chobopeon Profile Blog Joined May 2003 United States 7339 Posts Last Edited: 2011-05-26 22:39:36 #1

by All of us



, September 22, 2010

, October 29, 2010.

, January 3, 2011

The original thread , September 22, 2010 The book announcement , October 29, 2010. Purchase the book , January 3, 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylOT9Q4UUHE

+ Show Spoiler +





The StarCraft Bible is live.



. It is on Amazon!



(or



(scroll down



Coming soon: Barnes and Noble Nook eBook (should be available within 24-48 hours from now), Apple iBook (No ETA available), Sony eReader (No ETA available), Paperback in 'normal' Amazon store (as soon as Amazon chooses to, likely early this week).



If you'd like to contact me,



Thank you, thank you, thank you for everyone who liked what I wrote and encouraged me to make it into a book. It's really amazing to see the community work together like this. I hope you love it.





+ Show Spoiler [Announcement] +



Finally, here we are. The StarCraft Bible (225 pgs) will be available as a paperback and an e-book on January 3rd.



The Bible began as an idea six months ago as a posting on a message board. After a twisting journey propelled by the StarCraft community's encouragement, a journey which included stints above and below my consciousness, the Bible has become a book. Finally.



I didn't know what to expect when I began the project. There was excitement and hope from hundreds of people but the actual finished product was just a vague idea in my mind. Now it has materialized in the form of a 225 page book complete with pretty pictures and the sort of writing that won readers over in the beginning.



The final copy of the book is resting in my lap and yet this does not feel finished. It feels more like a first step toward something bigger and better. It was a step taken quickly, excitedly and without much knowledge about what lay ahead. I guess we'll find out if it's anything worth talking about.



I spoke with a number of incredible people including very recent conversations with two of the most well-loved figures in StarCraft. Grrrr...., someone I watched and revered as a kid, talked with me about his struggles and triumphs in South Korea. He was out until 4am the night before he won his Starleague. DjWheat, an e-sports apostle, told stories that will fill you with envy and hope. In Seoul, he had to duck out the back of a restaurant after lunch with Lim Yo Hwan to avoid a rowdy mob of Boxer fans.



Everyone involved put a lot of work into this. The submissions and interviews were top notch and well thought out. I spent more hours than I can count on this book and I know that I am not the only one. It's not perfect but it's a first attempt at raising the bar in e-sports, at creating something that may begin to be justifiably called e-sports journalism if we continue to work hard.



This was published with my money, with the hard work of every contributor and on the high shoulders of the greatest e-sport ever: StarCraft. This is not backed by any major publisher or even website and will not be raking in millions with the next Twilight. But that was never the point.



Allow me to quote an

This isn’t some vanity-press sour-grapes effort. The simple truth is that we probably can’t compete on the shelves at Barnes & Noble alongside every other book in the world. The agents and the publishers are right; it might not work for a mass market. That’s okay. We don’t need to sell it to everyone. We don’t need to sell 100,000 copies; we don’t have the rent on a New York office to pay for.



We only need to sell it to you.



The goal is to spread the gospel, truths about e-sports. The goal is to create something worth reading, to win new converts, to be passionate about what we love. The goal is to look into the past and to build for the future.



To quote my inspirations once more:

Did you know that on any given day, an Amazon.com bestseller only sells a few hundred copies? Sure, they sell a few hundred copies a day for weeks and months on end, but what we’ve learned is that it only takes a few hundred sales on a single day to become an Amazon.com bestseller.



Becoming a success, being noticed, capturing the attention of a big audience is within our reach. It takes hard work, a quality product and a passionate audience. If we have nothing else, we have that.



Instructions on purchasing the book will be listed



Tell people about it. Post links on Facebook, discuss it in forums, talk to everyone you know with an interest in e-sports or RTS games. Tweet it. Call me a nerd as you stay up past midnight to read it. Show your kid the pretty pictures. Capture people's attention.



When you've read it, review it. Do so on Amazon, on Facebook, on forums and at the dinner table. Tell me how you feel about it, tell everyone. Most of all, be honest and be loud if you think the book calls for it.



I don't have a marketing budget and I have no backing but what I have in my own pocket. This project will succeed or fail on word of mouth.



The weapons in our arsenal are passion and excitement. I'm feeling ambitious. Let's see how far they can take us.



Thank you to:



Team Liquid for being the backbone of StarCraft for much of the world.

The TL writers for raising the bar of e-sports writing.

ilnp aka dudey of old-school fame, an awesome help.

Pillars, an ex-professional who shed light on the old days.

Artosis, one of the best commentators around and always willing to drop knowledge on my head.

Sean Plott for being a phenomenal ambassador.

Marcus "djWheat" Graham for being the sharpest Swiss Army Knife of e-sports.

JP McDaniel for being excellent.

Ret for being unyieldingly impressive and a good psych patient as well.

Guillaume "Grrrr..." Patry, the one and only, for being frankly honest.

Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier for being excited about this and teaching me what geek chills were.

tec27 because he's consistently awesome. Hi tec.

IdrA for being a super-villain.

~NoHunters for being abrasive assholes and just my sort of people for more than a decade.

WaxAngel, the old torch bearer.

blid, the torch carrier for the Warcraft 2 community, always willing to illuminate the old game.

The surviving Warcraft 2 community for being so willing to talk about your game.

Liquipedia for beginning what will likely be years of difficult but excellent work. A completely underappreciated tool.

TLPD for giving me all the statistics in the entire universe.

Spencer Wightman, Xxio, for doing what he does best.

Nathan Smolin for taking the road less traveled by, making all the difference in his piece.

Arrian for thinking big picture and writing even bigger.

Xxio for being a great talent and unsung hero and helping continue a great tradition.

Cedstick for giving us beautiful pictures, a window into the e-sport world.

Stefan “MorroW” Andersson, the Swedish Terran with an eye on Seoul.

KDraconis, the StarCraft: Legacy writer with unique insight into Korea.

Captain Peabody, the TL poster and fiction writer.

Alex “Aeres” Dellinger, the TL poster and pro-gamer biographer.

Leandro Gobbo, who has kindly offered to help in translation duties for this mammoth project.

Wayne “d22-soso” Chiang, the old school gamer with great insight into the beginnings of the scene.

Jay “gadianton” Severson, soso’s right hand man and another great source of insight into StarCraft antiquity.

prodiG, the ICCup map-maker.

emythrel, a man with talent for teaching.

Dakine, a wealth of WarCraft 2 information.

Josh "AskJosh" Suth, the quiet YouTube dreamer.

"Fenix" Jian Carlo Morayra Alejo, the workman Terran out of Peru.



I forgot people, I'm sure. It's been a long process and I am sincerely sorry to those momentarily forgotten. Let me know who I forgot, I'll be glad to give you the thanks you deserve.

If you contributed to and are featured in the book, you deserve a free copy. Contact me and I will get it to you ASAP.

Finally, here we are. The StarCraft Bible (225 pgs) will be available as a paperback and an e-book on January 3rd.The Bible began as an idea six months ago as a posting on a message board. After a twisting journey propelled by the StarCraft community's encouragement, a journey which included stints above and below my consciousness, the Bible has become a book. Finally.I didn't know what to expect when I began the project. There was excitement and hope from hundreds of people but the actual finished product was just a vague idea in my mind. Now it has materialized in the form of a 225 page book complete with pretty pictures and the sort of writing that won readers over in the beginning.The final copy of the book is resting in my lap and yet this does not feel finished. It feels more like a first step toward something bigger and better. It was a step taken quickly, excitedly and without much knowledge about what lay ahead. I guess we'll find out if it's anything worth talking about.I spoke with a number of incredible people including very recent conversations with two of the most well-loved figures in StarCraft. Grrrr...., someone I watched and revered as a kid, talked with me about his struggles and triumphs in South Korea. He was out until 4am the night before he won his Starleague. DjWheat, an e-sports apostle, told stories that will fill you with envy and hope. In Seoul, he had to duck out the back of a restaurant after lunch with Lim Yo Hwan to avoid a rowdy mob of Boxer fans.Everyone involved put a lot of work into this. The submissions and interviews were top notch and well thought out. I spent more hours than I can count on this book and I know that I am not the only one. It's not perfect but it's a first attempt at raising the bar in e-sports, at creating something that may begin to be justifiably called e-sports journalism if we continue to work hard.This was published with my money, with the hard work of every contributor and on the high shoulders of the greatest e-sport ever: StarCraft. This is not backed by any major publisher or even website and will not be raking in millions with the next Twilight. But that was never the point.Allow me to quote an inspiration of mine:The goal is to spread the gospel, truths about e-sports. The goal is to create something worth reading, to win new converts, to be passionate about what we love. The goal is to look into the past and to build for the future.To quote my inspirations once more:Becoming a success, being noticed, capturing the attention of a big audience is within our reach. It takes hard work, a quality product and a passionate audience. If we have nothing else, we have that.Instructions on purchasing the book will be listed here , on Team Liquid, on the book's blog and everywhere I can be found (eg Twitter and other forums). It will be for sale on Amazon as a paper back and from the Kindle and the Nook as an e-book.Tell people about it. Post links on Facebook, discuss it in forums, talk to everyone you know with an interest in e-sports or RTS games. Tweet it. Call me a nerd as you stay up past midnight to read it. Show your kid the pretty pictures. Capture people's attention.When you've read it, review it. Do so on Amazon, on Facebook, on forums and at the dinner table. Tell me how you feel about it, tell everyone. Most of all, be honest and be loud if you think the book calls for it.I don't have a marketing budget and I have no backing but what I have in my own pocket. This project will succeed or fail on word of mouth.The weapons in our arsenal are passion and excitement. I'm feeling ambitious. Let's see how far they can take us.Thank you to: + Show Spoiler + If you contributed to and are featured in the book, you deserve a free copy. Contact me and I will get it to you ASAP.





