I know there's a lot of questions as to what has gone on with it.
A brief history of what happened in case you're not fully aware... I posted that youtube video about a week ago, and after the 4th day it started to go viral. I was periodically checking it to view comments when I noticed the hits were going up at about 10,000 an hour... Once it got up to about 150k views with over 300 supportive comments, Activision pulled it. I was really confused seeing as how there were many other World of Starcraft projects attempted and youtubed, and furthermore confused by the copyright issue. Everything inside of Blizzard's editor is copyrighted material so I thought as long as things were being produced within SC2 it was fair game regardless of title.
Kid logic I suppose.
The Deputy General Council from Blizzard contacted me last night to discuss the details of the "World of Starcraft" project. We talked for a while and apparently some people from Blizz were concerned I was developing the game somehow outside of SC2. Anyways I explained the details of the project to him and made it clear this mod was to be developed within SC2. After that was clear he obviously wanted the name to be changed... I'm trying to work with him to get the name Starcraft Universe (Currently in holding by Mille25) or Starcraft Chronicles. I am fully respectful of Blizzard's Intellectual property, and they DO in fact own a copyright on "World of Starcraft" and have EVERY RIGHT to do what they did. If I want to continue this project I'm at the mercy of Blizzard's good graces since they OWN it all.
Anyways yesterday I was contacted by Riot games in Los Angeles for a potential position in game design. I'm not special though I will have to go through the application process and testing like everyone else, and this is not a 100% guaranteed thing, and I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do at the moment. There's a lot going on outside of what I've even mentioned here.
Literally overnight I've grown from a nobody to a guy that half a million people want to design a mod. I've had professional composers contact me, dozens upon dozens of game designers and programmers and organizers. Many professionals seeking a fun hobby project even though there is NO MONEY TO BE MADE. ( At this time premium maps is still just a concept )
Finally I want to say how GRATEFUL I am to SC2MAPSTER.COM and everyone in it and all my friends there. From the Tutorials to the amazing help I've recieved in the IRC over the last four months. That place is amazing. I could have never made the transition I have from the wc3 editor to sc2 edit without that place, and regardless of what happens to me I will stamp sc2mapster on everything I can from here moving forward.
Mille25 and I are going to discuss the possible fusion of his Starcraft Universe project today with mine, and we'll see what happens. But regardless I know that an instanced based Starcraft MMO will happen somewhay, somehow, eventually - within Starcraft II.
Thankyou: Shawn, Onetwo, Progammer, Proziac, Lillianna, Xaragoth, Sumo, Sixen, JmanV, Helral, Slaydon, SCMapper, A1Win, Skizot, Vjeux, DarkRevenant, Dogmai, Fockewulf, HeyRevolver, Mindful, Skittles, rrowland, Phaos... and all the other names I may be drawing a blank on at this time... If you've ever helped me with the editor, I truly truly appriciate the time.
There's a lot of people there who I know are more technically and creative talented than I am..
Rock on man. I just a tipped a few sites on this article. Hopefully it straightens out all the craziness from yesterday! If you still need someone to get a site going for you to post updates and such, let me know. Obviously, you'll need to decide on a new name before then!
Thankyou very much for all your support everyone. And smiley, stick around man.. I know I've been really busy and haven't had time to address a lot of people but your work here on the forums and other forums hasn't gone unnoticed.
Haha I already planned on sticking around. I may not have any programming experience, and I'm no web genius (although I can certainly design and put together a solid website), but I'm a great PR guy, and good at finding and correcting the small details in projects.
Posted by Nelson PixelatedGeekcom on Jan 20, 2011, 2:47pm
told ya, buddy. keep your head up. Now look at ya. =) Congrats on everything.
hi, ryan! i wish i can help with this project. but i know nothing about programming. I am a chinese and a university student in foreign language school. but i have been playing sc since year 2000. Thanksfully, a guy like you make our dream come true one day
Starcraft Chronicles was formerly a fan-made 3D film by a team of over 131 volunteers (3D artists, riggers, animators, matte painters, etc.)
It was born in 2006 by Critical.Mechanism (Kristijan Stuhli). I was the team's original recruiter.
After Critical.Mechanism's lack of time commitment to the team, I resigned. The team fell apart.
I remember Critical emailed me over a year later asking me to join. The team had two comebacks to my knowledge, but I lost track of them. I don't know if their project still lives, or how further they went in production.
It's been five years since the Starcraft Chronicles project was born.
Posted by JChristopher on Jan 21, 2011, 8:56pm
Gratz on all the developments Ryan! More power to you and we'll be waiting on Battle.net for your mod to go live!