StarCraft II

"Hell, it's about time!"

- Tychus Findlay

StarCraft II is a sequel to the real-time strategy game StarCraft, announced on May 19, 2007, at the Blizzard World Wide Invitational in Seoul, South Korea. It is set to be released as a trilogy. Mike Morhaime expected the game to launch by the end of 2009 but this has been delayed to at least 2010 to give adequate time to prepare Battle.net. The game has a tentative release date of July 27, 2010.

StarCraft II's multiplayer mode will be available at no cost. Internet access will not be required to play the game but will be required for installation. StarCraft II will be available through digital distribution.

Blizzard intends to continue support StarCraft II years after release, in a similar manner to the StarCraft patches, which have been updated more than ten years after the release of the original StarCraft.

The Trilogy
The game will be split into three separate products, based around the terran, zerg and protoss campaigns respectively. The first will be called StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, the second will be called StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm and the third will be called StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void.

Little to no work is currently being done on the expansions, as Wings of Liberty is Blizzard's current focus. The story team, however, has moved on to the Heart of the Swarm.

Blizzard Entertainment chose this route due to the challenges they faced creating the campaigns. Through a trilogy, they can create more content per campaign, such as movies, sets, props, characters, missions (including Easter egg missions) and so forth. Each character will have their own arcs, missions and dialog. The story has been designed so that no previous knowledge of StarCraft is required to enjoy it.

The three campaigns do not occur simultaneously in-universe. Rather, they occur in chronological order, each campaign beginning immediately after its predecessor. Each campaign will have 26-30 missions in total (including branching missions) and a set ending, rather than a cliff-hanger.

The latter two expansions are expected to take over a year to release.

All three races will be completely developed for the multiplayer skirmish mode.

Trilogy Features
Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void are considered to be expansion sets and will be priced as such.

Each will upgrade and expand multiplayer content in addition to containing a campaign, such as the possibility of new units, abilities and structures. New units available in the expansions can only be accessed if a player buys the expansion. Each product would have upgrades to the multiplayer, "that's the whole point of the expansion or the second part". Each race will be enhanced in some way.

Blizzard plans on adding "drawing" functionality for referees in Heart of the Swarm.

Development History
"Sequels are always difficult because you gotta figure out what do you want to add to the game versus you taking anything away."

- Rob Pardo

Development on the game began shortly after Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne back in July 2003. The game entered full production c. 2004. The development was ramped up shortly after the production of World of Warcraft which was when Blizzard Entertainment hired Dustin Browder: March 14th, 2005 to the position of senior designer. He later became the lead designer. The conception was for a re-imagining of the original game, having more units but staying true to its spirit.

Blizzard designed the races around cool units, rather than having specific plans for the races.

The game is updated approximately once a week. Addressing rumors, Karune stated that StarCraft II will be released before Diablo III.

The game was still in internal alpha/pre-alpha in August, 2008. Two weeks before BlizzCon 2008, the entire company played StarCraft II, an important milestone. The exposition match played at BlizzCon 2008 was referred to as an "alpha" version but also a "pre-alpha" version and in Battle Report II it was referred to as an alpha version.

Blizzard expects the game to be released faster than the usual 3-4 year period after a game is announced. The game has no certain release date.

Approaching Beta
A StarCraft II beta key was released at BlizzCon 2008.

In February 2009 Blizzard COO Chris Sams said the beta was "months away". That same month Dustin Browder addressed criticisms that the beta was taking too long to announce, saying they Blizzard still needed to do work on the campaign and on battle.net, and that the beta would be announced when they had an idea what the release date would be. He also believed the beta would be announced in 2009. I see lots of questions about timelines. Here is a little FAQ. Question: "Why hasn't Blizzard released the Beta?" or "WTF have they been working on, I played it at Blizzcon last year and I thought it was done!" Answer: Solo campaign is under heavy construction as is Battlenet. When these things have enough work done that we know when our release date is going to be with strong confidence we will announce the Beta. Unless something crazy happens, the Beta is going to happen this year. Question: "Why don't you just give us your target dates if you don't know the final date? We promise, we won't get mad if Blizzard misses target dates." Answer: Let's be realistic. Our target dates are not something we hit more than half the time. Putting those out there would be pretty close to lying to the fans. We are not going to do that. We want to be able to give good info, not info that we know is suspect. We'll give target dates when we think it is very likely that we will hit them. Question: When can we have the next Battle Report? Answer: We were waiting on getting some improved graphics in (some of the new stuff looked REALLY rough). That was finished last week and we are now playing and looking for a good game. Once we get that game the process is reasonably quick to get it out. Once we go Beta, you guys can do these and put them up. When that happens I'm sure there will be a ton of them and I'm sure the quality of the games played and the announcing will go way up. Question: "I notice that you haven't actually given us any dates...." Answer: Yeah. Sorry. We don't want to lie about the Beta, and we don't even want to lie about the next Battle Report. When we know a date (for anything) for certain, we'll let you know. Hang in there. We're in the final stretch. Cavez. 2009-02-16. Some Updates. Battle.net StarCraft II General Discussion Forum. Accessed 2009-02-16.

