StarCraft II Official! (Pictures)

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StarCraft II Official! (Pictures)

Post by Lavarinth »

Announced not even 30 minutes ago, StarCraft II is officially announced by Blizzard, rejoice as we finally enter back into the galaxy of SciFi!

StarCraft Website is ONLINE!

GAMEPLAY: http://tvpot.daum.net/theme/ThemeView.d ... &lu=m_mono_

[imgwh 200x151]http://www.campaigncreations.org/sc2/starcraft-2-01.jpg[/imgwh] [imgwh 200x150]http://www.campaigncreations.org/sc2/starcraft-2-02.jpg[/imgwh] [imgwh 200x150]http://www.campaigncreations.org/sc2/starcraft-2-03.jpg[/imgwh] [imgwh 200x151]http://www.campaigncreations.org/sc2/starcraft-2-04.jpg[/imgwh] [imgwh 200x150]http://www.campaigncreations.org/sc2/starcraft-2-05.jpg[/imgwh] [imgwh 200x150]http://www.campaigncreations.org/sc2/starcraft-2-06.jpg[/imgwh] [imgwh 200x150]http://www.campaigncreations.org/sc2/starcraft-2-07.jpg[/imgwh] [imgwh 200x150]http://www.campaigncreations.org/sc2/starcraft-2-08.jpg[/imgwh] [imgwh 200x147]http://www.campaigncreations.org/sc2/starcraft-2-09.jpg[/imgwh] [imgwh 200x150]http://www.campaigncreations.org/sc2/starcraft-2-10.jpg[/imgwh] [imgwh 200x150]http://www.campaigncreations.org/sc2/starcraft-2-11.jpg[/imgwh] [imgwh 200x150]http://www.campaigncreations.org/sc2/starcraft-2-12.jpg[/imgwh] [imgwh 200x150]http://www.campaigncreations.org/sc2/starcraft-2-13.jpg[/imgwh] [imgwh 200x150]http://www.campaigncreations.org/sc2/starcraft-2-14.jpg[/imgwh] [imgwh 200x150]http://www.campaigncreations.org/sc2/starcraft-2-15.jpg[/imgwh] [imgwh 200x150]http://www.campaigncreations.org/sc2/starcraft-2-16.jpg[/imgwh] [imgwh 200x150]http://www.campaigncreations.org/sc2/starcraft-2-17.jpg[/imgwh]
Last edited by Lavarinth on Sun Sep 14, 2008 12:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: StarCraft II Official! (Pictures)

Post by Whiplash! »

Our blizzard overlords have delivered paradise.
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Re: StarCraft II Official! (Pictures)

Post by IskatuMesk »

My analysis of these shots...


It's the wc3 engine with a rebuilt graphics engine. The question is then, how far has the graphics engine been rebuilt? Obviously it appears to be a beta, so take these in knowledge that they may change.

Well, there's some things to note in general.

Terrain has a lot of obviously low-res areas, but it does have bump mapping, and appears similar to Cnc3/generals.

There's bloom.

A lot of the explosion/fire effects look really cheap.

There's lasers not producing hit effects.


You see obvious texture streching in the first shot on the cliffs, giving the idea that the geometry system may not be much past Wc3's. Yet, also consider that all of the installation-type cliffs look considerably high poly, and are like static mesh-type rendered objects that can be obscenely high poly and take no impact on performance. The downside to that is they are likely not destroyable and can't really be altered in triggering (terrain deformation).

The second shot has some impressive fireballs but the protoss shields look extremely cheap. The CNC3 scrin shields utterly destroy these effects. The changes to the siege tanks are ho hum... I need to see them in action.

The third screenshot gives us a lot to take in. The minerals look kind of cheap, and the terran buildings give mixed impressions. personally I find the missiles from the towers too large (Note they're attacking land units as well). Note the walker on the left, its lasers are not producing any kind of hit effect. The hit effect on the lasers in the top appear pretty cheap and suffer the problem lasers in CNC3 do.

The mechs themselves are no challengers to the mechs in E2160, but they destroy CNC3's ugly things easily. Here we also see a traditional refinery, so the resource system is clearly unchanged.

The fourth screenshot IS THE SAME AS THE FIRST LAV JESUS CHRIST

The fifth screenshot with the zerglings makes me cringe. They leave behind tiny little pools of blood and apparently no body parts. They also look like grasshoppers. Note the marines with riot shields. Here you see what are possibly doodads (the billboards) which look pretty good. The engine can apparently handle the SC unit numbers very well. Did they rewrite a very large section of wc3's code to get past the unit movement limit? It would seem so. Let's hope all limits are lifted and removed...

