Memorable Music in Gaming - June Genre - Strategy

---

Susan N.

It’s that time again! The writers of Chalgyr’s Game Room get together to cover some of our favorite music in video gaming. This month we are bringing the strategy genre to the forefront, and that is no easy feat! While several game genres have subgenres within them, the list of games and the memorable music out of those genres can be a little simpler to narrow down. However, strategy contains RTS, Tactical turn-based, AND 4X strategy games which makes the list a bit tougher to shrink down. I have one for each of those subgenres because it’s impossible to pick only one or two songs in total.

Starting with the strangely easiest subgenre of RTS, I have two picks that are the most memorable pieces. In a move that should shock no one, the first is the track titled “Heart of the Swarm” from Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm expansion. It was written by Neal Acree and Cris Velasco, although there are multiple artists attributed to the Starcraft 2 OST. Second, is also a track that should shock absolutely no one, and it is arguably the most memorable track of all time. How do I know this? It’s because I’ve never played a Command & Conquer game and yet I am still familiar with the music. THAT is how legendary Frank Klepacki’s Hell March is. Not only do I know the song, but I also have several OCRemixes of the track as well. I can’t put it down and I also can’t explain why it’s an infectious song.

Under the subgenre of tactical turn-based strategy there are a couple of legendary composers, but only one stands at the top. He is a musical giant. And although it was confusing to some of my colleagues, I’m a fan of Battletech. When Harebrained Schemes and Paradox Interactive released Battletech in 2018, I was all over it. This means that the composer for Battletech is none other than Jon Everist, who has written music for The Lamplighters League, Overwatch 2, Star Wars Outlaws, and Shadowrun: Hong Kong. I can’t pick out a single track for Battletech because there are so many good ones, but if I had to pick something it would be Coronation Day. There’s something to be said about the quiet build before everything goes to hell. This song plays as Kamea Arano ascends the throne and it is also the point where her uncle disapproves of her decisions and launches a coup d’etat behind her back. It’s quite the hook for players. The music effortlessly conveys the rise to power as well as the sinister plot unfolding. The music and the game are top notch in my books.

The last subgenre I’m covering is 4X strategy. There’s a ton of beautifully composed tracks attributed to the 4X genre like Endless Legend, Age of Wonders, Humankind, Sins of a Solar Empire, and many more. However, there are two titans when it comes to music for me and that is Andreas Waldetoft who is responsible for the masterful pieces in Stellaris. The other is Christopher Tin of Civilization IV. I’ve previously talked about how I feel about Baba Yetu from Civilization IV so I won’t go into too much detail. This piece captivated its audience in a big way. There have been very few games where I can honestly say I would open the game just to hear the music. (The other game that has managed to achieve this was Jack Wall’s Theme song to Myst IV Revelation.) Baba Yetu, will always top the list for me. However, Andreas Waldetoft has written some amazing pieces for Stellaris. I particularly love the song called Faster than Light. It begins with a soft melody that builds in the background with long notes. Then, the vocalist enters the track with her beautiful soprano tones. When travelling through the vastness of space to take out your opponents, this song keeps your focus on the objective. And although I haven’t played a ton of Stellaris, the music is simply breathtaking.

---

Nick

Lind Erebros  – King’s Bounty: The Legend

Mikhail Anatolyevich Kostylev (better known in many parts of the world as Lind Erebros) is a Russian musician and composer who has crafted albums (the Elven Oratory trilogy) and movie soundtracks (two credits currently - Twenty-eight Panfilov's Men and Tanks) alike, but is probably best known for his video game credits, which include Royal Quest, Age of Decadence and three of the Shadow Flight titles.

However, my first experience with Lind Erebros' music was the King's Bounty Series. I absolutely love these strategy games (at least the classic ones - I was less fond of King's Bounty II which Lind Erebros' music did not grace). While the stories told within the games can be a bit strange or even downright goofy at times, the strategy is top-notch and the army building elements are downright addictive. 

