On March 12, 2013, Blizzard finally released the long-waited sequel for one of the most anticipated games of our time-StarCraft II: Heart of The Swarm. This is the second installment of the StarCraft II trilogy that focuses on the zerg campaign.
The public beta for the game ended on March 1st, 2013, ensuring that all potential bugs have been cleared and all strategy concerns addressed. Blizzard thanked all the beta participants and guaranteed that they would continue to check for game balances. “We’re always on the lookout for changes in how the game is played, and we track the community’s concerns as they come up so that we can adjust our views accordingly.”
StarCraft II is the direct sequel for original StarCraft, which was originally released back in March 31, 1998, with more than 11 million sold as of 2009; it has became one of the best-selling game of all time. This undeniably successful game inevitably created one of the largest demands for a sequel.
Blizzard decided to split the series into a trilogy in order to enhance the storyline as well as develop a strategic plan to ride out the popularity of this profitable enterprise.
The first part of the trilogy, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, was released two and half year ago on July 27th, 2010. The game focuses on Terrans, a humanlike creature; it sold more than 3 million copies worldwide within its first month of release.
The anticipated StarCraft II: Heart of The Swarm will pick up the storyline right where it left off from the end of Wings of Liberty. Most of the players’ favorites characters are expected to return to the storyline.
This release is also two weeks before the Game Developer Conference, where Blizzard has always maintained a strong presence. Blizzard will have a major exhibit and is a major sponsor at Game Developer Conference this year. We are likely to get more details on the game from them, as well as explanations regarding why and how certain things are built and created.
Brian Kindregan, the lead writer for Starcraft II, will be giving a panel discussion for the story development using cinema as a high-level story telling tool in Heart of The Swarm. Matt Schembari, the Senior Software Engineer for Starcraft II, will be discussing the programming behind the cut scenes in Heart of The Swarm. Fans have long awaited to know the mysteries and wonders behind the creation of the game, and answers will be revealed at the Game Developer Conference.
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