Player's colour schemes on units

[LimaBeanMage]

Well, it is inevitable that unit/building color design is up for changes but how far will it go? I was sort of annoyed by Terran's new loud color designs but I could manage. All the units seem to have more color and it is all of it is a bit brighter. I like the zealot's new multi-color psi blades, it rocks. The new color system seemed to spice things up... but then they decided to touch my pylons....

I think it adds a good bit of diversity to the game but it might cause too much diversity at times. When I see a PvP battle I expect to see Protoss versus Protoss, not Red P vs. Blue P. They are the same race and have the same foundations in technology as well and should show it I think.

I also think that this can actually take away from the game play. Starcraft was always the gritty looking RTS in Blizzard's series. Opposing units looked the same except for some minor yet obvious enough color differences to make them stand apart. Starcraft 2 actually appears to be too colorful to allow the same sense of realism and intricacy. It seems fair for units to have different paint jobs but it starts to become awkward when power sources if not energy itself starts to have a personalized color.

[Ghost]

Screw reality, i mean, if it was based on reality there would not be such a thing as imba as they would not be considered balance and imbalance but advantages and disadvantages.. I like the idea and I hope the keep it, however the only thing I am annoyed by is the terrain colours, in on of the lead vids they looked too bright.

[FlyingTiger]

yea i agree with screwing reality. Games wouldn't be fun if it had reality because reality has like no creativity.

Terran colors should be as dark and dirty as possible, but I also think that the Protoss should be as bright as possible, and the zerg being as gruesome looking and bloody as possible. But that's my opinion ^_^.

[Dreadnought]

Um... So if we were attacking each other with 20 zealots how would u tell the difference unless something stood out. This is a game and to make it easier to micro each unit needs to be easy to identify.

[Ghost]

^ Well said.

[FlyingTiger]

Not to be off topic, but Dreadnought, your avatar is sooo fun to watch haha

...and well said too ^_^

[Dreadnought]

Id also like to say that the golden zealots makes the protoss look rich (which im sure they are) I dont think they will have pink as a color (the red pylons do look a lil pink though) But perhaps if they just made their armor differently colored and not the energy that would be better.

[Fenix]

OMG Zealots with gray blades would look awesome.

[for-glory]

Grey would be amazing. I like you're idea flying tiger. Like have race specific colours....protoss rich and pimping ...terran dirty and dark and zerg would have to have the mike tyson of colours

[Fenix]

zerg would have to have the mike tyson of colours


Ear-biting?

[for-glory]

was slightly afraid you would say mentally retarded...

[Nikzad]

no, they'd sing the monster mash on ESPN terribly and make you want to shoot yourself...its a new ability for the new zerg caster unit they have yet to reveal

[generalrievous]

no, they'd sing the monster mash on ESPN terribly and make you want to shoot yourself...its a new ability for the new zerg caster unit they have yet to reveal

lol, like it!

[LimaBeanMage]

Um... So if we were attacking each other with 20 zealots how would u tell the difference unless something stood out. This is a game and to make it easier to micro each unit needs to be easy to identify.


You could tell them apart in the original starcraft, or at least I could apparently. Simple color designs are good, they helped people micro and identified players. But a good number of units and buildings in SC2 looks as if they were assaulted by a stimmed marine carrying paint buckets. That is actually part of the problem for Terran that so many people point out. In certain light they appear to be almost neon and drenched in color giving them a "more than starcraft" cartoonish or toy like look about them.

And what is all this "screw reality" sentiment about? I meant similar to reality as the original starcraft was, not real reality.

[kingsky123]

too japanese cartoonish i think i get what you mean

[FlyingTiger]

but is the psi blades suppose to be blue... who really said the psi blades after be blue? The non-reality is, its all about the creatively, they are making psi blades their own colors... colors that represent their tribes.

[Ych9]

At first when I saw the Orange Zealots and Pylons, I had a big WTF too. LOL. But the look actually grew on me. I think those colours would really distingush which unit is which and during a large clash of battle, you can micro a lot easier.

[mc2]

Currently Blizzard is only intending to have a max of 8 players per map. They "might" consider changing this by adding more than 8.