The sixth screenshot gives me a view into my area of expertise - warships. The first thing that comes off is they destroyed the battlecruiser! They're strange looking, with their stubby wings and huge foresections. In contrast the new protoss ships remind me of Vyru constructs from TOA minus the white cell-skin and are very impressive. We also get a good look at the new space backgrounds, some missile effects, and more high-poly terrain detail. Protoss explosion effects obviously have heat effects - dx9 things blizzard has been too terrified to approach in the past.

The seventh screenshot expands on these feelings. The lasers running across the protoss ships could use some work, especially where they connect to the crystal and kind of cut off and look really cheap. One laser is also not producing any hit effects. The crappy dirt cliffs are offset by those impressive dock doodads.

The eight screenshot shows us more turrets and protoss ships.

The ninth shows us the Protoss Mothership, of which a player can only have one of at a time. I don't know why blizzard cheaped out and did the whole hard capping thing, but as long as only one or two units have it, it won't be too detrimental. (Something you can probably change with a mod, anyway). This unit is supposedly the new sewpah battal croozah, and its laser weapon is the most impressive thing we've see so far. One of the battlecruisers looks like it has battle damage (Edit - That appears to be the yamato charging animation. The yamato itself is smaller than it is in sc1 it seems). There is also tank debris that is effected by physics a la CoH, hopefully it stays around for a bit.

The tenth makes me cringe a bit. The dirt cliffs look like plastic, a common issue when bump maps aren't properly done and lighting is kind of crappy. Speaking of lighting... I don't see much in the way of dynamic lighting at all. A lot of effects seem to produce no light or very little light.

Screenshot 11. Those cables are pretty cool. The planes from the light lamps aren't completely overdone but probably don't actually produce any light, either. The terrain obviously has bump mapping and the installation type is a lot more impressive than the dirt. This shot screams out, "Project Revolution!" to me for some reason. It looks way too much like warcraft.

Screenshot 12 shows us another shot of the mothership. If those blue bits glow/animate, it could easily be the best ingame graphic blizzard has done in any game to date. Those warp-in effects, the one on the right side, produce no light at all. Oops, blizzard?

Screenshot 13 shows the same warp effects giving off light. What the hell? The shadows are really screwed up on the doodad by the effects. It's producing only a very faint shadow in the face of both what appears to be world lighting and then the dynamic light. It reminds me of how wc3 handles lighting. The doodad itself seems only a tiny bit reflective.

Screenshot 14 shows some more cool protoss ships and the BC lasers. I'm kind of half in-out about those BC lasers. Some of the particles look strange in some shots, and cool in others. edit - In action they are fairly more impressive.

Screenshot 15 shows the crappy fire effects I was talking about. I need to see them in action to be sure, but they look pretty cheap/spritey. The barracks look pretty impressive, reminding me of E2160 quite strongly.

Screenshot 16 shows what I am guessing are protoss warp-in animations. You can also easily see the dirt terrain is lower resolution than the metal. The cannons look pretty kick-ass.

Screenshot 17 makes me squeel in delight. At least zerglings explode into satisfying plumes of blood. The siege tank explosions are pretty decent. It is worth noting that zerglings do, in fact, have locust-like wings. What the hell...


The game is a lot more impressive in motion. I will remain skeptical until it's in my hands, though.
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Re: StarCraft II Official! (Pictures)

Post by Lavarinth »

Sold. Freakin' sold.
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Re: StarCraft II Official! (Pictures)

Post by UntamedLoli »

Screenshot 13 shows the same warp effects giving off light. What the hell? The shadows are really screwed up on the doodad by the effects. It's producing only a very faint shadow in the face of both what appears to be world lighting and then the dynamic light. It reminds me of how wc3 handles lighting. The doodad itself seems only a tiny bit reflective.
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Re: StarCraft II Official! (Pictures)

Post by Marco »

No word on a map editor yet, but I'm honestly not worried.  Given the success of DOTA in the WC3 era, I really doubt they wouldn't include one.  So far we're seeing in the screenshots the traditional angular view that we're used to in StarCraft.  I'm wondering how well the units look up close.  WC3 units looked like total crap up close, so hopefully we see a good improvement on that here.  Glad its finally announced though.  Now we just have the agonizing wait of two years before its released most likely.  Hoo dee!
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Re: StarCraft II Official! (Pictures)

Post by Xenon »

Anyone notice the Zerg thing on the lower right of shot 10? Is that like a Nydus (there's lings around it) or a defense structure? There's no creep around it, so it might be some kind of burrowing unit instead of a structure. It also looks like it's within tank range.
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Re: StarCraft II Official! (Pictures)

