Warcraft
From Free net encyclopedia
- This article is about the first game in the Warcraft series. For the game world as a whole, see Warcraft Universe.
| Warcraft : Orcs & Humans {{#if:{{{image|}}}|<tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">{{{image|}}} | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Blizzard Entertainment {{#if:{{{publisher|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Publisher(s)<td>{{{publisher|}}} |
| Release date(s) | 1994 |
| Genre(s) | Real-time strategy |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer {{#if:{{{ratings|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Rating(s)<td>{{{ratings|}}} |
| Platform(s) | DOS, Macintosh {{#if:{{{media|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Media<td>{{{media|}}} |
Template:Portal Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is a real-time strategy computer game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment in 1994. Originally developed for DOS, the game was subsequently ported to version 7 of MacOS making it fully playable on the Macintoshes of the era. The real-time strategy genre had been pioneered by Dune 2, among other games, but Warcraft (along with Westwood Studios' Command & Conquer) is widely credited for the genre's rise in popularity. Warcraft and its sequels went on to become one of the most successful franchises in computer gaming history.
The game is set in the kingdom of Azeroth, part of the fictional Warcraft Universe. The events that take place in this game are known in Warcraft lore as The First Great War or The Great War.
Contents |
Overview
Bloodthirsty orcs — denizens of another dimension — discover a portal allowing them to enter the largely peaceful human kingdom of Azeroth. The player can play as either the Orcs or the Humans, the main differences being the spells of the spellcaster units. Besides the two campaigns there are also many skirmish levels. There are also dungeon levels where the player has to escape to the exit while fighting monsters and hacking doors. Such levels were removed in Warcraft II, but returned in Warcraft III. The game's interface is similar to Dune II, as the "right-click to move/attack" cursor found in later games was not implemented, and buildings require the construction of adjacent roads.
Legacy
Due to the huge success of the game, several developers have created "clones" of the game that included many similar gameplay elements. Otter concerned the use of the –Craft in the name and the inclusion of ideas which were too similar to Warcraft II. The game has continued development under the name Stratagus.
Units and Structures
As with real-time strategy computer games at the time, Warcraft featured two opposing factions, the Humans and savage Orcs. Again, as in of other games of this genre, each faction’s units and buildings have a counterpart within the other faction. Template:-
Units
| Humans | Orcs | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Peasant | Peon | Basic units that construct and repair buildings, gather gold and harvest lumber. |
| Footman | Grunt | The most basic fighting units of either side. |
| Archer | Spearman | Ranged units capable of hitting their enemies at a distance. |
| Knight | Raider | Heavily-armored and powerful melee units. |
| Catapult | Catapult | Slow-moving, slow-firing siege machines that are capable of dealing devastating damage to stationary targets, such as buildings or unmoving units. |
| Cleric | Necrolyte | These are the basic, more defensive and support oriented spellcasting units of each side. |
| Conjurer | Warlock | Advanced spellcasting units capable of conjuring even more powerful spells than the Clerics and Necrolytes. |
| Summonable Units | ||
| Scorpions | Spiders | Weak melee summonable units. |
| Skeleton | Necrolytes have the ability to raise back the remains of dead units. There is, however, a time limit to how long the skeletons remain active. | |
| Water Elemental | Daemon | The most powerful summonable units. |
Buildings
| Humans | Orcs | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Town Hall | Great Hall | The basic main structure without which, all other buildings may not be built. |
| Farm | Farm | Basic structures necessary to provide food for each race. In order to train more units, more farms must be built. |
| Barracks | Barracks | The building necessary to create more Footmen, Archers, Knights and Catapults for Humans; Grunts, Spearmen, Raiders and Catapults for Orcs. |
| Lumber Mill | Lumber Mill | Building where each race may store the lumber harvested. Also allows upgrades for the Archers/Spearmen’s weapons. |
| Blacksmith | Blacksmith | This building allows the player to upgrade the armor and weapons of the Knights, Footmen, Grunts and Raiders. |
| Stable | Kennel | The buildings necessary for the ability to create the Knights (stable for Humans) and Raiders (kennel for Orcs). |
| Church | Temple | The buildings to train Clerics and Necrolytes, as well as research the spells for them. |
| Tower | Tower | The buildings to train Conjurers and Warlocks, as well as research the spells for them. |
| Stormwind Castle | Blackrock Spire | These structures appear at the end of each race's campaign. The player is never able to make use of these buildings but is required to destroy them. |
Monsters
| Monster | Notes |
|---|---|
| Scorpion | Giant monster. Can be summoned. |
| Spider | Giant monster. Can be summoned. |
| Brigand | Fast human enemies, melee unit |
| Ogre | Strong melee unit. |
| Skeleton | Attacks everybody. |
| Ooze | A green puddle that can devour its enemies. |
| Fire Elemental | A spirit that attacks with fire. Can be summoned. |
| Water Elemental | A spirit that attacks with water. Can be summoned. |
| Daemon | Powerful melee unit that attacks with a sword. |
Trivia
- Bill Roper provided all the voices from the game.
- Unlike future titles, every unit of each race had the exact same voice.
- Individual characters in the game give amusing responses when clicked repeatedly. Blizzard Entertainment has maintained this feature in all of its strategy games, and many other companies have copied it.
- It is rumored that Warcraft's interface was at first designed to put Warhammer into a computer setting but the deal failed. This is because both Warcraft and Starcraft and their characters are similar to those of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 respectively.
- Both factions (Orcs and Humans) are made up of only their respective races. In the sequel, both factions include units of other races as well(Humans with Elves and Dwarves, Orcs with Trolls and Goblins).
Spin-offs
Besides the aforementioned MMORPG World of Warcraft, there exists the following spin-offs:
- A set of three books (simply titled Warcraft), related only by their placement in the Warcraft Universe
- Warcraft: Day of the Dragon, Richard Knaak
- Warcraft: Lord of the Clans, Christie Golden (This book was used for the story of Warcraft Adventures)
- Warcraft: The Last Guardian, Jeff Grubb
- A trilogy of novels, Warcraft: War of the Ancients, Richard Knaak
- 1)The Well of Eternity
- 2)The Demon Soul
- 3)The Sundering
- A new upcoming trilogy of novels, Warcraft: The Sunwell Trilogy, Richard Knaak (with illustrations by manhwa artist Jae Hwan Kim)
- Several lines of action figures
- A Warcraft tabletop role-playing game (Warcraft the Roleplaying Game)
- A Warcraft strategy board game
- Various other merchandise
Lore
- Official Lore: The Dark Portal and the Fall of Stormwind.
- Human Campaign Missions of Warcraft
- Orc Campaign Missions of Warcraft
- Game Manual History on Warcraft's game box
External links
Template:WarcraftBGame Template:Blizzard Entertainmentbg:Warcraft cs:Warcraft da:Warcraft de:WarCraft es:Warcraft fr:Warcraft: Orcs & Humans it:Warcraft: Orcs and Humans ja:Warcraft ko:워크래프트 lt:Warcraft nl:Warcraft I: Orcs and Humans no:Warcraft pl:Warcraft: Orcs & Humans pt:Warcraft ru:Warcraft tr:Warcraft zh:魔獸爭霸