$16.99 for the 225pg paperback . It is on Amazon! $9.99, Kindle e-Book (or Amazon.uk here ). If you do not own a Kindle, you can still use the service for free. If you purchase the book here, I encourage you to leave an honest review. A DRM-free PDF is available (scroll down here ). Your eReader, computer or the device of your choosing should be able to read it. If you order it, supply me with your email address during the purchase process. The book will be delivered to your email inbox as soon as possible.Coming soon: Barnes and Noble Nook eBook (should be available within 24-48 hours from now), Apple iBook (No ETA available), Sony eReader (No ETA available), Paperback in 'normal' Amazon store (as soon as Amazon chooses to, likely early this week).If you'd like to contact me, don't hesitate to do so (TL's PM system is fine, too).Thank you, thank you, thank you for everyone who liked what I wrote and encouraged me to make it into a book. It's really amazing to see the community work together like this. I hope you love it.

Latest update: 9/22/2010 The Book of StarCraft



Introduction: For the past while, I've been working on a history project. I've been doing my best to trace the idea of StarCraft from inception to reality, from the deep roots to blossoming to clashes for championships. I considered how best to release this project into the wild and it's become obvious that good old fashioned thread is its best chance. I'll leave it to hope that word of mouth and the power of links gets this around to anyone who might enjoy it.



I'm inviting feedback and critiques. I'll be updating with corrections and improvements as is required. Have fun.



Table of Contents.

The Book of Genesis: The Bible of StarCraft

- Preface: The Gravity of The Situation

- The Book of Blizzard

- The Book of Real Time Strategy

- The Book of WarCraft

- The Book of StarCraft

- The Book of Sequels

- The Book of the Future











Preface: The Gravity of The Situation

StarCraft is a game of awe. When you watch players perform superhuman tasks of speed and creativity, your jaw drops. Your blood flows a little faster when you witness a key-stroke of genius. Who knew that explosions of pixels could inspire?



There is beauty in this game, like the beauty in all high-level competition. Whenever two competitors dedicate their entire selves to winning, a corner of the universe grinds to a stop and focuses on the contest, hoping to catch a flair of brilliance.



When you watched Muhammed Ali, he seemed to float. Michael Jordan flew. In StarCraft, Lim Yo Hwan constantly created something out of nothing, inserting a little religion into each match.



In StarCraft, the brilliance has burned bright for ten years.

: For the past while, I've been working on a history project. I've been doing my best to trace the idea of StarCraft from inception to reality, from the deep roots to blossoming to clashes for championships. I considered how best to release this project into the wild and it's become obvious that good old fashioned thread is its best chance. I'll leave it to hope that word of mouth and the power of links gets this around to anyone who might enjoy it.I'm inviting feedback and critiques. I'll be updating with corrections and improvements as is required. Have fun.Table of Contents.- Preface: The Gravity of The Situation- The Book of Blizzard- The Book of Real Time Strategy- The Book of WarCraft- The Book of StarCraftStarCraft is a game of awe. When you watch players perform superhuman tasks of speed and creativity, your jaw drops. Your blood flows a little faster when you witness a key-stroke of genius. Who knew that explosions of pixels could inspire?There is beauty in this game, like the beauty in all high-level competition. Whenever two competitors dedicate their entire selves to winning, a corner of the universe grinds to a stop and focuses on the contest, hoping to catch a flair of brilliance.When you watched Muhammed Ali, he seemed to float. Michael Jordan flew. In StarCraft, Lim Yo Hwan constantly created something out of nothing, inserting a little religion into each match.In StarCraft, the brilliance has burned bright for ten years. +

First came the spoken word. From there, art came from humanity into the world like water from a fountain. The forms are infinite: film, literature, music and on and on. As our development and lifestyle has sped up in modern times, so too has our conception of art forms. The newest kid on the block is a giant, already shaping mightily the culture from which it came: Video games.



The video game industry itself is a titan, one whose reach scales the entire globe and whose net-worth is skyrocketing from tens of billions into hundreds of billions before our eyes.



The birth-pangs of the giant industry are past. A major crash hit in the mid 1980's and threatened to wipe out the entire medium. The 90's saw the industry recover in a big way. Now, our culture has shifted, paradigms have irrevocably changed - major video game releases are noteworthy cultural events rivaling a Hollywood blockbuster.



Today, the video game industry is a maturing though still volatile entity whose rate of expansion feels as though it may rival that of the entire universe.



Inside the titan-industry, somewhere near the heart and the guts, stands Activision Blizzard. The company, the result of a 2007-2008 merger, is worth a monstrous $10 billion itself. In its possession are some of the most recognizable game franchises this side of Mario: Guitar Hero and Call of Duty rank high amongst the pride of Activision. Even alone, the Activision house is one of the most storied and successful in all of gaming and in all of entertainment.



But you’ll have to forgive me for shrugging my shoulders at the Activision side of it. When it comes to storied publishing houses, Activision’s other half, Blizzard, is second to none. When it comes to consistently inspiring devotion and passion, the list is short and Blizzard looms large. Habitually, Blizzard’s games don't just sell well, they become phenomena, inspiring lives as much as industries that may have seemed laughable just a short time ago.



Blizzard’s universe is not merely populated by a few pixelated villains and heroes. It is filled to the brim with millions upon millions of flesh and blood people, fans who loudly spread the gospel, asking gamers enamored of rival franchises, “Have you heard the good news? StarCraft just sold out another arena. The Warcraft universe just hit 10 million players. Diablo is about to hit 20 millions sales.”



Among those beloved franchises, StarCraft is unique. It is not the oldest of Blizzard’s legendary trio of bread-winners, that distinction is Warcraft’s. StarCraft and its expansion, Brood War, have sold almost 10 million copies worldwide. The Diablo series has sold nearly twice that number and the Warcraft series has ascended to even greater heights.



But it is StarCraft alone which has flourished as a competitive game, uninterrupted for over a decade, unwilling to simply die off. It is StarCraft which fills arenas, launches celebrities and serves as a major catalyst for the entire idea of professional gaming. It is StarCraft off which players make more than a living, they make a life. This is the game which has been called the national sport of South Korea (an exaggeration, but it tells you something about the intensity of esport) and it is this sci-fi wonder which may finally lift pro gaming in the Western world into the brightest spotlight yet.



That is the phenomenon which I will examine here from the ground up: the people, the ideas, the passion and the gravity which have given life to the StarCraft franchise, the singularly successful and impossibly stubborn universe which Blizzard created over a decade ago.













The Book of Blizzard

"Video games are bad for you? That's what they said about rock and roll."

Shigeru Miyamoto

First came the spoken word. From there, art came from humanity into the world like water from a fountain. The forms are infinite: film, literature, music and on and on. As our development and lifestyle has sped up in modern times, so too has our conception of art forms. The newest kid on the block is a giant, already shaping mightily the culture from which it came: Video games.The video game industry itself is a titan, one whose reach scales the entire globe and whose net-worth is skyrocketing from tens of billions into hundreds of billions before our eyes.The birth-pangs of the giant industry are past. A major crash hit in the mid 1980's and threatened to wipe out the entire medium. The 90's saw the industry recover in a big way. Now, our culture has shifted, paradigms have irrevocably changed - major video game releases are noteworthy cultural events rivaling a Hollywood blockbuster.Today, the video game industry is a maturing though still volatile entity whose rate of expansion feels as though it may rival that of the entire universe.Inside the titan-industry, somewhere near the heart and the guts, stands Activision Blizzard. The company, the result of a 2007-2008 merger, is worth a monstrous $10 billion itself. In its possession are some of the most recognizable game franchises this side of Mario: Guitar Hero and Call of Duty rank high amongst the pride of Activision. Even alone, the Activision house is one of the most storied and successful in all of gaming and in all of entertainment.But you’ll have to forgive me for shrugging my shoulders at the Activision side of it. When it comes to storied publishing houses, Activision’s other half, Blizzard, is second to none. When it comes to consistently inspiring devotion and passion, the list is short and Blizzard looms large. Habitually, Blizzard’s games don't just sell well, they become phenomena, inspiring lives as much as industries that may have seemed laughable just a short time ago.Blizzard’s universe is not merely populated by a few pixelated villains and heroes. It is filled to the brim with millions upon millions of flesh and blood people, fans who loudly spread the gospel, asking gamers enamored of rival franchises, “Have you heard the good news? StarCraft just sold out another arena. The Warcraft universe just hit 10 million players. Diablo is about to hit 20 millions sales.”Among those beloved franchises, StarCraft is unique. It is not the oldest of Blizzard’s legendary trio of bread-winners, that distinction is Warcraft’s. StarCraft and its expansion, Brood War, have sold almost 10 million copies worldwide. The Diablo series has sold nearly twice that number and the Warcraft series has ascended to even greater heights.But it is StarCraft alone which has flourished as a competitive game, uninterrupted for over a decade, unwilling to simply die off. It is StarCraft which fills arenas, launches celebrities and serves as a major catalyst for the entire idea of professional gaming. It is StarCraft off which players make more than a living, they make a life. This is the game which has been called the national sport of South Korea (an exaggeration, but it tells you something about the intensity of esport) and it is this sci-fi wonder which may finally lift pro gaming in the Western world into the brightest spotlight yet.That is the phenomenon which I will examine here from the ground up: the people, the ideas, the passion and the gravity which have given life to the StarCraft franchise, the singularly successful and impossibly stubborn universe which Blizzard created over a decade ago.Shigeru Miyamoto +

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Nineteen ninety-one was the year in which the Soviet Union finally dissolved. The United States entered the first installment of what would later turn out to be a national past-time: war in the Middle East. A recession stemming from a then-unparalleled stock market crash gripped the American and global economy. Nonetheless, flags were waved, anthems were sung and, for a moment there, the world did not seem to hang on the precipice of mutually assured destruction.



