Q&A Batch 39: Map Maker Series

As development for StarCraft II moves forward, so is the Map Editor for StarCraft II. We have no doubt that there will be countless awesome mods created for StarCraft II, so we want to make sure your Map Editor questions are definitely not left out of the Q&As. Keep the questions pouring in!

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Yes, custom races are fully supported, including the ability to choose them from the game lobby while playing melee maps, as long as the mod defining the race is loaded.

View Q&A #39

Baneling

Baneling appears on the official site.

Checkout the official site for more information:
http://starcraft2.com/features/zerg/baneling.xml

Q&A Batch 38

We have a traditional Q&A Batch this time around, in which we were able to add in additional questions from the community! There are still several art changes which prevent new screenshots from being shown, but once we get them out, they will be worth the wait! The development team has also been experimenting with many upgrades for all sides, which we'll also be updating the community on as testing progresses.

View Q&A #38

Q&A Batch 37

One of the latest changes the Devs are trying for the Nomad is replacing their previous stationary Mine Drone with Spider Mines. The Spider Mines behave the same as Spider Mines from the original StarCraft.

View Q&A #37

Q&A Batch 36 - Screencraft: Baneling Invasion

This batch's screenshot is to show the significant size increase of the Baneling since the original Protoss announcement gameplay trailer. The size increase is to allow the possibility of focus firing on incoming Banelings with additional micromanagement.

View Q&A #36

The Story So Far... Part 2: The Brood War

The storyline of StarCraft II takes place four years after the events of StarCraft: Brood War. We have prepared a two-part overview called The Story So Far, an opportunity for you to get up to speed with the characters, settings, and developments that lead up to StarCraft II. Read about Kerrigan's treachery as the Queen of Blades, Samir Duran's hybrid experiments, and the final events leading up to StarCraft II.
Tassadar's brave sacrifice had destroyed the Overmind, but countless rampaging zerg remained on Aiur and would surely overrun the surviving protoss. Zeratul offered sanctuary on Shakuras, the adopted home of the dark templar. Although the decision was difficult, Executor Artanis and the surviving members of the shattered Conclave agreed that their first duty was to save as many lives as possible.

Jim Raynor's forces and the protoss cut a path through the zerg to reach an ancient xel'naga warp gate, the relic of an earlier age. Using the gate, Zeratul opened a connection to a second gate on Shakuras. During the battle, Raynor and some of the protoss were cut off, but Artanis and Zeratul led many other protoss through the gate to safety on Shakuras.

View the full story here

Q&A Batch 35

The Dev team has been working hard to find the best defense mechanic that works for the Zerg. The latest builds have brought back Sunken and Spore Colonies, with a new twist. Sunken and Spore Colonies can now uproot and crawl to a more advantageous position. Incidentally, Protoss Phase Cannons no longer have the ability to change positions.

For more info read the full FAQ

View Q&A #35

Q&A Batch 34


So now that all three races are out of the bag, you may have thought you've seen it all- nope! The Dev Team is still working very hard to add even more innovation and clever balance affecting design changes that will indeed polish out the gameplay of StarCraft II that much more.

For more info read the full FAQ

View Q&A #34

Q&A Batch 33



Over the past week since the Zerg announcement, we've had many requests for an EPIC battle screenshot, thus I'm happy to present our 'Psi Onslaught' to the community for this latest ScreenCraft batch.

For more info read the full FAQ

View Q&A #33

Official Zerg Reveal Movie available

The Official Zerg Reveal is well worth watching as a high quality clip .. stunning.

And Zerg Lore!

(click image to view full size)

The zerg are a race entirely unlike the terrans or the protoss. They are composed of many different species integrated into the Swarm via zerg infestation. These creatures are rapidly and selectively evolved into deadly and efficient killers to further the driving zerg imperative of achieving absolute domination. The zerg make no use of technology to create their weapons, armor, or starships. Instead, these functions are efficiently fulfilled through biological adaptation and planned mutation of the zerg strains. Even zerg buildings are in fact specialized organs within the living, growing organism of a zerg nest.

When the zerg first arrived in the Koprulu sector, they were unified by their absolute obedience to the zerg collective sentience known as the Overmind. The Overmind ultimately directed the actions of every zerg creature in the Swarm, functioning through a hierarchy of lesser sentiences. The first and most important tier of these consisted of the cerebrates, each entrusted with direct control of a sizable section of the Swarm. The cerebrates' commands were disseminated in turn by the overlords, which directly ordered and controlled the mass of zerg creatures both in their nests and on the battlefield.

Although the Overmind was primarily driven by its desire to consume and assimilate the advanced protoss race, it found useful but undeveloped material in humanity. Taking a powerful terran psionic, Sarah Kerrigan, the Overmind evolved a new and unique creature: the Queen of Blades. When the protoss destroyed the Overmind during the invasion of Aiur, the Queen of Blades manipulated the dark templar into eliminating the surviving cerebrates. As a result, she came to dominate the Swarm.

