Just an Idea: "War1EE"

Blackrock Dungeon Promo Screenshot. Taken from MobyGames.

My opinion regarding the remastering of Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is that it's just not really necessary as the game's visuals are pretty much timeless and the same implies to Warcraft 2. It's not that you can't make it, just that a simple re-release would be just fine. However, recently I've been thinking of how remaster of this game could've actually worked and I accumulated a lot of thoughts to that.

I'm going to be looking at it from the perspectives both community projects and a greenlighted project by Blizzard Entertainment as if either of  those come to life. Funny thing about my vision for Warcraft: Enhanced Edition is that for the most part it's close to reality via WinWar: a fan-made port of the original game on Windows & Android based on Monogame framework and written in C#, according to clearly outdated GitHub page.

Foundation & Platforms.

What is even more funny is that current iteration of WinWar is focused on two platforms I considered primarily. I've tried playing Shareware version of the game through DOSBox on my now inactive ASUS MeMO Pad ME172V a few years back and it actually worked really well in terms of controls. Ports & re-releases of older games aren't a new thing for mobile devices, so it doesn't even have to be so-called "Enhanced Edition" if that's too hard to pull off for it. In other words, again, for the most part its already a reality.

However, there's also Mac... and iOS, I guess. Even though I don't really have much interest in Apple stuff, original game did came out on Macintosh and I'm all in for respecting the legacy of the past. Even if that version looks kind of hideous due to texture filtering, menus and used fonts, "letting it die" doesn't feel right as opposed to Reforged.  It's not about just having it available on descendants of original platforms, but bringing the actual versions of that game back. Although I'm getting a bit ahead of myself, but hey... Just have it as good old DOS version to its core, but with "Mac-like reskin" through a secret setting option or a cheat code. A little funny trivia that's added just for the sake of it.

Warcraft: Orcs & Humans Machintosh Version. Taken from MobyGames.

While I'm at that, I did wonder what the game would've looked liked on Super Nintendo as that seemed to be main console for Blizzard before their switch for PC. Dune 2: The Building of Dynasty was ported onto Sega Mega Drive, so it would've made some sense if Warcraft appeared only on rival console. Not that anything could've stopped them from going for both... Besides budget, that is. Either way, just saying that it would've been interesting to see that in some form. Like, a proof-of-concept based on Shareware version.

Graphics.

DISCLAMER: I've got some things wrong here and in "Screen Resolution". While War1's raw resolution is indeed 320x200, it's evident that Blizzard counted on monitor stretching to achieve 320x240 while saving up on computer's resources.

Even though in terms of visuals I would dare to compare Orcs & Humans with original DOOM (in other words, it's iconic and perfect as is), I think that the game can benefit from enhancements to Warcraft 2 levels of details. Many people could just suggest to increase the amount of pixels used for unit sprites, icons and such to match sequel's parameters, which would be simply foolish for a couple of reasons. In order to stay true to the classic and make the transition between two graphics options as seamless as possible, you have to match the limits set by Warcraft's original artists. Not just fit the sprite into the "default resolution" of its hitbox, if that's a correct term here. Otherwise it would just fall apart.

Secondly, its not as simple as "just increase the resolution to match Warcraft 2". When you actually compare visual assets of both games via this handy Warcraft Wiki page, you'll notice how different two of them actually are. Icons in the first game are wider and larger than in the sequel. Unit sprites themselves are generally all over the places, but Warcraft 2 models more detailed, therefore using more pixels. However, and that's something I managed to miss myself, you need to remember that original's game's resolution is 320x200.

Warcraft (320x200 | 16:10) & Warcraft 2 (640x480 | 4:3) Screen Resolution Comparison.

Why is it so important? Because most screenshots and materials for Orcs & Humans you may find on Internet (including previously mentioned Wowpedia page) are using 640x400, 640x480 or higher resolutions. So everything that's presented there is at least double the size, which can result in some serious mistakes. With Warcraft 2's minimal resolution is 640x480, we have difference in aspect ratio between two games: 16:10 and 4:3.

I would like to focus on screen resolutions separately as that's really an another topic with its own problems. What we learned is that simply bringing Orcs & Humans visuals to Warcraft 2 would be tricky due to intended resolutions of those games, not to mention that a goal of a project like "Enhanced Edition" should be to say true to the original version of the game its created for. How can it be done then? Well, perhaps the target resolution for updated visuals should be 640x400 with all visuals assets being redrawn in twice the resolution of their original counterparts while staying true to them pixel-by-pixel.

Screen Resolutions.

As I've noted before, Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is technically a game in widescreen. This would've been very handy for bringing it back in re-release form, but you should keep in mind that 16:9 aspect ratio is much more common that 16:10. While it might change to some degree after the release of Steam Deck, this is a point that needs to be addressed as vast majority of modern games allow players to select a specific screen resolution.

