Sandworms, technique, and an entire lotta spice
Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of the 1965 sci-fi novel Dune went stay in theaters and on HBO Max this weekend. However the silver display screen isn’t the one medium that’s tried to convey the dunes of Arrakis to life. Dune‘s legacy in video video games isn’t simply notable, however groundbreaking in some respects—and a bit dramatic, too.
The final time we did this, across the premiere of Evangelion‘s Thrice Upon a Time, we dove right into a line of visible novels, multimedia discs, and even a hidden gem of a Nintendo 64 sport. The gaming legacy of Dune is a reasonably exceptional one although, at the very least for one firm specifically: Westwood. However let’s begin in the beginning.
Going again to Dune
There are, by a normal tally, 5 licensed Dune video games. There are additionally a number of board video games, role-playing video games, and even MUDs (a.ok.a. Multi-Consumer Dungeon) of Dune. However the industrial online game legacy of the books kicked off with 1992 sport Dune. Effectively, considered one of them.
Developed by Cryo Interactive, Dune (1992) was launched for MS-DOS and Amiga, and later got here to Sega CD in 1993. It was one of many first floppy format video games transformed to CD, and this model included footage from the David Lynch adaptation, voice appearing, and 3D-rendered scenes. It’s based mostly on the unique novel, following Paul Atreides as his household is given the fief of the desert planet Arrakis by the emperor. You’re tasked with managing relationships, each with native Fremen and the rival faction, Harkonnen.
It’s a mixture of point-and-click journey and real-time technique, with each features enjoying into the success or failure of Home Atreides. It’s fairly forward of its time, with its mixture of politics, dialogue, exploration, and technique bringing to thoughts video games like Divinity: Dragon Commander.
It had a reportedly troubled growth, and in the end, discovered itself in competitors with itself. As a result of Dune (1992) was not the one 1992 Dune sport. All of the whereas, one other firm was working by itself model of Dune, that additionally regarded to technique for inspiration.
To command and conquer
In December 1992, Westwood Studios launched its personal Dune online game underneath a number of totally different names. Referred to as Dune II: The Constructing of a Dynasty, Dune II: Battle for Arrakis, Dune: Battle for Arrakis, or simply merely Dune II, it was additionally based mostly on Lynch’s film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi novel.
In Westwood’s model, the participant takes management of considered one of three homes: Atreides, Harkonnen, and the Ordos—that final one being a brand new addition for Westwood’s sport. The purpose is to take management of Arrakis from the opposite two homes by harvesting spice and build up money, finally funding a military to crush the enemy.
If it sounds acquainted, nicely, that’s as a result of Dune II was basically the blueprint for a lot of real-time technique video games to come back, together with Westwood’s Command & Conquer.
In a characteristic on the making of the sport in Edge, Westwood co-founder and Dune II producer Brett Sperry credited a number of sources of inspiration: partly Populous, occasion his work on Eye of the Beholder, and most crucially, an argument he as soon as had with Strategic Simulations vice chairman Chuck Kroegel. Wargames “sucked,” as Sperry stated, due to an absence of innovation and poor design. He remembers Kroegel saying the class was a in “lengthy, sluggish decline” as gamers moved to extra thrilling genres.
“I felt that the style had a number of potential—the floor was barely scratched so far as I as involved, particularly from a design standpoint,” Sperry advised Edge. “So I took it as a private problem and figured harness real-time dynamics with nice sport controls right into a fast-paced wargame.”
The consequence was the real-time technique sport, one thing experimented with already by 1990’s Herzog Zwei, and now codified in Dune II. The sport would change into successful, resulting in a semi-remake in Dune 2000 and Emperor: Battle for Dune in 2001.
It could additionally lead Westwood to create the Command & Conquer sequence utilizing an analogous design philosophy, and it grew to become a pivotal sport within the PC technique house.
Return of Cryo
Cryo Interactive, nevertheless, was not accomplished with Dune. The developer would return to Herbert’s sci-fi novel in 2001 with Frank Herbert‘s Dune. It was based mostly on the Sci Fi Channel miniseries from 2000, and opted for an journey sport setup in 3D, following Paul Atreides’ efforts to win over the Fremen and take down Baron Harkonnen.
It arrived within the midst of troubles for the studio, and sadly, Cryo started to slowly fold and dissolve not lengthy after the launch of Frank Herbert’s Dune. As its subsidiaries and studios closed, it took one other Dune sport with it: the continuing mission Dune Generations.
Although fan-created legacy variations of those older video games and mods for different video games preserve the Dune spirit alive, the sci-fi sequence’ online game future is nebulous. The work to convey Dune again to the gaming house is underway, although it stays to be seen what form that may take or when.
But regardless of an absence in current reminiscence, the Dune sequence’ online game diversifications left a everlasting mark within the video games business. From a sincerely fascinating adventure-strategy hybrid to turning into the blueprint for a brand new style of technique fully, Dune‘s mark on video games can nonetheless be seen immediately, even when it’s simply in fashionable remakes of its successors. And hopefully, sometime, we’ll go to the digital dunes of Arrakis once more.
Screenshots and promo artwork courtesy of the MobyGames archives.