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Underground Activities in Starcraft 2
INTRODUCTION
Nope. This thread is not about mafia running secret Starcraft 2 tournaments, match fixing for illegal betting or map hack program sold at blackmarket. Rather, this is about underground activities “in game” that we usually never get to see. Zerg units can burrow and supply depot can be lowered, but most of us don’t know how they look below ground level because the camera is fixed at around 45 degrees to the ground. Some of you might remember me from Artosis pylon Art. When I was working on better camera angles with map editor for beautiful Artosis pylon pictures, I accidentally found that camera angle could go to negative degree to show underground world. Although Blizzard knew that 99.9% of us would never even care how things look while in underground, graphic designers didn’t slack off. Welcome to underground SC2!!
Graphics are ultra&extreme for all settings. Note that every picture has different camera distance to the object.
Supply Depot
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/lvEJ4.png)
Terran worked on underground construction technology after broodwar. My theory is that Mengsk ordered to develop the technology so that he could have personal nuclear shelter beneath his palace on Korhal. It sounds typical dictator move.
Zerg Units 1
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/jjFEH.png)
How come marines cannot see them without scan?
Zerg Units 2
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/5EIsc.png)
Infested Terran might be the tallest unit while burrowed.
Spine/Spore crawlers
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/DYpoK.png)
Definitely rooted.
So far, so good. These were somewhat expected. Now, I tested with all buildings/units along with some neutral map features. Some of them might not be so obvious or what you expected.
Reactor
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/NJoik.png)
On the other hand, tech lab doesn’t have underground part.
Bunker
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/5ATzq.png)
Door is probably design, but the light part could be unintentional and only for easier programming (when a unit enters a bunker, shift the light by 5 to Z axis direction etc.) because similar things happened for Terran building sequence and spire morphing where what appears on ground in future is buried underground.
Gas
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Ey5al.png)
Refinery sends canisters underground with animation to mine vespene gas.
Dark Shrine
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/SBrV4.png)
Left is powered, and right is unpowered. Some sort of crystal power(?) reaches underground.
Forge & Photon Cannon
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/xh9vR.png)
Take a close look at the thin line beneath cannon.
Beneath photon cannon (enlarged)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/imblf.png)
Looks familiar?
Looks familiar
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/E6Upj.png)
Guardian Shield
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/WdGNM.png)
Can guard burrowed Zerg ally.
Mineral
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/c3uhJ.png)
Not rooted that deep. Looks easy to just pull the chunk one by one. Or, is it what MULE does?
Hatchery-Lair-Hive
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/SHsIe.png)
4 spikes get taller and taller above ground.
Creep Tumor
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/uuros.png)
Morphing process from left to right. 3rd picture = rooting appears only for a fraction of a second. This makes me wonder why Blizzard added this rooting graphic as I could well be the only person in the world who noticed this as of writing.
Burrowed Movement
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/d555K.png)
Sadly, burrowed movement has no special graphics other than rubbles. I was expecting some digging with claws. No way can floating bodies like these move inside soil. I hope ultralisk’s burrowed charge in HOTS introduce decent animation underground.
Depot vs Burrowed Movement
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/OgGir.png)
How……how come raised depot is off-limits, yet lowered depot is free highway? If anything, raised depot should be easier to pass underground, or both should be off-limits. It doesn’t make much sense. Terran QQ incoming ~
Depotralisk
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/hqgQO.png)
Yeah, even ultralisk can burrow on top of lowered enemy depot.
Nydus (close)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/mxfCR.png)
Left to right. Nydus in 2nd image is doing piston movement toward ground in animation, trying to penetrate the ground.
Nydus (far)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/m55cR.png)
…these nydus ones are just SC2 structure images. Nothing is sexually inappropriate. I don’t elaborate any further.
Orek's Articles/Guides
+ Show Spoiler +
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China6328 Posts
These are fantasticly hilarious haha.
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wow, nice work! this is amazing stuff
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Never even considered looking below ground for graphics Blizz put in. Cool find and nice write-up on the thread.
I believe the Nydus burrows deeper underground to get past the lowered supply depot.
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This is some nice detail that they put into the game. Shame we never really see it in action.
