I will respond later to mozared because the answer was really huge, so i have to be carefull on what i write also because i don't manage perfectly english language :)
I want there to be more complex smoke and particle effects. The engine could probably handle that, as the assets are not that huge in ram and they are generated procedurally -> can be turned off in options.
As a protoss player I would like to see more Air stuff and heavy mech. Protoss are a tech intensive race and should have at least one new walker and a ship of some form. I don't think any new units will be included into the ladder/melee gameplay since the balancing is so difficult.
Story wise, I would like to see lot's of Protoss mysticism and movement between the grand and the small. I Liked the "awakening of old artefacts" story of the Colossus. Also, getting some CGI about Protoss everyday life and living environments would be cool. Humans we can imagine and Zerg is just some bio-blobs lurking in their creep. Protoss however, they have culture and normal life (of some form). I would like to catch a glimpse of this. Protoss are some form of space-elfs, so I guess all they do is walk around in some serene way and squeeze holy chrystals, but something substantial would be nice. Their home-world lies in wrecks, but have they built any new cities and temples on the dark-templar world?
Monster wise... If the final boss is just some darkly shaped blob that walks around on the map and shoot beams, I would be disappointed. This enemy is so huge that it should include environmental elements. The firewall in that Wings of Libery campaign, the shield in the Dominion city and the beam competion in HoTs was good. More of that!
I don't know if it's too cmplex but some form of chrystalline creep would be cool. Perhaps some form of glacing tech that prevents creep from spreading, which the XelNaga can use to block creep.
I would like to see that maps have multiple layers and more complex background doodads. Right now you have planets and some stars. In one of the final maps in Hots you had those flying cars below. I would like to see some cloud-blankets and other form of nice doodads.
Clouds, on top of the map is such a thing. I know it's complicated because they cover the screen and prevent gameplay, but if you place them out nicely you could add a new visual layer to the map, together with the more living background you would have: distant background, close-by background, ground(3 cliff-levels), air and atmosphere.
Finally, the Carrier has always been my favorite unit. I would like to see a tech-tree that can make it super-overpowered ;)
I think the Dominion will be good from now on.......hell it was hinted at the end of HotS.....with Valerian in charge, and Raynor possibly replacing Warfield as General (my hopes), there is no need for Terran civil war anymore.
Ye I think the dominion will turn out good aswell. I think the end of LotV will be somewhat similar to mass effect 3 's ending. Where all races team up and fight the invaders who threaten all. That might be an epic showdown :)
Thinking about it again, I guess you're right when it comes to the HotS story. The whole starting storyline was lame and ended with the lame "RAYNOR IS DEAD BUT MAYBE NOT WINK WINK" conclusion, Warfield met a shitty end on Char, the Kaldir missions were pure deus ex machina's, Zerus was one big deus ex machina and Dehaka was as flat as a cardboard, Skygeirr... I'd like to pretend that didn't happen, and the Space and Final missions were all a continueation of 50 Shades of Raynor Kerrigan. Even Kerrigan's tiny interaction with Zeratul made no sense whatsoever. Abathur was the sole point of light.
That said, I don't think the mission design in HotS was poor by definition. As mentioned, the difficulty was an issue, but that was more because of the entire game's design (specifically the focus on E-sports) and the fact that Blizzard was obviously trying to make the Zerg missions feel 'Zergy'. Additionally, the WoL storyline, characters and feeling were all pretty well done, so in that sense I've got some hope for LotV. In a nutshell, I think what ruined HotS was the Raynor/Kerrigan romance (and nothing interesting happening with that save for the very last cinematic) and the fact that the team had nothing good to go on in regards to characterizing the Zerg and giving them storyline. Protoss has a relatively icky background too, but at the very least the Raynor/Kerrigan romance will be a backstory instead of the primary driving force.
