The Evolution of StarCraft

Ars Technica's Opposable Thumbs blog links to a piece chock full of gaming history. The StarCraft Legacy site offers up a historical record of the evolution of StarCraft . Written back in 2004, it is still relevant today. A game title that, lo these many years later, not only has an avid cult following but may be the most popular sport in South Korea is something you want to keep in mind. We may even hear word of a sequel this year. The piece runs down the numerous changes the game underwent, from the ugly alpha days through to the upheaval of Brood War (damned Lurkers). Tidbits like this make the article well worth checking out: "The game made a weak first impression at [E3], and it received much criticism. There were many remarks that the game looked too much like 'Orcs in space.' When Blizzard came back from E3 that year, they decided to scrap the idea. Their decision? 'Let's step it up a little more, let's revamp the engine, let's do more than what we're showing. We can't do Orcs in space.' Thus, StarCraft was reborn. The basics of the Warcraft II engine were still used, but more work was being put into the design and programming."

Comments

Insightful?

[popo]

Ah. Interesting ... so the finished product was an improvement over the beta?

just wondering.

[Anonymous Coward]

why is it that evolutionists jump on the opportunity to use the word 'evolution' any chance they have, regardless of if it is the best suited word for the sentence in question? is it the way they were intelligently designed? (see, if we started doing it, it would be really really annoying.. for you, at least)

but seriously... it really makes me laugh sometimes watching history/discovery. 'the evolution of handtools' oh, so now handtools traits and genes are transferred through reproduction? did the torx come by means of mutation? /rant

Re:just wondering.

[blackicye]

"why is it that evolutionists jump on the opportunity to use the word 'evolution' any chance they have, regardless of if it is the best suited word for the sentence in question? is it the way they were intelligently designed? (see, if we started doing it, it would be really really annoying.. for you, at least)

but seriously... it really makes me laugh sometimes watching history/discovery. 'the evolution of handtools' oh, so now handtools traits and genes are transferred through reproduction? did the torx come by means of mutation?"

This is the story of the torx screwdriver, as I've been told.
its eons old, and I feel no need to question it, it just makes sense.

In the beginning there was nothing, Great Inventor Dude (GID)
decided, well this kinda sucks..

GID declared that there be stuff, the first day he
created bits and pieces.

GID then decided that bits and pieces still weren't really
that cool and created phillips and flathead, that they may
rule over all bits and pieces, and should they will it turn,
into stuff.

Well to make a long story short, phillips and flathead multiplied
and were many, till either or both, populated the earth.

Then phillips and flathead rebelled, and instead of making stuff
and honoring GID they started questioning and taking stuff apart.

So in a huge deluge lasting 90 days and 90 nights GID submerged
the earth a pool of molten steel.

no phillips or flathead was spared, they were all consumed by the
fire and brimstone and high carbon molten steel.

Only one place on earth was safe, atop a mountain, not the highest
mountain on earth mind you, but it was that mountain, there lay a
forge, and torx was its name.

Henceforth only the righteous torx would remain, to assemble and
build stuff as GID willed, never to be taken apart by phillips and flathead..ever again.

This is my story and I'm sticking to it.

^_~

Re:just wondering.

[PingSpike]

1. any process of formation or growth; development: the evolution of a language; the evolution of the airplane.

Duh. The English language has evolved into a sentient being which is trying to push its pro-evolution believes on us. Damned liberal languages, screwing with our heads.

Re:just wondering.

[sammy baby]

I know! Everything is "this was an evolutionary process," or "it just sort of evolved that way." It's just about at the point where it's impossible to find any stories on Slashdot containing the word "design,", fer Designer's sake.

Re:Interesting

[Anonymous Coward]

It's an interesting article, but I have to question why this wasn't brought up in 2004 when it was written.

The editors have been busy posting articles on:

SCO/IBM

Wii

WEB 2.0

Everything that comes out of Steve Jobs' mouth

Vista

Every litele Windows bug that comes out.

Xbox

Anything that has to do with Video games

Very little, if anything, on *BSD

Cowboy Neal's bowel movements

Google's brush with Evil(TM) an back to being Good(TM) then Evil again, then Good, then ????

Apple's release of some consumer product. Which will happen more as Apple continues its morph into a consumer appliance company.

F/OSS aritcles.

Crazy shit that Richard Stallman does.

All the Evil the Microsoft does in the World.

The number of chairs that Steve Ballmer has thrown.

Ask Slashdot questions that really should be put to a lawyer in one's state; not here on Slashdot

Ask Slashdot questions that DO belong here on Slashdot.

Cowboy Neil's varied sexual conquests

I think that about covers it.

Evolution of StarCraft - The Abridged Version

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

1. Open "Warcraft II" Project
2. Replace "Dragon" with "BattleCruiser", etc.
3. Fix the "runs as a DOS program" business
4. Save as "Starcraft" Project
5. Many years later, release IP-friendly patch

Re:I for one...

[User 956]

Welcome our overlord... overlords?

We require more overlords.

Re:I for one...

[databoing]

>We require more overlords.

No, no, no...

It's "SPAWN MORE OVERLORDS".

Maybe you're confusing it with "WE REQUIRE MORE VESPENE GAS" or "WE REQUIRE MORE MINERALS" ?

Sides must have no similarities.

[donscarletti]

That's why WWII was so interesting, Axis was armed with tanks and planes, the Western Allies made use of its army of Mech Warriors and the Soviet army was built on a strong front line of Bionic Brain Slime.

I remember that in the second battle of el-Alamein, Irwin Rommel researched "Purity of the Aryans" in his Totenkopf tower, giving all his infantry units an extra point of amour and was keeping the Allies busy with constant strikes with his three wheeled motor bikes (called "Bavarian Thigh Slappers") and of course with Charlimagne (complete with rocket launchers) who Rommel summoned at the Ahnenerbe Alter.

Bernard Montgommary was going the the "Three Pub" build strategy and had an initial weakness in his defense, but was able to recover using his "Big Ben" laser towers for base defense, summoned the Black Cyborg Prince with his Alter of Albion and focused on building his Australian mole mechs in his Woolloomoloo University. After he researched "Wombat's Burrow" his mole mechs were able to dig under Rommel's Swastikas and destroy his Concentration camp, forcing Rommel to retreat to Tunisia.

The Great NPC Winston Churchill was known to have said of the victory: "This is not the beginning of the end, but TOTAL PWNAGE ke ke ke ke ke!!!!!!!!!!!111111oneone".