Information AboutHomeworld |
This article is about a computer game. For a more general term used in science-fiction, see Core Worlds .
''Homeworld'' is a Computer Game released in 1999 developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sierra Entertainment . It is best known for its full Three-dimensional movement and engrossing storyline. STORY The Kushan people lived on a planet called Kharak , a desert world so inhospitable that only the polar regions were settled. They are a tribal society, organized primarily into independent sociopolitical entities called '' Kiithid '' (singular ''kiith''), each of which embodies unique religious and cultural traits. For the great majority of Kharak's past, there was war between at least two ''kiithid'' at a time. MAJOR KIITH Kiith Gaalsien - Fanatically religious, the Gaalsien are the remnants of a great holy war between the Gaalsien, who believed that they were cast down onto Kharak by the gods as punishment, and the Siidim, who believed that the Kharaki were originally from Kharak, and it was all they could hope for. The ensuing war, known as the Heresy Wars, nearly wiped out the Siidim and the Gaalsien, as well as most of Kharak's infastructure. Only the intervention of the technophile kiith Naabal put and end to the Heresy Wars, and the Gaalsien time of domininace on Kharak. Kiith Naabal - The Naabal began as refugees fleeing the madness of the Heresy Wars. They fled to the northern ice cap of Kharak and formed their capital, Tiir, as a safe haven for all those who wished for peace and safety from the madness of the Siidim and the Gaalsien. The Naabal were the first to develop chemical based explosives and steam power, which they used to intervene in the Heresy Wars and end the conflict, offering peace to all those they liberated. After the Heresy Wars ended, the Naabal returned to their peacful origins, creating a planetary senate known as the Diamiid at the new capital of Kharak, Tiir, in an effort to end major conflict on Kharak. Kiith Paktu - The Kiith Paktu were the first kiith to flee across the Great Banded Desert to the south of known Kharak in an effort to flee the Heresy Wars. Led by a man named Majiir Paktu, they successfully arrived at a sea on the other side of the desert, and much like the Naabal to the north, they made their lands available to all those who were on the run from the theological persecution of the Gaalsien and the Siidim. The Paktu were able to protect their homes from Gaalsien invasion on no less than three occasions, and were among the first to be invited into the Diamiid Council in Tiir. Kiith Soban - The Sobani are the descendants of a small group of families led by a man named Soban the Red, who abandoned their kiith after the kiith-sa(leader) refused to avenge the assault on their homes by a rival kiith. Tearing the kiith colors from his body, Soban and his followers became mercenaries, being the only kiith to be truly landless. They became excellent warriors, and were known for fighting until the exact second their contract expired, be it a thousand miles from home or in the middle of a battle, and dropping their weapons and immediately going home. Their reputation as fierce warriors has continued to this day, and they form a large part of the Kharaki General Staff as the Mothership makes it's journey back to Hiigara. Kiith Sjet - The Sjet are the direct descendants of the technicians and mechanics who served the hyperspace core that brought the Kharaki first to Kharak. They are renowned scientists, the most notable of whom being Karan Sjet, heir to the control of the kiith, who when the Mothership was in need of a central command structure, volunteered to have herself surgically attached to the Mothership, using her mind as the ship's computer. She is now Fleet Command. Kiith Manaani - The Manaani are by nature entertainers, nomads, and magicians, much like Gypsies here on Earth. They have a joyous, freewheeling attitude which puts them at odds with the other, more "serious" kiith. They love nothing more than to make others laugh, and are known to be adventurous and daring. Of all the kiith on Kharak, the Manaani are the most likely to produce a diplomat, artist, statesman, performer or magician. They are also noted as being the primary source of volunteers into the Kharaki fleet's Strike Fighter contingent,always ready to fly the fastest and wildest ship put into service. Kharak's extremely inhospitable climate eventually led many Kushan to question how they evolved on it in the first place, and genetic studies eventually proved that they hadn't. The question of where they ''did'' come from was answered by a malfunctioning satellite launched to chart the outer reagions of the Kharak system, which instead scanned the surface of the planet, penetrating to a depth of 75 metres and detected metal in the vast, inhospitable reaches of the equatorial deserts. An expedition sent to the site discovered a huge alien ship, the '' Khar-Toba '' (First City). Within the ''Khar-Toba'' was found an artifact that would change Kushan life forever: an artificially-created stone, etched with a crude galactic map. A dot on a spiral arm clearly represented Kharak; a line connected this dot to another on the inner rim, a dot labeled with a word so ancient that it predated the ''kiithid'' themselves: '' Hiigara ''. "Home." All but the most radical Kiithid eventually united toward the goal of reaching their true homeworld and discovering the reasons behind their departure. No one on Kharak could decide just what the journey would entail, so the decision was made to construct a ship that could handle anything. The resulting vessel, known only as The Mothership , is over 25.6 Kilometer s long and required 60 years to build. It demanded huge advances in science and engineering and every resource Kharak could muster. 