Grant Reacts: StarCraft 2 Alpha Gameplay - Terran

I stream Friday-Saturday-Sunday: / giantgrantgames
Want to be alerted when I go live? Opt-in for alerts in the GiantGrantGames Discord: / discord
You can play custom campaigns with the mod manager here!: / discord
This is my second channel for VoDs and Memes: My main channel can be found here: / giantgrantgames

[@fulguratingbean9489]

I'd love to see the Zerg and the Protoss as well! Seeing all of the unused designs is absolutely fascinating.

[@Anomen77]

Those are for when the other two stormgate races release ;P

[@ArachneInTheWeb]

@@Veetrill_UKR I'd like to see Grant go through em anyway. He's knowledgeable about the history of the series and how the units have changed and the inner workings of the units and his commentary adds a lot that I'd have missed

[@timmbonator039]

Agreed. I would also be interested in Grant‘s opinion

[@QuestionableObject]

The only other demonstration that's really up to this quality is an even older demonstration with Terrans & Protoss fighting where they were more showing off what the engine was capable of, a lot of which ended up not making it into the final game anyway. The only thing that made it through was the "physics" where debris can slide down slopes. Besides that they showed things like projectiles being time-stopped and falling to the ground and some battlecruisers getting stretched by a Mothership vortex (that one also technically made it but much toned down). They also showed an old version of the pheonix where it had the ability to shoot out a bunch of projectiles at nearby enemies before being stunned for a few seconds and the old version of the colossus which had a directed beam rather than the line sweep it has now. And the first showing of the nydus worm and baneling. All the other "showcases" are somewhat candid alpha previews with no commentary.

[@twZera413]

Another thing about this reveal is that they not only talked about the mechanics but also the fantasy of it. They named the units, explained what their attacks and abilities are, and overall painted this idea of what the faction is supposed to be in the viewer's mind. Like that isn't a big ship doing ground AoE, this is a Battlecruiser unleashing its Plasma Torpedoes on the enemy because shelling units is like half of the Terran race identity.

[@The-jy3yq]

We Earthlings are Guns and Roses- Terran though? _Guns and Guns._

[@angamaitesangahyando685]

There will be no race identity in StormGate, FGS simply lacks the artistic vision. It's all generic and bland. - Adûnâi

[@coaiemandushman1079]

@@angamaitesangahyando685 fgs?

[@draegonspawn5361]

Regarding mousing over to the viking change button. It makes more sense to mouse over, as it draws the viewers eye so they can see the ability selection.

[@lo53n]

My exact thought. He was showcasing the unit and abilities, mousing over to the icon is more clear in intention and cause of transformation than just pressing hotkey.

[@khankhomrad8855]

Specially 10 years ago when the idea of a competitive, fast paced RTS was much less popular.

[@The_Murder_Party]

@@khankhomrad8855and it probably made better games because of it

[@AlexaRobin21]

The Nova Co-op guide video also uses mouse for her abilities.

[@IdealIdeas100]

I want to see a campaign mod that uses alpha features. Could incorporate the "alpha" features of the expansion packs as well.

[@alicorn3924]

Mothership needs to be expensive af bc it can nuke the entire map afaik

[@Aministo]

Wings of Liberty: Alpha mod

[@MrParadux]

Man I remember the Motherships field that could slow projectiles. It looked so awesome in the alpha footage.

[@bendystrawz2832]

I wanna see a pvp map with _only_ bases in the corners, then bases between the corners once the corners mine out enough. Like mineral patches pop up or are unlocked or whatever, but only once the two attached corner bases total less than a certain amount. It has its surplus of problems, but it would be fun for premades :D

[@belofon8899]

Mothership bossfights could have used alpha version of wormhole (AKA insta-killing all flying units in the area with some neat physics)

[@kyledahlquist9423]

I still remember looking at the unit descriptions for the new SC2 units before the beta launched. As well as early Husky/HD Starcraft casts. I was there Gandalf, I was there 3000 years ago....

[@Norrieification]

Remember the HDH invitational with TLO ransoming his way to 2nd place vs WhiteRa? Awesome times.

[@KaiserMattTygore927]

Same, checking out new units when the site updated was so much fun back then. if only the actual game was as good I thought it could've been :/

[@KingKlear]

Remeber Pylo?

[@chelanmurdock9668]

@karsoban9150 Husky just came back too!

