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Starcraft [PC – Prototype / Beta]

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The pre-alpha version of StarCraft was still very similar to Warcraft II in terms of user interface and style. After receiving much criticism on the 1996 E3 for this lack of technological improvement, Blizzard started to rework the game engine. This included changing the interface from the distinctive Warcraft II-sidebar to the now common bottom bar. Further improvements included pre-rendered sprites and backgrounds using 3D Studio Max. An isometric view was used, unlike Warcraft II’s top down perspective. – [info from wikipedia]

Thanks to MicroChirp for the contribution!

Images:

[images from www.sclegacy.com]

Video:

Comments

8 responses to “Starcraft [PC – Prototype / Beta]”

  1. Robert Seddon Avatar
    Robert Seddon

    http://www.codeofhonor.com/blog/tough-times-on-the-road-to-starcraft has some additional information: in short, the project was sidelined while attention went to Diablo, and the game was reworked once work on it restarted.

    Reply
    1. monokoma Avatar
      monokoma

      Thanks Robert! 🙂

      Reply
  2. MicroChirp Avatar
    MicroChirp

    Here’s a couple of later prototype screenshots and concept art dated 1996 (seems like “Zerg” was spelled “Zurg”): https://www.mediafire.com/?b6sa2zp2r9atc9t

    Reply
    1. MicroChirp Avatar
      MicroChirp

      Forgot one: http://www.csoon.com/issue14/shots/f_strcf1.jpg

      Reply
      1. monokoma Avatar
        monokoma

        Thanks as always for all your contributions MicroChirp 🙂

        Reply
    2. Sam Jones Avatar
      Sam Jones

      Yes, they renamed the Zurg. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4G566MKLEE

      Reply
  3. Henske Avatar
    Henske

    Interesting note: in all those screenshots that use the pre-rendered 3D isometric graphics, in the portrait window of the bottom bar we see a CG portrait of a character wearing glasses and a hat, smoking a cigarette. Though this character portrait appears nowhere in the game, in the intro cinematic to the original Starcraft we see a character that closely resembles him sitting at a shipboard computer station: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob4hQsTkWLg

    Given that the CG portraits in all those beta screenshots are not animated (they appear to be on the same frame in all of them, a very unlikely coincidence in the case that they were animated) it’s likely that Blizzard originally used this character as a generic default portrait for the Terran units, and then when the actual character portraits were created, the devs decided not to let a good model go to waste and just re-used him for that intro cinematic.

    Reply
  4. MicroChirp Avatar
    MicroChirp

    More from 1996: https://web.archive.org/web/19961220200733/http://www.next-generation.com/news/071396c.html

    Reply

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