Reddit reviews StarCraft II: Field Manual

I actually drew them. Basically started as a fan art project, but then during the lead-up to LotV I got to get contracted to get feedback and approval from Blizzard to make a cleaned-up version with a bunch of new drawings and the LotV units, and now it appears in print at the end of the StarCraft Field Manual, which also came with the LotV collectors edition.

So, the sizes do have ~some~ level of Blizzard approval, but they also are just drawings, not always 100% accurate, and the approval process was sometimes more along the lines of "let's try scaling down the science vessel to 85% of the old size," more about relative sizes than pinning down exact dimensions and specifications. Also, like, take the corsair, that's my own mashup of the SCBW design and the new LotV model, so its dimensions wouldn't precisely match either one anyway.

And of course within the games themselves there are inconsistencies, and sometimes weird tensions between game logic and the real sizes. Like, the dropships shown in SC2 clearly aren't big enough to carry multiple vikings, while they can in-game. I also think they didn't originally intend for Leviathans to be as big as I thought when I drew it.

Basically my thinking for all the Zerg units is that they probably exist at a range of sizes, regular new overlords that are just hanging out over hatcheries could be smaller, but then for a bigger hive much bigger overlords with ventral sacs could grow from the smaller ones when they were needed. And even between individuals there would be variation. So feel free to take all the Zerg units with as big a grain of salt as you like.

(Though there is this piece of official art showing a marine in the foreground of an overlord where he can't be bigger than its head, mine's not too far from that.)

I know that some people have had the book for a while now, but I wanted to let people know that amazon is fulfilling orders.

If you are interested in the book get it here.

If you're looking for lore with cool graphics, the best source is the StarCraft Field Manual, an in-universe lorebook which goes through the tech and history of the units and the sector:

https://www.amazon.com/StarCraft-II-Manual-Rick-Barba/dp/1608874508

There sadly is no Khalani glossary, supposedly Blizzard has one but nobody's ever seen it. I'd love it as much as you.

There's plenty of amazing text books if you're looking for hard novels, my recommended starting points are I, Mengsk, StarCraft: Ghost: Nova, and Heaven's Devils. But most of the books fill in gaps in the universe, so you can start most places and be fine.

For visual stuff, Frontline is a mixed bag but has some great art (and some not so great art), but its got a massive diversity when it comes to content. The current Dark Horse run is also really solid (Scavengers, Soldiers, in a few weeks Survivors).

Yeah, you're right - it would be more. For comparison, I looked at the going price for these two Blizzard books I own:

Starcraft II Field Manual

Diablo III Artbook

And this one as well:

Hyrule Historia

They're all in the $34.99 - $39.99 range. Which I would still totally pay for a nice coffee table Destiny book.