As was announced in late December the Official Blizzard Podcast, Blizzcast, is here! There are some nice details on the art direction with StarCraft II from lead art designer Samwise, also known as Sam Didier.
You can view the transcript, images and download the podcast itself directly from Blizzards page.
Karune: True that. Alright, for the next unit we have the zergling. I know everybody’s been just dying to hear about Zerg. So, could you tell us a little about how the zergling has changed compared to StarCraft I or just about this concept piece in general?
Samwise: Well, we took the basic shape and style, and the elements of the zergling that everyone liked, the little small hoppy guys, mouth full of teeth and claws and all that and, when doing the concept, it’s like, “Okay, yeah, this is cool, we got a zergling. It’s a little bit tweaked different than the original one but it’s like, what’s new about this guy?” So, the idea was, “Well, hell, let’s put on little wings so then when they leap and they’re swarming, they could fly up and attack stuff and jump on top of buildings and do all that. Now, whether that gets in the game or not, who knows? It’s just the concept. But that was the idea, seeing swarms of these guys running around with their little wings and “prrttt prrtt,”, flickering around and stuff. So...
Karune: I can see there’s some bullet holes and stuff in the wings as well.
Samwise: Yeah, this one got lucky. It’s just through the wings.
Karune: Nice
Samwise: But that was basically the idea. Was to take, you know, sort of a cool character from StarCraft and then give it the next level up. Like, not changing what it is. Like everyone who looks at this won’t say, “What the hell’s that?” you know. It’s a zergling. You know what it is. “It’s a zergling, Lester, a different kind of zerg.” You know, we decide to add wings. It’s StarCraft II, baby, you know. We don’t want to be doing something we did ten years ago and just doing a 3D version of it.
Samwise: Well, we took the basic shape and style, and the elements of the zergling that everyone liked, the little small hoppy guys, mouth full of teeth and claws and all that and, when doing the concept, it’s like, “Okay, yeah, this is cool, we got a zergling. It’s a little bit tweaked different than the original one but it’s like, what’s new about this guy?” So, the idea was, “Well, hell, let’s put on little wings so then when they leap and they’re swarming, they could fly up and attack stuff and jump on top of buildings and do all that. Now, whether that gets in the game or not, who knows? It’s just the concept. But that was the idea, seeing swarms of these guys running around with their little wings and “prrttt prrtt,”, flickering around and stuff. So...
Karune: I can see there’s some bullet holes and stuff in the wings as well.
Samwise: Yeah, this one got lucky. It’s just through the wings.
Karune: Nice
Samwise: But that was basically the idea. Was to take, you know, sort of a cool character from StarCraft and then give it the next level up. Like, not changing what it is. Like everyone who looks at this won’t say, “What the hell’s that?” you know. It’s a zergling. You know what it is. “It’s a zergling, Lester, a different kind of zerg.” You know, we decide to add wings. It’s StarCraft II, baby, you know. We don’t want to be doing something we did ten years ago and just doing a 3D version of it.
Links
Blizzcast - Official Site
Blizzcast - Episode 1
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