Homeworld

aka: Spaghetti Ball
Moby ID: 296
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Conversion (official) Included in Special Edition

Description official descriptions

A discovery is about to turn the culture of Kharak upside down. The people, Kushan, are not native to Kharak at all. The discovery of the Guidestone is the ultimate proof that Kushan had came from another solar system, far away. And it's time to go home. The Mothership project united the world. Part base, part construction yard, the Mothership is capable of everything, as you never know what you will find in the void...

Homeworld is a 3D strategy game where you control a mothership and a fleet as you harvest resources, conduct research, and build up your fleet that can vary from small, fast, and nimble scouts to lumbering heavy cruisers. Move your camera in full 3D (up/down/around) and issue full 3D movement orders. Specify 3D formations for your ships, employ cloaked vessels to ambush enemy or employ salvage vessels to capture enemy ships, or defend against them with prox sensors and mines. There is a 17-mission single player campaign, or you can play online in true internet multi-player.

Spellings

  • 家园 - Simplified Chinese spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

175 People (132 developers, 43 thanks) · View all

Senior Vice President
General Manager
Producer, Ext. Development
Director of Marketing
Product Managers
PR Manager
Creative Services
QA Manager
QA Supervisor
QA Leads
QA Analysts
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 90% (based on 35 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 96 ratings with 10 reviews)

Space RTS at last !!!

The Good
Being the first 3d RTS released by Sierra, the game looks too good, and too well done. At first the 3d graphics, although made in Open GL , looks really great. The game mechanics are really clear, the interface is really easy to master. In the pack you will recieve: 1. Training stage to help you understand the controls 2. A well built single player campaign, with over 21 missions, good story line and "keep your forces with you" feature, that will make your fleet move with you from stage to stage. 3. One of the most comprehensive and optional multiplayer. Includes skirmish,LAN and internet (via WON) play. Each game can be adjusted: how much cash will you have, research tree, how many computer players, what will be their AI, which map will you use, what type of game, will harvesting be allowed, will there be money injected, and many many more.

This game rocks the house!

The Bad
Can I say nothing ? Oh, yeah, the fact that there is a sequel coming out soon .

The Bottom Line
A 3d RTS in space.

Windows · by Henry Aloni (46) · 2003

Inspired by George Lucas

The Good
Story: The people of the planet Kharak live in question of their existance, don't we all. The planet is goverened by several Clans, these clans have only settled down from war as their planet is becoming unstable and they must leave. An malfunctioned satelite finds a large deposit of metal in the Great Desert and an team is sent in to look at it. The first civilisation, built around a large ship has been discovered, they are aliens to this world. Inside the ship a crude map, etched onto a black stone with a word that any clan knows, Hiigara - Home. A large mothership is built to send them across the stars to home, the ship is controlled by a Karen Sejet, who is fleet command. They set off on their first mission, only to find that the ship assigned to repair their hyperdrive system has been destroyed and the mothership gets ambushed, they return to fix the mothership. Apon arrival back home they find their planet destroyed, and the only hope they have of living is to go home.

Menu: Simple but smart looking menu, and a pop up bar on the bottom of the game window controls the different centers.

Sound: Brilliant. Random chatter from the squadron of pilots in their scouts during battles "Flank left, keep the home fires coming, they're toast" Wepons sounds are good as well, from the sizzle of the Ion cannons, to the ping pow of the gattling guns from the scouts. Music is stunning, over 20 different tracks, inculding a theme song sung and written by Yes.

Graphics: In the past all space must be black....right...Homeworld breaks this rule in style, glossy, wonderful eyecandy backgrounds with the light center of the galaxy changes each mission so you get closer each time you continue. The ships themselves are incredible, they look dirty, mishapened, very industrial as well, this makes the "unskilled workmen" story more realistic. The mothership is great, with flashing beacons and all. Smaller ships leave a wake of jet vapor that slowly fades away, making nice patterns in the sky when underfire. Explosions are brilliant, ships start burning then explode in pieces or just vanish in smoke depending on what ship or weapon is used. Bullet marks show the bullets hitting the craft as well.

Gameplay: The is one of the first 3D RTS. It handles well, the 3D camera is controlled with the mouse and it is a marvel, easy to use as well. Ships are moved with a "pizza slice" style range, a large circle shows the maxium a ship can move in the proportions of the screen, want to move further, then use the sensors and you can travel the distance of the map. A.I is brilliant, the little ships learn as they get better at fighting, and killing. The larger ones start knowing when to fire and where to get a better effect so constant care and repair of your ships help give you a better army. Speaking of army Homeworld is the only game where you store your current troops from the last mission, the whole game just flows, the only changes are when your ships get repaired, and that is better than having to send out repair corvettes. The difficulty is scaling as well, start out a level with a fleet big enough to beat anyone, the computer will throw in more to stop you. Units are interesting as well, anything (But the Mothership) can be captured and chagned to your side. There are also cloaking ships and gravity wells that halt hyperspace jumps.

