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Written by Ben
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Saturday, 17 January 2009 03:34 |
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We just switched hosts, so please bear with us while we make sure everything transferred correctly.
This will allow us to continue serving high-quality SC2 videos and artwork without impacting our finances.
Thanks for your patience.
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Last Updated on Monday, 19 January 2009 13:12 |
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Written by Graham
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Monday, 22 December 2008 22:10 |
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The month of December began with a lack of useful Starcraft 2 news but has developed into an informative month with the recent release of Q/A batch 47 and the first ‘Battle Report’. The Q/A batch highlighted the relatively obscure topics of air unit micro, Zerg cannibalism, and Zerg cliff-climbing while the Battle Report has given the fan community plenty to talk about in regards to unit pathing, mapping, racial game balance, build orders, user interface, etc. I think the most important developments evolved out of the Battle Report: aesthetics, map layouts, and unit roles.
To begin, the game and the user interface appear polished. The brightly animated units, buildings, and terrain from earlier developmental stages have been replaced with more muted versions. While most of the Protoss buildings have an impressive gold and blue theme, some buildings, such as the Assimilator with its green gaseous glow, have unique color schemes that match their role. Likewise, Protoss units maintain the gold theme with certain units, such as the Probe while carrying minerals, having special effects that emphasize their tasks. In the Terran base, the buildings and units have a ‘gritty’ feel that matches perfectly with the common perception of the Terran race. These unassuming buildings maintain their presence with long shadows and clear player colors. The Terran construction animations are clever and provide contrast to the simple blue glow of the Protoss’ warp construction. Similarly, the detailed yet reserved nature of the tileset emphasizes and provides great contrast to the active units and buildings.
As for the user interface, it obscures only 30% of the wide-angle screen but provides efficient and complete tools for the player. Unit animations embedded in the UI have incredible detail and are a huge improvement from the frankly hideous animations of the original Starcraft and Warcraft 3. There does seem to be a large amount of blank black space at the bottom of the UI but I assume this provides space for unlimited unit selection. Overall, the game and the user interface look great.
The map used in the first Battle Report is called Kulas Ravine and is aptly named because it channels the players to a central crossroads where the majority of the skirmishing must take place. Within this central area, there are two Xel’Naga Watch Towers which allow the controlling player to see more of the map and provide protected high ground for ranged units to rain damage on approaching enemy units. As for minerals, the map provides both protected and exposed expansions - the protected deposits have destroyable rocks blocking both entrances while the exposed locations can be directly attacked. The protected expansions provide an advantage to the Terran player who can fly a Command Center up to the minerals and can, as was shown in the Battle Report, operate for a long time without being detected. Overall I think Kulas Ravine was well designed but I wish the players had utilized the high-yield minerals; an aggressive player could make a forward base at the high-yield minerals and avoid the pressure cooker in the middle of the map between the two Xel’Naga Watch Towers. Such a base would provide massive amounts of minerals and would act as a staging ground for unique assaults as opposed to the generic battles that occurred in the diagonal path between the two home bases. But the map itself is well-designed, balanced, and is constructed in such a way that demands continual interaction between opposing players.
With regards to unit roles, there were a few surprises in the first Battle Report. According to the Starcraft 2 information available prior to the match, it was not expected for a Terran player to be able to win a twenty minute game with Marauders, Hellions, and Banshees. This expectation was demolished with the continual and powerful flow of these units to all fronts of the battle. The Marauders provided slowing, anti-Armor damage while the Hellions utilized their speed and their anti-Light damage to rip apart the Protoss’ expansion Probes. Later in the game the invisible Banshee rained hell upon the Protoss ground forces and proved to be a menace for expansions and Colossi alike. Another surprise involved Marines - they weren’t involved at all despite the perception that they are integral to the early Terran fighting force.