It was under these circumstances in February 1991 that a group of recent University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) graduates founded Silicon & Synapse, a video game development company. Michael Morhaime, Frank Pearce and Allen Adham (now respectively President, Vice President and Lead Designer on various projects) were the originators of the studio which would eventually become Blizzard.



As you may imagine, this studio was not the behemoth we know today. In the beginning, Silicon & Synapse was, in large part, funded off of the personal credit cards of the founders and, IGN reported, "the team struggled to rush out a game before the money ran out."



That first game was the impeccably named Radical Psycho Machine Racing - RPM Racing.







RPM Racing was a plodding, "high resolution" racer in which the player competed for money to buy better cars, better parts and entry to better races. A remake of the 1985 Racing Destruction Set for the Commodore 64, Blizzard asserts that RPM Racing was the first American-developed game for the Super Nintendo. Less than four months after the founding of Silicon & Synapse, the game was deemed ready.



Today, Blizzard Entertainment is infamous for its tedious development of games and painfully high expectation of quality. StarCraft 2 was announced three years before its release, the total development has taken over half a decade (Dustin Browder, the senior designer on SC2, joined the company March 9, 2005 according to MobyGames).



RPM Racing, on the other hand, took a few months. The result is game which makes me want to take out my Super Mario Kart cartridge from 1992 for a far superior experience. Consider this game the next time a wave of complaints about Blizzard's tortoise-like pace hits.



What immediately followed were a series of equally forgettable ports quickly churned out by Silicon & Synapse in order to climb out of the red:







Battle Chess, a game of human chess complete with dance fights and magic, and its utterly bizarre sequel appeared in 1992 on Windows, Commodore 64 and Amiga. The surprisingly cool but terrifically unoriginal Lord of the Rings RPG was ported to Amiga by the small company. Amiga Castles, Amiga MicroLeague Baseball, Macintosh Lexi-Cross and Macintosh Dvorak on Typing were all ports completed by the fledgling operation in 1992 and mostly forgotten soon thereafter.







By late 1992, the company had attained a level of stability that allowed it to release its first original and, not coincidentally, awesome game: The Lost Vikings, in which a group of doofy but physically capable vikings solve puzzles in order to make their way through time and space and escape their kidnapper, the terrible Tomator.







Rock n' Roll Racing for Super NES and Sega Genesis followed. Although it was similar in premise to RPM Racing, it benefited from being a more loud and flamboyant game than its dull older brother. A little electric guitar, alien goo, vivid art and sped up game-play added up to a much better experience over all.



The studio's output for the year of 1993 earned them the Best Software Developer award from VideoGames Magazine, an award still touted by Blizzard today.



The next important original from the company was Blackthorne. Categorized as a "cinematic platformer", the game was justifiably called "Prince of Persia with guns". Although the game never stepped out of the shadow of its Persian grand-daddy, it garnered a significant fan-base and a much-needed chunk of change for the still young studio.



A combination of original and contract games followed. The Death and Return of Superman, The Lost Vikings 2 and Justice League Task Force were all released and developed while, simultaneously, the company's first blockbuster had its inception in 1994. Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, the first major hit of the Real Time Strategy genre, released an exciting demo in the summer of '94 before the first retail versions were sold in November of that year. Blizzard and the genre would never be the same again.





Sources: GameRankings.com, MetaCritic.com





It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Nineteen ninety-one was the year in which the Soviet Union finally dissolved. The United States entered the first installment of what would later turn out to be a national past-time: war in the Middle East. A recession stemming from a then-unparalleled stock market crash gripped the American and global economy. Nonetheless, flags were waved, anthems were sung and, for a moment there, the world did not seem to hang on the precipice of mutually assured destruction.It was under these circumstances in February 1991 that a group of recent University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) graduates founded Silicon & Synapse, a video game development company. Michael Morhaime, Frank Pearce and Allen Adham (now respectively President, Vice President and Lead Designer on various projects) were the originators of the studio which would eventually become Blizzard.As you may imagine, this studio was not the behemoth we know today. In the beginning, Silicon & Synapse was, in large part, funded off of the personal credit cards of the founders and, IGN reported, "the team struggled to rush out a game before the money ran out."That first game was the impeccably named Radical Psycho Machine Racing - RPM Racing.RPM Racing was a plodding, "high resolution" racer in which the player competed for money to buy better cars, better parts and entry to better races. A remake of the 1985 Racing Destruction Set for the Commodore 64, Blizzard asserts that RPM Racing was the first American-developed game for the Super Nintendo. Less than four months after the founding of Silicon & Synapse, the game was deemed ready.Today, Blizzard Entertainment is infamous for its tedious development of games and painfully high expectation of quality. StarCraft 2 was announced three years before its release, the total development has taken over half a decade (Dustin Browder, the senior designer on SC2, joined the company March 9, 2005 according to MobyGames).RPM Racing, on the other hand, took a few months. The result is game which makes me want to take out my Super Mario Kart cartridge from 1992 for a far superior experience. Consider this game the next time a wave of complaints about Blizzard's tortoise-like pace hits.What immediately followed were a series of equally forgettable ports quickly churned out by Silicon & Synapse in order to climb out of the red:Battle Chess, a game of human chess complete with dance fights and magic, and its utterly bizarre sequel appeared in 1992 on Windows, Commodore 64 and Amiga. The surprisingly cool but terrifically unoriginal Lord of the Rings RPG was ported to Amiga by the small company. Amiga Castles, Amiga MicroLeague Baseball, Macintosh Lexi-Cross and Macintosh Dvorak on Typing were all ports completed by the fledgling operation in 1992 and mostly forgotten soon thereafter.By late 1992, the company had attained a level of stability that allowed it to release its first original and, not coincidentally, awesome game: The Lost Vikings, in which a group of doofy but physically capable vikings solve puzzles in order to make their way through time and space and escape their kidnapper, the terrible Tomator.Rock n' Roll Racing for Super NES and Sega Genesis followed. Although it was similar in premise to RPM Racing, it benefited from being a more loud and flamboyant game than its dull older brother. A little electric guitar, alien goo, vivid art and sped up game-play added up to a much better experience over all.The studio's output for the year of 1993 earned them the Best Software Developer award from VideoGames Magazine, an award still touted by Blizzard today.The next important original from the company was Blackthorne. Categorized as a "cinematic platformer", the game was justifiably called "Prince of Persia with guns". Although the game never stepped out of the shadow of its Persian grand-daddy, it garnered a significant fan-base and a much-needed chunk of change for the still young studio.A combination of original and contract games followed. The Death and Return of Superman, The Lost Vikings 2 and Justice League Task Force were all released and developed while, simultaneously, the company's first blockbuster had its inception in 1994. Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, the first major hit of the Real Time Strategy genre, released an exciting demo in the summer of '94 before the first retail versions were sold in November of that year. Blizzard and the genre would never be the same again.Sources: GameRankings.com, MetaCritic.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBBdAAle3UY&fmt=18





The Book of Real Time Strategy



There has been a competition inside men and women since well before the first user-controlled pixel lit up and took off across the screen. Still, that pixel has done nothing if not throw a little gasoline on that competitive fire, providing an immense number of new ways and places to square off. From Pong to the big arcades and into the present day, the urge to compete persists. One genre of video games which has always worn a particular affinity for this aspect of gaming on its sleeve is the RTS.



Real Time Strategy (RTS) is a genre of video games in which a player is at war with an opponent and, through the accumulation of resources as well as construction and management of an army and infrastructure, the player must destroy that opponent. Because of the distinct lack of turns (present in the cousin-genre, Turn-Based Strategy or TBS), the games are all, to varying degrees, influenced by the speed at which the players operate. At least, this is the malleable definition that we can all start with.



But you knew that, right? What is it that makes RTS special?



Since the dawn of the modern RTS age in the mid to late 90's, this is one of only two genres (the other being First Person Shooters, FPS) which has consistently produced games played at a high competitive level for long periods of time. While modern FPS titles are far and away higher earners for developers, the RTS genre is neck and neck with FPS as far as competitive chops. Professional leagues have existed continuously for the top RTS games for over a decade - with a few notable exceptions, FPS titles have tended to fade in and out frequently, though they do tend to have very strong showings in that short lifespan.



In my mind, the pinnacle of the RTS genre (and possibly of gaming itself) is StarCraft: Brood War. It has supported competition at the highest levels since its release and has inspired a worldwide following rivaling that of some sports. In many ways, it is the archetype of 'e-sport'.



It is always an interesting exercise to try and figure out the genesis of the idea which would eventually blossom into modern RTS games. This is a contentious issue, with various titles being crowned the originator of the form and with various definitions being given to the genre in the first place. While I do have a distinct title in mind as the 'first' (Utopia), know that there are several legitimate opinions one can hold about this question and that, in the end, no one game truly originated the genre - it grew out of a series of similar games released throughout the 1980's.



In the beginning - 1982, that is - God created heaven and earth on the Intellivision, a little black console released in '79. Heaven was a pixelated blue void with technologically-limited musical abilities and earth was two islands with hurricane problems. God said, let there be real-time competition and there was Utopia and it was good.







Utopia, widely considered the first 'god game' (Civilization .5 is its posthumous nickname), was a 1982 title developed by American Don Daglow in which players owned an island full of people and competed to please their citizens the most by planting crops, building houses, going fishing and, in an awesomely nefarious turn, funding rebel activity on their opponent's island. It was 1982, remember, and the cold war was white hot, raging by proxy with rebellions all over the world - this mechanic was a profoundly zeitgeist-conscious move by Utopia's designer Daglow.



The game is played out over a series of 30 to 120 second turns (one match was your 'Term of Office') during which all decisions must be made as quickly and intelligently as possible, a feature which will ring familiar to modern RTS veterans.



Even now this is a fun game and, at its best, Utopia brings a smooth and comprehensive low-tech competition to your screen. It's certainly worth playing once or twice to get a feel for the genre's roots. Despite reportedly lackluster marketing, great press and numerous awards pushed sales of this game to over 250,000 copies.



