Blizzard adding in Gameheart to StarCraft II and WCS!

by JR Cook - 10 years ago     show comments

Blizzard released a blog today detailing their project with Ryan (creator of Gameheart) to add many of the features of the Gameheart interface into the game. For those who may not be familiar with Gameheart, it’s a 3rd party project that was created to enhance the viewer experience for both casters and spectators allowing for more details to be seen in game, lessen chances of critical moments being missed, and allowing greater exposure of teams and their sponsors. Gameheart also was crowd funded last year to help redesign it as well.

The Gameheart project is looking to be added in pieces into StarCraft II, with some being added into the extension mod feature (released with 2.1), some into the game itself, and others as an observer mod (which can all be used in conjunction with each other).  The blog post over at Blizzard’s site details some of what’s to come in the PTR for 2.1.4, with Ryan stating on r/starcraft that he will be releasing a blog over at TeamLiquid later detailing his time at Blizzard and some of the more technical details of the Gameheart project and it’s features.

Extension Mod

For those unfamiliar with the extension mod portion of StarCraft II (which was added in 2.1 in January), it is basically an option you can select for any melee map to have different rules other than the standard melee rules. Want Big Game Hunter style gameplay where each base has nearly unlimited minerals? Turn it on for any map and have at it! You can read more details about extension mods at Blizzard’s site.

The Extension Mod portion of the project will include:

• Production Overlays (allowing at a glance notification of what is being produced at a building)
• Upgrade Notifications (these pop up on screen and notify when an upgrade is close to being completed)
• Workers Killed Notification (so you know how much damage that baneling bust really did!)
• Map Notifications (No more searching for where that nuke is going off!)

In-game Features

• Stronger Team Colors (allows for greater visibility of units and buildings)
• Team Colored Effects (allows you to see if that scan was from your Terran teammate or your opponents)
• Logo Support (showing logos in game, to allow greater exposure to teams and their sponsors)

WCS 2.0 Interface Mod

This is the user interface for observers and is best used in conjunction with the Extension Mod. This allows for a huge view of the action on screen and a score screen available on the bottom showing who is playing, current minerals, current production and supply.

So make sure to check out the blog for the full details!