The fact that missions must feel 'Zergy' does not mean it's all about massing not to 200/200 and then a-moving them until you accomplished the mission or cleared the area where you're supposed to take Kerrigan/Stukov to. Gameplay was a bit more interesting in WoL than in HotS not due to gimmicks, but to the fact the missions, while AI was pathetic, were at least decently weighted against decent players. The same that should've been done in HotS was not. And, by decent, I mean really, mean armed opponents that make people think beyond massing and a-moving, hence the use of Swarm Hosts, Brood Lords, flanking, Infestors, securing expos, etc. Also, cloaked units to smarten up the player and not deliver the false illusion to casuals they won't be hit by cloaked units EVER. And a more superior set of missions, IMO, will be needed if I am ever to let LotV pass.
The HotS story, well, it was cracked up, anyways, but I don't think the Raynor/Kerrigan relationship ruined it, no matter how bad it was. And that, as I've written on my post, was because there were other worst points, like making Mengsk and Narud two useless villains who won't pull back, no matter how smarter they are, resurrecting a character that virtually wouldn't have any use in a decent storytelling, and the Primal Zerg conceptual that's clearly more WoW than StarCraft altogether.
But LotV might be able to move somehow above this bar and get back to 'same as WoL' position, if we're lucky, as I've read it won't be Metzen writing it, but James Waugh, some book writer for WoW lore. But it's more of a smart move on Metzen: If LotV succeeds, well, he can reap the fruits of another's work, if it fails, well... No one will say it was Metzen's fault.
I think the Dominion will be good from now on.......hell it was hinted at the end of HotS.....with Valerian in charge, and Raynor possibly replacing Warfield as General (my hopes), there is no need for Terran civil war anymore.
I find it hard that'll happen, unless Blizzard's that committed to turning StarCraft into Warcraft in Space (Had to fit BW Artanis joke on that). In a realistic way of saying, Valerian wouldn't have much use for Raynor when the war was over, Raynor would refuse the job and plus there's the curriculum issue, that Raynor didn't attend a command academy and has some serious record, courtesy of the Confed and Mengsk...
In terms of level design I would like to see a level or two where you develop from a cornered position and then open up the battlefield in various directions. This can be very challenging, but also possible to toggle with difficulty settings. The easiest player would be cornered with one front, while the most advanced player could have two or three fronts.
Base movement is also very interesting. Perhaps the Mothership could be tweaked to warp buildings too? Then you could have similar maps to the firewall map in WoL. The limited radious would force the players to choose which buildings to keep. Most of the time the Nexus should be included, but towards the end perhaps the factory buildings would be more important.
Overall, starvation should be heavy, so that the players has to build bases and survive on low funds. In HoTs you had Kerrigan's abilities covering you, but here you should have tech-tree instead.
EDIT:
I Halo (first game) one of the later levels ends with a battlefield. The covenant and the zombies (forgot name) are all out battling each other. Then you have to run over the fields and steal a Banshee. I loved this segment because it always play out slightly differently. Perhaps such a level would be good? You have to move Zeratul and some units across an all-out battlefield between two foo-fractions?
About the future of sequels after LotV, most devs will probably be moved on to the Heroes of the Storm, so I don't think there will be more expansions in a while. I'm happy that they are not scrapping the core engine though. It opens up for future products being built on it, and old assets and skills to move on into new game titles.
@Monkalizer: Go I hope to see more games being built on the SC2 Engine after Heroes of the Storm, it'd not only save the time of making a new engine/revamping an old engine for them, but also mean the game built on it would very likely be moddable, and skills obtained from SC2 modding could transfer over to it. :)
@Monkalizer: Go I hope to see more games being built on the SC2 Engine after Heroes of the Storm, it'd not only save the time of making a new engine/revamping an old engine for them, but also mean the game built on it would very likely be moddable, and skills obtained from SC2 modding could transfer over to it. :)
Did the transition from WoL to HotS change a lo for you modders?
3. you will know the ending by watching the trailer
4. Gimmick add-on expansion adds very little to the game still charges full price.
5. release 2015 or 2016.
6. Zeratul will be boring, Kerrigan will be whiny, and raynor will be a coward
7. the story will be a direct ripoff of another popular game, imma go with... asscreed.
