Much has been made of Frost Giant's founding mythos - of how Tim Morten, disillusioned by the direction Blizzard was taking away from RTS games, stood with Tim Cambpell in Jesse Brophy's backyard in the height of the pandemic to plan the initial stages of Stormgate. At least, thats the story they told PCGamer in their December cover piece. But the story of Stormgate, and Frost Giant, is more than three friends in a sunny California backyard.
That full story hasn't really been told - at least, not until today. The Washington Post released the final story from their games division, over a year in the making. After Frost Giant announced the formation of their studio, the Washington Post embedded with the team for several days as they underwent the initial stages of mapping out what this upcoming RTS might be. Mikhail Klimentov, also known as @LeaderGrev, sat in on design meetings, played the original prototype, and was even in the room when Frost Giant decided their previously-nameless project would be called "Stormgate." We'll go over some of the key revelations here, but you should do yourself the favor of reading the article in full - it really is an excellent swan song for the Post's gaming vertical.
New Art
One of the best parts of any major news outlet doing a piece on Frost Giant is the art we get to drool over - and this is no exception. In this instance, we get one piece of concept art (the Infernal Imp Worker) and a new screenshot with vastly improved lighting and textures.
The imp worker gained much love when it was first teased in the Frost Giant December Developer Update, with its cute demon-er (see what we did there?) and teddy bear it valiantly carried into battle. This version is one that has been clearly iterated upon much more, and now seems much closer to implementation - while still maintaing that existential angst that endeared it to fans.
That being said, it clearly has some method to express it's rage at the world (or worker harass) and it appears that Frost Giant is toying taking a page from Warcraft 3 or Age of Empires and giving workers temporary abilities to defend themselves. It seems that the Infernals' workers can ignite - some sort of area-of-effect defensive ability, maybe?
As exciting as that concept art is, the in-game screenshot is arguably more compelling.
In this screenshot provided to the Washington Post team (s/o to Frost Giant for providing us with a copy), we can see a brand new production structure, and what appears to be a minor update to the art style. In the last resistance faction screenshot release, the lighting and colors both appeared to be a bit brighter and saturated, and the environment in general appeared a bit less real. In this image, we can see some minor weathering and an overall darker color palette. Minor updates, but its the small things that often make the difference. It will be interesting to see what the structures end up producing - the lack of a clear exit point and the flanges pointing upwards imply some sort of vertical exit from the structures - perhaps this produces flying units of some sort? The other alternative, of course, is that this structure is not a production one at all - and instead provides some research or other functionality.
It also appears that the chicken is quickly becoming a mascot of Stormgate screenshots, as it has appeared in every release thus far.
Risks and Transitions
Outside of the incredible new art that continues to trickle out of the studios, the main story presented was one of growth, transitions, and new beginnings. The decision to jump ship from one most prominent developers in the world to an unproven startup is never an easy one. For some, it took the urging of their partner to take the leap, as was the case for Jesse Brophy, Frost Giant's Art Director. For others, Tim Morten's allure - several key members of the Frost Giant team reportedly left lofty positions elsewhere on the promise of working with him.
With such a strong connection to Blizzard embedded in Frost Giant's DNA, two elephants in the room clearly dominate - Blizzard's refusal to create a third Starcraft and the myriad lawsuits that have swarmed the company in the last several years. While Tim Morten gently brushed those claims of Blizzard support (or the lack thereof) aside, the decision to found a new studio to make a new "Blizzard-style" RTS speaks volumes.
The other, larger elephant is the claims of employee harassment and sexual assault that have plagued Blizzard in recent years. The Tim's claim they did not see or experience that type of behavior, but they are using it as a reminder of how important strong workplace culture can be - not only to the successful launch of a game, but to the health of the company as a whole.
For Gerald Villoria, that culture was the reason he joined Blizzard 13 years ago - an employee-first ethos that gave him the time he needed to care for premature twins right at the start of his job. However, that feeling hard started to fade, and by November 2021, when Tim Morten came knocking, he lept at the opportunity. Frost Giant was not only an opportunity to reclaim that feeling of colegiality he had experienced in his early days at Blizzard, but also build something from the ground up.
At the end of the day, that's what Frost Giant represents to everyone in the article. It's an opportunity to make something new - to improve on a medium that has defined their careers, to do things that a big studio would never allow them to do, create a game that allows an entirely new generation to fall in love with RTS games, and do it in a way that values the person as much as the product.
Getting Involved
As always, if you want to engage with the Frost Giant developers and get information from them as they post it, you should sign up for their newsletter, head on over to /r/Stormgate on reddit, and sign up for the beta and wishlist the game on steam!