Dune II
Dune II | |
---|---|
Genesis/Mega Drive | |
Release | MS-DOS December 1992 Amiga 1993 Mega Drive/Genesis RISC OS 1995 |
Genre(s) | Real-time strategy |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty (titled Dune II: Battle for Arrakis in Europe and Dune: The Battle for Arrakis for the North American
While not the first real-time strategy (RTS) video game, Dune II established the format that would be followed for years to come.[1][2] As such, Dune II is the archetypal real-time strategy game. Striking a balance between complexity and innovation, it was a huge success and laid the foundation for Age of Empires, Command & Conquer, Warcraft, and many other RTS games that followed.
Plot
Emperor Frederick IV of
The player is a military commander from a House of their choice. In the first few missions, the objectives are to successfully establish a base on an unoccupied territory of Arrakis, to harvest spice, and to defeat intruders. Later, when the three Houses divide Arrakis among them, the player has to assault and capture enemy territories. When the player dominates Arrakis on the world map, the two other enemy factions ally against their common enemy. The final showdown is the battle between the player's House against both rival Houses and the Emperor's
Gameplay
The player takes the role of the commander of one of the three interplanetary houses, the Atreides, the Harkonnen or the Ordos, with the objective of wresting control of Arrakis from the other two houses. House Ordos is not featured in the Dune novels and is mentioned only in the non-canon The Dune Encyclopedia. The basic strategy in the game is to harvest spice from the treacherous sand dunes using a harvester vehicle, convert the spice into credits via a refinery, and to build military units with these acquired credits in order to fend off and destroy the enemy.
The game map initially starts with a fog of war covering all area which is not covered by the player's units range of view. As the units explore the map, the darkness is removed. Unlike later games such as Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, the fog of war is lifted forever with initial exploration; it does not become dark once more when units leave the area.
In addition to enemy incursions, there are other dangers such as the marauding, gigantic sandworm, capable of swallowing vehicles and infantry whole but blocked by rocky terrain. The player can only build on rocky terrain and must build concrete foundations to avoid deterioration of the structures due to the harsh weather conditions. Structures will still gradually decay over time regardless of the presence of those concrete slabs, but they save repair costs in the long run. Spice fields are indicated by orange coloration on the sand, darker orange indicating high concentration. Some spice may be concealed as bumps on the terrain (a "spice bloom") that become spice fields when they are shot at, or when a unit runs over them (the unit is destroyed in the ensuing "spice blow").
A map of the planet Arrakis is shown before most missions, where the player can choose the next territory to play in among two or three. This affects primarily the enemy house fought in the next mission, as all missions except the first two require the destruction of the enemy. Nine territories must be fought, irrespective of house, to reach the endgame.
Some key elements that first appeared in Dune II and later appear in many other RTS games include:
- A world map from which the next mission is chosen
- Resource-gathering to fund unit construction
- Simple base and unit construction
- Building construction dependencies (technology tree)
- Mobile units that can be deployed as buildings
- Different sides/factions (the Houses), each with unique unit-types and super weapons
- A context-sensitive mouse cursor to issue commands (introduced in the Mega Drive/Genesis version)
Completing higher missions gives authorization to use improved technology and higher-order weaponry unique to each House, ensuring varied game play. For example, House Harkonnen may be able to construct their Devastator tanks with heavy armor and ordnance but cannot build the similarly impressive Atreides Sonic Tank. The Ordos have access to the Deviator - a specialized tank firing a nerve gas that switches the allegiance of targeted units to Ordos for a limited period of time. The three Houses also are restricted in their production capabilities—House Ordos cannot build Atreides-style trikes, instead making the faster "Raider" trikes, while House Harkonnen eschews trikes completely, building only the heavier, more expensive "Quad" light attack vehicle.
A player can gain access to other Houses' special units by capturing an enemy Factory and manufacturing the desired units at the captured Factory.
Buildings may only be built in rocky zones and connected to another existing building. To protect them from constant wear, the player must first place concrete slabs in the construction areas. Production buildings can be upgraded at a cost several times, allowing the production of more advanced units or buildings.
