Inside Blizzard Ent. HQ: Our StarCraft TMG Playtest and Game Design Journey

By Jarek Ewertowski, Archon Studio’s CEO.

You have to be persistent in chasing your dreams. Even if they throw you out the door, climb back in through the window—one of the most essential pieces of advice I got from my former boss when I worked in a corporation.
For many years, I worked hard to close this fantastic deal for StarCraft. Still, I never expected that once we finally made it happen, we’d get to visit Blizzard’s HQ, present our game in a room full of StarCraft designers, tour the entire campus, and take a photo next to the legendary Orc Statue.

That’s just the intro—now, let’s get to the good stuff.

The trip to California involved: 4 hours on a train, 13 hours on a plane. During the journey, the SC finals were happening—Serral triumphed once again, which made the trip even more exciting. And we didn’t get bored on the plane either—we dove into the StarCraft campaigns to relive exactly what made the games so great.

California is beautiful—and probably not just at this time of year!

At Blizzard, we were welcomed incredibly warmly! A fantastic team of professionals. The plan was simple: present the game concept, get feedback, and continue working on the project.

A room full of Blizzard designers, each with varying levels of experience in tabletop miniatures games. That diversity gave us feedback from many angles—from newcomers just getting started with tabletop games to seasoned tournament players regularly attending events like LVO.

The playtests were done in match play format—we tested 1v1 matches, rotating partners after each game.

After the playtests, we spent a few more hours discussing the mechanics and identifying the elements we need to improve and the ones they really liked. The feedback was incredibly valuable - you could clearly feel the team's deep experience in game design. Access to a team like this and receiving their insights is priceless.

The next day, we got an amazing surprise—the Blizzard team gave us a full tour of the campus!

Huge thanks to Peter’s group and the Blizzard designers for the fantastic hospitality, the dinner, the playtests, and the invaluable feedback!