StarCraft II Official! (Pictures)

[Marco]

Well, if someone sets a standard, usually it means you will receive criticism for not following it or living up to it.  For instance, during StarCraft, not using Blizzards format for text transmissions always caused me to receive a lot of criticism.  I don't think however, that there is any one right way of doing things, no matter how well someone does something.

[Taeradun]

For instance, during StarCraft, not using Blizzards format for text transmissions always caused me to receive a lot of criticism.

haha wankers

"Hey so what did you think of my campaign?"
"OMG UR TEXT IZ NOT LIEK BLIZERD FAGET"
"...Yes, but what did you think of the actual campaign?"
"UR TXT IS NOT LIEK BLIZZRD J00 SUX0R !!!!111"

[IskatuMesk]

I never followed any 'standard' in Wc3, and I won't be following any 'standard' in sc2.

[Zilla-]

Well standards are usually only looked at regarding finished products, so technically I didn't adhere to any standard either.

HIGH FIVE MESK

[Ricky_Honejasi]

The map optimizer was useless to me as it made Keys of Sealing into a drooling abomination that didn't work right.

Not sure if it was his earlier versions of it that tend to screw up maps. However, it was usually fine for me with his later ones provided you don't pick the "best" settings (more likely to do oddies) and that your optimized version was to be protected or "un-modifiable" while keeping the unoptimized one for future changes.

[Mucky]

Well standards are usually only looked at regarding finished products, so technically I didn't adhere to any standard either.

HIGH FIVE MESK

you don't even do anything shut up

[wibod]

Well standards are usually only looked at regarding finished products, so technically I didn't adhere to any standard either.

HIGH FIVE MESK

you don't even do anything shut up

This.

[Lavarinth]

Well standards are usually only looked at regarding finished products, so technically I didn't adhere to any standard either.

HIGH FIVE MESK

you don't even do anything shut up

This.

wha

[Zilla-]

[tipereth]

Vexorian made a spell template and told everyone that if you didn't base your spells off his system then they would leak memory and you would get cancer. Or something.

[Legion]

Well, if someone sets a standard, usually it means you will receive criticism for not following it or living up to it.  For instance, during StarCraft, not using Blizzards format for text transmissions always caused me to receive a lot of criticism.  I don't think however, that there is any one right way of doing things, no matter how well someone does something.

I think the reason for text-formatting standards isn't so much that it had to look like Blizzard's format, it's just that Blizzard chose that format for a reason: it's easier to read. I never had any trouble reading your transmission text, but I can imagine people would find sentences running across the width of the screen harder to focus on than sentences packed together in a sort of 'box'.

That said, some of the best campaigns were made without using Blizzard's standards.

Standards are ok. If you want to compare.

[Negi]

Well standards are usually only looked at regarding finished products, so technically I didn't adhere to any standard either.

HIGH FIVE MESK

you don't even do anything shut up

QUOTE!

[Lavarinth]

This week we have launched the 3rd episode of BlizzCast, featuring an interview with the Lead Designer of StarCraft II about the Evolution of the Zerg from the original StarCraft to StarCraft II. Be sure to check that out here:
http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcast/

Also, I've been curious - would you guys prefer having these Q&A Batches (multiple answered and added into a consolidated release) or would you rather these 4-7 questions be spread out across the forums in pertinent threads on battle.net? I have been doing a bit of both, but would love to get your feedback on it, to make it easiest for you to follow up on the latest updates in regards to the development of StarCraft II.

---StarCraft II Q&A Batch 40---

1. By the current look of the game with spectacular death animations you could worry that you can get slightly distracted by dead units while playing. You could for example waste precious APMs (Actions per minute) trying to click on a spliced Space Marine that you thought was still alive. The wrecks of some larger units or deaths for some others could block your sight in-game too. Could this fear be a real issue and will there be the option to toggle down these model details in the settings? (gamereplays.org)

Yes, this is an issue we are looking into. For multiplayer, we want to make absolutely sure that players can clearly see visually what is happening on the battlefield. Currently, we are looking to have different types of death animations available for multiplayer than will be present for the single player campaign. A lot of people do still love watching intricate death animations when not in a competitive scene.

2. Battlecruisers do employ more than one gunner right? So will they be able to attack both air and ground at the same time? (sc2pod.com)

Battlecruisers will only be able to attack one unit at a time.

3. What happens with the units inside a Nydus Worm if it gets killed? Considering it can carry 255 units, would they all die? (sc2pod.com)

Units inside the Nydus network will only die when all entrance/exits are killed. This includes the Nydus Warren building, the prerequisite to build Nydus Worms, as it also acts as an entrance and exit to the Nydus network. Nydus Worms that are not deployed as an entrance/exit will not count as an entrance/exit to the network.

4. So far the map editor seems to be a very powerful tool which doesnt constrain the map makers creativity at all. Will it even be possible to edit critical abilities like path finding? If so, there would be really no limits, or at least none we can imagine at this point. (starcraft2.4players.de)

Pathfinding, the method in which a unit will determine how to move, is handled by code, and will not be able to be edited within the map editor. Nonetheless, map makers will be able to edit things such as footprints, speed, and the size of units, which will affect the movement rates of units.

5. Why were Plasma Torpedoes added to the Battlecruiser when the Banshee has virtually the same attack? (starcraft2.com.au)

The Battlecruiser no longer has Plasma Torpedoes that hit ground. Instead, they can be equipped with a Missile Barrage which will be an air-to-air area of effect attack ability. This ability will make the Battlecruiser even more effective against lightly armored air units, as the attack also gets additional damage points versus light armored units.


6. In SC: BW we have terrain bonuses for units, for example standing behind a tree or being on higher ground while shot from lower. Are you keeping or maybe even improving such this feature and what happens with large units that are more massive (Thor) or simply larger (Colossus) than a tree or even a cliff? (broodwar.de)

Terrain bonuses are no longer present in StarCraft II. Instead, line of sight will be vastly more important. For instance, units firing from a higher ground will not be able to be seen by ground units without line of sight vision, and thus the ground units will not be able to fire back.

7. If a Zerg player corrupts a Dropship/Medivac, will they get control of the units inside? - Luddite (teamliquid.net)

No, the unit's contents will be destroyed when it becomes corrupted.

---End of Transmission---

[Lavarinth]

New StarCraft 2 units.

[Taeradun]

old

still awesome tho