The final prize for the commander is the building of the House Palace from where
The
Development
According to Virgin Interactive vice president
Westwood Studios co-founder and Dune II producer Brett Sperry said in 2008 that conceptualization for the game began when Virgin president
Other influences cited by Joseph Bostic (also known as Joe Bostic), the co-designer and lead programmer, and Mike Legg, one of the game's programmers, include the turn-based strategy games Military Madness (1989) and Civilization (1991), along with Herzog Zwei. According to Bostic, a "benefit over Herzog Zwei is that we had the advantage of a mouse and keyboard. This greatly facilitated precise player control, which enabled the player to give orders to individual units. The mouse, and the direct control it allowed, was critical in making the RTS genre possible".[9]
Release
Originally released for MS-DOS in 1992, Dune II was one of the first games to support the recently introduced General MIDI standard. The game audio was programmed with the middleware Miles audio library which handled the dynamic conversion of the game's MIDI musical score, originally composed on the Roland MT-32, to the selected soundcard. At initial release, the game's setup utility lacked the means to support separate output devices for the musical score and speech/sound-effects. This limitation was frustrating to owners of high-quality MIDI synthesisers (such as the Roland Sound Canvas), because users could not play the game with both digital sound effects (which MIDI synthesisers lacked) and high-quality MIDI score. Westwood later published a revised setup utility to enable users select a different soundcard for each type of game audio: digital speech, music, and sound effects.[10]
Ports to the Amiga and Mega Drive/Genesis were released in 1993[11] and 1994[12] respectively. The Amiga floppy disk version has less detailed graphics and requires frequent disk swapping. Save games are stored on a specially formatted disk.
Two years later, it was also brought to the Archimedes and Risc PC range of RISC OS computers.
The Mega Drive/Genesis port has fairly different building and unit graphics, a full-screen menu-less user interface suited for gamepad control, and no save game support, relying on access codes for accessing each level. Other additions include a music test option and a tutorial that replaces the mentat screen. Several ideas from this version, including the music track listing and the replacement of sidebar command buttons by a context-sensitive cursor, were used in Westwood's next strategy game, Command & Conquer.
The game was ported to
Reception
Publication | Score |
---|---|
Mean Machines Sega | 93% (Mega Drive)[15] |
MegaTech | 91% (Mega Drive)[16] |
Mega Power | 87% (Mega Drive)[17] |
According to Westwood Studios, Dune II was a commercial success, with global sales in excess of 250,000 units by November 1996.[18]
Computer Gaming World in 1993 stated that the PC version of Dune II "easily outshines its predecessor in terms of game play ... a real gem", with "arguably the most outstanding sound and graphics ever to appear in a strategy game of its kind".[19] A February 1994 survey of space war games gave it a grade of B+, stating that without online play, there was little replayability once each House conquered the planet,[20] but a May 1994 survey of strategic space games set in the year 2000 and later gave the game five stars out of five, describing it as "a wargame par excellance; superb graphics and sound make an enjoyable gaming experience". The magazine hoped that Command & Conquer would be its sequel.[21] Electronic Games gave the game a 92% score.[22]
When the Amiga version of Dune II was released in 1993, it was met with positive reviews. CU Amiga magazine rated the game highly with 85%, praising the smooth gameplay and controls.[23] Dune II received Amiga User International's Game of the Month award when it was reviewed in September 1993.[24]
In 1993, Computer Gaming World named Dune II Strategy Game of the Year.
Legacy
Dune II was one of the most influential games in the real-time strategy genre, particularly in Westwood's own Command & Conquer series.[39] Though not every feature was unique, its specific combination of a fog of war, mouse-based military micromanagement, and an economic model of resource-gathering and base-building became the hallmark of the RTS genre. It served as the template for subsequent real-time strategy games.[1] Chris Taylor has stated that Dune II and Command & Conquer were great inspirations, driving him to leave Electronic Arts to create Total Annihilation.[40]
Dune II also led to direct sequels: Westwood released a semi-
References
- ^ ISBN 1-59200-104-1.
- ^ Geryk, Bruce (May 19, 2008). "A History of Real-Time Strategy Games: Dune II". GameSpot. Archived from the original on January 31, 2009. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
a game that is largely credited with revolutionizing the strategy genre
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- ^ "Dune II team bug", FED2k forums, May 28, 2009.
