Dune - The Grandfather of Real-Time Strategy

Dune II was one of the most influential games in the industry, but it and its sequels are mostly forgotten today.

Logoless Dune novel cover by u/Zapchi_
Dune 2000 Reviews compiled by MobyGames
Brett Sperry interview from The Game Awards 2015
Legal documents from Herbert Limited Partnership v. Electronic Arts Inc., 325 F. Supp. 2d 282 (S.D.N.Y. 2004)
Authentic VHS static from my parents' wedding tape. See? Sometimes you find really interesting stuff when you read the description!

Thanks to Dan for doing some wizard maths for this video

Music by Frank Klepacki, Dwight Okahara, Stéphane Picq, Philippe Ulrich, David Arkenstone and Jarrid Mendelson

#Dune #RTS

[NoStringsPrd]

Shoutout to that visual glitch at 9:34, introduced to the edit at the very last minute just to keep me on my toes, and I dorped the ball. My B. Also, some corrections courtesy of Nyerguds;


"-It's peculiar how you didn't mention Westwood's own earlier BattleTech games. In terms of game genre, Dune II was a direct continuation of those, with the turn-based part made real-time. In fact, I believe those games are the origin of the sidebar command buttons.

"-Dynasty really isn't a "remake". Unlike OpenRA, which really is a 100% new engine, Dune Dynasty is an enhancement of the original engine, as reverse engineered by the OpenDune project. In other words, it really is the original game, with added enhancements.

"-Intelligent Games didn't make the Red Alert expansions. They are only credited for making multiplayer maps for them. In fact, I know that the expansions' core idea of experimental technologies came from the Westwood people being so impressed by the creativity of the community in utilising the rule tweaks in maps... and back in the original game, sneaky elements inside the company had laid the foundations (the Morse code in the manual) that would force the management to allow them to develop the secret ant missions in the expansion pack. So all that was certainly created by Westwood itself."

[joebwan]

As the co-creator, lead programmer, and gameplay-designer of Dune II (Joe Bostic), I have to say this is very accurate. There are a couple of minor nits to pick on some facts, but otherwise a great job! Congrats.

[jonnyspeed]

It makes me so happy that there is a bloke out there that cares so much about the Dune RTSs to make a great documentary about them

[howtodrink]

This was awesome! Don't know why I clicked, but I'm glad I did!

[joahnaut]

Underrated channel. This was fantastic

[achuchin]

Legend says that every Dune 1 or 2 is mentioned somebody somewhere installs it and plays it again

[QuantumBraced]

Just watched the 2021 movie, and was happy to see many things form the games referenced in the movie. Of course it's based on the book, but it was still cool to see the harvesters, carryalls, ornithopters, refineries, silos...

[arturomorales]

It has been an honor to watch this documentary.

[kirk]

That era of games was absolutely AMAZING. The full-video cut-scenes, sound, and graphics improvements over the years are all such great memories. I'm 53 years old and will never forget all of the hardware updates I had to make to be able to play those amazing games!

[Heaven_INC]

I didn"t realize so few people remember this games. Dune II is the first strategy game I ever saw as a kid. I was about 8, maybe 9, didn"t really understood it at first, but it ended up captivating me .. I finished both Dune II and Dune 2000.

[XenHat]

As someone who has read the original series several times, after finding the first two books almost by accident, then went on to purchase every book missing from my collection up to 2017-2018 (I have to catch up), I also cannot express in the span of a YouTube comment my admiration and love for this franchise.

It is quite sad how the Herbert [group] handles their Intellectual property, sometimes feeling as if they are trying to kill it. Thanks to videos like these, what has been made shall not be forgotten. Looking forward to the 2020 movies, it has some gigantic boots to fill.

[flafffreeman]

Ah, Dune. First RTS I've played, without realizing it was an RTS at that time XD. I was barely a young teenager back then, and I had to admit, didn't much English at the time but the interface was easy to use and I manage to understand most of the story. It was my much older brother who introduces me to this game. My father saw me and my brother playing this game and decided to try it too. We each took on one faction and beat the game. I had the Ordos. It was...HARD. lol For being a so-called rich and sneaky faction, they were usually behind the other factions in terms of Tech. But the Deviator. That was worth it. Nothing more satisfying than to turn a Devastator again it's own troops and then self-destructing it taking more troops and building with it. But yes, enough about my memories. Nice video. Well constructed and very informative.

[lairdmichaelscott]

Heh, this game, when I was stationed in Korea, made me learn hexadecimal so I could tweak the player start equipment.

What I loved best about the cut scenes was the way, when playing Harkonen, your Mentat would start out treating you like a slave and threaten that, should you fail, you would live out the remainder of your days in a pain amplifier. Then, as you continue to win battle after battle, he slowly backs off until the finale, where House Ordos, House Atreides, and the Emperor, would all come at you at once and, whimpering in fear, he begins sniveling something to the effect of: "Oh incredible master, you must save us!"

[mykin]

"If it's old it should stay old." Wow, what a slap in the face for some truly unique games. It is almost as if they view it as something they want to stay buried and forgotten, like an old shame or a skeleton in a closet. And hearing that the Herbert Family was happy to revive an old board game instead of Dune 2 only strengthens this feeling for me. Imagine the backlash that would take place if this licensing debacle happened with C&C?

Oh well, as one of those people that look back fondly on Dune 2000 and Emperor (I ended up playing them after General: Zero Hour came out, but I knew about their existence from magazines at the time and that one trailer for Emperor in one of the C&C games (can't remember which one, but I think it was Tiberiun Sun)), I'm happy to at least get to play Dune 2k on OpenRA. And who knows? Maybe EA or Petrogylph will get a license to make a game off of the new Dune movie and we'll get another Dune RTS? How much I want this to happen will depend on how well EA does the remasters of C&C and RA. But it is a nice thought nevertheless.

[bearbasting]

I still have my Dune 2000 CD. In the jewel case. With the book.

This is on level with Retro Ahoy

[World_Theory]

Dune 2 was great, although I found it kinda scary at times. I hadn't even started going to school yet when I played Dune 2.

The Sandworms were the scariest part.

Fun fact: If you want your units to move across the battlefield faster than the enemy, just keep your units on screen, and the enemy offscreen. The game engine gave the units off-screen fewer game ticks to save the processor work.

Having played Dune 2 as a little kid, I was very excited to stumble upon a book in my middle school library called Dune. I was a bit confused by the lack of mention of a house Ordos as first. Loved the Dune book series though. I think I've read close to every book. Even the prequels. There might be an obscure Dune spin-off book I missed somewhere...

Also loved the C&C games.

[Slamraptor]

"Thoughts have turned to Arrakis." Chills man, literal chills. ^^

[theargonaught]

I played dune 2000 a long time ago when I was a kid and liked to watch my dad play it to. After playing it he tried to get me into dune but I wasn't old enough to really be interested in the older scifi. But one day walking though walmart I saw this game and immediately saw this game on the shelf. i picked it up and showed my dad. He just smiled and tossed it in the cart. This game holds a very special place in my heart.

[marcelozerbini]

Those last phrases are pure poetry.

The Dune series deserves to be remembered

[bass-dc]

"But when we zoom out to a more playable height, they look like the same thing"
*Laughs in Supreme commander*