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StarCraft (video game)

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StarCraft (SC)
Front cover of the StarCraft installation CD
Developer(s)Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher(s)Blizzard Entertainment
Designer(s)Blizzard Entertainment
Platform(s)Windows, Mac OS, Mac OS X, Nintendo 64
ReleaseUnited States of America April 1 1998 (Windows)
Genre(s)Real-time strategy
Mode(s)Single player, multiplayer
For the champion New Zealand bred race horse, see Starcraft (horse).

StarCraft (SC) is a real-time strategy computer game by Blizzard Entertainment. Introduced in 1998, it was the best-selling computer game in that year and won the Origins Award for Best Strategy Computer Game of 1998. Blizzard estimated in 2005 that 9 million copies of StarCraft and its expansion pack, StarCraft: Brood War had been sold since its release [1], and it has achieved an international cult-like status in the computer gaming world, especially in its online multiplayer form.

Although in a science fiction setting, StarCraft is broadly similar to Blizzard's popular game Warcraft II. Developers tried greatly to steer the game away from being known as "Warcraft in Space," eventually rewriting the entire game engine. The game's main storyline follows a war amongst three galactic species: the human Terrans, the hive mind-sharing insectoid Zerg, and the psychic humanoid Protoss warriors. It was initially released as a hybrid for Apple and PC platforms and the Nintendo 64.

Though a best-seller all over the world, the game is especially popular in South Korea, with nationally recognized tournaments, training groups, professional players, and televised cable-access competitions that often broadcast live tournaments.

Basic gameplay

Main article: Gameplay of StarCraft

Gameplay centers on acquisition and control of resources, which are necessary to construct combat units and buildings. It features two kinds of resources: minerals (required for nearly all units) and Vespene gas (required for non-basic units and upgrades). Minerals appear as blue crystalline formations protruding from the ground and are 'harvested' or 'mined' by worker units (SCV for Terran, Drone for Zerg, Probe for Protoss) while Vespene gas appears as a geyser with green clouds erupting from it, and a certain structure (Refinery for Terrans, Extractor for Zerg, Assimilator for Protoss) must be constructed above it before SCVs/Drones/Probes can harvest Vespene Gas from it. In addition, players can create only a limited number of units (with the exception of the Zerg Overlord which is counted as a building for "supply/support" purposes): each unit has a "supply/support" rating roughly correlated with that unit's combat strength, and players must maintain enough unit-supporters (Supply Depots for Terrans, Pylons for the Protoss and Overlords for the Zerg) to support their forces.

File:Zergbase.jpg
A Zerg base with three Hatcheries, and a Lair in its center.

Players construct a variety of unit types and buildings that provide specialized upgrades to defeat their computer or human opponents. Management of resources, expansion to control resource locations, and effective application of offensive and defensive combat tactics are the keys to victory. The unit types available to each race define its racial identity. The Protoss can field powerful and expensive warriors and machinery, while the Zerg rely on sheer numbers and speed to overwhelm their opponents. The Terrans are the versatile and flexible alternative to both races, providing a compromise between specialization and combined arms.

See also: StarCraft units and structures

Basic gameplay improvements

StarCraft significantly improved upon Warcraft II, an earlier Blizzard production, which was criticized for its two similar races: Warcraft II's races, like those of its predecessor Warcraft, had only minor differences in spells and upgrade costs. StarCraft rectified this by implementing decisive asymmetries in the game races, a concept pioneered by the Strategic Simulations game War Wind.

Though the game's three races (Protoss, Terran, and Zerg) were slightly imbalanced when the game was first released, the expansion pack and twenty patches[1] (of which four affected the gameplay) have balanced the three races to most players' satisfaction. The Brood War expansion released by Blizzard in 1998 provided several new units for each race (which dramatically changed the gameplay) and a new campaign for each race, continuing the original StarCraft story (see StarCraft storyline). Some of the Brood War units such as Dark Templar were available in StarCraft at the beginning of single-player missions, but could not be produced. Many exclusive upgrades to each race's units were also created in Brood War.