[@willmannn]

Anyone know what the first major tournament in SC2 was? Kinda wanna go back and watch it now

[@TheCuriousFan1]

8:26 Being able to salvage everything would be a welcome change. And on top of the sound design, the marine deaths are way bloodier too.

[@fulguratingbean9489]

Maybe not everything, but the static defenses would be a good thing to salvage. Maybe the Engineering bay and Armory too, but I'd prefer to be able to lift them off

[@tonnentonie2767]

I think its just a balance issue, not a gameplay/hotkey issue. You could just salvage a bases defense after it mines out and relocate everything else , while the other races cannot.

[@dodojesus4529]

Playing mengsk in coop ive had so much fun with salvaging my entire defense

[@gregoirebasseville4797]

About the bloodier death, it might be me but I found the viking death to be very extra as well, and I found myself looking back at a dead viking wondering if it was still alive because of how long it was moving. They probably dialed it back because 300 supply of army dying this much in a fight would be a mess

[@michaelbarnard8529]

I want to see turrets that can fly. Oh, and a siege turret.

[@weareharbinger914]

"I wish an RTS came out like this!" It did, its called Supreme Commander, you build the giant Experimental tier units directly on the battlefield.

[@thundersoul6795]

I get the feeling Grant doesn't like it, considering I'm pretty sure I haven't heard it mentioned once and all the comments about it go by seemingly unnoticed.

[@unexpected2475]

Yeah he played it on stream a couple years ago and was seemingly unimpressed. Then again chat was backseat driving a lot which he was very frustrated with in general that year.

[@Wraithfighter]

The thing about this showcase is that its explicitly about showing off one unit at a time, this is why the unit is flippin’ awesome… and occasionally what counters it. Its really a matter of showing off hard counters, because hard counters end with lots of things exploding. Lets face it, even though these were two units that existed in SC1, the line of Siege Tanks blowing the crap out of the army of Marines made for an image that justified the upgrade from Starcraft 1. That’s what the Stormgate gameplay video didn’t really get. Its that sizzle, meat might taste great but no one will buy it without that sizzle.

[@The-jy3yq]

I think "Terran Up The Night" really encapsulates this feeling Bloody metal, siege tank shot-like drums, vocals in style of Dio - all of that works out to create this "hell yeah" expression on your face and imprints the "cool" aspect of Terran in your mind "Don't want no Zeus, I want my Thoooooooooooooooooooooooooooor!"

[@SittingOnEdgeman]

The other thing is: This worked so effectively because we knew who the Terrans were. We knew their story (even if chunks of it did get ambiguously retconned over the years). They didn't have to explain the faction mechanics, and were able to presume a baseline knowledge of viewers for the most part. It also worked because they had a starting point to grow and evolve from. Terran was among the most showcased because a lot of the ideas evolved almost naturally out of continuing unfinished thoughts from SC1 terran. Buildings can land and fly. What if units could land and fly? Viking. People love the mobility of drop play. How else can we add mobility to the faction? Reaper and Diamondback. People love the positional play of the siege tank. How else can we add positional play to the faction? Thor. People love the informational play of Scanner Sweep. How else can we add informational play to the faction? Sensor tower.

[@tristantully1592]

Thanks, it seems most folks and Grant don't understand how comparing a sequel's Alpha footage is not a good comparison to a new IP's Prealpha footage.

[@The-jy3yq]

Zerg and Protoss have a big chonk on land while Terran don't? _Thor._ Wraiths' garbage? _Banshees._ -hopeyoubroughtyoursunscreencowboy- All ground defence costing supply? PFs.

[@bass-dc9175]

People liked blocking ramps with Depots and lifing barraks to let Units through. How can we implement that? Depot submerge Dropships and medics were often used in tandom. Medics. Etc etc

[@sevenpolar3483]

but we never got explained what the new StormGate race does, we don't know their story, what their faction mechanics are ect.

[@iwishforducks]

This is a ridiculous argument because it showed off buildings flying and landing right off the bat. They explained the faction mechanics in this video pretty damn well. Stormgate didn't showcase any such faction mechanic.

[@MythrilZenith]

I'm always fascinated by the alpha designs because it was clearly the unit designers thinking "What's the coolest thing we can throw at the wall and make stick?" And then balancing after. It kind of feels like over time, across the expansions and now into Stormgate the overwhelming design leading is "Everything needs to be balanced, we need to highlight nuance in strategy not blatantly overpowered designs." Which probably will end up making a more interactive and deep strategy game but also just misses the punch that can attract a wide audience. The future bronze leaguers of America don't want to learn about some units can move in a forest and some can't. They want to see a tank that can shoot 5 screens away and blow up everything in one shot.