Zerg Lore!

IGN has a bunch of great Zerg videos and screenshots!

IGN Screenshots, Videos and Features

We've THRIVED .. We EVOLVED .. !ZERG!

Starcraft II Official Zerg Trailer

Q&A Batch 32

In addition to our Q&A Map Maker Series, Gameplay Series, Lore Series, we are going to include our Community ScreenCraft Series, featuring screenshots crafted specifically to progress the dialogues and discussions we have currently going on in the community. To start us off, I have taken four screenshots which capture our latest discussions over the past month.

For more info read the full FAQ

View Q&A #32

Zerg soon?

http://www.starcraft2.com/features/

Observant people have noticed the zerg icon in the features section of the official site has changed recently

Rumours are flying that the Zerg may finally be revealed on Monday the 10th ..

Zerg soon?

Rumours are flying that the Zerg may finally be revealed on Monday the 10th ..
Observant people have even noticed the zerg icon in the features section of the official site has changed very very recently

http://www.starcraft2.com/features/

The behemoth-class battlecruiser Hyperion!

Wandered onto Wikipedia to see what it had to say about Starcraft II and found an image I haven't seen yet.

The new Terran briefing system allows the player to explore the inside of a Behemoth-class battlecruiser. A screenshot depicting the bridge of the battlecruiser Hyperion in StarCraft II.

From left to right: Matt Horner, Jim Raynor, Tychus Findlay.

Enthused I followed the trail to gamespot and started downloading a bunch of videos
http://au.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/star ... l?mode=all

While several of the videos are great .. HOLY CRAP .. you must checkout the: Starcraft II Single-Player Campaign Blizzcon Preview

BlizzCast (Blizzard Podcast) 2


The second episode of the official Blizzard Podcast, BlizzCast, is now available! It begins with none other than our Vice President of Creative Development Chris Metzen who shares his thoughts and experiences on building the stories for our franchises. From the origin of Starcraft to the conceptual stage of continuing stories in Wrath of the Lich King and Starcraft II, we get to share with you his point of view on making some of the most epic stories weve ever had a chance to play.

We also got a chance to sit down with one of our raid designers, Geoff Goodman, to discuss the evolution of the raid dungeon encounter Magtheridon and the changes it will see in patch 2.4. Then thanks to the response from our players and fans we finish with a Q&A session that has information on Starcraft lore and World of Warcraft design changes.

Full Details and Discussion here.

Zerg are approaching?

Ahhh.. Cap'tn ..

Nothing concrete yet but of late certain areas have become deadly quiet. There are several reports that the Zerg are on the way in the next few weeks and seemingly from more reliable sources than the general forums .. here's hoping for some sweet news given the general silence caused by the GDC (game developers conference) over the past week or so

Q&A Batch 31

Karune@Blizzard: This past week while playing a Terran versus Terran mirror game, I discovered a new unit option from the Factory. This new unit is known as the Jackal, which is a fast vehicle like the Vulture, but instead wields a rail gun, which does an area of effect damage in a straight line at ground units.

For more info read the full FAQ

View Q&A #31

Null Void Blue Answers

Karune @ Blizzard was nice enough to answer a few random forum questions regarding Protoss Nullifier Null Void ability and Bunkers.

The Null Void, an ability currently at 50 energy cost, prevents abilities from being cast in an area of effect radius.
As at 25th Jan 2008 Nullifiers are Tier 1.5, built from the Protoss Gateway, requiring a Cybernetics Core prerequisite building. The unit also costs 50 minerals and 100 gas. They also have a base attack similar to a Terran Marine.
Refer Q&A 26 and 27 for further details.

If null void is cast over a bunker will units inside be able to cast spells?
The Null Void ability currently prevent units inside bunkers from casting.

Since repair is technically an ability, can it be cast from inside bunker, i.e. repair it from within? I think it is implied you can't but I just want to check to make sure (Hopefully not).
Repairs can only happen from outside of the bunker.

Can a medic heal a unit within the bunker? For example, inside your bunker you have 3 marines, 1 medic and you stim the marines. Do they get healed by the medic?
Medics inside bunkers will be able to heal units inside a bunker, but Medics outside of a bunker will not be able to heal units inside a bunker.

But medics in a bunker can heal units outside a bunker?
Yup!

I'm still not sure about the null void stoping abilities that don't cost energy (blink, overload, repair, build interceptor).
Null Void only stops abilities that costs energy, which does not include abilities mentioned above, such as Blink, Overload, Repair, and Build Interceptor. On the other hand, Null Void will act as a detector, allowing cloaked units to be seen in its area of effect.