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Sometimes it amazes me how we find stuff like this so long after beta. Pretty sure if you really wanted to you'd see this stuff even in the beta client.
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Wow this is actually really cool, I've always wondered what the supply depot looked like underground. It always looked to me to be very cozy! Also interesting seeing the nydus worm from an underground perspective.
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Reminds me of the discovery of the extractor's hole. Something interesting that was right there in front of us, if we only moved the camera.
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This is actually really really amazing
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Spotlight! Spotlight! Spotlight!!!
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Wow. Amazing effort by Blizzard.
But I can't stop chuckling at the Nydus doing piston like movements.
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Wow. Really cool to see, and a job well done by you!
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Oh wow, this stuff is really cool. Thanks!
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Sweden33719 Posts
How……how come raised depot is off-limits, yet lowered depot is free highway? If anything, raised depot should be easier to pass underground, or both should be off-limits. It doesn’t make much sense. Terran QQ incoming ~
This would actually create some pretty interesting choices - lowered to defend vs burrow stuff, raised to defend vs lings - pick one oO~
Superb thread btw, ty!
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Great find, some of this stuff looks awesome! Love the Easter-eggism of your findings.
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Aww burrowed ling is so cute!
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Mind has been blown today.
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wow this is pretty fucking awesome thanks for this!
ff design under canon hmm!
Hatchery into Hive, gives me a new insight to it! awesome!
And many funny things!
Thanks again for sharing X)
On August 17 2012 14:40 Liquid`Jinro wrote:Show nested quote +How……how come raised depot is off-limits, yet lowered depot is free highway? If anything, raised depot should be easier to pass underground, or both should be off-limits. It doesn’t make much sense. Terran QQ incoming ~
This would actually create some pretty interesting choices - lowered to defend vs burrow stuff, raised to defend vs lings - pick one oO~ Superb thread btw, ty!
Mind blown by the quoted in this quote of Jinro. And agree with Jinro, that could be interesting!
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very interesting stuff ^^
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Mind = blown from hatch-lair-hive growth of spikes.
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Thanks for these pics! I especially like the hatchery to hive ones, never new they added that much detail so you could see the retracted spikes underground.
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Nice! It's pretty cool to see what things in SC2 look from a different perspective.
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That hydra-position looks very uncomfortable =/ haha.
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Wow! Infested marines can burrow themselves!
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On August 17 2012 14:40 Liquid`Jinro wrote:Show nested quote +How……how come raised depot is off-limits, yet lowered depot is free highway? If anything, raised depot should be easier to pass underground, or both should be off-limits. It doesn’t make much sense. Terran QQ incoming ~
This would actually create some pretty interesting choices - lowered to defend vs burrow stuff, raised to defend vs lings - pick one oO~ Superb thread btw, ty!
this is EXACTLY how i thought it worked when i first started playing.... seemed logical. Then a burrowed infestor got in after having been blocked on my raised depot (saw it in a replay) and I was like WTF? What moron thought that up?
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Haha this is cute, and fun to look at. Nice work Blizzard
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This is some really interesting stuff
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Haha.
Very funny and interesting find lol
But the title trolled me :o
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Wow. I like how the spires on the Hatchery don't just grow above ground, but are pushed up as it evolves. Cool stuff.
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You know some guy at Blizzard is going to be really happy when he realizes the work he put in for art is figured out. This is pretty cool. When playing or observing a game it is kind of sad how little detail I notice in the art of the game, but there is just a ton of detail laced into almost every aspect of the game.
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Calgary25977 Posts
Super interesting Thanks!
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In conclusion buff supply depot.
Cool thread thank you, also not quite what I was expecting.
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Depotralisk makes me feel like playing Madden 2007.
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Awesome!
Never would have thought to look for something like this but I sincerely think these are pretty cool. Good find
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I came here skeptical... now I see this is a great thread! Really interesting to see all of this, especially how the Hatchery morphs to a Hive.
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LOL great job finding this stuff
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I thought this was gonna be a thread about a secret league or something along those lines, but i saw the pictures and was like oh actually underground lol
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Huh. I would have never realized guardian shield protects burrowed ally units. Or I suppose neural-probe-build your own protoss base-units.
Very interesting.