8. Narud isnt duran, I know what blizzard said at blizzcon but MONEY
9. The arcade will be dead due to too little too late.
NOW FOR THE OPTIMISTIC VIEW!!!:
Raynor will be a badass
Kerrigan will keep her trap shut.
The UED will be the Evil Terrans
Brutal will be difficult to beat
the game will be better optimized
They will learn how to balance the damn game from bottom to top, instead of just at the top (this is why there are few zergs at masters league)
The arcade will be removed 100% and moved to Heroes of the Storm, or Warcraft IV RTS will be announced shortly after. the sc2 engine is too crappy to work with a decent arcade it just wasnt made for it
They will place WoL Melee Free2play without any micro-transactions and lower the price of WoL to Campaign only price(15$)
New challenges(they abandoned these in Hots)
New things to unlock for playing such as: UI backgrounds, CommandConsoles, Music, Skins, Alert Voices. etc
An intriguing campaign ending that will leave you thinking, instead of dumbfounded due to how predictable it was.
Zeratul will become a hybrid with kerrigan and in turn become a new creature all together to defeat amon. OR zeratul will merge with artanis. and become a Twilight Archon.
Kerrigans Zerg WONT be taken back by amon. because they specifically said that her new zerg is primal zerg and can not be controlled by amon.
they specifically said that her new zerg is primal zerg and can not be controlled by amon.. Who said it ??? Kerrigan zergs are stil zerg, in factb psy disrupter kill them. Primal Zerg are the primals that doesn't take effect to psy emissions and are formerly controlled by Dehaka
For balance... "We want diversity into the game" and half of the units are useless or so not effeicent to become useless, like thor,brood lord,hydralisk,reaper,mothership,oracle,stalker,tempest,battlecruiser etc...
Still have to reply to Mozared, post is in "work in progress".
The Zerg are not immune Kerrigan is. That means it'll be a lot harder to control the swarm seeing as she controls it now and can't be controlled by Amon. He can probably still control a bunch of Zerg though.
Be sure to check out the extension mod: Hots Custom Map support on NA and EU, Despite the name it greatly expands the roster of options for the default 3 races and is updated all the way to NCO.
how hard is i to write/visually produce a story that could content the targeted audience? (targeted audience being?)
...
on topic: everyone loves zeratul, and like in all mediums the least you see him the more cool he looks... since they did that for the two first epidodes i'd think they are "back against the wall" and have to try to not f_ck up ..
i'd wager much that we will have something happen to him (probably sacrifice himself)
9. The arcade will be dead due to too little too late.
I have my doubts the Arcade will die, at least not anytime soon, especially if they allow starter edition players access to it. Hell, even WC3 is still alive mod-wise :P
Not was no big change in the technical sense, but from a social point of view, the star craft II version of the game engine is nearing its end station in player popularity so to speak. While modding for WoL you knew there was going to be at least two surges (releases) where players would return. To make maps for these surges was a motivator. I like working with the editor but have moved on to other tech (HTML5 and Android) because I feel there is more room to grow and the platforms are more stable in the long run for my hobbyist projects. My overall feeling is that the editor has been very deeply linked to SC2 and it's assets.
It feels like the platform is aging, maturing and dying with the SC2 triology. I guess the Heroes of the Storm could change the situation a little bit, but the legal and game-logic aspects might make it hard to include map-makers in the same way as has been the case in SC2.
One thing I've been thing about is the opportunity to re-release the engine as a board game and card game engine. Board games are played top down (avoiding the engines rendering limits) and the inputs fit well on current and next gen console as well as on the desktop. Tablets are harder because then you would have to port the entire engine to Android and iOS code... It would then be possible to strip the engine from most of it's RTS assets and only keep some limited assets. It would also require a new library for discrete events and a more friendly card-stack-library. Arrays are a bit too static so it makes chaining data a bit complicated.
