The original StarCraft has proven to be a great influence on many of the RTS games that followed in its footsteps. In the 9 years since the release of StarCraft, the RTS genre has evolved, and now that we’ve gotten a glimpse of StarCraft 2’s development, it is clear that it is influenced by the evolution of the other games in the genre as well. Today, we will look for the origin of some of the new features in StarCraft 2.

Discussing influences for StarCraft has to start with the Warhammer universe. Since day one, there have been rumors that Blizzard had originally designed the StarCraft engine to accommodate a Warhammer-based game. It’s easy to see why, as the three StarCraft races resemble well established Warhammer designs: The Terran are very close, in style and concept, to the Space Marines; the alien Protoss have a very similar feel to the Eldar; the Zerg and the Tyranids look like cousins from a distant brood.

Some people still claim that many of the designs for StarCraft 2 are “borrowed” from the Warhammer 40,000 franchise, perhaps rightly so – Andy Chambers, formerly an author and game designer for Games Workshop, is now a creative director for Blizzard.

However, this is already ancient history, and we want to focus on the StarCraft 2 gameplay. If you haven’t been following the latest developments from BlizzCon, do take a look at our post covering the major changes and new information revealed at the event – it is pertinent to our discussion.

 

Still on the subject of Warhammer, another thing that’s obviously been inspired by it are the Drop Pods. We have actually suggested that StarCraft 2 use a similar system to provide the Terran with increased mobility in our “Suggestions for StarCraft 2” Article. The StarCraft 2 Drop Pod system is similar in effect to the one in Warhammer, and looks like it too.

 

Dustin Browder, lead designer, had previously worked on Command & Conquer and Red Alert games. It’s easy to see these games’ influence on StarCraft 2:

It started with our discovery of the Yellow Minerals, a more valuable resource, which is very likely influenced by Red Alert’s gems (as opposed to gold) and C&C’s blue Tiberium (as opposed to green). These two resources are worth twice their normal counterparts, but in StarCraft, the better resource is only worth 50% more (12 minerals instead of 8).

Another feature that is closely identified with C&C that’s made the transition to StarCraft 2 is selling off buildings, or as the Terrans have termed it, “salvaging“. In C&C, you can sell a building for half its worth. If it’s damaged, the value of the building will be decreased proportionally. In StarCraft 2, at this point, only the Terran can salvage, and this nets them 100% of the resources put into the building.

Two units from the GDI faction of the C&C games now have similar versions in StarCraft 2:

1) Tiberium Sun’s Jump-Jet Infantry: These guys had a jetpack and a vulcan machine gun. They filled the same role as the StarCraft 2 Reapers do – very mobile infantry with a high mortality rate.

2) Tiberium War’s Jaggernaut: This is a heavy mech unit, used for artillery purposes. Like its StarCraft 2 version, the Thor, this unit plants its mechanical legs firmly into the ground before firing a long range artillery barrage.

 

Another game that has probably influenced StarCraft 2 is the recently released Supreme Commander, spiritual sequel to Total Annihilation:

1) Mega units: Supreme Commander is very famous for these. While the 3 factions have an almost identical army, separated only by graphics style and a few minor attributes, the mega units are where their differences shine. Each faction has a few exclusive mega units – all of which take a long time to build, have a very unique feel, and act completely different from each other. Our favorite: The Monkey Lord.

We still don’t know how “mega” the Protoss Mothership is going to be – certainly not as powerful as the Supreme Commander mega units are compared to normal units, but it is certainly a unit along the same line: Seeing it emerge from an enemy base would be a cause for alarm, as it would surely bring devastation with it.

2) Units built by workers instead of in factories: This applies to the mega units in Supreme Commander, but currently, only to the Thor in StarCraft 2. The aforementioned mega units are too big to be built in dedicated unit factories, and therefore are built right on the battlefield by workers. The Thor’s building process is infinitely more impressive, however!

3) Supreme Commander is also responsible for a very cool addition to the RTS genre, now incorporated into StarCraft 2: Radar! In Supreme Commander, as well as in StarCraft, the radar building provides information about enemy units under the fog of war, granting an invaluable strategic advantage. We are bound to see this feature in many RTS games in the years to come – in fact, it is currently making an appearance in one of the new factions introduced in the Company of Heroes expansion, now undergoing beta testing.