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I never realized that the Supply Depot's hole is actually textured. That's a rather interesting touch for something that almost never is seen.
And that decal under the Photon Cannon is weird. I wonder what it's for...
And the Bunker's lighting is hilarious. All in all, the Blizzard modelers are quite resourceful in creating such illusions.
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Fun stuff, never thought about these buildings in this manner, but now I know. Thx! <3
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I wonder if there is some arcane way of unlocking the Cannon's secret Forcefield ability. =P
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Ultra burrowed looks so cute. Maybe no one will notice my giant head!
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THIS IS BEAUTIFUL!!! and sad at the same time, sad cuz of those unfinished animations/things in game ^^ thx for sharing tho, definitely worth watching...
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2 things: the graphic under the cannon is most likely from the alpha still, where cannons could port within pylon enery range.
the short creep tumor animation with little feet might be from pre alpha, where blizzard thought about making creep tumors move and burrow/unburrow just like spines and spores, hence the similar look.
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I think this is by far the best "amateur" thread I have ever seen. Tempting thread name is followed by amazing content!
so awesome
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depots hatcheries will never be the same for me again.
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Great work! Love it hehehe.
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I was hoping for something about underground starcraft 2 betting arena, I am dissapoint 
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On August 17 2012 14:40 Liquid`Jinro wrote:Show nested quote +How……how come raised depot is off-limits, yet lowered depot is free highway? If anything, raised depot should be easier to pass underground, or both should be off-limits. It doesn’t make much sense. Terran QQ incoming ~
This would actually create some pretty interesting choices - lowered to defend vs burrow stuff, raised to defend vs lings - pick one oO~ Superb thread btw, ty!
That's quite a cool idea, but one Blizzard probably wouldn't implement due to "it being too confusing".
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Hatch to Hive was pretty neat!
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I wonder whether blizzard will implement this for better animation
I hope they do somehow, this is really epic.
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Great post, thanks for compiling all this!
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I dont know what i find more strange, that blizzard bothered to draw models for this or that you bothered to spend god knows how long making a thread about it. Either way it was a pretty entertaining read, keep up the random threads.
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This was very pleasant to read
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Oh wow, just noticed you made the "Artosis pylon Art" too :D
Now taking a look at the other topic in this OP
Very nice, thank you!
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Cool thread, wish we could do this in game for funsies
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I never knew infested Terrans could burrow. Even so, why would you burrow something with a timed life?
The thing that blew me away was the hatch to lair to hive. Never thought of the spike towers always being there but just buried.
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Wow. Blizzard's graphics team is always the best. But the game design team? Not so much.
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Very nicely found and entertaining ahah.
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Best thread I've seen in a very very long time. You, sir, are a legend.
The most fascinating thing of all, for me, was the way the hatchery's "teeth" come up from underground. So well done.
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Mind blown - really cool to see
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we don't need LAN if we got the depotalisk ! All glory to the depotalisk !!
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Really awesome!
On a side note... am I the only one that thought the nydus one was kind of... dirty? Or is my mind so corrupted beyond salvation ? :'(
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On August 17 2012 23:31 nAgeDitto wrote:
Really awesome!
On a side note... am I the only one that thought the nydus one was kind of... dirty? Or is my mind so corrupted beyond salvation ? :'(
Think it's just you 
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On August 17 2012 18:19 Blacktion wrote:
I dont know what i find more strange, that blizzard bothered to draw models for this or that you bothered to spend god knows how long making a thread about it. Either way it was a pretty entertaining read, keep up the random threads.
Haha, I was thinking this when I entered the topic
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Loved it! Really cool pics
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Northern Ireland24775 Posts
Great find, good writeup! That said I'm somewhat disappointed that there aren't illegal betting rings and criminal gangs involved in the E-sports scene just yet. You haven't arrived as a sport without this underground
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Haha this was really interesting!
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great thread! your thoroughness is appreciated =]
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Wow some really cool stuff! I think it'd be awesome with the lower/raised burrowed thing though it just puts more on the terran  lol
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Thats really cool that blizzard decided to add artwork to something that they didn't intend anyone to see.
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What about a Spire morphing into a Greater Spire? Does any of the model go underground or come up when it's done?