Even with those qualities, the thing about these games that always stood out the most for me? The music. Horns and flutes that create both quiet, reflective moments and those punctuated with walls of sound that ratchet up the tension. The first game in the series, King's Bounty: The Legend's soundtrack was the highlight of the game for me. Just give a listen to the song Home Lands, and tell me you don't immediately feel like you're embarking on a magical adventure. The creepy, ethereal sounds of Fear hauntingly reflect dark, dank crypts during your explorations. Last but hardly least, Warlord Horn and In the Heart of Battle are the embodiment of music you would expect to hear as you enter an epic battle.  

---

Valerie

Duane Decker - MechCommander series 

Remember these? MechWarrior 2, MechCommander 1, MechCommander 2, and MechCommander GOLD? I fell in love with these game series with their awesome mechs, the Real Time Strategy genre, and the beautiful music that created the atmosphere, the workmanship of the mechs, and the progression through the game. Duane Decker is such a powerhouse in music composition for games, television, movies, mobile games, his own albums, as well as licencing production music for TV and films. You can check out his credits here!

In the immortal words of one of the mech pilots, "This is Goblin! Do what I can sir!" Each and every pilot had their own voices that resonated with the gamers that have played the games. The music brought you into the atmosphere of being on your own and having missions to accomplish. The opening sequence, down through the skirmishes, and right to the very end you were entrenched in the mech atmosphere of combat. Nothing says it better than the track where you're lining up your mechs to take down an enemy.

Over the years Duane Decker's mech music has been an integral part of focussing on the work I was doing or just enjoying a few tracks to feel like just me inside my mech towering above the combat field. Each track on MechCommander 1 was related to the mission you were on. I couldn't find anywhere a list of track names. They were all listed as either 'Track 1' or 'Music 01'. The track I just listed is reminiscent of reflecting on what had just transpired after victory. One person listed this title for that track and called it 'Reflections' in the comments.

A big Thank you to Susan N. for whispering in my ear the series we used to play together years ago!