On the Protoss side of the battle, the Colossus appeared incredibly weak while the Zealots were simply amazing. Although the Colossus was useful in climbing the cliff to the Terran expansion, it could not deal enough damage on its own and it fell quickly to enemy forces. Perhaps Karune’s assertion is correct that three Colossi are needed to be powerful…or maybe it’s a unit that needs more work. As for the Zealots, their Charge ability was powerful and they could swarm SCVs and Marauders alike to inflict serious damage. The Stalker was also quite useful for the Protoss player but he did not have Blink, the eagerly awaited micro-enticing ability.
In conclusion, the units, buildings, terrain, and user interface visible in the first Battle Report appear to emphasize the most important aspects of the game with style and provide un-convoluted information to the player. The map layout of Kulas Ravine is powerful and promotes player interaction but was not used to its full potential. The unit roles of the units utilized in this match appear to be solidified with the exception of the Colossus which appears ungainly and frankly quite useless (at least when used in such small numbers). I and the rest of Starcraft 2 community eagerly await the next edition of the Battle Report.
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Last Updated on Saturday, 27 December 2008 14:01 |
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Written by Graham
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Friday, 28 November 2008 21:33 |
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There has been a decline in new Starcraft 2 information from Karune in the past few weeks due to the current developmental position of the game. With this in mind, I thought it would be reasonable to take some time to write about CommSC's plans for the future.
Among site development items, our preparation for beta coverage is the most important. It was confirmed at Blizzcon 2008 that the Starcraft 2 beta would not surface prior to the advent of 2009 and thus many fans expect a late January or early February release. These months are rapidly approaching but since neither Ben nor I attended this year's Blizzcon, we do not have a guaranteed Starcraft 2 beta key. Although heartening, Karune's announcement that there will be opportunities for fans to earn a key in the coming months comes with the reality that hundreds of diehard fans will be vying for a limited number of keys. Likewise, Blizzard's usual gift of beta keys to fansites is rarely mentioned and possibly not an option for Starcraft 2. So at first glance, the options for our first-hand beta coverage seem to be dangerously limited.
But all is not lost. We assume that the beta will be cracked shortly after release and spread around the web to be downloaded for free, so 'bootleg coverage' is always an option (the cracked version would be identical to the real deal). In addition, some of our members did attend Blizzcon 2008 (oi^^ Stebo) and they can assuredly provide their own first-hand opinions of beta. Lastly, other fansite operators attended Blizzcon and consequently have beta keys with which they can test out the game. We will compile information from all of these sources, with the vast majority hopefully coming from our exclusive experiences, and present it in a Beta section on the site. Presentation of information will come in a variety of forms: videos, screenshots, articles, etc.
Other than beta, we have a few other projects in progress on the site. I have been working my way through our Game Info section, updating unit and building articles with better formatting, the latest information, and applicable screenshots. This process does take a lot more time than I expected (for it to be done right) and I have only completed the Protoss as of this posting. I will try to finish the Terran by the end of this next weekend, but I can't make any promises.
In terms of member interaction, our month-old forums are slowly growing with new members every week. I would like to thank those 5 or so regular posters who are trying to help the forum get on its feet. Your help is much appreciated. Along those lines, we would like to encourage any regular front page readers to create accounts and join the discussions on the forums. If you like the site, tell your friends to check us out. If you don't like the site, please post in the suggestion section of our forums and tell us what we need to change. We are always open to suggestions and as our regulars can tell you, we act on reasonable ones.
As we update the Game Info section, wait for beta, and attempt to foster growth in our forums, I will be bringing our Archive section back from the grave. We took this section down a few weeks before Blizzcon 2008 to make room for our exclusive Blizzcon section, but we will re-post it by the end of this week. I will make a Blizzcon 2008 article within the Archive section so that all of the information that we organized during the event will still be available for viewing. In addition, Ben will be bringing quite a few high-definition gameplay videos from various sources on the web to our Videos section for your viewing pleasure in the coming weeks.
That's all for now but be sure to check back regularly to our front page for the latest Starcraft 2 news.
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Last Updated on Sunday, 30 November 2008 16:31 |
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