In August 2009 Blizzard announced that StarCraft II would not be released in 2009, and would instead be released in the first half of 2010. The beta was announced in February 2010 and released on the 17th of that month. The release date was announced as July 27, 2010.

Launching
Dustin Browder expects StarCraft II will have a day 1 patch.

Developers
The lead designer for StarCraft II is Dustin Browder.

The team devoted to StarCraft II consists of only about 40 developers in 2008, including twelve people who worked on the original StarCraft. The team consists of four or five managers, 12-14 programmers, 8-10 artists and the rest consist of designers. It has its own internal leadership structure. A "couple" of ex-progamers are part of the team, working on balance issues such as mutalisk micromanagement and creating strategies against each other. By June 2009 the team had expanded to about 50 members and by August it had expanded to 60 members.

As of September 2009 StarCraft II has 58 unique voice actors. Some play more than one role.

Gameplay
StarCraft II multiplayer gameplay will feature the original three gameplaying races and no new races.

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 forms 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. 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 warp 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.

There are six levels of AI script difficulty: very easy, easy, medium, hard, very hard and insane. The insane AI mode is the only one which "cheats".

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 automated matchmaking mechanics – designed to "match-up" players of equal skill levels.

Resource sharing between allies will also be allowed after 2 minutes.

The game is currently set to have eight players. The number of players in custom games is expected to be at least 8, and Blizzard is "shooting" for 12 or more. At present, there are sixteen slots, up to eight of which can be filled by players, the rest by observers. Up to 12 players can play in custom games.

The supply cap is 200.

Blizzard Entertainment intends to make the game fun for beginner and intermediate players, as well as give expert players more depth in gameplay.

As each installment of the trilogy is released, multiplayer will, for all intents and purposes, be updated in a manner similar to the relationship between StarCraft and its expansion – both can be played, but the latter features more content.

Players can communicate with a minimap ping/telestrator.

Players can each pause the game three times in a skirmish.

Gameplay Differences from StarCraft

 * The script-driven AI, programmed by Bob Fitch, has been improved; it will scout more and make decisions accordingly. It won't be able to see everything its opponent player has, except in insane mode. The AI will even surrender, saying GG when it does so.
 * The damage system has been significantly altered. Units now do base damage with bonuses against certain unit classes.
 * Certain zerg units can not only burrow but also move underground allowing these units to move right past enemies and possibly into their bases more easily.
 * When a player's main buildings are destroyed, they are eventually revealed.
 * Given time, Blizzard would like to make various upgrades be seen visually on the upgraded units, similar to marines' shields.
 * Units will be able to pass through shallow water.
 * Destructible rocks will have viewable hit points and can be destroyed by any attacking unit.
 * Xel'naga towers are neutral structures or doodads which can be temporarily captured by units. This expands that player's viewing area.
 * Customizable decals can be added to terran structures and units, showing various faction logos. Blizzard has designed the Raynor's Raiders decal and is working on others, hoping to allow players to choose which decals their side will use.
 * Multiple animations exist for units that are idle.
 * Players will be able to choose their color before a custom match starts.
 * In some allied games, the allies share a choke point.