 

There have been many other updates to StarCraft, not confined to a single, originating game: The GUI has gone through a major overhaul, and now displays more info than ever. The interaction with the game is more intuitive, and the interface is easier to use effectively. These things and others have become a standard in recent RTS games. Some of these improvements have already found their way into Blizzard’s previous RTS game, WarCraft III.

As you see, Blizzard not only inspires others with its great ideas, it also knows how to spot good ones and perfectly implement them into their games. This is evident in other games of different genres by Blizzard, and is partly what makes them one of the, if not the, best game developers today.

Related Posts:

• » Two Massive Q&A Sessions: Battle.Net and Beta In-Depth
• » StarCraft 2 Beta: Protoss Strategies Overview
• » StarCraft 2 Beta: Yo Mommaship Got Nerfed
• » StarCraft 2 Beta: First Gameplay and Battle.net Impressions

20 Comments to “Perfecting Real Time Strategy: StarCraft 2 Influences”

1. sasserdude — August 8, 2007 @ 6:26 pm
   

   I love this blog and it cant be better

   Blizzard is the building stone for every project.

   Look at my page, i am making a community and a lot of more things, has an pic on supreme commander there also lol

2. WhiteKnight — August 9, 2007 @ 2:48 am
   

   some sentence i disagree

   1.
   i don’t think that reaper is similar to jumpjet
   since jump jet is able to change to arial
   but reaper just hop to them

   i think they are more similar to raptor from warhammer
   2.
   radar
   you don’t have to point to that supreame commander
   since c&C tiberium sun has a unit with same method

   i can’t remember what is that unit name but it’s nickname is “big ear”

   however
   i like this blog keep on

3. Kane — August 9, 2007 @ 3:20 am
   

   The C&C TS radar unit only detected stealthed and burrowed units as far as I remember.

   The DoW jetpack guys are worth a mention… They were more of a heavy infantry type of unit, though. With a melee attack or melee range and an ability to reduce moral quickly. Well, too many of sc’s units resemble DoW stuff too much anyway.

4. WhiteKnight — August 9, 2007 @ 4:05 am
   

   answer kane

   if my memory serve me well

   isn’t that Mobile Sensor Array

   also detect unit in fog of war ?(wink wink in mini map)

   May be i wrong

   i wonder about Thor and Siege tank
   both are support siege unit ,isn’t it ?

   —–> * The Reaver has been removed from the game. Developers say that it was overlapping with the Colossus in the “kill a lot of small units” department, and that it was no longer necessary.

5. kmh — August 9, 2007 @ 5:52 am
   

   Even in first Red Alert we can see something like “Drop pods”. Made by airports but still with similiar effect.

   And radar… that was in Total Annihilation too

   

6. Jebbou — August 9, 2007 @ 6:16 am
   

   Hi there,

   Very good review. I would like to add that WH40K have had Assault Space Marines for a while (equipped with Jump Packs and close quarter weapons). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Marines_(Warhammer_40,000)#Assault_squad

   Also, they’ve had Titans (Gigantic war machines) for a while. This is the first thing I thought when I saw the Thor.
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_%28Warhammer_40%2C000%29

   But in the end, even Warhammer 40K was heavily influenced by previous creations, such as WH Fantasy Battle, the Alien movie, etc.

7. Jebbou — August 9, 2007 @ 6:20 am
   

   Oh yeah, and Thors are very Battletech like, having an insane number of weapons loaded on them.

8. Zetaras Xal'Kurat — August 10, 2007 @ 7:15 am
   

   Hey guys,

   A few comments:

   The Warhammer universe deserves an honorable mention when discussing StarCraft influences, but mostly for its design.
   Mechs, Jetpack soldiers, etc. have been around for many years – however, the influences I chose to mention are similar in style, and more importantly, in gameplay function, to their StarCraft 2 versions.

   For example, the mechs in Warhammer are just heavy assault forces – unlike the Thor, which is closer to the Jaggernaut from C&C in its role on the battlefield: a long range siege unit.

   Also, while the Mobile Sensor Array did show enemy blips on the radar, it only did so for NOD’s stealthed and burrowed units. Radar, as it is implemented in the TA/SC games and now in StarCraft 2 and CoH:OF, is something different. I think it’ll catch on for future RTS games and become a standard, and I’m glad to see Blizzard implementing it perfectly. At least, it looks perfect, so far.