[@TrajkovRaven]

As a future bronze leaguer, I support this message.

[@neillathotep7386]

18:50 Hovering units do take splash damage from spider mines, they just won't activate mines. I remembered putting mines near zerg expansions; drones don't trigger mines, but larvae do, and the splash damage can often kill drones near the mineral line anyway.

[@zaxtonhong3958]

13:09 “The Viking is armed with 2 powerful missiles” *proceeds to fire like 6 missiles

[@SittingOnEdgeman]

I think this does show Stormgate's problem: the fact that it was made to look like a real game meant people weren't made aware of factional differences, and were focused on the gameplay and combat rather than the strategy and "cool factor" that could be garnered out of the factional differences.

[@rondowar]

yeah, it felt more like a trailer focused on people that enjoy esports/rts pvp I absolutely adore the campaign and coop in SC2, and never enjoyed pvp (still have 100s of hours in SC2 though), and for me the trailer was a bit.. pointless I guess didn't show anything I care about, except that the game is less and less likely to get its development cancelled whether I'll even play the game, depends on the singleplayer and pve coop experience tbh, a good story/setting can carry most games

[@chesterjames70]

Looking forward to seeing your reactions to the other 2 alpha races of starcraft 2. Thanks for your commentary as it always makes me smile and/or laugh.

[@trashpandapaladin8989]

Behold, my ultimate attack: THE CUTSCENE!

[@duskironhoof7119]

For the Viking landing: the button had to be pressed in such a manner to avoid some people thinking that Vikings, lacking areal targets, would land automatically.

[@shadowpriest2574]

Doubt it. They were clicking every ability.

[@duskironhoof7119]

@@shadowpriest2574 Well, ya - they needed to show that every ability does stuff when button pressed. No dev wants the audience to just assume something happens automatically when it is a special unit function that needs to be activated.

[@shadowpriest2574]

@@duskironhoof7119 But why would they assume that?

[@duskironhoof7119]

​@@shadowpriest2574 Misconstructions happen a lot.

[@QuestionableObject]

I'm especially mad about the scrapped plans for the zerg (which are much harder to find info on because the zerg got very few public showcases)

[@QuestionableObject]

@@VeryPeeved The Queen was going to be a unique unit that got stronger as the hive grew with abilities to help defend the hive and support other zerg units as a kind of commander hero unit, creep was also going to be more of a defensive rather than offensive mechanic, being spread by hives & creep colonies rather than creep tumors and letting the queen deeptunnel between creeped terrain so she can quickly respond to threats. Infesters were also going to live up to their namesake more, infesting structures to disable them and spawning infested terrans from those infested structures (rather than having an unlimited supply of infested terrans just stored in their ass-sack).

[@Photoloss]

@@VeryPeeved Most of SC2 zerg feels like someone drowned the original in toilet humour. More gross than scary.

[@QuestionableObject]

@@VeryPeeved Yeah but still with buffs to units standing on it, making it more of a defensive tool than something you paint the whole damn map with.

[@Photoloss]

@@VeryPeeved Less of a hacksaw and more of a bargain bin of C&C, SupCom, DoW and whatever else they took "cool ideas" from. Zerg were the last to be worked on so either they really were that bare-bones compared to the others or at least we never got to see the goofy OP stuff. I mean there are remnants of an actual controllable nydus worm unit "swimming" through the ground but that's still virtually nothing compared to the known development history of the Sentry.

[@QuestionableObject]

@@Photoloss Yeah Terran & Protoss were being worked on more than Zerg, by time they would have focused on fleshing them out to the same degree as the other two factions the development of the game got functionally scrapped and started from scratch to conform to a "competitive friendly" format of faction design since esports was where they saw the money.

[@crabroll1681]

GGG reacts? Never thought I would see the day.

[@nodcommanderthe5823]

It is interesting to see the obvious cross inspirations between this pre-alpha, and 2007's Supreme Commander with the Thor and the Mothership being epic units just like SupCom's Experimental tier units which also was built by workers on the battlefield as opposed to exiting some kind of factory building. Another which I thought of while watching the Viking is the likeness of it and Red Alert 3's Japan faction who has the VX and Tengu that builds as a ground unit and has a flying form, as well as the Skywing/Seawing which builds as a watercraft and can transform into a flying unit. --- While the models are definitely lower quality here, I do really miss the more "brutal" art direction of these Terrans, which reminds me more of their original StarCraft design, as opposed to the very polished looking version of thr Terrans we got in the release of StarCraft II. P.S I would definitely enjoy seeing your take on the other pre-alpha footages as well.

