Warcraft: Orcs & Humans

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AutoAdmin
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Warcraft: Orcs & Humans

Post by AutoAdmin »

Feel free to rate and discuss this game.
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MrFlibble
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Re: Warcraft: Orcs & Humans

Post by MrFlibble »

Some people say this is little more than a Dune II clone in a medieval setting, while other argue that Blizzard simply plagiarized the Warhammer universe, but honestly, I don't care. You don't judge the winners. The only real problem with Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is that it got overshadowed by its own sequel :)

Warcraft: Orcs & Humans introduced quite a few new concepts that contributed to the development of the RTS genre. Apart from the medieval theme in general and, as a consequence, a lot of close range attack units, these are as follows:

Different terrain tilesets
While in Dune II, there's only one desert terrain, Warcraft has forest, swamp and dungeon terrain types.

Different resource types
In Warcraft, gold is the "primary" resource required to build anything, and lumber is a "secondary" one, needed for some units and all structures.

Variety of mission types
Basically, most missions in Dune II amount to "build up your base from scratch, then wipe out all enemies". Warcraft introduced missions with varying objectives, such as the destruction of a specific enemy unit or structure, or escorting a friendly unit from point A to point B. Starting conditions for each mission could also differ: in one mission, the player has to swiftly move combat units to a defenceless base that is under attack; in another, peasants must be first rescued from imprisonment before the player can start production. Thee are also missions where the player does not have a base and thus cannot produce new units at all (these include dungeon levels, where no construction is possible).

Heroes and NPCs
Warcraft introduced "hero" characters that are important to the storyline and must be kept alive and sometimes rescued; conversely, enemy heroes may become targets for assassination. There are also non-playable characters, i.e. units that cannot be produced by either playable side, that appear only in dungeon levels.

Unit upgrades
In Dune II, upgrading only applies to production facilities, where it means gaining access to new construction options. In Warcraft, the player can upgrade unit stats such as attack strength, armour rating and movements speed, which means that the player whose units have been upgraded has a strategic advantage in combat.

Spells and summoned creatures
Dune II already has "sort of" spells, like the Deviator's ability to temporarily convert enemy units, or the House Palace special abilities, but Warcraft introduced spell-caster units that use mana to cast spells or summon magical creatures. Summoned creatures are not permanent and will "dissipate" after a period of time, but are arguably some of the most powerful ones in the game.

What I really did not like about the demo is how lazy they got with the music. The demo contains exactly two tunes, one of which plays at the menu screen, briefing screens for both sides, victory and defeat screen, and Human levels. The other only plays in the Orc levels. I understand that this was done to keep the demo package small, but still it's a bit annoying. Otherwise, the game has a very nice soundtrack.
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MrFlibble
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Re: Warcraft: Orcs & Humans

Post by MrFlibble »

Apparently Total Entertainment Network, a paid subscription online gaming network, had an agreement with Blizzard to distribute an online-only version of Warcraft that was playable over TEN. Here's the official Warcraft page at the TEN website (Wayback Machine copy):
http://www.ten.net/html/ten__warcraft.html

The agreement was announced in Blizzard's press release from Jan 29, 1997 (thanks to Hallfiry for pointing that out!):
In addition to Battle.net, Blizzard’s on-line strategy includes strategic partnerships with the three major commercial on-line services: Mplayer, Total Entertainment Network and Engage.

Says Adham, "Internet gaming is hugely popular, and we are committed to offering our customers as many on-line options as possible. By teaming with Mplayer, TEN and Engage, we allow our customers to select the method they prefer to play our games over the Internet."
A copy of Warcraft's DataSphere which mentions this multiplayer version can be found here.
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MrFlibble
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Re: Warcraft: Orcs & Humans

Post by MrFlibble »

Recently Hallfiry obtained the shareware CD version of Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, which was published by FormGen. Frankly I had never heard about the shareware CD version of the game before that. You can take a look at the CD and box scans here.

The interesting thing is that this version, unlike the shareware CD of Warcraft II, is different in that it includes more levels compared to Blizzard's FTP demo. In addition to the four demo levels (two per side: level 1 and level 3 from each faction's retail campaign), there are two dungeon levels (level 4 in the retail campaigns). There's also animated intro, victory and defeat screen animations, and more MIDI music compared to the FTP demo. Also the CD includes a copy of the user's manual in DOC and TXT formats.

The game can be fully installed on the hard disk, and has no copy protection whatsoever. The license in VENDOR.TXT indicates that the shareware version can be freely distributed electronically (as any regular shareware version):
"WarCraft: Orcs & Humans" Copyright 1994, 1995 Blizzard Entertainment

Released by: Blizzard Entertainment
3152 Redhill Avenue, Costa Mesa, CA, 92626, TEL: 714-556-5571 ("Blizzard")

Shareware version published by: FormGen
7641 East Gray Road, Scottsdale, AZ 85260, TEL: 602-443-4109, FAX: 602-951-6810, ("FormGen")

BY COPYING, USING OR DISTRIBUTING THIS SHAREWARE PROGRAM,
YOU INDICATE YOUR AGREEMENT TO THE TERMS OF THIS vendor.txt.