The Bad
The graphics looked a bit too messy from close up, and the maps are a bit boring with not much to avoid. But apart from that this game rules.

The Bottom Line
One of the best RTS ever, play it and learn all the tips.

Windows · by Sam Hardy (80) · 2001

A fresh, new perspective on the otherwise stale RTS world.

The Good
Homeworld is certainly unique in its approach - a realtime strategy game, set in a true 3D environment. In order to survive in this game, one must abandon the conventional 2D thinking involved with most RTS games. The game maps are set in large cubes, instead of a flat map - enemies can, and often do, attack from above and below. Intelligent resource management is also key - quite often, you only have just enough resources in a given mission to build what you need.

The graphics are quite crisp, the music is wonderful, and the voice acting is also very well done, while at times a bit emotionless (although I believe this to be intentional).

There is also a very extensive backstory and plot to this game - while a bit on the thick side, the backstory in the manual is well worth a read in its entirety.

And my favorite part? Large battles in space - the ships move smoothly through their formations, and combined with the ambiant music the battles become more of a well-orchestrated dance, than a fierce dogfight.

The Bad
At times, managing enormous fleets can get a bit cumbersome; keeping track of all of your units at all times can be a bit of a challenge.

Also, some missions had rather obvious "triggers" - i.e., you complete a certain action, which triggers an attack that you're (usually) unprepared for. But to its credit, even an overwhelming battle can be won with the proper strategy.

The 3D interface can be a bit frustrating at times to the new player, but the tutorial explains the game world very well. The initial learning curve may deter some casual players, but it doesn't take long to become accustomed to it.

The Bottom Line
This game will grab onto you, pull you in, and refuse to let go.

Windows · by Dave Schenet (134) · 2001

[ View all 10 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Not a 4X game SharkD (425) Feb 4, 2009

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Homeworld appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Cut content

When asked, the development team at Relic said the game will feature 5 different races: Taiidan, Kushan,Turanic Raiders, Kadeshi, and T-mat. In the final version, the T-mat was absent. Although the modders community have found a reference to some of their ships in the source, Relic never released more info about them.

Music

The British rock band Yes approached Alex Garden to have their coming song put into an idea for the game. They both came into an agreement liking the idea of how Homeworld is pretty down to reality ('we're all finding a way home') and for this specially this game, Yes produced the song Homeworld / The Ladder which was the newest single of 1999 and the opening song for their album The Ladder. On the album was a Homeworld trailer.

Online servers

The game's online servers (which were hosted on World Opponent Network, or WON) were shut down on 1 November 2008 in the wake of WON's total closure.

References

The game contains a reference to the movie Blade Runner. After playing past mission 7, look at your autosaves. Some of them will have a prefix of "Tenhauser Gate," which is part of the dying words of replicant Roy Batty.

Source code

On 26 September 2003, the Homeworld source code and accompanying documentation was released by Relic on their Relic Developer Network. It has been stripped of code not owned by Relic Entertainment (including but not limited to the Bink SDK). On 21 February 2004, the code was released to the public

Awards

  • CNET GameCenter
    • 1999 - Strategy Game of the Year
  • Computer Gaming World
    • March 2000 (Issue #188) – Strategy Game of the Year
    • March 2000 (Issue #188) – Best Manual of the Year
  • Gamepower
    • 1999 - Top 5 Strategy Games
  • Gamespot
    • 1999 - Best Music of the Year
  • GameSpy
  • GameStar (Germany)
    • Issue 12/1999 - #98 in the "100 Most Important PC Games of the Nineties" ranking
  • Gonegold
    • 1999 - '99 Must Have
  • I.D. Magazine
    • 2000 - Silver Award (Interactive Media Design)
  • PC Gamer
    • 1999 - Game of the Year
    • April 2005 - #46 on the "50 Best Games of All Time" list
  • PC Player (Germany)
    • Issue 01/2000 - Most Original Game in 1999
  • PC Zone
    • 1999 - Game of the Year
  • Power Play
    • Issue 02/2000 – Most Innovative Game in 1999

Information also contributed by Carlos Aquino, DarkDante; Henry Aloni, Indra was here, Maw; PCGamer77, Sciere and Scott Monster

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Related Sites +

  • Homeworld
    Relic's website for reference of the game. Includes screenshots, concept art, ships descriptions...
  • Homeworld @ GamingHaven.com
    Game reviews, links, screenshots and more.
  • Pilotview How-To
    View the battles from a pilot's point of view! Right click your Homeworld shortcut and add the switch /pilotView to homeworld.exe. In game, focus on any unit and press "Q". This even works for enemy units! The pilotView functionality requires Homeworld version 1.4 or greater.

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  • MobyGames ID: 296
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Rynok.

Additional contributors: Kasey Chang, Unicorn Lynx, Arvin Chandra, Scott Monster, DarkDante, cow, Patrick Bregger, Plok, FatherJack.

Game added September 30, 1999. Last modified March 28, 2024.