Looking at the sheer quality of "Warcraft," everyone present fell completely silent for a long time, and no one knew what to say. After all, the game in front of them had already exceeded what they had expected from an RTS game by far.
A strange thought quietly emerged in the minds of countless players. Was this really an RTS game?
The extremely exquisite character models were only the beginning. What was even more astonishing was the game's environmental interaction and skill effects. Every tiny detail seemed to respond naturally to the world around it, creating a level of immersion that was almost difficult to believe.
For example, when a soldier walked through a puddle of water, his boots would become visibly wet, leaving traces of water behind as he continued forward.
When heavy-armored soldiers stepped onto a sandy battlefield, the marks left behind were deep and obvious.
Meanwhile, ordinary dwarf snipers, whose bodies were much lighter, left completely different footprints.
These details were not necessary for an RTS game. They had nothing to do with resource gathering, troop production, strategic positioning, or winning a battle, yet PixelPioneers had still done them.
And then there were the breathtaking CG cutscenes. Calling them extravagant was almost an understatement, as the production quality was so high that if someone told the players this was actually a large-scale ARPG, they probably would not find it strange at all. Even if "Warcraft" were presented as an ARPG or MMORPG, its quality would still be convincing.
Every player and game industry professional who saw this scene had more or less the same thought. This is far too exaggerated.
However, John himself felt that everyone was overestimating the production cost of the game. In reality, if he were to develop an ARPG or MMORPG with a quality comparable to "World of Warcraft," the required investment would probably be at least twice as high.
After all, the gigantic maps, various systems, physical interactions, and countless underlying codes all had to be created and optimized. Every single one of those things burned money.
And there was another extremely important factor. The current content of "Warcraft," including its character models, environmental assets, textures, animations, sound resources, and countless other materials, was already stored inside PixelPioneers' enormous asset library.
When "World of Warcraft" was eventually produced in the future, many of these existing resources could simply be reused.
The character voices could be directly incorporated.
The existing models could be modified and reused.
Even some of the CG animations could be integrated directly when the time came.
From John's perspective, this was actually one of the biggest advantages of having spent so much money building PixelPioneers' enormous asset library.
However, ordinary players and people in the game industry obviously had no idea about these internal considerations. They could only look at what was presented in front of them and their conclusion was extremely simple. This game was ridiculously well made.
There were also some players who had initially complained about the price of "Warcraft." After all, the game was being sold for 30$. For an RTS game, some players had originally felt that the price was a little too high. But after actually seeing the quality of "Warcraft," those complaints disappeared almost instantly.
If a game with this level of production quality could be considered expensive at 30$, then what about the 3A games selling for more than 40$? Wouldn't those games be practically robbing people?
Of course, there were still some players who simply could not enjoy RTS games. For them, no matter how beautiful "Warcraft" looked, the core gameplay itself remained a barrier.
But apart from those players who fundamentally disliked RTS games, PixelPioneers fans and players who could accept the RTS gameplay had almost all purchased "Warcraft" at the earliest possible moment. For them, this was already more than just another game. It was an experience worth trying.
[-Line Break-]
Louis was still playing the game. As the first CG cutscene finally came to an end, the UI interface of "Warcraft" appeared on the screen, and several options were displayed in front of him.
Single Player Mode.
Custom Single Player Mode.
LAN Match Mode.
Online Match Mode.
And several other settings.
However, the online mode was displayed in gray. Louis moved the mouse over it, and immediately, a line of text appeared.
"When the player completes the first chapter of the campaign for any race, online mode will be unlocked. Players can also unlock online battle by defeating the Crazy Computer difficulty in single-player battle mode."
Louis stared at the prompt, then he glanced at the barrage flooding across chat. After a second, he silently moved the mouse away. His expression remained completely calm, and he pretended that he had not seen anything. Especially the messages that were desperately encouraging him to challenge the Crazy Computer.
Louis immediately clicked on the single-player campaign.
Single-player.
Victory.
Crazy Computer.
When these three words were combined together, Louis could already imagine just how terrifying the difficulty would be. He ignored the chat and directly entered the campaign mode.
"Prologue: Thrall's Vision - Pursuit of the Prophet."
There was only one campaign available, so Louis clicked to begin, and another CG cutscene immediately appeared in front of him.
"Another CG animation?" Louis stared at the screen in surprise.
Had he really just started the game? Why had he already watched two animations? Although there was a small prompt indicating that the ESC key could be used to skip the animation, Louis had no intention of doing so. After all, he was currently livestreaming. More importantly, he was genuinely interested in the story of the game.