Multiplayer

The game also includes multiplayer gaming on Blizzard's own Internet gaming service Battle.net. One can play against opponents, free of charge, beyond the original purchase of the game and local Internet access fees. Many fans enjoy playing in groups against the computer in skirmish games. While more experienced players generally do not find the AI challenging, decent early game performance can make it an enjoyable opponent for more casual players. Fans have also created maps that are advantageous to the computer and can be extremely hard to win.

For cooperative play, several people can play the same team (controlling the same units), or different teams that are "allied" so they do not harm each other. Up to eight spots can be filled in a game, either by players or computers. Another popular type of multiplayer game is the "comp[uter] stomp". A "comp stomp" is a game in which a group of human players faces a team of AI-controlled players.

Clans are groups of people, who would play under accounts labelled with a "tag", usually two to three letters separated from their name by a dash or within brackets. The involvement in a clan ranges from casual friendship to mandatory meetings and tournaments.

In multiplayer gameplay, some players use modified, or "hacked" versions of the StarCraft client to gain an unfair advantage. Blizzard commonly bans "hackers" in all their games, and several third-party "anti-hack" programs are under constant development to prevent these techniques.

Battle.net

Most recreational, low-skill gaming takes place on Battle.net. This is also where the vast majority of "money maps", UMS ("Use Map Settings" - custom scenario maps) and "hackers" reside. Because the Battle.net Ladder tournament is considered to be corrupted by "hackers" beyond salvation, very little, if any competitive gaming takes place there. Instead, Battle.net is usually a practice place for the average player or a noob trying to get better. Sometimes, very experienced players called "smurfs" prey on newbies by making a new account that would be able to participate in a "noob game." Accounts are created in large numbers as a result of many players having multiple accounts administered to themselves.

Private ladders

Most competitive, high-level gaming takes place on "private" ladders such as "PGTour" or "WGTour". These ladders use a specific set of maps, mostly taken from Korean pro leagues like MSL and OSL, hack-preventing third-party programs, a team of administrators and sometimes even a private server (such as the PGTour's Bnet-X) to try to enforce fair play. Private ladders usually do not allow "money maps", which puts them into stark contrast with Battle.net. Also, the players' average skill is better than in Blizzard's Battle.net.

Single-player storyline

Main article: StarCraft storyline

Template:Spoiler The plot of the original StarCraft game revolves around the Terran civilization in the Koprulu Sector, which was founded by former prisoners exiled from Earth. The most powerful Terran faction is the Terran Confederacy. It is opposed by other factions, such as the terrorist organization "Sons of Korhal". The arrival of the Zerg, led by the Overmind and its Cerebrates, greatly complicates matters for the Terrans. The Zerg Swarm is itself closely followed by a Protoss fleet, led by High Templar Executor Tassadar, which burns all worlds the Zerg infest.

After the Protoss destroy the Confederate colony on Chau Sara, the Zerg are used by the rebel organization Sons of Korhal, whose leader Arcturus Mengsk lures them to a number of Confederate installations using psi-emitters to further his own goals. Mengsk acquires the services of General Edmund Duke, a Confederate general, and sacrifices his right-hand woman, the psychic Sarah Kerrigan, to the Zerg after she begins to object to his morals and tactics. This action alienates another of his followers, Jim Raynor, who, along with the unnamed commander played by the player, flees from Mengsk with a small number of soldiers.

After the Confederacy's fall, Arcturus Mengsk reorganizes the Terran worlds he controls into the Terran Dominion, crowning himself Emperor. Meanwhile, the Zerg flee to the planet Char with their prize, Kerrigan, who is in the process of becoming a Zerg in a cocoon under the protection of a Cerebrate under player control.

Tassadar discovers that he can disrupt the Overmind's control over the Swarm by eliminating its Cerebrate servants with the help of the Dark Templar, a group of Protoss who have forsaken their ancestral psionic powers and the religion of the Khala. While on Char, Tassadar encounters one of the Overmind's newest servants, the recently infested Kerrigan, a powerful psychic. The involvement of the fallen Dark Templar will prove to be fateful; indeed, while slaying the Cerebrate Zasz, the Dark Templar leader Zeratul briefly comes in psychic contact with the Overmind, which is then informed of the Protoss home-world Aiur's location and directs its Swarm towards the Protoss world. This contact also gives Zeratul knowledge of the origin of the Zerg.

