The main e -sports strategy, immediately after the release of the game classic, on March 31, 2010 is 12 years old. On the eve of the release of Starcraft 2, Gamery, recalled how the small studio Silicon & Synapse has turned into Blizzard Entertainment, and the failure game “Orcs in Cosmos” – in the best strategy of the XX century.
Blizzard Entertainment appeared due to a striking occasion. Once, students of the University of California Mike Morheim and Allen Edham sat in a computer class in a practical lesson and programmed. When Allen went to the printer to pick up the printout, Mike decided to make fun: he sat down for the liberated computer, scored the Lock command, entered his password and returned to his place. Five minutes later Allen came and as if nothing had happened continued his work. It turned out that both students had the same password – Joe. So mysterious Joe introduced the future founders of Blizzard.
Edham wanted to become a developer all his life: he also tested games for the founder as a student InterPlay Brian Fargo and programmed his own projects for the https://lady-linda-casino.co.uk/ company Datasoft. After graduating from the university, Allen decided that he knew about the gaming industry, and decided to open his own business. He persuaded Mike and Frank Pierce (another university friend) to establish a small studio in Irvain – so on the eighth of February 1991 a startup appeared Silicon & Synapse.
Allen and Mike invested $ 10,000 in the company and called the president and vice president, respectively, and Frank became their first programmer. Soon the trio turned into a quartet: Mike invited his university friend, a talented programmer Patrick Wyette to the team.
Battle chess, Vikings and races
Throughout 1992, friends ported games Interplay Productions with Commodore 64, Amiga and Macintosh. Their efforts, for example, appeared DOS versions J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and two parts Battle Chess.
The proceeds went to expand the staff and rent an office with an area of 55 m2. According to Allen, everything that he and Mike earned in the first years, they invested in the development of the company: “If we had free money, we did not increase the salary of each other, but immediately hired another artist or programmer”. It happened that for many months, including during Starcraft development, friends worked for eighty hours a week – that is, almost twelve hours every day.
Formally the first game developed by Silicon & Synapse – this is an arcade race RPM Racing , released Internet for SNES (we have better known as Super Nintendo). But in fact, RPM was only a remake of another race, Racing Destruction Set , published Electronic Arts In 1985. But the next project Silicon & Synapse, magnificent platformer The Lost Vikings , Friends have developed from scratch.
The game also released InterPlay, and the owners of almost all the platforms existing at that time – Amiga, Amiga CD32, Sega Megadrive, Snes, PC (and in 2003, it also ported on Game Boy Advance). In June 1993, another Silicon & Seega Mega Drive appeared on SNES and Sega Mega Drive Synapse – Rock N ’Roll Racing , Arkada, in which it was necessary to shoot opponents under the roar of rock music.
Critics quickly appreciated the potential of Silicon & Synapse – so, magazine VideoGames He called the company the best developer of 1993. However, the ordinary players had nothing to do with this. Allen decided that to achieve success, they need to rename the studio. “No one has a concept of what this damn Synapse means,” he repeated during coffee breaks.
Mike Morheim suggested calling the company " Chaos Studio ", But it soon became clear that a company with this name already exists. Its owners were ready to sell the rights for one hundred thousand dollars. Friends decided that $ 100,000 was too expensive for a beautiful phrase. Sortering different options, Mike and Allen came to Ogre Entertainment Studio , But then, lazily leafing through the dictionary, Allen stumbled upon the word "Blizzard". So Silicon & Synapse became Blizzard Entertainment.
Carte blanche
In 1993 an educational company Davidson & Associates I acquired Blizzard Entertainment for $ 10 million – on the condition that twenty employees of the studio retain complete independence. Subsequently, the owners of Blizzard changed several more times. In 1996 Davidson & Associates with Sierra on-line was bought by the company CUC International , And already in 1997, CUC International united with a network of hotels, real estate agencies and car rental centers HFS Corporation , Having formed a conglomerate Cendant Corporation. In 1998, after accused of financial fraud, Cendant sold her game unit Sierra on-line, which included Blizzard, a French publishing house Havas. It, in turn, was bought in the same year Vivendi Universal. Finally, July 9, 2008 after the merger Activision and Vivendi Games has formed a publishing house Activision Blizzard.