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I am always entertained by your posts. Keep up the good work! :D
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Really cool thread...way to open my eyes
And as many before me, the thought about lowered depots blocking sneaky zerg units seems obvious and kind of sad not to be implemented.
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Thanks for this ground breaking work!
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On August 17 2012 14:27 Orek wrote:
Nope. This thread is not about mafia running secret Starcraft 2 tournaments
Really disappointed ;'(
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amazing thread. Burrowed ultras are as cute as regular ultras <3
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When i've read the title i expected some kind of "what hipsters do" in sc2 thread.
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That was awesome! Thanks for sharing. I honestly never thought about this at all.
I think the cannon/forcefield symbol blew me away!
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You learn something every day. Thanks for this enligntening post!
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Looks kinda cool. Thanks for the share!
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Amazing job you did here. thank you
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Hah awesome, also some more appreciation for the artists is surely appreciated.
Now I wanna see the underground Nydus in action.
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Nice find man, really shows the artists care about every detail, even the detail we don't get to see lol..
I'm sure all the logics for the underground stuff was in the concept art, be cool if that got released.
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AHAHA depotralisk!!!
hahahaha~
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cool stuff! cant believe u stumbled across this.
im really surprised yet proud that blizzard went through the effort to do this stuff even though its pointless and was likely to never be discovered
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Very cool - its the starcraft I never knew! Great job =)
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This thread is simply amazing!
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Really good job. Great thread!
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woah....
could you tell us the technique for getting underground vision, I just cannot figure it out.
EDIT: nvrmind, figured it out. Now, how to see that nydus worm in action...
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I always knew Blizzard made quality games, but this is kinda cool cause it shows a degree of integrity not many other companies can match. WP Blizz
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Cool stuff you've discovered!
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Wow, fantastic job, OP, well done.
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very very cool and interesting.. props
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Nice find. Thanks for sharing!
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nice find! love these types of things, and love that blizz put detail into stuff that people could potentially never see!
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lol, ok update
if you want to see the nydus animation, open up editor->cutscene->search "nydus rumble"->add to timeline
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This is why I like Blizzard games. All the little detail work that they put into everything is really awesome. That's so cool that the nydus worm is actually bashing its head against the ground trying to break through before it emerges. Refineries actually send the canister down and have an animation for it, even though it never gets seen? Nice little easter eggs.
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Awesome finds. I actually wonder how many people came here expecting a thread about match-fixing, and gambling conspiracies.
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This guy needs some sort of ribbon or award or something
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So, is this how we are supposed to nydus her main..?
On a more serious note, awesome :D !!
I'm curious, what happens underground when you detonate a baneling or what's the death animation for a zerg burrowed unit?
Do they just pop out and die immediately?
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Cool find, makes you wonder what else there is to discover!
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I like reading your posts Orek, this one was very fun.
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has anyone ever picked up a sentry using guardian shield? suprisingly, it doens't cancel the ability, yet it shows the full orb around it. really cool animation
nice thread, thanks
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How the spikes rise up from the ground on the hatchery is really cool
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Now I know why cannons are so op, they even have FF built into them!
+ Show Spoiler +
Really cool, as a zerg player I like how the hatch/lair/hive tech progresses with the spines progressing out of the ground.
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So each game I have to pay 350/250 for the hive to raise it's fucking tentacles, which are even already there?
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Zergling looks cute O_o like it's trying to swim, lol.
Hatchery to Hive is interesting too
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wow this is really cool
interesting how they cut corners with the bunker lighting
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This is awesome, I had no idea the forge was like that The more you know! :D
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love this thread and top marks to the OP
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That was pretty awesome. Thanks for sharing it!
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Nice thread. Not gonna lie, when I saw all the burrowed units, the only thing I could think of were icebergs and the Titanic.
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Awesome job. Thank you for this. Otherwise, I would never have know!
I know that sounds sarcastic, but its not. lol Great work!
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Hatchery to Hive is awesome. Great job!
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Wow, that is really awesome, good work, could you better explain how to do this so I can mess around with this?
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Such an awesome find I was looking at the burrowed units/structures with my mouth open I think!! Totally made my friday, I dunno why but itjust did :D
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This was a great thread, awesome job. great read.