A decade later, Daglow would lead the design team on the first ever graphical MMORPG, Neverwinter Nights, thus setting the stage for titles such as EverQuest and World of Warcraft. He is regarded as something of a ground breaker and rightfully so.







Stonkers, a 1983 British title developed by Imagine Software for the ZX Spectrum platform (an 8-bit competitor to the Commodore 64), is also a contender for the title of 'the original'.



In the game, you, the player, control cannons and tanks and must use resources in order to move and conquer the map. Though the game has an understandably and, frankly, charmingly antique set of visuals, the agonizingly slow pace - barely qualifying as 'real time' at all - dooms it to be more tedious than fun. Perhaps I am spoiled by the more modern and speedy output of the genre but, more likely, I am right in my impatience. This game is torture to even watch.







A year later, in 1984, The Ancient Art of War was released by American developers Evryware. Despite the short amount of time between it and Stonkers, Art of War is one of the prettiest video games of that bygone era when played on its highest setting, 16 colors. Other graphical settings included a, put politely, more drab 4 color look. The game featured two layers of strategy: Unit composition played a large role as three main units interacted with a rock-paper-scissors dynamic. Micromangement also played a role as players could adjust army formations before entering stick-figure battles to conquer the earth.



From 1984, various games came and went meeting a few but never all of the bars of a modern RTS game. The first game universally acknowledged to meet the tenets of the RTS genre was the Sega Genesis game Herzog Zwei (Duke 2 in German) by Japanese developer TechnoSoft in 1989. In the game, you only truly control one unit - your fighter jet - but through it, you can purchase units and issue very basic commands to them in order to wage truly real time war against your opponent. The game has the duel-characteristic of being both slow and high on micro-management requirement. Due to the purchased unit's knack to run out of fuel and become little more than rocks in the desert, the commander's fighter jet must work tirelessly in order to slowly creep their army toward victory.







It wasn't perfect, folks, and it didn't sell exceptionally well but this is Real Time Strategy without a doubt.



Even though the elements were there, the words 'real time strategy' were not uttered until the grand daddy of all RTS games came onto the scene in 1992 - Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty, a ridiculously prescient title for a genre-defining game to have.







Developed by Westwood Studios, who would later become famous for RTS giant Command & Conquer, designer Brett Sperry was the first to coin the now ubiquitous terminology: RTS.



Sperry told GameSpot that although he played and enjoyed titles like Herzog Zwei, he took inspiration for the new Dune game from role-playing games such as Eye of the Beholder, in which combat took place in real time.



Modern RTS gamers will immediately recognize Dune 2's visual set-up - the minimap, the command box and the playing screen are all implemented in ways that would be mimicked for years. Units built by gathered resources - spices, in Dune's case - were pioneered here. This is the first title which adheres to the now genre-defining model: "Harvest, build, destroy". In fact, a myriad of now taken-for-granted features first saw the light of day in the sands of Dune: Tech trees, army asymmetry, mouse-operated game play and total war 'till elimination originated here to name a few.



Two fateful omissions to the game would help leave room for a superior product to gain the limelight instead of Dune.



First, a stylistic choice: the game is slow. Although not agonizingly slow by any means, the game failed to take advantage of the many avenues of creativity that the genre offered by keeping the pace to a minimum rather than ramping the adrenaline up. And this is no mere hindsight - the games in the genre that immediately followed Dune were markedly faster. Rival developers, namely Blizzard, saw wasted potential and took advantage.



The second omitted feature can now be looked at as the defining gaffe, though at the time it must have seemed like a minor feature-choice: The lack of a multiplayer mode.



Although Warcraft was faster and a bit more colorful, the central advantage it had over its competitor was its multiplayer aspect. If speed increases the required level of creativity, talent and skill of an RTS by one measurement, multiplayer's influence on those fields amounts to an immeasurable boost. Just like today, computer opponents were easily tricked and meant that the game had a small, finite life-span. With human opponents entering the fray in a big way, RTS games inch toward a true match of wits, chess-like, one which can go back and forth for years if not decades.



Thus, the stage was set for Blizzard's entrance onto the Real Time Strategy stage.











http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjB6EsFxCjE&fmt=18



The Book of WarCraft



Warcraft has been called Blizzard's crown jewel franchise, their alpha and omega. It has also been called a lame theft of gameplay and lore. It is the game which finally brought the company to profitability and, although I look to the StarCraft franchise as Blizzard's tallest peak, the Warcraft franchise is undoubtedly their strong foundation.



The first brick in that foundation was laid in the summer of 1994 when a demo version of Warcraft: Orcs & Humans was released to much excitement. It was in the minimal but warm wake of Dune 2 that Warcraft's gameplay was styled, heavily mimicking its predecessor. In Warcraft, the gameplay was noticeably faster, the world was more colorful and intimate and, of course, the creative possibilities were immeasurably greater with the introduction of the multiplayer aspect. It was the first shot Blizzard fired in what would become a war for the genre.





WarCraft: Orcs & Humans, 1994 WarCraft: Orcs & Humans, 1994



After the original Warcraft, the next milestone RTS release was in 1995: Command & Conquer by Westwood Studios, the creators of Dune 2. Brett Sperry, a game designer and founder of Westwood, described C&C to Gamespot as a clean start on the idea of Real Time Strategy.



"Command & Conquer was the net result of the Dune 2 wish list," said Sperry. "It was time to build the ultimate RTS."



Following Warcraft, C&C was the next important multiplayer RTS title. Where Warcraft 1's gameplay was in many ways a (slightly) glorified clone of Dune 2, Westwood went in a much different direction with fundamental points such as the user interface, build mechanics and control of the army. For instance, the game did not have the attack-move command which we take for granted today. Players had to choose to attack each target individually.



C&C's online multiplayer games were scattered on various networks such as Kali, a name which will ring familiar to those with knowledge of Warcraft 2. Kali was the site where the first great games on a Blizzard title were played. Important players such as Guillaume "Grrrr..." Patry and other StarCraft and multi-RTS titans got their start on the multi-game network. C&C also saw gaming elevated on these networks as internet competition brought the best out of their game.



C&C's most distinguishing feature is that it sported the greatest distinction between opposing factions of its era. Blizzard wouldn't match the level of asymmetry until early 1998 with StarCraft.



However, without trying to malign the franchise, the first C&C's biggest contribution was attracting more fans to the genre. This is no small feat. Additionally, one cannot overlook it as the game which produced some of the first large online tournaments with significant cash prizes for winners. However, on the level of gameplay and visuals, games such as Warcraft 2 and StarCraft drew much more from other forefathers of the genre than from C&C. Still, this game and franchise is one of the most beloved and best selling in all of gaming.





Command & Conquer, 1995 Command & Conquer, 1995



Although Warcraft was not the first multiplayer title of its kind (Herzog Zwei, the first proto-RTS, gets that honor), it was the most important. If the transition from Dune 2 to Warcraft opened eyes to the possibilities of human opponents, if Command & Conquer opened the flow of money and adrenaline, Warcraft 2 is what opened minds and began to truly resemble what we know today as the competitive Real Time Strategy scene.



The Warcraft 1 demo and even the entire first game can fairly be called simply an appetite-whetting prelude to the blockbuster that was Warcraft 2. It took eight months for the sequel to be released, cutting the first game's lifespan short while ensuring that the franchise would become one of the most recognized in the world. It would go on to sell millions of copies.



"It was popular in school," said Blid, the 28 year old administrator for War2.ru, the largest surviving Warcraft 2 community in the world. "Not only did I have friends who I'd play over modem late at night, but I'd even hear about people I didn't know well but who played the game. And we'd arrange a time for one person to set his game to 'receive call' and the other to dial him up on the modem.



"The biggest difference between Warcraft 1 and 2 was the multiplayer," Blid continued. "Compared to the sequel, not many people played Warcraft multiplayer and it didn't have the same capabilities online. I think with Warcraft 2, a lot of people first started playing with modem-play. I was able to beat up on pretty much everyone, except one good friend. It was fun hearing of someone who was supposedly good and dialing up and taking him out.



"My one buddy though, Howard, I imitated his game a lot and still couldn't beat him. Once you bring in other people, even if it's only over modem, you start picking up on what you need to do to be more efficient and get the edge. Common strategies started getting passed around and aped. The two Barracks, low Peon rush was very common in my modem scene. Now, in the modern days, that strategy is basically just a gimmick, but at the time it was simple and people weren't sophisticated enough to repel it the ways they do now."



The signature of a great RTS game - or any great competitive game - is that of evolution. When StarCraft players are preaching the gospel and attempting to convert others into believers, the game's constant growth is one aspect which must be touched upon.



The game of StarCraft has continued to evolve for over a decade from the inside and out: that is, the base-game and the meta-game. The base-game meaning any strategy, action or method used in a game which remains within the limits of the prescribed ruleset and meta-game meaning any strategy which transcends the limits. This perpetual motion, the constant evolution has provided fans and players with endless fascination as a seemingly infinite stream of strategic discoveries are made. Warcraft 2 is where that sort of evolution began to pick up steam.





WarCraft 2, 1995 WarCraft 2, 1995



"Let me tell you, with Warcraft 2, the strategies have evolved incredibly," said Blid. "Things like making two Town Halls off the bat and protecting it against rushes was probably unbelievable to people in the early days. Now people all know the builds.



"On Kali, [the multiplayer predecessor to Battle.net], there was no shared vision and there were no replays so strategies might be proprietary information. If the guy you played wouldn't tell you, you'd have to fire up single player and try it out against people a few times. You figured it out through trial and error.



"If I brought the modern strategies back in time, no one would have any idea what to do with it. I'd be the greatest player alive. Now though, people also know the counters really well."



The game was a living, breathing entity and that is the mark of something great.



"Some of the biggest things, there's no way Blizzard factored in. The wall-ins and repairing unreachable from inside with a catapult or a tower for protection. The 2D grid gives you great walling and choking abilities and if you and you opponent start side by side, you'll start the fight with your first peon, trapping their peons and towering their town. And that is one of the most interesting components of the game. Those little wars almost never turn out the same."



