StarCraft franchise

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StarCraft
StarCraft
Genres Real-time strategy
Developer(s)

Blizzard Entertainment

Team 1
Publisher(s) Blizzard Entertainment
Platforms Windows, macOS, Nintendo 64
First release StarCraft
March 31, 1998
Latest release StarCraft: Remastered
August 14, 2017
StarCraft II series

StarCraft is a military science fiction franchise owned by Blizzard Entertainment. It is most notable for the real-time strategy games StarCraft and StarCraft II.

Historically, there has been overlap between the StarCraft and Warcraft playerbases—a player might start with one IP, then shift to the next as the next RTS was released.[1]

Parallels to Warcraft III

Several gaming elements first introduced in StarCraft were later adapted for use in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.

Plot progression

Previous Warcraft games offered two campaigns, orc and human, which essentially dealt with the same events through different eyes. With three races, Blizzard decided to stack the campaigns to deal with different events, told in chronological order in one combined story arc. Essentially, the player was dissuaded from playing the zerg or the protoss out of order, because they didn't learn the plot details of the terrans. This was adapted for Warcraft III with a minor difference: the player no longer had option to defy the chronology. Additionally, the campaigns for both games proceeded similarly (for the original game, the Human campaign went first, then the Evil campaign second, and finally, the "Neutral" party third. For their expansions, the "Neutral" party went first, then the Human campaign second, and the Evil force third).

Specific influences

In the final mission of the game, the player commanded two armies, one protoss and one terran, in a last-ditch effort to save the galaxy by defeating the insidious Overmind of the zerg, which was hell-bent on assimilating the protoss in order to combine their purity of form with the zerg's purity of essence to become a "perfect" species. Similarly, in the final mission of Reign of Chaos, the user commands the Sentinel army reinforced by the forces of the Alliance and Horde to stop Archimonde from ascending Mount Hyjal. The two Antagonist/Anti-Hero characters, Arthas Menethil and Sarah Kerrigan, are similar to one another. Kerrigan's transformation from human to zerg, and her subsequent embracing of the darkness, also closely parallels the tale of Sylvanas Windrunner.

Unequal units

Warcraft I and Warcraft II were completely balanced: for each human unit or building, there was a corresponding orc unit or building with similar damage, armor, and requirements. The only differences occurred with spells. In StarCraft, no such perfect equality existed.

The four races have different advantages, most of them similar to the racial attributes of the terrans, zerg, and protoss from StarCraft. The different strategically significant traits of the races in StarCraft have been combined in new ways to form the Warcraft III races. The Warcraft III night elves, for instance, resemble the terrans in that their buildings can move and their base fighting unit has a missile attack, but like the zerg, their worker units are consumed when they create most buildings. The Scourge have the protoss's ability to summon buildings rather than constructing them, so a worker unit is not tied up in construction; also like the protoss, they have a dedicated invisible spy unit, but their buildings have to be constructed upon dedicated infested terrain called Blight (like zerg creep), and their army line-up is strategically similar to that of the zerg.

Example

The basic terran combat unit, the marine, is a fairly durable ranged unit, capable of attacking both ground and space units. By contrast, the first fighter unit available to the zerg was the tiny, brittle zergling who could only attack ground units and whose usefulness came mostly from its low cost, speed, and that two spawned from one larva. Finally, the protoss zealot, though only attacking ground units, is extremely durable, in addition to shields. Similarly, the central zerg building, the hatchery, evolves into a lair and later into a hive, while the terran command center and protoss nexus do not evolve.

In Warcraft III, the races are balanced from the perspective that they all have infantry, ranged, cavalry and spellcasters, with similar-type production facilities, but feature different specific abilities and traits.

