World of Warcraft
"World of Warcraft" was first announced by Blizzard at the ECTS trade show in September 2001. Released in 2004, development of the game took roughly 4–5 years, including extensive testing. The 3D graphics in "World of Warcraft" use elements of the proprietary graphics engine originally used in "Warcraft III". The game was designed to be an open environment where players are allowed to do what they please. Quests are optional and were designed to help guide players, allow character development, and to spread characters across different zones to try to avoid what developers called "player collision". The game interface allows players to customize appearance and controls, and to install add-ons and other modifications.
Warcraft: Orcs &amp; Humans
While later "...craft" games were famous for complex stories presented lavishly, the first installment of the series had no script and was improvised in the recording studio by producer Bill Roper. The contract composer Gregory Alper wrote music that Blizzard staff found reminiscent of Holst's "The Planets". Demos in summer 1994 whetted appetites for the completed game, released for MS-DOS in November 1994 and for the Macintosh in 1996. The game was published by Blizzard in North America and by Interplay Entertainment in Europe, and Sold-Out Software republished the MS-DOS version in March 2002.