By default we have 16:10 covered, so let's focus on 4:3, 16:9 and 21:9 respectively. Simplest method of screen resolution adjustment to me is taking an original 320x200 format and expand it to the equivalent in other aspect ratio. According to "my" calculations (I found an aspect ratio calculator for that), we end up with 320x240, 426x240 and 480x270 respectively. In this case we just need to adjust the HUD to eliminate dark bars on the side with missing parts of the familiar frame.

Widescreen Mode Sketch for Warcraft: Orcs & Humans.

Widescreen patch for Battle.net Edition by fois from War2 community was a nice point of reference for my take on Warcraft's "widescreen mode". In my initial approach to the screen resolutions I focused strictly on leaving so-called "command map" untouched at its default 240x176 (or 242x178 if you count the dark 1x1 line between "map" and HUD). Goal for that was to preserve the original look for the game, which is especially important for crossplay matches against player on original DOS version. It just wouldn't feel fair to them. However, I think you can just make it so that it would be disable in such scenario.

So there's a result. I decided that 1280x720 is a nice starting point for "widescreen mode" as going with 426x240 become tricky: you'll reach only 1278x720, missing one line of pixels on each side. Need to account for this little annoyance. I've focused only on PC here, but we have to keep in mind that there's also Android support and mobile devices have all kinds of screen resolutions. But it's just an example for an idea, so... yeah. Call me lazy.

Gameplay.

Unlike many other players, I don't see a problem in original Warcraft's controls. In fact, I think it's as much of a vital part of the game as pathing in Warcraft 3, for example. The game is in fact really simple and these "outdated controls" are the only thing that provide some kind of obstacle, even if its fast and easy to get used to pressing keyboard buttons. Despite this, I realize that a lot of people would desire to have "Warcraft 2 Style" for "Mouse Interfact", so it just needs to be there. Just keep the original option there.

Hotkeys also should be implemented similarly to Starcraft: Remastered. Allowing to change buttons for your keyboard as you see fit. I've mentioned the potential unfair advantage against original version of the game, alluding to the compatibility between the two. Some might consider this idea to be weird, but in fact this would be in line with Battle.net Edition that actually can connect with Tides of Darkness/Beyond the Dark Portal players via LAN or modem multiplayer. Although its very unlikely that current Blizzard would bother with keeping either of those in (maybe Local Area has some chances), WinWar has it covered already and that's amazing.

What to do about aforementioned advantages created by all these modern conveniences? Again, disable all of that whenever you play against classic users. You might even have a "Classic Duel" option that would basically limit both players to 1994 version of the gameplay. Which leads me to online multiplayer... I just don't know. If Blizzard for some reason decides to remaster Orcs & Humans, it'll likely be a part of Battle.net 2.0 and I'm having a hard time imagining that. Pixelated callback to Warcraft 2 interface? Mix of that and Warcraft 3? Maybe. As for WinWar, I guess you can tinker with PvPGN. If you want.

Besides that, I think its best to stay traditional. No increased player count on maps, unit selection and things like that. At the end of a day, Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is an early real-time strategy game. One of the first, therefore very basic and simple one. I find more value in celebrating that rather than taking on more than you can chew or overloading the game with all this additions that don't really fit for it... Replays in "demo" style from original DOOM & Quake could've been neat, but that's probably too nerdy.

Modding.

There's really not much to community creations in terms of original Warcraft. There's a Russian translation from a team at Old-Games.RU, official unit editor and community attempts at map editor, including the one by WinWar's creator, Zelya. It's curious to see how modding efforts for the first two games seem to get some decent progress lately, but there's more that can be done with it.

Previously I wouldn't really consider it, but I would thank Primož Vovk since seeing his effort with map editors for Crystal Caves HD and upcoming Wizordum opened my eyes a little bit. Warcraft 3's World Editor proved to be a very powerful tool in the right hands with simple access for those with a passion to make stuff. Getting something similar for "Enhanced Edition" could've not only really open up a new modding community, but potentially even reach the heights of the third game or even original DOOM... someday.

It would've been cool to have not just your typical map editor, but unit, music/sounds, sprites, HUD, campaign, gameplay elements and even briefing screen editors in one package. Just imagine that you can not only implement your custom units, but actually draw them in World Editor or do the same with intermissions including animation. What kind of simple custom maps could've been created for one or two players... I don't know, like a damn Pong with a certain twist or The Legend of Zelda-like experiences.

If I were to be involved in this hypothetical "Enhanced Edition" as either official or community project, I think it would've been nice to make a custom campaign(s) for it that ultimately would've served as a showcase of what can be done with this dream World Editor. Instead of trying something different like The Foundation of Durotar, my approach would've been just mostly typical RTS campaigns with a couple twists & surprises here and there. I would've called it Tales of The First War since it would've been my take on Orcs & Humans story within Tales of Warcraft continuity.