StarCraft II

StarCraft II is the long awaited sequel to the real-time strategy game StarCraft, announced on May 19, 2007, at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Seoul, South Korea. Though currently no release date has been given, it has been stated that development on the game began shortly after Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne back in 2003 and that the game development is "very far along," and already playable in multiplayer with all three factions. StarCraft II will support the DirectX 9 (Pixel Shader 2.0) software and will be fully compatible with DirectX 10 as well, although the development team has not yet decided whether to add exclusive DirectX 10 graphic effects. The Mac client will utilize OpenGL, instead. The game will also feature the Havok physics engine, allowing realistic interaction with the environment, such as "debris roll[ing] down a ramp". Its lead designer is Dustin Browder.

History
According to the narrator of Blizzard's WWI video, StarCraft II has been in development since Blizzard released WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne (July, 2003). As such it has been in development for roughly four years.

Gameplay
StarCraft II retains some units from the original game, although some of these units have been given new abilities. Due to story events from the previous game, some units have been phased out or replaced. For example, the conquest of the Protoss homeworld of Aiur has prevented the creation of more Dragoons - the transplanted souls of Protoss warriors in exoskeletons - resulting in the remaining Dragoons to be redesigned with different weaponry and a shield that absorbs heavy damage and renamed to "Immortals".

The demo reveals new abilities that involve more complex interaction with the game environment than in StarCraft I. Terran units known as Reapers can swiftly leap over cliffs, and Protoss Stalkers are capable of short-range teleportation to pursue fleeing enemies. Additionally, new abilities have been extended to structures. The Protoss are able to warp prefabricated units within range of their Pylons, and also possess the Phase Prism, a unit that acts as a mobile Pylon, providing power to Protoss buildings in the absence of conventionally built Pylons.

The number of units in the game will not significantly change. For every new unit added, one "underused" unit has been removed although Blizzard Entertainment may have changed its intentions afterwards.

Multiplayer Gaming
StarCraft II is also designed to focus more heavily on the multiplayer aspect, when compared to the original StarCraft. The changes include overall improvement in Battle.net, a new competitive "ladder" system for ranked games, and new matchmaking mechanics – designed to "match-up" players of equal skill levels. In addition, the replay function, which allows players to record and review past games, will be improved. Resource sharing between allies may also be allowed.

The game is currently set to have eight players but this may change.

Gold Minerals
Gold minerals may be added to the game. These minerals are worth more per "chunk" transported by a worker unit. Expansion sites containing gold minerals will be worth fighting over, creating a new strategy around which expansion sites to claim.

Observations
Several interesting things are seen briefly in the first officially released gameplay demo video. In the beginning of the video, what appears to be a new Terran structure can be seen mining minerals with a laser-like beam and extracting them without the involvement of SCV's or similar mining units. Also interesting is that no Command Centers are seen in the vicinity, indicating that these structures are independent and self sufficient. The structure may be a graphical doodad however, rather than representative of resource gathering (Terran SCVs mining minerals and bringing the resource to a Command Center have been observed). The use of an advanced shadowing engine is also apparent, allowing shadows to behave realistically and stretch or compress according to the curvature of the texture they are falling upon. Debris and doodads also appear to cast their own dynamic shadows.

It is also interesting to note that a sign doodad seen partway through the video advertises the name Mengsk, feasibly in reference to Arcturus Mengsk whose inclusion in the plot of StarCraft II is the subject of much speculation. Other doodads feature holograms or make references to the Kel-Morian Combine.

Control Notes &amp; Differences from Classic StarCraft/Brood War

 * When a Ghost paints a target area for a nuclear weapon, a large visible nuclear symbol appears to the player. The small red dot is still all that is seen by other players.
 * You can select multiple buildings and an unlimited number of units.
 * You can set a rally point for a Nexus/Command Center/Hatchery to a mineral resource or Vespene Assimilator/Refinery/Extractor and probes/SCVs/drones will mine the resource automatically when built.
 * You may be able to change the hotkeys around.
 * Spellcasting units will use "smart casting".

Races
The sequel introduces no new playable races and keeps the three original races Protoss, Terran, and Zerg.

Existing Protoss Units

 * Probe
 * Zealot: Will have a new charge ability, allowing a zealot unit to quickly close the distance between itself and an enemy unit.
 * High Templar: Reportedly (from a PC Gamer article) has the added ability of trapping an enemy in a forcefield and/or creating barriers that can create an effective bottleneck point.
 * Dark Templar
 * Observer
 * Reaver

New Protoss Units

 * Colossus: A large quad-legged vehicle that fires strong dual lasers in a "wave-like" pattern well-suited to destroying swarms of weaker units; when one unit is destroyed, the laser "sweeps" towards another unit. Shown in the video destroying a large wave of Zerglings. This unit can also traverse differences in terrain height due to its long legs. The Colossus has no anti-air weapons.


