News and Updates

Campaign Creations StarCraft Scenario Contest

Campaign Creations is proud to present their next contest: The StarCraft Scenario Contest. Your prize this time? Well, only one winner will be accountable for this contest, and that winner will get to receive the StarCraft Cinematic Poster. And, naturally, to up the interest:


Once again, thanks to the support of Blizzard Entertainment, they've helped sponsor this contest officially by offering a pair of beta keys for the winner. You think you have what it takes to create the most epic single player scenario map? Then here's what you have to do:

Contest will be a scenario map creation contest, with a predetermined character: Judicator Zilous, where the contestants must portray an event in one map alone with this character as the protagonist to a basic self-determined story. Judgment will be based primary on the complexity and amount of story-driven content contained within the map. In addition, the mapping ability and overall professionalism of the project will also be considered. Additional extras such as music, vocal work, or artwork adjustment will not directly ultimately affect judgment but may aid in the scoring. The contest will be based off a scoring system, where one can acquire up to ten points based on each criteria: Text (Spelling, Grammar, Formatting, Dialogue, etc), Triggers (Complexity, Functional, Usage), Mapping (Categories: Layout and Beauty), and Professionalism (Attention to detail, lore, and presentation).

A few important notes to take into account is that Judicator Zilous operates an Arbiter. Arbiters have been known to have the ability to manipulate space and time to transport personal and supplies, alongside freeze personal in the same manner. This, however, does not limit them from giving themselves the ability to time travel or perhaps even enter other dimensions. Your imagination is your limits in this contest, the only requirement is Judicator Zilous be the main character, however his survival or lack of is in your hands.

You have four weeks from this day to complete a total package campaign revolving around the StarCraft storyline. Let's make your vast knowledge in both triggering and mapping finally come of good use, and show that YOU deserve those keys! Head on over to our forums and visit the contest subforum to get started!

Source: Campaign Creations StarCraft Scenario Contest

Robert Clotworthy Returns to StarCraft

Robert: Yes, I can confirm that I'm working with Blizzard Entertainment to reprise my role as the voice of Jim Raynor in StarCraft II.  I'm looking forward to the release of the game and I hope that StarCraft players will enjoy going into battle with Jim and following his adventures throughout the galaxy.

You read right, folks, Jim Raynor's original infamous voice has returned to the scene. Robert Clotworthy, voice of Raynor, is currently working with single-player team of StarCraft II on recording his script lines. Could this mean we can look forward to a reprisal of other infamous actors such as Glynnis Talken, the voice of the one of the most well-known female game characters, Sarah Kerrigan?

Wc3NewbieMapper-to-Wc3CompetentMapper v0.64a released!

Download here.
Content list here.

As a quick remainder, this is a newbie-minded Warcraft 3 tutorial map pack to learn the Trigger Editor. Play first, open the map later to learn how it was done with lots of comments and explanations.

Chapter 5 is intended to be a cinematics chapter in progress while Chapter 6 is campaign-related.

Here's the latest additions :

-> Episode 4-3 - Learn how to make quests
** Include creating/updating/failing quests.

-> Episode 5-XX1 - Camera Values
** Allows fooling with the game camera and shows camera values. Technical-based.
** Also include a first and third person view camera setup.

-> Episodes 6-1 and 6-2 - Game cache
** Load/save with the game cache.

-> Tutorial Campaign File
** Specifics related to War3 campaigns (difficulty use, loading next campaign map, etc.)

StarCraft II Q&A - Batch 52

Blizzard has recently released the next batch of Question and Answers, edition 52, Map Maker Series. The following questions were asked:

1. Does it still use the JASS language, or perhaps an upgraded version of JASS?
2. Is the language event-driven or object-oriented?
3. In comparison to the Warcraft III Editor, how much more, if any, can the GUI of the game be edited (it was extremely limited in Warcraft III)?
4. Are there new noteworthy functionalities in the Starcraft II Editor, or will the new editor just have general improvements?
5. Will the ability to communicate among triggers, for instance via actions or conditions, be improved in the new language?
6. SHow does "Hero" support differ from the Warcraft III Editor? Or is it practically identical?
7. Will there be a public API for the programming language?
8. Will there be improvements on the "Garbage Collector" for the new language? For example, in JASS all local variables need to be set to null at the end of their use, and certain data-types need to be removed from the game (such as Locations) at the end of their use to avoid memory leaks.


