StarCraft Totally Explained

Everything about Starcraft totally explained

StarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series, it was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. video games of all time, and for having raised the bar for developing real-time strategy games. The insectoid Zerg possess entirely organic units and structures, which can be produced quickly and at a far cheaper cost to resources, but are accordingly weaker, relying on sheer numbers and speed to overwhelm enemies. The Zerg augment their forces through evolution, developing armoured carapaces and various types of claws, spines and acids as weapons. The Terrans provide a middle ground between the other two races, providing units that are versatile and flexible. The Terrans have access to a range of more ballistic military technologies and machinery, such as tanks to nuclear weapons. Although each race is unique in its composition, no race has an innate advantage over the other. The balance between the species has been the subject of numerous gameplay tweaks by Blizzard Entertainment, via infrequent patches. StarCraft features artificial intelligence which scales in difficulty, although the player can't change the difficultly level in the single-player campaigns. Each campaign starts with enemy factions running easy AI modes, scaling through the course of the campaign to the hardest AI modes. In the custom map editor provided with the game, a designer has access to four levels of AI difficulties: "easy", "medium", "hard" and "insane", each setting differing in the units and technologies allowed to an AI faction and the extent of the AI's tactical and strategic planning. The single-player campaign consists of thirty missions, split into ten for each race.

Resource management

Each race relies on two resources to sustain their game economies and to build their forces: minerals and gas. Minerals are needed for all units and structures, and are obtained by using a worker unit to harvest the resource directly from mineral nodes dotted around a map. Players require gas to construct advanced units and buildings, and is acquired by building a refinery on top of a geyser and using worker units to extract the gas from it. In addition, players need to regulate the supplies for their forces to ensure that they can construct the amount of units they need. Although the nature of the supply differs between the races—Terrans use physical supplies held in depots, Protoss use a psionic power nexus and Zerg are regulated by the amount of controlling units present—the supply acts exactly the same for each race, preventing players from creating new units unless there are sufficient supplies to sustain them. The Protoss and Zerg are also limited in where they can build structures: Protoss buildings need to be linked up to a power grid to function,

Synopsis

Setting

StarCraft takes place in a science fiction universe created by Chris Metzen for Blizzard Entertainment. According to the story presented in the game's manual, the overpopulation of Earth in the early 21^st century has caused the international government to exile undesirable elements of the human race, such as criminals, the cybernetically enhanced and genetic mutants to colonise the far reaches of the galaxy. In the distant Koprulu sector of the galaxy, the exiles form several governments, but quickly fall into conflict with each other. One government, the Confederacy of Man, eventually emerges as the strongest faction, but its oppressive nature and brutal methods of suppressing dissent stir up major rebel opposition in the form of a terrorist group called the Sons of Korhal. Just prior to the beginning of the game in December 2499, an alien race of advanced technology and psionic power, the Protoss, makes first contact with humanity by destroying a Confederate colony world without any prior warning. Soon after this, the Terrans discover that a second alien race, the insectoid Zerg, has been stealthily infesting the surface of several of the Terran colonies, and that the Protoss are destroying the planets to prevent the Zerg from spreading. With the Confederacy threatened by two alien races as well as a large rebellion, it begins to crumble.

Characters

The player assumes the role of three anonymous characters over the course of the game. In the first campaign, the player acts as the Confederate governor of an outlying colony threatened by both the Zerg and the Protoss, Mar Sara, and is forced through events to join the rebel Sons of Korhal under its leader Arcturus Mengsk. Mengsk's campaign is accompanied by Jim Raynor, a moral law enforcement officer from Mar Sara, and Sarah Kerrigan, a psychic espionage agent and Mengsk's second-in-command. The second episode of the game sees the player as a cerebrate, a commander within the Zerg Swarm. The player is ruled over by the Zerg Overmind, the manifestation of the collective consciousness of the Swarm and the game's primary antagonist, with advice from other cerebrates of higher rank and status while accomplishing the objectives of the Swarm. In the final part of StarCraft, the player is a newly appointed officer within the Protoss military, reporting to Aldaris, a representative of the Protoss government. Aldaris is at odds with the former occupant of the player's position, Tassadar, over his association with Zeratul, a member of the dark templar, a group considered heretical by the Protoss government.

