We talk to Tony Hsu, Senior Game Producer of StarCraft II, about the latest patch.

Extension mods are an interesting concept! What was the goal of the extension mods, and what do you hope to see in the future as both a Producer and player?

One bit of feedback that we’ve heard from our Community was that it was tedious and time consuming for map makers to take their gameplay modes and transport them to another map (layout).  An example we gave at BlizzCon is something like the IMBA League that was popularized by Husky.  It’s a great idea that adds crazy twists on the normal rules of StarCraft II and is tons of fun.  However, the downside is that it wasn’t easy for a map maker to take a play mode and allow players to enjoy it on different maps.  Each map you wanted to play it on had to be custom configured, which also made it difficult for players to find the maps they wanted to play on (since there were so many versions of a similar map up). 

Extension Mods take a data/rule-set and apply it to any Custom Map. This is extremely powerful and makes it easier for map makers to allow apply creative themes on multiple maps. Extension Mods allow players to find the games/maps they want to play on as well. Now you no longer need dozens of different Big Game Hunters maps—you just select the BGH extension mod and apply it to any map.

For us, Extension Mods allow us to be flexible with future Balance Test Maps.  In the past, we’ve only been able to configure our upcoming balance changes on a single map for testing.  This time around, we’re creating a Balance Test Extension Mod to allow player to test the new changes on whatever map they favor.  As far as the community goes, we're excited to see what pops up with the power of Extension Mods.  Map makers are already using it for a wide variety of things like trainers, UI changes, and different gameplay modes.  And that’s just the start. 

With the new art tools, is there anything the community will now be able to do that they weren't before? If not, in what way will the tools affect the process?

The tools we provided in 2.1 include a complete package of plugins for 3DS Max, tons of source art files from StarCraft II, as well as documentation and tutorials. These are the exact same tools that the development team used to create Heart of the Swarm. So put simply, everyone who uses the StarCraft II editor can now create and import their own 3D art assets (models, textures, particle effects, animations, etc.) for custom maps. People found workarounds and other ways to do this before, but with the official Art Tools, they don’t have to worry about bugs or instability caused by the workarounds.

Warcraft III had one of the best custom game and modding communities of all time. Do you think the focus on Arcade and increased toolsets available will make modding more accessible for the "average" player?

We agree with your point about our Warcraft III community!  And we certainly hope that our efforts around Arcade and development tools will make modding more accessible for the “average” player.   We’re also looking into ways to help introduce players to our tools so they can learn to use them.  Nothing set in concrete so far, but we know it’s an important community ask and we’re exploring ways we can help out, be it blogs, videos, or featuring content made by our community to help aspiring map makers. 

We'll take this opportunity to put out the call!  If you’re passionate about making content to help people learn how to use the tools, we’d love to feature your work as a drive to help aspiring developers! One way to start is to visit our new website dedicated to the Blizzard Arcade, www.BlizzardArcade.com.

Patch 2.1 was a content-focused patch, and didn't include any balance updates. Is the Protoss strength test map we’ve heard about next on the horizon?

We actually just pushed out a balance update that addresses some issues with Protoss. We think the PvT matchup is favored Protoss too much so we've made two changes. First, we wanted to decrease the strength of early Protoss aggression by increasing the energy cost of Mothership Core’s Time Warp ability from 75 to 100. Second, Ghosts build out of the box with the energy upgrade built in. This one is more of a general buff to Terran against Protoss because Ghosts’ EMP Round ability is a great ability against all Protoss units.

 In case the two changes we just released aren’t enough, we're already prepared to quickly do another balance test map with additional changes to test. We’re also looking to a few other issues, the most important one of those being the late game PvZ issue in the Europe region where the game is dragging on for long periods of time.

The clan changes are really exciting for a lot of the community, and are great steps toward more structured clans.

• Are there any plans to make a "clan battle system" and provide structure to clan matches?
• The in-game clan graphics are a great way to represent your team!... and cause some trouble. Are any steps taken to avoid abuse?

We'd love to do something like a clan battle system/automated tournaments, and one of the top features we’d like to provide.  We know it’s something the community has been wanting for quite some time. This isn't a feature that's necessarily quick or easy to implement, so right now our plan is to add the feature around the Legacy of the Void timeframe. 

As for clan decals, we agree that they’re a great way to show off your clan pride. But whenever there’s customized user content, there’s potential for mischief.  It’s something we’ve thought of, which is why we have a reporting/removal structure in place.  If you happen to come across an inappropriate decal, you can always report it in-game and we have folks that can deal with it appropriately. In most cases, we would rather take the chance in offering something really cool to the 99% of people who would enjoy it rather than “not having nice stuff” just because of the potential that the 1% may try to abuse it.

Just a fun question to end it off...Patch 2.1 introduced the StarCraft: Brood War music. If you could choose one unit from Brood War to join the SC2 roster, what would it be?

If I had to choose one Brood War unit to join the SC2 roster, it’d be the Lurker.  I’m a Zerg player and I always loved the traps you could set with that unit and the iconic sound of the spines tearing your enemy apart. On that note, I’m sure you’ve already heard of/played the Starbow mod where you can play SC2 with Brood War units.  The mod makers have done an amazing job of blending old school Brood War with the feel of modern SC2.  It’s glorious fun and if you haven’t yet (or your readers haven’t), you owe it to yourself to check out the mod map currently available in the free Arcade.

Thanks to Tony Hsu for speaking with us about Patch 2.1!

Aidan Pucchio

@aiomon