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134-560: The first widely accepted game in the genre was Aeon of Strife ( AoS ), a fan-made custom map released in 2002 for StarCraft , in which four players each control a single powerful unit and, aided by weak computer-controlled units, compete against a stronger computer. Defense of the Ancients ( DotA ) was created in 2003 by the Warcraft III modding community for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion, The Frozen Throne , with

268-598: A Nintendo 64 version, StarCraft 64 , began in 1999, converted from PC by Mass Media Interactive Entertainment—a subsidiary of THQ —and published by Nintendo . StarCraft 64 was released in the United States on June 13, 2000, and in Australia on May 25, 2001. 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

402-423: A respawn timer counts down to zero, at which point the hero respawns in their base. The amount of time required to respawn generally increases as the game progresses and/or the players level up. Heroes typically fall into one of several roles, such as tank, damage dealer, and support, each of which having unique designs, strengths, and weaknesses. MOBAs typically offer a large number of viable playable heroes for

536-687: A MOBA with a third-person perspective. Heroes of the Storm was released in 2015, featuring hero characters from Warcraft III and other Blizzard's franchises. Blizzard adopted their own personal dictation for their game's genre with "hero brawler", citing its focus on action. With the expansion of the smartphone market, numerous MOBA titles have been released for portable devices , such as Vainglory (2014), and Honor of Kings (2015). An international adaptation of Honor of Kings developed by TiMi Studios and published by Tencent Games for markets outside mainland China, rebranded as Arena of Valor (2016),

670-554: A Nintendo 64 memory Expansion Pak to run. In addition, StarCraft 64 features a split screen 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 . A remastered edition of

804-479: A Zerg cerebrate and is pursued by both the Protoss and Terran Dominion . Enslavers acts as an exemplar single-player campaign for the game's level editor , highlighting how to use the features of the program. StarCraft ' s first expansion, Insurrection , 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

938-516: A big part of the esports category. In 2018, prize pools reached over US$ 60 million, 40% of the year's total esports prize pools. Major esports professional tournaments are held in venues that can hold tens of thousands of spectators and are streamed online. A strong fanbase has opened up the opportunity for sponsorship and advertising, eventually leading the genre to become a global cultural phenomenon. Each match starts with two opposing teams typically composed of five players. Players work together as

1072-408: A broad category of action games, referring to a variety of games that are driven by the physical actions of player characters. The term dates back to the golden age of arcade video games in the early 1980s, when the terms "action games" and "character games" began being used to distinguish a new emerging genre of character-driven action games from the space shoot 'em ups that had previously dominated

1206-492: 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

1340-623: A fictitious future timeline during the 25th century AD in a distant part of the Milky Way galaxy 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;

1474-616: A group of player characters for the player to choose from, allowing the player to control one of them at a time. Where more than one player character is available, the characters may have distinctive abilities and differing styles of play. A player character may sometimes be based on a real person, especially in sports games that use the names and likenesses of real athletes. Historical figures and leaders may sometimes appear as characters too, particularly in strategy or empire building games such as in Sid Meier 's Civilization series. Such

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1608-602: A home console port onto the PlayStation , but the team ultimately decided to develop and release it for the Nintendo 64 instead. Resurrection IV is set after the conclusion of Brood War , and follows Jim Raynor 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

1742-488: A larger number of player characters to choose from, with some basic moves available to all or most characters and some unique moves only available to one or a few characters. Having many distinctive characters to play as and against, all possessing different moves and abilities, is necessary to create a larger gameplay variety in such games. Similarly to MOBAs, hero shooters emphasize pre-designed "hero" characters with distinctive abilities and weapons that are not available to

1876-418: A map based on AoS. DotA was one of the first major titles of its genre and the first MOBA for which sponsored tournaments were held. It was followed by two spiritual successors , League of Legends (2009) and Heroes of Newerth (2010), as well by a standalone sequel, Dota 2 (2013), and numerous other games in the genre, such as Heroes of the Storm (2015). By the early 2010s, the genre had become

