Real-time strategy

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Real-time strategy, often abbreviated RTS, is a genre of computer games characterised by being wargames which take place in real-time, where resource gathering, base building, technology development and direct control over individual units are key components.

Real-time strategy titles do not involve "turns" like turn-based strategy video or board games. Rather, game time progresses in "real time;" it is continuous rather than turn-by-turn, and all players may give orders to their troops at any time. While the word "strategy" originally referred to high-level war planning (armies, campaigns, and entire wars), in real-time strategy games individual units or persons are given orders. Also integral to the gameplay of real-time strategy games are economic and production aspects (resource gathering, construction, positioning of buildings, expansion, and production of units), and though military confrontation is a significant part of real-time strategy gameplay, it is most often heavily stylised with relatively little emphasis placed on simulating real warfare, in contrast to games of the genre known as real-time tactics.

It is common for games to be miscategorised as belonging to the real-time strategy genre. This is partly because real-time strategy is a vague denomination, giving rise to the assumption that all games involving strategy played in real-time are "real-time strategy" games. It is also partly due to the fact that the genre is so commonly recognised and well-established that there is a tendency to classify many different types of games within it. For instance, SimCity, which is a city-building game, Railroad Tycoon, an economic simulation game, and games of the real-time tactics genre of military simulations are often classified as "real-time strategy"^[1].

Contents 1 History 1.1 1983 – 1992: the beginning 1.2 1992 – 1998: defining the popular perception of real-time strategy games 1.3 1998 - present 1.3.1 Refinement of gameplay and ongoing transition to 3D graphics 1.3.2 Specialisation of gameplay models and genre ambiguity 1.4 The future 2 Gameplay 2.1 Units 2.2 Criticism of gameplay 2.3 Response to criticism: gameplay adjustments 2.4 Real-time strategy gameplay archetypes 2.4.1 Micro-management games 2.4.2 Macro-management games 3 Graphics 4 Popular franchises 5 Future games 6 Notes 7 See also 8 External links

[edit] History

[edit] 1983 – 1992: the beginning

The genre that is today recognized as "real-time strategy" was the result of an extended period of evolution and refinement. Games that today are sometimes perceived as ancestors to the real-time strategy genre were never marketed or designed to fulfill the current criteria. As such designating "early real-time strategy" titles is a problem because such games are being held up to modern standards. The genre initially evolved separately in the UK and North America, afterward gradually creating a unified worldwide tradition.

In the UK, the genre's beginning can be traced to Stonkers by John Gibson, published in 1983 by Imagine Software for the ZX Spectrum, and Nether Earth published on ZX Spectrum in 1987. In North America, the first game retrospectively classified as real-time strategy by most sources^[2] is The Ancient Art of War (1984), designed by Evryware's Dave Murry and Barry Murry (published by Brøderbund), followed by the sequel The Ancient Art of War at Sea in 1987. Some writers ([6], [7]) list Intellivision's Utopia by Don Daglow (1982) as the first real-time strategy game (although it was a mix of turn based and real-time gameplay), but what is considered to be real-time strategy gameplay is a secondary component of the game, and it is more properly classified as the first sim game or god game.

None of these titles would today be recognized as real-time strategy games. However, Herzog Zwei for the Sega Genesis in 1989 and Battle Master for the Amiga and Atari ST [8] in 1990 are perhaps the earliest examples of relatively full-featured real-time strategy games.^[3] Command HQ (1990) by Dan (Danielle) Bunten was probably the first real-time PC strategy game. Real-time strategy became recognized as a genre with the release of Dune II from Westwood Studios in 1992. Dune II also was the first to create a format for real-time strategy games that is still used today, such as using the mouse to move units, and gathering resouces. Its success encouraged the development of such games as Stronghold (1993), Warcraft (1994), Command & Conquer (1995), Total Annihilation (1997), Age of Empires (1997), and StarCraft (1998); these form a core group of real-time strategy games today more or less recognised as "standard". The alias "Eyebeam", a member of the original Dune game design team, says of Herzog Zwei:[9]

