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Fans of the StarCraft series can watch replays of games.

StarCraft[]

StarCraft enables the player to record a game and save it as a replay, which can then be viewed with any other copy of StarCraft, displaying the entire course of the game. With StarCraft: Remastered replay functionality has been added into the client itself, and can be loaded up if a map from the "replay" folder is selected as a map.

Before StarCraft Remastered players had to upload replays to websites that host replays of players with different skill levels (e.g. BWreplays.com), though pro-level replays are relatively rarely released, for reasons of team secrecy and pro-league policy.

The RWAtools were a set of freeware tools, that create valid replay files, additionally containing an Ogg audio stream. They allow gamers to comment their own games while they play them and comment replays of other players. During replay the commentary is kept in sync with the game.

Replay Commands[]

In StarCraft, viewers have access to a set of commands, entered as such: /replay show [command]. For instance, to show the total unit score, type /replay show score units.

The viewer can show the number of kills (total and categorized), amount of resources (total and by type), total and subscores and hide the leaderboard.[1][2]

StarCraft II[]

Replays are available in StarCraft II as well, for both singleplayer and multiplayer games.[3]

As of Heart of the Swarm, replay features include Start From Replay and the ability for multiple players to watch a replay together.[4]

Multiplayer games and replays include menus, leaderboards and overlays displaying statistics.[5][6][7] StarCraft II features seven observer modes:

  • None (no menus)[8]
  • Resources (gathered resources and supply count)[8]
  • Spending (on economy, tech and units)[8][3]
  • Unit (number of units)[8]
  • Production (units and buildings being created)[8]
  • Army (resources spent on the army)[8]
  • APM.[8][9]

These are available in "real time".[10]

At the end of the game, build orders, an army graph showing the size of the army over time and a resource graph showing income over time can be displayed.[3]

In Observer Mode, a viewer can watch in the "old style" or in a newer "first person view" in which they see the camera view, selections and commands issued from the player's viewpoint.[11] An observer won't be able to see the actual mouse clicks, however.[12]

An observer can rewind instantly to any specific point in the replay. To jump forward in the replay, the replay must have already been played.[12]

During replays, observers can spot damaged units more easily (the selection circles will change color when units are heavily damaged).[3]

When StarCraft II is patched, it will not prevent players from viewing replays.[13][14]

Replay files are small, only a few hundred kilobytes for a "long" match, since additional information such as artwork, models and maps don't need to be stored in the replay file.[15]

On a PC, they are stored in My Documents/StarCraft II.

As of patch 2.0.8, more information is included in replays. The Army graph includes shading to indicate when combats took place and how many resources were lost during the battle, an improved economic chart indicates exactly when resources were unspent, and a faster extraction of data to replays.[16]

Achievements[]

There is an achievement called "Play Replay" awarded for watching a replay.

PlayReplay SC2 Icon1 Play Replay
Points

10 Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Watch any Battle.net replay.

References[]

  1. Tony "ReiKo" Španjol. Starcraft: Brood War replay commands revealed. Gosugamers. Accessed 2010-02-09.
  2. Heinermann. 2009-09-20. Secrets of Starcraft, Unwritten Rules, secrets, and more. Staredit Network. Accessed 2010-02-09.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 JoeOrange. 2009-07-01. Gamer-Source at Blizzard HQ: An Orange Perspective. StarCraft Source. Accessed 2009-07-01.
  4. James Cullinane. 2013-01-22. StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm: singleplayer hands-on (page 2). Gameplanet. Accessed 2013-02-01.
  5. Blizzcon Video Archive (Sonkie vs Yellow). Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed 2008-10-19.
  6. Chris Sigaty, Samwise Didier. Blizzcon 2008 StarCraft 2 Press Q&A. StarCraft Source. Accessed 2008010-12.
  7. Dustin Browder, Robert Simpson, Matt Cooper, David Kim. 2008-12-19. Battle Report (1). Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed 2008-12-19.
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 2009-05-21. (스타크래프트2)옵저버 모드 강화로 e스포츠 중계에 최적의 시스템. Fomos. Accessed 2009-05-21.
  9. Konadora. 2009-05-21. (News) Starcraft 2 observer modes! Teamliquid. Accessed 2009-05-21.
  10. Karune. 2009-03-19. StarCraft II Q&A - Batch 50. Battle.net StarCraft II General Discussion Forum. Accessed 2009-03-19.
  11. When you watch a replay (either taken from single player or multiplayer) you can actually switch from the good old ‘observer’ mode to what you’re referring to as ‘first person view’.

    You will then be able to see what units are being selected (control groups included), and the camera would move exactly as the player moved it during the game, plus you will see all the commands issued by the player, rally points and queued commands (such as waypoints). Please note that the cursor itself won’t be recorded.

    You will also be able to choose between several overlays which will contain useful information, like the ones you can see in the upper left corner of the Battle Reports (i.e. harvesters, units in play, units lost, APM and more).
    Zhydaris. 2009-11-27. First Person View for Replays/Observers. StarCraft II General Discussion Forums. Accessed 2009-11-27.
  12. 12.0 12.1 What speeds do the replays offer? Is there a 1/3 or 1/4 speed because 1/2 speed can be too difficult to follow sometimes.

    At this moment the slowest speed is 1/2 of the normal one.

    Can you literally do click by click, play by play replays? (See every single move they do) Is it true we can see the replay from the FOV viewpoint of where the original player was looking at the time (albeit confusing when they are at full speed)

    I can confirm that you will be able to see what units are being selected and the camera will move exactly as the player moved it during the game, plus you will see all the clicks made by the player.
    You won't be able to see the mouse cursor itself though.


    I've heard we can go backwards on replays, can we also drag instantly to a spot in the replay (IF NOT: can we PLZ have a "are you sure you want to restart" button on the replay, I hate accidentally re-starting a long one

    You can jump instantly to a specific moment in the replay and you can rewind it. There's no "Are you sure you want to restart" button simply because you don't really need it :) Zhydaris, Abrasion. 2010-02-08. Replays replays REPLAYS. & Esport. Battle.net StarCraft II Gameplay Discussion Forum. Accessed 2010-02-08.
  13. Karune. 2009-05-27. StarCraft II Q&A - Batch 51. Battle.net StarCraft II General Discussion Forum. Accessed 2009-05-27.
  14. 2009-12-16. Exclusive Starcraft 2 Q&A (English). StarCraft 2 Source. Accessed 2009-12-16.
  15. Yes, replay files are very small. A few hundred KB at most for a longer match. Since none of the artworks, models, maps etc. need to be stored in a replay it doesn't take a any more space than a StarCraft: Brood War replay needed. Xordiah. 2010-02-08. How big are replay files gonna be? Battle.net StarCraft II General Discussion Forum. Accessed 2010-02-08.
  16. Blizzard Entertainment. 2013-05-07. StarCraft II Patch 2.0.8 Replay File Enhancements. Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed 2013-05-08.
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