2010-457: A map creator named Meian created a DotA variant closely modeled on Eul's map, but combining heroes from the many other versions of DotA that existed at the time. Called DotA: Allstars , it was inherited after a few months by a modder called Steve "Guinsoo" Feak, and under his guidance it became the dominant map of the genre. After more than a year of maintaining the DotA: Allstars map, with

2144-654: A player character is more properly an avatar as the player character's name and image typically have little bearing on the game itself. Avatars are also commonly seen in casino game simulations. In many video games, and especially first-person shooters , the player character is a "blank slate" without any notable characteristics or even backstory . Pac-Man , Crono from Chrono Trigger , Link from The Legend of Zelda , Chell from Portal , and Claude from Grand Theft Auto III are examples of such characters. These characters are generally silent protagonists . Some games will go even further, never showing or naming

2278-413: A player typically creates or takes on the identity of a character that may have nothing in common with the player. The character is often of a certain (usually fictional) race and class (such as zombie , berserker , rifleman , elf , or cleric ), each with strengths and weaknesses. The attributes of the characters (such as magic and fighting ability) are given as numerical values which can be increased as

2412-442: 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

2546-498: A precursor to, or an early example of, the MOBA genre. It uses a similar formula, where each player controls a single command unit in one of two opposing sides on a battlefield. Herzog Zwei ' s influence is apparent in several later MOBA games such as Guilty Gear 2: Overture (2007) and AirMech (2012). Herzog Zwei was also cited as an inspiration to the developers of Warcraft and Starcraft . 1998's Future Cop: LAPD has

2680-415: 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 that scales in difficulty, although

2814-403: A resounding manner, with the first victory occurring before the five-minute mark and Dendi conceding before ninety seconds had passed in the second match. Open AI returned to The International 2018 , this time fielding an entire team of five AI players in two games against professional players, but ultimately losing both games. Despite this loss, OpenAI continued to work to improve OpenAI Five, and

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2948-421: 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 cutscenes . Before the release of StarCraft , Blizzard Entertainment released a free-to-download game demo entitled Loomings , comprising three missions and a tutorial. The prequel

3082-556: 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 , published by WizardWorks and authorized by Blizzard Entertainment, Retribution follows all three races attempting to seize control of

3216-685: A side-scrolling playfield. Examples include beat 'em ups like Kung-Fu Master and Double Dragon , ninja action games like The Legend of Kage and Shinobi , scrolling platformers like Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog , and run and gun shooters like Rolling Thunder and Gunstar Heroes . "Character action games" is also a term used for 3D hack and slash games modelled after Devil May Cry , which represent an evolution of arcade character action games. Other examples of this sub-genre include Ninja Gaiden , God of War , and Bayonetta . Fighting games typically have

3350-431: A strategic "Precinct Assault" mode similar to Herzog Zwei in which players can actively fight alongside generated non-player units. This could be regarded as the first example of MOBA gameplay, depending on the definition of the genre. The Windows version of Future Cop: LAPD allows online competitive play. In the same year, Blizzard Entertainment released its best-selling real-time strategy game StarCraft (1998) with

3484-429: 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

3618-481: A strong emphasis on teamwork and cooperation. The genre rewards players that are capable of cooperating with their teammates to execute an effective strategy, enabling full potential of their individual abilities and mechanical skills. Each player typically receives a small amount of gold per second during the course of the game. Moderate amounts of gold are rewarded for killing hostile computer-controlled units and larger amounts are rewarded for killing enemy heroes. Gold

3752-601: A suite of game editing tools called StarEdit . These tools allowed players to design and create custom maps with non-standard rules and gameplay. A modder known as Aeon64 made a custom map named Aeon of Strife ( AoS ) that became popular. Some of the key features introduced in AoS became the foundation of the newborn genre. In the Aeon of Strife map, players controlled a single powerful hero unit fighting along three lanes which were protected by defensive towers. The terrain outside these lanes

3886-461: A team gets, the more capable they are at destroying the enemy team and their base, as well as protecting their own. In most MOBAs, playable characters have assigned classes such as "tank" , "bruiser", "marksman", "mage", "fighter", "assassin", "support" and "healer" , with each classification denoting various different skill sets and proficiencies. During the match, characters can be played in roles such as "carry", "support" and "ganker" ; however,

