Herzog Zwei might best be described
as a ‘proto-RTS’, and presented the
case for bringing real-time elements
into strategy games. Technosoft’s
devs gracefully explored ideas like
real-time resource management and
unit commands, while its core
concept was focused on advancing
towards the heart of enemy territory.
Crucially, though, players interacted
with the game’s systems by piloting a
single starfighter, shmup style.
Herzog Zwei remained deeply rooted
in conventions from arcade gaming.
As such, it was Dune II that really
established what an RTS could be,
popularising the genre and
establishing design conventions that
were eagerly embraced by the teams
that would build seminal works such
Age of Empires, the mighty Warcraft
franchise, Total Annihilation, and
Westwood’s own Command &
Conquer series. In turn, those games
and others shaped by Dune II would
have significant roles to play in
progressing the RTS form, and even
the emergence of contemporary
online fandoms, the notion of
massively multiplayer online games,
titles maintained as live entities and
even the snowballing phenomenonthat is esports. Let’s be clear. It would
be a substantial overstatement to
credit Dune II with directly inspiring
what esports has become; and yet
Westwood created something that
has a tremendous legacy, and a role to
play in so many of the trends
currently at the front and centre of
what the modern gaming medium is.PAPER PROTOTYPING
Dune II’s impact on gaming is
founded in a simple notion.
Westwood made a very good, truly
innovative game with some brilliantly
rewarding, elegant systems at its
heart. Yet it was about more than
that, and Herbert himself likely
deserves a good dose of credit. The
author wrote into being a world that
had all the constituent parts of an
RTS; warring factions, coveted
resources, distinct rival cultures,
political tensions, competition, and
an obsession with harvesting the
supplies of claimed lands.
Westwood, in turn, spotted an
opportunity to build a game that
captured the heart of what Dune was;
not its winding narrative, or host of
characters, but its very essence.
While Cryo’s game loosely followedABOVE: Granting opposing sides distinct abilities and options set a
standard for the RTS genre.Dune II
COVER FEATURE