So let's just say there are 8 players max. The colours will most likely be the same as the ones in SC1. red, blue, orange, yellow, white, brown, teal, purple.

So we probably won't be seeing pink or grey, etc.

And I would also like to see in single player campaigns, Gold or Silver for the player. :P

[paragon]

you forgot green which is in a screenshot and was in brood wars

[mc2]

Green is kind of similar to teal. I never liked teal anyway, so it's a good thing that they are replacing teal with green.

[kehmdaddy]

Blizzard is definitely going overboard with this coloring scheme of theirs... even if it may help one micro their units a bit easier (although I personally don't think it would make any sort of difference), it is not worth going against the good old fashioned Starcraft we're used to. Keep the pylons and psi-energy blue, please.

[Ghost]

Red vs Blue toss is gonna be like jedi war lol. Dark side vs Light Side.

[Nikzad]

or green or purple instead of blue ^^

[for-glory]

I think the colours are done well and as long as they keep that protoss colour scheme (like how protoss is always bright and shiny...they all must ADD like no other) it will look good and wont detract from the awesomeness or make it harder to play the game.

[Fenix]

So we probably won't be seeing pink or grey, etc.


I know this isn't Warcraft in space, it's much more sophisticated, but in WarIII, they had grey, and I don't see why they wouldn't now. It's a totally awesome color for warriors to be.

[LimaBeanMage]

I seriously doubt that this will make microing that much easier. It was easy enough to micro with the old color scheme, the pros are a good enough example of that. The new color additions to the psi-blades, pylons, and most of Terran might be decent if we had a different perspective to look from. I would like to see how they would look with the brightness turned down or neon effect lessened.

[overmind]

im impartial about the toss colors i have to see more colors first

[UchihaItachi0129]

lol when i first saw this thread name i thought you guys would be talking about skittles >< make your thread names more clear please. and i agree the pylons are horrible looking now. tanks too ><. eh i liked the color how it was in sc1 that way your allied partners could tell their splash units not too get too close to your units. if they had the same colors then you'd have to check the minimap or click on each individual one. both are way more complicated than just looking at what's on the screen

[mc2]

A player might get grey mixed up with white. I personally find white a better colour than grey, so let's hope they keep it white.

Ok, Uchiha, I'll change the title.

[thrif]

I can't complain, but I liked the old color schemes better as well. They're meant to distinct the tribes from each other, not using different kind of psi. :o

[capthavic]

Currently Blizzard is only intending to have a max of 8 players per map. They "might" consider changing this by adding more than 8.

So let's just say there are 8 players max. The colours will most likely be the same as the ones in SC1. red, blue, orange, yellow, white, brown, teal, purple.

So we probably won't be seeing pink or grey, etc.

And I would also like to see in single player campaigns, Gold or Silver for the player. :P


Just because the max players is eight, it doesn't mean they can't have more than eight colors to choose from.

Presonally I kinda like the different colors and don't see what the big deal is. They will most likely still be blue in the SP campaign. And if you don't like the look of the new colors then just choose blue when you are playing MP or skirmish.

[LimaBeanMage]

I can't complain, but I liked the old color schemes better as well. They're meant to distinct the tribes from each other, not using different kind of psi. :o


I agree, there is a point at which personalization can be taken too far. The foundations of a race, in this case psi and pylons as an energy source, should not really be altered to match the multi-player flare.

[ArchLimit]

I had already posted elsewhere regarding the color schemes, and I'm backing up those who agree that it isn't that big of a deal. In fact, I kind of found it to be a pretty creative way of going at it. I mean, honestly, when you're playing a multiplayer game, it becomes about the challenge between people and what not, and I don't see a strong need to preserve the "narrative consistency" with the Starcraft universe during such a match. And, as someone else mentioned earlier, I'm sure that the Psi colors will be consistently defaulted to blue during SP, which is the only place the accuracy of psi color would matter in my opinion.

[Lemonparty]

I'd totally be a pink Zerg, what's more awesome than fluffy pink mutated rabbits (zerglings) eating marines? Yeah, nothing.

[LimaBeanMage]

Come to think of it I wonder if the Zerg have fallen prey to the rampant color scheme. I would not be at all surprised to see the Zerg creep changing color based on the player.

