The First Dune Game 32 Years Later: An LGR Retrospective [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvP3d3QB-4k

by Apocryphon • 2 years ago

42 24 2 years ago

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esafak• 2 years ago

I only remember Dune 1 for its music but Dune 2 was something else. Thank you, Westwood!

fatnoah• 2 years ago

I have vague memories of Dune 1 gameplay, but very vivid memories of the music as well.

personjerry• 2 years ago

Dune 2 was my first computer game. I played it as a child with my dad when we lived in China. Later, we'd play Dune 2000, Red Alert 2, and eventually Starcraft (all pirated of course). I wasted a huge amount of time but at least it helped instill in me a passion for computers.

Starcraft turned into Warcraft into Dota, and now I have 5000 hours in Dota 2. I often wonder what I could've accomplished if I hadn't been swallowed up by video games!

johng• 2 years ago

Video games were the reason I started my first business. A dialup ISP that we later sold to a telco for a good profit. It was fun and amazing. I wanted a low ping time for Quakeworld and to macro my character in Ultima Online. Such great memories.

hyggetrold• 2 years ago

Oh such fond memories of this game. My friend had it and spent so many hours at his house playing it together.

IMHO those times were the glory days of gaming - so many interesting and "odd" ideas that got tried out since there wasn't too much prior art.

lores• 2 years ago

Truly. The games from French publisher Ere / Exxos in particular were deeply steeped in experimental science fiction of the Heavy Metal magazine sort, and led to legendary games like Captain Blood, Kult, Another World and Dune. It all feels a lot blander now, although it may also be age talking.

bullfightonmars2• 2 years ago

This was my first introduction to Dune. In 93 I was in 3rd grade and this game blew me away. The weird politics and characters. The desert sands and worms. The flying ornithopters and sietches and Fremen.

I never made it too far in to the game, I would always get lost with some of the strategy in trying to mine spice or I would drink the water of life and die or lose fighting the Harkonen.

More than anything I loved it for it’s world building, atmosphere and exploration of a strange world.

dale_glass• 2 years ago

The full soundtrack is on youtube, and it's excellent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF_0W1cYPYo

shmerl5• 2 years ago

I like this version (mote chiptune style): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ydc5gq5dhwQ&list=PLCF6935538...

bullfightonmars2• 2 years ago

This is the version I remember!

8f2ab37a-ed6c2• 2 years ago

Remaster of the soundtrack by the original composer released in Jan of this year: https://stphanepicq.bandcamp.com/album/dune-spice-opera-2024...

gizmo2• 2 years ago

This game has aged very well. You can pick it up for next to nothing on GOG. Highly recommended. The game is not very hard but you will likely have to start over a few times before you get the hang of it. This is normal. Dune is best without spoilers, so maybe skip the video.

shmerl5• 2 years ago

I don't think any Dune games came out on GOG? Which is a shame, but you can easily find them if you need to.

gizmo2• 2 years ago

Huh you’re right. Thanks for the correction.

shmerl5• 2 years ago

Very fun game to replay once in a while. I prefer the floppy version though.

Both work nicely in dosbox-staging: https://dosbox-staging.github.io

danjoredd• 2 years ago

I love this channel. Part of what has gotten me into retro technology

mepian• 2 years ago

I hope LGR will someday make a retrospective on Emperor: Battle for Dune, the last Dune game from Westwood and one of the earliest 3D RTS. It’s not available on any digital stores but you can find a repack on My Abandonware that works on modern systems.

guybedo• 2 years ago

loved the game and especially the soundtrack, what a nice trip down memory lane

8f2ab37a-ed6c2• 2 years ago

One of my favorite gaming memories of all time, a real gem. The composer recently released a remastered version of the soundtrack on his Bandcamp.

Love LGR, happy Paterson supporter for years.

madmoose• 2 years ago

I've been entertaining myself lately by reverse engineering Cryo's Dune. I've got all graphics resources (videos, sprites, rooms) decoded, and I have recreated most of the intro (which exercises a good deal of engine).

I also made an interactive Dune globe renderer (in WASM and Rust!): https://thomas.fach-pedersen.net/dune/globe/

It should be pixel accurate to the in-game one, although I haven't validated it lately.

It's very slow going though. The original game was coded in highly optimized idiosyncratic 8086 assembly. It's difficult to read, much more so than compiler-generated machine code from the same era.

shmerl5• 2 years ago

May be it could be added to ScummVM if you progress far enough!

glimshe• 2 years ago

Many people love the second game, but I was never into Real-Time Strategy so I couldn't get into it. I actually liked the first one a lot better, a mix of light strategy and adventure.

Apocryphon• 2 years ago

From LGR: Frank Herbert's non-fiction book on computing

https://twitter.com/lazygamereviews/status/17637521534058950...

The First Dune Game 32 Years Later: An LGR Retrospective [video]

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