We were all adicted to Herzog Zwei at Westwood. We played for hours on the SEGA. However, Dune was inspired by more than Herzog .. The whole industry was moving to more interactiviity. FTL had Dungeon Master that took the Ultima and Wizardry games to a new level. We were already doing "what if" games like DragonStrike and Eye of the Beholder. At that time it was all about usability, not just about the character or the story. That was the problem with Dune I, it was just Zork with graphics. We wanted to place the player into the environment and let them create their own story. I always felt that Warcraft was a clone of the original Dune. Virgin at that time had a close relationship with Blizzard. But now, having years to reflect upon it, I think it was a common synergy going through the industry. There were probably five or six development teams thinking about the same thing. Anyway just my thoughts .. from a guy on the original Dune design team.

[edit] 1992 – 1998: defining the popular perception of real-time strategy games

Though real-time strategy games have an extensive history, some titles more than others have served to define the popular perception of the genre and expectations of real-time strategy titles, and the games released between 1992 and 1998 by Blizzard Entertainment and Westwood Studios (later acquired by Electronic Arts) have, in particular, contributed to this. Westwood's Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty (1992) introduced in one sweep all the core concepts of modern real-time strategy games, [10] and as such acted as the first significant prototype for the "modern" real-time strategy game with the features described in the definition above^[4].

While Westwood Studios laid the foundation and provided the prototype for real-time strategy games with Dune II, Blizzard Entertainment, between 1994 and 1998, can be argued to be responsible for establishing the form and content of the genre as understood today. The company's 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 real-time strategy gaming with its treatment of the burgeoning genre elements and groundbreaking popularity. Westwood's Command & Conquer (1995) and Command & Conquer: Red Alert (1996), and Blizzard's StarCraft (1998), which were extremely popular, as well as the innovative Total Annihilation and Dark Reign, cemented the genre and provided a de facto standard against which new real-time strategy games are still measured.

[edit] 1998 - present

[edit] Refinement of gameplay and ongoing transition to 3D graphics

The real-time strategy genre has been relatively stable since 1995 and additions to the genre's concept in newer games tend to be quantitative (more units, larger maps, 3D terrain etc) rather than qualitative (innovations to the game concept), and new games generally focus on refining aspects of successful predecessors. As the paragon example of gameplay refinement, Cavedog Entertainment's acclaimed Total Annihilation from 1997 distilled the core mechanics of Command & Conquer, and introduced the first 3D units in real-time strategy games. In 1997, Microsoft tried to combine elements of Civilization with the real-time strategy concept in Age of Empires by introducing ages of technologies, a combination refined further by Stainless Steel Studios' Empire Earth in 2001. GSC Gameworld's Cossacks: European Wars series took the genre in a different direction, bringing population caps into the tens of thousands. Big Huge Games' Rise of Nations (2003) attempted the integration of many of the core concepts of turn-based and real-time strategy games.

Real-time strategy has been one of the genres most resistant to being taken over by 3D, with Populous: The Beginning (1998) and Homeworld (1999) being the first completely 3D real-time strategy titles. Warcraft III (2002) is probably the most successful early 3D RTS. Persistent issues, especially with camera control and short viewing distances, hampered the transition of RTS games to 3D. It is only in approximately 2002 that 3D real-time strategy became the standard, with both Warcraft III and Ensemble Studio's Age of Mythology. As of 2006 most real-time strategy titles tend to be in full 3D, but with constrained camera angles to decrease interface complexity.

Relatively few genres have emerged from or in competition with real-time strategy games. Real-time tactics, a superficially similar genre, emerged around 1995. In 1998 Activision attempted to combine the real-time strategy and first-person shooter genres in Battlezone, which was critically acclaimed, but beyond a sequel and the Hostile Waters (Rage Games Limited, 2002) games, spawned few followers.