However, we were distracted. In 1994, Blizzard Entertainment released four games at once: Majong Shanghai 2: Dragon’s Eye , Platformer Blackthorne and beat ’em up The Death and Return of Superman , as well as the famous real -time strategy Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. Actually, in those days, the RTS king was considered Westwood Studios With her Dune 2 (1992), and the fans of the genre had a lot. But in 1993-1994, while Westwood herself worked on Command & Conquer, Strategies in real time almost did not come out.
Noticing this, Blizzard took up the first "Warcraft". The demo version of the epic saga about the war of people and orcs was first shown to the general public at the summer exhibition of household electronics in Chicago. This event, by the way, is also noteworthy that Allen Edham met the owners of California on it Condor , David Brevik and Max and Eric Schaefer. In January 1995, they just took up the development Diablo , The producer of which Allen Edham performed (it was he who insisted that the dull step -by -step battles replace with more dynamic and exciting battles in real time). Looking ahead, let's say that at the end of 1996, Diablo went to gold-and eight months before that Condor studio joined Blizzard and began to be called Blizzard North.
By that time Warcraft: Orcs & Humans has already come out – 100,000 disks were sold during the first year. In Irvain, development began Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness. Everything about everything about everything Blizzard took ten months – and this despite the fact that in the second part a revolutionary network mode of the game was implemented at that time and a new graphic engine was used. The strategy was released in December 1995-and by March 1996 it diverged in a circulation of half a million copies.
One space strategy instead of three
Intoxicated by the success of Blizzard Entertainment and the leadership of Davidson & Associates wanted the next studio game to be released exactly a year later-exactly before the Christmas holidays of 1996. Given that Warcraft 2 discs scattered like hot pies, it would be reasonable to announce Warcraft 3. However, the producers of the series, Mike and Allen, did not want to engage in self -repetition and decided to make another game.
After several meetings, it turned out that both the leaders of the company and ordinary employees were not averse to creating another RTS, but only in it there should not be a fantasy world, but a high -tech world of the future. The name for the new project was invented quite quickly – Starcraft.
By this time, in the bowels of Blizzard, there were a full speed of two more strategies with a futuristic setting – Shattehed Nations And Pax Imperia2 (sequel of the RTS of the same name, released Heliotrope Studios At Macintoshas in 1992). Shattehed Nations narrated about the internecine war of people in the post-apocalyptic world and was canceled in May 1998 (the trailer can still be found on YouTube on the key "Shattered Nations Trailer Cancelled Blizzard Game"). And Pax Imperia 2 was created in parallel with Starcraft, but when Blizzard realized that the games would compete with each other on the market, it was also canceled. As a result, Pax Imperia 2 finished Heliotrope itself, and it came out in October 1997 under the name Pax Imperia: Eminent Domain.
Grain, Zurgi and Space invaders
With Starcraft everything was not easy too. At the very early stage of development, it was planned to limit himself to two races – however, with different sets of units. The authors wanted to move away from the so -called chess scheme for building gameplay, when the warring parties dispose of the same set of figures.
In Warcraft 2, the troops had similar combat characteristics and differed from each other only by the appearance. Elven archers were contrasted by the broken berserkers, hefty ogra were drawn with horse knights, the fire -breathing dragons competed in the air with the riders of the griffins – and so on. Developing a new strategy, Blizzard put on diversity: one race got highly developed technologies (laser guns, starships, psionic weapons and all that so on), and the other relied on gross power and prevailed due to numerical superiority.