Now as I write this, I am longing to play again. So, while you are enjoying the music feast we presented this month, I'll be pulling out my old game cds and firing up whichever MechCommander or MechWarrior game appears first! Happy Summer Holidays all in North America. It's turning out to be quite the heat wave!

~~~~~

Read More

Dreamhack Montreal 2019 - Overview

The Beginning

From September 6-8 I was in Montreal for Dreamhack and I wanted to talk about the event. First thing is first, if readers have never been to a LAN or a Dreamhack event, I highly encourage everyone to do so because there are a lot of benefits to attendance.

For one thing, spectators can meet their online friends in person. When I first went to an event, I met some of the people that I moderate for. In fact, I met a lot of Starcraft people since that is why we were there. Awesome people like Temp0, Eseipha, ZombieGrub (who wasn't an official Blizzard caster at that time), Rifkin of BasetradeTV, and WinterGaming were all there that year. It was definitely an event that I'm glad I had the opportunity to make. This was also the first time I had KBBQ, which was a fantastic experience.

I would say the second thing that people go for is the atmosphere. Drawing a comparison, the esports scene is very much like a comic con. People are there for the same reasons as you, and they tend to be quite knowledgable about the game. Also, it's great to be able to nerd out about the things you enjoy, regardless of your level of play.

The last thing I will touch on are the promotions that vendors have. Sometimes there are discounts on merchandise like at Canada Computers that are only available during Dreamhack. Other vendors will host other types of giveaways. Even further than that, each year there is a treasure hunt that people can participate in.

While there are many benefits to attending an event like Dreamhack, there are certain things that are staple to the experience.

BYOC

The biggest attraction for many people in the gaming industry are the BYOCers. These people bring their rigs to the event to participate in the open brackets. At the back of the stadium, there is an entire large section devoted specifically for the BYOC players. In fact, they are allowed to sleep at the event and as such, there is a dedicated area where they cannot be disturbed. I've never had the pleasure of being part of a LAN where I wasn't working in some capacity, so I can't elaborate more on that.

Indie Zone

James "Kaelaris" Carrol being funny

I would say the next biggest thing about Dreamhack would be the Indie Zone. Many game developers will showcase their games at Dreamhack and they offer players a chance to play. Not only do people get to play the games that might not be out, but they get the opportunity to speak query the game devs. This is a great way to engage with the prospective community, and for players, it's a great way to discover upcoming games. Once in a while, games that are already released are showcased at Dreamhack Montreal. I say this because it's the second year in a row that I've been meaning to play A Hat in Time and keep getting side tracked by other things. Whoops! Other games like Tech Support Unknown or The Darwin Project (which I did get to try out) have been featured at Dreamhack. As a person in the media, I love being able to discover new games in this way.

Cosplay Contest

The Rocket League Production Team

Of course, no event is complete without a cosplay competition. Each year I setup to record the cosplayers because they are amazing. This year, one of my personal favorite cosplayers was the gentleman that showed up as Cayde-6 from Destiny 2. While I didn't get everyone that was on stage, I did get several pictures and some clips for you guys to see that are included in my video below. Part of the reason I enjoy watching the cosplay contest is because people choose to showcase all kinds of characters, be it from movies or video games or anime. I also enjoy it because of the performances that people have. This year we had two fighting characters, a female Thor, and a brilliant cosplayer that portrayed Hellblade Senua. Not only does it take a lot of work to make these costumes but the performance adds to a cosplayers score. In the end, there are first, second, and third place winners. I'm sad that Cayde didn't win any of them. (It was all because he didn't have a crucial item to the character, imo. Watch the video to understand why.)

Major Esports

Jessica "ZombieGrub" C. and Nathan "Nathanias" Fabrikant

At every Dreamhack, there are various esports that can be seen. Not only do gamers get to see their favorite esport live, but they get to see the pro players. Sometimes, they can get autographs too!

The major esports shown at Dreamhack were games like Rocket League, Starcraft 2, Rainbow Six Siege, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Brawlhalla, Tekken 7, Mortal Kombat 11, Street Fighter Arcade, and Super Smash Bros Melee. There were areas dedicated to Clash of Clans and a stage devoted to a show match between Team Livid and Miss Harvey in CS:GO. Also, there was a Beat Sabre invitational that I sadly missed watching.

Each esport has their own brackets and Dreamhack had streams set up for many of them. Check out the various Dreamhack Twitch channels to catch up on the games from the last weekend!

Vendors

