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StarCraft II

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is the official sequel to StarCraft released for Windows and Mac OS X by Blizzard Entertainment on July 27, 2010. The game was announced at the Worldwide Invitational in South Korea on May 19, 2007 with a pre-rendered cinematic cut scene trailer and a gameplay demonstration of the Protoss. Further demonstrations regarding the game's new features have been showcased at subsequent Blizzcons and other games conventions. The game incorporates a new 3D graphics engine and adds new features such as the Havok physics engine. StarCraft II also incorporates DirectX 10 level effects in Windows. Originally envisioned as a single game, StarCraft II was split into three parts during development, one for focusing on each race. The base game, Wings of Liberty, follows the Terrans, while two expansion packs, Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void have been released to complement Wings of Liberty and further the story from the views of the Zerg and Protoss, respectively. The story of Wings of Liberty continues from four years after the conclusion of Brood War, and revolves around Jim Raynor's struggles against the Terran Dominion.StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm is an expansion pack to StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and was released on March 12, 2013. It is part two of the StarCraft II trilogy. The expansion includes additional units and multiplayer changes from Wings of Liberty, as well as a continuing campaign focusing on Kerrigan and the Zerg race. It spans 27 missions .
The saga of StarCraft is ultimately completed with StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void, which was released on November 10, 2015. StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void is a stand-alone game in which new units are added to all three races as well as changing existing units, and also makes groundbreaking changes to the economy-aspect of the game. The story of Starcraft is concluded by following the Protoss Race in their quest to reclaim their homeworld and for Kerrigan to ultimately slay the greatest threat to the entire universe. The game is divided into a 3-mission prologue, a 19-mission main story campaign, and a 3-mission epilogue which wraps everything up.
At BlizzCon 2015 during the "Future of Starcraft II" presentation it was revealed that Blizzard will release additional mission packs to keep players engaged with Starcraft II. The first pack is called Nova Covert Ops, and will center around the character Nova. The mission pack consist of three episodes, with a total of nine new missions. It did not require the purchase of StarCraft II, and could be played with the Starter Edition. The release date for the first episode is 29 March 2016.
At the same time Blizzard has announced that new commanders are planned to be added to the Co-Op mode in Legacy of the Void as a DLC, with Karax to be the first addition given for free.


Spin-off titles
The success of StarCraft has spurred the creation of two authorized add-on titles to StarCraft, as well as a deviation into genres other than real-time strategy. Insurrection was the first add-on pack released for StarCraft. Although developed and published by Aztech New Media, it is authorized by Blizzard Entertainment. It was released for the PC on July 31, 1998. The expansion's story focuses on a Confederate colony during the course of the first campaign of StarCraft. As in StarCraft, the player takes control of each race in three separate campaigns. In the first campaign, Terran colonists attempt to defend themselves from the Zerg invasion of the sector as well as from a rising insurgency. The second campaign has the player directing a Protoss task force sent to clear the Zerg infestation of the colony by any means necessary. In the final campaign the player assumes the role of a Zerg cerebrate, whose goal is to crush all opposition on the surface. The expansion contains 30 new campaign missions and over 100 new multiplayer maps, although it does not include new content such as units and graphical terrain tilesets. Insurrection was criticized by reviewers for lacking the quality of the original game and is not widely available. Although the add-on is authorized by Blizzard Entertainment, they offer no comment on support or availability of the game.Retribution is the second of the two authorized add-on packs released for StarCraft. The add-on was developed by Stardock and published by WizardWorks. It was released for the PC in late 1998. The game is set during the second campaign in StarCraft, revolving around the acquisition of a crystal of immense power connected to the Xel'Naga. Divided into three campaigns, the player assumes the roles of a Protoss fleet executor, the commander of a Dominion task force and a Zerg cerebrate, all tasked with retrieving the crystal from a Dominion colony and getting it off the planet as quickly as possible. As with its predecessor, Retribution does not include any new gameplay features beyond its single player campaigns and an abundance of multiplayer levels. The add-on was not well received by reviewers, and instead was regarded as average but at least challenging. Retribution is not widely available, and Blizzard Entertainment offers no comment regarding support or the availability of Retribution despite authorizing the add-on.StarCraft: Ghost is a tactical stealth game for video game consoles developed under supervision of Blizzard Entertainment. Announced in 2002, the game was constantly delayed due to various issues, including a change of development team from Nihilistic Software to Swingin' Ape Studios in July 2004. As updates for the game became less frequent and the graphics and game mechanics more outdated, suspicion began to grow that Blizzard would cancel the game. On March 24, 2006, Blizzard indefinitely postponed the game's development. The story of the game is about Nova, a Ghost agent of the Terran Dominion. Frequently used as an example of development hell, in 2008, Blizzard Entertainment refused to list the game as canceled. It was not until August 23, 2014, in an interview with Polygon, that Chris Metzen confirmed that StarCraft: Ghost was cancelled.