"Pylons in StarCraft were designed with proxy-attacks partly in mind," said Dakine, a 24 year old Warcraft 2 player. "Flying Terran buildings, too. In Warcraft 2, this stuff was never a consideration." And yet, it all came into being with the creativity, ingenuity and experimentation of the players.



Compared to modern RTS games such as StarCraft, the Warcraft 2 community was and is a tight knit one. At the height of Warcraft 2's popularity, depending on your choice of locale (Kali, MSN Gaming Zone, AOL Gaming or Sega Heat gaming networks preceded Battle.net), you tended to play with a smaller group of opponents with whom you have an extended and familiar history. The Warcraft 2 community generally credits themselves with inventions of shorthand politenesses such as "GG GL HF" and "pwn". Remind me to thank them later.





WarCraft 2: Battle.net Edition, 1999 WarCraft 2: Battle.net Edition, 1999



The social aspect cannot be discounted. Today, we take for granted the social nature of video games and the internet as a whole. It is a huge part of what helps keep gamers sticking to a single title.



"Another thing that I think was unique about the Warcraft 2 experience is that since we all knew each other - the good players - we all sort of grew up together," said Dakine. "Before everything was a multiplayer game - like your phone is a gaming platform now, everything is - Warcraft 2 was one of the first human interactions that most of us had. It was awesome and we got hooked. Many of us are still a part of the community even though we haven't touched the game in a decade."



Warcraft 2's list of innovations was long:



The old concept of 'fog of war' (the blacking out of unexplored terrain) was tweaked. In previous games of the genre, once an area was explored, it became permanently visible. In Warcraft 2, the familiar and modern mechanic is implemented: A player must have a living unit within a short range of sight in order to see under the fog of war. Exploration revealed terrain but to stay current with the situation, you needed a pair of eyes there at all times.



The graphics were a huge upgrade from previous games and notably superior to its contemporaries. It was one of the only games with a 640x480 resolution at the time.



The ideas of a navy and a third resource (oil) were explored in Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness. With a few exceptions (Red Alert, for instance), that branch of the military has not had a successful run in the genre. Numerous resources have been attempted in various games with some degree of success (for instance, Rise of Nations had six distinct resources), but the blockbusters of the genre have stuck nearer two ever since.



Easy to use map editors became a great source of fun and contributed enormously to the replayability of the game. Although the custom map editors were initially freeware built by fans, Blizzard saw their utility, designed their own and thus set the standard for packaged map editors to this day.



Finally, Warcraft took the very minimal factional asymmetry (having different units and abilities in different armies) of Dune 2 and continued down that path, though not nearly to the degree of the Command & Conquer series. Although Orcs and Humans are almost the same, the differences that are present - namely spells such as Bloodlust - are enough to make Orcs the far superior race, used exclusively at almost every level of play. This unsuccessfully balanced asymmetry and to a greater extent the asymmetry of C&C, was enough to set the tone and lead the way to StarCraft, where asymmetry was perfected to a degree not

since matched in any game.



By the time the Warcraft versus C&C rivalry was going full speed, it was obvious to everyone paying attention that Real Time Strategy games could mean big money. Big studios and small studios alike contributed to a torrent of RTS games hitting the market in the wake of the Big Two's success. Most were panned by critics and fans and contributed nothing to the genre.



However, C&C continued to build its much-loved franchise with Red Alert in 1996. Innovation was not the key word with this installment, refinement was. The user interface was improved and features from competing RTS titles such as control groups (directing a group of units with a single key) were added for easier command. Army asymmetry was increased and, for its time, Red Alert boasted the most diverse unit roster in the genre. Last but certainly not least, competitive online play came to the forefront with this title, continuing the tradition of the genre to inspire a great competition in all who touch it.







Total Annihilation, 1997 Total Annihilation, 1997



1997 saw the release of Total Annihilation designed by American Chris Taylor. The 3D units and terrain and the ability to issue complex orders to individual units (such as multiple sequenced orders in a queue or recurring ones like patrol) were major selling points. The game did extremely well with critics and fans alike.



It developed a particularly vocal community in the late 90's with an especially pronounced inferiority complex concerning StarCraft's astronomical commercial success. In writing a brief history of the RTS genre, Gamespot's Bruce Geryk goes as far as to say that Total Annihilation was "superior on many technical levels" to StarCraft and continues on to assert that it is only Blizzard's style and panache as opposed to substance, gameplay or community that led to their game's larger success. In the early years of StarCraft's existence, the TA versus SC rivalry was a more hostile and widespread version of the Warcraft versus C&C rivalry of five years prior.





Age of Empires, 1997 Age of Empires, 1997



Another 1997 title was Age of Empires by the Americans at Ensemble Studios. This was the patriarch of a franchise which would eventually go on to sell over 20 million copies over the course of ten titles and 11 years.



Commercially, this is one of the most successful strategy franchises of all time. It took the idea of technological advancement (tech trees) and stretched it out over eons with the 'ages' dynamic. The game started in the Stone Age and progressed through the Iron Age, a period of time which covers approximately 2.5 million years on earth. The game itself managed to progress through the periods slightly faster. Additionally, the game was one of the first in the genre to bring match replays to the forefront after FPS Quake had proven their immense worth.



Age of Empires brought a considerably randomly generated maps and unique resource dynamic to the genre.



"For example," writes ilnp, a competitive RTS veteran, "food gathering in the early game required scouting to find it, micromanagement to hunt it with no casualties and constant management for finding new animals to hunt when your supply ran out. This provided a large skill difference between different levels of play as the harder ways to get good were the most lucrative. Village harassment played a huge role as resources and buildings were much more spread out than in StarCraft. Overall, Age of Empires is a very underrated game with the StarCraft crowd."



The game brought a great deal of polish and historical drama. I know I am not alone in having read through guidebooks of the Civilization and the Age of Empire series - two franchises who shared designer Bruce Shelley. These video games sparked a love of history in tens of thousands of children at least. The next time a man on a soapbox calls video games useless and harmful to children, hit them the face with this book (or your hand if you are reading the e-book) and explain their ability to inspire.



On the video game tree of life, real time tactical strategy games split off around this time. The advent of series such as 1997's Myth, developed by American studio Bungie of Halo fame, would set the stage for an entire sub-genre or subspecies which would come to flourish in the new millenium. This evolutionary tree of life concept will be explored in my next book, The Origin of Species. Just kidding, I hope.



As 1997 came to a close, the RTS genre was becoming more and more saturated. Fans became more discerning and it became increasingly difficult to get an original franchise off the ground, though not to the extent of difficulty that exists today.



In that state, the world spun into 1998.



















The Book of StarCraft

"Successful innovation has consistently proved to be fluid and flexible, fast and furious - that is, passionate."

Robert Heller



There was life Before StarCraft (BS) and after. Its 1998 release was obviously a milestone and an evolutionary leap for not only the genre, but for video games as a whole. The culture surrounding games was never the same after '98 and StarCraft was a huge contributor to that. Half-Life, Resident Evil 2, Tekken 3, Unreal, Metal Gear Solid, Ocarina of Time, Brood War and several other phenomenal games make it a watershed year in the history of gaming. For the sake of our sanity, let's keep our focus on StarCraft. Just typing that last paragraph made me dizzy with nostalgia.



As I've explained in the previous chapter, StarCraft's RTS contemporaries were quality games, often with innovations and worthwhile gameplay in their own right. Upon StarCraft's release, legitimate arguments were taking place wondering which game was superior and which would reign supreme. Total Annihilation and Command & Conquer fans touted their games as above and beyond StarCraft for years.



StarCraft's superiority was not so apparent immediately following its release. It took patches and the development of the game into a fast-paced strategic masterpiece that supported an intellectually impressive meta-game and a bloodthirsty competition like none other in order to fully arrive at the fact of its dominance.



Once one begins examining the state of today's competitive StarCraft, it becomes apparent that the game is worlds away from where it was in 1998. The key to StarCraft's superiority is not so much in where the game has gone as it is in the fact that the game can so readily go places. Most other games are monolithic and immovable objects. Following StarCraft from its release has been like speeding in the world's first automobile while most bystanders just keep walking.



A combination of luck, patience and excellent decisions led StarCraft to become the premiere competitive game of all time, so stubborn that after a decade of high level play and passionate fans, it would not be bled dry.



The discussion of which game was at the top of the RTS genre was a legitimate one in 1998. In 2010, if you are still having that discussion, there is something that millions of fans know that you don't. Allow us to enlighten you.