 * Immortal: Replaces the Dragoon. Strong defense against powerful attacks, but vulnerable to weaker attacks.


 * Mothership: A powerful flying unit which consumes an extreme amount of resources to produce, but is a unique unit (one at a time). Has the Timebomb ability, which slows all enemy missile attacks, and the Planet Cracker, a large laser that obliterates anything in its path, in the style of the original StarCraft intro. Also has an ability to create a black hole that can suck in ships as large as Battlecruisers.


 * Phase Prism: A dual-purpose unit, able to transport units or act as a mobile Pylon. Apparently obsoletes and replaces the Shuttle.


 * Phoenix: This anti-air unit can overcharge its guns for a multiple projectile blast, but after the blast the ship is rendered inert for a short period. The Phoenix is very weak versus large enemy air units such as a Battlecruiser, but is powerful versus small and medium air units. It can also strafe ground targets.


 * Soul Hunter: A Protoss infantry unit with a ranged attack resembling arcing electricity, riding on a hovering platform of some sort and wielding a large weapon of some sort on one arm. Many fans believe the unit resembles the Vindicator from StarCraft: Ghost. The Soul Hunter's attack is effective against biological units and buildings but weak against mechanical units and robots; Soul Hunters gain power from draining biological units as well, firing one beam (originally) going up to three beams when fully powered up.


 * Stalker: A Dragoon-like unit of the Dark Templar, able to blink (short-range teleport) and deliver ranged attacks against air and ground units.


 * Star Relic: A unit that cloaks all nearby Protoss units and buildings, and is equipped with a powerful Fusion Beam that will slowly cause a target to explode and when the target does explode, it will cause splash damage to surrounding units ... the more powerful the target, the greater the splash damage caused by its explosion. The Star Relic appears to replace the Arbiter.


 * Tempest: A large air unit, similar to the Carrier, with strong shields, seemingly has no weapons of it owns but carrying blue Interceptor-like fighter craft named buzzers (a working title). The Tempest's shields only protect it from attacks directed at it from the ground.


 * Twilight Archon: A large ground unit, swirling with blue energy and shooting short-ranged blasts of energy, very similar to the Archon of classic StarCraft.
 * Warp Ray: Flying unit that deals damage with a blue laser that does more damage as it focuses on the same target. Good versus heavily armored targets like Battlecruisers and buildings, weak against small arms fire.

Existing Terran Units

 * SCV
 * Marine: Will be able to upgrade hit points with a shield.
 * Battlecruiser
 * Siege Tank
 * Dropship
 * Ghost

New Terran Units

 * Reaper: Uses dual pistols, can jet pack up and down ledges.

Existing Zerg Units

 * Hydralisk
 * Zergling: New ability to mutate into suicidal "Baneling", that can roll across the terrain.
 * Mutalisk

New Zerg Units

 * Nydus Worm: Can be used to transport small units such as Zerglings underground.


 * Succubus: An Infested Terran-based unit which can take control of enemy unit for a brief period of time, then force that unit to explode.

Units from StarCraft/Brood War not present in StarCraft II

 * Protoss
 * Arbiter: According to reports of a PC Gamer article, the cloaking ability of the Arbiter is with a new unit called a Star Relic.


 * Archon: Apparently replaced by the Twilight Archon.


 * Carrier: Apparently replaced by the Tempest.


 * Corsair: Apparently replaced by the Phoenix. However, they appear in artwork for the Colossus.


 * Dark Archon: Same as for the Archon.


 * Dragoon: Replaced by the Immortal (and to some extent by the thematically similar Stalker). However, in Colossus artwork, one can be seen at the base of its right leg.


 * Scout: Apparently replaced by the Phoenix and Warp Ray.


 * Shuttle: Replaced by the Phase Prism.

New Buildings

 * Protoss


 * Phase Cannon: A defensive building very similar to a Photon Cannon but with the ability to be moved within a Pylon's psionic matrix radius, albeit slowly (compared with a Stalker's blink ability or a Gateway's teleport). The first officially released gameplay demo video described Protoss turrets encountered by Reapers (whose Pylon they subsequently attacked to disable the cannons) as "Photon Cannons," so it is likely Phase Cannons are either an upgrade to Photon Cannons or a separately built cannon.


 * War Shrine: Mentioned in a post by Karune, the War Shrine is where Zealots are able to upgrade, gaining their charge ability.

Updated Buildings

 * Terrans
 * Add-On: Seen in a screenshot, an as-yet unnamed and undescribed building add-on was confirmed by Karune on StarCraft II.


 * Protoss
 * Gateway: Has the ability to be upgraded into a Warp Gate, which can "warp in" units across the map to any spot within the range of Pylons or deployed Phase Prisms. Each Warp Gate can only "warp in" one unit at a time and is subject to a cooldown period before it can use the ability again. In addition, newly warped in units will gradually materialize and be vulnerable for a period (like a newly warped in Protoss structure), and if the Pylon or Phase Prism is destroyed while the unit is being warped in, the unifnished unit will be lost.

