In 1965, Dune was first published, a work of science fiction written by Frank Herbert that will go down in history as one of the most adored, award-winning and essential for any fan of the genre. Without forgetting to mention that great literary and film sagas like Game of Thrones or Star Wars were inspired or rather, they absorbed much of the structure and characteristics of the story; but by adapting it to their respective universes.
Since its publication, there have been several attempts to bring it to the big screen, and it’s only been a few months since director Denis Villeneuve got a first up-to-date adaptation with Timothée Chalamet. The same thing happens with their games, you never know which key to press to make it appealing enough; that could change drastically in a few months after the early access launch of Dune: Spice Wars.
New details about Dune: Spice Wars
The game was officially presented at the Game Awards 2021, a surprise very well received by all fans; being a title that combines real-time strategy with a 4X, as they specified in their Last statement. In addition, they also told us about some of the activities that we can do during the game.
It’s both. The game is real-time, but the pacing is slower than a typical RTS (and you can pause and fast forward). The game also features exploration, territory control, economic growth, combat, politics, and espionage, features that make it a true 4X game, but don’t detract from the core RTS experience that players players are waiting.
They also responded to comparisons with Northgard, saying that Dune: Spice Wars is being developed from scratch with new gameplay mechanics and techniques, the game will be longer, and there will be at least four factions at launch. Between them Houses Atreides and Harkonnen. Finally, they discussed the characteristics of the maps, the weather and the interactions that we will have on them; an essential section in the game.
We spent a lot of time working on the environment and even worked with a desert geologist to create things that could exist on such a planet. The stylized art direction comes into play by adding elements that bring in a variety of colors and shapes so the environment can stay austere without becoming boring.
