Five sketches of what initially appeared to be unidentified artifacts have been posted on the official StarCraft 2 website, along with a new illustration of the Queen Bitch of the Universe herself, Kerrigan.

Blizzard has remained silent about these updates, but our highly talented investigative team has matched them to pieces of Zeratul’s new armor:

Blizzard’s art and lore updates are being closely monitored for clues regarding the powerful artifacts that were mentioned in the BlizzCon single player video.

The lights blacking out in succession, a sharp musical note revealed Zeratul, a character from the original game. “I bring tidings of doom,” said the Protoss warrior. “The Xel’Naga have returned. The cycle nears its end. The artifacts are the key.”

 

“To what?” Raynor said, to which Zeratul replied, “The end of all things,” before falling to his knees, apparently wounded.

These artifacts, that the player will pursue during the single player campaign, might eventually form Zeratul’s armor. The significance of the armor is not yet known, however. Of course, it is more likely that the artifacts Zeratul mentions are different items entirely, and these pictures are just early design sketches.

Another concept art picture, depicting Kerrigan, clearly shows her “wearing” stylish, organic heels.

This immediately brings to mind the following illustration, which Blizzard has included in their fan-site kit:

Kerrigan’s Zerg-enhanced heels versus Zeratul and his mysterious armor! This is the match-up we’re all looking forward to, and it looks like Blizzard is telling us that we will indeed witness it in StarCraft 2. Who will win in this battle of giants?

Blizzard has updated its StarCraft 2 page with another Protoss unit - the Twilight Archon. As usual, the page features a short gameplay video, a new screenshot, concept art and a short backstory and description.

Builds From: Merging Templar
Armament: Psionic Shockwave
Role: Heavy Assault

The Archon is a late game, heavy, ground assault unit. It has a lot of health and a devastating attack, which can target both ground and air units.

The terrifying power of the high templar is rightly feared by the enemies of the protoss. A mere handful of these potent individuals can lay waste to entire armies of foes.

* Click for big

These swirling, burning effigies of the protoss spirit radiate incalculable power. Their devastating psionic storms can be unleashed against cowering enemy forces both in the air and on the ground. With the halves of the protoss race reunited, an archon can now be brought into being by the merge of two high templar, or two dark templar, or even the unification of a dark templar and a high templar. Although the protoss are loath to sacrifice valuable templar, those who do achieve this final level of commitment are forever honored in the memories of their people.

The Twilight Archon seems similar to StarCraft 1’s normal Archon, which was created by merging two High Templars. A Dark Archon version, created by merging two Dark Templars, functioned as a dedicated spell caster. Will the Dark Archon be forgotten in StarCraft 2? Perhaps the Twilight Archon will now be able to both attack and cast spells.

As mentioned in the update, the Twilight Archon can be created by merging any two templars. This opens the possibility of having the final result being dependent on the composition: An Archon created from two High Templars might have a stronger shield, while an Archon created from two Dark Templars might be able to use more spells or have more mana.

Don’t forget to take a look at the short gameplay movie, embedded in the StarCraft2.com unit page. Note how the Archon now walks on two legs instead of hovering slightly above the battlefield. The StarCraft 1 Archon was effectively immune to mines - will the updated Archon trigger them?

Dustin Browder, lead game designer, has posted on the Battle.net suggestions forum.

Here’s what he had to say:

This is the lead designer of StarCraft 2. I just wanted to stop in and say hello and let everybody know that the Dev Team is looking at this board as often as possible. We have our community manager, Karune who keeps us well informed about the top issues from this group of gamers. We also have a team of blizzard employees who keeps the team up to date about issues from gamers from all around the world.

 

I will try to post from time to time when I see things that I can comment on.

 

I hope to see lots of you folks at Blizzcon.=)

 

- Dustin Browder

It’s nice to see that the StarCraft 2 developers are continuing the long tradition of relying on user feedback and are treating it as an integral part of the development process. Blizzard’s developers are getting pitched hundreds of ideas per day; some of them must be good.

An interview with Nick Carpenter, Blizzard cinematic creative director, has surfaced on Blizzard’s StarCraft 2 site.

It features 3 parts: Concept, Storytelling and Technology.

Nick talks about the creative process for both the artwork and story, and elaborates on the technology required to create the amazing 3D videos Blizzard is known for.

” When you see all the intricate pieces of the armor coming together, you really get to appreciate the power and the toughness of the marine unit from a whole new perspective. But this is only the most basic unit; this is your cannon fodder, your red shirts. If the creation of a mere marine is already this cool, just imagine what it must be like when a goliath or a siege tank is assembled. Essentially, we picked this scene because we felt it was a great way to return to the StarCraft universe - open up with something small, but finish with something really big.”

Here’s hoping for a follow up Goliath cinematic!

Make sure to grab the preview cinematic movie from our video server if you haven’t seen it already.