Starcraft first made use of the word "pwned", which is popular with Internet users. It came about when a map designer misspelled the word. Then the game was published with the error. When a player had been beaten, the message "______ has been pwned" appeared. This was corrected using patches but remained in the vocabulary of '1337' or 'leet' speakers.
The Zerg facial structure is derived from dental x-ray scans of human skulls.
The game has many references and similarities to the science fiction film "Aliens", which includes unit styles, confirmation lines and designs:
Terran Marine: "How do I get out of this chickenshit outfit", said by private Hudson, in Aliens;
Terran Dropship: "We're in the pipe, five by five", "We're in for some chop", said by the corporal Ferro when approaching planet LV-426; also the unit icon and voice style are similar to corporal Ferro in Aliens;
Terran SCV similarly styled to the loader used in the ship's docking bay;
Zerg structures are similarly styled to the infested LV-426 colony;
Zerg hydralisk unit similarly styled to the xenomorph queen;
Terran ship interior, seen in movie sequence, similarly styled to the LV-426 colony.
WILHELM SCREAM: Is heard (looped) when listening carefully to the opening marching band notes for the Terran Academy unit.
The female, cybernetic guide for Terran game play is loosely designed from the artwork of H.R. Giger.