I suppose a lot of video game franchises are like this, but I find it interesting how Blizzard manage to keep rehashing their storylines across different attempts, with the same characters reappearing over and over. Mind you a lot of the less-important character names only started to stick for me recently, despite playing warcraft games on and off for nigh-on 20 years.

Good luck with this, looks like a difficult, messy task. Did Blizzard even finish the original - seems like they pulled the plug before the end of development? And if so if that going to mean missing scenes or even chunks of plot, and maybe missing [unmade] game assets?

You'll also need to keep an eye on legal issues of course. Blizzard have been known to defend their IP.

Jesus, that's an absolutely sick job man!

I am familiar with the game, I remember going through the artbook from the collector's edition of Warcraft III way back in ~2003 and stumbling upon some screenshots of this with a friend. His older brother owned the collector's edition and we were all big fans of Blizzard (the hype machine with Warcraft III and WoW was going nuts at the time, his brother was in the beta for WoW and such), so we were completely stoked when we found out about it and immediately saddened that it never came out.
As such, when the videos from the leaked version started coming out, I was quick to watch them every few months or so (they didn't all come out at once).

I find what you've done very honorable and I can't help but just say again that this is a major undertaking. I can only find two possible issues:

a) First and by far the most obvious one, the cutscenes are missing in action. For those of you who don't know, the game was actually complete by the time it was cancelled in 1998. Blizzard cancelled it because they deemed it to be a failure in the marketplace. Apparently, there was a leak of the completed game at some point, but the cutscenes are completely missing, unless I'm missing something.

b) Secondly and perhaps more importantly, should this come to the attention of Blizzard, they might feel like sending you a Cease & Desist letter. They have done so in the past (I remember someone trying to port Starcraft to the Nintendo DS and receiving one for example). So, do be careful in how you handle this!

I wish you best of luck in this endeavor!

Thanks for your responses! The cutscenes are actually existing and are awesome! It's in fact the thing that made me start thinking about finishing my project. Now it appears only two cutscenes are missing, and though they are not insignificant to the plot, they can be replaced with some sort of a text narrative telling what happened (dumb but what else can be done aside from creating them anew). As for Blizzard, well, though the case is somewhat original (a cancelled dead game, almost abandonware), I dunno, I'll probably see what happens. Maybe even negotiating with Blizzard, but I'm probably just having wild dreams here.

IllidanS4 wrote:

As for Blizzard, well, though the case is somewhat original (a cancelled dead game, almost abandonware), I dunno, I'll probably see what happens. Maybe even negotiating with Blizzard, but I'm probably just having wild dreams here.

Any such contact is all the more likely to get your project shut down, I suspect.

Really, we're talking about one of the most popular gaming franchises on the planet. They're probably receiving questions, pleas, and death threats on a daily basis from people insisting that they do something about this old game. I'd be kind of surprised if someone somewhere hadn't gotten most of the way through making a re-creation one way or another already.

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IllidanS4 wrote:

Thanks for your responses! The cutscenes are actually existing and are awesome! It's in fact the thing that made me start thinking about finishing my project. Now it appears only two cutscenes are missing, and though they are not insignificant to the plot, they can be replaced with some sort of a text narrative telling what happened (dumb but what else can be done aside from creating them anew). As for Blizzard, well, though the case is somewhat original (a cancelled dead game, almost abandonware), I dunno, I'll probably see what happens. Maybe even negotiating with Blizzard, but I'm probably just having wild dreams here.

Woah, now that's something else. I had no idea these were released!

Do you know why some of the cinematics are using the game's engine and some other ones are actual video files? I just watched what are essentially two iterations of the same intro for example 😁.

I think you are right in suggesting that some of the missing cutscenes be replaced with text, honestly it's a compromise until they are recovered or whatever. Now as far as Blizzard goes, I urge you not to contact them, ever. They are 100% sure to shut you down, your requests and pleas will never reach the upper levels anyway thanks to the way companies work.
Now, I don't agree with PeterLI either, but I can see where he is coming from. If you are not prepared for this, you'd better stop right now and save yourself from more sadness in the future. I remember SEGA shutting down what was a fan tribute to Streets of Rage, an unofficial SoR 4 of sorts. The people behind it had put immense amounts of time and effort into it. SEGA could have easily paid them, let them refine it a little bit and sell it on Steam and XBLA and the rest, but instead they just shut it down (it was a finished game too!).