The Zerg inflict a number of heavy defeats upon the Protoss, who fight back bitterly, but are simultaneously involved in a civil war between the Protoss high authority, the Conclave, and the alliance between Tassadar and the Dark Templar, with whom the player's character is aligned. In a desperate attempt to put an end to the Zerg's destructive rampage, Tassadar, Zeratul, and the remaining Protoss unite their strengths with Terran forces and attack the Overmind itself. They manage to crush its outer shell, and Tassadar sacrifices himself and rams the ship into the vulnerable form of the Overmind, thereby killing it and himself in the process.

See also: StarCraft: Brood War

Influences

While it has many similarities with its conceptual predecessor Warcraft II, StarCraft also draws heavily from characters and scenarios taken from many science fiction works, most notably popular movies, and the Warhammer 40,000 table-top gaming series from Games Workshop. For example, many characteristic elements of the Terran race in StarCraft are reminiscent of James Cameron's Aliens movie, however many elements such as the Terran Marines and Firebats appear nearly identical in appearance to Warhammer's Space Marines. Terran buildings much resemble the installations of the Hadley's Hope colony in Aliens; the resemblance is especially obvious in StarCraft's cutscenes (see cutscene The Amerigo). Terran Marines were also clearly inspired by Aliens USCM Marines; both the Terran Marine and the Terran Dropship units in StarCraft directly quote characters from the movie. The Gauss Rifle used by the Terran Marines has an LED digital ammo display much like the M41A pulse rifle from Aliens. The Zerg and their infestation process are also reminiscent of Aliens' Xenomorphs and Warhammer's Tyranids. The game also displays many elements from the novel Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein, as well as some general themes of military science fiction and space opera. There are also noticeable similarities between the "brain bug" of Starship Troopers and the Zerg Overmind. The Xel'Naga, a key race in the StarCraft Universe, are also very reminiscent of the "Creators" in the Guyver series. The Creators, like the Xel'naga, created and experimented with races of powerful warriors for their own selfish reasons. They were also eventually overcome by their own powerful creations just as the Zerg did with the Xel'Naga.

Because of its vast popularity, StarCraft has become extremely influential in the computer and video gaming fields. In the years immediately following its release, it came to be considered by some "the standard by which all real-time strategy games were judged". [2]

In July 2005 the game StarCraft was quoted by a French study published in the CIEAEM 57 's proceedings (International Commission for the Study and Improvement of Mathematics Education) as a game that could be used to promote the learning of mathematics (Aberkane I. J. "détournement du jeu vidéo à des fins pédagogiques, l'affect, l'acquisition de règles et la compréhension d'un système de règles", proceedings of the CIEAEM 57, 144-153 ).

Main cast

Culture

Popularity in South Korea

Even as of 2006, StarCraft is still one of the most popular online games in the world. The game itself has its own culture, similar to Slashdot's and Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) communities.

In the early 2000s, the game became extremely popular among South Korean online gamers, to the point of being exaggeratedly referred to as the national sport of South Korea by avid gamers, and the majority of StarCraft players now come from that country. The origin of this unusually high level of popularity is likely a combination of StarCraft's suitability for competitive multiplayer and the fact that it was released during the beginning of the boom in popularity of "internet cafes" in Seoul, resulting in a perfect opportunity for the game to catch on.

In South Korea, StarCraft professional gamers, known by pseudonyms such as SlayerS `BoxeR` and IloveOOv, are minor celebrities: their games are broadcast over cable television channels MBC Game and Ongamenet. Great American gamers include a select few invitees to the International StarCraft Cup, an event widely proclaimed to have been the largest gaming competition at an international level. A select few have made substantial monetary gains through this. For example, one highly successful player, "[Red]Nada", signed a 3 year, $500,000 (USD) contract in 2004. Another example is "SlayerS `BoxeR" who can potentially make $780,000 (USD) in the next 3 years, making him the highest paid StarCraft player ever. Some players can earn a decent to good living from TV-contracts, tournament prizes and sponsorship. However, the lower-echelon pro players tend to subsist on relatively small wages. Many pro gamers playing StarCraft use every minute of their spare time to play, in order to maintain preparation for the highly competitive leagues. Superior StarCraft and Warcraft III players are often referred to as "gosu". Less than average skilled players are often called hasu or noob (noobie), or "chobo" is used in place of noob. Professional gaming in South Korea is an example of how e-sports can attain a social status similar to physical sports. [2]

Novels and eBooks

StarCraft even became an inspiration for the creation of official novels and eBooks. Four novels were officially authorized by Blizzard Entertainment, and two more will follow:

In addition, Blizzard Entertainment authorized two short stories in Amazing Stories magazine, entitled StarCraft: Hybrid and StarCraft: Revelations.