References

References to StarCraft

  • In World of Warcraft, zerging is a term that now means attacking a player or mob (or a group composed of them) with a far bigger group. The word is derived from the "zergling rush" strategy in StarCraft.
  • Zerg drones mutate into structures, the player using the Drone unit. In Warcraft III, night elf wisps morph into structures, the wisp likewise being lost.
  • All zerg structures must be built on creep. The undead in Warcraft III must build all their structures on a substance known as blight, which possesses similar properties. The Creep Tumor is used to spread said substance as does blight.
  • The protoss summon their structures onto the battlefield via probes. The undead do so likewise in Warcraft III.
  • Many terran structures are mobile. The same applies for many night elf structures in Warcraft III, which are able to "uproot" themselves.
  • The protoss stalker possesses an ability known as "blink". An identical ability is possessed by the night elf warden in Warcraft III and the mage character class in World of Warcraft (although the latter can only teleport a short distance in front of them). Also, the StarCraft II zealot's blink-then-strike ability can be found in the Warcraft III World Editor, and has been used for some Warcraft III mod-games.
  • Marine, zergling, hydralisk and Space Fel Orc (based on the firebat unit) models can be found in Warcraft III.
  • If the player zoom's in very close and stand under a goblin shredder in World of Warcraft, they will see that there is a miniature duplicate of the Brood War box art (the picture of Kerrigan as the "Queen of Blades") on the monitor. The  [Sky Golem] mount also has a picture of Kerrigan, but as the "Primal Queen of Blades" from Heart of the Swarm.
  • Lord Marshal Raynor was found during the portal event in World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. His name is a reference to the terran hero, Jim Raynor (a former Confederate marshal).
  •  [Zhar'doom, Greatstaff of the Devourer] is an epic DPS-caster staff that drops from Illidan Stormrage in the Black Temple. The staff looks like a zergling. Alternatively, this may be a reference to a Devouring One (an upgraded zergling NPC unit).
  •  [Heavy Murloc Egg]: Grunty, the 2009 BlizzCon Murloc, looks like the Marine unit from StarCraft. The Zergling Leash pet will kill Grunty. The battle pet has the themed abilities [Gauss Rifle], [Stimpack], and [U-238 Rounds]. Grunty is a murloc in marine armor, and appears during the missions "Piercing the Shroud" and the {{HS|roach]] evolution mission in Heart of the Swarm.
  •  [Zergling Leash]: Zergling, from the original Collector's Edition, is based off the Zergling unit. The Zergling is weak, but can easily swarm the enemy in larger numbers for a quick victory. The battle pet has the themed abilities [Metabolic Boost] and [Zergling Rush].
  •  [Baneling]: Baneling, the Heart of the Swarm Collector's Edition reward, is based off the Baneling unit, known for dealing heavy damage when exploding. The battle pet has the themed abilities [Centrifugal Hooks] and [Baneling Burst].
  •  [Mini Thor]: Mini Thor, the Wings of Liberty Collector's Edition reward, is based off the Terran unit.
  •  [Pro Toss] is a reference to the Protoss race in StarCraft as a raid achievment for the Hellfire Citadel (alternate universe) raid.
  • N [20-40] We Must Construct Additional Pylons and N [10-70] Deconstruct Additional Pylons are references to the phrase uttered when a player attempts to construct units without sufficient supplies in the StarCraft games.
  •  [Goliath Offline] is a reference to the Goliath unit from StarCraft II as they say "Goliath Online" when they are created.
  • A special easter egg unit named the Tauren Marine appears in the back of the "Zero Hour" mission of Wings of Liberty, then disappearing into a Tauren outhouse. The outhouse also appears out the window of the Hyperion and in the background of space maps during the campaign. Inputting "Up, Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right" on the platform command card in the Legacy of the Void map "Templar's Charge" will spawn a controllable Tauren Marine. The Tauren Marine also appears in Level 800 Elite Tauren Chieftain ads during the campaign, and on ads in the city tileset.
  • In Joeyray's Bar, one of the sticky notes reads "1. Raid Night 2. Level Druid 3. Farm Gold 4. ... :)" These are references to common activities in World of Warcraft, as well as the druid class.
  • The StarCraft II cheat code SpectralTiger (which grants the player 5000 minerals), is a reference to the World of Warcraft mount the Swift Spectral Tiger, and likely a poke at its real world value as it was an exclusive prize from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game.
  • The StarCraft II cheat code MoreDotsMoreDots (remove building and unit costs) is a reference to a famous World of Warcraft raid wipe video of the raid Onyxia's Lair.
  • A newspaper clipping in Joeyray's Bar talks about an attack on Viewport Beach by bipedal fish monsters that shouted "MRGLEMRGLE," a reference to the murloc race.
  • The vulture pilot in StarCraft II has a large Horde tattoo on his shoulder.
  • Egon Stetmann wears an undershirt with the Horde logo printed on it.
  • In the window of Toshi's, there is a poster for the original World of Warcraft box art.
  • In the level The Infinite Cycle of Legacy of the Void, the symbol of the Burning Legion can be seen engraved on one of the stone planets.
  • A bottle in the Hyperion cantina is named Moonwell Tequila, and features the image of a moonwell.
  • The StarCraft II medic mercenary Skibi's Angel is likely a reference to the Skibi's Castle TD custom map in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.
