Homeworld Co-Creator Rob Cunningham: Extended Interview | Ars Technica

[@winni2701]

You know how deep Homeworld impressed you if you often have dreams about it.

[@osedseam]

I had those back in the day :D

[@Terradyn86]

when I played homeworld cataclysm I had a problem with the nebula mission and I had dream where I captured the heavy cruiser. After I woke up I've just said to my self. Okay, let's do it. And I captured the HC and two destroyers in that mission. I had to load game about 10 times. But those 3 ships made next missions much easier :P. Well, yeah. And I went to study pc graphic and design, because I wanted to work in a game studio on a games :)

[@DanasAnis]

Man, so this is one of the guys who defined how space games should look and feel for me! Incredible! Homeworld is one of the best ever games ever made, it's unbelievable that so many things were last minute one shot goes, because it all seems so well put together. Looking forward to Homeworld 3! Homeworld has a special place in my heart.

[@herekongato]

Love these long interviews, shows how passionate the devs are

[@sarge8905]

I never played Homeworld, it completely passed me by at a time that I was really in to RTS. Hearing Rob talk so passionately about it made me want to give it a try, so have now downloaded the Remastered Collection on Steam :)

[@FireflyCasual]

For a better experience, I recommend using the Player's Patch here: steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1190476337 Gearbox ceased further patches to the game, but these modders have made up for it. It is great for playing on the campaign or and multiplayer because it fixes a lot of bugs.

[@Whiskey11Gaming]

Prepare yourself to be transformed. You'll never be the same person ever again. It's THAT good, even today.

[@MarkoLomovic]

hey tell us your experience with it

[@shuaguin5446]

A very unique experience for sure. One no other game ever sucesseded in replicating for me.

[@cocopud]

www.gog.com/game/homeworld_emergence?&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9LKqupai6QIViu7tCh0wTg7MEAAYASAAEgI2r_D_BwE

[@_P_M_]

I loved Homeworld. My son, who was just a baby when I first played it, is STILL playing it today. I don't really 'game' anymore, but if I put together list of games I'd like to revisit, Homeworld and Starcontrol II would on top of my list. And that Yes track was awesome!

[@SireSquish]

So in a way they bascially just cobbled together a series of drafts, and inadvertently created an entire genre.

[@Keemperor40K]

Great things almost never start as a big cohesive idea. Almost without exception, someone has a good idea, but it doesn't become great until someone adds a second, third or more parts that when put together they truly become amazing.

[@atejas1]

It's crazy how much of a lightning-in-the-bottle game Homeworld was. The issues Rob brings up in the video about orientation and control and things are ones that no dev team had ever tackled before, and they pretty much solved as many of them as they could with the technology they had at the time.

[@danielscheller3337]

21:23 Rob Cunningham is imitates the sound of the sensors manager perfectly.

[@lawbinson]

Hearing about how they came up with solutions to problems was really enlightening. Mad respects to the Relic / Blackbird team.

[@SoilentGr33n]

Thanks for the game. And the video. Homeworld's intro still brings me on the verge of tears everytime. It is so beautiful and tragic.

[@jcataclisma]

I am LOVING this small Homeworld "series". THANK YOU!

[@Randymountaine]

I've owned and played every Homeworld game many times, and will 100% buy and support anything Blackbird Interactive put out, They are the exact Devs who have original ideas, passion and truly care about their work. So excited for Homeworld 3 and as much as I like Gearbox, i'd love it if Blackbird could one day regain the rights to the franchise.

[@jthwaits]

Thanks so much for publishing this, you've clearly stumbled upon an insanely passionate studio and audience!

[@Hydrazine1000]

" [...] because our audience at the time was, like, 12, so of course they loved it!" at 31:16 Well, I was 22 at the time and I liked it too!

[@blakfyr4773]

My best friends 13 year old brother introduce me to it, I had seen it on the shelves but passed it by. When he showed it to me I was hooked and bought it that night. I was 18 at the time. I still play it to this day.

[@JMGrimm]

Wow. I can't smash like hard enough. Thanks for making this! Homeworld was a HUGE part of my gaming life as a teen. I was amazed at how deep the story was. The original box came with a separate 1/4 in thick book that just had backstory, a lot of which was never used in the game, but gave an unprecedented feeling of depth to the game. A lot of the back story in that book seems to have been used in Homeworld Shipbreakers. I can hardly wait for Homeworld 3, but I expect them to push the envelope substantially for RTS, not just re-package Homeworld 1, with a different story. It's been so long, I really want something genuinely new.

