Celestial Irruption

Preface:   Before I did anything with Celestial Irruption, before I laid out characters or even plotline, I set some goals on what I wanted this campaign to accomplish, what it would represent, etc.

• The most basic premise is to create a campaign of a length to match Blizzard's 3 Episode expansion, Brood War.
  
• Establish a storyline across from the mainstream StarCraft storyline which is both exciting and thoughtful.
  
• Interweave elements from previous works (EDAST and FFG), and have it all change flow into this new direction, this new story, Celestial Irruption.
  
• Introduce players to some unique gameplay styles and objectives, as well as expand on others previously laid out.
  
• At least three times during the entire campaign, give the players something they have not seen before, something that doesn't pull from any plotlines from previous campaigns, or other campaigns within the community.
  
• Establish a release schedule that can accommodate our map making style with the players needs. (This was eventually established to be every two weeks)

Preface:   After I decided what my goals were for Celestial Irruption, I began thinking about the story. I knew I was going to be pulling in plot elements from E.D.A.S.T. and Fall from Grace, but at the same time, I wanted to give people something entirely new, a new set of characters, with a couple of familiar faces to help guide the way. Although I can't go into the specifics of the story, I did set a few guidelines that the story absolutely had to follow.

#1 in importance. NEVER let a universe YOU create break its own rules. The number of actual characters should be kept to as few as necessary. Character development is vital, and this cannot be accomplished correctly with large numbers of characters. The storyline, since continuous from the previous campaigns E.D.A.S.T. and Fall from Grace, should adhere to all standards set forth in those. Therefore, if Colonel Marsel for example, suddenly turned into a flower liking pansy, he should stay so in Celestial Irruption. Flexibility is of course, a given, as long as everything is believable. Humor and enjoyment go hand in hand, even in the most serious of situations, there is always room for a little humor. Always take advantage of such instances and make the best of them. Make sure everything is preplotted before you start mapwork. Dialogue can be the exception to this rule, as it is flexible, but if you start laying out a melee-style map for a commando-style mission, it can ruin the entire mission if you try using it purely for its unintended purpose. (This isn't to say that commando style missions don't belong on melee missions, just be sure melee missions actually contains some melee) Treat each story nuance like gospel, if a character steps off screen for a while, explain it, if not sometime now, then sometime later. (This is a generic statement that applies to all situations) Treat your characters like humans (even if Zerg, or Protoss), remember that besides their primary agenda, they have their own ambitions, lives, whatever. Keep reminding the player that these are 'real people' and not just heroes. Don't overstate your story, don't epic-ize everything to be more grandiose then it appears, or else the truly grandiose moments lose their appeal.

Preface:   The most fun part of any campaign, for both player and creator alike, are the characters. These are the people who have literally come alive from a spark of imagination. I knew that each character in Celestial Irruption needed to be different, each needed to have their own goals and ambitions, as well as anything, good or bad, they may of picked up growing up, and in the end, you can really picture these character as being someone who might really exist, even if it is in a fantasy world.

• Emperor Kaulin - this human male, for reasons yet to be revealed, cares about only one thing, his mission, his destiny. Kaulin believes, in his mind, that fate has called upon him to do the duty of cleansing the Koprulu sector of a serious threat. I wanted Kaulin to have a "I hate my enemies equally" style, in other words, while Kaulin might want to wipe out the Resistance on his own planet, he certainly wouldn't prioritize them over a Dominion fleet preparing to attack his planet. He makes the wisest decisions based on all available information. Kaulin rises himself above small talk and other down-to-earth stuff that other people may do and only focuses on his one guidance in life, his belief in his destiny, nothing else matters to this man. Kaulin is an extremely intelligent dictator, he knows how to accomplish his goals without arousing suspicion or showing his hand, and he knows how to prioritize things.

• Graython Narek - Interrogator for the Empire. This man, for good reason, has an obvious resemblance to Garak, from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Garak was one of my all time favorites characters from that series, because he was one of the most unique individuals I have ever seen anywhere, and I just had to pay tribute to him. Thus, Graython Narek was born, seemingly trying to capture the essence of what Garak was when he was an interrogator, Narek is just as sarcastic, scheming, yet surprisingly loyal as his DS9 counterpart. Narek, while obviously having a passion for his work, still has a few other hobbies in life, he isn't a total case like Kaulin, though he comes amazingly close to being a 'work is my sole reason for living' character. I do plan to take this man well beyond his role of a simple Interrogator, into a role that no one suspects.

