''StarCraft'' is a 1998
military science fiction
Military science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction that features the use of science fiction technology, mainly weapons, for military purposes and usually principal characters who are members of a military organization involved in military a ...
real-time strategy game
Real-time strategy (RTS) is a subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in turn-based strategy (TBS) games, players take turns to pla ...
developed and published by
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the company was founded on February 8, 1991, under the name Silicon & Synapse, Inc. by three gradu ...
for
Microsoft Windows. The game spawned the
''StarCraft'' franchise, and became the first game of the
video game series
This is a list of video game franchises, organized alphabetically. All entries include multiple video games, not counting ports or altered re-releases.
0–9
*''1080° Snowboarding''
*''1942''
*''3D Ultra Minigolf''
*'' 3-D Ultra Pinball''
*''7 ...
. A
Classic Mac OS version was released in 1999, and a
Nintendo 64
The (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and ...
adaptation, co-developed with
Mass Media
Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets.
Broadcast media transmit informati ...
, was released in 2000.
Blizzard started work on the game shortly after ''
Warcraft II
''Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness'' is a fantasy real-time strategy computer game developed by Blizzard Entertainment and released for DOS in 1995 and Mac OS in 1996 by Blizzard's parent, Davidson & Associates. A sequel to '' Warcraft: Orcs & Huma ...
'', another real-time strategy game, was released in 1995. The first incarnation debuted at the 1996
Electronic Entertainment Expo, where it was unfavorably compared to ''Warcraft II''. As a result, the project was entirely overhauled before being showcased to the public in early 1997, at which time it received a far more positive response. The game's
multiplayer
A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system ( couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
is particularly popular in
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
, where players and teams participate in
professional competitions, earn
sponsorships
Sponsoring something (or someone) is the act of supporting an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. The individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor, is k ...
, and compete in
televised tournaments.
Set in a fictitious future timeline during the
25th century
In contemporary history, the third millennium of the anno Domini or Common Era in the Gregorian calendar is the current millennium spanning the years 2001 to 3000 ( 21st to 30th centuries). Ongoing futures studies seek to understand what is ...
AD in a distant part of the
Milky Way galaxy
The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye. ...
known as the Koprulu Sector, the game revolves around three intelligent species fighting for dominance: the
Terrans are humans exiled from Earth who are now skilled at adapting to any situation; the
Zerg are a race of
insectoid aliens in pursuit of genetic perfection and obsessed with
assimilating other races; the
Protoss
Blizzard Entertainment's real-time strategy game series ''StarCraft'' revolves around interstellar affairs in a distant sector of the galaxy, with three species and multiple factions all vying for supremacy in the sector. The playable species of ...
are a
humanoid species with advanced technology and
psionic
In American science fiction of the 1950s and 1960s, psionics was a proposed discipline that applied principles of engineering (especially electronics) to the study (and employment) of paranormal or psychic phenomena, such as telepathy and psycho ...
abilities who are attempting to preserve their civilization and strict philosophy about their way of life from the Zerg.
Many
journalists of the
video game industry
The video game industry encompasses the development, marketing, and monetization of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide.
The video game industry has grown from niches to mainstrea ...
have praised ''StarCraft'' as one of the most important, and one of the
greatest video games of all time
This is a list of video games that multiple reputable video game journalists or magazines have considered to be among the best of all time. The games listed here are included on at least six separate "best/greatest of all time" lists from differ ...
.
The game is also said to have raised the bar for developing
real-time strategy (RTS) games. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide by February 2009, ''StarCraft'' became one of the
best-selling games for the personal computer. It has been praised for pioneering the use of unique ''factions'' in RTS gameplay, and for having a compelling story.
''StarCraft'' has had its storyline adapted and expanded through a
series of novels published between 2000 and 2016, the
expansion pack
An expansion pack, expansion set, supplement, or simply expansion is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game, video game or collectible card game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, characters, or ...
''
StarCraft: Brood War'', and
two officially authorized add-ons,
''Insurrection'' and ''Retribution''. A sequel, ''
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty'', was released in July 2010, along with two
expansion pack
An expansion pack, expansion set, supplement, or simply expansion is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game, video game or collectible card game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, characters, or ...
s and a campaign pack between 2013 and 2016, while
a remastered edition of the original and its expansion pack was released in August 2017. The original game, along with the expansion, was released for free in April 2017.
Gameplay
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the company was founded on February 8, 1991, under the name Silicon & Synapse, Inc. by three gradu ...
