iGame Radio

Valve has announced they are in development of Dota 2, the sequel to the much-beloved mod of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. The game will be available for both Windows and Mac in 2011. In addition, Valve revealed another year of triple digit growth for their digital distribution system Steam.

Dota 2 (Defense of the Ancients) is based on the action/RTS mod DotA for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos developed by Icefrog. Valve has wooed said developer into the fold and intends to make some significant changes to incorporate community within the game’s framework while maintaining the original PvP aspects of the game, which pits two teams of five players against each other in highly competitive, 40-minute or longer matches. Each player controls a single hero who levels up and stockpiles gold to purchase equipment and consumables. Players then use their heroes to defend against continually spawning AI armies while attacking each other.

In an exclusive interview with Gameinformer, Valve went into some detail regarding the game’s development. Dota 2 will be using Valve’s Source engine, which will be improved to include global lighting and true cloth simulation.

Steamworks will also be upgraded to account for additions in the game, including in-game rewards for community involvement. Valve sees participation, such as the creation of interactive guides and becoming a mentor in the new coaching system, as ways to help new players and involve more of the community within the game. Also, the Steamworks upgrade will create better matchmaking solutions, so that new players don’t end up on high level teams and become point fodder.

Valve has been careful to also note that though AI will be focused on as well, this will be used to take over for disconnected players, not for single-player game creation. Players can also expect some awesome custom voice-work from various characters.

This has been followed by Valve’s announcement of a record year for Steam growth. The developer stated that new account had seen a growth of 178% over the last 12 months, sales growth of over 200%, over 200 Steamworks games shipped since the system went online two years ago.