[@elmgful]

For a narrative masterpiece that was effectively slapped together last minute, these guys are miracle workers

[@cubicuboctahedron]

I played Homeworld off and on for a while since release. When I entered college in the mid 2000s, I remember floormates being transfixed by the engine and gameplay even though HL2 and Doom 3 had just come out.

[@javier019]

I love that Base Runner miniature from Deserts of Kharak he has there !

[@Yetzederixx]

Chapter 5 rings extra true. "Hey, this sounds doable." ... "Ok, it's doable but I have no idea what I'm doing" ... "Do I even know how to code?" haha, love this series and particular video.

[@LukeVilent]

13:30 "We didn't know how to tell the story and what the story even was"... said they, and created one of the most memorable stories in hard scifi ever. 30:00 I believe, though, that like the absence of shark prop in Jaws made Jaws one of the horror classics, as it built up suspense, technical limitations driving Homeworld to tell the story via spaceships made it so... idk, Zen or something. C'mon people, gardens of Kadesh! That's when those who can hold their tears at Mufasa's death cry - and all we see are just spaceships in the cosmic dust. 31:20 "People loved it because our audience was like, 12". I was 15. I'm 36 now, and... see comment above.

[@Herb.]

The 2D animatics really impressed me, was very immersive and I love the art! Mysterious!

[@SDGGames]

This interview encouraged me to try the remastered collection, it was definitely worth it! I started with Kharak, then played 1 and 2. They are still impressive today!

[@Skandalos]

Still playing HW2 Complex mod pretty regularly. Fun game with its very own charm. Another, similarly unique strategy game of about the same era which I still love playing is Battlezone II Combat Commander. I think both games were game of the year at one time but never took off as a genre due to certain fundamental weaknesses.

[@ross4814]

Such an amazing story. It's really tragic that they were not able to secure the IP from bankruptcy. I really don't like the idea of Pitchford having those rights. Edit: I found this little gem from 2001(posted in 2012), I guess my youtube feed is all about Homeworld now. kzbin.info/www/bejne/sImqhohsZpaNhqM I'm surprised I haven't seen my own lame videos about the game.

[@JamesChurchill]

While it might not be perfect, I reckon in many ways it's a good thing. It'd be worse if some other publisher got it and just churned out shovelware without Blackbird's involvement - or if Blackbird had the IP but no money to ever do anything with it.

[@ross4814]

@@JamesChurchill True, I just hate to see an artists work being owned by a third party. And if they did a crowd funding campaign I'm sure they would pull in more than a million.

[@JamesChurchill]

@@ross4814 unfortunately you really need more like ten times that for a AAA game.

[@ross4814]

@@JamesChurchill Oh I see what you mean. You're right, you need a lot of money these days to make a game.

[@InactiveJumper]

I held onto that video for years before posting it. I got a copy of it in 2001 on CD after Relic and Sierra stopped HW2 production.

[@Deadbeautyqueen]

My favourite RTS games. I was huge Babylon 5 fan when it came out and it really hit me!! The music, atmosphere, ships… masterpiece! And yes salvage everything 🖖

[@Herb.]

One of my favorite game series of all time! Otherworldly, as it was designed to be!

[@gpower9129]

This game is central to fond memories from when I first got my son into serious pc games. Hearing that drop to Sensor Manager "Doowhip" sound still gives me thrill chills. Thank you Ars Technica for another great interview.

[@Necro17]

Something I love about homeworld was the unique ship designs of each delivery and even the mechanics that are very realistic (like when projectiles hit a ship of yours by accident and if it does damage) I hope that in this installment I have that unique details and that you can add more ps: I liked desert of kharak, although it lacks content and I hope a 2 that is amazing

[@dracaru8994]

Amazing video, great to hear about, what it was making one of the greatest game of all time.

[@deathsemployer]

I Have to say the ball was the hardest and longest mission in original Homeworld for me ......and that was mostly cause I spent 2 weeks of about 4 hours each day capturing all those damn ion frigates. Though that made the last couple levels a cake walk.

[@UpcycleShoesKai]

Yup me too. I stole half of the ball

[@da-voodoo-shuffle]

Thank you for delivering

[@randorandom]

Thank you! More of these extended interviews! Any chance the Sid Meier episode of War Stories has an extended version?

[@someguy1286]

Rob Cunningham seems cool as hell

[@Schwarzgeist89]

Rob is a pretty down to earth guy

[@erikfrobom582]

rob cunningham the Chad developer vs the virgin gearbox exec

[@TheQwertyCast]

We're hit! Damage report!

[@Abhothra]

These EI are awesome TY Ars.