600,000 colonists were frozen in Cryogenic Sleep for the journey and an internal construction bay and hanger allowed for rapid construction of all fleet auxillaries and provides berths for the Mothership's strike craft. The bridge crew will be staffed day and night by the best tacticians, navigators, diplomats and scientists Kharak has to offer. As no computers could be developed that were powerful enough or could be trusted completely to coordinate all this activity, Karan S'jet , a young female Neuroscientist , integrated her physical body into the Mothership to serve as its living CPU . She now serves as Fleet Command. The player receives this information via both an in-game introductory movie (rendered in hand-drawn, black-and-white still animations) and, in far greater detail, through the game's manual. Gameplay begins with the launch of the Mothership. After the departure of the Mothership, Kharak is attacked by the Taiidan , a large interstellar empire which now controlled Hiigara and viciously opposes the Kushan attempt to reclaim their homeworld. The remaining surface population of Kharak, several million souls, are annihilated by atmosphere-incineration weapons. The Mothership quickly salvages the six cryo trays which are now all that is left of the Kushan people and swears revenge on the Taidani fleet. Soon after, the Kushan survivors encounter the Bentusi , a benevolent group of traders who provide technology and information. They also run afoul of the Turanic Raiders, space pirates who have infested trade lanes for millennia, and the enigmatic Kadeshi , who defend their chosen nebula home with fanatical zeal. All the while the Kushan continue to research new technologies and spacecraft advances, eventually amassing a significant fleet, and face increasing hostility from the Taiidan Empire. After the Mothership and the Kushan rescue a Bentusi tradeship from Taiidan forces, the Bentusi reveal their history: the Kushan once ruled a mighty empire from Hiigara, but were overthrown by the Taiidan. (The sequel Homeworld 2 reveals that the Bentusi assisted the Taiidan, feeling that Hiigaran ambition had gone too far.) The Hiigarans were exiled to Kharak (a small segment stayed in a nebula, eventually becoming the Kadeshi) and were forbidden to ever leave. The Taiidan Emperor, the Bentusi claim, will stop at nothing to prevent the Exiles from reaching their goal. The Kushan also find help in the unexpected form of Taiidan defector Captain Elson, who provides needed intelligence and military support. In a final battle above Hiigara, the Kushan fleet destroys the Taiidan Emperor and succeeds in reclaiming their homeworld. Captain Elson assists by providing the Kushan fleet with reinforcements, as well as fighting a wave of Taiidani with his own fleet. GAMEPLAY Homeworld is best known for its massive online community, although the game also contains a single player option. Gameplay, both single and multiplayer, is complicated by the addition of a third dimension. Homeworld's user interface, while initially difficult, allows players full control of their ships in this new setting. In the single-player campaign, the player may choose to play as either the Kushan or Taiidan ; the other race will act as the game's Antagonist s. The difference is primarily cosmetic (although each race does feature two unique ships), as the story and vantage point will remain unchanged regardless of the player's choice of race. The general flow of gameplay online resembles other Real-time Strategy games, such as Dune II and the Command & Conquer series. The player scouts the map, harvests resources and builds units. Since the game takes place in space, there are obviously no 'structures' as in most RTS games; however, the Mothership, carriers, and research ships essentially serve the same purposes, allowing the player to construct and upgrade units. The gameplay flow in single player, is highly innovative, detailed, constructed, and geared towards the ultimate goal of finding the Homeworld. Ships in the game range from agile strike craft to lumbering capital ships. Each unit serves a particular function and represents a tradeoff in strength, offensive power, speed, and cost. In the single player game, Homeworld uses a unique fleet inheritance concept (aka persistent fleet), 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 availability of resources in each level, forces the player to make hard decisions on the make-up of their fleet. However, some players find that this feature can make the game very hard, and doom a player