Development

Blizzard Entertainment began planning development on StarCraft in 1995, shortly after the beginning of development for Diablo. The development was led by Chris Metzen and James Phinney, who also created the game's fictional universe. Using the Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness game engine as a base, StarCraft made its debut at E3 1996. The game's success led to the development of two authorized add-ons, which were both released in 1998. However, neither of the two add-ons were particularly well received by critics. StarCraft also marked the debut of Blizzard Entertainment's film department. Previously, cinematic cut scenes were seen as simply gap fillers that often deviated from the game, but with StarCraft and later Brood War introducing high quality cinematics integral to the storyline of the series, Blizzard Entertainment is cited as having changed this perception and became one of the first game companies to raise the standard regarding such cut scenes.StarCraft's success also inspired third-party developer Microstar Software to release an unauthorized add-on, entitled Stellar Forces, in May 1998. Blizzard Entertainment consequently filed a lawsuit against Microstar for selling the add-on, arguing that as the product was unauthorized and created using StarCraft's level editing software, it was a breach of the end user license agreement.
In November 1998, Blizzard Entertainment won the court case against Microstar Software. In the settlement, Microstar agreed to pay an undisclosed amount in punitive damages and to destroy all remaining copies of Stellar Forces in its possession, as well as to formally apologize to Blizzard Entertainment.After the release of the first two add-on packs, Blizzard Entertainment announced the official expansion pack to StarCraft, entitled Brood War. Most of the team at Blizzard Entertainment responsible for StarCraft returned to work on Brood War. Development on Brood War began shortly after StarCraft's release, and Blizzard Entertainment were assisted by members of Saffire Corporation, who were contracted for a variety of tasks consisting of programming and design for levels, visuals and audio effects.In 2001, StarCraft: Ghost began development under Nihilistic Software, with the aim of releasing the game for the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube during late 2003. Unlike previous real-time strategy StarCraft titles, Ghost was to be a tactical third-person action game. Although the press was positive about the video game console direction taken by Ghost, the game was consistently delayed, and during the third quarter of 2004, Nihilistic Software discontinued their work with the project. Blizzard stated that Nihilistic Software had completed the tasks it had been contracted for and that the game would be delivered on time. The game was never released.
StarCraft II was announced on May 19, 2007, nearly a decade after the original, at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Seoul, South Korea. StarCraft II was being developed, under the codename Medusa, for concurrent release on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Mac OS X. Blizzard announced a release date for July 27, 2010. Development on the game began in 2003, shortly after Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne was released.


Music
The soundtrack for the original StarCraft was provided by Glenn Stafford, Jason Hayes and Tracey W. Bush. The soundtrack for StarCraft II was provided by Derek Duke, Glenn Stafford, Neal Acree and Russell Brower. Brower, Blizzard's Director of Audio, has suggested that the music of StarCraft serves two functions: the music heard during gameplay is designed to be unobtrusive in order to allow the player to focus, with only the music which attaches to the cinematic interludes permitted to become more distinctive. Brower has also pointed out that certain musical themes in StarCraft II become associated with certain characters, a technique borrowed from composers such as John Williams and Richard Wagner.