Plot

The story of StarCraft is presented through its instruction manual, the briefings to each mission and conversations within the missions themselves, along with the use of cinematic cut scenes at key points. The game itself is split into three episodes, one for the player to command each race. In the first segment of the game, the player and Jim Raynor are attempting to control the colony of Mar Sara in the wake of the Protoss attack on other Terran worlds. After the Confederacy arrests Raynor for destroying Confederate property, despite the fact that it had been infested by the Zerg, the player joins Arcturus Mengsk and the Sons of Korhal. Raynor, who is freed by Mengsk's troops, also joins and frequently accompanies the player on missions. Mengsk then begins to use Confederate technology captured on Mar Sara to lure the Zerg to Confederate installations and further his own goals. After forcing Confederate general Edmund Duke to join him, Mengsk sacrifices his own second-in-command, Sarah Kerrigan, to ensure the destruction of the Confederacy by luring the Zerg to the Confederate capital Tarsonis. Raynor is outraged by Mengsk's true aims of obtaining power at any cost and deserts, taking with him a small army of the former colonial militia of Mar Sara. Mengsk reorganises what remains of the Terran population into the Terran Dominion, crowning himself as emperor.
The second campaign reveals that Kerrigan wasn't killed by the Zerg, but rather is captured and infested in an effort to incorporate her psionic traits into the Zerg gene pool. She emerges with far more psionic powers and physical strength, her DNA completely altered. Meanwhile, the Protoss commander Tassadar discovers that the Zerg's cerebrates can't be killed by conventional means, but that they can be harmed by the powers wielded by the heretical dark templar. Tassadar allies himself with the dark templar prelate Zeratul, who assassinates one of the Zerg's cerebrates in their hive clusters on Char. The cerebrate's death results in its forces running amok through the Zerg hives, but briefly links the minds of Zeratul and the Zerg Overmind, allowing the Overmind to learn the location of the Protoss homeworld Aiur, which it has been seeking for millennia. The Zerg promptly invade and despite heavy Protoss resistance, the Overmind is able to embed itself into the crust of the planet.
The final section of the game sees Aldaris and the Protoss government branding Tassadar a traitor and a heretic for conspiring with the dark templar. The player initially serves Aldaris in defending Aiur from the Zerg invasion, but while on a mission to arrest Tassadar, the player joins him instead. A Protoss civil war erupts, pitting Tassadar, Zeratul, and their allies against the Protoss establishment. The dark templar prove their worth when they use their energies to slay two more of the Zerg cerebrates on Aiur, and the Conclave reconciles with them. Aided by Raynor's forces—who sided with Tassadar back on Char—the Protoss break through the Overmind's weakened defenses and destroy the Overmind's outer shell, but take heavy casualties in the process. Tassadar channels his own psionic energies in combination with those of the dark templar through the hull of his command ship and crashes it into the Overmind, sacrificing himself in order to destroy it.

Soundtrack

The musical score to StarCraft was composed by Blizzard Entertainment's in-house composers. Derek Duke and Glenn Stafford composed the tracks in the menus and the in-game music, while Jason Hayes composed the music used in the cinematic cut scenes. Tracy W. Bush provided additional support in composing. The musical score of the game was received well by reviewers, who have described it as "appropriately melodic and dark"

Development

Blizzard Entertainment began planning development on StarCraft in 1995, shortly after the beginning of development for Diablo. Using the Warcraft II game engine as a base, StarCraft made its debut at E₃ 1996. The version of the game displayed, assembled by the team's lead programmer Bob Fitch, received a rather weak response from the convention and was criticised by many for being "Warcraft in space". As a consequence the entire project was overhauled, bringing the focus onto creating three distinct species. Bill Roper, one of the game's producers, stated this would be a major departure from the Warcraft approach, comparing its two equal sides to those of chess and stating that StarCraft would allow players to "develop very unique strategies based on which species [isbeing played], and will require [players] to think of different strategies to combat the other two species". In early 1997, the new version of StarCraft was unveiled, receiving a far more positive response. However, the game was still marred by technical difficulties, so Bob Fitch completely redesigned the Warcraft II engine within two months to ensure that many of the features desired by the designers, such as the abilities for units to burrow and cloak, could be implemented. Later improvements to the game included pre-rendered sprites and backgrounds, constructed using 3D Studio Max. An isometric in-game view was also adopted, in contrast to Warcraft II's top down perspective. In addition, the game utilised high quality music, composed by Blizzard's resident composers Glenn Stafford, Jason Hayes and Derek Duke, and professional voice actors were hired.
Despite the progress, StarCraft was slow to emerge. After release was delayed until after December 1997, a group of StarCraft fans on the official forums who labeled themselves "Operation: Can't Wait Any Longer" attempted to retrieve the beta version of StarCraft from Blizzard's headquarters in Irvine, California. Although the attempt was unsuccessful, Blizzard Entertainment later incorporated the group's name into StarCraft as a cheat code to speed up the production of units, and giving the group thanks in the game's credits. The game was released for Windows on 31 March 1998, with the Mac OS version following a year later in March 1999. Development on a Nintendo 64 version, StarCraft 64, began in 1999, converted from PC by Mass Media Interactive Entertainment—a subsidiary of THQ—and published by Nintendo. StarCraft 64 was released on 13 June 2000 in the USA and on 16 June 2000 in Europe .

