Jon_K
Member!
One of my biggest concerns, is the sincere hope that Blizzard doesn't go the way of Warcraft with StarCraft. Bright colors and cartoony models are not the way this series should progress... While it works well for that title, the story and atmosphere would suffer from it. There certainly is some sort of comic book style to the original game, but if taken too far (as I feel starcraft ghost is doing) this could all suffer. This is not Star Trek we're talking about here. This is a mature environment that deserves to be treated that way. In-game should carry over the style of the cutscenes, which will most undoubtedly be rendered in the same brilliant way that they've been doing for years now.
The look of the original game was severe in its desperation. Desolate environments of the Terran worlds mixed with the burnt and charred home world of the Zerg played a beautiful contrast to the lush worlds of the Protoss that would eventually become just as broken as everything else. This style of this game is much that of the Warhammer 40,000 series of table top games where people have developed thick skins and a serious attitude about keeping the Terran race on the top of the food chain regardless of being behind in the technology race.
All of us would like to see this dark style return to the art in StarCraft 2. Keep the tones dirty and the atmosphere moody. The really hard thing here is keeping the flippant personality of the Terrans, the noble but brutal nature of the Protoss, and slimy yet genetically superior biology of the Zerg with out getting too campy. The mix in the original was perfect, and I really hope that the development team can recreate that.
The Engine
The big question when it comes to blending graphics and gameplay together is probably whether to go fully 3D with the world and the camera. While it certainly is fun in some games to be able to zoom right into the action and see the animations and battles on ground level, it can also be a huge drawback to actual gameplay. Most people I talk to seem to concur that it would be best if Blizzard followed in the footsteps of WarCraft III and rendered the game in 3D while keeping the game in a fixed perspective. We're expecting the pace to be frantic like the first game and having to move a camera around in the middle of the madness would be distracting to what's important.
Although a friends thoughts are that full 3D graphics would tend to keep army sizes a bit lower than we need for SC2. If they'd prefer to go with fewer units, the game won't be StarCraft, particularly if you're playing as the Zerg (or even the Terrans). They could make a good tactical game (somewhere between Commandos and Warcraft) but we'd prefer to see SC2 return to the big battles
I would like to see dynamic day/night and weather cycles as well, which we know they know how to do. Being able to give certain races, or even certain units, advantages in these conditions (maybe night or thermal vision for Ghosts).
My friends and me also all agree that 3D terrain modeling is a key engine improvement for the next StarCraft. True line of sight and line of fire models would make tactical considerations even more important. You could actually hide behind hills and stuff. Don';t you think that'd be cool?
There is also a few things I want that would help gameplay even more.
* More than 12 units in a group. With a game like StarCraft, numbers are everything. Seeing a mass of Zerg running, slithering, crawling, stomping, and flying attacking a base gives a certain sense of power or dread, depending what side of the invasion you're on, and only being able to give orders to 12 at a time can be a huge pain in the butt and be the undoing of your forces.
* One of the biggest things on the list is probably improved AI (anyone that has watched their goliaths fumble around will understand that need). Getting the computer to use tactics akin to a human player would be really nice, although that may be a bit tough considering all of the possibilities. Several types of AI like some other games provide would be nice, maybe even some different personality types so you play against some AI that expands quick while others. Along the same lines, more behavior stances would be better for controlling units you aren't around.
* Bringing more locations that hit home into the mix would be nice. Protecting a Human city where there are families with their cats and multigrain toast would be really cool. Seeing the Zerg creep all over Terran things could be very cool. Same with the Protoss. I would love to see a Protoss city, or at least the outskirts. Where do they live? Do they have cats and multigrain toast as well?
* Physics based gameplay. For instance, shoot down a Protoss carrier in a special way and maybe it will crash into the ground/one of your buildings. Adding an interesting element like this could be interesting, making carriers a liability in some cases. It may end up being too much, but at least they could try it.
* Capture and control functionality. Use marines to hold abandoned buildings and structures a la Red Alert 2 or Generals. While this might only work for the Human side, it could give that race even more "always prepared" functionality that they already posses.
* More customizable, almost Impossible Creatures like experience for the Zerg. Think about really playing overmind with your creatures and combining them into new and disgustingly dangerous forms.
* Formations like we saw in Warcraft III and Kohan where ranged units will automatically place themselves behind any melee units. In the case of Terrans that have mostly ranged units (aside from the semi-ranged flamers) basic marine units would still want to sit around and protect siege tanks and the like. Having this happen automatically would be cool.
* While it isn't necessarily a gameplay improvement aside from knowing what you're up against, it would be cool to see upgrades happen graphically on units. Every time a marine gets a more powerful weapon, actually seeing that change on the models would bring a lot of visual interest to the game.