StarCraft
Brower has said that most of the music for the original StarCraft series was produced on keyboards.


StarCraft II
The original material for the Wings of Liberty soundtrack spans approximately four hours. Brower has said in interview that his team were consciously seeking a film-score feel for StarCraft II. In a short commentary provided for Blizzard, he recounted that the orchestral music for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty was performed by 78 members of the San Francisco Symphony and Opera and recorded at the Skywalker stage at the Lucasfilm Ranch in Marin County, California, under the name 'Skywalker Symphony Orchestra', conducted by Eímear Noone. Brower also recalled the use of a 32-voice choir in Seattle, Washington. Both these recording sessions were mixed by John Kurlander, who had previously worked on Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings and The Beatles' Abbey Road. The Terran country and blues pieces were recorded at Dreamland studio in Woodstock, New York, and performed by members of Peter Gabriel's band, including bassist Tony Levin and drummer Jerry Marotta. Remaining pieces were recorded at the Blizzard studios, performed by musicians such as Laurence Juber and Tommy Morgan. The soundtrack also contains John Bacchus Dykes and William Whiting's hymn Eternal Father, Strong to Save .The orchestral music for Heart of the Swarm was likewise recorded in Marin County, again with the services of Kurlander and Noone, with 80 performers from the Skywalker Symphony Orchestra.Brower stated in an interview in 2013 that he intended to continue the process of associative musical themes in Legacy of the Void.


Adaptations


Novelizations

The StarCraft series is supported by eight novelizations, with at least two more in the works, all published by Simon & Schuster. At BlizzCon 2007, Chris Metzen stated that he hoped to novelize the entirety of StarCraft and Brood War into a definitive text-based story. The first novel, StarCraft: Uprising, was written by Micky Neilson, a Blizzard Entertainment employee, and originally released only as an e-book in December 2000. The novel follows the origins of the character Sarah Kerrigan. The second novel, entitled StarCraft: Liberty's Crusade, serves as an adaptation of the first campaign of StarCraft, following on a journalist following a number of the key Terran characters in the series. Written by Jeff Grubb and published in March 2001, it was the first StarCraft novel to be released in paperback. StarCraft: Shadow of the Xel'Naga, published in July 2001 is the third novel, written by Kevin Anderson under the pseudonym Gabriel Mesta. It serves as a link between StarCraft and Brood War. The fantasy author Tracy Hickman was brought in to write the fourth novel, StarCraft: Speed of Darkness, which was published in June 2002. Speed of Darkness is written from the viewpoint of a Confederate marine during the early stages of StarCraft. The first four novels, including the e-book Uprising, were later re-released as a single anthology entitled The StarCraft Archive in November 2007.A fifth novel entitled StarCraft: Queen of Blades was published in June 2006. Written by Aaron S. Rosenberg, it is a novelization of the second campaign in StarCraft from the perspective of Jim Raynor. This was followed in November 2006 by StarCraft Ghost: Nova, a book focusing on the early origins of the character of Nova from the postponed StarCraft: Ghost game. Written by Keith R. Flip Master
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. DeCandido, the novel was meant to accompany the release of StarCraft: Ghost, but was continued despite the postponement of the game. Love Balls
. In 2007 Christie Golden, an author whose previous work included novels in Blizzard's Warcraft series, was brought in to write a trilogy entitled the StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga. Color Road!
. The trilogy acts as a link between StarCraft and its sequel StarCraft II. Slotomania™ Vegas Casino Slots
. The first installment, Firstborn being published in May 2007 and Shadow Hunters, the second novel, being published in November 2007. The final part of the trilogy, Twilight was released in June 2009. I, Mengsk was publish in 2009, a novel that was written by Graham McNeill which focuses on the origins of the characters in the Mengsk family. Last January 2010 Keith R.A. DeCandi