Q: Which character or Unit in Starcraft II do you like best?

A: For Terran, Reaper and Thor are my favorite, especially the Thor---they are too huge. (The voices of Thor are from Sam Didier) In Protoss, I like the Stalker best, because it is an upgrade version of Dragoon. (With Blink) And about Zerg, Ultralisk makes me feel so great, and I love its attack style, like cut the potatoes.

Q: We believe that when you designed the death of each unit, you must have put a lot of effort there, but when Starcraft II enter a country, it need to be changed according to the censorship regulation there, we want to know how do you feel about that, when you are asked to make changes of your original design by the local official?

A: This problem seems not that important if the gamers in all regions can play this game. Of course I feel a little upset about this, but not every player has the same feeling. However, this doesn’t influence the gamers to enjoy the whole game. It is too hard for us to remove Terran from StarCraft II because of their dying actions. We just hope players in all regions can enjoy StarCraft II.

Sam Didier, the art director of Blizzard

Q: I believe many Chinese gamers are curious about one question here! It is: in a great game like Starcraft II, what does an Arts Director do, during the development of the game?

A: I’m responsible for giving the outline of art design, and making the fundamental concept setting for the team. The team needs to know what exactly to do, so StarCraft II will look like the real StarCraft II. About the prototype of art designing, I would give some advice to ensure they belong to the style of StarCraft series.

Q: If the arts effect conflicts with the gaming experience, what would you do to solve the problem?

A: Gameplay first is most important, and we should make every unit as cool as possible based on this. Take Ultralisk for an example, we expect the unit is huge enough, but it is impossible to make it real in the practical gaming, if so, you cannot even move the unit. Ultralisk was a real problem for us, and it has changed smaller and smaller till right now. Gameplay is always most important.

Q: You have been working in Blizzard for nearly 20 years, would you please share something about the motivation that supports you to work for such a long time here? Do you have any change in your job in the last 20 years?

A: The company has grown a little, OK, a lot… OK, too much… But for me, it doesn’t change at all, including the StarCraft development team. Blizzard is my home, and my colleagues are my family which I know even longer than my wife. It is like working with your neighbors. We have created the original StarCraft, and now we have finished StarCraft II. We loved my family, we will never leave.

Q: How is your knowledge of Chinese game industry? How do you like the arts effect there?

A: I have seen a lot of illustration paintings of Chinese and Korean, and I chose many of them to put in the Fan Art in Blizzard. The best are all from Chinese fans.

Q: During BlizzCon this year, would you give some performance again?

A: (Laugh) I hope there will be.