There has been a competition inside men and women since well before the first user-controlled pixel lit up and took off across the screen. Still, that pixel has done nothing if not throw a little gasoline on that competitive fire, providing an immense number of new ways and places to square off. From Pong to the big arcades and into the present day, the urge to compete persists. One genre of video games which has always worn a particular affinity for this aspect of gaming on its sleeve is the RTS.Real Time Strategy (RTS) is a genre of video games in which a player is at war with an opponent and, through the accumulation of resources as well as construction and management of an army and infrastructure, the player must destroy that opponent. Because of the distinct lack of turns (present in the cousin-genre, Turn-Based Strategy or TBS), the games are all, to varying degrees, influenced by the speed at which the players operate. At least, this is the malleable definition that we can all start with.But you knew that, right? What is it that makes RTS special?Since the dawn of the modern RTS age in the mid to late 90's, this is one of only two genres (the other being First Person Shooters, FPS) which has consistently produced games played at a high competitive level for long periods of time. While modern FPS titles are far and away higher earners for developers, the RTS genre is neck and neck with FPS as far as competitive chops. Professional leagues have existed continuously for the top RTS games for over a decade - with a few notable exceptions, FPS titles have tended to fade in and out frequently, though they do tend to have very strong showings in that short lifespan.In my mind, the pinnacle of the RTS genre (and possibly of gaming itself) is StarCraft: Brood War. It has supported competition at the highest levels since its release and has inspired a worldwide following rivaling that of some sports. In many ways, it is the archetype of 'e-sport'.It is always an interesting exercise to try and figure out the genesis of the idea which would eventually blossom into modern RTS games. This is a contentious issue, with various titles being crowned the originator of the form and with various definitions being given to the genre in the first place. While I do have a distinct title in mind as the 'first' (Utopia), know that there are several legitimate opinions one can hold about this question and that, in the end, no one game truly originated the genre - it grew out of a series of similar games released throughout the 1980's.In the beginning - 1982, that is - God created heaven and earth on the Intellivision, a little black console released in '79. Heaven was a pixelated blue void with technologically-limited musical abilities and earth was two islands with hurricane problems. God said, let there be real-time competition and there was Utopia and it was good.Utopia, widely considered the first 'god game' (Civilization .5 is its posthumous nickname), was a 1982 title developed by American Don Daglow in which players owned an island full of people and competed to please their citizens the most by planting crops, building houses, going fishing and, in an awesomely nefarious turn, funding rebel activity on their opponent's island. It was 1982, remember, and the cold war was white hot, raging by proxy with rebellions all over the world - this mechanic was a profoundly zeitgeist-conscious move by Utopia's designer Daglow.The game is played out over a series of 30 to 120 second turns (one match was your 'Term of Office') during which all decisions must be made as quickly and intelligently as possible, a feature which will ring familiar to modern RTS veterans.Even now this is a fun game and, at its best, Utopia brings a smooth and comprehensive low-tech competition to your screen. It's certainly worth playing once or twice to get a feel for the genre's roots. Despite reportedly lackluster marketing, great press and numerous awards pushed sales of this game to over 250,000 copies.A decade later, Daglow would lead the design team on the first ever graphical MMORPG, Neverwinter Nights, thus setting the stage for titles such as EverQuest and World of Warcraft. He is regarded as something of a ground breaker and rightfully so.Stonkers, a 1983 British title developed by Imagine Software for the ZX Spectrum platform (an 8-bit competitor to the Commodore 64), is also a contender for the title of 'the original'.In the game, you, the player, control cannons and tanks and must use resources in order to move and conquer the map. Though the game has an understandably and, frankly, charmingly antique set of visuals, the agonizingly slow pace - barely qualifying as 'real time' at all - dooms it to be more tedious than fun. Perhaps I am spoiled by the more modern and speedy output of the genre but, more likely, I am right in my impatience. This game is torture to even watch.A year later, in 1984, The Ancient Art of War was released by American developers Evryware. Despite the short amount of time between it and Stonkers, Art of War is one of the prettiest video games of that bygone era when played on its highest setting, 16 colors. Other graphical settings included a, put politely, more drab 4 color look. The game featured two layers of strategy: Unit composition played a large role as three main units interacted with a rock-paper-scissors dynamic. Micromangement also played a role as players could adjust army formations before entering stick-figure battles to conquer the earth.From 1984, various games came and went meeting a few but never all of the bars of a modern RTS game. The first game universally acknowledged to meet the tenets of the RTS genre was the Sega Genesis game Herzog Zwei (Duke 2 in German) by Japanese developer TechnoSoft in 1989. In the game, you only truly control one unit - your fighter jet - but through it, you can purchase units and issue very basic commands to them in order to wage truly real time war against your opponent. The game has the duel-characteristic of being both slow and high on micro-management requirement. Due to the purchased unit's knack to run out of fuel and become little more than rocks in the desert, the commander's fighter jet must work tirelessly in order to slowly creep their army toward victory.It wasn't perfect, folks, and it didn't sell exceptionally well but this is Real Time Strategy without a doubt.Even though the elements were there, the words 'real time strategy' were not uttered until the grand daddy of all RTS games came onto the scene in 1992 - Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty, a ridiculously prescient title for a genre-defining game to have.Developed by Westwood Studios, who would later become famous for RTS giant Command & Conquer, designer Brett Sperry was the first to coin the now ubiquitous terminology: RTS.Sperry told GameSpot that although he played and enjoyed titles like Herzog Zwei, he took inspiration for the new Dune game from role-playing games such as Eye of the Beholder, in which combat took place in real time.Modern RTS gamers will immediately recognize Dune 2's visual set-up - the minimap, the command box and the playing screen are all implemented in ways that would be mimicked for years. Units built by gathered resources - spices, in Dune's case - were pioneered here. This is the first title which adheres to the now genre-defining model: "Harvest, build, destroy". In fact, a myriad of now taken-for-granted features first saw the light of day in the sands of Dune: Tech trees, army asymmetry, mouse-operated game play and total war 'till elimination originated here to name a few.Two fateful omissions to the game would help leave room for a superior product to gain the limelight instead of Dune.First, a stylistic choice: the game is slow. Although not agonizingly slow by any means, the game failed to take advantage of the many avenues of creativity that the genre offered by keeping the pace to a minimum rather than ramping the adrenaline up. And this is no mere hindsight - the games in the genre that immediately followed Dune were markedly faster. Rival developers, namely Blizzard, saw wasted potential and took advantage.The second omitted feature can now be looked at as the defining gaffe, though at the time it must have seemed like a minor feature-choice: The lack of a multiplayer mode.Although Warcraft was faster and a bit more colorful, the central advantage it had over its competitor was its multiplayer aspect. If speed increases the required level of creativity, talent and skill of an RTS by one measurement, multiplayer's influence on those fields amounts to an immeasurable boost. Just like today, computer opponents were easily tricked and meant that the game had a small, finite life-span. With human opponents entering the fray in a big way, RTS games inch toward a true match of wits, chess-like, one which can go back and forth for years if not decades.Thus, the stage was set for Blizzard's entrance onto the Real Time Strategy stage.Warcraft has been called Blizzard's crown jewel franchise, their alpha and omega. It has also been called a lame theft of gameplay and lore. It is the game which finally brought the company to profitability and, although I look to the StarCraft franchise as Blizzard's tallest peak, the Warcraft franchise is undoubtedly their strong foundation.The first brick in that foundation was laid in the summer of 1994 when a demo version of Warcraft: Orcs & Humans was released to much excitement. It was in the minimal but warm wake of Dune 2 that Warcraft's gameplay was styled, heavily mimicking its predecessor. In Warcraft, the gameplay was noticeably faster, the world was more colorful and intimate and, of course, the creative possibilities were immeasurably greater with the introduction of the multiplayer aspect. It was the first shot Blizzard fired in what would become a war for the genre.After the original Warcraft, the next milestone RTS release was in 1995: Command & Conquer by Westwood Studios, the creators of Dune 2. Brett Sperry, a game designer and founder of Westwood, described C&C to Gamespot as a clean start on the idea of Real Time Strategy."Command & Conquer was the net result of the Dune 2 wish list," said Sperry. "It was time to build the ultimate RTS."Following Warcraft, C&C was the next important multiplayer RTS title. Where Warcraft 1's gameplay was in many ways a (slightly) glorified clone of Dune 2, Westwood went in a much different direction with fundamental points such as the user interface, build mechanics and control of the army. For instance, the game did not have the attack-move command which we take for granted today. Players had to choose to attack each target individually.C&C's online multiplayer games were scattered on various networks such as Kali, a name which will ring familiar to those with knowledge of Warcraft 2. Kali was the site where the first great games on a Blizzard title were played. Important players such as Guillaume "Grrrr..." Patry and other StarCraft and multi-RTS titans got their start on the multi-game network. C&C also saw gaming elevated on these networks as internet competition brought the best out of their game.C&C's most distinguishing feature is that it sported the greatest distinction between opposing factions of its era. Blizzard wouldn't match the level of asymmetry until early 1998 with StarCraft.However, without trying to malign the franchise, the first C&C's biggest contribution was attracting more fans to the genre. This is no small feat. Additionally, one cannot overlook it as the game which produced some of the first large online tournaments with significant cash prizes for winners. However, on the level of gameplay and visuals, games such as Warcraft 2 and StarCraft drew much more from other forefathers of the genre than from C&C. Still, this game and franchise is one of the most beloved and best selling in all of gaming.Although Warcraft was not the first multiplayer title of its kind (Herzog Zwei, the first proto-RTS, gets that honor), it was the most important. If the transition from Dune 2 to Warcraft opened eyes to the possibilities of human opponents, if Command & Conquer opened the flow of money and adrenaline, Warcraft 2 is what opened minds and began to truly resemble what we know today as the competitive Real Time Strategy scene.The Warcraft 1 demo and even the entire first game can fairly be called simply an appetite-whetting prelude to the blockbuster that was Warcraft 2. It took eight months for the sequel to be released, cutting the first game's lifespan short while ensuring that the franchise would become one of the most recognized in the world. It would go on to sell millions of copies."It was popular in school," said Blid, the 28 year old administrator for War2.ru, the largest surviving Warcraft 2 community in the world. "Not only did I have friends who I'd play over modem late at night, but I'd even hear about people I didn't know well but who played the game. And we'd arrange a time for one person to set his game to 'receive call' and the other to dial him up on the modem."The biggest difference between Warcraft 1 and 2 was the multiplayer," Blid continued. "Compared to the sequel, not many people played Warcraft multiplayer and it didn't have the same capabilities online. I