  • In "Harvest of Screams," a model of Arthas Menethil frozen in ice can be seen on the western side of the map.
  • On the rear of the planet texture for Korhal in Heart of the Swarm, a Horde symbol can be seen made from the planet's lights.
  • The Co-op Missions mutator during the week of the launch of World of Warcraft: Legion was named "Burning Legion," named after the antagonists of the expansion, the Burning Legion.
  • A Co-op Missions mutator was named "Like Swatting Insects," a line used by the raid boss Al'Akir the Winlord in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm and Hearthstone.
  • The Co-op Missions mutation named "Boom Bots" is likely a reference to the Boom Bots spawned by Dr. Boom in World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, and later popularized by Hearthstone.
  • On the Korhal City tileset, one of the advertisements is for Stubborn Bull a restaurant that uses a tauren as its picture. Its slogan is "bull from the grass prairie of Mulgore," Mulgore being the center of tauren society. On the side of the ad is a Horde symbol.
  • On the map Cutthroat, on the converyer belt in the bottom right corner of the map, a copy of Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans will occasionally appear in the scrap.
  • The nation of Lordaeron exists in StarCraft. A Cineplex 5000 film is named after it.
  • The Emporio Ormoni ads situated through the Korhal City tileset show a picture of a shirtless Tauren.
  • A dumpster with the Alliance waste disposal symbol can be found in StarCraft II, a reference to the Alliance.
  • In concept art for the cinematic "Believe In Me," a Horde symbol is drawn on the wall behind Raynor. However, this is absent in the final cinematic.
  • In "With Friends Like These...," several gyrocopters can be found among the debris on the map.
  • In StarCraft: Cartooned, the bengalaas critter is changed to resemble the Carbot Animations interpretation of the murloc race.
  • A 10th anniversary achievement for the mission "Temple of Unification" is named "Unity, Precision, Perfection," which is the phrase said by the card Zilliax when it is summoned in Hearthstone after The Boomsday Project expansion was released in 2018.
  • In the concept art for the Scourge fighting the Night Elves for Warcraft III artist Samwise Dilder included a hydralisk in the background as he was "tired of drawing dozens and dozens of skeletons."
  • Bob's Guns and Tracey's Armory establishments can be found as Easter Eggs in Warcraft III.
  • Nova's tomb has been spotted in a World of Warcraft location (a strange stone in the Netherstorm). Drysc, a Blizzard World of Warcraft Community Manager later stated that "Some say that under certain conditions you can see her ghost... Pun not intended." A cloaked blood elven figure resembling Nova can also be found near the tomb.
  • A character bearing similarity to Alexei Stukov, Alexi Barov, can be found in World of Warcraft. Barov died and arose as a Forsaken, similar to how Stukov died and arose as an advanced infested terran.
  • A character named Ling of the Six Pools appears in World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, a reference to the StarCraft "6 pool" strategy of building a spawning pool off of six supply, and rushing the opponent with zerglings (or "lings").
  • Samir is a dark skinned shopkeeper who appears in a variety of zones, and a possible reference to Samir Duran.
  • Kim Won Gi is an NPC with the title "The Fruit Dealer," and is likely a reference to former StarCraft II professional player Kim Won Ki, known as FruitDealer.
  • World of Warcraft has a panther mob named King Bangalash, a possible reference to the panther-like bengalaas.
  • The boss Primordius in the Throne of Thunder raid has several abilities referencing zerg abilities and upgrades from StarCraft, including Ventral Sacs, Pathogen Glands, and Metabolic Boost.
  • The Worgen have a book named Purity of Essence, a possible reference to the xel'naga concept.
  • The boss Nythendra in the Emerald Nightmare uses an ability named "Heart of the Swarm," likely a reference to the StarCraft expansion of the same name.
  • In Mardum, a skeleton of a zerg creature resembling a hydralisk can be seen, with the skeleton of a Warcraft marine with a blunderbuss sitting next to it.
  • An archon pet named  [Zeradar] and Legacy of the Void cardback is available for World of Warcraft and Hearthstone players who purchased collector's or digital deluxe edition of Legacy of the Void. The archon battle pet possesses the abilities psionic shockwave (the archon basic attack) and psionic storm (a protoss area of effect spell). Its name is a combination of Zeratul and Tassadar, and may be a reference to the cut Tassadar/Zeratul archon found in Staredit.
  • There is a quest in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm named N [30-35] In the Rear With the Gear, a reference to a quote by the terran SCV unit.
  • There is a quest in World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria named N [50] Heart of the Swarm, a reference to the StarCraft II expansion Heart of the Swarm. A quest of the same name appears in World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth.
  • The Lion's Landing quest chain in Mists of Pandaria has several references to StarCraft culture and common sayings, including H [15-35 Daily] We Require More Minerals!, H [15-35 Daily] Good Luck, Have Fun, H [15-35 Daily] Hard Counter, and H [15-35 Daily] Worker Harassment.
  • The Mists of Pandaria achievement  [Heart of the Mantid Swarm] is likely a reference to StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm.
  • The Mists of Pandaria achievement  [For the Swarm] is likely a reference to a common battlecry of the Zerg Swarm.

