DGC Ep 374: Homeworld (part one)

Dev Game Club

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we start a new series on 1999's Homeworld, from Relic Entertainment. We set the game in its time and then turn a little bit to the opening moments and the tutorial. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: First couple of levels + tutorial

Issues covered: a layered intro, our history with RTSes, the music hitting, transitioning to a console player, console RTSes, a new timeline, setting the game in its time, going against the norm, Relic and its RTS series, the big genre of the time but one that never grew, grognard capture, the appeal of online games, early e-sports, popularity in Korea, the feel of a space sim, checking all the boxes, how 3D it really is, switching views to elevate a target point, mouse and keyboard, doing their own thing with hotkeys, evolution working on games, presentational advantages, a graphics benchmark game, economical game development, elegant ship design, great silhouettes, maybe tessellating, editors that look like RTSes, spending budget on contrails, using specific things on PCs vs the graphics cards, camera and control, mining everything you can and building as you go, replacing inferior ships with new ones, finite people and resources reflecting themes, elegance in design, framing the camera well, the great use of the fleet commander and the magic of moving the camera, WWII space physics vs more accurate space physics, interestingly bad video games, finding those bad games, moon shots, imagining a deeper ecology, speedrunning Trespasser, a diversion into speedrunning.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Starfighter, Starcraft (series), Total War (series), Warcraft (series), Quake, Halo, Battlestar: Galactica, DOOM, Diablo, PlayStation, Age of Empires (series), Pikmin, Brutal Legend, Tim Schafer, Johnny "Pockets", System Shock 2, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Planescape: Torment, Shenmue, Owen Wilson, Command and Conquer (series), Westwood, Tim Curry, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Final Fantasy VIII, Chrono Cross, Silent Hill, Rayman 2: The Great Escape, Quake III Arena, Omikron: The Nomad Soul, David Cage, Asheron's Call (series), D&D Online, LotR Online, Turbine Entertainment, Derek Flippo, Sega, Creative Assembly, Blizzard, Ensemble Studios, Total Annihilation, Impossible Creatures, Dawn of War, Company of Heroes, Warhammer: 40K, Myth, Bungie, Call of Duty (series), LucasArts, Galactic Battlegrounds (series), Force Commander, Andrew Kirmse, TIE Fighter (series), Descent: Freespace, Wing Commander, Colony Wars, Elite, Star Citizen, Star Wars: Squadrons, Star Trek: Wrath of Khan, GoldenEye: 007, Metroid Prime, Resident Evil (series), Eric Johnston, X-COM, Julian Gollop, Baldur's Gate, Troy Mashburn, Trespasser, Biostats, Belmont, Reed Knight, Dragon's Dogma, Bethesda Game Studios, D&D, Black and White, ARK: Survival Evolved, Valheim, Half-Life 2, GameThing, Dave Wolinsky, Pippin Barr, Control, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: A few more levels!

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