Starcraft reboot ideas discussion thread

[ragnarok]

Start making campaign maps in that universe.

And how is that turning out so far?

[ragnarok]

Course it's possible. The only enjoyment I've derived in terms of lore and story for Sc throughout the period of Sc2 were those independent short-stories that had nothing to do with either Raynor or Kerrigan. They followed their own characters and were really good in expanding the depth of the universe by showing us the viewpoint of other "little" people/characters and their (albeit lacking in scale compared to the main story, they were no less epic in terms of impact) tribulations.

Those I plan to tie in for the future reckoning process (well, some of them)

[Nissa]

That is not possible. Metzen's narrative invested Raynor and Kerry the power to rewrite the setting however they desired. You cannot tell a story about other characters without living in their shadow.

Writers can do anything they want. There's no real need to live any shadow. Actually, given what I've seen of the end of SC2, Kerri and Raynor are basically gone forever, and can be disregarded ala Decker and Ilia in Star Trek 1.

Given the Zerg's desperate need for intelligent leadership, they'll probably generate up some DNA that they think will conjure up an intelligent creature. Granted, this probably won't work out for them so well, but there's plenty of storytelling opportunity there. The Terrans are overdo for factional mishaps, and the Protoss have stuff going on on their end. Probably SC has no RTS potential at this point (more to do with the lack of reason for the 'Toss to fight a massive war than anything else), but a Terran-focused story could work.

[KaiserStratosTygo]

And how is that turning out so far?

I don't know? i'm suggesting Mislagnissa do this..

[ragnarok]

Sorry I'll just wait for his feedback then

[ragnarok]

Given the Zerg's desperate need for intelligent leadership, they'll probably generate up some DNA that they think will conjure up an intelligent creature. Granted, this probably won't work out for them so well, but there's plenty of storytelling opportunity there. The Terrans are overdo for factional mishaps, and the Protoss have stuff going on on their end. Probably SC has no RTS potential at this point (more to do with the lack of reason for the 'Toss to fight a massive war than anything else), but a Terran-focused story could work.

That new leadership doesn't require new creature with DNA and whatnot. Since Evolution I always suspected there'd be more than just Abathur who'd oppose Zagara's notions for peace.

[Mislagnissa]

I don't know? i'm suggesting Mislagnissa do this..

Sorry I'll just wait for his feedback then

I have been working on a map, but it is my first effort so I have to learn everything as a beginner. The SC1 engine does not really support in-game cutscenes, or at least I have not been able to get it to work in order to introduce plot points without doing something weird like making cutscene maps. I prefer writing fiction.

As Turalyon already said, it probably has more to do with this forum not having many active members anymore and many of those remaining being apathetic or hostile to the idea.

[sandwich_bird]

I have been working on a map, but it is my first effort so I have to learn everything as a beginner. The SC1 engine does not really support in-game cutscenes, or at least I have not been able to get it to work in order to introduce plot points without doing something weird like making cutscene maps. I prefer writing fiction.

You can definitely do cutscenes but you have to get "creative". I don't remember if you could stop all players inputs without pausing the game but what you can do is force the camera to stay in a specific position by putting the command in a while loop. So you do something like "while (events) is true, focus camera to cutscene location". That would prevent the player from looking somewhere else and then you can just temporarily change the faction of all units to a faction that the player does not control and that will prevent user inputs. It's a hacky way of having a cutscene system in sc1.

Why not just use sc2 though? sc1 editor is simpler but pretty much no one will play a map made in sc1 these days.

[ragnarok]

I have been working on a map, but it is my first effort so I have to learn everything as a beginner. The SC1 engine does not really support in-game cutscenes, or at least I have not been able to get it to work in order to introduce plot points without doing something weird like making cutscene maps. I prefer writing fiction.

As Turalyon already said, it probably has more to do with this forum not having many active members anymore and many of those remaining being apathetic or hostile to the idea.

What's the map about so far?

[Mislagnissa]

You can definitely do cutscenes but you have to get "creative". I don't remember if you could stop all players inputs without pausing the game but what you can do is force the camera to stay in a specific position by putting the command in a while loop. So you do something like "while (events) is true, focus camera to cutscene location". That would prevent the player from looking somewhere else and then you can just temporarily change the faction of all units to a faction that the player does not control and that will prevent user inputs. It's a hacky way of having a cutscene system in sc1.

Why not just use sc2 though? sc1 editor is simpler but pretty much no one will play a map made in sc1 these days.

I had been using the pause function before but your suggestion completely slipped my mind. So thanks for that!

I am leery of the SC2 editor because I heard it was even more complicated and idiosyncratic than SC1 editor from sources like Gradius. Unless I used a mod such as Mass Recall or Heptacraft, it would not readily support BW-style tech trees (especially with the patches). Although I was interested in using a mix of the BW and SC2 tech trees to show off the differences; most of the SC2 units could easily be justified in appearing before or during the Great War. if I understand right, in custom campaigns it is possible to use co-op commanders and warchest skins without having to purchase them.

I could probably give it a try at some point even if I had to read through many help documents to do fairly simple things.

What I really do not like about SC2 is that the protoss skin colors look too homogeneous. I would have to put filters on the textures to make them look more like they did in SC1 (green zealots, pale green carrier pilots, orange scout pilots, pallid arbiter pilots, etc). On the upside... I can put filters on the textures to make the protoss more ethnically diverse.

What's the map about so far?

It is part of a short campaign exploring the last days of Mar Sara from a zerg POV. It references the events of Rebel Yell, Speed of Darkness and Revelations.