Kevin:Throughout the last five or so years of my life, I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with hundreds of employees at Blizzard. It’s through this competition, careful refinement, and analysis that I came to understand Co-op to the degree that I do today. Eventually, we started competing with one another to see who could solo each map with each Commander as fast as possible. Slowly, the numbers began increasing, up to the almost 100 players we have today. So I decided to take matters into my own hands and create a Discord group filled with some of the most committed Co-op players I knew. However, I’ve always had more fun talking about games than playing games, and there wasn’t yet a community to facilitate that yet for StarCraft Co-op. Kevin:Sometime in early 2017, I shifted my StarCraft time from the versus mode to Co-op. What was your experience with Co-op Commanders before you joined the Design Team? I think I’ve mostly leaned towards stability when making a lot of my life decisions. I don’t think it became possible until very recently. But when I was growing up, that didn’t really seem feasible if you wanted a stable income, at least in America. Kevin:I’d be lying if I said the thought never came up. Through TeamLiquid, I also worked on projects such as TSL, TLMC, and various other StarCraft tournaments such as the KeSPA Cup Qualifiers.ĭid you ever consider becoming a full-time pro-gamer yourself? All you StarCraft fans out there should look up my Hearthstone match versus Artosis!ĭespite my heavy involvement with Hearthstone, though, I always remained a part of the StarCraft scene, and one of my most prominent roles was working as the Blizzard liaison for TeamLiquid. During the years I was involved in Hearthstone, I held roles as a player, content creator, commentator, team manager, and tournament organizer, traveling the world throughout it all. Looking back at it, it was pretty cool since it included both some ex-StarCraft personalities and also some now famous Hearthstone personalities including TrumpSC, Kripp, StrifeCro, Frodan, and ChanmanV. I quickly realized that I was quite decent at the game, and in order to satisfy my need to discuss strategy with high-level players, I founded what was arguably the first Hearthstone team: Liquid Value. Kevin:My involvement in esports skyrocketed when Hearthstone was released. How did you first get involved with Hearthstone? You had a stint as an influencer in the Hearthstone scene as well. Eventually, one thing led to another and I began working for TeamLiquid full-time as a project manager. My proudest accomplishment during that time was writing a 100-plus page strategy guide on the Protoss vs. Thus, I began volunteering for TeamLiquid, at first just writing strategy and coverage articles for fun. I was a fairly decent player, reaching GM in the early days of Wings of Liberty, but I soon began to realize I enjoyed talking about the game almost more than playing it. Kevin: When StarCraft II came out, I knew it would just be a continuation of my infatuation with the StarCraft series. How did your experience evolve with the release of StarCraft II? Starting in 2007, I began digesting every bit of StarCraft I content I could. It was through the esports scene that I was once again introduced to StarCraft and the whole pro-gaming scene in Korea. I invested countless hours into watching and analyzing pro games. My next foray with Blizzard games was with WarCraft III. Along with Pokemon, I would have to say it was one of the most influential games of my adolescence. I was over at a family friend’s house, and their son showed me this game he described as “Warcraft II, but in space.” I was pretty hooked from that point, constantly playing the AI in comp stomps and on BGH 4v4 with friends. Kevin “monk” Dong, Associate Game Designer, StarCraft II:I was first introduced to StarCraft almost 20 years ago, when the game was first released. What were your first experiences with StarCraft? Some may not know, but before you joined Blizzard, you’d already been a part of the StarCraft Community for years under the handle “monk”. We sat down with him to learn about how he got into StarCraft and how he transitioned from community figure to game developer. The newest member of the StarCraft II development team, Kevin ‘monk’ Dong had a rich history with Blizzard games long before he stepped into his role in Game Design, where he works on Co-op Commanders and multiplayer balance.
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