Homeworld
From Wikinfo
In many works of science fiction, a being's homeworld is their planet of origin. For example, in Star Wars Luke Skywalker's homeworld is Tatooine.
Homeworld is a computer game released in 1999 developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sierra Entertainment. Unlike most of the Real-time strategy games that precede it, Homeworld allows for movement of units in all three spatial dimensions.
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Storyline
Homeworld's storyline is complex and highly detailed. It is delivered to the player through (1) an introductory manual explaning the game's universe and backstory, (2) short animated films between game levels, and (3) cut-scenes which take place during gameplay itself. This method of storyline presentation is popular in modern Real-time strategy (RTS) games.
The game tells the story of a humanoid race, the Kushan, living on a planet called Karrak. This desert planet is so inhospitable that the Kushan could settle only in the polar regions.
For all of its known history, the population of Karrak was divided into independent political entities known as "Clans". Each clan embodied unique racial, religious, and cultural traits, and clans were constantly at war.
The extremly inhospitable Karrak climate led many Hiigarans to question how they evolved on the planet in the first place. The revelation that the Kushan genetic makeup was highly unlike any other life-form on the planet, and the eventual discovery of a huge alien ship, the Kar Tobe (First City), would lend final proof to this 'exogenesis' hypothesis. Within the Kar Tobe, the Guidestone was discovered - an artifact revealing the location of the Kushan's homeworld, simply named Hiigara (Our Home).
The Kushan (otherwise known as the Hiigarans) eventually managed to unite all but the most extreme clans towards the goal of reaching their previous homeworld and discovering the reasons behind their exile. To this end, a giant colony ship, the Mothership, was constructed. Construction of the ship was made possible by the discovery of new technologies within the Kar Tobe, including the 'quantum waveform generator', capable of moving a ship between two points faster than the speed of light. Karen S'jet, a young female scientist, made the ultimate sacrifice by permanently bonding with the Mothership to serve as it's living CPU.
After the departure of the Mothership, Karrak was attacked by the Taiidan, a large interstellar empire who now controlled the planet of Hiigara and viciously opposed the exiles' attempt to reclaim their homeworld. The remaining surface population of Karrak was eliminated in this attack.
Over remaining levels of the game, the Kushan encounter other alien races, including the benevolent group of traders known as the Bentusi, and the hostile, fanatical Kadeshians. They eventually suceed in reclaiming their home planet, and discover the reasons for their exile.
Gameplay
Homeworld is best known for its single player campaign, although the game also contains a multiplayer option. Gameplay, both single and multiplayer, is complicated by the addition of a third demension. Homeworld's user interface, while initially difficult, allows players full control of their ships in this new setting.
The general flow of gameplay resembled other RTS games, such as StarCraft and the Command and Conquer series. The player scouts the map, harvests resouces and builds units. Since the game takes place in space, there are obviously no 'structures', but the Mothership carriers, and research ships preform the same functions of construction and technological development.
Ships in the game range from agile strike craft to lumbering capital ships such as the battlecruiser. Each unit serves a particular function and represents a trade off in strength, offensive power, speed, and cost.
In the single player game, Homeworld uses a unique fleet inheritance concept, in which all ships from a previous mission remain in the next. Therefore, it is theoretically possible for a ship built in the first mission to still be present at the end of the game. This feature, coupled with the limited avalibility of resources in each level, forces the player to made hard decisions on the make up of his fleet.
Soundtrack
With the exception of a song by the rock group "Yes" entitled "Homeworld", most of the music in the game is ambient, matching the loney but beautiful enviorment of deep space. Also worthy of note is the inclusion of a choir version of Samuel Barber's Agnus Dei, originally written for strings.
Influences and context
Homeworld was undoubtable influence by the many RTS games which came before it. Its epic storyline is reminiscent of titles such as StarCraft and Dark Reign. Homeworld's battles, involving dozens and sometimes hundreds of small swarming ships was inspired by George Lucas's famous Star Wars.
Many of the starship designs were inspired by the Terran Trade Authority books, published by Hamlyn Publishing Group in the 1970s, and illustrated by artists Peter Elson and Chris Foss. Both are honored by getting special credit mentions in the game, while defecting Taidan character, Group Captain Elson, is named after Peter Elson.
Homeworld paved the way for other fully 3D RTS games, such as Hegemonia: Legions of Iron, and Far Gate.
Reviews and recognition
Homeworld was given high marks by most of the gaming community, and earned numerous awards, including IGN's game of the year award for 1999. The game was praised for its eye catching, movie like graphics engine, large battles, appropriate soundtrack, and its revolutionary 3D interface.
Sequels
In September 2000 a stand-alone expansion was released, Homeworld: Cataclysm.
The sequel, Homeworld 2, was released in late 2003.
Relic released the source code to Homeworld in late 2003.
External link
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Homeworld" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeworld, used under the GNU Free Documentation License
