BlizzCast Episode 1

Blizzard Entertainment has kicked off a new series of podcasts designed to give us an inside look into the development of the company’s popular games. Here’s what to expect from the first episode:

Samwise Didier, our Art Director and concept artist to many of the popular Blizzard icons you’ve grown to love such as the Pandaren, Fel Orcs, Dark Templars, Zerglings, and many more. We’ll be chatting with Samwise on how he came up with the characters he did, as well as what it is like to work on both the Warcraft and StarCraft franchises.

And, to our delight, they’ve provided a transcript:

Karune: How would you kind of describe Warcraft art versus StarCraft art?

Samwise: Well, the Warcraft art is a little bit more over-the-top, you know. That’s why you see people running around with giant shoulder pads and their weapons are two-handed weapons but they’re carrying them one-handed. Each hand has a giant two-handed weapon. Warcraft is really, like, hyper-fantasy, you know, real high concept fantasy. There’s machinery and guns involved in Warcraft and then with StarCraft it’s a little bit more, like a little bit dirtier, you know. Everything’s not as polished and shiny. There’s a little bit more grit to the texture of the art.

The stories are a little bit there’s not as much humor, there’s a little bit more serious tone to it. And it’s a little bit more, I don’t know, not realistic, but it’s a little bit more closer to modern-day sort of thing instead of Warcraft, which is, you know, just completely out there and you can do whatever you want. StarCraft is a very focused universe.