You can read all about it on our forum here or visit Battle.net's forum here.

Source: Battle.net

Ascension of Duran: Dark Purposes released!

It's finally here! After a lot of work and late nights I proudly present to you Ascension of Duran: Dark Purposes. This is the second Ascension of Duran campaign in the series and has custom sound, graphics and challenging game play.

Official site: http://www.campaigncreations.org/starcraft/ascension_of_duran/dark_purposes

Campaign Creations StarCraft Campaign Contest

Campaign Creations is proud to present their next contest: The StarCraft Campaign Contest. Your prize pool this time? Third place receives an outstanding StarCraft poster, second place receives the greatly reviewed StarCraft: Novel Trilogy Set, and first place receives an epic copy of StarCraft: The Board Game. Want more!?


That's right, we're offering TWO (2) Beta Keys for first, second, and third place each! Thanks to the support of Blizzard Entertainment, they've help sponsor this contest officially by offering a pair of beta keys for each winner. Think you can handle the ultimate accomplishment in StarCraft mapping? Then here's what you have to do:

Contest will be a campaign creation contest, with no limits other than using lore; to present a story as to what occurred four years between the Brood War and StarCraft 2 storyline. It may be portrayed through one, two, or all three of the races. Style can be crafted in any sequence, such as episodes, intertwining, etc. and may revolve around main characters or spin-off fan-created characters. Judgment will be based on ability to portray story via in-game text and triggers, mapping ability, and overall professionalism of the project. Additional extras such as music, vocal work, or artwork adjustment will not directly ultimately affect judgment but may aid in help of a tie, as well as how early you announced your project and how many updates you perform in your thread. The contest will be based off a scoring system, where one can acquire up to ten points based on each criteria: Text (Spelling, Grammar, Formatting, Dialogue, etc), Triggers (Complexity, Functional, Usage), Mapping (Categories: Layout and Beauty), and Professionalism (Attention to detail, lore, updates, and presentation).

You have eight weeks from this day to complete a total package campaign revolving around the StarCraft storyline. Let's make your vast knowledge in both lore and mapping finally come of good use, and show that YOU deserve those keys! Head on over to our forums and visit the contest subforum to get started!

Source: Campaign Creations StarCraft Campaign Contest

Armageddon Onslaught Released!

Famed modder IskatuMesk has done it again. After months of hard work, he has created his next complete mod. Armageddon Onslaught is a testament to all mod makers that anything truly is possible with patience and knowledge. A quote from Iskatumesk states his thoughts on the mod:

Armageddon Onslaught is a proof of concept and a technical demonstration. Pitting 7 Terran and Protoss players against a single computer-controlled Armageddon race, the battle for survival begins! AO 3.0 introduces a wide variety of stunning new effects and mechanics over the old release and should provide a far greater challenge.

Download Armageddon Onslaught via this link, or the menu. Check out his official release thread, including a teaser of the unreleased intro video, over at our forums as well.

Campaign Creations Podcast Online

Campaign Creations has gathered up a roundtable of staff members for your ears. With a brand spanking new player, we bring back the return of our podcasts; expect to hear more up-to-date info and news through our forthcoming episodes. Join in on our first episode, alongside Dread, Lavarinth, IskatuMesk, and Whiplash as they discuss a short list of topics, including StarCraft Team Fortress, Armageddon Onslaught, and Ascension of Duran. They also take a moment to share their thoughts on StarCraft 2's Map Editor, and shed a bit of light on the upcoming Campaign Creations Contests alongside a quick look into BlizzCon.

So take a listen, and feel free to share your thoughts and opinions on our forum.

E-Sports News Online

Campaign Creations recently struck an agreement with SC2GG to relay each others news. As we all know, StarCraft is split between two major communities: Modding and E-Sports. In both of our efforts to cover the entire product and all it has to offer, we have partnered up to display each other's feeds in our respective sites. You can stay updated on our site in news relating to E-Sports by checking out our E-Sports tab in the front page.

SC2GG is currently undergoing adjustments before they provide a feed to Campaign Creations. Enjoy this small additional feature, as there are many more to come.

BlizzCon 2009 - Sold Out!