Gathering an alpha version, the developers came to the conclusion that the game should not have two, but three sides, as in Dune 2: Terrans (Terran), Protoss (Protoss) and … Nightmarish invaders-this is the originally called reasonable insect -shaped creatures. Then they were renamed Zurgov (Zurg), but a few months later it turned out that in the announced Pixar The animated film "The History of toys 2" will be a negative character – the evil emperor Zurg. For every fireman “U” replaced with “E” – so the Zurgi turned into Zergov (Zerg).
Early alpha
Initially, Starcraft was created on a slightly modified Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness engine, the release was scheduled for November 1996. Blizzard even released several promoters. In the first, short, there were neither beautiful cat-scenes, nor a slide show from screenshots-only the game logo (by the way, it also differed from the final) and yellow on a black background, which represented the audience of three participants in the conflict: Terran, protoss and – Then still – Zurgov. In the second video, on the contrary, there was only one line of text (“From the creators of Warcraft …”), but a short sketch with flying spaceships appeared (the key to search for YouTube – “Starcraft 1995 First Trainer”). This turned out to be enough to interest the players.
For E3 , Passing in May 1996, a raw demo version was collected – the so -called early alpha (screenshots show how much it was different from the final game). So, resources were mined not from the deposits of crystals and gas deposits scattered along the ground, but from asteroids. Because of this, the rubbish drones did not glide on the ground, but flew along the sky. Pay attention to the interface – it is practically under the carbon copy of the sodran with Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness. Take a look at how primitively the special biological substance is made, on which the grains are rebuilt (by the way, it was originally called not a crypt (CREP), but the Pupayi (Pupae)). On one of the screenshots, the surface of this substance is painted blue, on the other – in purple. Now take a closer look at the structures – many of them are very similar to the buildings of the orcs.
The audience met the game cool. There were six computers at the Blizzard Entertainment booth, and at the beginning of the exhibition they were equally divided between Starcraft and Diablo – however, on the last day of E3, the space strategy huddled only on one. The reaction of the profile press was not enthusiastic: she described the essence of the game with two nouns and one pretext – “Orcs in Cosmos”. Also, due to the abundance of violet color, Starcraft was nicknamed "purple" Warcraft ". It was a failure.
Blizzard had a difficult choice: either release the game before Christmas holidays in the form in which it appeared on E3, or transfer the release date for an indefinite period to fundamentally change the gameplay and graphics, or completely cancel the project, as happened with the Shattered Nations. Choose the second option.
Alpha and Beta
Almost all the developments went to the garbage basket. The team of programmers, led by Bob Fitch, settled for changing the graphic engine and writing a new algorithm for artificial intelligence behavior.
In early 1997, the alpha version of the game was ready. Take a look at the screenshots: there is no trace of the old interface. The graphics have changed. For example, the walking robots Terran and Goliaths look different, the carriers of the protosss seem much less. Many units have other names: dragoons are called templars, enemy – phoenixes, observers – witnesses, and river – trilobites. Some units have additional weapons: say, the already mentioned Goliath knows how to shoot from a machine gun, guns and flamethrower. And in the 1998 Starcraft, he beats for ground targets from a machine gun, and on air – from a missile installation.
The alpha version looked good, but its quality was not enough. Due to the fact that the game used the modernized graphic nucleus of Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness, the developers could not realize a number of interesting ideas-for example, elaborating with grains or invisibility of Terran.
Bob Fitch programmers again had to thoroughly delve into the insides of the engine. “Give me two months, and we will be able to introduce everything you want, and even ten times more,” he reassured designers. Despite the fact that in 1996, three-dimensional games already existed ( Wolfenstein 3D , Doom , Doom 2 ), Blizzard did not redo her two -dimensional engine. The developers were quite satisfied with the sprites of “Warcraft”: “Let the game have a good new engine – with a bad gameplay, it still will not last long,” Patrick Whayette remarked every now and then. Thus, Blizzard focused not on the technical, but on the gameplay and plot component.