[@Znwarp]

Han and Horner should have a “salvage everything” option for flavour imo

[@JaxonHaze1994]

Thor used the Odin model lol, I was interested to see how things retained their formations and spacing relative to each other as they moved

[@blacklight2488]

it feels like "Halo Wars First Look E3 2007". It has that feeling

[@fleurdemur]

More, please! GGG reaction videos are some of my favorite content you put out.

[@restisant]

Hovering units also accelerated and deccelerated like flying units too! Hence the vulture patrol micro. They kept their acceleration on patrol for some reason but not on attack move.

[@TonyTorius]

I remember seeing these videos in 2008 to 2009 when StarCraft 2 was in development. Ghosts had Drop-pods that deploy platoons of marines, Battlecruisers had the option to be upgraded with Yamato Cannon or Plasma Barrage, Phoenixes had the Overload ability that was devastating to enemy air forces like Mutalisks but it would disable the Protoss space fighter for a short time, Sensor Tower had the detection ability (if I recall) but could be upgraded into Radar Tower for monitoring enemy forces around your base. Also, Thors were built by SCVs during the Pre-Alpha and Reapers were trained in the Merc Haven. Bashee had male pilots in the portrait HUD instead of a female pilot on today (I recall it from the early gameplays before the release of Wings of Liberty). Yeah, I'm interested to see the Protoss and the Zerg preview from the early version of StarCraft 2.

[@GHouseDuivel]

I think you might wanna suggest Stormgate guys to use this style of video, for their up coming showcases. Also yeah bring the other Pre-release SC videos on.

[@Mahons]

Without having watched the entire video I will say that a major difference between Stormgate and SC 2 alpha is that with SC 2 we already knew the races so it is more a show case of the differences between SC1 and SC2. Whereas with Stormgate it felt more like they are trying to give a much more quick look into how a match of the game would be like.

[@Photoloss]

Except Stormgate didn't really show any basic faction identity stuff either. Unless that faction's identity literally is "we are boring and do _nothing_ special". Without identity, finalised balance or innovative gimmicks a "quick look into a match" is just a generic snoozefest.

[@zombiezom2879]

10:50 China and the US had mechanics like that in Generals that were very fun. Specializing your already superheavy tanks was super cool, and putting predator drones on random scout vehicles was hilarious.

[@liasprings6502]

What I'm mostly noticing here is the pathfinding, everyone stays in formation for short distances but lose formation when moving somewhere far away.

[@Patrick-ng1vg]

This is so nostalgic. I remember being around 10 and trying everything i could to see videos of my new favourite PC game at the time and it blowing my mind

[@AbdielKavash]

See, now this is great "pre-alpha" footage. Even if we know that all the art, units, balance, etc. is not final and subject to change, we can already see a bunch of basic principles that will likely make it to the final game: Units seem to be designed with major strengths and weaknesses, it is strategically important to bring the right counter to your enemy. Many units have individually activated abilities that you will be using in combat, which rewards micro. And the Terran faction is really focusing on the whole adaptability/reconfigurability aspect, with the addon system, transforming vehicles, selective upgrades, and so on. Even if we put aside all the "pre-alpha, early footage, subject to change" things, this still tells me more about the game, and makes me a lot more excited for it, than "I'm going to defeat my enemy by building units and microing them".

[@nerdyspinosaurid]

I'm like "oh how cool the Cobra has attacks that actually look like they might be railguns!" and then Grant immediately says he finds the nonsense glowy projectile of the Diamondback cooler

[@ko71k52]

Damn, hope this StarCraft 2 game will be cool, maybe you can do some challenge runs in its campaign if it will have one or something, I dunno

[@T3rm1n470r]

Yes, I would love to see you go over the other factions! I find this kind of analysis of not just the game, but also the marketing strategy, if you will, fascinating.

[@zswords]

15:21 Talking about the demonstrator manually clicking the viking transform: I believe this is a fairly intentional choice to show it on the command card and that it is something you do manually. I remember as a bab AoE2 player, Trebs were really hard for me to use because I didn't understand how to repack them was a button I had to press/an ability I had to use. It's a pretty common design choice among blizzard RTSes, sure, but a showcase like this is meant to draw/appeal to the adjacent crowd a bit, and that's something that like, Red Alert and AoE barely did.