- ^ Cobbett, Richard (21 June 2014). "Saturday Crapshoot: Dune". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 26 June 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
- ^ Clarke-Willson, Stephen (August 18, 1998). "The Origin of Realtime Strategy Games on the PC". The Rise and Fall of Virgin Interactive. Above the Garage Productions. Archived from the original on 2003-05-04. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
- ^ "The Making of... Dune II". Edge. December 9, 2008. Archived from the original on February 12, 2013. Retrieved May 2, 2014.
- ^ Saltzman, Marc (December 30, 1998). "Where Have All the Genres Gone?". CNET Gamecenter. Archived from the original on December 6, 2000. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
- ^ "The History of Command & Conquer". NowGamer. Archived from the original on 16 December 2020. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
- ^ Frank Klepacki: FROM DUNE 2, TO DUNE 2000 Archived 2017-06-18 at the Wayback Machine, 26.3.2010
- ^ "Dune II: The Battle for Arrakis". Lemon Amiga. Archived from the original on 2023-12-25. Retrieved 2023-12-25.
- ^ "Dune II: Battle for Arrakis". Sega Retro. December 17, 2023. Archived from the original on December 25, 2023. Retrieved December 25, 2023.
- github.com
- ^ dunedynasty Archived 2016-04-04 at the Wayback Machine on repo.openpandora.org
- ^ "Dune II: Battle for Arrakis". Mean Machines Sega. No. 15. January 1994. pp. 128–130.
- ^ "Dune II: Battle for Arrakis". MegaTech. No. 25. January 1994. p. 68.
- ^ "Dune 2". Mega Power. No. 6. January 1994. pp. 62–64.
- ^ "Software Retailers on full alert as Westwood Studios' Red Alert Ships" (Press release). Las Vegas: Westwood Studios. November 22, 1996. Archived from the original on June 5, 1997. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
- ^ Greenberg, Allen L. (April 1993). "A Review of Virgin/Westwood's Dune II". Computer Gaming World. p. 84. Archived from the original on 2 July 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
- ^ Cirulis, Martin E. (February 1994). "The Year The Stars Fell". Computer Gaming World. pp. 94–104. Archived from the original on 2017-10-03. Retrieved 2017-11-09.
- ^ Brooks, M. Evan (May 1994). "Never Trust A Gazfluvian Flingschnogger!". Computer Gaming World. pp. 42–58. Archived from the original on 2014-07-03. Retrieved 2017-11-11.
- ^ "Electronic Games 1993-06". June 1993.
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- ^ "Amiga User International review:Dune II". Amiga User International. AUI Limited. September 1993.
- ^ "ProReview: Dune: The Battle for Arrakis". GamePro. No. 53. IDG. December 1993. p. 82.
- ^ "Review Crew: Dune". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 54. EGM Media, LLC. January 1994. p. 44.
- ^ "Legacy Review Archives". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 15 April 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
- ^ "Computer Gaming World's Game of the Year Awards". Computer Gaming World. October 1993. pp. 70–74. Archived from the original on 16 March 2016. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
- ^ Amiga Power magazine issue 64, Future Publishing, August 1996
- ^ "150 Best (and 50 Worst) Games of All Time". Computer Gaming World. No. 148. November 1996. pp. 63–65, 68, 72, 74, 76, 78, 80, 84, 88, 90, 94, 98.
- ^ GameSpy Hall of Fame
- ^ 8. Dune 2: The Battle for Arrakis - 30 najlepszych gier na Amigę - Imperium gier Archived 2011-12-30 at the Wayback Machine, WP.PL (in Polish)
- ^ (in Polish) Michał Wierzbicki, Dziesięć najlepszych gier na Amigę Archived 2016-05-30 at the Wayback Machine, Chip.pl, 23.02.2010
- ^ "All-Time 100 Video Games". Time. November 15, 2012. Archived from the original on November 16, 2012. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
- PC Gamer US(3): 42. August 1994.
- PC Gamer UK. No. 5. April 1994. pp. 43–56.
- ^ "The GamesMaster Mega Drive Top 10" (PDF). GamesMaster (44): 74. July 1996. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-12-11. Retrieved 2022-07-03.
- ^ "Top 100 Games of All Time" (PDF). GamesMaster (44): 77. July 1996. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-12-11. Retrieved 2022-07-03.
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