In the spring of 1997, a beta version was collected. Almost all units migrated from it into a release, only some have changed names and a few characteristics. So, the Terran infantrymen turned from looters into marines and instead of laser rifles began to use rapid -fire machines. This, by the way, is far from the only example of how the weapons of units changed in the course of development. Did you know that the Terran could initially throw the enemies of the bomb on the heads of the enemies, and the ghost was armed with powerful missiles? Pay attention to the screenshots again: many protoss buildings differ from those that we saw in the final version (pylons look fun). But the buildings of Terran almost all were preserved in its original form.
While the programmers fiddled with the engine, Morheim created several new departments that were responsible for the KAT scenes-in the middle of the development of Mike and Allen decided that the game videos were simply necessary. Bob Fitch was still working: “Twinnot began in August 1997, then I first began to linger in the office … Initially,“ lingering ”meant to“ work 50 hours a week instead of 40 ”. Then I worked 60 hours a week, then 70, then 80. Then it turned out that I didn’t leave the office at all – I live there. Others bring me food, I sleep on the couch – and, in spite of everything, I still want to play this game ".
"This damn toy"
Blizzard planned to release Starcraft December 15, 1997. Now all the company’s employees were sitting in the office without any time, trying to be in time for the intended time-and, according to the press release, “slept on the floor, ate pizza from the store nearby and worked out shifts for 30 hours”. The programmer Jeff Strain, who was engaged in a game editor, did not leave Starcraft even at the bed of a pregnant wife: in December, Annie was in the ninth month, and one fine day she began to fight. Jeff took her to the hospital and sat next to him for six hours – all this time he programmed on his laptop multitasking regime of the campaign editor. When the effect of sleeping pills ended, the first that Annie saw was her husband's fingers running on the keyboard. “How can you work on this damn toy during the birth of our daughter!" – she exclaimed. Jeff looked out for a moment from behind the monitor and replied: “This is not a damn toy, Annie. This is Starcraft ".
But, despite all efforts, instead of a disk with a master of the game, by December, only a beta version was ready for testing. At first glance, it looks like a release option like two drops of water. But if you look closely, you can find a lot of differences. So, at the beginning of the game, only one working unit is given and they collect not 8, but 10 units of resources; The construction of buildings and upgrades proceed much faster; You cannot assign a collection point for the produced units; The protosss and Zergs have blocked up armor upgrades … And these are only a few examples from a huge list of discrepancies.
The time remaining to the release – from December to March – went to polish the gameplay. Blizzard did not do anything else except Starcraft. The employees played for three months, found bugs and inconsistencies in the balance sheet of forces, and then diligently corrected everything – Mike Morheim is still sure that 10% of the bugs that were captured during the final testing distinguish a good game from the Great.
[[Break]] Starcraft as an academic discipline
In 2009, in one of the oldest and most prestigious higher educational institutions of the United States, the University of California at Berkeley, they introduced an unusual subject called “ Starcraft: The Art of War ". The course consists of lectures and practical classes, at which students learn to think effectively and make correct decisions in the conditions of manifold – and use the skills gained during the game in real life. Teachers – professional e -sportsmen from South Korea – not only open the secrets of skill on the principle of “do as me!", And disassemble different game strategies using complex formulas, probability theory, etc.p. On the Internet you can find videos of several lectures, each lasts from half an hour to one and a half (the key to search for YouTube – “UC Berkeley Starcraft Class Lecture”).
Full set
Immediately after Starcraft, various teams began to create their games and additions “based on” (three such addons were recognized as official, although Blizzard itself developed only one of them).
