Games - Real-time strategy

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	Games - Real-time strategy

A real-time strategy (RTS) game is a type of computer strategy wargame which does not have "turns" like conventional turn-based strategy video or board games. Rather, game time progresses in "real time": that is, it is continuous rather than turn-by-turn. While the word "strategy" originally referred to higher-level warplanning (armies, campaigns and entire wars) in RTS games individual units or persons are given orders; also integral to the gameplay of most RTS games is production-economic aspects (resource gathering, manufacture and positioning of buildings, production of units, etc), and though combat confrontation is a significant part of RTS gameplay this is most often heavily stylised and relatively little emphasis is placed on realism or the detailed aspects of military tactics (compare with real-time tactics).

History

The first RTS game was the 1983's Stonkers published by Imagine Software for the ZX Spectrum .

Other notable RTS games from the 1980s to the early 1990s include Rescue Raiders
for the Apple 2 in 1984, The Ancient Art of War by Dave Murry and Barry Murry of Evryware (published by Brøderbund) in 1984 and its follow-up The Ancient Art of War at Sea in 1987, Nether Earth for ZX Spectrum in 1987, Carrier Command for the Amiga and Atari ST in 1989, Herzog Zwei for the Sega Genesis in 1989 and Battle Master for the Amiga and Atari ST in 1990. However, the current concept of the genre has been defined by Dune II (1992), which at once introduced the core concepts of modern RTS games: resource-gathering, base-building, technology development and direct unit control .

The success of Dune 2 encouraged the development of such games as Stronghold (1993), Warcraft (1994), Command & Conquer (1995), War Wind (1996), Dark Reign
(1997), Total Annihilation (1997), Age of Empires (1997), Enemy Nations (1997), StarCraft (1998), Warzone 2100
(1998), Empire Earth (2001), Empires: Dawn of the Modern World (2003) and Rise of Nations (2003). In fact, the designers of Dune 2 traced its spiritual lineage back to the real-time simulation SimCity (1989) and their previous game Battletech: The Crescent Hawk's Revenge (1988), a real-time wargame without base-building elements.

1992 -- 1998: Defining the popular perception of RTS games

Though RTS games as showed above have an extensive history, some titles more than others have served to define the popular perception of the RTS genre and expectations of RTS titles, and the games released between 1992 and 1998 by (the now-defunct) Westwood Studios and Blizzard Entertainment have in particular contributed to this. Westwood's Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty (1992) was the first RTS game with what can be considered the today recognised feature set for "full" RTS games that reached popular acclaim and awareness, and as such acted as the first significant prototype for the coming "modern" RTS genre. Note: Westwood Studios has recently been ressurected as Petroglyph, which recently designed and successfully released 'Star Wars Empire at War'.

While Westwood laid the foundation and provided the prototype for RTS games with Dune II, Blizzard Entertainment, between 1994 and 1998, can be argued to be singularly responsible for establishing the form and content of the genre as understood today. Their famous Warcraft titles, Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (1994) and its sequel Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness (1995), refined the concepts introduced in Dune II and arguably ushered in the era of contemporary RTS by its treatment of the burgeoning genre elements and groundbreaking popularity. With Command&Conquer (1995) and C&C: Red Alert (1996), while Westwood provided the original blueprint and prototype, Blizzard cemented the form of what was by now recognised as "proper" RTS games, and finally with Starcraft (1998) provided the de facto standard measure against which all new RTS games are still measured.

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