's use of three distinct races in ''StarCraft'' is widely credited with revolutionizing the
real-time strategy
Real-time strategy (RTS) is a subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in turn-based strategy (TBS) games, players take turns to p ...
genre.
All units are unique to their respective races, and while rough comparisons can be drawn between certain types of units in the
technology tree
In strategy games, a technology, tech, or research tree is a hierarchical visual representation of the possible sequences of upgrades a player can take (most often through the act of research). Because these trees are technically directed and ac ...
, every unit performs differently and requires different tactics for a player to succeed.
The psionic and technologically adept
Protoss
Blizzard Entertainment's real-time strategy game series ''StarCraft'' revolves around interstellar affairs in a distant sector of the galaxy, with three species and multiple factions all vying for supremacy in the sector. The playable species of ...
have access to powerful units and machinery and advanced technologies such as
energy shields and localized
warp capabilities, powered by their psionic traits. However, their forces have lengthy and expensive manufacturing processes, encouraging players to follow a strategy of the quality of their units over the quantity. 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 humanoid
Terrans provide a middle ground between the other two races, providing units that are versatile and flexible. They have access to a range of more ballistic military technologies and machinery, such as tanks and nuclear weapons.
Although each race is unique in its composition, no race has an innate advantage over the other. Each species is balanced out so that while they have different strengths, powers, and abilities, their overall strength is the same.
''StarCraft'' features
artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech r ...
that scales in difficulty, although the player cannot change the difficulty 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
level editor
In video games, a level (also referred to as a map, stage, or round in some older games) is any space available to the player during the course of completion of an objective. Video game levels generally have progressively-increasing difficulty t ...
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 vespene gas. Minerals are needed for all units and structures, and they are obtained by using a worker unit to harvest the resource directly from mineral nodes scattered around the battlefield. Players require vespene gas to construct advanced units and buildings, and they acquire it by constructing a gas extraction building 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 number of units they need. Although the nature of the supply differs between the races—Terrans use physical supplies held in depots,
Protoss use psionic energy channeled from their homeworld via pylons,
and Zerg are regulated by the number of controlling overlord units present
—the supply mechanic essentially works in exactly the same way for each race (just with differing impacts on gameplay), allowing players to create new units when there are sufficient resources to sustain them.
Base construction
Protoss and Zerg building construction is limited to specific locations: Protoss buildings need to be linked to a power grid,
while almost every Zerg structure must be placed on a carpet of biomass, called "creep", that is produced by certain structures.
Terran buildings are far less limited, with certain primary base structures possessing the ability to take off and fly slowly to a new location.
Terran buildings, however, require the worker unit to continue construction on the building until it is completed. Also, once a Terran building has taken a certain amount of damage, it will catch fire and can eventually burn to the ground without further enemy action if repairs are not performed by a worker unit. The Protoss, by contrast, only require a worker unit to begin the process of transporting a building to the theater of operations via warp, and their buildings' shields (but not their structure) are regenerative. The Zerg worker unit physically transforms into the structure created, which is capable of slowly healing itself.
Multiplayer
Multiplayer on ''StarCraft'' is powered through Blizzard Entertainment's
Battle.net Internet service. Through this, a maximum of eight players can compete in a variety of game modes, including simply destroying all other players (which may be competitive, as in Ladder play, or non-ranked, as in melee play), to
king of the hill
''King of the Hill'' is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It aired its original non-syndicated run from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, and centers on the Hills, an Am ...
and
capture the flag
Capture the flag (CTF) is a traditional outdoor sport where two or more teams each have a flag (or other markers) and the objective is to capture the other team's flag, located at the team's "base", and bring it safely back to their own base. ...
objective-based games. In addition, the game incorporates a variety of specialized scenarios for different types of game, such as simulating a
football game, using the Terran hoverbike unit to conduct a bike race, or hosting a Zerg hunting competition.
''StarCraft'' is also one of the few games that include a
spawn installation
In personal computer games, a spawn installation is an installed copy of a game that may only be used to play in multiplayer mode, or otherwise limits the amount of single-player content accessible to the user. Additionally, some spawn implementa ...
, which allows for limited multiplayer. It must be installed from a disc, and requires a
product key to work just as the full version does. However, one product key can support up to eight spawned installations with access to Battle.net. Limitations of a spawned installation include the inability to play single-player missions, create multiplayer games, or use the campaign editor. Newer releases of the game available through Battle.net or discs that include the Windows Vista label don't support the spawn installation.