4020-537: A team to achieve the ultimate victory condition, which is to destroy their enemy's base whilst protecting their own. Usually, both teams have main structures, located at the opposite corners of the battlefield. The first team to destroy the opponents' main structure wins the match, though some games have the option of different victory conditions. Destroying other structures within the opposing team's base may confer other benefits. Defensive structures, which are usually automatic "towers", are in place to prevent this. Each team

4154-470: 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 to navigate units to waypoints also faced some heavy criticism, with PC Zone stating that

Multiplayer online battle arena - Misplaced Pages Continue

4288-430: A unique set of abilities and style of play. When a hero stands near a killed enemy unit or kills an enemy unit, they gain experience points and gold which allow the hero to level up and buy items at a store. When a hero levels up, they grow in power and may strengthen one of their abilities which they typically have four of. If a hero runs out of health points and consequently dies, they are removed from active play until

4422-411: Is an ongoing topic of research. Similar to real-time strategy games, MOBAs provide a highly complex environment for AI because of their large amount of possible variables, states, and decisions. One of the first known research-based MOBA AI agents was published around 2015 for League of Legends. The agent used influence maps to navigate the map and compute positioning risk. A similar agent to assist players

4556-408: Is assisted by relatively weak computer-controlled units, called "minions", that periodically spawn in groups at both bases, marching down predefined paths (called "lanes") toward their enemy base. While their charges are counterbalanced by the opposite team's minions, players can aid them which turns the minions into a useful army for striking the opponents' defenses. There are typically three "lanes" on

4690-557: Is being given a mission briefing or debriefing; the player is usually addressed as "general", "commander", or another military rank. In gaming culture, such a character was called Ageless, Faceless, Gender-Neutral, Culturally Ambiguous Adventure Person, abbreviated as AFGNCAAP; a term that originated in Zork: Grand Inquisitor where it is used satirically to refer to the player. Character action games (also called character-driven games, character games or just action games) are

4824-442: 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

4958-493: Is used by heroes to buy a variety of different items that range in price and impact. For the most part, this involves improving the combat viability of the hero, although there may be other items that support the hero or team as a whole in different ways. As the heroes of each team get stronger, they can use multiple strategies to gain an advantage. These strategies can include securing objectives, killing enemy heroes and gaining levels by killing computer-controlled units. The stronger

5092-433: The Warcraft III engine, calling the map Defense of the Ancients ( DotA ). Eul substantially improved the complexity of play from the original Aeon of Strife mod. Shortly after creating the custom DotA map, Eul left the modding scene. With no clear successor, Warcraft III modders created a variety of maps based on DotA and featuring different heroes. In 2003, after the release of WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne ,

5226-465: The arcades in the late 1970s. Classic examples of character action games from that period include maze games like Pac-Man , platformers like Donkey Kong , and Frogger . Side-scrolling character action games (also called "side-scrolling action games" or "side-scrollers") are a broad category of character action games that were popular from the mid-1980s to the 1990s, which involve player characters defeating large groups of weaker enemies along

5360-499: 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 StarCraft: Brood War , and two officially authorized add-ons , Insurrection and Retribution . A sequel, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty ,

5494-493: The human 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

Multiplayer online battle arena - Misplaced Pages Continue

5628-401: The mod highly popular, as its dynamic and unpredictable fights, complex map, and hero-centric gameplay create a more competitive environment and opportunities for outplaying the enemy team. By the early 2010s, multiplayer online battle arena has become a prominent genre in esports tournaments. The genre has seen further growth in popularity since the year 2015 – among the top five esports with

5762-427: The technology tree , every unit performs differently and requires different tactics for a player to succeed. The psionic and technologically adept Protoss 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

5896-425: The video game series of the same name , it was released in 1998. A Classic Mac OS version was released in 1999, and a Nintendo 64 port co-developed with Mass Media and published by Nintendo was released in 2000. Blizzard started work on the game shortly after Warcraft II , another real-time strategy game, was released in 1995. The first incarnation debuted at the 1996 Electronic Entertainment Expo , where it