[@az-kalaak6215]

Hi grant! the salvage part did actually make it into the campaign... as dialogs! in the supernova mission, you are told to salvage everything you cannot fly to the next emplacement, however there is no salvage button :) (at least, in the french version)

[@brother54784]

Damage on unit cards was shown like in SC1, in different parts, not whole unit becomes yellow-red )

[@MarioAdNoman]

24:00 you queue thors to lock enemies into a permanent cutscene

[@emsouemsou]

Regarding the upgrades: in SC1, most spellcasters started out with just 1 spell unlocked while the Ghost, HT and Arbiter started out with 0. Many units also had upgrades for move speed, attack range and sight range. Compare to Legacy of the Void where only the Ghost, Infestor and High Templar each have 1 of their 3 spells locked behind research, and all other spells are available from the start. Aside from energy upgrades, most unit upgrades are unique to the unit and form a core part of their identity. You can see how this made SC2 both easier to learn and faster to play.

[@lucifersatan8240]

Terrans salvaging everything and being able to entirely relocate everything is a great idea.

[@maximk9964]

I played SC2 when it came out and recently after 10+ years worth of changes (so glad you don't have to research 'siege' anymore) and so much of this was hilarious with hindsight

[@mickad150]

I'd love to see protoss and zerg. On Stromgate we saw basically marines and basically Goliath's with a dash, I never went "that's awesome" I went "so bio is back" The coolest thing I saw was the dog had a slow on target that it hit and I thought "oh you keep it out of the fight untill all units are already attacking then move in" and that wasn't a highlight either it was just a side thing I noticed and thought was neat. They should have done more of that and less ladder game, cuz the only thing other than the dogs were "oh mech is really bad.

[@michakrupa2465]

I'd love to see you reacting to more. And don't worry about extending the video too much with talking. A commentary settled in a good context is far more enjoyable than staring and gasping so you're fine

[@shadowguy321]

I bet the mission on Typhon in WoL was made before the salvage mechanic was scrapped. As Matt tells the player to lift everything and salvage the rest. The only thing you can salvage is the bunker so i imagine the lines had been recorded and the mission designed. Then the salvage option was eliminated near end production

[@Jeff_the_Hobo]

re: Drop Pod supply At the beginning of the Ghost segment, you can see three "Complete: Arm Silo with Drop Pod" notifications, which I would presume the charges are a similar "unit" to the nuke, costing supply

[@Destromathor]

You hit on a really interesting point there with the differences in presentation styles: When watching the Stormgate gameplay I didn't feel inspired to try these things for myself because I was watching two pros discuss their strategies - and I (as a campaign/skirmish player) immediately switched to my passive "watching a tournament" mode which was okay but didn't want me to actually play the game. I was judging it based on watchability rather than playability.

[@philipmorse-fortier5499]

I know I'm late to the party, but this was really neat and I would like to see the other two. I think that mousing over the buttons for abilities is a good idea in these kinds of videos because it gives more info and displays what is happening better for casual players.

[@Sonar009]

19:00 In addition to being immune to spider mines, the hovering trait (which I think was effectively also possessed by all air units) is what determined whether a unit needed to build up momentum to reach its full speed, which did a lot to affect how different things can be microed - probably the most notable of these were shuttles, carriers, drop ships, and vultures. Still weirdly irrelevant for the magnetic mines, but oh well.

[@michaelzautner4848]

So, I think what this does so much better than the Storm Gate showcase is... well, actually showcase stuff, to put it bluntly. In this we learned about what the new units were, what they were good at, what changes were made to old units, got a general vibe for the faction in question. In the Storm Gate demo we learned that... umm.. you're going to be building bases and units in an RTS, that there is at least one unit that is likely cheap, and another unit that is more expensive and stronger, and a few other units of totally unknown qualities. And we learned that trees can't be walked through unless it's the special tree zone and your small, or you're big and bash through it with an ability. 90% of the Storm Gate showcase was getting to see some visuals (Which are far from final polished, so don't really do much) and confirming that the game was going to, in fact, be an RTS. There was nothing in the showcase that really told us what made Storm Gate specifically good or cool or why we should be playing it over Warcraft 1. There was nothing about the faction and what it tried to do, what fantasy is playing it trying to sell? What do the units do besides shoot at enemies? I think a good example is that the heavy units that were produced as a counter had a dash ability that was used against some enemy infantry, but.... did that do damage? Is there a reason that a ranged unit would want to be in so close with enemy ranged units that seemed to have similar range? Or was that just to show off the fact that they could dash? That fact was shown better when they were shown retreating through the tree line. TLDR, Starcraft showcase showcased units, abilities, and possibilities. Storm Gate showcase showcased that they're making an RTS.