Post by Lavarinth »

Desler wrote: No word on a map editor yet, but I'm honestly not worried.  Given the success of DOTA in the WC3 era, I really doubt they wouldn't include one.  So far we're seeing in the screenshots the traditional angular view that we're used to in StarCraft.  I'm wondering how well the units look up close.  WC3 units looked like total crap up close, so hopefully we see a good improvement on that here.  Glad its finally announced though.  Now we just have the agonizing wait of two years before its released most likely.  Hoo dee!
The FAQ states a map editor will be included, and so does the "bullet points" on the main Blizzard and Battle.net pages. =D

Xenon wrote: Anyone notice the Zerg thing on the lower right of shot 10? Is that like a Nydus (there's lings around it) or a defense structure? There's no creep around it, so it might be some kind of burrowing unit instead of a structure. It also looks like it's within tank range.
It appears they act like Nydus canals, yeah. Except they're alive and burst out of the ground like worms.
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Re: StarCraft II Official! (Pictures)

Post by Marco »

I didn't see it in the main FAQ.  Where did you see it?  I'll check battle.net
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Re: StarCraft II Official! (Pictures)

Post by RazorclawX »

Sold.  If I get that I'll have died and gone ot heaven.

Time to finish my campaign, as when I get my hands on this game I'll never go back.
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Re: StarCraft II Official! (Pictures)

Post by Marco »

Glad to read that there was in fact a map editor.  I really hope they keep it as close to the WC3 editor as possible.  It was so easy to work with once you figured it out.  Of course, something simpler and more accessible to everyone would also be more beneficial to the community.  The lack of campaigns from the WC3 era may stem from the editors initial complexity.  Of course then again, WC3 just wasn't that fun to work with quite honestly.  3 races, doesn't mention a 4th.  I'm really quite happy with that - KISS (keep it simple stupid).  Hopefully though they'll have a lot of non-core units like WC3 did though.  So much I have to do now, but glad I have plenty of time to do it.
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Re: StarCraft II Official! (Pictures)

Post by Xenon »

Yeah, 4 races would make it at least twice as hard to balance properly. For 3 races there are 3 multi-race matchups (TvZ, TvP, ZvP) but add another race and it doubles to 6 (HvO, HvU, HvN, OvU, OvN, UvN). They might have non-playable races for the campaign however. It would be great if the editor allowed us to script our own unit behavior (like iscript in SC) and abilities, but I sure hope that triggering/scripting isn't as insanely leak-prone as in WC3.

Minor comments:

Maybe the zergling wings are to allow them to jump over cliffs (the video shows Marines or some other Terran unit boosting over a cliff). Shot 6 shows a unit info box that looks like it can fit 24 units (max selection size of 24?). Shot 10 shows little blood trails that apparently came from the Mutalisk, probably from previously getting hit by missiles (or another Mutalisk that exploded, whatever). Shot 16 shows what could be flying Probes, but it's hard to tell.
Last edited by Xenon on Sat May 19, 2007 11:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: StarCraft II Official! (Pictures)

Post by JoelS »

It's clearly early on in the development cycle, but in general I find the screenshots pretty enticing / exciting.  The only thing I didn't care for is the redesigned look of the battlecruiser, as it departs quite severely from previous depictions of them, and not in an especially good way... but then, even in SC1 the in-game models often differed a good bit from their cinematic counterparts. 

Overall, SC2 seems to retain the cartoony look Blizzard has used in SC and WC, which is pleasing since it evokes a nice sense of nostalgia.  I wonder just how far they are with the art assets, given that we only see a couple tilesets and virtually no zerg at all.  Will the look of the game change as much between now and its eventual release as SC1 did from those early alpha shots to when it hit shelves?  Or even WoW, which looked a whole lot different in the initial promotional pitches than it eventually ended up looking.  It will be interesting to watch.

I'll be plenty happy with it as long as the game provides a satisfying continuation of the storylines from the original.
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Re: StarCraft II Official! (Pictures)

Post by IskatuMesk »

Worldedit is a pain in the ass to work with. Not necessarily because of its complexity, but because of the limitations, the slowness, and the general annoying nature.

I really hope they expand the map sizes, keep the 12 player limit, and remove restrictions on doodad/unit counts.

And, above all, they better not shaft the computer players yet again. Come on blizzard, you've got billions of dollars from WoW, hire a freaking AI programmer for a change.
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Re: StarCraft II Official! (Pictures)

Post by Castlebunker »

Wow, I picked quite the weekend to come back. I've always enjoyed starcraft, but it looks utterly dated now.
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