[didd293]

creep wasn't really much of a team thing, if you ask me. They probably won't change creep color. Red creep or purple creep would look nice, but it'd look shi**y as hell if there was green, blue, yellow, or brown creep.

[Dxun]

Well the creep in SC1 was a brown/purplish color, and i hope you'll be able to CHOOSE your color that would be sweet.

[Alasdair]

lol, creep is essentially dead ground, atleast thats what raynor said in the second terran mission of the original, and i dont think that death should come in an assortment of colours

[10-Neon]

Creep is a bio-mat that feeds Zerg units and structures. Probably some sort of seriously mutated plant/fungus growth. In that sense it could easily be any color.

And I've seen creep in weird colors... sometimes my computer glitches out and displays the colors all wrong...the water goes all rainbow-y and the creep can be blue... or bright violet. Weird stuff. If Blizzard decides to color the creep, I doubt they'll make it bright, but they might go for dull versions of weird colors.

[DontHate]

i doubt it would be color creep to ur player. what if one player builds in another man's creep? you'd have wierd color mixing creep.

[overmind]

^phycadelic

im hoping that the zerg colours are dull

[capthavic]

Yeah it's unlikely that creep will be team colors. I imagine that the zerg colors will be much less pronounced than with the other two.

[paragon]

i hope the zerg are shades of black and brown and death

[Gorythax]

Yep, in the newest patches of Brood War they added colors such as Green, Black, and a variety of other scribbly colors... Pale blue too.

[Alasdair]

i hope the zerg are shades of black and brown and death
i love how death can be colour :]

[LimaBeanMage]

What ever happened to prismatic? I always loved when I was playing Zerg and I would get lucky enough to be an iridescent type of team color. It would shimmer but not in a sparkling kind of way, it was a darker shade that shimmered.

[mc2]

Just because the max players is eight, it doesn't mean they can't have more than eight colors to choose from.


It would be really nice if the player gets to choose a colour for their team. I'd go for red if I play Protoss, white for Terrans, orange for Zerg.


The only problem that remains is that what colour will the player be in the mini map? Players in SC1 is always green, hence Blizzard made the enemy teal instead of green to avoid confusion on the map. I think it's time that the players team colour is what shows on the mini map. And pink could be used for remaining units from dead players.

[overmind]

i want a really ramdom colour
maybe as a cheat or a reward i would love being phycadelic for anyone especially toss tye-dye pylons :D

[kehmdaddy]

For one, it's psychedelic... just felt like pointing that out. And I would very much prefer Starcraft 2 to remain in line with the themes of the original- dark, broody, and caliginous imagery, not rainbow flags hanging from all the protoss buildings with kindergarten tyedye yummy blow pop units. As LimaBeanMage said, Blizzard should not ruin constants of the story and game just for some multiplayer flair.

[FlyingTiger]

yea so if you look at this standpoint... whats the default color of a zerg then? It's not always brown when you play starcraft. I hear no complaints about a purple zergling. The psi blades should be no different.

[kehmdaddy]

I'm fine with a purple zergling because only select parts of it are purple... plus I find it far more reasonable to say that the Zerg have evolved to gain such a color, or that it's simply a different brood- like it was in the originals.

[FlyingTiger]

so why not have each protoss tribe with a different psi color? can't the protoss eveolve psi color too? I mean they are the protoss... they are king of technology and anything psi-related

[Gorythax]

Maybe they're conservatives? I looked kinda forward to the pink psi-blades though... :p

But I'd really like to actually be able to choose my color... it would be less frustrating than ZOMG I got prismatic lingz RM RM RM!

[kehmdaddy]

so why not have each protoss tribe with a different psi color? can't the protoss eveolve psi color too? I mean they are the protoss... they are king of technology and anything psi-related

Because they didn't have different colored psi in the first one. Psi is not something the Protoss can evolve, it's something separate from them that just happen to have a link to. The Zerg have always had their color scheme, why go against Starcraft history and add something nutty like this?