[@Photoloss]

Well Warcraft 1 is a janky piece of shite by modern standards so the UI and responsiveness shown by Stormgate already makes it the better choice. Not so clear with SC2 though, and I have yet to see anything that's not somewhat easy to replicate within the SC2 editor.

[@Goldenfish300]

This got me kind of excited for a game i've been playing for about 13 years Some interesting ideas here that could be used in a mod/custom campaign

[@Arthutstut641]

2000s StarCraft developers: "Jokes on you, man with gun is the best unit."

[@Yeest540]

I think the Viking portrait was just the Adjutant portrait because the Viking wasn't ready. The Banshee also had the Adjutant portrait.

[@JimRaynorRaider]

Makes me wonder, was there any alpha or later builds of sc1? I remember the warcraft in space screen shot but was there any video footage of it? I also remember the screenshots of the scrapped ship, how air units were to fly around and attacking like the carrier attacks and special effects like firebat making trees catch on fire if they were too close to a tree

[@DarkQuill]

Yes, please do the Protoss and Zerg ones too. I remember watching them over and over as well.

[@denarte6986]

As soon as you said faction identity i immediately understood what was missing from storm gate. I think they’re not even sure about that yet

[@FullMetalSnorlax]

Please watch the other 2 races introductions! I've been itching to rewatch these and the commentary is a really nice bonus.

[@Kroepoek82]

This video got me hyped up so much I wanted the game right that instant. This video sold the game to me. All the hyping of Husky as well, but this did it for real.

[@Truck_Kun_Driver]

"No Marines were harmed in the making of this video"

[@raythe9264]

Starcraft alpha footage displayed starcraft concepts and assets. Would modern Blizzard do this? not really. Stormgate alpha: Look guys, look how much we care about hardcore PvP, despite it being a much smaller sector of the market!

[@GurniHallek]

28:38 oh, ain't that the "SIMULTANIOUS DEVASTATING DEFENSIVE DEEP STRIKES"?

[@jonthanjulian4312]

Thanks Grant for showing this blast from the past

[@BeeWaifu]

Ah, you found them. I couldn't find these old videos. I wanted to find the old campaign footage where the employees shoulderbash Jim because they hadn't been paid yet, and I can't find them.

[@spacewalrus9350]

Fun fact, in the german translation the diamondback is still called cobra. I knew that name sounded familiar...

[@Weigazod]

You know there seems to be this theme of Starcraft 2 alpha where they have big, huge clunky epic units that are huge resource dump that are effective in some ways but will fall short against certain counter units. I would say this creative decision was somehow inspired by some of the video games before SC2 such as C&C 3 and Supreme Commander.

[@evanbasnaw]

Grant: Look, I'm 4k now! Next video: 720p Here we go!

[@nangld]

Throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks is a common R&D approach. You basically explore the space of solutions. So you have this general idea what a space marine could do, and you have a huge team of devs, so you organize development allowing each programmer to implement separate feature. Then you test them together, balance and remove the stuff which doesn't fit in with your idea of how game should feel.

[@lotlapecera2297]

Damn i was waiting for grant to (or searching in the comments for someone) point up the fact that you can see how the units get damage in the old SC1 way (differents part of the body gets in different color from Green, Yellow, Red)

[@inductivegrunt94]

This is pretty cool. Now I want to see WOL, HOTS, and LOTV but with only the alpha build for players and enemies.

[@jand.4737]

4:21 it was a very good way of creating interesting and somewhat functioning games back when companies still did all their playtesting internally. Now with Early access and other forms of public playtesting, people only get mad when something from an Early Access or Public Alpha or whatever gets removed or otherwise nerfed.

[@OldSpaghettifactory89]

the lore implications that vikings are being piloted by adjutants

[@abyss3424]

There should totally be a Custom Campaign mod that makes the Campaign like these early Alpha versions of StarCraft 2!