• Koe Lence - Captain of the Empire fleet. I would say this is your average self-starter turned Captain, Lence is young and still very fresh to military life, as such, he still retains much of his civilian morals. I wanted Lence to be the voice of reason, the voice of balance, an man who can give a view from all sides of the table that Celestial Irruption would take, no matter if those sides were considered evil or not. He has nothing but himself to truly rely on, and it will indeed be all he needs. Lence didn't need to be egotistical like Narek or set in his ways like the Emperor, he just needed to be a man, a simple man, who has let the tides of life take him where they may.

• Michael Dellen - Resistance fighter. Dellen is a feared man among the Empire, feared for one reason, he's good at what he does. Dellen is a well known fighter that resistance members can quickly recognize and ally with. When I created Dellen, he was initially just supposed to be this hot shot resistance fighter, but then he developed more into a problem solver. Then me and Joel sorta just molded him into a Shaft like figure, a man with a lot of attitude who knows what he is doing. You don't want to get in this guys way, because even when he is losing, he is winning.

Preface:   Well obviously we couldn't call ourselves a campaign if all we had were a bunch of non-relevant story summaries and hero rosters. Here is what the people come for, the levels, the meat of the campaign. What makes a level fun though? What makes a person want to play through that, to actually find out what is happening to the characters? Well, shortly after I created The Fenix, I knew that I had made one too many Melee maps. Although The Fenix did have some drastically different maps in a couple of places, the majority of it was melee. E.D.A.S.T. had no melee missions in it whatsoever. Although it went over well, I still consider that unacceptable, therefore, with Celestial Irruption, my new philosophy is to try to strike a balance between the two, and more importantly, find new ways to make Melee maps more fun!

• Melee - use multiple objectives. Although not a guarantee, if the player knows he will be doing something entirely different in a moment, he or she will feel more inclined to complete the task.
  
• Melee - cutscenes in between. When an objective is completed, the player needs more then a simple victory message as a pat on the back, they want something they can gaze upon or listen to. Games are essentially Entertainment, though obviously we make games for something to have fun with, there is nothing in the rulebook of games saying you cannot have a certain amount of entertainment/non-playing in a map. This is one of the key philosophies that I have believed in even in my first campaign, the Crossworlds Saga, which was the first StarCraft campaign ever to use in-game cutscenes (albeit, not very good ones). I cannot however, take credit for the idea, as my inspiration comes from Final Fantasy. Though StarCraft didn't have in-level cutscenes, Brood War was abundant with several small ones. Blizzard gave us the tools to develop in-level cutscenes to a professional extent, therefore, I always include them.
  
• Melee - storyline. Melee maps, since they are long, are actually great for advancing storylines, since they ARE so long, you can throw subtle plot substances, maybe a random banter from a hero in the area, or even talk from the enemies encampment. Either way, Melee maps definitely serve as THE opportunity to develop these, especially since when using AI scripts, you don't have to trigger each unit to appear, and can concentrate on the dialogue.
  
• Commando maps - uses vary. Generally, they were traditionally used in Installation missions, but can be used as a method of traveling from point A to point B, or even a way to choose your own plotline (point a, to point B, C, D, or E, depending on the route your team takes). Commando maps also provide a much more personal experience as far as the characters go. You're controlling the heroes, and they are actually heroes, they are fighting, they are getting the kills, it is THEM who are doing the work. Unfortunately, commando maps have a novelty that can wear off fast, so it should be used somewhat sparsely. This may sound somewhat sacrilegious of what I have preached in the past, but Melee maps are actually better, given the correct circumstances. Commando maps can basically be one thing, traveling to a destination, or to destroy something, but melee can be so much more.
  
• Level Design Philosophy: Place fun above all else, ALL else. Sometimes things that are overstated are fun, such as boss fights, a seemingly ridiculous situation in real time can be turned into an amazing action sequence. But no matter what, keep the player entertained. If a task seems too mundane after a while, switch the task to something else, do something different. I have learned that it seems like people have the most fun when the campaign creator works the hardest, meaning, the more you include (and the less you rely on automated AI scripts), the more likely the player will see something unique and your map, and want to play it through.
  
• Terrain - only recently have I really begun to take special notice of Terrain. Although my terrains have always been somewhat acceptable, many can often seem bland. You can almost always tell an experienced map maker from a newbie map maker from terrain. Most people have 'corner' syndrome, they start a mission off in a corner of the map, and go from there. Although sometimes it is necessary, it really doesn't show much creativeness to start things off in a corner, you feel trapped, as if "the area south and west of us we can see, but to the North and east, we, for some reason, cannot go there." It doesn't make sense from a story point of view to start in the corner, it's best to start somewhere corner-to-mid, meaning, close to the corner, but not on it. People don't like to be confined. Another thing I have recently tried to improve is cliff placement. Perhaps one of the annoying aspect in some of my Crossworlds Saga maps is that cliffs would be so close, you literally had to send your men through one at a time in order to get through. Over the two years I've been doing this, I've come a long way, and since I now know how to avoid these annoying terrain aspects, I can treat the player to an even richer experience just from nicely designed terrain.