In closing
It's been a long time coming, and may be a long time to wait still, we would all be shocked and brought to tears not to see a sequel ever announced. But just hope for the best... and hope that even with all the co-founders of blizzard having left the company... blizzard still has enough sense to give us a sequal.
Sorry for the long post ;p
The look of the original game was severe in its desperation. Desolate environments of the Terran worlds mixed with the burnt and charred home world of the Zerg played a beautiful contrast to the lush worlds of the Protoss that would eventually become just as broken as everything else. This style of this game is much that of the Warhammer 40,000 series of table top games where people have developed thick skins and a serious attitude about keeping the Terran race on the top of the food chain regardless of being behind in the technology race.
All of us would like to see this dark style return to the art in StarCraft 2. Keep the tones dirty and the atmosphere moody. The really hard thing here is keeping the flippant personality of the Terrans, the noble but brutal nature of the Protoss, and slimy yet genetically superior biology of the Zerg with out getting too campy. The mix in the original was perfect, and I really hope that the development team can recreate that.
The Engine
The big question when it comes to blending graphics and gameplay together is probably whether to go fully 3D with the world and the camera. While it certainly is fun in some games to be able to zoom right into the action and see the animations and battles on ground level, it can also be a huge drawback to actual gameplay. Most people I talk to seem to concur that it would be best if Blizzard followed in the footsteps of WarCraft III and rendered the game in 3D while keeping the game in a fixed perspective. We're expecting the pace to be frantic like the first game and having to move a camera around in the middle of the madness would be distracting to what's important.
Although a friends thoughts are that full 3D graphics would tend to keep army sizes a bit lower than we need for SC2. If they'd prefer to go with fewer units, the game won't be StarCraft, particularly if you're playing as the Zerg (or even the Terrans). They could make a good tactical game (somewhere between Commandos and Warcraft) but we'd prefer to see SC2 return to the big battles
I would like to see dynamic day/night and weather cycles as well, which we know they know how to do. Being able to give certain races, or even certain units, advantages in these conditions (maybe night or thermal vision for Ghosts).
My friends and me also all agree that 3D terrain modeling is a key engine improvement for the next StarCraft. True line of sight and line of fire models would make tactical considerations even more important. You could actually hide behind hills and stuff. Don';t you think that'd be cool?
There is also a few things I want that would help gameplay even more.
* More than 12 units in a group. With a game like StarCraft, numbers are everything. Seeing a mass of Zerg running, slithering, crawling, stomping, and flying attacking a base gives a certain sense of power or dread, depending what side of the invasion you're on, and only being able to give orders to 12 at a time can be a huge pain in the butt and be the undoing of your forces.
* One of the biggest things on the list is probably improved AI (anyone that has watched their goliaths fumble around will understand that need). Getting the computer to use tactics akin to a human player would be really nice, although that may be a bit tough considering all of the possibilities. Several types of AI like some other games provide would be nice, maybe even some different personality types so you play against some AI that expands quick while others. Along the same lines, more behavior stances would be better for controlling units you aren't around.
* Bringing more locations that hit home into the mix would be nice. Protecting a Human city where there are families with their cats and multigrain toast would be really cool. Seeing the Zerg creep all over Terran things could be very cool. Same with the Protoss. I would love to see a Protoss city, or at least the outskirts. Where do they live? Do they have cats and multigrain toast as well?
* Physics based gameplay. For instance, shoot down a Protoss carrier in a special way and maybe it will crash into the ground/one of your buildings. Adding an interesting element like this could be interesting, making carriers a liability in some cases. It may end up being too much, but at least they could try it.
* Capture and control functionality. Use marines to hold abandoned buildings and structures a la Red Alert 2 or Generals. While this might only work for the Human side, it could give that race even more "always prepared" functionality that they already posses.
* More customizable, almost Impossible Creatures like experience for the Zerg. Think about really playing overmind with your creatures and combining them into new and disgustingly dangerous forms.
* Formations like we saw in Warcraft III and Kohan where ranged units will automatically place themselves behind any melee units. In the case of Terrans that have mostly ranged units (aside from the semi-ranged flamers) basic marine units would still want to sit around and protect siege tanks and the like. Having this happen automatically would be cool.
* While it isn't necessarily a gameplay improvement aside from knowing what you're up against, it would be cool to see upgrades happen graphically on units. Every time a marine gets a more powerful weapon, actually seeing that change on the models would bring a lot of visual interest to the game.
In closing
It's been a long time coming, and may be a long time to wait still, we would all be shocked and brought to tears not to see a sequel ever announced. But just hope for the best... and hope that even with all the co-founders of blizzard having left the company... blizzard still has enough sense to give us a sequal.
Sorry for the long post ;p