[edit] Specialisation of gameplay models and genre ambiguity

As of 2006, real-time strategy is an established genre, but the number of titles released are diminishing compared to the peak around the year 2000. Furthermore, many real-time strategy games currently under development are tending to break away from traditional gameplay elements, sometimes making genre categorisation problematic.

The first such trend is toward an increased focus on tactics - real-time strategy titles such as Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, Star Wars: Empire at War and Company of Heroes have replaced the traditional resource gathering model (where designated resource gathering units collect the resources used for producing further units or buildings) with a strategic control-point system (where control over strategic points progressively yields construction/reinforcement points). Dawn of War also replaces individual units with "squads." Other games forgo the real-time strategy model in its entirety; for instance games of the real-time tactics genre, like the Total War and Close Combat series.

A second trend of movement from the traditional real-time strategy game model is the addition of other genre elements. An example is Sins of a Solar Empire, currently under development by Ironclad Games, which mixes elements of grand-scale stellar empire building games like Master of Orion with real-time strategy elements, but pushing the conflict gameplay closer to a real-time tactics model. Another game with similar ambitions is Supreme Commander by Gas Powered Games, due for release in 2007. Thus, from a situation where real-time strategy games have been relatively uniform and easily classifiable, released titles now often seem to be genre-straddling and more difficult to exclusively position in traditional categories.

[edit] The future

Real-time strategy games continue to undergo refinement in tactics, while a few forays into other genres continue to be attempted. Rise and Fall: Civilizations at War, released in 2006, allows players to take control of a hero unit for a specified amount of time, allowing a player to tip a battle in their favor by directly controlling the hero from third-person view. Company of Heroes has fully destructible environments and a powerful physics engine with tactical warfare while easing many micromanagement issues in previous games. This allows for a new approach to warfare in real-time strategy games. Sins of a Solar Empire, due for release in 2007 and Supreme Commander, due for release in 2007, will attempt to combine tactical warfare over a huge scale never before seen in a real-time strategy game. Ironclad Games has coined the term RT4X to describe this new sub-genre. Also to be released in 2007 is Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, a highly anticipated sequel to the popular Command & Conquer franchise.

[edit] Gameplay

In a typical real-time strategy game, the screen is divided into a map area displaying a birds-eye overhead representation of the game terrain, units, and buildings, and an interface overlay, usually positioned at the bottom of the screen, containing command and production controls and often a "radar" or "minimap" overview of the entire map. The primary interface is the mouse (generally accompanied by keyboard shortcuts) with which commands are given and the map is scrolled. Gameplay generally consists of the player being positioned in the map with a minimal production base capable of creating the basic units and buildings that are needed to in turn create increasingly powerful units and buildings, or a small force, the core of which is generally a unit capable of establishing the initial production base. Thereafter, the game is typically a race of resource gathering, technology research and unit production to claim territory, suppress and defeat the opposition through force or attrition. Resource types are generally few, but can vary greatly. For example, Dune II had "spice", the Warcraft game had 2 resources, gold and wood, the Warcraft 2 game had 3 types, gold, wood and oil and the Age of Empires series, which tends to focus more on economic and resource aspects, has four types. Multiple types of resources creates an additional balancing aspect, and it is noteworthy that some later titles like Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War tries to remove conventional resource management. Some games allow team victories, where players can ally or cooperate against another player or team.