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Brunei Darussalam566 Posts
The Hatchery-Lair-Hive one is awesome, thanks for this post
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I hope ultralisk’s burrowed charge in HOTS introduce decent animation underground.
After all the discussion around HotS units/Terran mech/etc, as a Terran player, I felt discouraged about playing HotS (at least as often as I did WoL). If Blizzard doesn't include these underground animations, it's just the nail in the coffin!
Seriously now, great post
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I think most of us are missing the most amazing part of this post - the LIGHTING choices! Very nice lighting to create dramatic screenshots for us, Orek!
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This is just amazing.
On August 17 2012 14:40 Liquid`Jinro wrote:Show nested quote +How……how come raised depot is off-limits, yet lowered depot is free highway? If anything, raised depot should be easier to pass underground, or both should be off-limits. It doesn’t make much sense. Terran QQ incoming ~
This would actually create some pretty interesting choices - lowered to defend vs burrow stuff, raised to defend vs lings - pick one oO~ Superb thread btw, ty!
And that would be sick
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Well done Sir, awesome thread!
and your presentation is superb, I love it, ty!
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Good read! You sir, are awesome!
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I didn't know that they just raised the spikes for the hatchery/lair/hive teching. Very efficient of them to do that.
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Man, I was so hoping for some kind of Easter egg hidden underground. That would have been so cool to find. Neat images though.
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Pointless stuff made cool with pictures. I approve.
Cool pics!
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These are really cool, gj finding them.
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Holy shit O.O
zerg is creeping me out
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Italy420 Posts
nice one! i enjoy your love for details!
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Russian Federation163 Posts
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Great thread! Very interesting that the developers created underground building/unit animations, especially the supply deopt. But yeah, that does kind of raise questions about the fact that burrowed units can pass through such buildings...
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Wow, thats awesome. Thanks for putting this together.
its a whole new game underground.
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Whoah this was awesome to look at. Sweet perspectives there.
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Nice thread, thank you
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lol This was pretty sick, Esp the Nydus one!
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Another quality post!
BTW, about the nydus worm, I've always felt bad for the poor zerg units - it must suck to be shoved into giant worm's ass, to be squeezed through its intestines, only to be vomited in front of stimed marines. And only God knows what happens with the units if the worm is killed while transporting them.
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this is just mind blisteringly diverting. well done.
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The sc2 expolorer! Thanks for the effort, really enjoyed it!
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On August 18 2012 22:42 Barrin wrote:
Hah I never thought that this might be interesting to general populace. Most mapmakers (myself included) are well aware of this stuff... at least the ones who like to move the camera around. The only thing surprising here was the creep tumor root thing (you're right, you're probably the first person to notice that).
There's quite a bit more where this comes from, btw. Doodads.
You sound like you're jelly that you're not the one that made this thread.
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The hatch-lair-hive transformation is really amazing
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Doesn't the Spire => Greater Spire give anything?
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Haha, would have never have known :D
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This is extremely interesting! This is so crazy it's messing with my mind. Now when I ladder I see the whole game from a totally different perspective!
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Me likey!! Good job broski!!
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HAHAHAAHA those pics are pretty awsome!
And I didnt know the normal hatch was so ugly.
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Haha this is a good thread of funness.
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wow.. i hit the thread to read some drama and found one of the coolest posts ever. Even if i was not a designer.. I would find this interesting. I think the fact that Blizzard and the coders actually considered the 3 dimension of it all is interesting.
Great find and nice pictures .
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The nydus design brings the nydus imagery to a whole - new - level.
On August 18 2012 05:18 Radison wrote:So each game I have to pay 350/250 for the hive to raise it's fucking tentacles, which are even already there?
Or you could get everyone go on a strike if you're not happy with the prices.
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On August 19 2012 01:38 JieXian wrote:The nydus design brings the nydus imagery to a whole - new - level. Show nested quote +On August 18 2012 05:18 Radison wrote:So each game I have to pay 350/250 for the hive to raise it's fucking tentacles, which are even already there? Or you could get everyone go on a strike if you're not happy with the prices.
I am not! It's too much to pay to rise tentacles!
I guess it gets a little buffier too, tbh...
