StarCraft universe

StarCraft universe refers to the fictional narrative began with the game StarCraft and expanded by the franchise.

Setting

 * Main aticle: StarCraft storyline
 * Main aticle: Koprulu sector

Games

 * StarCraft
 * StarCraft: Brood War
 * StarCraft: Ghost
 * StarCraft II

Novels and eBooks
StarCraft even became an inspiration for the creation of official novels and eBooks (some of which were not especially well-received by fans). Four novels were officially authorized by Blizzard Entertainment:


 * StarCraft: Uprising (2000) ISBN 0-7434-1898-0 (eBook only)
 * StarCraft: Liberty's Crusade (2001) ISBN 0-671-04148-7
 * StarCraft: Shadow of the Xel'Naga (2001) ISBN 0-671-04149-5
 * StarCraft: Speed of Darkness (2002) ISBN 0-671-04150-9
 * ''StarCraft: Queen of Blades ISBN 0-743-47133-4
 * StarCraft Ghost: Nova ISBN 0-743-47134-2
 * StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga: Firstborn ISBN 0-743-47125-3 (due May 2007)
 * StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga: #2 ISBN 0-7434-7126-1 (due November 2007)

In addition, Blizzard Entertainment authorized two short stories in Amazing Stories magazine, entitled StarCraft: Hybrid and StarCraft: Revelations.

Numerous fan fiction works also take place in the StarCraft universe.

Influence
While it has many similarities with its conceptual predecessor Warcraft II, StarCraft also draws heavily from characters and scenarios taken from many science fiction works, most notably popular movies. For example, many characteristic elements of the Terran race in StarCraft are reminiscent of James Cameron's Aliens movie. Terran buildings much resemble the installations of the Hadley's Hope colony in Aliens; the resemblance is especially obvious in StarCraft's cutscenes (see cutscene The Amerigo). Terran Marines were also clearly inspired by Aliens' United States Colonial Marines Marines; both the Terran Marine and the Terran Dropship units in StarCraft directly quote characters from the movie (quotes include: "How do I get out of this chickenish *BEEP* outfit?!", "In the pipe, five by five.", "Hang on, we're in for some chop."). A full list of quotes can be found at StarCraft Legacy. The Gauss Rifle used by the Terran Marines has an LED digital ammo display much like the Pulse Rifle from Aliens. The Zerg Hydralisk and infestation process are also references to Aliens' Xenomorphs. In the four-mission string of the StarCraft demo version, which tell the events immediately preceding those of StarCraft, the Zerg are also referred to as Xenomorphs (see StarCraft Prequel). The Terran bipedal combat vehicle Goliath can be seen as drawing its inspiration from Japanese mecha and the Enforcement Droid Model 209 of RoboCop fame.

The popular Warhammer 40,000 series from Games Workshop also obviously had an influence StarCraft's design, plot development, and visual style, particularly in the resemblance of the Zerg to Warhammer's Tyranids and the Protoss to Warhammer's Eldar as well as the Terrans to Warhammer's Imperial Guard and Space Marines. They also share a similarity to Warhammer 40,000's Tau, but in fact, the Tau were not introduced as a race in Warhammer 40,000 until several years after the release of StarCraft. However the Zerg and Tyranids both are predated by the Kryomek game from 1991. Also, the game may borrow from Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End, which mentions Overlords and an Overmind. The Firebat (flamethrower) troopers include a hero character named "Gui Montag," a direct reference to Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. Tom Kazansky, the pilot of the hero Wraith, takes his name from the Top Gun character better known as "Iceman".

The above examples are some of the more definitive references that could be made. There are also examples that may or may not exist as purposeful similarities. For example, some people believe that another major influence is Star Wars, with the Protoss having energy blades reminiscent of lightsabers and a philosophy/mysticism reminiscent of the Force, as well as the fact that Protoss infantry units disappear like Jedi when killed. The book Starship Troopers is another major influence, given that it depicted human troops in self-contained powered armor fighting against waves of "bug" enemies. Star Trek is also another influence, particularly the Battlecruiser's quotes. The Battlecruiser's "Yamato Gun" is lifted from the Japanese Anime Space Battleship Yamato marketed in the US as Starblazers, but could also be interpreted as a reference to the World War II battleship Yamato, the then largest and most heavily armed battleship in the world.

Because of its vast popularity, StarCraft has become extremely influential in the computer and video gaming fields. In the years immediately following its release, it became the bar against which new real-time strategy games were measured; for example, gaming news site Gamespot.com described StarCraft in 2003 as "The Standard by Which All Real-Time Strategy Games Are Judged" (Link). Several terms now widely used in computer gaming in reference to other games are directly derived from StarCraft: rush (popularized by the term "Zerg rush", although previously used in the multiplayer community of Warcraft II), zerging (though the latter has never actually been used in the StarCraft community itself, but as a derivation of "Zerg rush", has become popular among MMORPG players (primarily by players of World of Warcraft who use it as a claim that another player couldn't win without attacking with a large number of players- "all you do is zerg, you couldnt win one on one"]), and APM (Actions per Minute, first used and popularized by StarCraft game analyses, the term APM is now used throughout the multiplayer gaming community).