[edit] Units

A unit is a single member or an army. These range from simple infantrymen to dragons to massive war machines, depending on the game. Common unit types include:

• Workers - sometimes referred to as Peons, after the Orc worker unit in the Warcraft series. A unit that forms part of the basic infrastructure of a base. Workers usually come in two main types: Builders which create base structures, and Gatherers, which harvest resources. Examples of Workers include:

Orc Peon (Warcraft)

Tiberium Harvester (Command & Conquer)

Eldar Bonesinger {Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War)

Construction Rig Dark Reign

• Infantry - The backbone of many real-life fighting forces. A man(or other equivalent) with a sword or gun in his hand. Infantry usually are the first type of combat unit a player is capable of building, and usually come in different kinds of specialists, depending on the game, such as missile troops(in fantasy games) and anti-vehicle soldiers (in modern or science-fiction-based games). Initial infantry are generally weak, but cheap enough that they can be bought in large numbers, and a common tactic among players is the rush, where a player sends a large number of first-tier troops at the enemy, Infantry that become available in later tiers can be quite powerful. Examples include:

Gondor Soldiers (The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth)

Protoss Zealots (Starcraft)

Space Marine Tactical Squad (Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War)

Imperial Musketeer (Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends)

• Vehicles Normally found in Modern and Sci-Fi games, but some Fantasy games may also have them. Vehicles range from light recon vehicles such as Humvees, to Tanks, Mecha, or anything else that may fit the setting or the designers' imaginations. The two most common types of vehicles are Tanks and Transports. Tanks are generally more powerful than most other vehicles, and may even have the ability to squash enemy infantry underneath their treads if the player orders them to move directly onto the enemy. Exmples of vehicles indlude:

Mammoth Tank (Command & Conquer)

Alliance Siege Engine (Warcraft)

Chaos Defiler (Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War)

M4 Sherman (Many games set in World War II)

Trike (Dune II)

Terran Goliath (Starcraft)

• Flyers - are units, ranging from helicopters to dragons to full-sized spacecraft, which move and fight in the air. This gives them an advantage, as not all ground infantry and vehicles will be capable of attacking them in the air.

Gryphon Riders (Warcraft)

Orca (Command & Conquer)

Mutalisk (Starcraft)

Brawler (Total Annihilation)

• Spellcasters - Specialized units that are capable of using "Spells" to aid friendly forces in combat. A spell is not necessarily magic, but rather any limited-use ability other than a normal attack. Spells may be able to damage several enemies at once, increase the attack abilities of friendly units, heal damaged units, teleport, or other abilities.

Elven Priest (Warcraft)

Protoss High Templar (Starcraft)

• Heroes - Hero Units are powerful infantry units, often capable of decimating entire groups of infantry units(and sometimes vehicles as well) all by themselves. Hero units first appeared in the Warcraft series, where they were merely slightly more powerful versions of regular units that represented important characters in the storyline of the single-player campaign. In many missions, the survival of this unit was a prerequisite for victory. Total Annihilation was one of the first games to use the Hero unit in the Multiplayer game as well. The Core and Arm Commanders were extremely powerful, and were also the first builder unit players began with. However, destroying one not only meant the loss of the resources the Commander had at the time, but the massive explosion that resulted often inflicted massive damage to the surrounding area.

In addition to their powerful combat abilities, Hero units are often Spellcasters as well, with a variety of spells and auras that could easily turn the tide of a battle. In a single-player game, Hero units are often used to portray the main characters of the story, and to provide a personal Player Character for the player. In Multiplayer, players are usually restricted to only one Hero unit of that type per army, but may be able to have two or more different Heroes in the force.

Tauren Chieftain (Warcraft)

Ork Warboss (Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War

Supreme Commander (Supreme Commander)

Tanya Adams (Command & Conquer)

• Super Units - A Super Unit is usually an enormous vehicle or monster with enough firepower to take on an small army, and win. Like Hero Units, a player is usually restricted to a single Super Unit per army. They also tend to be extremely expensive and time-consuming to build, with also further limits their use.

