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E-book StarCraft : Legacy of the Real-Time Strategy
My experience with StarCraft could be mapped into three periods that represent the history of the game itself. I was introduced to real-time strat-egy (RTS) games when my cousin brought their copy of Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (Blizzard Entertainment 1994) at my grandparents’ house. My brother and I got the game quickly after and, as most players from the early 1990s, I was playing essentially in single-player mode. I would only have an Internet connection at home in 1999, during my teens, so I have fond memories of the few times I played Warcraft and Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness (Blizzard Entertainment 1995) in multiplayer through modem play, although I would not be remembered for my feats in these endeav-ors. Playing against humans and playing against computer opponents are two different universes, and I could only have a small glimpse of the former.When StarCraft came out March 31, 1998, I knew I had to buy the game. Rather than two mirrored factions in a fantasy universe as in its predecessors, StarCraft brought three factions fighting for their survival in a sector of the Milky Way. The Terrans are humans using complex mechanical technologies, exiled from Earth a long time ago, and ini-tially rallied under a Confederation that exploits colonies on different planets. Zergs are creatures taking various insect-like forms morphed from larvae and controlled by central brains, the Cerebrates, under the scrutiny of their Overmind. The Protoss are emaciated warrior aliens gaining their power from psychic capabilities and robotic technolo-gies and regrouped in a caste-based society. These factions (most often called “races” to borrow the term from Warcraft) battle against each ther and struggle with internal conflicts through the narrative of each campaign. Blizzard Entertainment as a whole team is credited for the “Game Design,” but Chris Metzen and James Phinney are listed as “Lead Designers.” In November 1998, less than a year after the game release, Blizzard launched the Brood War expansion set that would add new game units and a new campaign for each race.
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