The entire "Warcraft" storyline had been constructed by John based primarily on the third installment's "Reign of Chaos" storyline and the subsequent "The Frozen Throne" storyline, while the previous "Black Tide" storyline had mainly focused on humans and orcs. John had deliberately not incorporated that portion into the current game. Instead, he intended to complete the subsequent story.
When it came to the CG cutscenes in the game, John had actually hesitated for quite some time about whether they should be included. From a player's perspective, there were advantages to both approaches.
Some players would definitely enjoy these cinematic sequences. Whether it was the game's real-time physical calculations or its elaborate CG cutscenes, both served the same purpose. They allowed players to better understand the story and gave players a stronger sense of identity. And most importantly, they helped players become immersed in the world.
But there were also plenty of impatient players who would consider CG cutscenes completely unnecessary. They came to play games, not to come to sit in front of the screen and watch movies.
After thinking about it carefully, John ultimately decided to follow the original plan. The CG cutscenes would remain; however, players would always have the option to skip them.
During the actual campaign, there would also be subtitles and voice interactions between characters, allowing players to understand what was happening without having to rely entirely on cinematic sequences.
It was a simple opening.
Humans and orcs were shown to be diametrically opposed. Then an orc named Thrall suddenly awakened from his sleep, and a mysterious man known as the Prophet appeared before him. The Prophet guided Thrall toward a new course of action.
To Louis, this initially seemed like nothing more than the beginning of the story. But as an experienced gamer, he quickly realized what was really happening. This was actually a tutorial. The game was using the story itself to teach the player how to play.
Following the instructions, Louis guided Thrall toward a banner positioned in the middle of the area. Then, just as the CG sequence had shown, three orc soldiers suddenly appeared. They surrounded Thrall, who was now under Louis's control.
Instead of immediately following the mission instructions and advancing the plot, Louis stopped. He wanted to test the game's mechanics himself, so he manipulated Thrall and the surrounding orc soldiers, experimenting with their controls before proceeding.
Patrolling.
Moving.
Attacking.
Holding position.
At first glance, these mechanics were not particularly different from those found in other RTS games. But the more Louis experimented, the more he realized that "Warcraft" had something fundamentally different. The biggest difference was the game's hero system.
There were attack types.
Armor types.
Attributes.
Skills.
And even RPG-style development elements that were normally found in RPGs rather than traditional RTS games.
Louis looked at Thrall's enormous hammer, then he looked at the armored black wolf beneath him. His expression gradually became strange.
"I've got a giant hammer in my hand, I'm riding an armored black wolf, and you're telling me that I'm an intelligence hero?" He paused. "You're saying I'm basically a mage?"
He stared at the attribute panel.
Strength: 25.
Agility: 14.
Intelligence: 20.
Louis's expression became even more complicated. "I'm supposed to be an intellectual hero, right?"
He pointed at the intelligence icon. "Then why is my strength higher than my intelligence?"
The chat immediately erupted in laughter.
However, jokes were still jokes. After becoming familiar with the controls, Louis finally moved Thrall forward.
As Thrall advanced, the orc soldiers around him also responded through their dialogue. This was another small but extremely important detail of "Warcraft." Whether it was an ordinary soldier or a powerful hero, units would provide feedback whenever the player issued effective commands.
In the original "Warcraft," the dialogue lines of heroes and units were mostly fixed. Different heroes and different troops had their own unique responses.
However, the campaign mode was different. Here, the dialogue was connected to the current story. Depending on what was happening in the plot, the hero's responses and conversations could change accordingly. There were four playable races in the game, and the total amount of dialogue across their campaigns exceeded millions of words.
As the screenwriting team continued completing the story, the external voice-acting studio had already begun working on the dubbing. Even until the final stage of game development, the voice actors and recording teams were still making corrections, adjusting lines, and recording additional dialogue.
That was the level of detail John demanded. Any game capable of making players feel genuinely explosive excitement, truly believable immersion, and a powerful sense of presence was inevitably a monster created through money.
Every terrifying detail represented countless hours of work.
Every seemingly insignificant feature required resources.
Every layer of polish had to be paid for.
And now, the PixelPioneers version of "Warcraft" was exactly that kind of monster. A game that had been piled high with countless details, even though it was an RTS game.
After completing the first section, Louis expected another CG cutscene, but there wasn't one. Instead, a real-time calculated animation seamlessly played out before his eyes.
Then, without any awkward transition, the next chapter appeared. "Departure."
Louis's eyes widened slightly as he stared at the screen. At this moment, he suddenly had a strong feeling. PixelPioneers had probably created something extraordinary this time, and perhaps this was going to become a genuine blockbuster.
Even though it was an RTS game, Louis dared to guarantee one thing. This was absolutely not the kind of RTS experience he had encountered before. It was something completely different. Something that had taken the familiar RTS formula and pushed it toward an entirely new level.