I can't write up something about Dreamhack without talking about some of the vendors and sponsors. As always, Dreamhack is sponsored by Omen, who always has an epic pillar which made me laugh for reasons I'm not going to go into. Also present were staple names like Canada Computers, MSI, Corsair, NVIDIA, Fire and Steel, and Monster (which you could get free drinks), just to name a few.
Of course, Loto Quebec has been apart of Dreamhack for quite some time because they sponsor the Indie Zone.

Left to Right: Me, FauxPawRL, and Liefx

And if I could say more more thing about the indies featured at Dreamhack, it would be that some of the showcased games can win awards! One title that had previously won the Pitch Championship is titled Mythic Ocean and they proudly tweeted about it in July 2018. For more information about the types of games that are on the list, please take a look at this site. Also note that on the list is a little game called Buoyancy which we recently reviewed.

Anyways, there are a ton of other vendors like ones that can customize any type of mousepad, pop culture LED lighting, and ModMyMods who have a prototype gaming desk specifically for streamers. A picture of that 300lbs desk is shown in the video below (with three monitors).

Overall Thoughts

I think this year I had the best time at Dreamhack. That may have been influenced by the fact that I had a lot to do, and I was able to watch Rocket League live, for the first time. (I've never made it to an RLCS or anything like that - shameful, I know.) I was glad to finally meet a bunch of people in the RL community.

As I said before, if Dreamhack has never been on your radar before, I highly encourage you to attend one. It's a fantastic time because you will be able to meet your online friends and perhaps chat with some of the pro players!

Check out Dreamhack's website, Twitter, and Twitch pages to keep up to date on the largest LAN event.




Article by Susan N.

Read More

Jaggy's Corner - Remembering Geoff "iNcontroL" Robinson

I wish I could say that it was a good thing to write Jaggy's Corner on a Tuesday but alas, that is not the case. And I wish I could say that writing for video games is always exciting and fun, but it's not. Writers also have to pass along news like the passing of an important personality in the gaming community. While the hardest post I ever wrote was the passing of another notable gaming personality in Starcraft 2, this one is equally difficult. I, like many others, sit in utter disbelief that Geoff "iNcontroL" Robinson passed away on Saturday July 20th, 2019 at the age of 33.

This is going back to the OG Twitch days...

I can't even express how awful this news is, knowing that the passing of John Bain - an amazing friend of Geoff and co-caster in Starcraft 2 - only happened a year prior. They were both the same age when they passed. It's a fact that doesn't go unnoticed. You see, both of these men who were highly respected and loved passed away at an age younger than I am. Both of these pillars in Starcraft 2 and gaming helped so many people in the community. And both of them were the most generous and kind people; ones to be looked up to.

Having lost two strong personalities in gaming really hurts. I can't even fathom what the heck happened, even as I watch the rerun broadcast of Geoff playing Apex Legends with friends on the same day he passed away from a blood clot in his lungs.

I'm going to take you guys down memory lane.

My first introduction to Twitch was through Starcraft 2. At the time, I wanted to understand the game that my brother invested hours of time playing. When it came to my brother and I with RTS games, I was better at Warcraft where he was better at Starcraft. At some point, I wanted to learn more about this game that my brother devoted so much time. He sent me Husky and Carbot videos which hooked me on the game. This led to my looking up information about build orders. I ended up in Demuslim's Twitch stream. At the time, Demu was a professional player for Evil Geniuses and Geoff was the captain of the team. This is how it all started for me. Demu's stream lead to everything.


The way Demu would explain his thought process during ladder games put the difficult RTS into perspective for me, but it was the whole team that kept me invested in Starcraft. Specifically, Geoff's sense of humor and calm demeanor caused me to consume all content related to EG in Starcraft 2. It eventually led me to LowkoTV's stream where I ended up being a chat moderator for several years. And I was hooked after watching what became one of my favorite and goofy sponsorship YouTube videos with Geoff and Jaedong. 

Throughout my time in the Sc2 community, I followed the careers of all the players. This lead me to State of the Game, which I only discovered closer to the end of its run. Two videos come to mind from that series; the first of which is Geoff telling the origin story of Whitera's Special Tactics. However, my absolute favorite video moment of Geoff's will always be the last episode of State of the Game where Sean "Day9" Plott laughed his guts out.

As an EG fan, I discovered what was known as the "EG Curse", which was well known in Sc2. After players were recruited onto the team, they would start performing terribly. In the video below, Geoff talks about the "EG Curse" to a new player on the roster, and it still makes me laugh. Anyways, that new player went on to obliterate his opponents and ended up becoming my all-time favorite Sc2 Zerg player for many years to come.