The Canadian studio was faster Aztech New Media – Exactly four months after the release of Starcraft, July 31, 1998, a strategy appeared on sale Starcraft: Insurrection. It consists of three dozen missions for a single campaign and more than a hundred cards for multiplayer battles, but new content (units, for example) does not add. In general, players accepted Starcraft: Insurrection, although they noticed that the addon has been tested worse than the original game. The second addon, Starcraft: Retribution , developed Stardock Systems And published WizardWorks Software , appeared at the end of 1998. It included 120 cards and a large single campaign. Retribution was evaluated as a mediocre addon-except for cards and single campaigns, he again did not add anything special, and the cards and campaigns themselves were very complicated.
The only addon developed by Blizzard itself was released on November 30, 1998. Starcraft: Brood War continued the campaign of the original game, added seven new units, new musical tracks and textures. In addition, Brood War corrected the balance of forces a little – this was predetermined by the success of the addition.
There are also four addons that Blizzard considers unofficial. Three mods were created not by professional developers, but by fan communities. Starcraft: Liberation And Starcraft: After Vrod War Add a 10 and 21 new mission to the game, respectively. Starcraft: Realistic , designed by Russian modmakers from the team Red System (www.Redsys.ru ), includes 7 missions for graves, 5 – for protosss and 3 – for the terran. In addition, Red System came up with several interesting graphic effects. So, Terran aviation leaves a smoky train, and protosss – photon; Behind flying missiles, a fiery tail curls; The guns of tanks and goliafs shoot with return; A broken plane does not fly apart in the air, but dives to the ground and explodes. The fourth unofficial addon, Stellar Forces , released by the company Micro Star , It includes 22 levels for – for the network game.
The collection of a real Starcraft
For twelve years of Starcraft's existence in the world of winning capitalism, countless various souvenir products were released – from pens and figurines to comics and books. Here are just some of the things that the real fan of the series is obliged in their collection.
Starcraft: advanced
Manga, which is officially distributed by the St. Petersburg Publishing House "Comics Art". Two out of four existing collections have already been on sale.
Starcraft: Hybrid and Starcraft: Revelations
The two very first stories, the action of which takes place in the Starcraft universe (there will be a dozen books and comics behind them). Published in the American magazine Amazing Stories in the spring of 1999 and 2000.
Starcraft: The Board Game
Fantasy Flight Games, published in the fall of 2007, which can play 2-4 hours from two to six people.
Gaming soundtracks
Two hourly collections with intra-game music: published in January 2000 Starcraft: Game Music Vol. 1 and appearing in August 2008 Starcraft Original Soundtrack.
P.S. If this is not enough for you, you can go to South Korea and buy souvenir figures there, carbonated drinks, potato chips, telephone cards, stickers and other collector things with Starcraft symbols. And you can make various units from the Lego designer yourself.
Bright light of an open star
Starcraft to the wide masses are most known, of course, like an e -sports game. For the first time the largest annual cybersurnament World Cyber Games Passed in 2000 – and even then Starcraft competitions were held: Brood War (e -sportsmen use addon because it is more balanced than the original).
Representatives of South Korea invariably win the WCG grand finals (the highest achievement of Russia is the second place in 2005): in this country there is almost the second religion for young people in this country. Back in 1999, 1 million copies were sold in South Korea alone-despite the fact that then 40 million people lived in the country! Today, one disk with the game is already 23 inhabitants of the country. Korean television channels regularly conduct broadcasts from various tournaments, and thousands of young people spend daily training for several hours. An experienced Starcraft makes up to 500 clicks per minute! Do not believe? Look at your youtube fights (an interesting video, for example, can be found on the key “National Geographic: World Cyber Games [5/5]” is a ten -minute recording of the match between two Korean cyberstexts).
Professional Starcrafts receive up to half a million dollars a year from prize and advertising deductions. Thus, one of the outstanding Korean e-sportsmen, Lim Yo-Khwan, at the peak of his careers earned an average of $ 390,000 per year, and the other progemner, Lee Yun-Eol, in 2007 signed a three-year contract for $ 830,000-this is more than the presidents of many receive Game corporations. By the way, it is interesting that five out of the six best Korean e-sportsmen play professionally for Zerg (as of February 2010).