Starcraft was originally going to be a Star Wars title, but the Lucas camp rejected the idea. So the Blizz just had to rip off draw inspiration from some other source.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Apparently, this tale is not too public.
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11 comments:
Sadly, there hasn't ever been a great Star Wars RTS. Empire at War was decent though.
I suppose that's possible, but it must have been one of those early pre-production proposals, which tend to change with the weather anyway.
While Starcraft had quite a long period of development, eventually being released in mid-1998, I recall Blizzard showing one of the first builds publicly at ECTS in 1996 and it was pretty clear to see that it was using a modified Warcraft 2 engine and indeed there was apparently some comment then to the effect that it looked a bit like a War 2 total conversion. This apparently prompted the new Starcraft engine development, delaying the game to 1998.
However, even in 1996, the screenshots showed pretty unique units and I don't recall any similarities to familiar Star Wars decals, ships, etc, so if it was intended as a Star Wars title, that must have been an idea rejected very early on.
Also, at the time, Blizzard was a far cry from the behemoth it is today, as you know! So them not having much truck with Lucas is understandable.
wingnut: It's a fairly linear process, it was not one of the pre-production proposals, they planned on making on a Star Wars game and they could not get the license, they continued with a space game. It is not abnormal at all for things to happen this way.
If I remember correctly, the Blizz had no real materials for the Lucas camp and hoped that rep alone would win them the license, the Lucas camp can't be fault for that one, no one with such a highly-regarded license should just hand it off to someone without knowing their vision.
Why do you refer to them as the Blizz?
anonymous: It makes them sound like a criminal organization (there are plenty of tales that would suggest those words are an accurate depiction).
Tell a sleazy Blizz story, please.
Also, what will Nintendo be revealing at E3? I know you know!
I would also like to hear about Blizzard's sordid past, please.
I always heard it was a Warhammer 40k rip off. Guess that was wrong, though it makes a lot more sense.
anonymous: You are not wrong, that is the "other source" mentioned above.
Apparently the Blizzard offices used to have Warhammer/Warhammer 40K posters all over the walls. I've heard stories that Games Workshop successfully issued cease-and-desists to Blizzard over some of the content in Warcraft 3 which was clearly infringing GW's IP.
At Blizzard old offices there were two floors, the first being the QA/peon floor. The second floor was for production and execs. For a long time there were two restrooms, one for men and one for women. Eventually, a handwritten sign appeared over "WOMEN'S" restroom saying "MEN'S". Basically, they did away with the 2nd floor women's restroom because there wasn't anyone up there to use it.
anonymous: Yeah, there was a bunch of those on the walls.
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