Line of Sight Rules

 * Maps start out explored (but hidden due to the fog of war) rather than completely blacked out as in StarCraft I.
 * Terrain combat bonuses have been removed. However, terrain is still important in a battle. For instance, units that attack from a ledge will not be revealed to the player of the units being attacked. I have been keeping a close eye on SC2 updates and as far as i know the new L.O.S (line of sight) rules in SC2 dictates that any unit on lower ground can't hit any unit on higher ground unless there is a spotter (allied ground unit) on high ground near the target or a flying unit .... (which is different from SC and SC:BW in which units reveal themselves when firing from high ground and low ground units get a reduction on their attack while hitting high ground units).

Now with that set in stone and without any announced changes to these SC2 L.O.S rules can someone (preferably from Blizz) explain how did the Hydralisks here take out that siege tank on higher ground here in this new gameplay video [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8q65mT3vpQ ] at (9:28) without any spotter (there were no zerg units on high ground near tank) or air units nearby (there was no overlord there either).

If Tanks reveal themselves when firing then the whole SC2 new L.O.S rules and high-ground-advantage thing Blizz kept promoting as a strategical element is pretty much useless and nonexistent... or are siege tanks an exception of that L.O.S rule !!!! (the only unit that reveals itself when firing from high ground) .. if so then why wasn't that mentioned anywhere and why would there be an exception to begin with !!!?

I'm hoping for a reply from a Blizz representative to clarify things but if anyone else knows for sure why did that happen so please point it out.

By watching the video you'll notice that there's a Xel'Naga watch tower just north of the spot where the tank was destroyed, near a Zerg expansion.

The Zerg player was in control of the Xel'Naga tower and its sight radius allowed him to see and attack the siege tank on the high ground with his Hydras.

No changes to the line of sight rules then, just another reason to love the watch towers :) Zhydraris, Hunter-wolf. 2009-11-30. change to SC2 L.O.S rules !!? Battle.net StarCraft II Gameplay Discussion Forum. Accessed 2009-12-10.
 * Units at the base of a ramp will not be able to target opponents beyond the top of the ramp, but will be able to see brief flashes of attacking units. Units that reach halfway up the ramp will have unrestricted vision above the ramp.
 * "Line of sight blockers" will enable units to ambush each other, resembling bushes, smoke (emitted from vents on space platforms) and tall grass. Air units can easily see through the blockers.

Control Scheme

 * F-key functionality for screen-switching is in StarCraft II, accessed by pressing F4 through F8.
 * When a ghost paints a target area for a nuclear missile, a large visible nuclear symbol appears to the player and his allies. The small red dot is still all that is seen by other players.
 * A player can select 255 units in the latest build.
 * Up to 200 units can be held within a numbered control group but they form into "subgroups" of 24 or 36, each with a little number beside their icons.
 * The selection UI displays how many units are in the group.
 * Control group tabs will display what units are bound to each group number.
 * If there are different types of units within a selection, each type will get its own tab.
 * Subgroups allow the player to scroll through different type of units in their current selection with the Tab key. If a group of multiple unit types are selected, the player still has access to their abilities by tabbing through the subgroups.
 * Some spellcasting units will use "smartcasting"; when multiple units are given the same spell order, only one of them will comply, preventing a serious waste of spellcaster energy.
 * A player can select multiple buildings.
 * Multiple selected combat buildings can "focus fire" on enemy units.
 * They can be put into selection groups. The player pushes a button to create each individual unit from the group of structures. This applies even to larvae.
 * Each structure will show how many units they are creating or (in the case of zerg hatcheries), how many larvae are available. Units will be produced at the structure with the shortest queue.
 * A player can set a rally point for a "town hall" to a mineral or vespene source and workers will mine the resource automatically when built and will split up over multiple mineral patches. Combat units will move to the rally point. Units exit a building closest to the rally point (rather than at one specific point).
 * Two rally points are able to be set on a hatchery; one for drones and another for warrior units.
 * Units can be rallied to bunkers and transports.
 * Units can be rallied to follow other units.
 * Idle worker units can be quickly selected with F1, the idle worker button.
 * Player units "won't line up like ants" when given a move command. Units will not bunch up unless given a manual attack command against a specific enemy unit. If so, they will spread apart when the enemy unit dies or they become idle. Units won't pass through each other. However, idle units will move out of the way of moving units. (Active, directly controlled forces would rarely display this behavior.)


