20 years of Counter-Strike: from the success of the mod to multiplayer



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Steam user graphics and Twitch viewership are a good indicator of online sports games currently in vogue. In addition to long-term favorites such as Dota 2 and PUBG holds a particularly persistent title – and for years. We're thinking of Counter-Strike, Valves' first-person shooter.

The initial spark of the Counter-Strike phenomenon is the vision of amateur developers Minh Le and Jess Cliffe to create a tactically demanding, realism-inspired multiplayer modification. The then student at Simon Fraser University in Canada, is a model enthusiast and already has two mods pretty interesting for the first-person shooter from id Software, Quake.

The first one calls Navy Seals and allows players to slip into the role of a member of the US special unit of the same name to defuse the bombs on a heavily guarded ship. His later project, Action Quake 2, is even more popular. Here, also attaches great importance to a realistic environment consisting of streets, skyscrapers, backyards and various outdoor areas. The action itself is wild, fast like lightning and shaped by jumps of a meter long and interesting tactical nuances. For example, if a player is injured in the leg, he starts to bleed and can not move until he has been bandaged.

As Action Quake 2 matures, meet the site administrator Action Quake 2 Map Depot: Jess Cliffe. The, in the late 90s, titles such as Rainbow Six and Spec Ops are highly regarded, described his idea to Counter-Strike. "At that time, I worked intensely with anti-terrorist units", explains the 41-year-old actor from the documentary Counter-Strike: A Brief History, published by Valve. "I loved his mastery of weapons and tactics and I thought it would work very well as a game."

Goldsrc instead of id Tech 2

Job market

  1. BWI GmbH, Bonn, Munich, Schwielowsee
  2. KDO Service GmbH, Oldenburg



The technical setting of Counter-Strike should not be the id Tech 2 engine used in the Navy Seals and Action Quake 2, but the new Goldsrc engine of the Valve shooter, Half-Life, released in late 1998. The Goldsrc SDK offers new exciting game design features and a very realistic appearance that harmonizes well with the targeted theme of the specific object of The Counter Terror.

For several weeks, Canadians regularly work more than 20 hours a week to complete a first beta. But finding testers is more complicated than expected. For this reason, Le and Cliffe, who run the game's website and have excellent contacts in the fashion world, are excited to announce the release of the first beta. This occurs on June 19, 1999.

Minh Le is the main figure behind the original Counter-Strike. He had not only the basic idea of ​​the design, but also the design of the weapons, the modeling of the characters and the writing of the code of the program. (Source: Valve)

In the initial phase, Counter-Strike fills a manageable fan base and can only display a few cards created by so-called mappers. However, since Le and Cliffe are in constant communication with their community, eager to badyze the comments and implement them very quickly in new beta versions, the project will accelerate at the latest with the release of Beta 5.

No wonder, because round-robin 5-on-5 duels in which terrorists place a bomb and an anti-terrorist unit must defuse them is a pure adrenaline for the players. Especially important for the ubiquitous thrill: if a character dies, he must not be involved in the current turn and must wait for the next turn. A cautious and tactical approach and constant collusion with his teammates are therefore mandatory at Counter-Strike. For gamers, this concept is a welcome alternative to game modes such as Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch, which are currently shaping the shooter scene.

Also Bernhard "Bat" F., then semi-professional at Counter-Strike-Clan, the sick horde of Germany (abbreviated: DKH), keeps a very good memory of his first steps in Counter-Strike. "Not being able to come back in the game was really refreshing," he explains in an interview with Golem.de. "Similarly, the reward system, for example, if you lose two rounds in a row, you suddenly have more money to buy new weapons, then you have to crawl your gun for two or three rounds to find your link. "

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