[@diegolugo85]

This is what Snow from FFXIII should've been modeled after, voice and everything.

[@themikeseye5112]

One of my favorite games of all time!!

[@slurmzzzm2459]

My favorite RTS 👍👍👍👍👍

[@fgsaramago]

Why do most ars videos have the volume so low? I have the volume on max and can still barely hear it!

[@Z4RD4N34]

I love Homeworld, however the sound on this video is too low. Have hard time hearing.

[@optiquest86]

Had to boost it to 300% to hear it reasonably so. :x

[@gayggles5635]

And then the ads would be destroy your ears because you turned up the volume just to hear it

[@RadianHelix]

Indeed.

[@Xune2000]

@@gayggles5635 Ublock Origin or KZbin Vanced helps with the ads. Unfortunately they can't help with the volume on this, but at least you won't have to higher and lower it anymore.

[@nothing3065]

Their work kinda resembles the Hiigaran tech. Mothership was built in a hurry, as Kharak was dying. There was no time for testing, rebuilding... and it had features added to the fleet on the fly!

[@Huatim]

thank you!!!!!!!!!

[@MrCoalmin]

Why is the sound so quiet?

[@ruzzodac]

still can't beat both

[@prodeous]

He mentioned that there were no 3d RTS's and that all were 2d sprites. At the same time he mentioned Total Annihilation. Seems he didn't actualy play it. The game was full 3D. terrain and objects were full 3D. Beyond that I love these type of hisotry/how it started videos. This was my favouriate RTS (well a tie with Total Annihilation)

[@UpcycleShoesKai]

TA was 3d but didnt have a 3d camera, is what i think he was getting at. You cant move the canera way uppo close or up and under on TA

[@tbg10101]

Some friendly feedback: the audio for this video seems to be very low.

[@Bozothcow]

It's interesting that he would say they were afraid the story sucked, given that's what most people seem to remember the game for.

[@atohms]

Version 1 is mostly the best one… that’s really one of the lessons I’ve learned. Just think about your favorite music artists. The debut album really is the best one.

[@lawbag1]

Great interview, but intercuts with the gameplay would help visualise some of the concepts Rob is discussing.

[@DaDonMega]

17:30 isn't he explaining dx12 ultimate here 🤔

[@mryellow362]

Would you guys do a video on Chex Quest in the near future?

[@maxhill9254]

great video

[@electromigue]

Audio track is too low.

[@smolpp585]

Man, imagine just seeing Gearbox of all companies out bid you on a old RTS game lmao, that must of looked so random. but credit where it's due, so far they've done a pretty decent job with giving the IP respect

[@rusu8721]

need to raise the audio levels! lol

[@wailingwarlie]

South African accent

[@DOSRetroGamer]

"Luckily we had no life" 🤣

[@JamalDolleyGames]

Guys it's nice looking at the person being interviewed, however actual footage of game displaying what this guys is talking about would be much better!

[@OOZ662]

That's what the other version of the interview is. The first version released is the "cut to the points, illustrated, feature-complete" interview, then they release the "everything the responder said video-podcast" version for the people that want to know more. And often those people are the ones experienced enough with the subject matter to envision their own visuals.

[@thenonadventure]

The shortened version does exactly that. This is the extended one focused on the words of the developer.

[@JamalDolleyGames]

@@thenonadventure Thanks! Did not know that

[@prodeous]

Other part, he mentioend that people of course will love it cause we were 12.. lol.. I was 19 when the game released :P

[@dillonquackenbush3895]

He looks like he's related to Henry Rollins.

[@jokinbv5715]

Diamond

[@FeroxV]

Sad no questions about Cataclysm

[@Viirox]

1997.

[@youhavenoprivacyandownnoth8289]

Doom was not 3D. Quake 1 was.

[@boolbadaCnC]

22:40 young and no life everybodys gf left :(

[@alankulwicki0_0]

and it all ended up with adventures of 3 space Karens and worst reviews in the history of Homeworld franchise, that's simply sad...

[@Mahmoud1987Hamada]

He kinda looks like emma Watson he even talks like she does..

[@WickedlNl]

Yuussss in my vains!

[@NaumRusomarov]

this sounds like a nightmare, tbh.

[@unverifiedbiotic]

And now look what happened to relic...

[@shinyhappyrem8728]

?

[@Rattlepiece]

Still around. And these guys are Blackbird Interactive now.

[@ladiesgentswegothim]

Where is the HBO miniseries??????????????????????????

[@ladiesgentswegothim]

I hope in HW3, we find the Bentusi diaspora who fled the Beast.