6030-535: The Coast to produce an Alternity based game entitled StarCraft Adventures . Player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC ) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not controlled by a player are called non-player characters (NPCs). The actions of non-player characters are typically handled by

6164-460: The E3 1996 build of StarCraft fared especially poorly in comparison to Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3 , another science fiction real-time strategy game which was being demoed at E3, despite the fact that the demo had been faked by Ion Storm employees; in reality, the demo for Dominion was actually a pre-rendered video that the employees were merely pretending to play. As a consequence the entire project

6298-628: The MOBA genre focuses on the multiplayer battle in the arena-like environment, whereas RPGs typically revolve around a single-player story and exploration of different locations. Some key features of MOBAs, such as control over one specific character in a party, growth in power over time, learning new thematic abilities, leveling and accumulation of experience points, usage of the mana resource, equipment and inventory management, completing quests, and fighting with powerful boss monsters, are also typical of role-playing games. The 1989 Mega Drive/Genesis game Herzog Zwei has variously been cited either as

6432-406: The MOBA genre has moved away from constructing structures, army building, and controlling additional units in favor of hero-centric gameplay. However, some MOBA games have certain heroes which control a few specialized units, but not on a massive scale commonly found in RTS games. As is the case in real-time strategy games, structures and base defense are important, and destroying the main structure at

6566-550: 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. 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

6700-402: 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. Blizzard Entertainment began development on StarCraft in 1995, shortly after

6834-462: 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 stated that "One of the most hotly anticipated computer games of the last two years, Blizzard Entertainment's Starcraft has had

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6968-528: The Protoss are a humanoid species with advanced technology and psionic 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 have praised StarCraft as one of the most important and greatest video games of all time . 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

7102-476: 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 , a member of a heretical group known as dark templar. The story of StarCraft is presented through its instruction manual, the briefings to each mission, and conversations within the missions themselves, along with

7236-590: The Storm , and "Monkey King" in DotA 2. Due to the large volume of matches played on a daily basis around the world and the relatively complicated nature of the genre, MOBAs have become a popular target for the application of big data tools to predict match outcomes based on in-game factors such as hero kill/death/assist ratios, gold earned, time of a match, synergy with other players, team composition, and other, more advanced parameters. The use of artificial intelligence in MOBAs

7370-405: 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. The player assumes the role of three nameless characters over the course of

7504-501: The Year", and tied with Age of Empires for " PC Strategy Game of the Year ". Starcraft also won the Origins Award for Best Strategy Computer Game of 1998. In 1998, PC Gamer 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

7638-515: The Zerg invasion, but while on a mission to arrest Tassadar, the player joins him instead. A Protoss civil war erupts, pitting Tassadar, Zeratul, and their allies against the Protoss establishment (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. Aided by Raynor's forces—who sided with Tassadar back on Char—the Protoss break through

7772-515: The action genre are represented in MOBA games. Players with better mechanical skills and quick reaction times typically excel relative to their peers. MOBAs often have a strong focus on micromanagement , involving mechanical abilities such as positioning, dodging, use of combo attacks, kiting , prediction and target selection. Direction-targeted abilities, or "skillshots", require precise aim and good timing in order to hit an enemy. The MOBA genre resembles role-playing games (RPGs) in gameplay, though

7906-438: The available options to decide which character best suits their skill set, teammates, and opponents. Players usually find at least one hero they excel at playing, often referred to as a "main", and familiarize themselves with the remaining roster. Additionally, each hero is deliberately limited in the roles they can fulfill. No single hero is supposed to be powerful enough to win the game without support from their team. This creates

8040-418: The battlefield that are the main ways of getting from one base to another. The lanes are known as top, middle and bottom lane, or, in gamer shorthand – "top", "mid" and "bot". Between the lanes is an uncharted area called "jungle". The "jungle" is home to neutral monsters that are hostile to both teams and appear in marked locations on the map known as "camps". Defeating neutral monsters brings various benefits to

8174-403: 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

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8308-614: 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 mission STS-96 in 1999. StarCraft ' s popularity resulted in Guinness World Records awarding

