As Starcraft II draws ever closer and closer to completion, I would like to ask a couple of questions:


1. How will the "Starcraft I" Map/Mod Editor Community be affected after release of Starcraft II?
2. (Once Starcraft II is released) Do you believe that the 'rate' of maps that are currently being developed in Starcraft will change within the next couple years? If so, in what way?
3. (Direct Question) As a Map/Mod Editor will you accept the transition to Starcraft II Map/Mod Development? If so, will the transition be permanent?
4. In the next five years, Where do you think the Map/Mod Editing Community of Starcraft I will stand? Will the development of Maps/Mods still continue?
-Update Question-
5. Do you believe that the Map/Mod Community of Starcraft I should be preserved?

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Mar 23 2010, 8:07 pm by Septhiroth.

1. It'll mostly die off.
2. As I said, most people will stop playing SC in favor of SC2. I believe that SC mapping will eventually become one of those things that we all look back on as 'the good old days'. No one will really keep doing it except those who don't have SC2.
3. Yes, and yes. The only throwbacks I'll do will be recreating old ideas in the new format.
4. No, it'll be dead. Mostly.
5. No. However, its legacy should and will live on in both our memories and in the enormous influence it will have on what we create in SC2.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Mar 25 2010, 5:09 am by ImagoDeo.

Starcraft 1 mapping and modding will never flat die. It is easy to use, virtually free, and works on older computers. For people still using old computers, it will still be a preferred game. That being said, the audience has shrunk, and continues to shrink. At this point, a meaningful chunk of the SC1 audience is people who are on "1-gaming system" set-ups, and with an old computer that means that when their old computer dies (as it will) they might not ever come back. At which point they will eventually get a new computer, and with it, probably new games.

Since pirating of games has gotten so extreme, as the status quo for machines and video cards moves further into the next generation, people will be less tempted to come back to "old/free" games that they already own and will instead make the leap to pirating newish games.

As such, the Starcraft 1 map/mod community will continue the trends it is already experiencing:

-some maps made by people who have been mapping for over a decade will continue to be released: high quality, but with low visibility and a low audience this demographic will continue to move to newer games for their modding projects (dragon age: origins, sins of a solar empire, etc.)

-some new players who have inherited or bought old, cheap computers will be attracted to it as a game they can play for free. But, since they are so far behind the 'curve' in mapping technique, they will be ignored and thus have a low purchase on the franchise

-a few maps might come out on SC1 as "demo maps" for SC2, as a way of getting core gameplay mechanics down or to build publicity for major projects... but these will be few and far between, and on the whole map and mod production will continue the nosedive it has been in since 2005.

-The mapping/modding community will nevertheless serve as the established space for Starcraft 2 Modding/Mapping to find its foothold, but all the attention will be on SC2.

-There will also be nostalgia value as most of the "hits" from SC1 will be reproduced in SC2

Personally, I think that not only the "classic" SC1 maps and mods should be preserved, but also the later-era (post 2005) maps that showcase the new developments in modding and mapping leading up to SC2 should also be highlighted. Whether or not the "community" for SC1 mapping will continue seems a moot point--it will, under the new banner of SC2, and the SC1 community is already basically dead.

I will accept the transition to Starcraft II, as soon as I get a computer with a graphics card that can actually play it. And yes, the change will be permanent, for the good or the bad under blizzard's new content sharing policies.

1. How will the "Starcraft I" Map/Mod Editor Community be affected after release of Starcraft II?
It will dwindle into non-existence, and I will cry.

2. (Once Starcraft II is released) Do you believe that the 'rate' of maps that are currently being developed in Starcraft will change within the next couple years? If so, in what way?
I personally think that we will move away gradually, and people who have never played SC1 will buy it to see what turned into SC2, and there will be a great influx of terrible maps before they get bored and go back to SC2.

3. (Direct Question) As a Map/Mod Editor will you accept the transition to Starcraft II Map/Mod Development? If so, will the transition be permanent?
Yes, and No. I could go into an explanation, but I'm lazy

4. In the next five years, Where do you think the Map/Mod Editing Community of Starcraft I will stand? Will the development of Maps/Mods still continue?
I see blizzard shutting down bnet due to inactivity, thus eliminating it completely.

5. Do you believe that the Map/Mod Community of Starcraft I should be preserved?
Yes. Very much so.

1. How will the "Starcraft I" Map/Mod Editor Community be affected after release of Starcraft II?
It will slow to a halt, with maybe a few people left, probably including me.


2. (Once Starcraft II is released) Do you believe that the 'rate' of maps that are currently being developed in Starcraft will change within the next couple years? If so, in what way?
It will have a steep decline.


3. (Direct Question) As a Map/Mod Editor will you accept the transition to Starcraft II Map/Mod Development? If so, will the transition be permanent?
No


4. In the next five years, Where do you think the Map/Mod Editing Community of Starcraft I will stand? Will the development of Maps/Mods still continue?
Small but maily consisting of elites(the best).


5. Do you believe that the Map/Mod Community of Starcraft I should be preserved?
As long as it can be, possibly till the advent of SC5.

God forbid.

Shiiit its dead now.

This man is wise.

Amen. Dead it is!

Lol@SC5

Just for the record, there are still a couple of Diablo 1 mods being made these days, 14 years after release and 10 years after Diablo 2 was released. Diablo mods are obviously more work than simple UMS SC maps, and aren't anywhere near as social as UMS on b.net, but yet they still exist.

Mapping for SC will likely continue for as long as battle.net supports SC, especially as the minimum requirements between SC and SC2 are much greater than those between D1 and D2, so there will always be some people who just don't have machines good enough to play SC2, and of course those who simply prefer SC1.