 * Holding the Alt button will show unit and building hit points overhead. The player can change the option on the menu for this: normal (only show when holding Alt), selected (selected units only) or always (show all unit bars).
 * SCVs can autocast their Repair ability. Carriers can auto-build their interceptors. The new medivac dropships can autocast Heal just as medics could in StarCraft: Brood War. Changelings autocast their shapeshifting ability.
 * Spellcasting and burrowing can be set into waypoints.
 * Allies will be able to see each others' resources. When an allied player leaves, the remaining ally gets the rest of their resources and units.
 * Workers can queue up building orders with the shift key, but will need to have the resources for all the buildings to be constructed. If they don't have enough, they won't pause until there's enough resources and then start building again.
 * Control groups are shown as "panels" above the minimap (for units) and portrait (for buildings) in the UI.

Macromanagement and Resource Mechanics

 * Main articles: Macromanagement in StarCraft II, Vespene gas

Resource clusters will generally have two vespene gas geysers.

High Yield Resources
Gold-colored "high yield mineral fields" have been 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. They provide 7 minerals per trip.

Battle.net and Metagame Functionality

 * ''Main article: Battle.net 2.0

Blizzard Entertainment intends to release a new version of battle.net with StarCraft II. Frank Pearce said they probably won't be able to implement all plans by the time StarCraft II launches, but they can add more features to battle.net "as we go".

StarCraft II will not have LAN support.

Internet access will not be required to play the game but will be required for installation. Blizzard expects requiring internet access for some features to not be a problem, since computers come standard with internet connections now (unlike when StarCraft came out).

Players of StarCraft II and Diablo III will share "gamer achievements", adding up to a Blizzard Level, in a similar manner to the system in World of Warcraft. While achievements can be accessed in the single-player game, this is only possible if the gamer is connected to battle.net. Players will not require internet access to play single-player games, although they are encouraged to do so.

The game will not launch with the ability to display replays to multiple users.

Custom games will allow "handicaps" for different players. This is set before the match.

E-sport Aids
Replays will be available in StarCraft II as well, for both singleplayer and multiplayer games.

Multiplayer games will include menus, leaderboards and overlays displaying statistics. StarCraft II will feature seven observer modes:


 * None (no menus)
 * Resources (gathered resources and supply count)
 * Spending (on economy, tech and units)
 * Unit (number of units)
 * Production (units and buildings being created)
 * Army (resources spent on the army)
 * APM.

These will be available in "real time".

In Observer Mode, a viewer can watch in the "old style" or in a newer "first person view" in which they see the camera view, selections and commands issued from the player's viewpoint. An observer won't be able to see the actual mouse clicks, however.

At the end of the game, build orders, an army graph showing the size of the army over time and a resource graph showing income over time can be displayed.

Teaching the Game
Blizzard intends to train new players for the multiplayer game, eventually transforming casual gamers into hardcore gamers.

The campaign will not act as a tutorial for teaching game mechanics. Instead, the game will include pre-recorded tutorials which players can watch, as well as "challenges", small missions which train players in specific tasks suited for multi-players games such as efficient resource gathering. A challenge would last 5-10 minutes and the player would get a score. There are about 10 -12 challenges and they would cover topics important to multiplayer, such as resourcing, hotkeys and counters. In addition, players will receive help on why they won or lost a game.

There will be tutorials for protoss and zerg which players can view before playing them on battle.net.

Blizzard expects players who start on battle.net to play cooperatively vs the AI, then move into team play before finally graduating to 1 vs 1. Blizzard considers team play less hectic, as the teammates can support each other. Achievements will be used to direct players along this path. Blizzard expects players to play 30-60 hours of the game before they begin playing 1 vs 1.

Leagues

 * Main article: Leagues

Leagues are part of the tool system making multiplayer StarCraft II available for all skill levels, along with the automated matchmaking system. There will be copper, bronze, silver, gold and platinum leagues.

There is also a "safer" Practice League, which would involve players of lower skill levels playing on maps designed to prevent rushing at "normal" rather than a faster game speed. Blizzard intends to take steps to prevent "smurfing", when higher-skilled players participate in battle.net games they shouldn't be and disrupt other players.

Races and Units

 *  Main article: List of StarCraft II units

StarCraft II will only feature the three original races in standard multiplayer: protoss, terran, and zerg. It has been confirmed that there will not be a fourth race introduced. However, when asked about the possibility of hybrids and xel'naga in the game, Blizzard Entertainment employee Karune replied that "we are planning to explore the mysteries surrounding the Xel'naga for the single player campaign. In the campaign you will encounter several unique units that would not otherwise be seen in multiplayer."