I remember later on watching "Good Game", a documentary about the EG Starcraft 2 team, where Geoff had talked about pro player Idra and his progression as an esports professional. One of the things he said was that Idra's reaction to esports fame and his terrible interactions with fans made sense because he (Idra) lacked the same socialization skills as others at his age. And it was because of this documentary that I really started to both respect and understand the sort of person Geoff was. 

While I never met Geoff, I watched his career over the course of 7 years (I know this because that is how long I've been following his channel. In fact, that's right down to the month). And I recall clearly an interview with Cyan Esports. During the interview, Geoff said some very humbling things that struck me. In fact, I had tweeted about the interview a day after it went up on YouTube. Some of those important things were: "You don't go to college and get an esports degree. You have to work for it. You have to ask people to do things for them in order to make it in this industry. Esports is about years of raw passion to carry you forward and then eventually there is a chance you can make a career out of it." I was very inspired by that section in the video because at that point I wanted to be more than just a chat moderator. And while today this might not make sense because of how big esports are, consider that Geoff started in esports when there were no sponsorship deals, there wasn't an esports work visa, and there weren't courses in colleges and universities about professional video gaming. Geoff was one of the OG personalities from before all of this happened. And he started around the same time as notable casters like Artosis and Tasteless, or Day9 when he was still doing YouTube beginner videos.

If I could remember where the story was told I'd link it but, Geoff had talked about his beginnings of esports. A friend of his took a chance on him by allowed him to live in his parents basement just to pursue the esports dream at a time when there was no guarantee of a career. You want to know why Geoff was a pillar in the community? That right there is everything you need to know, but I digress...

I only saw Geoff in passing once. It was at Dreamhack Montreal a couple of years ago for the WCS circuit. At the time, I was talking to Maynarde and ZombieGrub about life, traveling, if they were excited for the matchups, etc... I wasn't doing an interview or anything, I was just chatting with them. This occurred before they would be casting all day. It was then that Geoff had walked by - a few meters away from me - and sat down on the couch behind Maynarde and ZombieGrub. I vaguely recall mentioning that I wanted to say Hi. Just once. My god, I wish I had.... Anyways, not long after that, the makeup artist swung by to prepare the casters for the cameras and I promptly took my leave. Throughout the rest of the event, I didn't see Geoff in person again. I imagine he ducked out before people could swarm him. (I mean, that's what you get for playing Protoss...)

Thank you for everything, Geoff. StarCraft won't be the same without you. pic.twitter.com/zA7likyhf1

— StarCraft (@StarCraft) July 22, 2019

There is so much more I could say about Geoff, having watched his career over the course of 7 years, but all of it comes from the perspective of a fan, an observer, and a chat moderator for various Sc2 channels. Geoff was never a man that I knew personally, but he was someone integral to many people's careers and to several communities besides Sc2. He loved tabletop games like Warhammer 40k, he played Dungeons & Dragons, he streamed video games like XCOM 2 without mystically raging, and he still managed to be an amazing role model for many people in esports. He remained humble and kept a smile on everyone's face.

I can't envision how the people closest to him are feeling right now - many of them are casters who are at events or at home streaming. I do know how some feel because of their posts like Nathanias' or ROOTCatZ's, the Tweets, and the Video tributes. Nothing prepared me for Day9's stream, clipped below:  


Over the last few days, Geoff's Twitch channel has been playing rerun broadcasts of past streams. Many people have stopped by the stream to express their thoughts and grief. If Geoff meant anything, perhaps stop on by to share some memories with the community. We're all trying to process and grieve a man who supported so many people in the gaming community.

Geoff loved his dog Barristan, his bulldog, so it stands to reason that he loved a bulldog rescue group. Consider taking a look at the SoCal Bulldog rescue that Geoff supported.
 
I have one final thing to say. Until next time Geoff. Please give John our love. We miss you dearly.




Article by Susan N.

Read More

Jaggy's Corner - The Dreamhack Experience

From September 7 - 9th I attended Dreamhack in Montreal, which is a video gaming convention and competition for a number of esports. Prize pools were offered for Rainbow 6, Starcraft 2 (WCS Circuit), Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Shadowverse, Dreamhack Grand Prix (Hearthstone), and DreamHack Fighting Game Championship (Brawlhalla, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and Street Fighter V). Each competition had its own prize pool.

This was the third time that I've attended Dreamhack in Montreal and I was impressed with certain things while other things were annoying.