8442-498: 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

8576-597: The character most aligned with their skills and preferences. Playable characters blend a variety of fantasy tropes and often feature numerous references to popular culture and mythology . One such figure commonly represented in MOBAs is Sun Wukong , a legendary mythical figure from 16th-century China. Examples of representation of Sun Wukong in MOBAs in the form of playable characters include "Wukong" in League of Legends , Samuro's "Monkey King" skin (custom outfit/costume) in Heroes of

8710-463: The characters and units in StarCraft have been produced by ToyCom. A number of model kits, made by Academy Hobby Model Kits , were also produced, displaying 1/30 scale versions of the marine and the hydralisk. In addition, Blizzard Entertainment teamed up with Fantasy Flight Games to create a board game with detailed sculptures of game characters. Blizzard Entertainment also licensed Wizards of

8844-475: The designers, such as the abilities for units to burrow and cloak , could be implemented. Later improvements to the game included pre-rendered sprites and backgrounds, constructed using 3D Studio Max . An isometric in-game view was also adopted, in contrast to Warcraft II ' s 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

8978-544: The destruction of the Confederacy by luring the Zerg to the Confederate capital Tarsonis. Raynor is outraged by Mengsk's true aims of obtaining power at any cost and deserts, 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. The second campaign reveals that Kerrigan

9112-472: The extent of the AI's tactical and strategic planning. The single-player campaign consists of thirty missions, split into ten for each race. 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

9246-533: The fact that it had been infested by the Zerg, the player joins Arcturus Mengsk and the Sons of Korhal. Raynor, who is freed by Mengsk's troops, also joins and frequently accompanies the player on missions. Mengsk then begins to use Confederate technology captured on Mar Sara to lure the Zerg to Confederate installations and further his own goals. After forcing Confederate general Edmund Duke to join him, Mengsk sacrifices his own second-in-command, Sarah Kerrigan , to ensure

9380-408: The flag 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 includes a spawn installation , which allows for limited multiplayer. It must be installed from

9514-519: 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 on March 31, 1998 and in the United Kingdom on April 9, with the Classic Mac OS version following a year later on March 12, 1999. Development on

9648-494: The franchise's intellectual property rights after being contested by Riot Games for the DotA trademark. In 2012, Activision Blizzard settled a trademark dispute with Valve over the usage of the DOTA name and announced their own standalone game which was eventually named Heroes of the Storm . Dota 2 was released in 2013, and was referred to by Valve as an "action real-time strategy" game. In 2014, Hi-Rez Studios released Smite ,

9782-574: 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 to make

9916-520: The game from different perspectives. At BlizzCon 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 's Shadow of the Xel'Naga and Christie Golden 's The Dark Templar Saga , further expand the storyline, creating the setting for StarCraft II . A number of action figures and collectable statues based upon

10050-412: The game itself in video games, or according to rules followed by a gamemaster refereeing tabletop role-playing games . The player character functions as a fictional, alternate body for the player controlling the character. Video games typically have one player character for each person playing the game. Some games, such as multiplayer online battle arena , hero shooter , and fighting games , offer

10184-612: The game more entertaining for spectators. In addition, StarCraft has been the subject of an academic course; the University of California, Berkeley offered a student-run introductory course on theory and strategy in spring 2009. After its release, StarCraft rapidly grew in popularity in South Korea . Professional gamers in South Korea are media celebrities, and StarCraft games are broadcast over three television channels dedicated to

10318-556: The game play style different. Characters can learn new abilities or augment existing ones over the course of a match by collecting experience points. Choosing a character who complements the player's teammates and counters their opponents opens up a strategy before the beginning of the match itself. Playable characters blend a variety of fantasy tropes, featuring numerous references to popular culture and mythology . In both tabletop role playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons and role-playing video games such as Final Fantasy ,

10452-583: The game sees the player as a cerebrate , a commander within the Zerg Swarm. The player is ruled over by the Zerg Overmind – the manifestation of the collective consciousness of the Swarm and the game's primary antagonist – 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

10586-406: 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,

10720-403: 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 for using effective controls on the gamepad and maintaining the high quality audio. At the inaugural Interactive Achievement Awards (now known as the D.I.C.E. Awards ), StarCraft won "Computer Entertainment Title of

