World of Warcraft at Ten Ton Hammer

News, news, news. It's why we here at Ten Ton Hammer came to Blizzcon, and it's why this article is here for you. We'll give you the run down on what the Starcraft 2 Panels brought to the table for new features and what's worth getting excited about! And believe me, there is a lot.  

The Art Panel was headed up by none other than the legendary Samwise, who moonlights as the lead singer of the Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftains (soon to be 85?). We got a good look at how some of the models are being touched up, the Zerg in particular. The drone animation almost seemed as it was swimming on the surface of the creep rather than a sprite rolling around normally. In the last six months they've taken a new coat of paint on the units in the form of Specular Lighting as well, to give it those glows and shades of light and shadow as the unit animates. 

 Banelings now pulse as they move and especially while stationary it looks violent, like a concoction ready to explode. The Ultralisk now seems a bit more normal with the blades being a part of its forearms rather than... whereever they were on the original (chin?). Also of note are Mutalisks having much bigger horns, which is a bit disappointing seeing as they can't ram enemy air units. It would be like Joust! ...Maybe that reference really is too old.

 Brian, the lead environment artist took the helm and showed us some of his magic. Which somehow involved him immediately going to a shot of the Goliath pilot which has a stunning resemblance to himself. He then pulled out a pair of the very same goggles the pilot was wearing and more or less confirmed the fairly obvious. We moved on to a comparison of scale.

That's a big upgrade, to say the least!

 He specifically said there was nothing for restrictions on the artists when it came to designing the campaign. Doodads could be as elaborate as the artists wanted to make them, and boy did they not hold back. Reactors pulse and valves turn in animations that last a whole minute before recycling. There's even new backgrounds for missions involving space platforms, as you can see planets in the background, debris storms, even invading fleets passing by. It'll be hard to play this game without getting distracted in single player by the pretty pictures!

Allan, Lead Artist and Animation took over and more or less said we like blowing stuff up. We got a sneak peek at how different weapons and different levels of damage cause units to die in a variety of ...painful ways. Even buildings now have different animations on death as well The best way to put it is stuff is flying everywhere now on death and it's beautiful.

And then we got to see what is quite possibly the greatest unit ever. The Terratron. You might recall it as a bit of a joke previously, but this was no joke. This baby was the size of the Empire State Building and had death lasers, and a laser saw, and generally was the coolest thing ever to see in an RTS game. Unfortunately in a recurring theme of the panel, they blow it up after showing it. I shed a tear :(

The gameplay panel was perhaps the most eye opening though. I was expecting a bit more of a multiplayer focus but the campaign took center stage. With StarCraft 2 the focus is on more story, deeper characters, more choices, and unique missions that amount to a lot more than mass up and attack move. They showed a mission where the lava rises and falls over the low ground, and some unfortunate Marines didn't quite make it. Messy.

They showed something I hadn't noticed before, and that's foliage on the terrain. It's quite simple to place though, you just select it based on the texture in that area of ground. It then auto populates and you can control the density, size of the patch, and other ways of customizing your ground to your liking. From rocks to grass, they said the possibilities are endless.

Custom games are the highlight of the genre for me, and the highlight of the show! They placed special mention to Defense of the Ancients/dota, Element TD, and Footman Frenzy as maps that have the staying power and unique gameplay that have generated massive communities centered around them. I personally can vouch for all three, and it pleases me greatly that they see the power these custom games wield.

Behold, the Uberlisk! Employees from Blizzard whipped up some maps to show us the power of the editor in action at last, and this ultralisk had 6 Spine Crawlers on its back, and took on all challengers while strolling along casually. It even took on a pack of Spore Crawlers that were launching Banelings through the air, exploding on contact in a shower of green. And when thousands of Roaches, Hydralisks, and Zerglings were summoned in a full circle around it to take it down, the Uberlisk detonated in spectacular fashion upon death and left nothing but blood and guts on the screen. Oh, it was beautiful.

Perhaps the biggest shocker of the show was a vertical scrolling shooter that resembled the old Raiden games. You were controlling a fighter and smaller interceptors were flying in patterns and firing bullets aimed at you (but do not track) so you dodge just like one of those quarter-munchers. A protoss mothership even came up as a boss, and a custom green life bar filled the top right of the screen. All that was missing was the boss flashing red as he was about to be defeated and I would have stood up and cheered at this point. Immediately after, they announced that map locking will be in the game but they can't announce details at this point, so you can sign and be secure in your creations not being stolen and modified to another's profit or need.

StarCraft 2 is going to be worth the wait. After seeing what we saw at these panels, the time, effort and most of all little teasers they're showing us here and there are proving that they are not wasting their time and the game is truly not finished yet. But even at this point, they're capable of lighting up my eyes like a little kid at Christmas when they demo a new toy such as the Terratron live. See you in 2010, StarCraft 2. I'll be waiting!