Warcraft III was originally announced as a completely different game, than what we eventually got. It was supposed to be the start of a new genre, the “Role-Playing Strategy.” Ultimately however, the idea was cancelled and the game was reworked to be more or less a normal RTS.
In this video I’ll try to piece together what Warcraft III was originally supposed to be like.
00:00 Teaser
00:49 Intro
01:15 Origins
03:21 Warcraft I and II
05:47 Warcraft Adventures
07:01 StarCraft
07:50 A Wild Warcraft III Appears
09:33 Design
12:56 Multiplayer
16:26 So Many Questions
19:06 Reign of Chaos Released
19:58 Legacy
21:39 Outro
HeadLessBrahmin is an english-speaking Czech content creator, focusing on videogame news and critical gaming essays.
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Music by OC Remix was used in accordance with their Content Policy: https://ocremix.org/info/Content_Policy
Music from Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, StarCraft: Brood War and others used belongs to Blizzard Entertainment, Activision Blizzard and/or other parties involved. But not to me. I don’t own any of that.
Sources:
Early history of Blizzard
– https://web.stanford.edu/group/htgg/sts145papers/sduffy_2003_1.pdf
Czech news articles from the period
– https://www.idnes.cz/hry/novinky/warcraft-3.A000303_warcraft3991124_bw
– https://doupe.zive.cz/clanek/warcraft-3–co-se-na-nas-chysta
– https://www.idnes.cz/hry/preview/prvni-pohled-na-warcraft-3.A000131_warcraft3pre_bw
– https://doupe.zive.cz/clanek/rpg-rts-rps—to-je-jedno-hlavne-ze-warcraft-3/
– https://games.tiscali.cz/preview/warcraft-iii-preview-229360
– SCORE 72: https://www.score.cz/1.756.aktuality.clanek-score-72
English news articles from the period
– https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2005/07/guildwars/
– https://web.archive.org/web/20070225150919/http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/pc/blizzard/index.html
– PC Accelerator preview screenshots: https://www.betaarchive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27845
Modern articles
– https://arstechnica.com/features/2020/01/how-warcraft-iii-birthed-a-genre-changed-a-franchise-and-earned-a-reforge-ing/
– https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Warcraft_III_evolution_guide
– https://www.ign.com/articles/2010/10/22/the-history-of-blizzard
– https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/245740/See_what_World_of_Warcraft_looked_like_when_it_was_a_Warcraft_3_mod.php
– https://www.usgamer.net/articles/how-world-of-warcraft-was-made-the-inside-story
– https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/World_of_Warcraft#Development
– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blizzard_Entertainment
Other RTS/RPG hybrid games
– https://www.gog.com/game/rage_of_mages_ii_necromancer
– https://games.tiscali.cz/recenze/spellforce-the-order-of-dawn-recenze-50954
– https://games.tiscali.cz/recenze/original-war-recenze-50550
Screenshots, videos and other visual material
– https://www.neogaf.com/threads/is-there-any-pictures-of-pre-alpha-alpha-beta-pictures-of-warcraft-3.161133/
– https://www.betaarchive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27845
– https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/3iq39b/warcraft_3_alphabeta_screenshots/
– https://www.hiveworkshop.com/threads/the-warcraft-3-prerelease-material-thread.155117/
– https://www.covercentury.com/covers/pc/w/warcraft_iii_-_frozen_throne_d.jpg
– https://gamesrevisiteddotcom.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/world-of-warcraft-macintosh-front-cover.jpg
– https://miro.medium.com/max/2732/1*9nrThJVVvy88dR5KGM5rpw.jpeg
– https://images.igdb.com/igdb/image/upload/t_logo_med/hkh40p9gkals4ajmpguz.png
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9myb3yZ_5E
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atrVGHbPUfk
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXMk_Ti0Wug
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De-6gkYhYCQ
All trademarked material used in this video belongs to its owners. I do not claim to own any of the games, videos, pictures, news media, articles, or anything else shown. This video was made for the purpose of critical analysis of a piece of video game history.
Source
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