Heart of the Swarm: "Hardcore art and programming" is go, says Pardo

Development of StarCraft II's second part is swinging into proper action, Blizzard design boss Rob Pardo's told MTV, now Wings of Liberty has gone to seed.

"Now that we've shipped [Wings of Liberty], we're just now getting serious about breaking ground on [Heart of the Swarm]," said Pardo.

"We always have a lot of ideas and there's been some design work on it, but hardcore art and programming is just now starting to begin. It's too early to estimate, but as soon as we can get them out there, we'd love to."

Pardo steadfastly refused to put a date on the game.

"They're going to kind of feel like sequels"

StarCraft II's Campaign has been split into three parts: the now-released Wings of Liberty, the zerg-based Heart of the Swarm and the protoss's Legacy of the Void.

Pardo was clear in the company's intention to provide value.

"From a single-player point of view, they're going to kind of feel like sequels. It's going to be a pretty meaningful amount of content," he said.

The multiplayer portion may be more slender.

"Multiplayer is going to be more like an expansion set sort of vibe," Pardo added.

"We're not going to ship all brand new races. There will definitely be additions to multiplayer, but that's going to feel like an expansion set."

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty released in late July to large US sales.

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