Blizzard also licensed Wizards of the Coast to publish StarCraft Adventures, a supplement for the role-playing game Alternity set in the StarCraft universe.

Numerous fan fiction works also take place in the StarCraft universe.

Custom scenarios

File:Staredit.jpg
StarEdit

The game is packaged with a campaign and map editor called Starcraft Campaign Editor (also known as StarEdit). The Campaign Editor has many features, including a trigger system that allows users to make radical changes to the way a map works, readily giving gamers the ability to create custom map scenarios. Thousands of custom scenarios are available, giving the game a refreshing variety. The StarCraft map-making community has also constructed additional editors or functionalities that grant the user even more power to modify the game.

Melee Maps

Scenarios are generally one of two types- melee or use map settings (UMS). Melee games start all players at a random location with only their main base building (command center, hatchery, or nexus) and four mining units. This is the most popular type of game and is generally the only type used in tournaments. Ladder games also use this start scheme. Most melee games are played on maps called "BGH" maps, BGH being an acronym for "Big Game Hunters". In these maps, initial mineral and gas deposits are set to the 50,000 unit cap (or, in user-edited maps, sometimes higher) in order to obviate the need to take expansion sites and gain map control. There is a widespread perception that "BGH" and other so-called "money maps" fail to challenge development of build order and expansion-taking skills, and that these maps are therefore favorites of weaker players. Defenders of money maps claim that the game remains strategic and skill-based even without the need to expand.

Some optimized versions of BGH such as "Fastest Possible Map Ever" and "Starcraft Dream" have similar placment of bases but are hacked so that 30 to 40 minerals (or in the case of "Fastest Possible Map Ever", 50,000) are placed directly next to the base. This greatly decreases the time needed to mine minerals and changes the game dynamic as once the default base is destroyed it cannot be rebuilt in the same place.

Zero Clutter (ZC, 0clut) maps are a slightly different version of optimized maps, they are organized in two groups of 2 or 3 bases in the north and south. Players tell each other where they are located as the game starts and ally players that are adjacent to them. Often there is an agreement between players that no side will attack the other before a set time limit or before "map max" (MM) (1650 units) a point at which the game cannot place any more units into play. There is then no other option but to attack.

Use Map Stettings

UMS games are less structured and often incorporate liberal use of specialized triggers and setups to change gameplay. UMS scenarios with sets of rules, objectives, and units entirely different from those of "regular" Melee games have been created.

Some custom scenarios are named after television shows (Dragon Ball Z, Pokémon, Family Guy, The Simpsons), real-world events (Napoleonic Wars, World War I, World War II, the American Civil War), current events (Bomb Iraq, World Trade Center Defense, Tsunami Run!), scenes from books and movies (Troy, The Lord of the Rings, Dawn of the Dead, Scary Movie, Starship Troopers), or even other games (Diablo II, The Sims, Resident Evil, Warcraft, The Thing, Risk, Russian Roulette.)

There are also many 'genres' that have surfaced. This includes Defence maps, StarCraft Diplomacy, RPG's and many others. Though varying in popularity, each one has its own unique set of characteristics.

The popularity of custom maps is not limited to only custom maps played online. StarEdit allows the mapmaker to "link" several maps, single player "campaigns" (long scenarios played out over several maps, hence the name) have become prominent in the community. Following the revolutionary Antioch Chronicles' lead, many campaigns include modifications to the game that add new "heroes" (i.e. the mapmakers create new art files to be imported in to StarCraft, thus creating completely new units and characters - something which can't be done using StarEdit). Popular campaigns include Campaign Creations' Legacy of the Confederation, Life of a Marine, and StarCraft.org's official campaigns: The Shifters and Fields of Ash.