Blizzard discussed the possibility of a fourth race early on in the game's development. However, the development team felt that had a finite amount of ideas and wanted to make sure that they focused on the best ideas for the existing three playable races rather than diluting those ideas across four races. In August 2008, Frank Pearce stated that adding a fourth fully playable race would likely be discussed if Blizzard decided to make an expansion for the game, three months before the expansions were announced.

Some units will have animations such as air banking, starting and stopping.

Campaigns and Lore
"Make no mistake. War is coming. With all its glory, and all its horror."

- Arcturus Mengsk on current events.

The game takes place four years after StarCraft: Brood War, approximately the same time as the storyline of StarCraft: Ghost. The storyline is being written by Chris Metzen and Andy Chambers, concurrently with The Dark Templar Saga which is written by Christie Golden.

Each of the three campaigns – terran Wings of Liberty, zerg Heart of the Swarm and protoss Legacy of the Void – will be released as separate products.

StarCraft II will take place both on new worlds and on worlds that appeared in the original game. Char is back as is Mar Sara. One of the new worlds is Bel'shir, a jungle-covered protoss-colonized moon that was a religious retreat until it was attacked by the zerg; it now houses many ruined temples. The world shown in the cinematic is Braxis Alpha. Other new worlds include Red Stone and Jotun.

Jim Raynor is set to continue his adventures as are Infested Kerrigan and Zeratul.

The campaign can be played without an internet connection, although Blizzard prefers that it be played online (to enable achievements and special save game features).

Recent Events

 * Main article: StarCraft II introduction.


 * 1) The biggest terran faction in StarCraft II will be the "evil empire" of the Terran Dominion. The Kel-Morian Combine and Umojan Protectorate are currently independent from the Dominion, which is trying to consolidate its power. However, Raynor's Raiders are the main playable faction, and Jim Raynor is referenced as the central character of the terran campaign.
 * 2) The zerg, under the command of Infested Kerrigan, have pulled back to Char and been quiet for four years. No one knows what Kerrigan is planning as her forces kill all enemy scouting parties. Kerrigan herself says the zerg have evolved and thrived during this period, and are becoming "much, much more, for the final metamorphosis has only just begun." Kerrigan is planning on invading many worlds.
 * 3) Raynor's Raiders have been outlawed by the Terran Dominion. Arcturus Mengsk has continually hounded them, but refused to assassinate Raynor as that could make him a martyr.
 * 4) The United Earth Directorate forces were destroyed by Infested Kerrigan's zerg armies (though a few surviving companies are still around somewhere in the Sector).

Mythology
An overarching thread involving the xel'naga and rumors of hybrid creatures will weave through each of the campaigns.

There will be many connections between the StarCraft: Ghost franchise and StarCraft II. For instance, Gabriel Tosh, a character from StarCraft: Ghost Academy, will appear on the Hyperion in Wings of Liberty and will serve as a connection between the two storylines. The StarCraft: Ghost storyline, especially parts revolving around the Terran Dominion, acted as a building block for StarCraft II.

Terran Campaign: Wings of Liberty

 * Main article: Wings of Liberty
 * Zeratul: "I bring tidings of doom. The xel'naga return, the cycle nears its end, the artifacts are the key."
 * Jim Raynor: "The key... the key to what?"
 * Zeratul: "To the end of all things."
 * - Zeratul delivers a warning to Jim Raynorsrc

The terran campaign will focus on Raynor's Raiders, which has become a mercenary force based in the Hyperion. It will also include a Zeratul-focused mini-campaign.

Blizzard plans on introducing players who are unfamiliar with the storylines of StarCraft I and Brood War to the storyline by introducing a plot summary during the installation process.

Zerg Campaign: Heart of the Swarm

 * Main article: Heart of the Swarm

Protoss Campaign: Legacy of the Void

 * Main article: Legacy of the Void

Campaign Structure and Development
Blizzard considers the old technique of using the campaign to teach new gamers how to play multiplayer games online to be something that doesn't work. Instead, Blizzard will use tutorials, challenges, and improved score and replay screens to teach new gamers how to do so, giving them the freedom to add many new units and upgrades to the campaigns.

