SC2Mapster

I want to thanks slightlyrandom for writing this news (unfortunatly, I did not increase my english skills over-night :( )

Dialog Item Templates by Helral

So far, people that wanted to do a custom UI had to hide the default UI and code from scratch all their interface. However Helral found a way to move the default elements where you want to!

Using his Dialog Templates, you can now use any of the individual UI elements made by Blizzard independently of all the others, allowing you heaps of freedom to make the UI look just right.

To get to the projects development thread with more examples and coding stuff, look no further.

Weekly Terraining Exercise #1: Dawn of a new era by Mozared

Mozared has issued a call to arms, requesting terrainers and terrainees both join in and practice their terraining for the betterment of mankind. In the first of these weekly exercises, the theme is the Dawn of a New Era. The week is now over and there are nice entries.

Announcing Cheat Sheet by AsaPhelps

If you've been wanting to use that Announcer Voice Blizzard recently added to the editor, but haven't been able to figure out what exactly to use it for, AsaPhelps is here to help you.

He has compiled a Cheat Sheet, a list of all the Announcements and what arcane number to invoke to call them forth. A major 81, and all 'round 149.

Quote:

Level, Round, Wave, Stage, Lap, Next, Previous, Final, Bonus, Ready, Go, Stop, Start, Begin, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 1,000, 1,000,000, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z, Success, Failure, Cleared, Finished, Reset, You, Win, Lose, Die, Victory, Defeat, Pass, Failed, Boss, Go!, Out of Bounds, Disqualified, New Record, Hero, Item, Power Up, Secret, Reward, Player, Objective, New, Received, Discovered, Found, Revived, North, South, East, West, Choose, Chosen, First Place, Second Place, Third Place, Safe, Good Job, Nice, Warning, Danger, Caution, GG, Locked, Unlocked, Activated, Deactivated, Phase, Area, Fantastic, Hardcore, Epic, Hey, Hello, Welcome, Goodbye, Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Black, White, Gray, Brown, Teal, Pink, Light, Dark, First Blood, Double Kill, Triple Kill, Instant Kill, Headshot, Ownage, Killer, Masterful, Ganked, Humiliation, Annihilation, Fatality, Finish Him, Left, Right, Up, Down, Killed, Quit

Standard Tower Defense Commentary by colbycheeze

Another great commentary of colbycheeze on the map Standard Tower Defense by maverck. He is looking for team mates to complete some maps. If you are interested ColbyCheeZe#165 (US I guess ...)

Starcraft 2 Lead Writer Interview by Playworks

Playworks, a Singaporean gaming publication, has done an interesting interview with Brian Kindregan, the lead writer on Starcraft 2, where he reveals a bit about how the story so far came to be, and what might be in store in the future installments of the series.

Quote:

Playwork: Tell us, what was your main inspiration when forming the story and the character development?

Brian Kindregan: Well, the entire StarCraft team is made up of geeks. And we all love science fiction movies, Tvs, books, comic books and games so the range of inspiration was pretty broad. For me, the main inspiration would have to be the first StarCraft game. When you are working on something that has such a rich history, you would already have a sense of what the universe is like, what the people in it are like, where it’s all going. You can actually look at an idea and ask yourself, does this feel like a StarCraft idea.

Interview with Michael Morhaime by the LA Times

In a slightly more serious tone, the LA Times interviewed Michael Morhaime about how he got started, the history of Blizzard, and his experience with leading the company to where it is today.

Quote:

"We felt it was very likely the fee would be a deterrent for people, and that WoW would not sell as quickly as some of our previous games," he said. All of Blizzard's production decisions were based on that conservative projection.

But to Blizzard's delight, and terror, WoW sold furiously, leaving the underprepared Blizzard temporarily unable to keep stores stocked with the game. "For the whole first year, we scrambled to keep up with demand," he said. "It probably took years off of our lives."