If Blizzard remakes SC1/BW for SC2...

[Sheliek]

... as is the commonly held interpretation of StarCraft: Phoenix, what would you want to see in it?

Personally, I don't want a straight port. That would be boring, and excessively lazy, given how most official remakes end up in terms of added content.

I want characterisation added to our player characters, along with voice-acting. We know Artanis and possibly Selendis were the Executors of the protoss campaigns, so that's a no-brainer. More dialogue can be written, existing lines can be changed slightly to accommodate this, et cetera.

I want a WoL-style campaign in terms of gameplay and story mode. This means more varied mission objectives, less base-stomps (although a few each campaign, for old-time's sake, would be unobjectionable). A story mode in the style of the Hyperion or Leviathan would be great as well.

Looking at just Rebel Yell, we could have the first three missions take place in the Magistrate's office, with characters like Jim Raynor and Michael Liberty (because we know this is the only way they'll ever use him in a game at this point) to talk with, and a less-garbage news source to watch. The next six missions would be aboard the Hyperion (oh look, recycled sets? Easy job), with Mengsk, Kerrigan, Liberty, Raynor, Horner, and eventually Duke all talk-withable.

Every structure and unit should obviously appear (no getting lazy like they did in the Overmind cinematic; there were not spine crawlers at the Fall of Aiur), with unique models. These should all appear in the Galaxy Editor if you've bought this game, of course. Dark Templar should be buildable in during the first protoss campaign, once you've gained their alliance. All heroes should have unique models and abilities, as they (mostly) do in StarCraft II.

Redoing the dialogue, given my above requests, is likely. Some might not like it, but if you're going to do new dialogue, this is a must.

Two more additions I would like: units that, lore-wise, did appear in StarCraft and Brood War, but which first appeared in WoL or HotS, should be usable in the BW campaign. Wyrms for the Dominion instead of wraiths or vikings, for example, or perhaps Kerrigan's zerg will have phased out the old queen in favour of the new queen for her campaign.

Lastly, a couple of do-this-or-that mission branches. The story will be the same (all dialogue, at least plot-important bits, will play out the same), but you can do one mission or another. This could reward the player with a new unit or ability for your existing units, but are otherwise just for gameplay variety.

Those are just my ideas, and I'd love to hear everyone else's while we pass the time waiting for Heart of the Swarm and Phoenix, which is supposedly coming out around when it does.

And yes, I'd be perfectly willing to pay full-price for this, even if they split Brood War and Vanilla as two separate products (so long as Brood War is, justly, priced as an expansion), though I suspect they'll cost as much as HotS and LotV will.
This belong in SC2 Discussion, on the grounds that it is a remake of StarCraft I in SC2's engine. So no movey.

[Hawki]

I'm beginning to wonder if Phoenix even exists. The leak seemed credible, but if Phoenix existed, I would have thought we'd have heard something by now. And while I don't see much of a need to remake the old games, you have some good ideas. So, in response:

I want characterisation added to our player characters, along with voice-acting. We know Artanis and possibly Selendis were the Executors of the protoss campaigns, so that's a no-brainer. More dialogue can be written, existing lines can be changed slightly to accommodate this, et cetera.

That's a good idea. I certainly personally believe that Selendis was the executor in Episode IV and Dark Vengeance and seeing them in the flesh would be preferable to the old silent protagonist format IMO.

I want a WoL-style campaign in terms of gameplay and story mode. This means more varied mission objectives, less base-stomps (although a few each campaign, for old-time's sake, would be unobjectionable). A story mode in the style of the Hyperion or Leviathan would be great as well.

That's another good point. One of WoL's strengths IMO is that its missions showed how unstoppable the zerg could be, that it didn't really allow the player to fight them on equal terms until the Char missions. Some of the missions of Rebel Yell (e.g. Norad II) could benefit from this.

Looking at just Rebel Yell, we could have the first three missions take place in the Magistrate's office, with characters like Jim Raynor and Michael Liberty (because we know this is the only way they'll ever use him in a game at this point) to talk with, and a less-garbage news source to watch. The next six missions would be aboard the Hyperion (oh look, recycled sets? Easy job), with Mengsk, Kerrigan, Liberty, Raynor, Horner, and eventually Duke all talk-withable.

Liked WoL's newscasts myself. I think we'd get similar ones in-game since not only was UNN reporting lies on the SoK as well, but Anderson was sabotaging the propaganda effort from within. It would also be interesting to see the Hyperion in the GW era, namely a bit more polished and SoK imagery on it and the like. Hope they keep the old appearences of the characters though.

Two more additions I would like: units that, lore-wise, did appear in StarCraft and Brood War, but which first appeared in WoL or HotS, should be usable in the BW campaign. Wyrms for the Dominion instead of wraiths or vikings, for example, or perhaps Kerrigan's zerg will have phased out the old queen in favour of the new queen for her campaign.

