StarCraft Remastered is the modern makeover to seminal real-time strategy game StarCraft. However, the ‘Remastered’ suffix doesn’t carry the same connotations (such as a massive visual overhaul, and significant gameplay tweaks) we’ve come to expect from other titles. On the sidelines of BlizzCon 2017[1], Gadgets 360 spoke to Robert Bridenbecker, Vice President, Technology Strategy and Planning at Blizzard, who spearheaded StarCraft Remastered's development.
“Step one in our journey was going out and listening and talking to the community and just understanding what are the things we have a little bit of latitude on," explained Bridenbecker. "I go back 18 months ago and we sat down with a lot of pro players and we probed on the notion of introducing widescreen support. And the initial feed back was not to change anything, the game is perfect as it is."
“But after more conversation the community had around the idea, the more they opened up to it. Every monitor under the sun is now in 16:9 or 16:10 so if you were to add some functionality, that would not be a bad thing," he continued.
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While quality of life additions such as widescreen support were given the greenlight from the community, certain core gameplay elements were off limits.
“When we started to talk to them about things like pathing or unit selection, those were some of the untouchables," he said. "So what we walked away from was that some of the core game design elements that have been around for 20 years, the rules of StarCraft if you will, those are the untouchables. Some of the technology bits that have aged over time, those are the...