Baneblade (Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War)

Leviathan (Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends)

Krogoth (Total Annihilation)

[edit] Criticism of gameplay

Because of the generally faster-paced nature (and in some cases a smaller learning curve), real-time strategy games have surpassed the popularity of turn-based strategy computer games. A presently less common criticism is to regard real-time strategy games as "cheap imitations" of turn-based strategy games, arguing that real-time strategy games had a tendency to devolve into "clickfests", in which the player who was faster with the mouse generally won, because they could give orders to their units at a faster rate. The common retort is that micromanagement involves not just fast clicking but also the ability to make sound tactical decisions under time pressure. The "clickfest" argument is also often voiced alongside a "button babysitting" criticism which pointed out that a great deal of game time, especially in earlier titles, is spent either waiting and watching for the next time a production button could be clicked, or rapidly alternating between different units and buildings, clicking their respective button. This criticism has generally been addressed by improving the game interfaces. A third common criticism is that real-time gameplay often degenerates into "rushes" where the players take turns throwing swarms of units at each other. For example, the original Command & Conquer gave birth to the now-common "tank rush" tactic, where the game outcome is often decided very early on by one player gaining an initial advantage in resources and producing large amounts of a "tank" unit --an initially relatively powerful but still quite cheap unit-- which is thrown at the opposition before they have had time to establish defences or production. One of the games most heavily-criticized for this tactic is also the best-selling RTS of all time, StarCraft. Recent RTS games have focused on creating more balanced forces and units, and few later titles are able to extensively utilize the rush. Age of Empires was one of the first games to attempt to subdue the power of rushing.

Though late in emerging, massively multiplayer online real-time strategy (MMORTS) games combine aspects of massively multiplayer with real-time strategy. However, the MMORTS genre has not become popular and many people claim that it is virtually impossible to create an MMORTS without giving up traditional real-time strategy gameplay.

[edit] Response to criticism: gameplay adjustments

Since real-time strategy games became popular, features which reduce the importance of fast mousework have emerged, enabling the player to focus more on overall strategy. For example, "queuing" allows a player to put in an order for multiple units at once from a single building, as opposed to requiring a player to return to that building to order each unit separately. The ability to set waypoints allows a player to give multiple movement commands to a unit at once. Most games also give each unit strengths and weaknesses, discouraging players from easily defeating an opponent with simple "rush" or "swarm" tactics in favour of more balanced armies.

However, some games do not allow the player to create new units, or build bases, and focus solely on military tactics and battleground operations. Some of these games include Myth and Ground Control. These games are purely tactical, generally limiting the player to play only with the units he or she is given. Due to their fundamentally different gameplay, these are defined as "real-time tactics" games.

Single-player campaigns - a series of missions where a human player plays against the computer with predefined scenarios and objectives - are especially utilized in real-time strategy games, usually within the context of a background story. Often, each mission has a different style of play, sometimes dramatically so. It has become common for single-player campaigns to include at least one mission with no base construction or resource-gathering; typically at the start of these missions the player is given a number of combat units, occasionally with a "hero" unit. These units must be used to complete the mission in a level which is usually maze-like. Often, additional units can be gained as reinforcements or rescued as the mission progresses. These missions eliminate the resource-gathering and military building aspect, known as macromanagement, and focus solely on micromanagement. Also, different titles place different emphasis on the macro and micro aspects.

[edit] Real-time strategy gameplay archetypes

[edit] Micro-management games

Micro-management games allow an army and base to be built, but they limit the size of the army (sometimes rather severely). The purpose of this is to create more of a tactical atmosphere.

By limiting the size of the army, the game requires a player to intelligently utilize his or her limited troops. This is more similar to the real-time tactics genre. Good examples of this type of game are Warcraft III which restricts the number of troops by putting a food cap of 100, giving variable food costs to each unit, and by using upkeep levels which extract a part of your gold income depending on the size of your army. Many games such as Battle Realms use unit caps instead. To simplify the control, however, a player may combine individual units into groups. This is even more prominent in the game ArenaWars, where every player only has 1,000 credits to build units.

A similar concept exists in the game Outpost 2, where importance is placed on micro-managing the morale of the colonists living in the game, although combat is still an important factor.