EDIT: I'm also getting older and want new stuff to explore :)
I have my doubts the Arcade will die, at least not anytime soon, especially if they allow starter edition players access to it. Hell, even WC3 is still alive mod-wise :P
Ye i dont think the arcade will die. there are to many fun games in there :) And not only storms
Ye i dont think the arcade will die. there are to many fun games in there :) And not only storms
I ought to agree too that SCII is still alive because of Arcade. There are many games holding it, aside from the traditional DOTAs like Aeon of Storms or Tug-of-Wars like Desert Storm and Nexus Wars. Problem is, many of those aren't as refined as the others are, or some were left forsaken, like TD Tycoon.
I'm actually planning something that should bring maps into a more open view, but it's still on a conceptual alpha planning, yet. And, as a hint, it's LOTR related (Gameplay, not lore), but it can transition into RTS, depending on the player's choice.
I ought to agree too that SCII is still alive because of Arcade. There are many games holding it, aside from the traditional DOTAs like Aeon of Storms or Tug-of-Wars like Desert Storm and Nexus Wars. Problem is, many of those aren't as refined as the others are, or some were left forsaken, like TD Tycoon.
I'm actually planning something that should bring maps into a more open view, but it's still on a conceptual alpha planning, yet. And, as a hint, it's LOTR related (Gameplay, not lore), but it can transition into RTS, depending on the player's choice.
Sounds very promising! keep us posted. I'm always up for a new good arcade!
I have to agree that i contraddicted myself, but stop to use the my words against me and talk me like your are saying "omg so stupid this guy hurr durr!" i simply HATE to be trolled in this way,
And sorry for my poor english, i have sometimes problems on complicated discussions with English, but now i will try to be as clear as possible lord Admin Mozared
1) I said it on a wrong way, my point was "Blizzard want to humanize they characters, but it fails on it, on SC1 the characters was humanized but also charismatics, here (with the exception of Raynor) the characters are badly humanized, i mean Kerrigan that lost his lover and do all that nice discussions about violence and morality are a pretest to say "Hey guys Kerrigan have big boo... HEARTH, he is not an inhuman monster", is like they took morality with force, i am not against it, but on a campaign based on mercyless monsters is simply out of place, is perfect for a Terran or Protoss campaign but the choiche to build a campaign about cruel monsters on a story love and morality discussion is simply weird, look at SC1 and BW, there was morality but the main characters was coherent with the race, efficients and cold monsters, but with the right depht.
2) Open your eyes, look at the great odierns films (and with great i mean that they makes great amount of moneys), like Iron Man, Hulk, Avengers, Thor, they have a totally passable story, that is a pretest to shows you impressives graphic effects and "me smash" "blood - action - shoots - explosion with a smash condiment", also charachters doesn't have depth, theyr role is to be badass ( i will explain later what i mean for badass) and kick villain's ass.
For "badass" characters i mean characters with charism and that smash and kick ass all the way.
The characters that you call "badass" i call it "great" characters, they have carism, a lot of depth and i don't mind if they smash or not ( i admit that i love smash scenes with shooting guys and explosions, yeah i like also transformers) the important thing that they have consistency and depth, sc1 character was all (or at least 90% of it was so) great, Raynor,Kerrigan,Zeratul,Aldaris,Fenix,Tassadar,Stukov,DuGalle, and others... They was consistent and deep,but they was so on a fluid way, the was my hero especially for that, the fact they was used to kick ass was only a plus.
Instead SC2 characters sometimes are not "great", someones are good but not as the SC1 and BW ones
Raynor is great like the one of BW, but Kerrigan is saying things only to show to the player "see? I am HUMAN and i have FEELINGS", Zeratul is continuously crying for the past and saying stuffs "i must obey here and here" but i accept this because LotV is no already here and i have still to see Zeratul in a clear way. I found more consistence on Depth on WoL than on HotS
3) Look at youtube comments, SC2blog threads, various sites discussion and other... I read dozens of it, so i can Say that they are the most liked, because lot of people is like "omg raynor now is only a drunked and sad texan ranger" "Zeratul is only able to cry" "Kerrigan is no more a monster and i don't like it", but Abathur, Tosh, Nova, Tychus they are really iked over the internet; Abathur is like people want from the Zerg, a cold and efficent leader without Humanity (he is humanized? are you kidding me??), with also the voice that is simply awesome.