More powerful, third-party alternatives to the editor Starcraft is sold with, including the StarCraft X-tra Editor, Staredit, StarForge, and SCMDraft allow users to "stack" multiple mineral fields and buildings on top each other, change player colors, use hidden AI scripts, protect maps from common theft, run sizeless sounds directly from the StarCraft disc, change the color of text, compress their map, and in more advanced areas, place raw sprites, sprite-units and disabled units, among other things.

Some of these custom maps and campaigns are released commercially via third parties, two of which are StarCraft: Insurrection and StarCraft: Retribution. These third party add-ons did not fare well and were criticized for poor mission designs.

Replays, audio commentaries, and VODs

File:StarcraftScreenshot.png
Replay-Screenshot Zerg vs. Terran StarCraft: Brood War

From version 1.08 StarCraft enables the player to record a game and save it as a replay, which can then be viewed with any other copy of StarCraft, displaying the entire course of the game. As of 2006, there are many websites that host replays of players with different skill levels, though pro-level replays are relatively rarely released, for reasons of team secrecy and because the policies of pro leagues forbid it in some cases. Many applications, such as BWChart and Lasgo's Observer Pack[3], have been developed by fans to analyze replays in detail, and compute statistics such as the number of actions per minute (APM).

One of the most useful features of replays is the ability for people to snoop in on tactics of good players.

Replays are sometimes accompanied by an audio commentary recorded by the player or an experienced observer during the game, or after the fact, as they were watching the replay. This can be particularly interesting for people new to the game, who can learn from more experienced players pointing out things about a replay they would not have seen on their own, or simply for entertainment. The audio files can be produced and played separately from the replays using third-party audio recording and playback tools, in which case the viewer has to manually synchronize the audio track with the replay, which is read from the StarCraft application. Alternatively, auxiliary applications such as RWA can be used to ensure synchronization. The RWAtools[4] are a set of freeware tools, that create valid replay files, additionally containing an Ogg audio stream. During replays, the commentary is kept in sync with the game.

VODs (from "Video On Demand") are videos that show the screen of a commentator (or sometimes player) during a (usually) pro-level game. They are (legally or not) available from a variety of websites, and are ripped from Korean television or Internet streams. They usually come in the ASF video file format for Windows Media Player or in the WMV format. Because they are compressed with an MPEG-4 codec and the file size needs to be small, there is a significant quality loss in comparison to watching a replay. VODs are usually accompanied by enthusiastic announcing from the Korean commentators, and the occasional crowd shot.

Trivia

  • On 10 August 2005, it was reported that a 28-year-old man named Lee(screenname b0f1000) from Taegu, South Korea died from exhaustion after playing a 49-hour marathon session of StarCraft in an internet cafe. His friends had visited him in the cafe after his mother reported him missing. Lee told them that he would finish the game and go home. He died a few minutes later. Lee had also previously been fired from a job for playing games at work. [3]
  • When NASA's shuttle mission, STS-96, blasted off in May of 1999, Mission Specialist and StarCraft fan, Daniel T. Barry, brought along a copy of StarCraft. The game CD, along with autographed images of the crew and mission, now resides at Blizzard's home office after having orbited the Earth 153 times and traveling 3.5 million nautical miles [4].
  • For reasons the game's story does not say, the greater part of the Terran units have heavy country accents and confederate, rebel stereotyped personalities as evidenced by such dialogue as the Marines entreaty to "Gimme sum'in ta shoot," as with other cutscenes such as: (after running over a strange alien) "Looks lahke you mashed sum pore feller's dawg, Sarge." "It's a zerglin', Lester, smallah tahyp o' the Zerg". In other scenes, the Confederate battle flag (the "stars and bars") is seen on various Terran vehicles and structures, including a Battlecruiser.
  • Many units, such as the Zerg Lurker, have different abilities and traits in the official guide than what they are actually played as.
  • The PC version of the game was released with three different boxes. The Protoss box was common, with a T rating. The Zerg and Terran boxes were rare and both stamped with M ratings.

StarCraft 64

File:Starcraft64.jpg
StarCraft 64 box.

