Like many of us in the late '90s and early '00s, Ryan Schutter was obsessed with real-time strategy games like Warcraft, Command & Conquer, and StarCraft. When StarCraft II was on the horizon, he bought a beta key from Craigslist, and his life would never be the same again.

He made custom maps for the game, including complex event scripting. As game streaming matured and SC2 became a competitive scene, he devised a fresh UX called Gameheart that allowed spectators and eSports fans to see wtf was even going on during high-level competitive play. That's when Blizzard took notice, and hired him to bake his Gameheart mod into the official product.

Today, Ryan is the lead UX designer at Frost Giant Studios, a dev with many former Blizzard RTS vets. They're building a fresh RTS called Stormgate, and it will be a free-to-play social experience that aims to marry our long-lost love of unit management with modern live service games.

We chat with Ryan about his journey in the games biz, where RTS fits into the modern gaming landscape, and why the community is crucial in building Stormgate from the ground up.

• Ryan's playing: Surviving Mars
• Colette's playing: V Rising
• Matt's playing: No Man's Sky

Sign up for the beta: playstormgate.com

Wishlist on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2012510/Stormgate/

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Join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/5xz84B9RRJ
 

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Email us with what you're playing and we'll read it on the show! [email protected]

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Our theme music is by Azure Flux: https://azureflux.bandcamp.com/

Our logo is illustrated by @JustCallMeKatarina: https://www.instagram.com/justcallmekatarina/