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So next step's a video compilation of underground movements/animations?
Brilliant thread, OP!
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Cool, now we know what a Zerg penis looks like.
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awesome thread. cant understand how the ultralisk got underground, but cool regardless haha
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How disappointing... I thought we would see a secret chat log from a blizzard employee intercepted by a malicious hacker dissatisfied with the game or the blog from a lurker lover's attempt to con his way into blizzard HQ and introduce the lurker in HotS.
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This is actually pretty awesome!
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you just killed the mystery of nydus worms. I can now sleep soundly.
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Orek you post the strangest but coolest shit no one knows about. Keep it up dood.
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Smix
United States4549 Posts
this is so cool O_O! thanks for sharing!!
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i always figured the "burrowed" depot jsut folded in on itself so it was lying flat on the ground
i remember playing a few games with burrowed infesters (custom games) that yould get to an area you could see the burrowed infester but never thought that other models would have an underground apearence too
really love the hatch find
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This is so cool. This has given me a lot of respect for the Bliz design team. GJ finding this.
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So I do not know if any one explained this but if you pay attention to the lore zerg can move / burrow underground by vibrating every cell in their body and it causes the soil to loosen around them allowing them to "Swim" through the soil. ( can be found in the campaign after finding enough zerg research to get the burrowing flame turret I am fairly certain)
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That was the perfect Sunday morning stuff to read.
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This is disturbingly good!
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That Nydus worm... Mesmerizing
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So the spikes on the hatch are already big? I'd like to see what it looks like morphing.
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this is actually quite interesting.
normally you try and avoid "rendering" (as in, submitting for render, not actually rasterising) things you cant see, as you still have to perform "work" (ie: culling) to remove things which are underground, or occluded. or of course you just render everything and let the depth buffer sort it out, which also isnt exactly optimal as you waste GPU bandwith and shader time sending across, and potentially rasterising data you'll never actually use (and potential z fighting)
things like the dark shrine, and bunker "highlights" being lobbed underground is certainly a hint at whatever shader they're using for the buildings potentially doesn't support runtime transparency modulation. the big one though is the borrowed units. why not LOD them out for a model that just has the bits you can see (but still has the same bone structure for animations) ? hmm...
its an interesting choice. it'd certainly be an interesting question to ask someone on the team at blizzard "why". I'm sure there's a good, and probably interesting (at least for me anyway) answer
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The Hatch - Lair - Hive spikes is just mind blowing. I never realized that they were all the same! Just assumed that it grew bigger through mutations.
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Fantastic images, ty! 10/10 would/will read again
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On August 20 2012 21:18 iremnant3847 wrote:
The Hatch - Lair - Hive spikes is just mind blowing. I never realized that they were all the same! Just assumed that it grew bigger through mutations.
Exactly! It was Mindblowing really!
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Hi. OP here.
I didn’t quite expect this thread to become this big. Number of positive feedbacks in the last 10 pages is overwhelming. Thank you all for reading and posting comments. Although I cannot reply to all 200, let me answer some.
On August 17 2012 14:40 Liquid`Jinro wrote:Show nested quote +How……how come raised depot is off-limits, yet lowered depot is free highway? If anything, raised depot should be easier to pass underground, or both should be off-limits. It doesn’t make much sense. Terran QQ incoming ~
This would actually create some pretty interesting choices - lowered to defend vs burrow stuff, raised to defend vs lings - pick one oO~ Superb thread btw, ty!
Thank you Jinro. I didn’t realize how interesting it would be until you mentioned it. Great insight.
On August 17 2012 14:47 HolyArrow wrote:
Mind = blown from hatch-lair-hive growth of spikes.
Many others also said that this was the most interesting image. For me, this was actually the very first underground image I accidentally found, which prompted me to do all this work. I was trying to find other interesting underground images, but it turns out that my first finding was the most interesting one for many people. I am surprised.
On August 17 2012 15:03 Sikly wrote:
You know some guy at Blizzard is going to be really happy when he realizes the work he put in for art is figured out. This is pretty cool. When playing or observing a game it is kind of sad how little detail I notice in the art of the game, but there is just a ton of detail laced into almost every aspect of the game.