[Nikzad]

yeah because we all know how physical manifestations of psychic energy work...
it could be a change in tech or a change in how the Protoss concentrate their psi, who knows?

it is a made up tech in a video game

and besides, the Zerg weren't always purple and orange and brown and red... we could be having this same discussion if SC1 took place before the Zerg evolved different carapace colors, so colored psi blades not being in the original is not a very solid point tbh

[overmind]

toss are lords of their minds wouldn't they be able to make different coloured blades if they wanted to?

[Major Willy]

Red vs Blue toss is gonna be like jedi war lol. Dark side vs Light Side.

Zealot 1: YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE!
Zealot 2: No stfu i teched faster lol
Zealot 1: :< GG.

[Nikzad]

toss are lords of their minds wouldn't they be able to make different coloured blades if they wanted to?

another very solid point that bears repeating. we don't even know the full potential of the human mind, let alone the potential of the minds of mind-talking aliens

PS - whoa...if you think about it...Darth Vader is like a Sith Dragoon......

[FlyingTiger]

oh that reminds me... the lightsasber in Star Wars have different colors... so why not the protoss? Blue might be a default color in the "light" side and maybe the "darker" side discovered some techonology to change the color. Cause you know... blue is soo boring. haha

On a side note, I don't know much about Star Wars except watching the movies so anyone can help me on this?

[Nikzad]

different colors relate to different strengths...i used to know the hierarchy - now I only know that purple (Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu ftw!) is the strongest

the color has to do with the type of crystal you use, which has to be perfectly aligned in the lightsaber or else there will be a ginormous explosion. you need the power of the force, apparently, to be able to line it up right. even so, they have droids to go out to some wide open space with nobody around to turn it on for the first time

[FlyingTiger]

oh ok thanks for clearing that up... so maybe each protoss tribe has a different sort of crystalline like influence. haha i dunno but the thing is... i really love the new color scheme of the protoss. they better not change it! However, the soul hunter... good riddance hehe

so what happened to that droid that turns on the lightsaber for the first time and why does it have to be with no one around?

[Nikzad]

because if the crystal is not aligned correctly, there will be this great huge explosion with the hurting and the pain and the GLOYVEN

[UchihaItachi0129]

lol flying tigger i like the idea. if you're doing campaign then purple-hero zealot :D too bad about fenix though :( he never got to see his psi blade in a different color :o

[Gorythax]

Meh... The colored psi-blades should end up pretty nicely... I'm sure blizz won't overdo it... Besides, who couldn't love a prismatic psi-blade? xD

[Cybran Seratuhl]

I would be very....VERY pleased if the game allowed player-created custom colour schemes....

I would love to see the Protoss in black and the Terran red...

[Nikzad]

that would be sick if you could choose your color in the same way you can choose your crosshair color in FPS - with Red, Green, and Blue slider bars...but they would have to build some sort of mechanism into the game so that different players couldn't choose colors that were different by one value or something (ie one player at Blue 120, Red 150, and Green 100, and then another player at Blue 120, Red 150, and Green 99)

[Gorythax]

What would be even more wicked would be if the players were actually able to choose Which parts they want to colour. Sure, it would be a big time-eating customization, but it really adds to the uniqueness of each different player, and it adds to the facts that won't allow people to moan and complain because they don't have what they want.

[AdmiralAckbar]

The colors are okay i think a toggle option for regular blue would be good. I dont want them to try to explain the colors in the campaign they never had to explain why hydralisks are always brown with no player color or why battlecruisers are way smaller ingame than they really are. Some things are understood to be done just for gameplayability they dont need to be explained in the story (each tribe has its own color crystal is like saying when a battlecruiser enters battle from orbit it shrinks in size

[kehmdaddy]

I'm still not a fan. I would definitely prefer the norm coloring of psi energy and crystals, but it appears I am unfortunately the minority in this case. If they could tone the glow down a bit, on the pylons especially, it might be alright. The psi-blades being colored has actually grown on me and, I admit, it does look pretty cool. It just is a strange and foreign sight to these old Protoss eyes...

[Major Willy]

If you pick green as your player colour or get it in a melee game then you'll get Dark Zealots.
Dark Templar with the green blades. I'm sure Zeratul fans would get a kick out of that.