Tosh is the Nigga Mata Fa 50 Cent, character, he is strong he kick ass but he is also misterious (50 cent is not misterious but i love it too, great rap), i think is good character but not exceptional
Nova is liked for the same reasons of Abathur, is cold and efficient (and also sexy, really important for videogames that are played i think about 95% from male genre)
Tychus is the most old style character, i love it because is not only "i kick ass and kill stuff" but is also deep, like his reactions during the story, very credable.
4) Here the mayor problem was my wrong usage of word "badass"; No i don't like only cool looking guys that kick ass only, they halso have depth and consistence, like i said 99 times. For example my favourite game ever is "The Last of Us", the best story and characters i ever seen, so all realistic and immersive, never feel so immersed on a game, it beat also all films i seen for now.
I hope to be clear, but i really have problems to be clear with english, much better with my italian, i can use so much different words to change a bit the sense of a discussion without completely change it :D
Changing argument:
What we will see on LotV intro cutscene?? Zeratul? Hybrids? Kick ass scenes?? Colossus? Zerg? Terran? Other random stuffs?
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I will respond later to mozared because the answer was really huge, so i have to be carefull on what i write also because i don't manage perfectly english language :)
I want there to be more complex smoke and particle effects. The engine could probably handle that, as the assets are not that huge in ram and they are generated procedurally -> can be turned off in options.
As a protoss player I would like to see more Air stuff and heavy mech. Protoss are a tech intensive race and should have at least one new walker and a ship of some form. I don't think any new units will be included into the ladder/melee gameplay since the balancing is so difficult.
Story wise, I would like to see lot's of Protoss mysticism and movement between the grand and the small. I Liked the "awakening of old artefacts" story of the Colossus. Also, getting some CGI about Protoss everyday life and living environments would be cool. Humans we can imagine and Zerg is just some bio-blobs lurking in their creep. Protoss however, they have culture and normal life (of some form). I would like to catch a glimpse of this. Protoss are some form of space-elfs, so I guess all they do is walk around in some serene way and squeeze holy chrystals, but something substantial would be nice. Their home-world lies in wrecks, but have they built any new cities and temples on the dark-templar world?
Monster wise... If the final boss is just some darkly shaped blob that walks around on the map and shoot beams, I would be disappointed. This enemy is so huge that it should include environmental elements. The firewall in that Wings of Libery campaign, the shield in the Dominion city and the beam competion in HoTs was good. More of that!
I don't know if it's too cmplex but some form of chrystalline creep would be cool. Perhaps some form of glacing tech that prevents creep from spreading, which the XelNaga can use to block creep.
I would like to see that maps have multiple layers and more complex background doodads. Right now you have planets and some stars. In one of the final maps in Hots you had those flying cars below. I would like to see some cloud-blankets and other form of nice doodads.
Clouds, on top of the map is such a thing. I know it's complicated because they cover the screen and prevent gameplay, but if you place them out nicely you could add a new visual layer to the map, together with the more living background you would have: distant background, close-by background, ground(3 cliff-levels), air and atmosphere.
Finally, the Carrier has always been my favorite unit. I would like to see a tech-tree that can make it super-overpowered ;)
Ye I think the dominion will turn out good aswell. I think the end of LotV will be somewhat similar to mass effect 3 's ending. Where all races team up and fight the invaders who threaten all. That might be an epic showdown :)
The fact that missions must feel 'Zergy' does not mean it's all about massing not to 200/200 and then a-moving them until you accomplished the mission or cleared the area where you're supposed to take Kerrigan/Stukov to. Gameplay was a bit more interesting in WoL than in HotS not due to gimmicks, but to the fact the missions, while AI was pathetic, were at least decently weighted against decent players. The same that should've been done in HotS was not. And, by decent, I mean really, mean armed opponents that make people think beyond massing and a-moving, hence the use of Swarm Hosts, Brood Lords, flanking, Infestors, securing expos, etc. Also, cloaked units to smarten up the player and not deliver the false illusion to casuals they won't be hit by cloaked units EVER. And a more superior set of missions, IMO, will be needed if I am ever to let LotV pass.