Spacial thanks to Blizzard graphic designers and everyone involved. Your work has been literally underground, but now it is appreciated by many.
On August 17 2012 16:28 Gorg wrote:
2 things: the graphic under the cannon is most likely from the alpha still, where cannons could port within pylon enery range.
the short creep tumor animation with little feet might be from pre alpha, where blizzard thought about making creep tumors move and burrow/unburrow just like spines and spores, hence the similar look.
Wow. I don’t know much about alpha stage of the game, but this must be it.
On August 17 2012 23:06 figq wrote:
Best thread I've seen in a very very long time. You, sir, are a legend.
The most fascinating thing of all, for me, was the way the hatchery's "teeth" come up from underground. So well done.
On August 18 2012 00:53 Archerofaiur wrote:
Thanks for this ground breaking work!
Positive feedbacks keep me motivated for the next work. I dug into subject as much as possible. Thank you all.
On August 18 2012 00:43 R3DT1D3 wrote:
What about a Spire morphing into a Greater Spire? Does any of the model go underground or come up when it's done?
On August 18 2012 23:12 AgniKai wrote:
Doesn't the Spire => Greater Spire give anything?
As soon as greater spire is started, a spire suddenly appears underground. It probably works in a similar way to bunker lighting. Metal frames that help SCV build structures also appear underground before players actually see them on ground. These must be purely programming reason rather than design/graphics.
On August 18 2012 04:40 nooboon wrote:
Awesome finds. I actually wonder how many people came here expecting a thread about match-fixing, and gambling conspiracies.
Misleading title was intentional as you can probably tell from the first line in introduction. I tried to make the thread worth reading even for mislead people.
On August 18 2012 07:47 DarkInfinity wrote:
Wow, that is really awesome, good work, could you better explain how to do this so I can mess around with this?
I am relatively a map editor noob. But assuming you know the basic part of editor,
Data-> ”+” tab -> Edit Advanced Data -> Cameras -> Dflt(Default Camera) in “detail view” with “show default” option -> UI tab -> CCAmera_ZoomTable_Param_Value.
Then, Zoom Table from 0 to 4 each shows camera angle/distance for each mouse scroll zoom-ins. e_cameraParamDistance is Camera Distance. e_cameraParamPitch is Camera Angle. Original value for ZoomTable 0 is 34 and 56 respectively. (34distance at 56degrees) You can create&enable ZoomTable 5 from CCamera_ZoomTable_Param_Modify on the left or change detault camera from CCamera_ZoomDefault above. I created ZoomTable 5 and made them e_cameraParamDistance = 0 and e_cameraParamPitch =0. That’s all I did. Better map makers can probably do it in an easier way, but I don’t know how.
On August 18 2012 22:42 Barrin wrote:
Hah I never thought that this might be interesting to general populace. Most mapmakers (myself included) are well aware of this stuff... at least the ones who like to move the camera around. The only thing surprising here was the creep tumor root thing (you're right, you're probably the first person to notice that).
There's quite a bit more where this comes from, btw. Doodads.
I am a map editor noob. So, I am closer to general populace than to mapmakers. I was pretty sure that what I find interesting must be interesting for other people.
“General Populace<<<Me<<<<<<<<<Map Makers” in terms of map editor skill. I don’t even know how to create my own camera or publish a map T_T
On August 19 2012 02:29 blackbrownsocks wrote:
So next step's a video compilation of underground movements/animations?
Brilliant thread, OP!
I wish I could make a video, especially for Nydus. Unfortunately(?), I don’t know how.
On August 19 2012 13:03 FatalStrik3x wrote:
So I do not know if any one explained this but if you pay attention to the lore zerg can move / burrow underground by vibrating every cell in their body and it causes the soil to loosen around them allowing them to "Swim" through the soil. ( can be found in the campaign after finding enough zerg research to get the burrowing flame turret I am fairly certain)
Wow. So, Stetman already had the answer. Nice.
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I have always wondered... Why are burrowed moving units sooo much harder to see than cloaked moving units? Aren't they the same idea?