[@bass-dc9175]

I think a good way to make more bases viable would be: Buffing static deffense. And to prevent that being cheesable: make the buffs an upgrade from T3. Examples: Terran. Heavy Weapon overhaul. Increases the damage dealt from Planetary Fortresses and Rocket Turrets, aswell as granting +2 Armor to each. Requires a Fusion Core. Zerg. Crawler Glands. Increases the Health, Health regeneration and attackspeed of Spinecrawlers and Sporecrawlers. Requires a Hive. Protoss. Static Crystal Alignment. Increases the Shield and Shield Regeneration of structures near a Nexus. Also increases Attack range and Damage of Canons near a Nexus. Requires Templar Archive.

[@Beardedlizzy]

Watching this I'm thinking: "Wow, there were a ton of cool ideas in this showcase that make me excited for this game to release." But now, knowing the future, I'm like: "But very few of those cool ideas actually made it into the game we got to play." The Stormgate gameplay demo showcased very few cool ideas like the ones we saw in this video, but hopefully, most of those cool things will actually end up making it into the game this time.

[@Toxicflu]

If everything is overpowered, then everything is frustrating for the opponent. The key is in the balance. Knowing it's Catz and Scarlett on balance, ZeroSpace will be nutty, chaotic, and creative. I can't wait!

[@FroggBoy1]

Never realized the Odin was just a really big Thor with the alpha skin, huh

[@Seagull512]

Gods, can you imagine terrans building like 15 Thors at once

[@Leo.V]

Big Difference that I feel like shouldn't be forgotten is that this is a sequel for an already well known franchise behind an established company. The really important thing is that this is essentially a upgrade for the already existing SC1, you can even see the buildings and units looking more like SC1 than what it is now, while Stormgate is a game made from the ground up while SC2 had the luxury of an already existimg game. If it weren't for the over 20 years period between SC1 and Stormgate I feel like that would be a more fair comparison, while also we shouldn't forget that yes Stormgate also has a luxury of having all these past games and looking them objectively of what works and what not.

[@RDG99]

23:24 "I wish an RTS game came out like this" after seeing a huge unit being built. Well there is an RTS game with that kind of unit. Command & Conquer 3's Kane's Wrath expansion. Each faction has access to an "Epic Unit" that needs a special building in order to be built.

[@lixnix2018]

I love watching it every time (watched the pre alpha video like 5-8 times I want the bcs from pre alpha)

[@ukon2062]

Now about individually upgraded units, it just remind me about general and dawn of war. And I feel so bad that both game didn't have a proper sequal implement in their series.

[@RickySama240]

DEFINITELY Interested to see you react to the Protoss and Zerg Alpha videos Grant! 😮😉

[@kabob0077]

24:23 Imagine in a 2v2 or something every player has to watch the cutscene.

[@Stublet]

Being able to salvage everything is very on theme with flying buildings and that 'Mobile life style' of the terrans, but I agree, accidently salvaging your entire production set that's hot keyed would be tragic.

[@LadyGameshine]

I honestly would love to see Zerg and Protoss. I havent played Starcraft, but the Zerg are honestly my favorite. And the real scale heart of the swarm campaign really solidified that for me, lol

[@bendystrawz2832]

Man, I would love to see custom upgrades for top tier units like battlecruisers and Thors. Imagine: expensive, but repairable battlecruiser. First individual upgrade (likely Yamato canon) is like 50/50 or 75/75 or whatever. The second upgrade is 150/150, and so on. And you can choose each time: first upgrade is either Yamato, Missile Pods, or Defense Matrix. Then the second upgrade is one of the remaining two. Until you have a flagship. That would be awesome, but super broken. Forget that, add the plasma array and give me an arcade game like The Lost Viking, but one of these battlecruisers on a planet surface! Give the Lone BC a flight deck (upgradeable with an internal reactor for double rebuild), some shielding, maybe a nuke or droppable garrison and we've got ourselves a game! :D

[@hesperosshamshael2873]

The ultimate power of Alpha Thors was that your enemy physically couldn't respond to the bombardment.

[@lawrencel6516]

I know it would have felt clunky but I miss the Thor they showed here. I like having big, meaty units that turn slowly but hit hard.

[@phunkym8]

not really related but i think the grid hotkey system is the most important thing that came with sc2. i never played starcraft until the sc2 announcement, at which point i got super engaged. i knew of it and that koreans were crazy about it but i stuck with command and conquer until then. eventually found moletrap and hdstarcraft and caught up on a decade of brood war esports. trying brood war i never got comfortable with those super spread out hotkeys like p for patrol and m for buildings and when the sc2 beta finally came out i tried grid and everything made sense without even a learning phase.