Preface:   Sounds, whether they be music, voices, or simple FX, is definitely an aspect that cannot be ignored. Although 'Bells and Whistles' might be considered somewhat optional, for StarCraft, they really add a third dimension to an otherwise two dimensional level.

• Music can really open up new possibilities for StarCraft maps, as you splice together a heartpounding theme with a Zerg attack, or a dramatic theme at the death of a major character, these things really cannot be substituted by simple character dialogue. The drama factor of music itself is one that must be taken into account for any game, not just StarCraft. I absolutely praise games that take the time to invest in good music, often the games, even if they themselves lack in a lot of areas, can more then make up for it in the musical department. Without realistic resources to actually create these tunes myself in good quality and numerable fashion, I often look to the music used in Anime, Games, and Classical music score. Some of the best vocal songs come from Anime, just the fact that it is in a foreign language only makes it so much more powerful, the voice itself becomes an instrument rather then subtracting from a musical experience with unusual corny lyrics or such. If ever I did have the resources for a composer and orchestral accompanyment (or something close), I imagine we'd base it somewhere along the lines of the works of Square composer Nubuo Uematsu. This guy knows how to do game music, period. Nothing more to be said then that, anyone who has heard him knows what I am talking about.
  
• Voices - There isn't anything better then your favorite character. Except when your favorite character has a voice behind it. As is the case with many Celestial Irruption voices, the driving force behind this aspect of CI is ultimately summed up with one man, Joel Steudler. Whether it be Narek's sarcasm, or Nugdraas evil undertone, or Kaulin's arrogance, Joel provides the voice to all these characters. I still think campaigns do not absolutely -require- voices, but they are indeed one great bellsnwhistle to have. One of the toughest things to do here was edit the effects and tone of the voice, so it doesn't sound like a straight-from-the-mic recording, yet still clear enough to decipher. Using Sonic Foundry Sound Forge software (the best in the biz), we are able to seamlessly add effects, albeit, the non-human voices are extremely exasperating to put together. I personally have a library of voice add-on effects (generic-static, generic-sciencevessel, generic-battlecruiser, and so forth) that I have put together so that background effects can be accessed quickly and integrated. It isn't as long a process as you might think, but it is still time consuming nonetheless. Joel does the majority of work on this portion obviously, by providing the actual voicework and editing out static and mic clicks and other annoying nuances.

• Joel Stuedler on Voices: "I like to take my time with each voice sample I create, and usually do 2-3 takes depending on the length of the line. If I'm not pressed for time, I get pretty meticulous when it comes to choosing what gets sent to Desler for final editing. I usually run my vocals through a noise gate and compressor to bring out as much volume as I can while maintaining clarity, and I like to 'de-ess' them as well (softening 's' sounds that can otherwise be rather harsh). Clarity of sound is really my prime concern, and then of course the acting and inflections on the line has to be considered before I call it 'finished'. Also of the utmost importance is matching how Desler wants the character to sound. Some of his characters are homages to TV characters he likes (and I do too :) ), so matching their voices as best I can is always a challenge. When I'm finally done, I zip em up and send em to Desler so he can work his magic on them. When I am asked by Desler to do (yet another) new character voice, I usually ask him a few questions about the character's personality and demeanor so I can get the right 'feel' in their voice. Some may not think that I nail each and every one of them, but I aim to please the person that I'm doing the vocals for. It's hard to accept at first, but I know that I can't please everyone with my performances (and really I never expected to be able to- I only started voice acting on a lark... I certainly don't have any theater experience or anything of the sort, save for a short stint as a radio DJ in college). On the occasions I'm asked to imitate a certain known character in my vocals for one of Desler's (like Graython Narek- I'm sure you've guessed who he's modelled after, right?). I try to listen to as much of that character speaking as I can. This helps quite a bit in recreating their mannerisms and speech patterns."
  
