I'm currently playing both Advance Wars DoR and Starcraft when it hit me like a brick: why hasn't Blizzard, the company which made Evercrack look like baby aspirin and has won the hearts and minds of the people of South Korea, hasn't tried porting Starcraft to the DS, the console that practically prints money?
Then it hit me again like another brick: shoehorning an RTS onto two screens is about as easy as, to quote Yahtzee, "taking the crazy out of Richard Garriott". Heroes of Mana tried and holds a 65% ranking on Gamerankings. FFXII Revenat Wings did better (80%), but I digress. The big problem is too much going on on too small a screen; even then, with Revenant Wings, you have to neuter resource gathering and progressive unit construction among other RTS fundamentals.
But wait: there's Ages of Empires: Age of Kings for the DS with an 80% ranking and the Game of the Month award by EGM. How'd Ensemble do it? By making it turn based!
If Blizzard were to apply the Advance Wars DoR mechanics onto the best RTS ever made, it would singlehandedly sell like smack in South Korea alone. A few changes would be needed though. SVCs would build all the buildings instead of having to capture them in AW. Said buildings would have HP but, unlike in AW, could be destroyed by any method of unit. Research would be handled like building or capturing in AW in which you, say, select your academy, select Stim Pack, and repeat one more turn to complete. Hero units would be a combination of the AW CO mechanic and the Fire Emblem system: each has some sphere of influence, a special power, and you will lose if he/she dies. I don't think CO powers would work, thou'; they'd probably be switched out by allowing all 3 of the races (Terran, Zerg, Protross).
I hope Blizzard is reading this: This. Will. Sell. Combine one of your most beloved RTS games and the selling power of the DS and you will make obscenely large proffits. I am confident you will laugh all the way to the bank. Hell, I could probably guarantee a good 10000 who'd pay good money for the game.
Discuss.
Then it hit me again like another brick: shoehorning an RTS onto two screens is about as easy as, to quote Yahtzee, "taking the crazy out of Richard Garriott". Heroes of Mana tried and holds a 65% ranking on Gamerankings. FFXII Revenat Wings did better (80%), but I digress. The big problem is too much going on on too small a screen; even then, with Revenant Wings, you have to neuter resource gathering and progressive unit construction among other RTS fundamentals.
But wait: there's Ages of Empires: Age of Kings for the DS with an 80% ranking and the Game of the Month award by EGM. How'd Ensemble do it? By making it turn based!
If Blizzard were to apply the Advance Wars DoR mechanics onto the best RTS ever made, it would singlehandedly sell like smack in South Korea alone. A few changes would be needed though. SVCs would build all the buildings instead of having to capture them in AW. Said buildings would have HP but, unlike in AW, could be destroyed by any method of unit. Research would be handled like building or capturing in AW in which you, say, select your academy, select Stim Pack, and repeat one more turn to complete. Hero units would be a combination of the AW CO mechanic and the Fire Emblem system: each has some sphere of influence, a special power, and you will lose if he/she dies. I don't think CO powers would work, thou'; they'd probably be switched out by allowing all 3 of the races (Terran, Zerg, Protross).
I hope Blizzard is reading this: This. Will. Sell. Combine one of your most beloved RTS games and the selling power of the DS and you will make obscenely large proffits. I am confident you will laugh all the way to the bank. Hell, I could probably guarantee a good 10000 who'd pay good money for the game.
Discuss.
