The free-to-play "StarCraft MMO," StarCraft Universe, being made with Blizzard's approval—surpassed its $80,000 funding goal on Kickstarter with a day left in the campaign. A five-player boss raid demo (that's the video) released in the last week of the drive is credited with pushing the team over the top.

StarCraft Universe, the "StarCraft MMO" concept that got a bunch of Blizzard's lawyers itchy and nervous a couple of years ago, is aiming toward a full fledged release—with Blizzard's permisson—and is looking for $80,000 in Kickstarter funding to do so.

Remember StarCraft Universe? The mod was called the "Starcraft MMO" that kicked up a brief fuss in 2011 but was smoothed out, eventually, with Blizzard's blessings. Ryan Winzen, the project's creative director, is happy to share news that SCU: Chronicles of Fate is now available, and will be going out over…

It's been a while since we saw how the fan-made MMO built on the bones of StarCraft II is looking. So let's take a look!

StarCraft Universe, the "World of Starcraft" MMO project that touched off a tense week for the StarCraft II modding community back in January, has released the first trailer of gameplay from its alpha version. You get a wide look at a lot of features of the game in that four-minute trailer, above.

StarCraft's top designer called last month's stir over a "World of Starcraft" mod "a big misunderstanding," but said the mod's creator could be seeing job offers down the road, possibly from StarCraft's studio itself.

The fan-made Starcraft MMO, which was recently forced to change its name in order to avoid being struck with a large hammer, is now back. And its new name is just fine.

A week ago, Ryan Winzen was a college student with another year and half until completing his degree. Today, he's the mod community's Cinderella story, with a foot in the door at one games studio and a pat on the back from another.