Synopsis
Setting
''StarCraft'' takes place in a science fiction universe created by
Chris Metzen and James Phinney for Blizzard Entertainment. According to the story presented in the game's manual, the overpopulation of Earth in the early 24th century has caused the international governing body, known as United Powers League (which was later succeeded by
United Earth Directorate), to exile certain members of the
human
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, cultu ...
race, such as criminals, the
cybernetically enhanced, and
genetic mutants, to colonize the far reaches of the galaxy. An attempt to colonize a nearby solar system goes wrong, resulting in humanity's arrival in the Koprulu Sector. 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 dissidents stir up major rebel opposition in the form of a terrorist group called the
Sons of Korhal
''StarCraft'' is a military science fiction media franchise created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney and owned by Blizzard Entertainment. The series, set in the beginning of the 26th century, centers on a galactic struggle for dominance amon ...
. Just prior to the beginning of the game, in December 2499, an alien race possessing advanced technology and psionic power, the
Protoss
Blizzard Entertainment's real-time strategy game series ''StarCraft'' revolves around interstellar affairs in a distant sector of the galaxy, with three species and multiple factions all vying for supremacy in the sector. The playable species of ...
, 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 and internal rebellion, it begins to crumble.
Characters
The player assumes the role of three nameless characters over the course of the game. In the first act, the player acts as the Confederate magistrate of an outlying colony world of Mar Sara, threatened by both the Zerg and the Protoss, and is forced through events to join the rebel Sons of Korhal under its leader
Arcturus Mengsk
Major and recurring characters from the military science fiction series ''StarCraft'' are listed below, organised by respective species and most commonly affiliated faction within the fictional universe. The story of the ''StarCraft'' series revolv ...
. Mengsk's campaign is accompanied by
Jim Raynor
James Eugene Raynor is a fictional character and a major protagonist in Blizzard Entertainment's science fiction ''StarCraft'' series. Raynor is a predominant character in the science fiction real-time strategy video games ''StarCraft'' and '' B ...
, a
morally conscious law enforcement officer from Mar Sara, and
Sarah Kerrigan
Sarah Louise Kerrigan, the self-styled Queen of Blades, is a fictional character in Blizzard Entertainment's ''StarCraft'' franchise. The character was created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney, and her original appearance was designed by Metz ...
, a
psychic assassin and Mengsk's second-in-command. The second episode of the game sees the player as a
cerebrate
Major and recurring characters from the military science fiction series '' StarCraft'' are listed below, organised by respective species and most commonly affiliated faction within the fictional universe. The story of the ''StarCraft'' series revol ...
, 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 – and is given 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
Executor within the Protoss military reporting to Aldaris, a representative of the
Protoss government. Aldaris is at odds with
Tassadar – the former occupant of the player's position – over his association with
Zeratul
Major and recurring characters from the military science fiction series ''StarCraft'' are listed below, organised by respective species and most commonly affiliated faction within the fictional universe. The story of the ''StarCraft'' series revolv ...
, a member of a heretical group known as
dark templar.
Story
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
cutscene
A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward th ...
s 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
James Eugene Raynor is a fictional character and a major protagonist in Blizzard Entertainment's science fiction ''StarCraft'' series. Raynor is a predominant character in the science fiction real-time strategy video games ''StarCraft'' and '' B ...
are attempting to control the colony of Mar Sara in the wake of the Zerg attacks 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.
[Transcript]
/ref> 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.[Transcript]
/ref> After forcing Confederate general Edmund Duke to join him, Mengsk sacrifices his own second-in-command, Sarah Kerrigan
Sarah Louise Kerrigan, the self-styled Queen of Blades, is a fictional character in Blizzard Entertainment's ''StarCraft'' franchise. The character was created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney, and her original appearance was designed by Metz ...
, to ensure the destruction of the Confederacy by luring the Zerg to the Confederate capital Tarsonis.[Transcript]
/ref> Raynor is outraged by Mengsk's true aims of obtaining power at any cost and deserts, followed by the player, taking with them a small army of the former colonial militia of Mar Sara. Mengsk reorganizes what remains of the Terran population into the Terran Dominion, crowning himself as emperor.[Transcript]
/ref>
The second campaign reveals that Kerrigan was not killed by the Zerg, but rather is captured and infested in an effort to incorporate her psionic
In American science fiction of the 1950s and 1960s, psionics was a proposed discipline that applied principles of engineering (especially electronics) to the study (and employment) of paranormal or psychic phenomena, such as telepathy and psycho ...
traits into the Zerg gene pool. She emerges with far more psionic powers and physical strength, her DNA completely altered.[Transcript]
/ref> Meanwhile, the Protoss commander Tassadar discovers that the Zerg's cerebrate
Major and recurring characters from the military science fiction series '' StarCraft'' are listed below, organised by respective species and most commonly affiliated faction within the fictional universe. The story of the ''StarCraft'' series revol ...
s cannot 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
Major and recurring characters from the military science fiction series ''StarCraft'' are listed below, organised by respective species and most commonly affiliated faction within the fictional universe. The story of the ''StarCraft'' series revolv ...