who starts of weak in force, to failing some very tough missions later in the game. Some of these include fighting massive guardian fleets, or trying to destroy a massive incoming object whilst your mothership is stranded, with no ability to move out of the way. These missions require raw firepower, and sometimes a player just will not have enough. The multiplayer community for Homeworld was large from its very beginings in 1999. At its peak in 2000 and 2001 there were more than 18,000 players registered to the Ladder. Several dozen clans were active at the peak, since its release more than one hundred individual clans have been founded. There are still hundreds of active players and a handful of large clans. Today the original community of dedicated players still survives at the official Relic forums and on IRC . MUSICAL SCORE With the exception of a song by the rock group " Yes " entitled "Homeworld", most of the music in the game is ambient, matching the lonely but beautiful environment of deep space. Also worthy of note is the inclusion of Samuel Barber 's ''Agnus Dei'', the choral version of his Adagio For Strings . DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY Homeworld was undoubtedly influenced by the many RTS games, books, and movies which preceded it. The epic storyline is reminiscent of titles such as StarCraft and Dark Reign . Homeworld's battles, involving hundreds of small swarming ships and dozens of larger ones, were inspired by George Lucas 's Star Wars . The voice of the game's narrator also appears to be identical to the narrator from the animated Sci-Fi series Robotech , further reinforcing the game's space-opera atmosphere. The concept of a large mothership carrying exiles back to their homeworld has much in common with Battlestar Galactica . 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, and one of the game's characters is named after Peter Elson. Homeworld revolutionized the RTS genre and paved the way for later 3D RTS games such as and Far Gate . There is also a strong Middle-Eastern/Islamic/Jewish influence to the feel of the game. This is evident in the music, as well as the culture of the Kushan. There is some good evidence that the Kushan practice a religion very similar to Islam. Especially notable is the Kushan name for their Homeworld, Hiigara, which strongly resembles the word Hegira , which refers to the Prophet Muhammed's historic flight from Mecca . In addition the Kushani follow a path that goes into realms similar to the areas of interest during the Jewish exodus, including Kadesh, and the background story is similar to the Babylonian exile. However, a lot of what is apparently an Islamic/Arab touch may in fact be secondary influence filtered through Frank Herbert 's Dune series. Homeworld is also full of Symbology , with specific symbols for the Kiith in the game as well as the symbol of the Kushan , which is their ancient homeworld and two eagle's wings. These symbols are mostly mentioned in the historical background for the game, but in multiplayer were used to distinguish one player from another. Mods Homeworld was extensively modded by a large group of fans of the genre. Despite many hardcoded limitations, almost every aspect of the game was altered from the basic models and textures to the in-game interface, music and effects. The most popular mods were based on well known sci-fi series. Macross , Babylon 5 , Star Trek and Star Wars mods were all very popular at the height of Homeworld's popularity, as were many other mods based on other shows and original ideas from fans. Because of the modular nature of the file system in Homeworld, even the most non-technical user could modify simple ship statistics to change the gameplay, leading to a large Modding community surrounding Homeworld. After the release of Homeworld 2 many teams either migrated to the new platform or moved away from the Homeworld series altogether. Sequels In September 2000, . Taking place 15 years after The Return, the story focuses mainly on Kiith Somtaaw , and their struggles to contain a powerful parasitic entity known as The Beast . A sequel, Homeworld 2 , was released in late 2003. In the game, the Hiigarans (Kushan) must defend their homeworld from the Vaygr, a powerful, nomadic raider race. Though graphically superior to the original, it was seen as a step down in gameplay and plot. Further sequels seem unlikely, as Relic Entertainment was acquired by Sierra rival THQ and Sierra still has the rights to the Homeworld franchise. Relic released the source code to Homeworld in late 2003, which allowed unofficial ports of the game to other platforms, such as Linux and Mac OS X . RECEPTION 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, compelling storyline, and revolutionary 3D interface. Homeworld is a good example of a game that exhibits Aesthetic Completion . Rather than going for the 'realistic' graphics that initially impress but inevitably decay, Homeworld shoots for very clean lines and textures, somewhat abstract yet visually compelling. Such an aesthetic was not easily achievable given the technology of the day, and continues to impress. SEE ALSO
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