have an idea of what I'm about to ask ...

Escapist : « When » ?

Jusper : « How much » ?

...Do you have any release date to communicate ?

Jusper : Ehhh... Damn.

Escapist : I think that the first stuff which can be tested by everybody will be released in three or four months [June-July].

Wonderful! That will conclude the interview. Thank you very much for your time, it was a real pleasure :) If any of you have last words to our readers, it's time !

Escapist : Thank you for your interview, it was a great pleasure for me to answer your questions. As well as for the other members of the team I suppose.

Jusper : Thank you for your time. It was nice chatting with you and with the community. Let them know that we are reading every single post.

Thanks again! Bye !