The campaign will teach the players some gameplay skills, often without them realizing it as they're being immersed in the story.

The campaigns will be a tree-shaped arrangement, enabling players to choose different passages, level-ups and bonuses. Each campaign will have a distinct beginning and end, but the center portion will vary considerably when played by different people. Each person might try a different set of subquests, and finish them in different ways. Usually the player can go back and play "missed" missions; only in rare instances will a choice prevent a player from playing another mission. Decisions made in one campaign will have no effect on the campaign in the next expansion.

Players can get closer to the main characters in interactive sets.

As of August 2008, Blizzard has been "implementing certain ideas and trying out certain things to finalise decisions on the direction that's going to go." While Blizzard has a general idea of the storyline they want to tell, they must still put it into the context of missions, which they weren't able to do until recently until they had devised the framework of the different factions and how units are built.

It has been confirmed that StarCraft II will not feature a co-operative campaign mode, at least when the game launches. However, Blizzard hasn't excluded the possibility and may install such a function in a future patch or expansion pack.

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

Heroes will not often appear in campaigns, and will have little impact in gameplay. Their role is mostly restricted to "story space". The mission would end if the hero dies, but Blizzard is working on a mechanic where they fall to their knees and wait for a medic to revive them. Heroes will have unique appearances, including weapons and animations. Heroes will have special hotkeys (F1 through F4) to select them.

More generic mercenaries will be available in some campaigns.

Some units that were "cut" during StarCraft II's development will appear in the single-player campaign as well. "Several" units from the original StarCraft will be present in the single-player campaign. Units that have been completely cut, however, will not appear in the campaign or map editor.

Other Races
The xel'naga will fit into the story "in a rather epic tale" and will be part of the backbone of the trilogy. According to Zeratul, the "cycle nears its end." This involves the finding of alien artifacts.

Hybrids are not available as a playable race in StarCraft II, though Blizzard Entertainment has promised that "the zerg/protoss hybrid would be dealt with."

When Blizzard Entertainment employee Karune was asked if there would be any hybrid units in StarCraft II, he replied "we are planning to explore the mysteries surrounding the xel'naga for the single player campaign. In the campaign you will encounter several unique units that would not otherwise be seen in multiplayer."

Tilesets
StarCraft II will feature 20 unique tilesets, including the Shattered City environment.

Soundtrack
StarCraft II will feature new soundtracks by Glen Stafford, the soundtrack composer for StarCraft. In addition, edited versions of the StarCraft soundtracks will be found in StarCraft II.

Movies
StarCraft II will feature fewer, more epic movies compared to the original. In addition, there will be several in-game cutscenes of higher quality than the original games' pre-rendered movies. The number of in-game cinematics will exceed pre-rendered cinematics. This is due to the need for fine-tuning cinematics and that pre-rendered cinematics must be planned early on in the development process. Subtitles are available.

Adaptations
StarCraft II’s lore will be supported by several novels authorized by Blizzard Entertainment. The Dark Templar Saga serves as a prologue to StarCraft II, I, Mengsk is a tie-in to StarCraft II and the StarCraft: Ghost novel Spectres will also serve as a tie-in.

Technologies
StarCraft II will support the DirectX 9 (Pixel Shader 2.0) software. It will be fully compatible with DirectX 10 as well, which will provide access to enhanced graphical effects. The game will be compatible with DirectX 11, but will not support features specific to it. 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".

The game is expected to support a a variety of video cards; ATI Radeon 9800/NVIDIA GeForce FX to ATI Radeon HD 4800s and NVIDIA GeForce G200s.

StarCraft II will support screen resolutions from 5:4 to 16:9. Larger screens will have a slightly larger viewable range. The game will support wide screens but not multiple monitors. The minimum resolution will be 1024 x 768 x 32 bits. StarCraft II will support a windowed mode.

Game unit models will feature about 2000 polygons.

During game design, 3DSMax was used to create low-polygon unit models, MudBox for high-polygon models, and Photoshop was used to edit textures.

Gore can be disabled, but doing so will require restarting the game.

StarCraft II is written in 32-bit code but will support 64-bit systems. It has multi-core capability.

The game will support lighting effects, including a light/dark cycle used in some missions.

