The 20-minute gameplay video was a gift from on high, but they just keep piling on the awesome.
We learned earlier that individual units use Havok physics, cast realistic shadows, and react to terrain using Blizzard's custom inverse kinematics system. Also, individual units will have different animation cycles—packs of Zerglings will now dip and dive in unpredictable swarms instead of perfect harmony.
In an interview with Blizzard Insider today, Bliz's own cinematic director NIck Carpenter added some spicy details to the pot. First, individual units use normal mapping, a technique put to great use in games like Doom 3 to give models that pre-rendered look. Combined with the greater control the game's designers have over camera angle, lighting, and unit animation, Carpenter promises that the in-game cutscenes will be more cinematic and less tiresome this time around.
On the pre-rendered cinematics for which Blizzard is revered, Carpenter had this to say:
"I think the polygon count on the marine ended up being well above five million. So when we tried to render the cinematic teaser, we actually broke our renderer."
Sexy! Check out the interview here.
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