The HotS story, well, it was cracked up, anyways, but I don't think the Raynor/Kerrigan relationship ruined it, no matter how bad it was. And that, as I've written on my post, was because there were other worst points, like making Mengsk and Narud two useless villains who won't pull back, no matter how smarter they are, resurrecting a character that virtually wouldn't have any use in a decent storytelling, and the Primal Zerg conceptual that's clearly more WoW than StarCraft altogether.
But LotV might be able to move somehow above this bar and get back to 'same as WoL' position, if we're lucky, as I've read it won't be Metzen writing it, but James Waugh, some book writer for WoW lore. But it's more of a smart move on Metzen: If LotV succeeds, well, he can reap the fruits of another's work, if it fails, well... No one will say it was Metzen's fault.
I find it hard that'll happen, unless Blizzard's that committed to turning StarCraft into Warcraft in Space (Had to fit BW Artanis joke on that). In a realistic way of saying, Valerian wouldn't have much use for Raynor when the war was over, Raynor would refuse the job and plus there's the curriculum issue, that Raynor didn't attend a command academy and has some serious record, courtesy of the Confed and Mengsk...
In terms of level design I would like to see a level or two where you develop from a cornered position and then open up the battlefield in various directions. This can be very challenging, but also possible to toggle with difficulty settings. The easiest player would be cornered with one front, while the most advanced player could have two or three fronts.
Base movement is also very interesting. Perhaps the Mothership could be tweaked to warp buildings too? Then you could have similar maps to the firewall map in WoL. The limited radious would force the players to choose which buildings to keep. Most of the time the Nexus should be included, but towards the end perhaps the factory buildings would be more important.
Overall, starvation should be heavy, so that the players has to build bases and survive on low funds. In HoTs you had Kerrigan's abilities covering you, but here you should have tech-tree instead.
EDIT: I Halo (first game) one of the later levels ends with a battlefield. The covenant and the zombies (forgot name) are all out battling each other. Then you have to run over the fields and steal a Banshee. I loved this segment because it always play out slightly differently. Perhaps such a level would be good? You have to move Zeratul and some units across an all-out battlefield between two foo-fractions?
About the future of sequels after LotV, most devs will probably be moved on to the Heroes of the Storm, so I don't think there will be more expansions in a while. I'm happy that they are not scrapping the core engine though. It opens up for future products being built on it, and old assets and skills to move on into new game titles.
@Monkalizer: Go
What if the mothership was the base? That could really be awesome.
@Monkalizer: Go I hope to see more games being built on the SC2 Engine after Heroes of the Storm, it'd not only save the time of making a new engine/revamping an old engine for them, but also mean the game built on it would very likely be moddable, and skills obtained from SC2 modding could transfer over to it. :)
Did the transition from WoL to HotS change a lo for you modders?
What will happen:
1. Tassadar will return
2. Boring and predictable story.
3. you will know the ending by watching the trailer
4. Gimmick add-on expansion adds very little to the game still charges full price.
5. release 2015 or 2016.
6. Zeratul will be boring, Kerrigan will be whiny, and raynor will be a coward
7. the story will be a direct ripoff of another popular game, imma go with... asscreed.
8. Narud isnt duran, I know what blizzard said at blizzcon but MONEY
9. The arcade will be dead due to too little too late.
NOW FOR THE OPTIMISTIC VIEW!!!:
Raynor will be a badass
Kerrigan will keep her trap shut.
The UED will be the Evil Terrans
Brutal will be difficult to beat
the game will be better optimized
They will learn how to balance the damn game from bottom to top, instead of just at the top (this is why there are few zergs at masters league)
The arcade will be removed 100% and moved to Heroes of the Storm, or Warcraft IV RTS will be announced shortly after. the sc2 engine is too crappy to work with a decent arcade it just wasnt made for it
They will place WoL Melee Free2play without any micro-transactions and lower the price of WoL to Campaign only price(15$)
New challenges(they abandoned these in Hots)
New things to unlock for playing such as: UI backgrounds, CommandConsoles, Music, Skins, Alert Voices. etc
An intriguing campaign ending that will leave you thinking, instead of dumbfounded due to how predictable it was.