10854-402: The game's genre as a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA). Also in 2009, IceFrog, who had continued to develop DotA: Allstars , was hired by Valve , in order to design a sequel to the original map. In 2010, S2 Games released Heroes of Newerth , with a large portion of its gameplay and aesthetics based on DotA: Allstars . The same year, Valve announced Dota 2 and subsequently secured

10988-457: The game), and proceeded to explain the meaning of the term. 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 and Aaron Rosenberg's Queen of Blades —retell the story of

11122-455: 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). 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,

11256-558: The game, increasing to 1 million units sold in Korea by November 1999. StarCraft ' s worldwide sales reached 4 million units by July 2001; South Korea 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 reported that its Battle.net online multiplayer service grew by 800 percent. Generally, StarCraft

11390-465: 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 . Mengsk's campaign is accompanied by Jim Raynor , a morally conscious law enforcement officer from Mar Sara, and Sarah Kerrigan , a psychic assassin and Mengsk's second-in-command. The second episode of

11524-413: The gamer progresses and gains rank and experience points through accomplishing goals or fighting enemies. In many sports games , player characters are often modelled after real-life athletes , as opposed to fictional characters. This is particularly the case for sports simulation games , whereas many arcade-style sports games often have fictional characters instead. A secret or unlockable character

11658-478: 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. GameSpot described StarCraft as "The defining game of its genre. It is the standard by which all real-time strategy games are judged." IGN stated that StarCraft "is hands down one of

11792-419: The genre's overall popularity. Players are able to download and play AAA -quality games at no cost. These games are generating revenue by selling cosmetic elements, including skins, voice lines, customized mounts and announcers, but none of these give the functional gameplay advantages to the buyer. As of 2012, free-to-play MOBAs, such as League of Legends , Dota 2 , Heroes of the Storm , and Smite were among

11926-402: The heart of the enemy base typically serves as the ultimate victory condition of a given match. Players can find various friendly and enemy units on the map at any given time assisting each team, however, these units are computer-controlled and players usually do not have direct control over their movement and creation ; instead, they move forward along the map's lanes. Many defining elements of

12060-415: The heretical dark templar . Tassadar allies himself with the dark templar prelate Zeratul , who assassinates Zasz , one of the Zerg's cerebrates in their hive clusters on Char. The cerebrate's death results in its forces running amok through the Zerg hives, but briefly links the minds of Zeratul and the Zerg Overmind , allowing the Overmind to finally learn the location of the Protoss homeworld Aiur, which

12194-443: The impending release of an update that significantly changed the map layout, Guinsoo left the development to his adjutant Neichus in the year 2005. After some weeks of development and some versions released, the latter turned over responsibility to a modder named IceFrog , who initiated large changes to the mechanics that deepened its complexity and capacity for innovative gameplay. The changes conducted by IceFrog were well-received and

12328-467: 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

12462-457: The largest prize pools, three have been MOBA titles for three years in row. Distributed prize money in MOBA tournaments reached over US$ 54 million in 2017. A year later, prize pools continued to grow reaching over US$ 60 million, 40% of the year's total esports prize pools. 2018 League of Legends World Championship had the biggest prize pool out of all League of Legends esports championship finals, awarding almost $ 6.5 million. MOBAs are some of

12596-505: The most popular PC games. The success in the genre has helped convince many video game publishers to copy the free-to-play MOBA model. SuperData Research reported that the genre generated over $ 2.5 billion of revenue in 2017. Similar to fighting games , MOBAs offer a large number of viable player characters for the player to choose from, each of which having distinctive abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. With such wide varieties available, players have numerous choices from which to find

12730-430: The most watched games in the world. Major esports professional tournaments are held in venues that can hold tens of thousands of spectators and are streamed online to millions more. A strong fanbase has opened up the opportunity for sponsorship and advertising, eventually leading the genre to become a global cultural phenomenon . A free-to-play business model, which is used by the largest MOBA titles, have contributed to

12864-575: 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 , and Game Informer . According to Blizzard Entertainment, StarCraft has won 37 awards and has received a star on the floor of the Metreon as part of the Walk of Game in San Francisco in early 2006. Next Generation reviewed