Heroes
Heroes will not be buildable in multiplayer maps. They will fill the same role they did in StarCraft I, "but they will have even more unique abilities from standard units".

Storyline
The game takes place four years after StarCraft: Brood War, the same time as the storyline of StarCraft: Ghost. StarCraft II will take place both in new worlds and in worlds that had appeared in the original game. Char is back. One of the new worlds is Bel'Shir, a jungle Protoss world that was a religious retreat until it was attacked by the Zerg; it now houses many ruined temples. The world or space platform shown in the cinematic is Braxis Alpha.

Jim Raynor is set to continue his adventures. Chris Metzen has stated that "everyone who survived will have their stories told".


 * 1) The United Earth Directorate forces were destroyed by Infested Kerrigan's zerg armies (though a few surviving companies may still be around somewhere).
 * 2) The Terran faction in StarCraft II will primarily consist of the "evil empire" of the Terran Dominion.
 * 3) The Xel'Naga will fit into the story "in a rather epic tale". It is important to note that the "greater whole" of the Xel'Naga race was wiped out, which means some of them may still be alive.

Hybrids
The Hybrid is not available as a playable race in StarCraft II, but a strange creature which may be a Hybrid is portrayed in a StarCraft II trailer. Blizzard Entertainment promised that "the Zerg/Protoss hybrid would be dealt with."

Scumedit
The game will come with a map editor called "scumedit". The editor features a proprietary scripting language based on C, but users will also have access to the more user friendly Trigger Editor which will allow beginner and intermediate map designers to make advanced maps without having to learn the scripting language.

PC Gamer Preview
A video has surfaced on youtube and other sites showing four new units: the Soul Hunter, Phase Cannon (a Photon Cannon that can move), the Twilight Archon and the Tempest (a new version of the Carrier). Other units from the original StarCraft that have not been confirmed as being in StarCraft II, such as the Firebat and Reaver, may have appeared in the video as well. Karune, a recently appointed new official Blizzard Entertainment staffer on battle.net forums, confirmed in a post the video is genuine.

Prose purporting to be from the same issue of PC Gamer , from the actual article, has surfaced detailing what appears to be the entirety of Protoss units. In addition to the officially confirmed units in both the first Gameplay demo video and the PC Gamer video, the Observer and Reaver are confirmed, and a still unseen unit, the "Star Relic," is listed that apparently has a cloak (that will also cloak buildings in addition to units) as well as a fusion beam that will cause a target to explode and damage anything around it, doing more splash damage the tougher its target is.

Trailers, Demonstrations & Other Videos
On June 21, Blizzard Entertainment announced that the very first publicly playable demo of StarCraft II will be available at BlizzCon. StarCraft II will also be featured at E3 2007.

A number of videos have surfaced on the anticipated game.

Official Videos
Official website for StarCraft II, established and maintained by Blizzard Entertainment.


 * First cinematic trailer, introducing Tychus Findlay and showing in detail the involved, robotic process of installing a Terran Marine's armor.


 * First official gameplay demo, giving a tour by means of a video recorded from an apparently mission-like game that demonstrates and describes the Protoss gateway ability, updated Protoss Zealot, the new Protoss Immortal, the new Terran Reaper, the new Protoss Phase Prism, the Protoss Stalker, the new or updated Zerg Nydus Worm and classic Zerglings, the ability to combine Protoss Phase Prisms and Gateway ability to create a significant force anywhere on the map, massive new Protoss Colossus units, the ability for classic Zerglings to mutate into new Banelings, the classic Zerg Mutalisks, new Protoss Phoenix, classic Terran Battlecruiser, new Protoss Warp Ray, and the "ultimate" unit of StarCraft II: the Protoss Mothership.  It finishes with a Terran/Protoss brawl which ends with three ghosts each launching a Nuke that wipes out the entirety of the Protoss and Terran forces involved in the brawl (with the exception of the Ghosts) and zerglings killing the ghosts and forming up the letters 'GG' as they mutate.


 * First artwork trailer, showing a large number of scanned Concept Art drawings/paintings for StarCraft II and another Protoss/Terran battle on a different map than the first official gameplay demo video.

Unofficial Videos

 * PC Gamer supplemental Protoss unit demonstration, confirmed by Karune to be from a CD included in the August issue of PC Gamer, demonstrating the new Protoss units Soul Hunter, Tempest and Twilight Archon and the Phase Cannon base defensive turrets.

Variants of all videos can be found here, and youtube is where videos first popped up of StarCraft II, including a recording of the debut announcement in Korea.
 * YouTube

Fan sites

 * StarCraft Infoceptor
 * StarCraft 2 News