9. TAfan — September 16, 2007 @ 11:38 pm
   

   Jeez, TA had RADAR and it is what, 10 years old now?

10. mojo — September 21, 2007 @ 11:34 pm
    

    SC is full of units similar to past works. Some other possible similarities of the top of my head… maybe people have made some of these connections, perhaps with past games/fiction.

    Starwars.. 1??!?!
    Droideka (Destroyer Droid) == Immortal

    C&C3
    Scrin MotherShip == Protoss Mothership
    Annihilator tripod == Colossus
    Scrin Black Hole == Now removed Protoss Mothership ability

    C&C Generals
    Particle Cannon =sorta= Planet Cracker on Mother Ship – USA
    Colonel Burton/China Rocket Soldiers Time bomb == Reaper Timebomb
    Overlord Tank == Battlecruiser with multiple upgrade platforms (I read this somewhere, might not be true)

    Various C&Cs
    Drop Pods

11. ErkZ — September 22, 2007 @ 9:01 am
    

    Don’t forget old Animes like Robotech. The Viking bears a strong resemblance to the old Valyries/ Vertiechs and the Thor strongly resembles the Destroid Monsters.

12. Anonymous — October 2, 2007 @ 5:10 am
    

    I noticed that in the Gamespot previews there was mention of the Terran Command Center having a choice of turret upgrades. I thought I’d seen this idea before – here, in concept art for the Temple Of Nod in C&C: Tiberian Sun.
    http://www.cybergooch.com/pages/tibsunarchive/evilg.htm

13. jake — October 25, 2007 @ 3:20 pm
    

    I have to admit I’m so far very dissapointed in Blizzard with SC2, if you look at the new units shown on the official site, you’ll see many parallels to C&C3, in both marines AND protoss.
    For example, the mother ship even carries the same title as the ship in C&C3 and fills the EXACT same role.
    The Stalker is also verrryy similar to another C&C3 alien unit (I dont remember the name, its been a while).
    But perhaps most obvious is the collosus. Its as if it was taken driectly from C&C3.

    I wont bother drawing parallels for the marines, I think my point is clear.
    If I wanted to play C&C3, I would. I want starcraft, not C&C.
    I thought games were supposed to be original??

14. Ken — October 25, 2007 @ 9:01 pm
    

    Why are you comparing starcraft and C&C? in terms of gameplay and RTS, nothing compares to SC. many units may be familiar in your opinion, but maybe not for other people.

15. Chucky — October 25, 2007 @ 9:29 pm
    

    I happen to agree with Jake there.

    Yes Colossus looks good, will enchance SC.

    but so far, not much of originality has been found, that’s also true. Most units are just SC units (with better graphics)

    The THOR is decent though, giving a fair comment.

    But Protoss… yeah. C’mon Blizz, I know there’s more, when will we see it?

16. The 8th U.S.Army — June 27, 2008 @ 8:22 am
    

    Banshee of Terran!!!!!!!
    Copy of GDI Orca fighter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

17. The 8th U.S.Army — June 27, 2008 @ 8:23 am
    

    Dare steal GDI ORCA????!?!?!?!??!!?

18. Tartantyco — June 27, 2008 @ 2:21 pm
    

    -Radar has been a part of RTS games for a long time(Total Annihilation, Tiberian Sun, Red Alert 2, etc.), so have all the other “influences” you’ve listed here.

19. Dave — September 16, 2008 @ 6:29 pm
    

    I happen to disagree with you ken, there are many better games for challenge value alone in comparison to starcraft. The for most one is warhammer 40k dawn of war, its a damn hard skirmish game in deathmatch modes, starcraft uses a one unit, one slot system, while warhammer, and rise of nations, which has no influence in starcraft, have a squad spawned in unit production, hopefully blizzard will take a not from these, and make sc2 much more intense than the last.

20. PsamtikNerd — September 21, 2008 @ 12:01 pm
    

    Marines = Space Marines
    Reapers = Assault Marines
    Thor = XV88 Broadside
    Goliath = Marine Dreadnought
    Vulture = Land Speeder
    Every Zerg unit = some Tyranid unit

    Hmm…