References to Warcraft

  • In StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void, an achievement called World of Warpcraft is an obvious reference to World of Warcraft. To earn this achievement, you had to destroy 6 Terran units as they are warped in during the "Dark Whispers" mission on at least Normal difficulty.
  • On top of the merc haven in StarCraft II, a holographic woman can be seen doing the night elf dance (each gender of each race having their own dance in World of Warcraft).
  • Assets from Warcraft III have been released for use in the Galaxy Map Editor.
  • The Warcraft III map Worm War is named similarly to the StarCraft II map Worm Wars.
  • The StarCraft II multiplayer map  [Defense of the Ancients] is named after the popular fan-made Warcraft III multiplayer maps with the same names.
  • The Legion player vs player prestige achievements  [Hell, It's About Nine] and  [Hell, It's About Nineteen] are likely references to the Tychus Findlay line "hell, it's about time."
  • In celebration of the StarCraft 20th Anniversary, players who saluted a StarCraft themed battle pet (zergling, Grunty, mini-thor, or Zeradar) between March 31st and April 7th, 2018 would get the Salute to Starcraft achievement.
  • The Warcraft III map Lost Temple shares its name with a StarCraft map.
  • StarCraft units like the hydralisk, dark templar, marine, and medic make appearances in some famous Warcraft III mod-games like Defense of the Ancients and DDay: Judgment.
  • The Warcraft III map Bomber Command uses many StarCraft units.
  • Portraits in StarCraft II shows tauren, worgen, pandaren, murloc, and goblins in marine armor, an infested orc, night elf banshee pilot and pandaren, a night elf templar, Stitches in terran armor, Blackhand (alternate universe), Grommash Hellscream (alternate universe) and Thrall, and Gul'dan (alternate universe) in Artanis' armor and Illidan in Alarak's armor are seen.
  • Decals of the Alliance, Horde, a murloc skeleton, a pandaren and worgen pawprint, the goblin Icon of Kezan and Stitches Hook are available.
  • The consoles in StarCraft II can be replaced to have the ones seen in Warcraft III for the Alliance, Horde, Scourge and Sentinel factions. A reforged version of the Horde console was released to celebrate the launch of Warcraft III: Reforged.

War3 Asset Mod

Over three thousand original Warcraft III material assets have been released for use in the map editor of StarCraft II in patch 2.1.9 in 2015, as well as the addiction of new hero models for the 4 primary races and some other new models. Original models including neutral creatures and their sounds as well as doodads, structures, spell effects, ambient sounds, music and custom user interfaces for each race.[2] In StarCraft II with patch 5.0.0 in 2020. An official War3 Asset Mod includes a whole set of working data that includes races, units, buildings, and abilities.[3]

  • StarCraft II editor Warcraft III remodeled assets
    StarCraft II editor Warcraft III remodeled assets
  • StarCraft II editor Warcraft III remodeled assets
    StarCraft II editor Warcraft III remodeled assets
  • StarCraft II editor Warcraft III remodeled assets
    StarCraft II editor Warcraft III remodeled assets