• Sound Effects - Whether you want to hear a sudden bout of evil laughter, typing on a computer, a heartbeat, a Zergling stampede, I have compiled a library of wav files of over 1000 sounds and effects. Obviously I don't use these all, a lot of them I mix together to create background noises for units, but whatever the purpose, we usually can whip something up to go with anything and not have to worry about taking a exuberant amount of time in creating an effect during our two-week mission time window. All effects were compiled, stocked, or recorded beforehand so this process of the campaign making would go smooth, and anything we don't have, is usually easy to mix together using current sound effects and entry-level SoundForge filters, insuring that we get a good sound effect in little time. It's truly one of those things that we worked out in preproduction, and we can use this library of effects in many projects to come, as we continue to build and expand on our library.

Preface:   Ah visual effects, the science fiction eye candy we all look on with awe can take an important role in fueling your audiences imagination, particularly if you want to convey someone exactly as they are.

• Art - Title screen art, promotional art, it is all a neccesary evil. Most importantly, when someone opens Celestial Irruption for the first time, you don't want them to come to the same view of Kerrigan, why have her up there when you can have something from the actual campaign? This aspect of the campaign also boils down to one man, Joel Steudler. Using Hash Animation Master, Joel can apply his talents into creating marvelous science fiction eye candy. I think this is an important part, history has shown that the best Science Fiction, Orson Wells, Gene Roddenberry, etc, is based on what we can see. War of the Worlds scared people when a promotion made some people think martians were in fact landing on Earth. Seeing a promo of the U.S. Capitol being exploded on Superbowl Sunday for a teaser of Independance Day certainly hooked more then one person, that hook then allows more people to enjoy the experience, which is why I think the art is such an important part of the campaign experience. Some things just can't be conveyed by word, and you can't guarantee that every individual has as spectacular an imagination as the artist who creates such things.
  
• Portraits - One of the things Joel has done, is in addition to bringing our characters to life with voices, he has also given them their own unique identity with true to life portraits. In particularly, it seems so life like that if you ran your fingers over your screen, you could feel the texture in Rond's skin. Well, maybe not that lifelike, but it is definitely beyond believable that Joel could create some of these, which look very close to flesh and blood.
  
• Joel on Art and Portraits: "Character art is something I enjoy quite a bit. I always try to reflect the personality of the character I'm depicting in the scenes that I create. Kaulin is regal yet condescending. Koe Lence is dutiful and loyal. Rond, well- he's just Rond. It also helps if I can show the character with some strong emotion etched into his face. Emotion defines character more than anything else. There isn't one feature or bit of anatomy I focus on more than another though. Easily the hardest thing to recreate on the equipment I have is hair. Hats are a 3d animator's best friend, unless they have the resources of the team creating the Final Fantasy movie or something similar. Remember that the next time you see a bald 3d rendered character! Truthfully, I spend the most time detailing whatever will be visible in most of the shots of the character I create (which is why I often focus on the upper body or head alone. No need to ceate the full body when the most you'll ever see is from the shoulders up! : ) My art is subject to much the same quality control as the sound work I do. I won't let something leave my computer without being 100% satisfied that I did it to the best of my abilities. I generally don't go for photorealism, but rather try to make the images as 'cool' as possible. When doing character art, I like to attempt to instill some of the character's personality into the piece... like the large render of Emperor Kaulin I did. I shot for making him look as haughty and imperious as I could. Sometimes the original renders aren't of the quality I like, and that was the case with the Emperor. He underwent some heavy Photoshop editing to get to look just right before I sent him off to Desler to post on CC."

Michael Dellen Development Shot / Rond Development Shot

• Cutscenes - Sure, using in-game animation is great, but sometimes scenes need to be conveyed with more feeling. The best and most obvious example of this would be Fall from Grace. In the non-specialized edition, in the end, Rond was going aboard a Protoss carrier and flying away from Aiur, but all people got to see was Rond enter the carrier, then the carrier fly south. With Joel's cutscene marvel, you could see the battle raging around the carrier, and the carrier moving up into the atmosphere on a Z-axis course, something StarCraft lacks. Are cutscenes in the future of Celestial Irruption? Possibly, in the end, there will likely be something planned, I'm sure by the Protoss campaign (which will conclude CI), we'll be fully pumped and have lots of ideas planned, fortunately, that is far enough away that we only discuss it in casual conversation once a full moon, but you can be guaranteed that if any such thing is made for CI, it will be spectacular.

While Celestial Irruption is certainly well underway and far beyond pre-production, new surprises always crop up, new advances, a change for the creators, and other such occurences to make the campaign more unique then before, rest assured, the philosophies and standards discussed here are but a shadow of the true depth of the project. Celestial Irruption is indeed a grand creation, we hope you will share our vision in the months ahead as you get to look upon more of the campaign. Till then, keep looking up at the stars for that irruption. - Desler