[edit] Macro-management games

On the other end of the scale are the macro-management games. These titles have more of a focus on economic production and large-scale strategic maneuvering, and include games such as Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, Empire Earth, Total Annihilation and Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen. A prime example is Cossacks: European Wars, where there is no population limit on units and there is no limit on how many units may be controlled at once.

[edit] Graphics

As the genre grew, some real-time strategy games attempted to break away from the 2D board-like view of Dune II and the original Warcraft to richer 3D environments, most notable among these Stronghold (1993). Myth (1997), though a real-time tactics game rather than a real-time strategy game, pioneered the use of 3D in real-time wargames. Total Annihilation (1997) was the first true real-time strategy game to utilize 3D units, though not 3D terrain. Homeworld and Warzone 2100 (both released in 1999), pioneered the use of fully 3D environments in real-time strategy titles. In the case of Homeworld, the game is set in space, offering a true 3D environment in which players are required to think three-dimensionally, as all units can move vertically in addition to the horizontal plane that was standard for real-time strategy games of the time. However, the switch to full 3D was very gradual and most real-time strategy titles, including the first sequels to Command and Conquer, initially used isometric 3D graphics made by pre-rendered 3D tiles. Only in later years did these games begin to use true 3D graphics, making it possible to rotate the view of the battlefield in real-time, instead of in 90 degree jumps as per Stronghold. These effects became even more visually detailed in later games, such as Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, Empire Earth, and Command & Conquer: Generals.

Recently, real-time strategy games have begun to incorporate physics engines, such as Havok, in order to increase realism. The first real-time strategy game to use a physics engine was Ensemble Studio's Age of Empires III, released on October 18, 2005,^[5] which used the Havok Game Dynamics SDK to power its real-time physics.

[edit] Popular franchises

• Age of Empires
  • Age of Empires (1997)
  • Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings (1999)
  • Age of Empires III (2005)
• Age of Mythology (2002)
• Company of Heroes (2006)
• Command & Conquer
  • Command & Conquer (1995)
  • Command & Conquer: Red Alert (1996)
  • Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun (1999)
  • Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 (2000)
  • Command & Conquer: Generals (2003)
• Empire Earth
  • Empire Earth (2001)
  • Empire Earth II (2005)
• Homeworld
  • Homeworld (1999)
  • Homeworld: Cataclysm (2000)
  • Homeworld 2 (2003)
• Rise of Nations
  • Rise of Nations (2003)
  • Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends (2006)
• StarCraft (1998)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth (2004)
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II (2006)
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II - The Rise of the Witch-king (2006)
• Total Annihilation
  • Total Annihilation (1997)
  • Total Annihilation: Kingdoms (1999)
• Warcraft
  • Warcraft: Orcs and Humans (1994)
  • Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness (1996)
  • Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (2002)
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War (2004)

[edit] Future games

Some future releases:

• Halo Wars
• Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
• Sins of a Solar Empire
• Supreme Commander
• World in Conflict

[edit] Notes

1. ^ [1][2][3][4][5]
2. ^ RTSC Historical RTS List. Retrieved on August 5, 2006.
3. ^ Are Real Time Strategy Games At Their Peak?. Retrieved on September 2, 2006.
4. ^ The designers of Dune II traced its spiritual lineage back to the real-time city-building game SimCity (1989), and their previous game BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Revenge (1990), a real-time wargame without base-building elements. Westwood Studios has recently been resurrected as Petroglyph, which designed Star Wars: Empire at War.
5. ^ "Havok Enables Age of Empires III" (October 18, 2005).Havok announces the use of the Havok Game Dynamics SDK in Age of Empires III

[edit] See also

• List of strategy video games
• List of computer and video games by category
• Rush (computer gaming)

[edit] External links

• StarCraft in Gamespot Greatest Games and Gamespy Hall of Fame
• Greatest RTS Games at Gamefaqs
• a look at the past, present, and future of the RTS genre