, who assassinates Zasz, one of the Zerg's cerebrates in their hive clusters on Char.[Transcript]
/ref> 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 finally learn the location of the Protoss homeworld Aiur, which the Overmind has been seeking for millennia. The main Zerg swarm promptly invades Aiur, while Kerrigan is dispatched to deal with Tassadar, and despite facing heavy Protoss resistance, the Overmind is able to embed itself into the crust of the planet.[Transcript]
/ref>
The final episode of the game sees Aldaris and the Protoss government branding Tassadar a traitor and a heretic for conspiring with the dark templar. The player (later retconned to be Artanis) initially serves Aldaris in defending Aiur from the Zerg invasion, but while on a mission to arrest Tassadar, the player joins him instead.[Transcript]
/ref> A Protoss civil war erupts, pitting Tassadar, Zeratul, and their allies against the Protoss establishment (known as The Conclave.) 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.[Transcript]
/ref> 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.[Transcript]
/ref>
Development
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the company was founded on February 8, 1991, under the name Silicon & Synapse, Inc. by three gradu ...
began development on ''StarCraft'' in 1995, shortly after the release of highly successful '' Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness''. Using the ''Tides of Darkness'' game engine as a base, ''StarCraft'' made its debut at E3 1996
E3 (short for Electronic Entertainment Expo or Electronic Entertainment Experience in 2021) is a trade event for the video game industry. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) organizes and presents E3, which many developers, publisher ...
. 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 criticized by many for being "''Warcraft
''Warcraft'' is a franchise of video games, novels, and other media created by Blizzard Entertainment. The series is made up of five core games: '' Warcraft: Orcs & Humans'', '' Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness'', '' Warcraft III: Reign of Chao ...
'' 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 is being played, and will require players to think of different strategies to combat the other two species." The hand-drawn graphics seen in the E3 version were also replaced with rendered graphics. 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
A cloak is a type of loose garment worn over clothing, mostly but not always as outerwear for outdoor wear, serving the same purpose as an overcoat, protecting the wearer from the weather. It may form part of a uniform. Cloaks have been and ...
, could be implemented. Later improvements to the game included pre-rendered sprites and backgrounds, constructed using 3D Studio Max
Autodesk 3ds Max, formerly 3D Studio and 3D Studio Max, is a professional 3D computer graphics program for making 3D animations, models, games and images. It is developed and produced by Autodesk Media and Entertainment. It has modeling capab ...
. An isometric in-game view was also adopted, in contrast to ''Warcraft II''s auxiliary bird's eye perspective. In addition, the game utilized high quality music, composed by Blizzard's resident composers, and professional voice actors were hired.
Despite the progress, ''StarCraft'' was slow to emerge. The continual delays inspired a group of ''StarCraft'' fans on the official forums who labeled themselves "Operation: Can't Wait Any Longer" to write a series of fictional stories in which the members of Operation CWAL attempted to retrieve the beta version of ''StarCraft'' from Blizzard's headquarters in Irvine, California
Irvine () is a master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on December 28, 197 ...
. To pay homage to their presence on the forums and enthusiasm for the game, Blizzard Entertainment later incorporated the group's name into ''StarCraft'' as a cheat code to speed up the production of units and gave the group thanks in the game's credits. The game was released for Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...
on March 31, 1998, with the Classic Mac OS version following a year later in 1999. Development on a Nintendo 64
The (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and ...
version, ''StarCraft 64'', began in 1999, converted from PC by Mass Media Interactive Entertainment—a subsidiary of THQ
THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initi ...
—and published by Nintendo. ''StarCraft 64'' was released on June 13, 2000, in the US and Europe. It was also released in Australia on May 25, 2001.
Music
The musical score to ''StarCraft'' was composed by Blizzard Entertainment's composers. Glenn Stafford composed the Terran and Protoss in-game themes, while Derek Duke, who was a contracted composer at the time, wrote all the in-game music for the Zerg. The cinematic scores were composed by Stafford and Hayes. Hayes also collaborated with Stafford on one of the Protoss in-game tracks. 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" and "impressive", with one reviewer noting that some of the music owed much of its inspiration to Jerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith (February 10, 1929July 21, 2004) was an American composer and conductor known for his work in film and television scoring. He composed scores for five films in the ''Star Trek'' franchise and three in the ''Rambo'' franch ...