Now if this was Valve we were talking about, I'd say you'd be clear to do whatever you like. But, Blizzard won't let you go on with this game if they catch wind of it before it is finished 😉. So, if you manage to finish it in secret, keep a low profile and then release it in a shape or form that you deem acceptable or finished, then it is gone, Blizzard will probably send you a C&D, but it will be too late by then, it'll have reached many people 😉. Just keep in mind that things might not work out and you might get unnecessary coverage/popularity if you're not careful.

In any case, I wish you all the best. I for one would be a very happy person if I saw this game released in a proper state!

F2bnp wrote:

But, Blizzard won't let you go on with this game if they catch wind of it before it is finished 😉. So, if you manage to finish it in secret, keep a low profile and then release it in a shape or form that you deem acceptable or finished, then it is gone, Blizzard will probably send you a C&D, but it will be too late by then, it'll have reached many people 😉. Just keep in mind that things might not work out and you might get unnecessary coverage/popularity if you're not careful.

wow(punnnnn) this is really cool!

Same legal idea I had with my Aureal project, I don't want to incrementally release anything and have Creative get any funny legal ideas about shutting me down.
I'll release everything all at once in one big party and by then it'll be too late for them to do anything. (IF they decide to do anything)
who said I was working on drivers? AFAIK I'm all talk! haha <_< >_> <_< shhhhhh*

Blizzard would most certainly shut this project down, for now just keep it as vaporware! You can't shut down an idea someones had 😉

F2bnp wrote:

Do you know why some of the cinematics are using the game's engine and some other ones are actual video files? I just watched what are essentially two iterations of the same intro for example 😁.

They are not using the game's engine. I have a theory that there were two cinematic companies or departments involved, due to differences in graphic style and compression of the original cutscene files (SMK format). The two versions of the intro are really fascinating, I guess someone had a (really) basic concept of what has to be shown, and then let the two companies finish it themselves, to see which result would be better (then chose those also seen in the trailer). The actual cutscene files either contain "CS" or "Mix" in the name, and its clearly seen that those with CS (including the "alternative" intro) have the same style as in-game animations.

Some intetersting similarities and differences:

Rend and Maim (Cs, Mix)
Durotan (Cs, Mix)
Baby Thrall (Cs, Mix)

These are really interesting, what you are saying seems to make sense too. I can't even decide which of these I prefer best, however there's something particularly compelling about the dithering that's present in the "CS" ones, which is what lead me to believe they were created through the game's engine.

I will have to look into these a little bit more I guess!

Blizzard legal problems are still a real thing sadly. I had to be VERY CAREFUL in my own game to not have my dark elves resemble Warcraft's Night elves and Dranei (and other Samwise influences), and i'd also have to avoid Overwatch influences now.

infact i wonder if and when they'll ever launch a full assault on Valve for DOTA2's derivative art direction 😳 (Rather than the DOTA mod concept implemented in their games they've gone after before)

It appears someone has leaked the latest version of the game for download. I am staying out of this for now.

Excuse me while I lift my jaw from the floor and go find this!

Please see [LINK TO COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL REMOVED BY MODERATOR] here for the best version.

Cool. So, is this based on the build that person MAN-biker was playing or the AGS deal with graphics ripped from a video?

firage wrote:

Cool. So, is this based on the build that person MAN-biker was playing or the AGS deal with graphics ripped from a video?

Neither, my repack is based on Reidor's leaked version.

I recently got around to playing Warcraft Adventures, on Windows ME of course. I've never played a Warcraft game before, but this is a really fantastic adventure game. I'm really surprised by the sheer amount of animation in this game, it rarely recycles frames even in similar situations. Even when characters are talking, they are often given copious amounts of animation frames, it really makes the game feel high end among adventure games. The voice acting is also quite good, just a shame sometimes there's lines that are just placeholders. I would have definitely enjoyed playing this back in the day, a shame Blizzard canceled it. At least the game is feature complete.

Could someone change the thread title so it's just about Warcraft Adventures? I would have made a thread, but this one was already in use for just talking about this game.

The Aliens Quake mod got shut down by legal threats IIRC.

I don't usually care much for high fantasy, but Warcraft Adventures is pretty neat. Should I seek out the regular Warcraft games? I might have a copy of Warcraft 1 around here somewhere...

You should definitely seek them out. I don't think it would be terribly wise to start with Warcraft 1, as its antiquated control scheme and low res graphics might put you off. I think Warcraft 2 is a much better place to start.
Warcraft III is my personal favorite, although it is quite different from the previous installments.

Warcraft 2 is probably the closest in vibe to Warcraft Adventures, so you might want to start there.