Warcraft: Orcs & Humans

Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is a real-time strategy game (RTS). The player takes the role of either the Human inhabitants of Azeroth, or the invading Orcs. In the single player campaign mode the player works through a series of missions, the objective of which varies, but usually involves building a small town, harvesting resources, building an army and then leading it to victory. The game plays in a medieval setting with fantasy elements. Both sides have melee units and ranged units, as well as spellcasters. In one mission, the player has to kill the Orc chief's daughter. The game allows two players to compete in multiplayer contests by dialup modem or local networks, and enables gamers with the MS-DOS and Macintosh version to play each other. The Barracks produces all non-magical combat units, including melee, ranged, mounted, and siege units. However all except the most basic also need assistance from other buildings, The Human Cleric and Orc Necrolyte can both defend themselves by magic and also see distant parts of the territory for short periods. The Cleric's other spells are protective, healing the injured and making troops invisible, Players can select single units by clicking, and groups of up to four by shift-clicking or bandboxing. To move units, players can shift the mouse to select units on the main map, move to the unit menu to select an action, and then back to the main map or mini-map to specify the target area; shortcut keys can eliminate the middle mouse action in this cycle. ==Storyline==

Backstory The Orcs originate from another world. A warlike species, they conquered everyone else around them, and eventually, the various Orc clans started scheming against one another. The Warlock clan, noticing these developments, tried to find a solution and prevent the Orcs from turning on one another. The Warlocks noticed a rift between the dimensions and, after many years, opened a small portal to another world. One Warlock explored and found a region, called Azeroth by its Human inhabitants, from which the Warlock returned with strange plants as evidence of his discovery. The Orcs enlarged the portal until they could transport seven warriors, who massacred a Human village. The raiding party brought back samples of good food and fine workmanship, and a report that the Humans were defenseless. The Orcs' raiding parties grew larger and bolder, until they assaulted Azeroth's principal castle. However, the Humans had been training warriors of their own, especially the mounted, heavily armed Knights. These, assisted by Human Sorcerers, gradually forced the Orcs to retreat through the portal, which the Humans had not discovered. The Human campaign involves the rescue of the trapped Anduin Lothar, and the killing of Medivh, who has become insane. King Llane is killed by Garona, but before his death, wishes that the player character becomes the commander of the Human forces. The player character marches on Blackrock Spire and destroys the Horde. After the Human victory, the player character becomes the new King of Stormwind. In WarCraft II: Tides of Darkness, it was revealed that the canonical campaign was the Orcish one, though many events from the Human campaign were confirmed to be canonical in later games, such as the assassination of Llane by Garona and the death of Medivh. ==Development and publication==

Though the earliest real-time strategy games appeared in the 1980s, and others followed in the early 1990s, the pattern of modern RTS games was established by Dune II, released by Westwood Studios for DOS in 1992. Blizzard Entertainment was surprised that no additional RTS games appeared in 1993 and early 1994 Seizing on this lull in RTS releases, Blizzard produced Warcraft: Orcs & Humans by copying all artwork from Dune II and then redesigning each asset, though it accidentally retained the font of Dune II. According to Patrick Wyatt, the producer of Warcraft, Warhammer was a huge inspiration for the art-style of Warcraft, as the game was originally meant to be an RTS adaptation of Warhammer, but Blizzard was unable to receive a license from its IP owner Games Workshop, and so decided to make its own IP. According to Bob Fitch, the theme for Warcraft was inspired by the Vikings of The Lost Vikings, combined with masses of creatures under their automated control similar to Lemmings, and adding the multiplayer element of having these opposing masses of Vikings meet up and fight each other. Though subsequent Warcraft games are famous for having complex stories presented lavishly, The contract composer Gregory Alper wrote music that Blizzard staff found reminiscent of Holst's The Planets. Demos in mid-1994 whetted appetites for the completed game, released for MS-DOS in November 1994 and Sold-Out Software republished the MS-DOS version in March 2002. Warcraft: Orcs & Humans was originally intended to be the first in a series of Warcraft-branded war games in fictional and real settings (such as a proposed Warcraft: Vietnam). Blizzard executives considered that customers would think that a brand with many similar games on shelves was serious and well-supported. The name "Warcraft" was proposed by Blizzard developer Sam Didier, and was chosen because "it sounded super cool", according to Blizzard co-founder Allen Adham, without any particular meaning attached to it. The game was remastered along with Warcraft II in November 2024. ==Reception==

Warcraft: Orcs & Humans became a success, and for the first time made the company's finances secure. It ultimately sold 300,000 copies. In November 1995 Entertainment Weekly reported that the game ranked 19th out of the top 20 CDs across all categories. The game was released in November 1994. Although reviews did not appear until months later, and Scott Love praised its solid strategy, simple interface, and fantasy theme. In 1996, Computer Gaming World declared Warcraft the 125th-best computer game ever released. James V. Trunzo reviewed Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in White Wolf Inphobia #56 (June, 1995), rating it a 4.5 out of 5 and stated that "Overall, WarCraft is a challenging and admirably designed product. If you enjoy the dynamics of a game like this, humans and orcs deliver all the excitement you want. It's a unique experience to play things from the orc perspective, even if the thought of sympathizing with the ugly green creatures makes Tolkien turn over in his grave!" S. Love of MacWEEK found the play to be hard work, as two or three of the player's units would often attack without orders, while the rest still did nothing, and buildings could also lie idle without orders. In a retrospective review, the J-Man of Just Games Retro said the game is overly slow, as the player must produce a few basic buildings and peasants to gather resources, and then start building combat units, while the enemy starts with more buildings and the ability to immediately send out offensive units to undo the player's efforts. He also criticized that the basic units of the two sides are essentially identical and that the interface is clunky, but praised the resource system and effective enemy AI. Both Scott Love and the J-Man said the game runs very slowly during large battles. K. Bailey of 1UP liked units' speech effects, especially those in response to repeated clicks, ==Legacy==

While RTS games date back to the 1980s, Dune II, released in 1992, established conventions that most subsequent RTS games followed, including the "collect resources, build base and army, destroy opponents" pattern. In 1995 Westwood's RTS Command & Conquer series adopted the use of nonstandard mission types and skirmishes, and Microsoft's Age of Empires (1997) includes these features and a random map generator. While not the first modem multiplayer RTS game, Blizzard's new game includes these enhancements: naval and air units, supported by new buildings, and the new resource of oil; higher-resolution artwork rendered in SVGA graphics; improved sound, including additional responses from units; a much better AI; and new mechanisms such as patrolling (moving continuously along a route for surveillance or defense). A further generation of the Warcraft: Orcs & Humans lineage, called Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, was released in July 2002, and gained instant and enduring acclaim with both critics and players. In April 1998, Blizzard released StarCraft, an RTS with the concepts and mechanisms of Warcraft but an interplanetary setting and three totally different races. StarCraft and its expansion StarCraft: Brood War were well received by critics and became very successful. World of Warcraft, released in North America in November 2004 and in Europe in February 2005, is Blizzard's first massively multiplayer online role-playing game. It uses the universe of the Warcraft RTS games, including characters that first appeared in Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. WoW received high praise from critics, is the most popular MMORPG of 2008, and in 2007 became the most profitable video game ever created. Beyond video games, the extended Warcraft franchise includes board games, card games, books, comics as well as a 2016 film adaptation Blizzard's style of RTS games Warcraft: Orcs & Humans was a moderate critical and commercial success, ==References==