On June 16, 1998, StarCraft 64 was released for the Nintendo 64. The game featured all of the maps from the original game and the Brood War expansion, as well as some exclusive missions (two different tutorials and StarCraft Resurrection IV [5]).

The cursor movement was controlled by the analog stick on the center of the controller, but the game was not as popular as the PC version, perhaps because of a greater difficulty in controlling the cursor compared to the use of a mouse, and the lack of online multiplayer (split-screen was available, however). Also, speech was not present during mission briefings.

Sequel

Fans impatiently await the creation of StarCraft II. Blizzard has announced that they are interested in making a sequel to their popular game, and there is some evidence that they are doing so. This includes posts by Blizzard officials on the Battle.net forums asking for suggestions for such a game, the lack of other projects for Blizzard after World of Warcraft's completion, and an Easter egg unlocked after completing Warcraft III on the most difficult setting, as well as a leak about a 2007 release from HanbitSoft, the Korean publisher of StarCraft. Job advertisements on Blizzard.com looking for a "Game Balance Designer" with experience in Starcraft and Warcraft 3[6] also suggest that Blizzard is working on another RTS, most likely Starcraft 2 (though possibly Warcraft 4 or a new franchise). However, development of a sequel has not yet been officially announced.

Blizzard had been working on a first-person shooter/third-person shooter, StarCraft: Ghost to be released in 2006. It was originally planned on being released in late 2003 but the company that was given the license was scrapped; the change in genre for the franchise from real-time strategy to third-person shooter and absence of a PC version aroused considerable protests among many of the StarCraft faithful, though others eagerly anticipate the game. In March of 2006 StarCraft: Ghost development was put on hold indefinitely[7], leaving the future of the franchise unknown.

Awards

  • Walk of Game inductee. StarCraft received a star on the floor of the Metreon in San Francisco in early 2006.
  • #7, Top 100 Games of All Time: 2005 Edition - IGN.[5] This list included console games as well as PC games, and StarCraft placed #2 among PC games, behind Sid Meier's Civilization II.
  • #7, Top 100 Games of All Time: 2003 Edition - IGN.[6]
  • "The Standard by Which All Real-Time Strategy Games Are Judged", GameSpot Presents: The Greatest Games of All Time[3]
  • #4, Top 10 Causes of Divorce in South Korea
  • #9, Top 100 Games of All Time - Entertainment Weekly/G4.tv
  • Using information gathered from their "own users.ign.com collection tracker," IGN compiled a list of the Top 10 Most Popular Games. Starcraft and Brood War earned enough votes independently of one another to place first and sixth, respectively. The list is current as of January 17, and is based on a "combination of total occurrences and rating value of games" on their user's collection lists.
  • #18, The Ten Best Games Ever as voted by GameFAQs readers.[7] It was the highest rated PC game on the list.
  • Number-one selling PC Game of 1998 - PC Data
  • Other awards, including numerous Game of the Year awards, are listed on Blizzard Entertainment's official Awards Page.[8]

References

  1. ^ StarCraft versions are numbered 1.00 through 1.13f, including 1.12b, 1.11b, 1.09b and 1.08b. Information on changes introduced with each patch can be found on the Battle.net support site. Patch Information site
  2. ^ a Gamespot. The Greatest Games of All Time
  3. ^ Team Liquid. 2003. Lasgo's Observer Pack
  4. ^ BWChart.com. 2003. RWAtools
  5. ^ IGN. 2005. IGNs top 100 Games of All Time
  6. ^ IGN. 2003. IGNs top 100 Games of All Time
  7. ^ GameFAQs.10-Year Anniversary Contest - The 10 Best Games Ever
  8. ^ Blizzard. 2005. Blizzard Awards Page
  • Underwood, Peter, Bill Roper, Chris Metzen and Jeffrey Vaughn. StarCraft (Manual). Irvine, Calif.: Blizzard Entertainment, 1998.
  • Metzen, Chris and Samuel Moore. "StarCraft: Revelations." Amazing Stories no. 596 (Spring 1999): 20–27.
  • Neilson, Micky. “StarCraft: Hybrid.” Amazing Stories no. 601 (Spring 2000): 70–75.
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