The final allotment of tickets for BlizzCon 2009 has now been sold out. Thousands of tickets sold within minutes, astonishing. If you weren't able to get tickets, we'll make sure to keep you updated via upcoming features to the site to alert you of the latest Blizzard news come BlizzCon. Coverage of the gaming festival will also be offered by DIRECTV as a Pay Per View event, available both via satellite and Internet stream. For those of you have managed to get tickets, let us know, we'd like to hear from you, if not meet up with you!

StarCraft II Q&A - Batch 51

Blizzard has just released the next batch of Question and Answers, edition 51. The following questions were asked:

1. Add an option in the menu to disable the windows key, and same thing goes for ALT-TAB? And add an EASY way to squelch your opponent. When their name "IllIIlIIlIIlIIlllI" (L & i), it's a little difficult.
2.  StarCraft 2's terrain properties such as Xel'Naga towers, destroyable barriers and Brush have a significant effect on gameplay and appear to create specific points of interest/advantage on the map. Are there plans to introduce additional terrain buffs/effect to the battlefield?
3. Since there are/were plans to integrate voice communications into multiplayer, will StarCraft 2 replays be able to include Audio, as well as chat?
4. You have talked a bit about replay functions lately and since patches will come up definitely former replays won't work if the system sticks with SC1 or W3. Do you plan on making changes here so that players can view older replays ever after patches occur?
5. The interface we see in Battle Reports - is this interface available for Observers during a live game (in real time), or only while viewing replays, or both?
6. StarCraft II is a package consisting of single player/campaign, multiplayer (+replay viewer), map editor and Battle.net. All four are complex and without a doubt require testing and patching. Has it been decided which of the above components are planned to be included in public beta testing?


In addition, they also have their occasional "Chat with the Devs" relating to death animations. In all their glory, each unit eventually faces its death and due to the nature of varied weaponry, they have multiple and varied death animations. You can check them out over at the StarCraft II Death Animations page!

You can read all about it on our forum here or visit Battle.net's forum here.

Source: Battle.net

Article and Tutorial Submissions

Campaign Creations is looking to update their articles, StarCraft and WarCraft tutorials. With today's new age in modding, it's no surprise that tutorials for Emerald StarEdit and StarDraft are collecting dust and have faded away. Ten years later the tools have improved, as has the complexity. If you have a tutorial you have written up on working in StarEdit, StarCraft's modding tools, WorldEdit or WarCraft's modding tools, give us a call. E-mail us a link to your copy, or post it in this thread, and we'll review it for posting on our growing list of tutorials. Consider something as simple as "hyper triggering" to even something as complex as allowing players to stack units in game. None of this is readily documented in a simple-to-access area, and that's what we're here for. Know how to model WarCraft 3 units and implement them into the game? Same thing goes, let us know and we'll post up your guide.

Alongside tutorials, we're looking for your creative writing. Our Articles section is designed to vary from something such as an interview to reviews or complex theories as to why StarCraft II will forever live on as long as StarCraft. Anything goes in the articles so long as we approve it.

Note that we're working on a more complex submission system to more easily get your tutorials and articles online, however currently this is the method used, and we encourage everyone to toss in their two cents to make this site  the database for all things mapping and modding related.

Campaign Creations Updates and Screenshots

Campaign Creations subdomains are still going through some server updates, so they may not be accessible. We're resolving this immediately and quickly. In the meantime however, head on over to our StarCraft II Official! thread to take a look at some new screenshots resident staff member IskatuMesk has spotted.

Campaign Creation Update

You may have noticed over the past two days that Campaign Creations was offline. This was due to a long overdue transition to a content management system. Such a transition will not greatly affect the viewers of the page, however will allow Campaign Creations staff to much more effectively globally update and maintain the site. As stated in our forums, for the moment most of our Resources are down to update them to a more eye-catching design, but rest assured it will be up in due time. It has been a long, silent transition to a CMS for over a year, and this is the result. Not much right? Well, maybe not to you, but it'll be a great performance boost and allow us to serve you all much faster. Enjoy your stay.

StarCraft II Updates

To quote Karune directly, "exciting times are just starting!" Blizzard Entertainment has just initiated their StarCraft II Beta Opt-In at Battle.net, allowing users to request the chance to participate in the StarCraft II Beta. Mainly- All of here, right? Head on over to Battle.net for more info. To continue, in a recent e-mail receive by the ORG Network sites and all Fansite Program sites, Karune has decided to share two updated models for the Zerg, the Queen and Spawning Pool (marking the first building to appear updated):

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This goes alongside the PC Gamer magazine just released this month showing off a slew of new unit models for the Zerg in StarCraft II. In an interview with Senior Art Director Samwise Didier, he stated they are hoping this'll be the last time they make a major art rehaul, however wouldn't be surprised to see minor tweaks and so forth.