[@spike333s3]

2:12 Start 10:27 Battlecruiser 13:07 Viking 15:40 Tank 16:03 Banshee 17:43 Turret 18:03 Reaper 19:22 Fortress 22:32 Thor 24:36 Diamondback 26:38 Ghost 30:22 Summary I am looking forward to see Protoss vs Zerg Alpha gameplay.

[@whisped8145]

What immediately stings into my eye - positively - is that this pre-alpha looks way more colourful and the units look way more distinct; the engine exhaust glow from the SCVs and the Reapers helping especially. The final SC2 just looked drab, dark, grey and lots of units way to similar, especially against the similarly coloured background to me. I don't know why they made that change, because it went completely against RTS basic visual design, which SC1 especially emphasized and almost coined.

[@ZebbysGameRoom]

I watched this video like 1000 Times back in the day. My comment on the Storrmgate trailer thingy was about how I felt the video felt to phone game ad trailer like oh no... he did this.. what will i do? compared to the how this is done.

[@m.b.7560]

"should terrans be able to salvage everything" YES. Make them 100% nomadic

[@Ostvalt]

Damn. I want to start playing StarCraft again. This video was so cool.

[@dragojess]

The Fleshy Mechanical Hover SCV LOL

[@elikorn8777]

Legit would play an alpha mod. I love all of this and how bad/op everything is

[@BlazingGlaceon]

You know, I actually wasn't around for the pre-alpha stuff. The game had already been out for a year when I finally got to play it, and when I was in high school (I graduated in 2012) I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to game trailers and stuff. Whatever I managed to see on TV ads was pretty much it lol, so I've never seen any of this. I'd definitely be interested in seeing the other races' videos from your perspective, 'cause I find anything done from your scope way more interesting than just watching the videos on their own. You're super knowledgeable about all this stuff, and I dunno, I just find all the facts and banter fascinating.

[@notinthemoodfornames8033]

On a sc2 terran vs stormgate human comparison: SC2's showcase here is really interesting and full of terran identity. Marines feel like what you expect but siege tanks seem really powerful as they clear huge waves of enemy marines. BCs with unique weapon upgrades seem so cool and interesting and full of gameplay potentials. The sensor tower and radar tower also both seem interesting, and so are the techlab with its upgrades and stuff. Stormgate by comparison showed like ... nothing? Generic marines too. The dog was kinda interesting as a scout but nothing out of the ordinary in terms of what it does. The bio vs mech comparison was also extremely in favor of the bio, as stormgate's projectile (rather than sc2 hitscan) siege tank was hitting basically jack shit, and the big mech guys did low damage and had no interesting ability. It has a dash which it used to clear some freaking trees... Like, they chose to make the bio player win, but for a scifi human faction, mech is cooler than foot soldiers, and their foot soldiers were literally just foot soldiers, rather than say ghosts or reapers like unique units. They showed no interesting ability and didn't even have something like stim. They could go into air transports which is like one of the first blind assumptions you'd have about them. This is just so boring. I want to see fancy mech units or at least some specialist bio, not just a wave of foot soldiers rushing down an unprepared opponent. Jesus christ looking at this video just makes me want to play more SC2...

[@hedizaoui609]

I expected to be able to salvage a lot more things during the campaign tbh, it just makes sense at least as Raynor's faction to be this army that just recycles anything they can get their hands on. IDK about PvP but I think it could've enabled the Terran campaign to be a lot more versatile, having more things like the mission (sorry can't remember it's name) where there's a massive wall of fire coming for you and you have to move your base, it'd have been pretty cool if there were more "we have no chance when comparing our military forces and resources so we're gonna have to move around and guerilla the enemy" missions IMO. I don't think the audio sounds "worse" per se I think they went for a more gritty damaged radio effect for the terran at first and then dropped the idea (which is good because hearing the krsssshhk of a radio 50 000times in a game would get really annoying i think)

[@calebz4265]

I would take more episodes of “what ever this was.”

[@pomaster]

I still have those alpha vids on my hdd and funny thing is, i watched them about 2-3 months ago having the same feeling of « i wanna play that!! » even if im playing sc2 since wol launch in 2008, so YEAH please cover the other races as well!!