12998-485: The music owed much of its inspiration to Jerry Goldsmith '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 , 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

13132-438: The number and type of roles can differ depending on the game. The carry role is expected to scale and itemize themselves to do the most damage against enemy characters and objectives, but may also require protection and assistance from their team members. Supports assist their team with abilities that aid allies and disable enemies, rather than dealing damage directly. Some supports have healing abilities which can be vital factor in

13266-537: The number of users on the Dota: Allstars forum is thought to have peaked at over one million. DotA is widely attributed as the most significant inspiration for the MOBA genre in the years to come. By 2008, the popularity of DotA had attracted commercial attention. Since the format was tied to the Warcraft property, developers began to work on their own " DOTA -style" video games. A Flash web game, named Minions ,

13400-415: The original Defense of the Ancients ( DotA ), each player controls one powerful unit rather than a large army. While it still kept the large scale, core mechanics, and goals of the real-time strategy games, DotA attempted to avoid "clickfest" gameplay in which high actions per minute scores are mandatory for efficient playing, changing focus to the actual teamwork, coordination, and tactics. This made

13534-530: The original x86 version. The original game, along with the expansion, was released for free in April 2017. In 2021, The Strong National Museum of Play inducted StarCraft to its World Video Game Hall of Fame . During the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine , Ukrainian presidential spokesman and Chief of Staff Oleksiy Arestovych described reports of a potential Russian offensive as a "zerg rush" of 10,000 volunteers (in reference to Zerg swarm species tactics from

13668-420: The other characters. Hero shooters strongly encourage teamwork between players on a team, guiding players to select effective combinations of hero characters and coordinate the use of hero abilities during a match. Multiplayer online battle arena games offer a large group of viable player characters for the player to choose from, each of which having distinctive abilities, strengths, and weaknesses to make

13802-457: 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

13936-408: The particular lane they are focusing on, such as "top laner", "mid laner", and "bottom laner", or by their role in a teamfight, such as "frontliner", "damage dealer", "healer", "flex", and the "offlaner". As a fusion of real-time strategy (RTS), role-playing , and action games , MOBAs have many elements of preexisting genres while still offering unique gameplay. In general, the design philosophy of

14070-434: 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 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

14204-445: The player character at all. This is somewhat common in first-person videogames, such as in Myst , but is more often done in strategy video games such as Dune 2000 , Emperor: Battle for Dune , and Command & Conquer series. In such games, the only real indication that the player has a character (instead of an omnipresent status), is from the cutscenes during which the character

14338-400: The player to choose from – League of Legends , for instance, began with 40, and has continued to add characters over the game's lifespan, reaching 100 in 2012 and 150 in 2020. This adds to the overall complexity of the game as players must be aware of an ever-increasing list of available characters. Choosing the correct character to play is itself a skill in the MOBA genre, as players must weigh

14472-430: The players and their team, such as growth in power, buffs, or assistance in pushing the lane. The games are usually played on a battlefield shown from an isometric perspective , but certain MOBAs are played from a third-person or side-view perspective. The battlefield is represented in the interface by the mini-map . A player controls a single powerful in-game unit, called a "hero" or "champion", with each utilizing

14606-540: 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 and children's television host Hyejin "Hey Jini" Kang. StarCraft

14740-745: 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 US$ 200,000 (equivalent to $ 312,012 in 2023). StarCraft was part of the United States Air Force 's Air and Space Basic Course , 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

14874-456: 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 . To pay homage to their presence on

15008-453: The project's advancement soon became evident: one year later, at The International 2019 , OpenAI Five defeated The International 2018-winner OG , becoming the first artificial intelligence system to beat the reigning world champion team at a video game. StarCraft (video game) StarCraft is a real-time strategy video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Microsoft Windows . The first installment of

15142-453: 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. Protoss and Zerg building construction

15276-548: 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 and reverse engineering of

15410-453: 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 . 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 in space." According to programmer Patrick Wyatt ,

15544-421: The spawn installation. 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