Also released to us is a brand new interview with Chris Sigaty, StarCraft II Lead Producer. In this recent interview, question and answer style, the following questions were asked:

• StarCraft II opt-ins are now available through Battle.net. Does the opt-in process mean that the start of the StarCraft II beta is imminent?
• What aspects of the game will be available for testing in this beta?
• Will we be able to try the new Battle.net during this beta?
• What updates and changes have you made to the game recently?
• Which regions can join the StarCraft II beta test?
• Why aren’t you running StarCraft II beta simultaneously in all regions?
• Will testers be allowed to write about the beta? Take screenshots and videos?

You can view the answer to these questions over at our dedicated StarCraft II Discussion Thread on our forum! You wont find these questions anywhere else except other Fansites, so make sure to register and share your input, we'd love to hear from you!

Wanderers of Sorceria Book 6 Released!

Wanderers of Sorceria Book 6 is now released.  The Lord of Sorceria awaits your challenge.

When Warcraft 3 was released in 2003 Wanderers of Sorceria was one of the first custom campaigns available at the time, and now, six years later, the long journey is finally drawing to a close. When I initially planned out the entire campaign I thought I could finish the entire story within two years, yet the more I learned how to use the World Editor the more I felt compelled to challenge myself by creating something greater than what came before. In that manner each book starting from the first to the last successively became more sophisticated and technically superior. Whether or not I end up creating another campaign for Warcraft 3 or my next foray into customs ends up being with Starcraft 2, I can look back and know that I finally completed what began so long ago, and now it is your turn to follow through this story to its end.


Download it here!
Screenshots

Wc3NewbieMapper-to-Wc3CompetentMapper v0.63 released!

Download here.
Content list here.

As a quick remainder, this is a newbie-minded Warcraft 3 tutorial map pack to learn the Trigger Editor. Play first, open the map later to learn how it was done with lots of comments and explanations.

Here's the latest additions :

-> Episode 4-2 - Learn how to use timers
** Includes timers in general and reviving a hero via a timer.

-> Episode 4-XX1 - Learn how to make dialogs
** Including a page system and button hotkeys.

-> Episode 4-XX2 - Learn how to use special effects
** Including permanent/temporally ones, model fixed ones and an anti-leak system

-> Episode 4-XX3 - Learn how to make a multiboard
** Including a hero kills/death system and multiplayer multiboards

Note : The latest tutorials presumes you have learned loops and array variables from Chapter 3.

You can also contribute to this project in various ways including text proofing, requesting specific tutorials, submitting tutorial maps of your own, submitting interesting open maps for view and so on.

EDIT : Fixed the anti-leak actions in 4-XX2 since I didn't write the correct lines to prevent the leaks.

StarCraft's 11 Year Anniversary

Today marks the eleventh anniversary of StarCraft. Amazing such a game would still be a top rated masterpiece over a decade later. I am positive you all know what this game is, otherwise you would not be visiting this site, so it needs no introduction. However, I'm proud to be part of a community that has stood this long, as we watched each other grow and we discussed our lives and go to know each other a little more. The projects that shocked the internet, the tournaments that brought fame. It's not even something to fully call a memory while this game still lives on, and while the legacy is still fresh, it's successor will be there to continue it another decade. Live on.

Mysterious Countdown

It appears multiple sites, such as StarCraft Legacy, StarCraft.org, StarCraft Wire, StarCraft2Forum, and so forth have sprung up red countdowns like the following:


What this could ultimately relate to, there's never any proof. But stay tuned to these sites, and us, as you're kept updated. (Note StarCraft Legacy also has a shorter countdown, likely for their site release.)

In the Admiral's Service StarCraft Mod Released

IskatuMesk, famed modder of StarCraft, has decided to release an updated ITAS, his long-silent total conversion for StarCraft. Although incomplete, it adds another unique experience to StarCraft.


I wasn't going to release this because I don't believe in releasing unfinished projects, just as I don't believe in releasing demos. But a lot of work was put into this update before it was discontinued, so here it is.

This is released as-is. It will most likely be unstable from the limit expander.

As always, this only works on 1.10.


Make sure to leave your comments and question on this thread.