Warcraft: Chronicles of the Second War Developer Interview
Warcraft is a beloved franchise dating all the way back to 1994, but after the 2002 release of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion, The Frozen Throne, the IP took a different direction, moving away from its RTS (real-time strategy) roots and instead embracing the realm of an MMO (massively multiplayer online game). In 2020, Blizzard Entertainment attempted a small revival of Warcraft in its original style with the release of Warcraft III: Reforged. Sadly, the release of this attempted remaster of a beloved classic was hindered by broken promises, poor optimisation, and missing features.
However, Warcraft III: Reforged may have had one positive boon for the community. That being, the desire to create and add to the Warcraft universe that inspired a small group of developers. I was fortunate to be able to speak with Warcraft: Chronicles of the Second War co-founder and spokesperson Shadi, whose team has been working on remaking Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness (1995) in the Warcraft III: Reforged engine.
First, I’d like to thank you for taking the time to chat with me today.
It's my pleasure, anytime.
I've got a few questions for you and afterwards if there is anything you'd like to add that we missed we'd love to hear it.
Go for it.
To start us off, why don’t you tell us a little about the team that has been working on this project?
The team is composed of co-founders: Me (Shadi) and Eugene (Tamplier), we started early in 2020 when we discovered that both of us have a lot of love for Warcraft II. Then along the road Maks (Barorque) joined us, initially he was responsible for Human models, but then his role became bigger with cinematics, trailers, maps, and some artwork. Then Goulven (Bagysta) joined in and he was responsible for the amazing Orc clan models, each with unique clan identities. After our first trailer and global breakthrough, Vincent (Mr.Goblin) and Jimi (Spooky) joined in respectively. Vincent was responsible for icons, terraining and art, while Spooky was responsible for proofreading and script proofing. Architect (a former WC3 developer) joined in later to lend us aid with his vast expertise, and Marthen (Andeval) is our lore expert and cartographer. He made the beautiful map we shared a month ago. Finally, there is Whirlwind, our newest member but long time contributor and friend, he's responsible for French localisation.
I have followed the development of Chronicles of the Second War for about a year myself and I must say your models and 3D work look amazing.
Glad you liked them, it certainly took almost 3.5 years of my life modelling all those assets, from Orcs to Dwarves and finally the Draenei which were the hardest. They come into our Prequel campaign: Rise of the Horde.
About this time last year, Blizzard Entertainment finally added custom campaign support to Warcraft III: Reforged, something the original Warcraft III was well known for. How did the decision to add this feature help or hinder your team's development progress?
Well, without the custom campaign feature, the project was hindered greatly from the get-go, and Reforged launched horribly with game-breaking bugs and crashes. We tried our best to develop the maps outside the feature until we finally got the feature back and implemented it into a single file.
So, was development speed increased after custom campaigns became something you could work with?
I wouldn't say increased because with or without it, World Editor is a 20+ year-old program and despite its amazing features, a lot of the workflow is outdated by today's standards, which will always remain difficult for us.
You've mentioned that development started back in 2020, over the course of that time, has the team expanded on the narrative and lore of the Warcraft II timeline? Or have you been completely faithful to Blizzard’s story?
That's a good question. Some people initially thought that we're making a 1:1 recreation of WC2 down to the last pixel, this isn't what we do, we're remaking that beautiful game with today's modern assets and over 25+ years of established lore, so the team had a big challenge ahead of it, take the best bits of all sources and make them coherent, but I would say that over 70% of the game is faithful to WC2 in terms of narrative.
So we can expect some fun additions then?
That would be an understatement. I do hope to see the fans' reactions to what we have in store, a lot of surprises, Easter eggs, callbacks, and much more.
I am sure fans will be delighted to be able to experience something new in the Warcraft universe besides World of Warcraft.
World of Warcraft is surely a big title today, and for almost 20 years now. But as the title moved forward, we really felt that it alienated us old fans who grew up on the early games, so we felt that it's our job to show the new generation of fans why this game was great in the first place.
As an old fan of the RTS era of Warcraft I completely understand where you are coming from haha.
Then this game is for you.
I also understand that due to copyright issues regarding voice acting and sound files, Chronicles of the Second War will have its characters voiced by a completely different group then the original, in fact you have provided some voice lines yourself. Is that right?
That is correct. About 98% of the voices are original. I even wrote all the voice lines while taking into consideration the original WC2 lines that were spoken by the units. I expanded on some, and added a lot of new stuff. I would like fans to give extra attention to the "pissed" quotes because they're filled with Easter eggs and in-universe jokes.
I do remember how much I personally enjoyed clicking repeatedly on a unit back in the day to see what they'd say as they got angry with me.
One thing I'm certain of is that fans will note the pissed quotes and write them somewhere in a fan Wiki.
Adding to the Warcraft universe is certainly something many would be excited about. Now, you have announced via social media and the groups Discord channel, a release date of the 5th of January 2024. Will this be a full release of both the Human and Orc campaigns?
It will be a full release of the Orc campaign, but I want to stress on the fact that moving forward, releases are expected to be faster.
How many missions in total can players expect for the released Orc campaign?
About 17 missions, and four full acts. Acts are Interlude cinematics...like mini-movies that give you info on what the next chapter of the story is about. They also range from five to 11 minutes! So a lot of visual content.
That is quite an accomplishment! Before we wrap things up, is there anything we have not covered that you would like to add for our readers?
Have faith in our commitment to finishing this project, donations are always welcome since they're essential for our well-being and for development. Enjoy the Orc campaign, and we can't wait to see you experience the epic Human campaign that comes after!
And where will players be able to download the custom campaign?
Our project is exclusively available on HIVE Workshop, that's our home and the staff have helped us a lot! A small installation guide will be posted on the day of release, it's quite simple!
Perfect, that’s all I have for you, thank you so much for your time Shadi, congratulations to you and the rest of the team on hitting this major milestone. Personally, I will be downloading the campaign on the first day.
Thank you so much for your interview, looking forward to seeing your impression alongside the fans!
For those looking to get an early taste of the production quality and voice acting involved in the cinematics that Shadi mentioned during our interview, you can check out this video introducing the various Dwarven clans as Varok Saurfang gives a report to Warchief Orgrim Doomhammer. You can also view the projects fantastic launch trailer if you are still unsure of what you are getting into.
Should you have a love for Warcraft like myself, you may have been craving a Warcraft IV announcement only to be let down time and again, the news that we'll have 17 full missions of voice-acted Warcraft content as soon as the 5th of January certainly is exciting. Be sure to comment below and let us know if you’ll be giving this ambitious project a download.
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