think with Warcraft 2, a lot of people first started playing with modem-play. I was able to beat up on pretty much everyone, except one good friend. It was fun hearing of someone who was supposedly good and dialing up and taking him out."My one buddy though, Howard, I imitated his game a lot and still couldn't beat him. Once you bring in other people, even if it's only over modem, you start picking up on what you need to do to be more efficient and get the edge. Common strategies started getting passed around and aped. The two Barracks, low Peon rush was very common in my modem scene. Now, in the modern days, that strategy is basically just a gimmick, but at the time it was simple and people weren't sophisticated enough to repel it the ways they do now."The signature of a great RTS game - or any great competitive game - is that of evolution. When StarCraft players are preaching the gospel and attempting to convert others into believers, the game's constant growth is one aspect which must be touched upon.The game of StarCraft has continued to evolve for over a decade from the inside and out: that is, the base-game and the meta-game. The base-game meaning any strategy, action or method used in a game which remains within the limits of the prescribed ruleset and meta-game meaning any strategy which transcends the limits. This perpetual motion, the constant evolution has provided fans and players with endless fascination as a seemingly infinite stream of strategic discoveries are made. Warcraft 2 is where that sort of evolution began to pick up steam."Let me tell you, with Warcraft 2, the strategies have evolved incredibly," said Blid. "Things like making two Town Halls off the bat and protecting it against rushes was probably unbelievable to people in the early days. Now people all know the builds."On Kali, [the multiplayer predecessor to Battle.net], there was no shared vision and there were no replays so strategies might be proprietary information. If the guy you played wouldn't tell you, you'd have to fire up single player and try it out against people a few times. You figured it out through trial and error."If I brought the modern strategies back in time, no one would have any idea what to do with it. I'd be the greatest player alive. Now though, people also know the counters really well."The game was a living, breathing entity and that is the mark of something great."Some of the biggest things, there's no way Blizzard factored in. The wall-ins and repairing unreachable from inside with a catapult or a tower for protection. The 2D grid gives you great walling and choking abilities and if you and you opponent start side by side, you'll start the fight with your first peon, trapping their peons and towering their town. And that is one of the most interesting components of the game. Those little wars almost never turn out the same.""Pylons in StarCraft were designed with proxy-attacks partly in mind," said Dakine, a 24 year old Warcraft 2 player. "Flying Terran buildings, too. In Warcraft 2, this stuff was never a consideration." And yet, it all came into being with the creativity, ingenuity and experimentation of the players.Compared to modern RTS games such as StarCraft, the Warcraft 2 community was and is a tight knit one. At the height of Warcraft 2's popularity, depending on your choice of locale (Kali, MSN Gaming Zone, AOL Gaming or Sega Heat gaming networks preceded Battle.net), you tended to play with a smaller group of opponents with whom you have an extended and familiar history. The Warcraft 2 community generally credits themselves with inventions of shorthand politenesses such as "GG GL HF" and "pwn". Remind me to thank them later.The social aspect cannot be discounted. Today, we take for granted the social nature of video games and the internet as a whole. It is a huge part of what helps keep gamers sticking to a single title."Another thing that I think was unique about the Warcraft 2 experience is that since we all knew each other - the good players - we all sort of grew up together," said Dakine. "Before everything was a multiplayer game - like your phone is a gaming platform now, everything is - Warcraft 2 was one of the first human interactions that most of us had. It was awesome and we got hooked. Many of us are still a part of the community even though we haven't touched the game in a decade."Warcraft 2's list of innovations was long:The old concept of 'fog of war' (the blacking out of unexplored terrain) was tweaked. In previous games of the genre, once an area was explored, it became permanently visible. In Warcraft 2, the familiar and modern mechanic is implemented: A player must have a living unit within a short range of sight in order to see under the fog of war. Exploration revealed terrain but to stay current with the situation, you needed a pair of eyes there at all times.The graphics were a huge upgrade from previous games and notably superior to its contemporaries. It was one of the only games with a 640x480 resolution at the time.The ideas of a navy and a third resource (oil) were explored in Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness. With a few exceptions (Red Alert, for instance), that branch of the military has not had a successful run in the genre. Numerous resources have been attempted in various games with some degree of success (for instance, Rise of Nations had six distinct resources), but the blockbusters of the genre have stuck nearer two ever since.Easy to use map editors became a great source of fun and contributed enormously to the replayability of the game. Although the custom map editors were initially freeware built by fans, Blizzard saw their utility, designed their own and thus set the standard for packaged map editors to this day.Finally, Warcraft took the very minimal factional asymmetry (having different units and abilities in different armies) of Dune 2 and continued down that path, though not nearly to the degree of the Command & Conquer series. Although Orcs and Humans are almost the same, the differences that are present - namely spells such as Bloodlust - are enough to make Orcs the far superior race, used exclusively at almost every level of play. This unsuccessfully balanced asymmetry and to a greater extent the asymmetry of C&C, was enough to set the tone and lead the way to StarCraft, where asymmetry was perfected to a degree notsince matched in any game.By the time the Warcraft versus C&C rivalry was going full speed, it was obvious to everyone paying attention that Real Time Strategy games could mean big money. Big studios and small studios alike contributed to a torrent of RTS games hitting the market in the wake of the Big Two's success. Most were panned by critics and fans and contributed nothing to the genre.However, C&C continued to build its much-loved franchise with Red Alert in 1996. Innovation was not the key word with this installment, refinement was. The user interface was improved and features from competing RTS titles such as control groups (directing a group of units with a single key) were added for easier command. Army asymmetry was increased and, for its time, Red Alert boasted the most diverse unit roster in the genre. Last but certainly not least, competitive online play came to the forefront with this title, continuing the tradition of the genre to inspire a great competition in all who touch it.1997 saw the release of Total Annihilation designed by American Chris Taylor. The 3D units and terrain and the ability to issue complex orders to individual units (such as multiple sequenced orders in a queue or recurring ones like patrol) were major selling points. The game did extremely well with critics and fans alike.It developed a particularly vocal community in the late 90's with an especially pronounced inferiority complex concerning StarCraft's astronomical commercial success. In writing a brief history of the RTS genre, Gamespot's Bruce Geryk goes as far as to say that Total Annihilation was "superior on many technical levels" to StarCraft and continues on to assert that it is only Blizzard's style and panache as opposed to substance, gameplay or community that led to their game's larger success. In the early years of StarCraft's existence, the TA versus SC rivalry was a more hostile and widespread version of the Warcraft versus C&C rivalry of five years prior.Another 1997 title was Age of Empires by the Americans at Ensemble Studios. This was the patriarch of a franchise which would eventually go on to sell over 20 million copies over the course of ten titles and 11 years.Commercially, this is one of the most successful strategy franchises of all time. It took the idea of technological advancement (tech trees) and stretched it out over eons with the 'ages' dynamic. The game started in the Stone Age and progressed through the Iron Age, a period of time which covers approximately 2.5 million years on earth. The game itself managed to progress through the periods slightly faster. Additionally, the game was one of the first in the genre to bring match replays to the forefront after FPS Quake had proven their immense worth.Age of Empires brought a considerably randomly generated maps and unique resource dynamic to the genre."For example," writes ilnp, a competitive RTS veteran, "food gathering in the early game required scouting to find it, micromanagement to hunt it with no casualties and constant management for finding new animals to hunt when your supply ran out. This provided a large skill difference between different levels of play as the harder ways to get good were the most lucrative. Village harassment played a huge role as resources and buildings were much more spread out than in StarCraft. Overall, Age of Empires is a very underrated game with the StarCraft crowd."The game brought a great deal of polish and historical drama. I know I am not alone in having read through guidebooks of the Civilization and the Age of Empire series - two franchises who shared designer Bruce Shelley. These video games sparked a love of history in tens of thousands of children at least. The next time a man on a soapbox calls video games useless and harmful to children, hit them the face with this book (or your hand if you are reading the e-book) and explain their ability to inspire.On the video game tree of life, real time tactical strategy games split off around this time. The advent of series such as 1997's Myth, developed by American studio Bungie of Halo fame, would set the stage for an entire sub-genre or subspecies which would come to flourish in the new millenium. This evolutionary tree of life concept will be explored in my next book, The Origin of Species. Just kidding, I hope.As 1997 came to a close, the RTS genre was becoming more and more saturated. Fans became more discerning and it became increasingly difficult to get an original franchise off the ground, though not to the extent of difficulty that exists today.In that state, the world spun into 1998."Successful innovation has consistently proved to be fluid and flexible, fast and furious - that is, passionate."Robert HellerThere was life Before StarCraft (BS) and after. Its 1998 release was obviously a milestone and an evolutionary leap for not only the genre, but for video games as a whole. The culture surrounding games was never the same after '98 and StarCraft was a huge contributor to that. Half-Life, Resident Evil 2, Tekken 3, Unreal, Metal Gear Solid, Ocarina of Time, Brood War and several other phenomenal games make it a watershed year in the history of gaming. For the sake of our sanity, let's keep our focus on StarCraft. Just typing that last paragraph made me dizzy with nostalgia.As I've explained in the previous chapter, StarCraft's RTS contemporaries were quality games, often with innovations and worthwhile gameplay in their own right. Upon StarCraft's release, legitimate arguments were taking place wondering which game was superior and which would reign supreme. Total Annihilation and Command & Conquer fans touted their games as above and beyond StarCraft for years.StarCraft's superiority was not so apparent immediately following its release. It took patches and the development of the game into a fast-paced strategic masterpiece that supported an intellectually impressive meta-game and a bloodthirsty competition like none other in order to fully arrive at the fact of its dominance.Once one begins examining the state of today's competitive StarCraft, it becomes apparent that the game is worlds away from where it was in 1998. The key to StarCraft's superiority is not so much in where the game has gone as it is in the fact that the game can so readily go places. Most other games are monolithic and immovable objects. Following StarCraft from its release has been like speeding in the world's first automobile while most bystanders just keep walking.A combination of luck, patience and excellent decisions led StarCraft to become the premiere competitive game of all time, so stubborn that after a decade of high level play and passionate fans, it would not be bled dry.The discussion of which game was at the top of the RTS genre was a legitimate one in 1998. In 2010, if you are still having that discussion, there is something that millions of fans know that you don't. Allow us to enlighten you. +