's score for the film '' Alien''. The first official game soundtrack, ''StarCraft: Game Music Vol. 1'', was released in 2000, comprising tracks from both ''StarCraft'' and ''Brood War
''StarCraft: Brood War'' is the expansion pack for the military science fiction real-time strategy video game ''StarCraft''. Released in December 1998 for Microsoft Windows and June 1999 for Mac OS, it was co-developed by Saffire and Blizzard E ...
'', as well as a sizable portion of remix tracks and music inspired by ''StarCraft'', created by several South Korean disc jockeys. The soundtrack was distributed by Net Vision Entertainment. In September 2008, Blizzard Entertainment announced that a second soundtrack, ''StarCraft Original Soundtrack'', had been released on iTunes. This soundtrack consisted entirely of the original music from ''StarCraft'' and ''Brood War'', both from in-game themes to music used in the cinematic cutscene
A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward th ...
s.
Expansions and versions
Computer expansions
Before the release of ''StarCraft'', Blizzard Entertainment released a free-to-download game demo
A game demo is a trial version of a video game that is limited to a certain time limit or a point in progress, which leads to the player buying the game if they liked it. A game demo comes in forms such as shareware, demo disc, downloadable s ...
entitled ''Loomings'', comprising three missions and a tutorial. The prequel was made available for the full game in October 1999 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
Blizzard Entertainment's real-time strategy game series ''StarCraft'' revolves around interstellar affairs in a distant sector of the galaxy, with three species and multiple factions all vying for supremacy in the sector. The playable species of ...
, ''Enslavers'' is set in the second campaign in ''StarCraft'' and follows the story of a Terran smuggler who manages to take control of a Zerg cerebrate
Major and recurring characters from the military science fiction series '' StarCraft'' are listed below, organised by respective species and most commonly affiliated faction within the fictional universe. The story of the ''StarCraft'' series revol ...
and is pursued by both the Protoss and Terran Dominion. ''Enslavers'' acts as an exemplar single-player campaign for the game's level editor
In video games, a level (also referred to as a map, stage, or round in some older games) is any space available to the player during the course of completion of an objective. Video game levels generally have progressively-increasing difficulty t ...
, highlighting how to use the features of the program.
''StarCraft''s first expansion, ''Insurrection
Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority.
A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...
'', was released for Windows on July 31, 1998. The expansion was developed by Aztech New Media and authorized 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'' was not received well, being criticized 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
Stardock Corporation is a software development company founded in 1991 and incorporated in 1993 as Stardock Systems. Stardock initially developed for the OS/2 platform, but was forced to switch to Microsoft Windows due to the collapse of the OS ...
, published by WizardWorks
WizardWorks Group, Inc. was an American video game developer and publisher based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The company was founded in 1980 and, in 1993, WizardWorks opened the CompuWorks and MacSoft divisions. In 1996, WizardWorks was acquir ...
and authorized by Blizzard Entertainment, ''Retribution'' follows all three races attempting to seize control of a powerful crystal on a Terran Dominion colony. The expansion was not received with critical support, instead being regarded as average but at least challenging. After the release of ''Retribution'', Blizzard Entertainment announced a new official expansion pack that would continue on the story of ''StarCraft''. '' StarCraft: Brood War'' 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 to critical praise on December 18, 1998, in the US and in March 1999 in Europe.
Before ''Insurrection'', an unauthorized expansion pack, called ''Stellar Forces'', was published by Micro Star but was recalled weeks later when Blizzard won the court case against it. It consisted of 22 single player maps and 32 multi-player maps which are considered to be rather plain.
Nintendo 64 version
In 2000, ''StarCraft 64'' was released in North America for the Nintendo 64
The (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and ...
, co-developed by Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the company was founded on February 8, 1991, under the name Silicon & Synapse, Inc. by three gradu ...
and Mass Media Inc.
Mass Media, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Moorpark, California.
