Counter-Strike (video game)
Counter-Strike is a 2000 tactical first-person shooter game developed by Valve Corporation and published by Sierra Studios. It is the first installment in the Counter-Strike series.
The game pits two teams—the Counter-Terrorists and Terrorists—against each other in objective-based game modes. The most common objectives are bomb defusal and hostage rescue, each played on designated maps. Players begin with a knife and pistol, and they can purchase more advanced weapons and equipment with money earned through eliminating enemies or accomplishing goals. Once eliminated, players do not respawn until the end of the round.
Minh Le and Jess Cliffe planned a game based on counter-terrorism in 1998 with development beginning the following year when the first few beta versions were released. The Half-Life modification gained significant popularity and interest, which attracted Valve. Valve later acquired the game's intellectual property and announced a partnership with Le and Cliffe. After finishing development, Counter-Strike was released by Valve for Microsoft Windows in November 2000. Several remakes and ports were released on Xbox, as well as OS X and Linux.
Since its release, Counter-Strike received positive reviews from critics who praised the gameplay and its emphasis on teamwork and strategy. It has been called one of the most influential first-person shooters and noted for its realistic and tactical approach to counter-terrorism. The game became a major hit, selling millions of copies. Because of this success, multiple sequels were released. The first of these was Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, a single-player campaign released in 2004, which was received with mixed reviews. Counter-Strike: Source came out later that year, which ran on Valve's Source engine, offering improved visuals and physics. In 2012, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive was launched, giving the franchise new game modes and better matchmaking. Counter-Strike 2, developed in the Source 2 engine, was released in 2023 as an update to Global Offensive.
Gameplay
Counter-Strike is a team-based multiplayer first-person shooter video game in which players play as Terrorists or Counter-Terrorists. Each game begins with both teams spawning simultaneously as one of eight possible default character models. Each player begins with $800, two magazines of ammo, a knife, and a handgun: a Heckler & Koch USP for the Counter-Terrorists or a Glock 18c for the Terrorists. Players are usually allowed a few seconds before the round starts to purchase equipment but not move. They may purchase equipment whenever they are in a buy zone for their team. When players are killed, they become spectators for the rest of the round. They may typically watch the rest of the round from a variety of chosen observer modes. At the end of each round, players receive money for the next round: $3,500 for winning a round, $1,500 for losing one, and $300 for killing an enemy, up to a maximum total of $16,000. Players can be fined, or lose money, by killing a teammate or a hostage.Depending on the map, there are 3 possible objectives to win :
Formerly, there was a fourth objective called Escape. In this scenario, the terrorist team had to "escape" to a designated escape point while the Counter-Terrorist team tried to kill them. When half of the team has managed to escape, the Terrorists win the round. Following each of the eight rounds of play, the two sides will trade roles. If one team eliminates the other, either team can win the scenario.
A heads-up display shows information to assist players during gameplay. The action indicator in the top right displays the names of players who are killed and the weapon used. The radar, or mini-map, shows the positions of teammates and other relevant map details. The HUD displays the player's health, armor, ammunition, and money as well as the round timer. On the left side, icons indicate important locations such as hostage rescue areas, VIP escape points, buy zones, and bomb sites, and in bomb defusal maps, it shows whether the player is carrying the C4 bomb or a defuse kit.
There are three categories of weapons: melee, secondary, and primary. Players are only allowed to carry one weapon of each category at a time. There is a separate category for equipment like defusing kits and hand grenades which do not have the same carry limits.
Development
Video game programmer Minh "Gooseman" Le was previously involved in developing video game mods, such as Navy SEALs for Quake and Action Quake 2. However, he wanted to create his own mod to have more control over development. He chose to use the game engine GoldSrc, because he had already worked with the Quake and Quake 2 engines, and he felt it was a logical choice. The realistic setting of Half-Life, which was developed using GoldSrc, made Half-Life well-suited for his concept of a mod involving terrorists and counter-terrorists, a theme inspired by Rainbow Six. Development began in January 1999, but as the Half-Life software development kit was not yet released, Le initially created new weapon and player models. In February 1999, the first screenshots of Counter-Strike were released, accompanied by an interview with Le about the mod. Le and Jess Cliffe, who had both worked on Action Quake 2, connected through Internet Relay Chat, during which Le shared his idea for the mod. Cliffe, excited by the concept, offered to create a website for it and became involved in the project.Several movies served as sources of inspiration for prospective weapon candidates. For instance, the Krieg 552 and M249 were included in Counter-Strike due to inspiration from the 1998 film Ronin. Additionally, the films Air Force One and Léon: The Professional served as further influences for weapon selection. Gun magazines and the Internet were key sources for the team to gather information about the actual firearms used in the game. A few weapon models in Counter-Strike deviate from their real-world counterparts because Le had to make assumptions about how certain weapons would behave in animations due to limited information. The weapons had to not only look and sound good but also feel satisfying to use. Realism, as well as the type of weapons the groups would likely use in real-life scenarios, were prioritized when selecting the weapons for the game.