Lastly, a couple of do-this-or-that mission branches. The story will be the same (all dialogue, at least plot-important bits, will play out the same), but you can do one mission or another. This could reward the player with a new unit or ability for your existing units, but are otherwise just for gameplay variety.

I'd be happy with a linear campaign myself, but I think the units idea is a good one, at least with the Sons of Korhal. I don't see it being applied as readily with the zerg though.

[Gradius]

... as is the commonly held interpretation of StarCraft: Phoenix, what would you want to see in it?

As awesome as that would be, I really doubt they're going to remake SC1.
1) It'd take away sales from SC1.
2) I could have sworn Browder said they'd leave it to the community in some interview, but don't quote me on that.
3) There's already a good port.
4) There's just no sense in wasting resources remaking something that already exists instead of a new game.

Those are just my ideas, and I'd love to hear everyone else's while we pass the time waiting for Heart of the Swarm and Phoenix, which is supposedly coming out around when it does.

And yes, I'd be perfectly willing to pay full-price for this, even if they split Brood War and Vanilla as two separate products (so long as Brood War is, justly, priced as an expansion), though I suspect they'll cost as much as HotS and LotV will.

I have to agree with your ideas. I would pay full price for this as well. What I would love the most though is for Blizzard to actually analyze the retcons and fix them, replacing SC/BW as the new canon.

Liked WoL's newscasts myself. I think we'd get similar ones in-game since not only was UNN reporting lies on the SoK as well, but Anderson was sabotaging the propaganda effort from within. It would also be interesting to see the Hyperion in the GW era, namely a bit more polished and SoK imagery on it and the like. Hope they keep the old appearences of the characters though.

Biased news networks actually exist in reality, and they're not (usually) cartoonish jokes like Wol's news casts. I know at least one person who felt insulted by the WoL news casts who actually lives in a country where the media is controlled. I would be too.

[Sheliek]

As awesome as that would be, I really doubt they're going to remake SC1.
1) It'd take away sales from SC1.
2) I could have sworn Browder said they'd leave it to the community in some interview, but don't quote me on that.
3) There's already a good port.
4) There's just no sense in wasting resources remaking something that already exists instead of a new game.

I have to agree with your ideas. I would pay full price for this as well. What I would love the most though is for Blizzard to actually analyze the retcons and fix them, replacing SC/BW as the new canon.

Biased news networks actually exist in reality, and they're not (usually) cartoonish jokes like Wol's news casts. I know at least one person who felt insulted by the WoL news casts who actually lives in a country where the media is controlled. I would be too.

I understand your points on whether they'd make a remake or not, but big companies do it still from time to time. I can see it, if not during SC2's development cycles, then in the future, at least.

As for the news, that's what I meant. It was too biased (I see it compared to Fox News every now and then, but even they're pretty tame) and a touch too cartoonish. If we saw some very heavy-handed Confederate propaganda, that was obviously propaganda, I'd be very satisfied. Though, perhaps mixing it up either via an option to watch multiple broadcasts between missions. An Umojan source, since they were covertly supporting the Sons of Korhal, would be interesting. Or some of Liberty's broadcasts, showing an in-the-middle-of-things perspective on what you were just doing.

Note to self: make multiple news stations in teh project.

Still, all things considered, I could see this happening as a DLC of sorts after Legacy of the Void.

[TheEconomist]

Remaking a game doesn't go with Blizzard's design philosophy so I HIGHLY doubt it will happen, ever.

I could have sworn Browder said they'd leave it to the community in some interview, but don't quote me on that.

He did. He also gave a flat out "No!" to whether or not that would do a custom map remake of SC1. Rabid fans conveniently forget that though

[Sheliek]

Remaking a game doesn't go with Blizzard's design philosophy so I HIGHLY doubt it will happen, ever.

How so? I've never heard that before.

[Arkalis]

How so? I've never heard that before.

Well, I read somewhere (cant remember source) they even use a brand new engine for each game instead of a modified, previous one

[Sheliek]

Well, I read somewhere (cant remember source) they even use a brand new engine for each game instead of a modified, previous one

True, but that doesn't preclude remakes.

[Turalyon]

Blizz (or whatever they'll be called then) would probably just give it a good twenty years or so for the real nostalgia to sink in (even though WoL seems to have started it more prematurely for some in a bad way) before they'll kick the remake into overdrive!

Either way, with the current feel of Sc2's story-telling being sub-par, I don't think Blizzard should tackle this too soon lest we get the intensely heated "Blizz is destroying my childhood" claims that such remake will inevitably bring.

Hell, this will happen regardless.... On second thoughts, that buffer of twenty years might actually do the trick.

[TheEconomist]

@Muspelli: Think about what you know about Blizzard, I mean really think about it. Does a remake really go with that? No.

Well, I read somewhere (cant remember source) they even use a brand new engine for each game instead of a modified, previous one

IIRC, StarCraft II's engine was a modified WarCraft III engine.