History
Mass Media began in the 1980s at Cinemaware. In 1991, they formed a production unit called Philips P.O.V. Entertainment Group. Mass Media left Philips i ...
and published by Nintendo. 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''. Blizzard Entertainment had previously considered a PlayStation port of the game, but it was decided that the game would instead be released on the Nintendo 64. ''Resurrection IV'' is set after the conclusion of ''Brood War'', and follows Jim Raynor
James Eugene Raynor is a fictional character and a major protagonist in Blizzard Entertainment's science fiction ''StarCraft'' series. Raynor is a predominant character in the science fiction real-time strategy video games ''StarCraft'' and '' B ...
embarking on a mission to rescue the ''Brood War'' character Alexei Stukov, a vice admiral from Earth who has been captured by the Zerg. The ''Brood War'' missions required the use of a Nintendo 64 memory Expansion Pak to run. In addition, ''StarCraft 64'' features a split screen
Split screen may refer to:
* Split screen (computing)
Split screen is a display technique in computer graphics that consists of dividing graphics and/or text into adjacent (and possibly overlapping) parts, typically as two or four rectangular ...
cooperative mode, also requiring the expansion pak, allowing two players to control one force in-game. ''StarCraft 64'' lacked the online multiplayer capabilities and speech in mission briefings. In addition, cut scenes were shortened. ''StarCraft 64'' was a runner-up for GameSpot's annual "Best Game Story" and "Best Strategy Game" awards among console games, which went respectively to '' Summoner'' and '' Ogre Battle 64''.
Remaster
A remastered
Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used.
Mastering
A ...
edition of the game, '' StarCraft: Remastered'', released August 14, 2017, preserves the gameplay of the original while adding support for ultra-high-definition graphics, Blizzard's modern online features, and re-recorded audio (soundtrack and sound effects).
''StarCraft: Cartooned''
On June 8, 2019, as part of the grand finals of the third season of the KSL, Blizzard announced a graphics overhaul pack for the game by Carbot Animations, the producers of multiple Blizzard-related parody animations, including their first and longest-running one, the ''StarCrafts'' series. As a graphical overhaul, its effect applies to all game modes and menus in ''StarCraft: Remastered''. It was released on July 10, 2019, as ''StarCraft: Cartooned'' alongside an announcer pack featuring South Korean YouTuber
A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006.
Influence
Influe ...
and children's television host Hyejin "Hey Jini" Kang.
Cultural impact
Reception
''StarCraft'' was released internationally on March 31, 1998, and became the best-selling PC game for that year, selling over 1.5 million copies worldwide. In the United States, it was the best-selling computer game of 1998, with 746,365 units sold. It was the country's 14th best-selling release of the period between 1993 and 1999, selling 916,000 copies. By April 1999, South Korean players had purchased almost 300,000 units of the game, increasing to units sold in Korea by November 1999. ''StarCraft''s worldwide sales reached 4 million units by July 2001; South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
accounted for 50% of these copies. By May 2007, ''StarCraft'' had 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
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the company was founded on February 8, 1991, under the name Silicon & Synapse, Inc. by three gradu ...
reported that its Battle.net online multiplayer service grew by 800 percent.
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 to have applied the formula. In addition, ''StarCraft''s pioneering use of three distinct, unique, and balanced races over two equal sides was praised by critics, with GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
commenting that this helped the game to "avoid the problem that has plagued every other game in the genre". Many critics also praised the strength of the story accompanying the game, with some reviewers being impressed by how well the story was folded into the gameplay. The game's voice acting in particular was praised; GameSpot later hailed the voice work in the game as one of the ten best in the industry at the time. Equally, the multiplayer aspects of the game were positively received. ''StarCraft'' has received multiple awards, including being named as one of the best games of all time by GameSpot, IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
, and ''Game Informer
''Game Informer'' (''GI'', most often stylized ''gameinformer'' from the 2010s onward) is an American monthly video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and associated consoles. It debuted in August 1991 w ...
''. According to Blizzard Entertainment, ''StarCraft'' has won 37 awards and has received a star on the floor of the Metreon
The Metreon is a shopping center located in downtown San Francisco, California, United States at the corner of 4th Street and Mission Street. It is a four-story building built over the corner of the underground Moscone Center convention cen ...
as part of the Walk of Game in San Francisco in early 2006.
'' Next Generation'' reviewed the PC version of the game, rating it five stars out of five, and stated that "The quality of the play balancing and the elegance of the design mean that ''StarCraft'' sets a new high watermark for all real-time strategy games."
The reviewer from the online second volume of ''Pyramid
A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...
'' stated that "One of the most hotly anticipated computer games of the last two years, Blizzard Entertainment's ''Starcraft'' has had a tremendous amount of hype to live up to. The fact that it ''does'' live up to the high expectations set for it may be the only recommendation it needs."