15678-659: 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 Micro Star settled a lawsuit brought by Blizzard against it. It consisted of 22 single player maps and 32 multi-player maps which are considered to be rather plain. In 2000, StarCraft 64

15812-441: 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. Just prior to the beginning of the game, in December 2499, an alien race possessing advanced technology and psionic power, the Protoss, makes first contact with humanity by destroying a Confederate colony world without any prior warning. Soon after this,

15946-460: The structure created, which is capable of slowly healing itself. 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 and capture

16080-447: The team composition's success, giving health and sustenance to their allies while limiting the enemy's options in terms of play patterns. Ganker roles are flexible, as they have both carry and support skills that are used to disrupt and eliminate enemies, thus giving their teammates an advantage over their opponents. Gankers can "act as a strategist, decision-maker or supporter depending on the team's needs." Player roles can be classified by

16214-461: The use of cinematic cutscenes at key points. The campaign is split into three episodes, each allowing the player to command one of the game's three races. In the first segment of the game, the player and Jim Raynor are attempting to control the colony of Mar Sara in the wake of the Zerg attacks on other Terran worlds. After the Confederacy arrests Raynor for destroying Confederate property, despite

16348-449: 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

16482-419: Was created by The Casual Collective in 2008. Gas Powered Games released the first stand-alone commercial title in the genre, Demigod (2009). In late 2009, Riot Games ' debut title League of Legends was released. It was initially designed by Steve Feak, one of the original creators of DotA: Allstars, who went on to apply many of the mechanics and lessons he learned from the mod. Riot began to refer to

16616-540: 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 , Enslavers is set in the second campaign in StarCraft and follows the story of a Terran smuggler who manages to take control of

16750-522: Was nearly vacant. In early versions of the game, hero units did not have any particular special abilities. Instead, players spent gold on weapon and armor upgrades. In 2002, Blizzard released Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (WC3), with the accompanying Warcraft III World Editor . Both the multiplayer online battle arena and tower defense subgenres took substantive shape within the WC3 modding community. A modder named Eul began converting Aeon of Strife into

16884-408: Was not killed by the Zerg, but rather is captured and infested in an effort to incorporate her psionic traits into the Zerg gene pool . She emerges with far more psionic powers and physical strength, her DNA completely altered. Meanwhile, the Protoss commander Tassadar discovers that the Zerg's cerebrates cannot be killed by conventional means, but that they can be harmed by the powers wielded by

17018-424: 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

17152-481: Was published in the same year. Two years later, artificial intelligence research laboratory OpenAI developed the AI project OpenAI Five , which was first showcased at the Dota 2 World Championship, The International 2017 , during a 1v1 demonstration. In this demonstration, OpenAI Five faced off against Dendi , one of the most prolific and popular DotA players of all time. In this 1v1, OpenAI Five defeated Dendi twice in

17286-423: 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 commenting that this helped

17420-645: Was released in July 2010, along with two expansion packs 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. Blizzard Entertainment 's use of three distinct races in StarCraft is widely credited with revolutionizing the real-time strategy genre. All units are unique to their respective races, and while rough comparisons can be drawn between certain types of units in

17554-514: Was released in North America for the Nintendo 64 , co-developed by Blizzard Entertainment and Mass Media and published by Nintendo . The N64 port features 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 initially considered releasing

17688-1002: Was released in the western market in 2017. In 2021, the Pokémon series released its first MOBA game in Pokémon Unite . During the last half of the 2010s, video game developers and publishers , following the success of League of Legends and Dota 2 , tried to be part of the next-generation MOBA wave by putting their own twist in the genre, releasing games such as Battlerite (2017), and AirMech (2018). After years of development, many games which were supported by large publishers have not been fully released or their servers were shut down shortly after release. The most notable examples are Dawngate (2015) by Electronic Arts , DC Comics-based Infinite Crisis (2015) by Warner Bros. , Arena of Fate (2016) by Crytek , Gigantic (2017) by Perfect World Entertainment , Master X Master (2018) by NCSoft , and Paragon (2018) by Epic Games . In

17822-427: 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

17956-404: 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 is particularly popular in South Korea , where players and teams participate in professional competitions , earn sponsorships , and compete in televised tournaments . Set in

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