Expansions and versions

PC expansions

Shortly before the release of StarCraft, Blizzard Entertainment developed a shareware game demo campaign, entitled Loomings. Comprising of three missions and a tutorial, the campaign acts as a prequel to the events of StarCraft, taking place on a Confederate colony in the process of being overrun by the Zerg. In October 1999, Blizzard Entertainment made the prequel available for the full game as a custom map campaign, adding two extra missions and hosting it on Battle.net. In addition, the full release of StarCraft included a secondary campaign entitled Enslavers. Consisting of five missions played as both the Terrans and the Protoss, Enslavers is set in the second episode of StarCraft and follows the story of a Terran smuggler who manages to take control of a Zerg cerebrate and is pursued by both the Protoss and Terran Dominion. Enslavers acts as an exemplar single-player campaign for the game's Campaign Editor, highlighting how to use the features of the program. StarCraft's first expansion, Insurrection, was released for Windows on 31 July 1998. The expansion was developed by Aztech New Media and authorised by Blizzard Entertainment. Its story focused on a separate Confederate colony alluded to in the manual to StarCraft, following a group of Terran colonists and a Protoss fleet in their fight against the Zerg and a rising local insurgency. Insurrection wasn't received well, being criticised by reviewers for lacking the quality of the original game. Insurrection was followed within a few months by a second expansion, Retribution. Developed by Stardock, published by WizardWorks Software and authorized by Blizzard Entertainment, After the release of Retribution, Blizzard Entertainment announced a new official expansion pack that would continue on the story of StarCraft. was consequently created, developed jointly by Blizzard Entertainment and Saffire. Brood War continues the story of StarCraft from days after its conclusion, and was released for both Windows and Mac OS to critical praise on 30 November 1998 in the US and in March 1999 in Europe.

Nintendo 64 version

In 2000, StarCraft 64 was released for the Nintendo 64, co-developed by Blizzard Entertainment and Mass Media Interactive Entertainment. The game featured all of the missions from both StarCraft and the expansion Brood War, as well as some exclusive missions, such as two different tutorials and a new secret mission, Resurrection IV. StarCraft 64 wasn't as popular as the PC version, and lacked the online multiplayer capabilities and speech in mission briefings. In addition, cut scenes were shortened.

Cultural impact

Reception

(PC & Mac) |GamePro = 4.5/5 (PC & Mac)
4.5/5 (Nintendo 64) |GameRev = B (PC & Mac) |GSpot = 9.1/10 (PC & Mac)
8.4/10 (Nintendo 64) |IGN = 9.5/10 (PC & Mac)
7.7/10 (Nintendo 64) |PCGUK = 92% (PC & Mac) | |compilation = yes | |MC = 88% (PC & Mac)
80% (Nintendo 64) |GR = 93% (PC & Mac)
77% (Nintendo 64) |MBR = 92% (PC & Mac)
80% (Nintendo 64) | |award1 = Greatest Games of All Time - GameSpot |award2= Game of the Year - AIAS In the next decade, StarCraft sold over 9.5 million copies across the globe, with 4.5 million of these being sold in South Korea. Since the initial release of StarCraft, Blizzard Entertainment reported that its Battle.net online multiplayer service grew by 800 percent. Since then, StarCraft remains one of the most popular online games in the world.
   Generally, StarCraft was received positively by critics, with many contemporary reviewers noting that while the game may not have deviated significantly from the status quo of most real-time strategy games, it was one of the best games to date to subscribe to that formula. According to Blizzard Entertainment StarCraft has won 37 awards, and has received a star on the floor of the Metreon as part of the Walk of Game in San Francisco in early 2006.
   Although at the time StarCraft's graphics, voice acting and audio were praised by critics, StarCraft has even been taken into space, as Daniel Barry took a copy of the game with him on the Space Shuttle mission STS-96 in 1999.
   After its release, StarCraft rapidly grew in popularity in South Korea, establishing a successful pro-gaming scene. Professional gamers in South Korea are media celebrities, and StarCraft games are broadcast over three television channels dedicated to the professional gaming scene. Professional gamers in South Korea have gained television contracts, sponsorships, and tournament prizes, allowing one of the most famous players, Lim Yo-Hwan, to gain a fan club of over half a million people. Professional gamers dedicate a lot of time playing StarCraft to prepare for the highly competitive leagues. One player, Lee Yun-Yeol, reported earnings in 2005 of US$200,000. Other novels— by Jeff Grubb and Aaron Rosenberg's —retell the story of the game from different perspectives. At BlizzCon 2007, StarCraft creator Chris Metzen stated that he hoped to novelise the entirety of StarCraft and its expansion Brood War into a definitive text-based story. Later novels, such as Gabriel Mesta's and Christie Golden's, further expand the storyline, creating the setting for StarCraft II.
   A number of action figures and collectable statues based upon the characters and units in StarCraft have been produced by ToyCom. A number of model kits, made by Academy Hobby Model Kits, were also produced, displaying 1/30 scale versions of the marine and the hydralisk. In addition, Blizzard Entertainment teamed up with Fantasy Flight Games to create a board game with detailed sculptures of game characters. Blizzard Entertainment also licensed Wizards of the Coast to produce an Alternity based game entitled StarCraft Adventures.

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