Although at the time ''StarCraft''s graphics and audio were praised by critics, later reviews have noted that the graphics do not compare to more modern games. The capacity for the game's artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech r ...
to navigate units to waypoints also faced some heavy criticism, with '' PC Zone'' stating that the inability for developers to make an effective pathfinding system was "the single most infuriating element of the real-time strategy genre". In addition, several reviewers expressed concern over some familiarities between the unit structures of each race, as well as over the potential imbalance of players using rushing tactics early in multiplayer games. Blizzard Entertainment has strived to balance rush tactics in later updates. The Nintendo 64 version of the game was not received as positively by reviewers, and was criticized for poor graphics in comparison to the PC version. However, critics did praise the game and Mass Media
Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets.
Broadcast media transmit informati ...
for using effective controls on the gamepad and maintaining the high quality audio.
''Starcraft'' won the Origins Award
The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so (for example) the 1979 a ...
for Best Strategy Computer Game of 1998.
In 1998, ''PC Gamer
''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games m ...
'' declared it the 5th-best computer game ever released, and the editors called it "a strategy game that continues to evolve and surprise many months after its release, and that currently represents the state of the genre's art".
With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide by February 2009, ''StarCraft'' became one of the best-selling games for the personal computer. It has been praised for pioneering the use of unique ''factions'' in RTS gameplay, and for having a compelling story.
Legacy
GameSpot described ''StarCraft'' as "The defining game of its genre. It is the standard by which all real-time strategy games are judged." ''IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
'' stated that ''StarCraft'' "is hands down one of the best, if not the best, real-time strategy games ever created." ''StarCraft'' is frequently included in the industry's best games rankings, for example it ranked 37 in ''Edge''s top 100 games of all time. ''StarCraft'' has even been taken into space, as astronaut Daniel T. Barry took a copy of the game with him on the Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...
mission STS-96
STS-96 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle '' Discovery'', and the first shuttle flight to dock at the International Space Station. The shuttle carried the Spacehab module in the payload, ...
in 1999. ''StarCraft''s popularity resulted in ''Guinness World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
'' awarding the game four world records, including "Best Selling PC Strategy Game," "Largest Income in Professional Gaming," and "Largest Audience for a Game Competition" when 120,000 fans turned out to watch the final of the SKY proleague season 2005 in Busan, South Korea. Researchers have shown that the audience for watching ''StarCraft'' games is diverse and that ''StarCraft'' uses instances of information asymmetry
In contract theory and economics, information asymmetry deals with the study of decisions in transactions where one party has more or better information than the other.
Information asymmetry creates an imbalance of power in transactions, which ca ...
to make the game more entertaining for spectators. In addition, ''StarCraft'' has been the subject of an academic course; the University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
offered a student-run introductory course on theory and strategy in spring 2009.
After its release, ''StarCraft'' rapidly grew in popularity in South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
, eventually making its way to become the country's national e-sport after 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 "BoxeR" Yo-hwan, to gain a fan club of over half a million people. One player, Lee Yun-yeol, reported earnings in 2005 of .
''StarCraft'' was part of the United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...
's Air and Space Basic Course
Air and Space Basic Course (ASBC), initially and briefly known as Aerospace Basic Course (ABC), was a Professional Military Education (PME) course taught by the Squadron Officer College, Air University, at Maxwell AFB, AL. From 1997 to mid-201 ...
, used to teach newly active officers about crisis planning under stress and joint service teamwork. Other efforts to make more 'realistic' current-day battle software led to distractions when simulated hardware didn't align with the real hardware active duty officers knew about. The science fiction setting allowed students to focus on the battle tactics.
The annual Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment hosts a competition for AIs playing the game. As of 2015, humans still win.
In 2014, an unofficial version for the Pandora handheld and the ARM architecture became available by static recompilation
In computing, binary translation is a form of binary recompilation where sequences of instruction (computer science), instructions are translated from a ''source'' instruction set to the ''target'' instruction set. In some cases such as instructio ...
and reverse engineering of the original x86
x86 (also known as 80x86 or the 8086 family) is a family of complex instruction set computer (CISC) instruction set architectures initially developed by Intel based on the Intel 8086 microprocessor and its 8088 variant. The 8086 was intr ...
version.
The original game, along with the expansion, was released for free in April 2017.
In 2021, The Strong National Museum of Play
The Strong National Museum of Play (known as just The Strong Museum or simply the Strong) is part of The Strong in Rochester, New York, United States. Established in 1969 and based initially on the personal collection of Rochester native Margaret ...
inducted ''StarCraft'' to its World Video Game Hall of Fame
The World Video Game Hall of Fame is an international hall of fame that opened on June 4, 2015. It is located in The National Museum of Play's ''eGameRevolution'' exhibit; the hall's administration is overseen by The Strong and the Internatio ...