=====================
KEY POINTS
=====================

[*] IMPORTANT!
FormGen has a worldwide exclusive license to manufacture and market the Retail Shareware version of
WarCraft: Orcs & Humans for sale in retail stores, commercial locations and all other physical or
electronic channels of distribution, licensing and sale. Anyone who violates this license may be prosecuted
by FormGen.

[*] If you want to distribute the WarCraft: shareware in a retail location (such as on
a rack), or as part of a hardware or software bundle, or on CD-ROM, you must get PRIOR signed written
permission from FormGen. FormGen reserves its right to withhold permission. For licensing contact:

FormGen
Attn: Software Licensing
7641 East Gray Road.
Scottsdale, AZ 85260
TEL 602-443-4109 or FAX 602-951-6810

[*] Everyone can -- and is encouraged! -- to copy, upload and generally pass around this Program
electronically WITHOUT CHARGING FOR IT. [/b]

[*] All advertising of the Program must include "FormGen" and "Blizzard
Entertainment" in the description.

[*] The Program is marked "Shareware" and contains "six playable scenarios".
No right is given by this vendor.txt to copy, use or distribute any other version, including any version that
is registered, or not marked shareware, or that contains any episodes other than the six original playable
scenarios.

======================
LICENSE
======================

[1] DEFINITIONS: "Program" means the shareware version of WarCraft: Orcs & Humans consisting of
the files listed below. The "Trademarks" consist of "FormGen", the FormGen logo, Blizzard Entertainment
and the Blizzard Entertainment logo.

[2] OWNERSHIP: FormGen owns and reserves the exclusive right to distribute the Program, and to use
the Trademarks in connection with it. Its content, layout and format are the property of FormGen and
Blizzard Entertainment to the extent permitted by law.

[3] GRANT AND CONDITIONS: FormGen grants a non-exclusive license to distribute the Program on
IBM compatible media under the Trademarks subject to the following conditions:


[A] CONDITIONS FOR ALL DISTRIBUTION, BOTH FREE AND FOR A CHARGE:

[1] All of the Program's files, including this one, must be included as released by FormGen, without
modification. The following files must always be included in a single combined distribution file,
containing no additional files not named below, to constitute a legal version for shareware distribution:
Hallfiry created an image of the shareware CD and uploaded it at his website (under the header "Warcraft Shareware CD 1.21").

I suggest that this version be included here on the site as well.
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rainwarrior
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Re: Warcraft: Orcs & Humans

Post by rainwarrior »

MrFlibble wrote: February 6th, 2011, 1:46 pm Some people say this is little more than a Dune II clone in a medieval setting, while other argue that Blizzard simply plagiarized the Warhammer universe, but honestly, I don't care. You don't judge the winners. The only real problem with Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is that it got overshadowed by its own sequel :)
I definitely liked it a lot more than Dune II, in terms of gameplay, though the Dune theming and artwork was really wonderful. (Good soundtrack too!)

I'd definitely say both were overshadowed by WarCraft II but it's like the Street Fighter II of its genre. That one I still find a bit playable today, but WarCraft 1 is too fiddly and slow for me to want to play very far now. Dune II even moreso... there's so much tedious work to complete any mission.
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MrFlibble
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Re: Warcraft: Orcs & Humans

Post by MrFlibble »

rainwarrior wrote: December 4th, 2018, 8:09 pm WarCraft 1 is too fiddly and slow for me to want to play very far now. Dune II even moreso... there's so much tedious work to complete any mission.
Interesting, actually I never completed either of Warcraft's campaigns but have beaten Dune II several times for all Houses, and in different versions with different user-made patches :)

I did "discover" Dune II a bit later too than I did Warcraft, which I took serious interest in after playing Warcraft III. I knew that Dune II existed and it was the granddaddy of all RTS games but I expected it to be far more primitive than it turned out to be, and that alone was exciting! The lack of any group control for units isn't as much of a problem once you learn to do all the micro (I wish StarCraft were as easy at that! :)), I also love how each House's Mentat has a unique personality that is one of the incentives to play the different sides too.

I'd say that Warcraft is actually fairly different in how you control units and generally do battle when compared to Dune II, and it's way closer to its sequel in this respect, although admittedly the archers are probably indeed overpowered. But you get this feeling that you're commanding a force of medieval warriors, and the appropriate scope of battle. Sadly this failed to carry over into the third game which leaned more into the RPG territory, and the result is that it feels like you control a party of adventurers, not an army.
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