Zeratul will become a hybrid with kerrigan and in turn become a new creature all together to defeat amon. OR zeratul will merge with artanis. and become a Twilight Archon.
Kerrigans Zerg WONT be taken back by amon. because they specifically said that her new zerg is primal zerg and can not be controlled by amon.
So there, Pessimistic and Optimistic
@SearingChicken: Go
they specifically said that her new zerg is primal zerg and can not be controlled by amon.. Who said it ??? Kerrigan zergs are stil zerg, in factb psy disrupter kill them. Primal Zerg are the primals that doesn't take effect to psy emissions and are formerly controlled by Dehaka
The Zerg are not immune Kerrigan is. That means it'll be a lot harder to control the swarm seeing as she controls it now and can't be controlled by Amon. He can probably still control a bunch of Zerg though.
@SearingChicken: Go
99% of what you said makes no sense and is really pointless
http://www.sc2mapster.com/assets/nolanstars-textures/
Be sure to check out the extension mod: Hots Custom Map support on NA and EU, Despite the name it greatly expands the roster of options for the default 3 races and is updated all the way to NCO.
That could actually be pretty awesome :D
just for the info
has anyone seen a "writer's credit" on sc2?
how hard is i to write/visually produce a story that could content the targeted audience? (targeted audience being?)
...
on topic: everyone loves zeratul, and like in all mediums the least you see him the more cool he looks... since they did that for the two first epidodes i'd think they are "back against the wall" and have to try to not f_ck up ..
i'd wager much that we will have something happen to him (probably sacrifice himself)
(fun thread thank you)
I have my doubts the Arcade will die, at least not anytime soon, especially if they allow starter edition players access to it. Hell, even WC3 is still alive mod-wise :P
@Crazio: Go
TLDR: "The end of time is nigh!!!"
Not was no big change in the technical sense, but from a social point of view, the star craft II version of the game engine is nearing its end station in player popularity so to speak. While modding for WoL you knew there was going to be at least two surges (releases) where players would return. To make maps for these surges was a motivator. I like working with the editor but have moved on to other tech (HTML5 and Android) because I feel there is more room to grow and the platforms are more stable in the long run for my hobbyist projects. My overall feeling is that the editor has been very deeply linked to SC2 and it's assets.
To give you an idea of other platforms available, check: http://www.indiedb.com/engines
It feels like the platform is aging, maturing and dying with the SC2 triology. I guess the Heroes of the Storm could change the situation a little bit, but the legal and game-logic aspects might make it hard to include map-makers in the same way as has been the case in SC2.
One thing I've been thing about is the opportunity to re-release the engine as a board game and card game engine. Board games are played top down (avoiding the engines rendering limits) and the inputs fit well on current and next gen console as well as on the desktop. Tablets are harder because then you would have to port the entire engine to Android and iOS code... It would then be possible to strip the engine from most of it's RTS assets and only keep some limited assets. It would also require a new library for discrete events and a more friendly card-stack-library. Arrays are a bit too static so it makes chaining data a bit complicated.
EDIT: I'm also getting older and want new stuff to explore :)
Ye i dont think the arcade will die. there are to many fun games in there :) And not only storms
I ought to agree too that SCII is still alive because of Arcade. There are many games holding it, aside from the traditional DOTAs like Aeon of Storms or Tug-of-Wars like Desert Storm and Nexus Wars. Problem is, many of those aren't as refined as the others are, or some were left forsaken, like TD Tycoon.
I'm actually planning something that should bring maps into a more open view, but it's still on a conceptual alpha planning, yet. And, as a hint, it's LOTR related (Gameplay, not lore), but it can transition into RTS, depending on the player's choice.
Sounds very promising! keep us posted. I'm always up for a new good arcade!
I have to agree that i contraddicted myself, but stop to use the my words against me and talk me like your are saying "omg so stupid this guy hurr durr!" i simply HATE to be trolled in this way,