Blizzard today is a company known for its delays, a group of people who will wait and wait until a game is truly ready, no matter the cost. In the middle of the 90's, the opposite was true. After releasing a torrent of mostly middling console games from '91 to '93, Warcraft and Warcraft 2 were released within eight months of each other. StarCraft was slated to move out at a similar pace.







In 2008, Sam Didier, the art director at Blizzard, told EuroGamer that the team moved quickly and took some of the old Warcraft stuff, and said 'let's draw over them and give them a space feel.'

"We did that and it was rushed," said Didier, "and obviously [it was] not the coolest thing in the world."



Everyone agreed. StarCraft's first public showings at the 1996 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and the 1996 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) were universally panned as "Orcs in Space", simply a unenthusiastically made knock-off. This was a criticism that was startlingly accurate. The artwork as well as the dynamics of the game essentially added up to a clone of Warcraft 2. Those involved have since fessed up, admitting that a purple-tinged clone is exactly what they were aiming for.







However, it is not what they would end up with. Negative reviews of the new game were everywhere Blizzard looked and so the team set to work on rewriting the game engine and creating a new look for the universe that came to be known as StarCraft.



3D tools (specifically, 3D Studio Max) were used to create a different aesthetic, visually and in the gameplay itself, though a full 3D conversion was avoided by Blizzard. This decision, made with the opinion that 3D would sacrifice the quality of gameplay, was lamented by some at the time. Years later, with numerous lackluster 3D RTS titles on the market, the developer's feeling of vindication for that choice has not worn off.



StarCraft was Blizzard's first strategy game in which the faction's units were not remotely symmetrical. The designers thought of Warcraft 2 as a game with chess pieces - equal parts, for the most part, doing battle on equal terms. On the contrary, the diversity of units in StarCraft was and, for the most part, is unparalleled. The Zerg, Terran and Protoss are three utterly unique factions whose main characteristics are completely exclusive of the other two races.



As development continued, ideas were added and shed. One particularly strange idea that did not make it to the final product was revealed by Bill Roper, the producer of StarCraft, in 1996: There would be three theaters of war (space, planetary and installation) and only a small number of units would be available in each, thus requiring completely different approaches to strategy. This idea was dropped quickly.



The 1997 showings of the game were received much more positively thanks to the many changes implemented. Rather than the top-down view of Warcraft, StarCraft adopted an isometric view so as to give the world a 3D feel. Likewise, the units had received major visual upgrades. Glenn Stafford, the man behind the music of Warcraft 2, was charged with creating a soundtrack for the new sci-fi game. The interface was shifted and given a much-needed face lift. It is considered so efficient and well done that a decade later, StarCraft 2's interface is not much more than a shinier copy of its predecessor.



As has become standard Blizzard practice, units were born and transformed throughout the development process. Many of the units we know today went through various phases (the Terran Science Vessel once had legs, the Wraith was called the Phoenix) before reaching their final name, appearance and functionality.



Blizzard today is a company known for its delays, a group of people who will wait and wait until a game is truly ready, no matter the cost. In the middle of the 90's, the opposite was true. After releasing a torrent of mostly middling console games from '91 to '93, Warcraft and Warcraft 2 were released within eight months of each other. StarCraft was slated to move out at a similar pace.In 2008, Sam Didier, the art director at Blizzard, told EuroGamer that the team moved quickly and took some of the old Warcraft stuff, and said 'let's draw over them and give them a space feel.'"We did that and it was rushed," said Didier, "and obviously [it was] not the coolest thing in the world."Everyone agreed. StarCraft's first public showings at the 1996 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and the 1996 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) were universally panned as "Orcs in Space", simply a unenthusiastically made knock-off. This was a criticism that was startlingly accurate. The artwork as well as the dynamics of the game essentially added up to a clone of Warcraft 2. Those involved have since fessed up, admitting that a purple-tinged clone is exactly what they were aiming for.However, it is not what they would end up with. Negative reviews of the new game were everywhere Blizzard looked and so the team set to work on rewriting the game engine and creating a new look for the universe that came to be known as StarCraft.3D tools (specifically, 3D Studio Max) were used to create a different aesthetic, visually and in the gameplay itself, though a full 3D conversion was avoided by Blizzard. This decision, made with the opinion that 3D would sacrifice the quality of gameplay, was lamented by some at the time. Years later, with numerous lackluster 3D RTS titles on the market, the developer's feeling of vindication for that choice has not worn off.StarCraft was Blizzard's first strategy game in which the faction's units were not remotely symmetrical. The designers thought of Warcraft 2 as a game with chess pieces - equal parts, for the most part, doing battle on equal terms. On the contrary, the diversity of units in StarCraft was and, for the most part, is unparalleled. The Zerg, Terran and Protoss are three utterly unique factions whose main characteristics are completely exclusive of the other two races.As development continued, ideas were added and shed. One particularly strange idea that did not make it to the final product was revealed by Bill Roper, the producer of StarCraft, in 1996: There would be three theaters of war (space, planetary and installation) and only a small number of units would be available in each, thus requiring completely different approaches to strategy. This idea was dropped quickly.The 1997 showings of the game were received much more positively thanks to the many changes implemented. Rather than the top-down view of Warcraft, StarCraft adopted an isometric view so as to give the world a 3D feel. Likewise, the units had received major visual upgrades. Glenn Stafford, the man behind the music of Warcraft 2, was charged with creating a soundtrack for the new sci-fi game. The interface was shifted and given a much-needed face lift. It is considered so efficient and well done that a decade later, StarCraft 2's interface is not much more than a shinier copy of its predecessor.As has become standard Blizzard practice, units were born and transformed throughout the development process. Many of the units we know today went through various phases (the Terran Science Vessel once had legs, the Wraith was called the Phoenix) before reaching their final name, appearance and functionality. +



After almost two years of soon-to-be characteristic delays, March 31, 1998 saw the release of StarCraft in the West (it would be released in South Korea later). Already, a relatively major competitive scene had developed.



There was immediately a large immigration of players from Warcraft 2, whose competitive scene effectively ceased to exist soon thereafter. The StarCraft beta test saw the development of individual talents and the game was already developing into a giant of e-sports. Finally, upon release, overwhelmingly positive reviews combined with hype from Warcraft and the red-hot RTS genre added up to an enormous sales and player base.



"Slick."



"Cutting edge."



The game was Blizzard's biggest launch to date, selling one million copies in three months - an impressive feat in that era.



In 1998, you had to strain mightily to find a critic who found major fault with StarCraft. They did exist, of course, and the comment sections of their articles have since been filed with 12 years' worth of I-told-you-so put downs.



Before I continue on to discuss some of the major complaints about StarCraft, I must note that the game as it stands today is not the same game which Blizzard released in '98. It took approximately three years of patches and fixes until May 2001 (patch 1.08) before the game had essentially the same foundation as it has today. Still, many of these complaints do not apply to anything changed during that period, rather to core game concepts and so I think that they are worth briefly discussing.



Some critic's negative remarks focused on the lackluster single player, revealing that the author so thoroughly missed the point that they had come back around and hit themselves in the face. As with all Blizzard's RTS titles before StarCraft 2, StarCraft's single player is a dinky little distraction in the grand scheme of things, fun for some (I enjoy it on occasion) and skipped by others but of relatively little lasting impact.



On the other hand, this was 1998 and the "average" gamer (as '98 critics understood them) was not necessarily looking for a multiplayer experience such as the one StarCraft offered. I understand this and, so, I do see the critic's side of it. You must forgive me for getting defensive and insulting back there. I don't know what got into me.



The most common complaint at the time was that the game lacked originality. I find myself cutting these critics some slack. The game was released on the (heavily modified) Warcraft 2 engine and so, even with the substantial visual upgrades, could certain be pointed out as clearly Warcraft's offspring - Warcraft itself started with questionable originality.



A few critics pointed to Dune 2 as the originator of asymmetrical armies and said this was yet another copycat job by Blizzard. As we've already thoroughly been through, there is the smallest, tiniest bit of truth there! And yet these critics get no slack cut as over a dozen years of play have proven their dismissive underestimations of the game's diversity wrong again and again and again and . . .



Critics of the multiplayer (inexplicably including a Blizzard employee or two) have moaned and continue to bellyache that the game is more about speed than strategy, all about clicking quickly and not at all about thinking through your actions. Although these criticisms are among the most frustrating to hear, they are understandable. Without having a somewhat clear sense of the incredible depth of the StarCraft meta-game and the countless strategies visited over the course of the decade, it is easy to see astronomical numbers (300 to 400 actions per minute by professional players) and assume that speed is the lone, overwhelming factor in StarCraft success.



As we will explore, this particular qualm is largely wrong but do not rush out in a hate mob to assault the nearest critic just yet! Instead, we will explore the game and try to illuminate what it is about these assumptions that are false. But just in case, get your pitchforks sharp and torches burning.



Finally, any detractor whose principle complaint is that the game is not "original enough" deserves a roll of the eyes and this: Yes, the personality of the game was ripped from science fiction archetypes such as Warhammer 40K. Yes, the gameplay is clearly descended from its forefathers in the genre. And? When the sum total of the parts is superior and long-lasting brilliance, then complete originality for its own sake - rather than for the sake of quality - is overrated.



The short version: So what?



Now that I've been through some of the original complaints (original sins) and have got your blood boiling, we can recall that StarCraft has won honors such as 'Game of the Year' and 'Greatest Game of All Time' dozens of times as well as going on to sell over 11 million copies. Clearly, you and I are not the only fans of the series.



After almost two years of soon-to-be characteristic delays, March 31, 1998 saw the release of StarCraft in the West (it would be released in South Korea later). Already, a relatively major competitive scene had developed.There was immediately a large immigration of players from Warcraft 2, whose competitive scene effectively ceased to exist soon thereafter. The StarCraft beta test saw the development of individual talents and the game was already developing into a giant of e-sports. Finally, upon release, overwhelmingly positive reviews combined with hype from Warcraft and the red-hot RTS genre added up to an enormous sales and player base."Slick.""Cutting edge."The game was Blizzard's biggest launch to date, selling one million copies in three months - an impressive feat in tha