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Wasn't there some blizzard employee who made the extractor butt who really loved the fact that the players finally learned about it? xD I wonder if whoever made these little details up reads this thread some day
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On August 17 2012 14:40 Liquid`Jinro wrote:Show nested quote +How……how come raised depot is off-limits, yet lowered depot is free highway? If anything, raised depot should be easier to pass underground, or both should be off-limits. It doesn’t make much sense. Terran QQ incoming ~
This would actually create some pretty interesting choices - lowered to defend vs burrow stuff, raised to defend vs lings - pick one oO~ Superb thread btw, ty!
then when terran raises depot to block a ling counter attack they have to decide if they want to scan because the zerg could have just used the lings to get some infestors through...
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D:
This is awesome! I really wonder about that little light beneath the Dark Shrine. o.O
I think they though no one would ever look.
>_>
<_<
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Well, that was interesting. I never really thought about what was going on underground with all these buildings and units!
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My mental faculties have been equated with the gust of a hurricane.
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This thread is great! Good work OP!
The Hatch -> Lair -> Hive evolution especially... I never suspected that.
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Beneath photon cannon (enlarged) Looks familiar?
Sephirot you mean? So, in other words the Protoss are a secretly-Jewish race? o_0
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Nice, this is interesting to look at
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United States369 Posts
Dang, this is pretty cool :D
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This is super useless AND super awesome, so i love it. Thx for sharing.
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That's freaking cool, and hot damn the Creep Tumor looks sick!
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Really awesome and original idea :D Great thread man! I agree I think the lower depot mechanic to stop burrowed vs raising to stop things above would be a sick mechanic ... Although that would mean burrowed units could pretty much roll in under the barracks ... lol
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There is a need to have a burrowed-only mod for all three races while the players play above we watch from underneath.
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Never knew so much animation went on behind the scenes
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Russian Federation30 Posts
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Shit guys you realize this is why there is so ,much imba and death ball: blizz spent too much time on this and not enough on balance hue
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Nice to see things liek this. Well done OP
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Wery good work, I really enjoyed it! : )
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Haha nice. Funny that you discovered this.
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Did it never occur to anybody that Blizzard most likely didn't design the game this way for consistency, but simply for the convenience of it?
The units are already rendered as they're trained/built, having the engine remove one half of the unit when it's under ground would just be a silly way of wasting computing capacity whereas stuffing it away below the ground for a while (hence making it invisible) requires nothing but a simple shift of its coordinates in space. Or, as in the case with the hatchery-into-hive, have the spikes tucked away and ready until they're to be shown.
Sorry to spoil your fun but this most likely IS the result of slacking among programmers (not graphic designers though as burrowed units obviously have the same textures as unburrowed units only difference is the way they're arranged at a specific moment)
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your Country52797 Posts
What is that blue thing below the forge, I wonder?
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Wow, this is a great thread. So interesting and never really thought about it much.
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On September 05 2012 10:18 The_Templar wrote:What is that blue thing below the forge, I wonder?
It's the side of the spinning forge wheel that you can't see at the moment (and its accompanying particle effect, probably).
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Really cool and fun random SC thread
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That thing you call the rooting graphic for the creep tumor totally resembles the legs of an overlord.
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On August 17 2012 14:27 Orek wrote:Burrowed Movement + Show Spoiler +Sadly, burrowed movement has no special graphics other than rubbles. I was expecting some digging with claws. No way can floating bodies like these move inside soil. I hope ultralisk’s burrowed charge in HOTS introduce decent animation underground.
According to the campaign, Zerg units vibrate rapidly with almost every muscle in their body in order to break apart the soil, so there's nothing wrong here.
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Your post is good and you should feel good!!!:-)
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Haha I missed that one when it was posted 2 months ago, great stuff
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On October 17 2012 09:19 Antylamon wrote:Show nested quote +On August 17 2012 14:27 Orek wrote:Burrowed Movement + Show Spoiler +Sadly, burrowed movement has no special graphics other than rubbles. I was expecting some digging with claws. No way can floating bodies like these move inside soil. I hope ultralisk’s burrowed charge in HOTS introduce decent animation underground. According to the campaign, Zerg units vibrate rapidly with almost every muscle in their body in order to break apart the soil, so there's nothing wrong here.
Cool, makes sense.
Unfortunately, they named Roach burrowed movement "Tunneling claws"
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/RTljx.gif)
