Considering the work involved in general, the interface is sort of irrelevant. Plus, there's no way to tell if your AI is any good if you don't have anyone to

Considering the work involved in general, the interface is sort of irrelevant. Plus, there's no way to tell if your AI is any good if you don't have anyone to play against, and if you're doing that, you want to play against the best, which means you need a wildly popular game with a professional drive to it. Starcraft is a perfect fit.