. During the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. ...
Ukrainian presidential spokesman and Chief of Staff Oleksiy Arestovych
Oleksii Mykolaiovych Arestovych ( uk, Олексій Миколайович Арестович; born 3 August 1975) is a Ukrainian intelligence officer, blogger, actor, political and military columnist, and propagandist. He was a speaker of th ...
described reports of a potential Russian offensive as a "zerg rush" of 10,000 volunteers (in reference to Zerg swarm species tactics from the game), and proceeded to explain the meaning of the term.
Merchandise
The storyline of ''StarCraft'' has been adapted into several novels. The first novel, ''Uprising'', which was written by Blizzard employee Micky Neilson and published in December 2000, acts as a prequel to the events of ''StarCraft''. Other novels—''Liberty's Crusade'' by Jeff Grubb
Jeff Grubb (born August 27, 1957) is an author who writes novels, short stories, and comics and a computer and role-playing game designer in the fantasy genre. Grubb worked on the ''Dragonlance'' campaign setting under Tracy Hickman, and the ...
and Aaron Rosenberg's ''Queen of Blades''—retell the story of the game from different perspectives. At BlizzCon
BlizzCon is an annual gaming convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to promote its major franchises including ''Warcraft'', ''StarCraft'', '' Diablo'', ''Hearthstone'', ''Heroes of the Storm,'' and ''Overwatch''.
The first BlizzCon was held ...
2007, ''StarCraft'' creator Chris Metzen stated that he hoped to novelize the entirety of ''StarCraft'' and its expansion ''Brood War'' into a definitive text-based story. Later novels, such as Gabriel Mesta
Kevin James Anderson (born March 27, 1962) is an American science fiction author. He has written spin-off novels for ''Star Wars'', ''StarCraft'', '' Titan A.E.'' and ''The X-Files'', and with Brian Herbert is the co-author of the ''Dune'' pre ...
's ''Shadow of the Xel'Naga'' and Christie Golden's ''The Dark Templar Saga'', further expand the storyline, creating the setting for ''StarCraft II
''StarCraft II'' is a military science fiction video game created by Blizzard Entertainment as a sequel to the successful ''StarCraft'' video game released in 1998. Set in a fictional future, the game centers on a galactic struggle for dominance ...
''.
A number of action figure
An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game or television program; fictional or historical. These figures are usually mark ...
s 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
Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) is a game company based in Roseville, Minnesota, United States, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, card, and dice games. As of 2014, it is a subsidiary of Asmodée Éditions.
History
Fantasy Flight Publish ...
to create a board game
Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well.
Many board games feature a co ...
with detailed sculptures of game characters. Blizzard Entertainment also licensed Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. It is currently a subsidia ...
to produce an Alternity
''Alternity'' is a science fiction role-playing game (RPG) published by TSR in 1998. Following the acquisition of TSR by Wizards of the Coast, the game was discontinued in 2000 as part of a broader rationalisation of TSR's business holdings, bu ...
based game entitled '' StarCraft Adventures''.
See also
* Barcraft
The real time strategy (RTS) computer game '' StarCraft'' had an active professional competition circuit, particularly in South Korea. The two major game channels in South Korea, Ongamenet and MBCGame, each ran a Starleague ( Ongamenet Starlea ...
* StarCraft
* StarCraft: Brood War
* StarCraft: Remastered
* StarCraft II
''StarCraft II'' is a military science fiction video game created by Blizzard Entertainment as a sequel to the successful ''StarCraft'' video game released in 1998. Set in a fictional future, the game centers on a galactic struggle for dominance ...
* StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
* StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm
* StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void
* StarCraft in esports
The real time strategy (RTS) computer game ''StarCraft'' had an active professional competition circuit, particularly in South Korea. The two major game channels in South Korea, Ongamenet and MBCGame, each ran a Starleague ( Ongamenet Starleague ...
References
External links
*
The ''StarCraft'' Compendium on Battle.net
StarCraft Demo in the old Blizzard FTP
{{DEFAULTSORT:Starcraft
1998 video games
Cooperative video games
Esports games
Freeware games
Interactive Achievement Award winners
Classic Mac OS games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Multiplayer null modem games
Nintendo 64 games
Origins Award winners
MacOS games
Split-screen multiplayer games
StarCraft games
Video games about telepathy
Video games developed in the United States
Video games with expansion packs
Video games with isometric graphics
Video games written by Chris Metzen
Windows games
World Video Game Hall of Fame