Cosmetic

Sprays
  • Default (unlocked)
    Default (unlocked)
  • Default (unlocked)
    Default (unlocked)
  • Battle for Azeroth
    Battle for Azeroth
  • Battle for Azeroth
    Battle for Azeroth
Portraits
Heroes of the Storm Skins

Lore

  • StarCraft possess the Argus Stone, Argus crystals, Argus talismans, etc. The homeworld of the draenei is a world called Argus.
  • The capital of the island nation of Kul Tiras in Warcraft is Boralus. In StarCraft, the capital of the planet of Braxis is Boralis.
  • Demon fel hunters in Warcraft bear great similarity to zerglings.
  • The titans, a race of supreme beings which seed life on various worlds in the Warcraft universe, could be taken from the xel'naga, a similar god-like race in StarCraft.
  • Two StarCraft Dropship callsigns, Doomhammer and Lightbringer, are taken from Warcraft characters Orgrim Doomhammer and Uther Lightbringer respectively, appearing in StarCraft: Ghost.

Quotes

  • Acolyte: My life for Aiur...er I mean Ner'zhul! (a quote of the zealot taking precedence over an acolyte's worship of the Lich King)
  • Artanis: This is not Warcraft in space! (a reference to the phrase used to coin the StarCraft alpha, which bore great resemblance to Warcraft II)
  • Artanis: What do I look like, an orc? (Warcraft orcs, if clicked on enough times, will exclaim "stop poking me!" The protoss observer unit also says this quote if clicked on enough.)
  • Mortar Team: Tassadar has failed us. You must not. (a gag quote in Warcraft III and a repeat of Aldaris in the first mission briefing of Episode III)
  • The stalker in StarCraft II shares many of the same unit responses as the shade and satyr in Warcraft III.
  • Gabriel Tosh has two click-on quotes, "What'chu want?" and "Stay away from the Voodoo", which are from Trolls in World of Warcraft and the Warcraft universe in general.
  • The achievement "Hurry Up, It's Raid Night!" is a reference to the concept of raiding, and doing so on specific nights of the week. A variation of the quote is also said by the terran battlecruiser.
  • A achievement for the mission "Brothers in Arms" is named "For the Alliance," which is the motto of the Alliance.
  • When Scourgelord Tyrannus is killed, he will say "Power... Overwhelming..." which is a the reference to the unit response of the protoss archon.
  • Power Overwhelming appears as a Warlock card in Hearthstone, and is the reference to the unit response of the protoss archon. Power Overwhelming can be heard from a variety of other characters in the series, including the Voidwalker and Dreadlord.
  • In the town of Toshley's Station, the sharpshooters will occasionally say "Somebody call for an exterminator," a reference to a quote of the terran ghost.
  • Lightforged draenei have the "/silly" emote quote "My life for Aiur- er, Argus. My life for Argus."
  • In Battle for Azeroth, calling down the Abrasive Reconfigulator 8000 will quote the terran ghost when activated, with a number of lines such as "Someone call for a reconfigulator?" and "Never know what hit 'em." It also quotes the dropship with "in the pipe, five by five" and "hang on! Makin' some chop," and Tychus Findlay with "Big dog is off the leash."

Trivia

  • StarCraft started development as a "orcs in space version" based off of Warcraft II.[4]
  • A mythical rock band that plays in-person at BlizzCon occasionally and in-game in World of Warcraft has a Warcraft-themed name. In 2008, the incarnation of the band called Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain played a song called Terran Up the Night with an exclusively StarCraft-oriented set of lyrics.
    • In StarCraft II, a TV advertisement viewable in the Hyperion's cantina shows that they will rename themselves "Level 800 Elite Tauren Chieftain", and will actively tour the galaxy.

See also

References

 
  1. ^ 2023-06-12, The Perfect Mix of Warcraft & Starcraft? Stormgate Developers Deep Dive. YouTube, retrieved on 2023-06-14
  2. ^ Blizzard Entertainment Traysent 2015-02-02. Warcraft III Assets Now Available on the PTR. Blizzard Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2015-03-08.
  3. ^ StarCraft II 5.0 Patch Notes. Blizzard Entertainment (2020-07-27).
  4. ^ Blizzard Retrospective (33min40sec), Blizzard Entertainment, 08.03.2011.

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