The Venue - Pros and Cons

The location and layout of the venue had a bit of everything. The Olympic Stadium is designed with an extremely high capacity and had plenty of parking to facilitate such a crowd. The space was large enough to carry a ton of exhibitors as well as a full stage setup for at least eight different competitions.

Here are some of the pros and cons I found about the venue, but don't let this be a reflection of my whole experience. DreamHack was a ton of fun and quite chaotic. These points are simply observation so take this with a grain of salt.

Pros

• Had the capacity to support thousands of people
• The main floor was designed rather well
• The acoustics of the stages did not, for the most part, conflict with other stages
• It didn't feel as crowded as other events
• The venue wasn't as loud as other events
• Plentiful parking (unless you get lost because you parked in a garage far from the actual DH entrance. That was rectified the next day...)

Cons

• It was annoying to go up and down stairs just to see individual game stages
• The venue had extremely expensive food.
• The Stadium is not close to other food establishments
• The media room was hard to find
• The lighting in the venue was challenging to take awesome pictures (seriously.. although, next time I plan to have a much better camera)

Day 1

On day one, my friend and I arrived fairly late. This is practically a tradition at this point. Anyways, it wouldn't be DreamHack if there wasn't a little drama right when we arrived. (That will be an article for later. Trust me.)

The Sc2 stage was located close to the entrance. It also happened to be right next to the Rainbow 6 stage, which could have been an issue, but it wasn't. There was a point where our crowd was in competition with their crowd, but that was fine. (We won that battle.)

In fact, this is one of the reasons I liked the layout of the Olympic Stadium. So, props to whomever came up with the idea to face the stages towards the upper seats. As in, most of the stages were not facing the exhibition floor. By setting up the venue in this way, the acoustics of the stages spread out and away from each other, allowing the audience to hear their respective game stage.

Unlike the other Dreamhack events in Montreal, the first day was the time when I ran into most of my friends. Because of the layout and because I was taking a ton of video and pictures, I hardly saw people. This was the only day that I saw the biggest number of my friends. Considering that most of these people I only see once a year, that is a huge deal. Also, part of the reason I didn't get a chance to see them all was because of that same stage layout that I just praised in the above paragraph. True story.

Overall, I watched a whopping two matches of Starcraft and chatted with people. A lot of the reason for that is due to our arrival time which was roughly 5pm. We walked around, took pictures, then escaped for dinner.

Day 2

On day two, I spent more time running around than any other day. Not only did we arrive early, but there were tons of things to see. Rocket League had their BOYC tournament, the Bell Stage hosted the cosplay competition, and there was a ton of Starcraft. This was the day I realized which pro players were in the competition. (Even media people can fangirl sometimes...) Basically, I was over the moon.

I took a tour around the various exhibitors like Corsair, Canada Computers, Monster, and Omen. I encountered a vendor "Fire and Steel" that I've seen at other events during the year. They sell replica weapons from video games and pop culture. Anyways, a complete list of exhibitors can be found on the Dreamhack website so be sure to check them out.

I spent some time in the Indie Zone watching King of the Hat. This is a game where players have to kill their opponents by crushing their hat. It's essentially a fighting game but it looks fun as hell.

Also, Saturday was so busy for me that I ended up seeing only one match of Rocket League, one series of Starcraft, and the cosplay competition. The rest of the time I ended up tracking down people or food. Honestly, it was a noble quest!

Anyways, later that night, several of us ended up at the Meltdown. The owner remembers some of us from previous years, which is always nice. The people who hang out at the Meltdown are all gamers and are like family. Everyone is there to relax, drink, and chat with other esports people. So, if you haven't been to the Meltdown before, check out their website and try the Blue Flame Hellion. That is all. Just do that.

Day 3

Since we had a monstrously early day on Saturday, Sunday ended up being a bit of a lazy day... sort of. Once again I spent time taking more video footage, chatting with exhibitors, and then making it back to Starcraft for the Grand Finals. In fact, my phone was on the verge of death. So when the finals hit game six (which was a 30+ minute game), my battery had died. Thank goodness for the fact that the casters took a five minute break, which was just long enough for me to run back to the media room to partially charge my phone. I ran back out to the stage managing to get the winner and the interview on film.

Final Thoughts and Video

Dreamhack once again impressed me. There were tons of exhibitors, great friends, a distinct lack of sleep, and plenty of interesting things to see. In fact, when my friend and I went searching for dinner on Saturday, we ended up in a little community garden that was on the property of the Olympic Stadium. This small piece of heaven was much quieter and was hosting an open mic night. Truly this is part of Montreal's charm because it isn't for their driving...

