June 8th, 2013 
Mark Welcome to another Arcade Highlight! Our latest featured Arcade game is WoW TD 2. WoW TD 2 takes the classic tower defense formula, injects the art and lore of World of WarCraft, and then mixes in the pacing of fun and fast mini-games. One to eight players can take on waves of monsters—including ogres, dragons, and Deathwing himself—by strategically placing towers that damage, slow, and stun their quarry.
Though some are mechanical towers, many of these playable ‘structures’ are characters from World of Warcraft, such as Orc warriors, Goblin rogues, and Draenei mages. Your heroes can wear items that are dropped from slain enemies, increasing their attributes. An interesting feature in WoW TD 2 is if given the right combination of items, your characters can be transformed and gain all new attributes. For instance, equipping the Night Elf with Angelic Halo and Angelic Wings will transform her into an Angel with glowing armor.
Mini-games offer players a chance to earn bonus materials and break up the typical tower defense game-flow. There are also times where natural disasters strike and the map is suddenly flooded, preventing players from planting new towers. Combined with a wave of flying enemies, this can spell doom for players who wait too long to construct their defenses.
Once you’re ready to play, click here to launch StarCraft II. Have a friend who might want to give it a shot, but doesn’t currently own StarCraft II? Like all of our featured games, WoW TD 2 is available to anyone with the free StarCraft II Starter Edition.
Traysent: How did you get started in game design?
PinkyBlue: Growing up, I tried level editors in all the games that offered any sort of level design. My first attempt was to building a level for “Battle City” on NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) in 90’s. The most memorable experience I had before StarCraft II was the level editor in Serious Sam. It made ??a strong impression on me. It was my first and last editor for FPS games. It was definitely not the easiest thing.
T: What made you want to make games with the StarCraft II editor?
PB: I was impressed by the variety of maps that were created for Starcraft: Brood War and Warcraft III by the community. They really caught my attention because Blizzard’s editors allowed you to make games of different genres, not just strategy.
T: What was the inspiration for “WoW TD 2”?
PB: As the title of my map says, the main inspiration for map is World of Warcraft, another awesome Blizzard game, and the only MMORPG I’ve ever invested so much time in. Also, I was impressed by different tower defense maps made by the StarCraft II community. Every time I played another new ‘TD’ I noticed the things that I liked and did not like. As a result, I got a desire to make my own perfect TD.
T: What do players who want to conquer the game and be great do to reach that goal?
PB: It's just a game for fun. You can play it without having to worry about how good you are. However if you are determined to beat the highest difficulty, you’ll need to experiment and look for the best combination of towers. Skill will come in time with experience.
Also, my game has leaderboard. If you’re wondering how to get first place, you’ll need to kill monsters faster than other players and win the mini-games. Nothing special!
T: What do you feel makes your game compelling?
PB: The most notable features are the towers and monsters from the well-known World of Warcraft universe. Also towers can be powered by items dropped from slain monsters such as the Jack-o-lanterns and angelic wings. They don’t only enhance your towers, but also make them look cool or funny. I am sure Wow TD is one of the very few tower defense maps with such a feature.
T: What advice would you give to someone who was interested in using the StarCraft II editor to make their own game? Where is a good place for them to start the learning process?
PB: The best experience comes with time! My advice to beginning mapmakers is try, try, and try again! Also remember that mapmaking is not a job, it is just a hobby, something that can be fun. Forget about the popularity of your map and just enjoy the process of modding.
The best place to get good tutorials is the community site sc2mapster.com. There you can find video lessons, tips, a wiki and a lot of other stuff, as well as maps made and uploaded by other players.
T: How did you get people to notice your game once it was released?
PB: First of all I had uploaded it to sc2mapster.com to share with other mapmakers. Then I made a trailer for my map and uploaded it to YouTube. After that, I would camp in the StarCraft II chat channels encouraging players to try my map
T: Do you have any plans for other games or future goals as a game designer?
PB: “Game designer” sounds too cool for me. I'm just a player who likes using the level editor. It's just a hobby for me. The StarCraft II editor is the only game editor I used during the past few years and I still have a few ideas that I would like to implement with it.
T: What’s the best way people can follow you and your work (Twitter, Facebook, Website, etc.)?
PB: Sadly, I have to admit that I do not have any pages on Facebook or any other social network sites. The best and only way to communicate with me and follow my map is sc2mapster.com.
T: Do you have any favorite games on the StarCraft II Arcade?
PB: Yep. My favorites maps are Gem TD, Kobold Tribes, BattleCraft Atomic and Strikers.
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