On March 15, 1999, the mod received its name following an ICQ chat between Le and Cliffe. Le suggested names based on his favorite TV shows and movies, with options like Counterrorism, Counter-Strike, Strike Force, Frag Heads, Counter-Terror, Terrorist Wars, Terror-Force, and Counter Force, and eventually settled on Counter-Strike. The official Counter-Strike web page was launched on March 24, 1999. It was hosted by GameSpys Joost Schurr on Planet Half-Life. When the Half-Life SDK was released on April 7, 1999, mod development officially began. Minh Le's reputation from Action Quake 2 led to the mod receiving significant attention before release. The website attracted 10,000 visitors within two and a half weeks.
Le focused on the player models, spending 40 hours for each one. Cliffe contributed to the game's design, sound, art and public relations, while closely following the development of Half-Life and reading Gabe Newell interviews. In May 1999, the mod's most pressing issue was a shortage of people to make maps to play on. Despite several requests posted on the official website, the response was minimal. Cliffe began directly contacting Half-Life mappers and reached out to people who had previously submitted maps to Radium, a Half-Life mapping site. A contest was held to select maps for the initial beta, though some maps selected were later discarded.
Before the first beta's official release, a pre-beta build was leaked online, which potentially accelerated the release of the mod. The first beta, released on July 15, 1999, featured a hostage rescue scenario, 9 weapons, 4 maps, and one player model per side. Jess Cliffe reported that the release was well received by the community. Beta 2 and Beta 3 followed, adding new weapons, maps, and factions. Beta 3 introduced the removal of kill counts from the scoreboard, which was controversial and later reversed. Beta 4 introduced the bomb defusal scenario. The interest in the game drew numerous players to Cliffe's website, which helped both him and Le make revenue from advertisements hosted on the site. Another website related to Counter-Strike, a fansite named CS-Nation, was launched by John "rizzuh" Jensen as a source for information about the game, news updates, and skins.
In late 1999, Minh Le began working at Barking Dog Studios while finishing his studies. When Valve Software learned of this, they asked Barking Dog to assist in developing Beta 5, offering to finance the project and acquire the game's intellectual property. Barking Dog mainly handled development, as Le was occupied with his university studies. Valve contributed by cleaning up code, fixing bugs, and enhancing the interface. New hostage models were introduced, and the development of the game was further supported with the release of Beta 5.2. With Beta 6.0, new scenarios, such as assassination and escape, were added. While assassination found moderate success, the escape scenario was later removed.
Release
Pre-release
On April 12, 2000, Valve Software announced a partnership with the Counter-Strike Team, confirming that Counter-Strike 1.0 would be included in an upcoming Half-Life patch. Though not explicitly stated, it is widely believed that this followed Valve's acquisition of Counter-Strike. Statements suggest the rights were sold in early 2000, involving a financial transaction. Despite the partnership, two more beta versions were released. Beta 6.5 introduced an updated netcode, while Beta 7.0 added drive-able vehicles. Following the acquisition of the game by Valve, while Cliffe continued working for them, Le did additional work towards a Counter-Strike 2.0 based on Valve's upcoming Source engine, but left to start his own studio after Valve opted to shelve the sequel.Valve planned to release Counter-Strike both as a Half-Life mod and a standalone retail product on August 31, 2000. The decision aimed to increase accessibility and test market demand for a multiplayer game independent of Half-Life. Legal issues arose before the retail release, particularly regarding weapon names, which were changed to fictional alternatives. Valve also had to secure rights for maps and textures, leading to modifications and removals of certain assets. Minh Le, one of the original developers, compensated mappers whose work Valve did not purchase.