Don't forget that DreamHack hosts several events each year and in many different countries. Be sure to follow their Twitter for future events!

Here is a video I put together from the event. Enjoy!

Until next time!

Article by Susan N.

Read More

Jaggy's Corner! - Saturday March 31

All month Blizzard has been running the 20th Anniversary of Starcraft. Some familiar faces are present at a celebration event. People like Day9, Artosis, Whitera, Ret, TLO, and iNcontroL have been recalling Starcraft moments over the coarse of 20 years. This prompted me to talk about Starcraft and the impact it has had on my gaming career.

I wouldn't be a writer for Chalgyr's or Ginx Esports TV if it wasn't for Starcraft. Truly.

Many years ago, my brother and I would play both Warcraft 2 and Starcraft. I remember at the time I was terrible at Starcraft and decent at Warcraft. So, it made sense that I transitioned to World of Warcraft where my brother stuck with Starcraft, then BroodWars, then Starcraft 2. He would occasionally show me videos of Husky Starcraft casting replays of professional players' matches. I had no idea what was happening most of the time.

Then there was one video of Husky Starcrafts' that tipped me over the edge. I think it was not long after the video for Pylo the Pylon's short life span. It was at that point I stumbled onto Twitch TV for the first time. I landed in Demuslim's stream, a well known Terran player, who I appreciated because he was always humble while playing, but he explained what he was doing and why. For a person who had played some Starcraft but had sucked horribly, this was the best stream for me to end up in. The only drawback to his stream was the fact that I have always been a zerg player. Eventually, I had to find a streamer that could help me with specific builds.

What year is this? #SC20 pic.twitter.com/3F6gGWPL3F

— Chris Yap ᴮᵒᵒ (@booradl3y_) March 30, 2018

I found out about Fenner's Fundamentals and LowkoTV at about the same time. Both of these players had YouTube videos that helped new players with the basics of Starcraft builds. I ventured into Lowko's stream first and I became addicted to watching the streams for many hours each day. Six months later one of the mods decided to step down because he was getting back into Dota 2. Lowko asked his chat, "Who wants to be a mod?" I said nothing at the time. The chat blew up. In the end, he gave me mod status because I always chatted with people and was nice.

To make a long story short, that was the first of my many swords on Twitch. As such, I worked hard to learn about the bots, potential spammers, using IRCs, etc... I'm now at 40+ channels and it's still one of the fun things I do because I am always learning new things and meeting people. But nothing prepared me for a chance encounter that would ultimately change my life for the better...

Once in a while I channel hop. I get bored of the same game, so I actively seek out new games and new streamers. Often, I'll pick someone at random who doesn't have a ton of viewers, especially if it's 2am. Anyways, one of those choice encounters was hopping into Scheist's stream. On the first day I was there, he talked about needing a bot for his channel. Me being me asked what he wanted. After some discussion, he modded me. From there, he asked me in private what I wanted to do in life, which was to write for esports. He talked to a woman that ran her own esports website and that led to my getting the position.

Starcraft Memories

I remember a lot of fun things because of Starcraft. I remember clearly Eseipha and I getting Temp0 to say something to ToD in french. He did it flawlessly and we laughed our guts out when ToD said, "Do you know what you just said to me?"

I remember going to IEM in Toronto where everyone in the crowd yelled out "HOI HOI HOI" for a map called Catellena. The whole reason for that was because of BasetradeTV map intros... I'll just let you enjoy the intro if you've never seen it before...



Also at IEM Toronto a bunch of us went to an after party where Poizon and I played pool. Then I got owned by some Smash Bro Melee pros. Later still, a bunch of people played Cards Against Humanity.  It was a great night.

All in all, the Starcraft LAN events have been awesome.

I think the hardest memory of Starcraft for me was the day I wrote an article about the legendary JaeDong's retirement. #Imnotcrying #yourecrying. I have no idea if that article was as impactful as it was to write it. I know the editor could tell how important of a player Jaedong was to Starcraft. You can see that here

I could never truly explain how much I owe to the Starcraft community on its 20th anniversary, but needless to say, it led me to writing. I'm forever grateful for the impact this game and community has had on my life.

Of course, I'm not the only one who has been impacted as a result of this game. There are countless examples like Day9, HuK, LowkoTV, DJWheat, itmejp, and many many others. Here here is a preview video called Starcraft is Life – A 20th Anniversary Celebration



I'm excited to watch this when it launches

If you are a Starcraft fan, what have been some of your best memories? Let us know in the comments.

Until next time.

Article by Susan N.

Read More