Voice chatting will be enabled over battle.net. However the audio will not be available in replays.

Galaxy Map Editor

 *  Main article: Galaxy Map Editor

The game will come with a map editor. The StarCraft II Map Editor will improve upon the World Editor from Warcraft III in every way.

Blizzard intends to support the modding community. Some mods will be available for pay.

Startools
Startools, a proprietary toolset, will be included along with Galaxy Map Editor. Startools lets modders design and create doodads.

Regional Differences
StarCraft II will have both download and subscription models in Russia, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Chile. Players can either download the entire version of the game, or pay a reduced price (about half), which will only offer gameplay for 60 days. Players could then pay another fee for more gameplay.

South Korean gamers will be able to play three versions of the game. The full game can be purchased for 69,000 won, but a monthly and daily pass version of the game will be available (the game would be unlocked with purchased passes). South Korean players who own a World of Warcraft account will be able to play StarCraft II for free without purchasing passes. Players will be able to play at PC baangs for a low price.

Trailers, Demonstrations & Other Videos
Blizzard Entertainment made the very first publicly playable demo of StarCraft II available at BlizzCon 2007.

StarCraft II was featured at E3 2007, July 11th 2007. Only a demo was viewable, not a playable version. StarCraft II was featured at BlizzCon 2007, August 3rd to 4th, 2007. Terrans and Protoss were playable. The same two races were playable at GenCon Indy. The game was available at the 2007 Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany, August 22nd to 26th 2007.

Official Videos
The official videos featured Blizzard Entertainment employees making official announcements. Most are stored on the official website for StarCraft II, established and maintained by Blizzard Entertainment.

WWI 2007 Videos
thumb|300px|Announcement trailer.
 * 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.
 * First cinematic trailer, introducing Tychus Findlay and showing in detail the involved, robotic process of installing Tychus Findlay's marine armor.
 * First official gameplay demo, giving a tour by means of a video recorded from an apparently mission-like game from the protoss view point that demonstrates and describes the protoss warp gate ability, updated zealot, the new immortal, the new terran reaper, the (now renamed) phase prism, the stalker, the new zerg nydus worm and classic zerglings, the ability to combine phase prisms and warp gate ability to create a significant force anywhere on the map, massive new colossus units, the ability for classic zerglings to mutate into new banelings, the classic mutalisks, new Phoenix, classic terran battlecruiser, new (now renamed) warp ray, and the "ultimate" unit of StarCraft II: the mothership. It finished with a terran/protoss brawl which ended with three ghosts each launching a nuke that wiped out the entirety of the protoss and terran forces involved in the brawl (with the exception of the ghosts) and then zerglings killed the ghosts and forming up the letters 'GG' as they mutated into banelings.

BlizzCon 2007 Videos
Blizzard Entertainment showcased several videos at BlizzCon 2007.


 * Terran Gameplay Trailer: Shown at BlizzCon 2007, this video demonstrated terran units such as the Banshee, ghost and Thor.


 * Terran Campaign Trailer: Also shown at BlizzCon, this video demonstrated some of the mechanics behind the new terran campaign, as well as discussions between Jim Raynor and other characters.


 * Art Video: A discussion featuring the artwork of StarCraft II.


 * Lore Video: Chris Metzen and Andy Chambers discussed the lore of the StarCraft universe.

March 2008 Videos
Blizzard Entertainment held a press event in March 2008 to showcase the Zerg. p4vPidUIoo4
 * Zerg Reveal Trailer: At the event, Blizzard Entertainment showed a video featuring the zerg including a voice over.

WWI 2008
Blizzard Entertainment hosted the World Wide Invitational in June 28 to 29, 2008. Live streaming video of panels and games were shown.

BlizzCon 2008
thumb|300px|Preview of the opening cinematic. At BlizzCon 2008, Blizzard showed several videos, including the first minute of the StarCraft II opening cinematic.

Commercials
thumb|StarCraft II Commercial thumb|Korean Air StarCraft II Commercial

StarCraft: Ghost in StarCraft II
Nova will appear in a StarCraft II mission. Horace Warfield's presence will be felt as well.

A Nova-centered cinematic appears on a TV screen in StarCraft II.

Certain assets from StarCraft: Ghost, such as interior installation art, will appear in StarCraft II.