Chris Longpre

:D I really love this thread!

Actually, I believe MCA Universal holds the rights to the film, and I would be surprised if EA retained those rights any longer than they needed to in order to legally sell & market the game. If someone wanted to make a DUNE game, they should inquire there... and dig out their pocket books.. it won't be cheap. ~Chris

and.. Doc should be able to help you find the Port #s neccessary to get E:BFD working on your firewall. They were either buried deep in a readme.txt file, or online on the Knowledge Base at EA. --Chris

An old article indeed... but I can go ahead and answer this question, which I dodged artfully way back then. <i>And now, the loaded question Chris sidestepped: Electronic Arts disbanded Origin Systems not too long ago. Has Westwood Studios ever been near the chopping block?</i> Yes. --Chris

DelugeD, I do not know of any professional game company doing a 'Dune' RTS game... but I've been out of the industry nearly 3 years now. It's always possible. Personally, I really like the ideas for mods of Emp & other games, Like Battlezone2000, for Dune. Some good stuff. :) --Chris

Heya all,

just a FYI ... EA does not hold the license on the Dune franchise.

True on the deploy & speeding up. You could play with the rules file and speed up the contaminator's movement. If you can find the animation control file for them, speed up their 'being spawned from the dead' animation, and then make their attack +1 point of damage or so.. Then give them a spin, a la zerg style. Buzzsaws, snipers, etc. will not be able to keep up... may be the start of a fun mod though... --Chris

shhhhhh....... ;)

Here is a picture of the DVD directory .. looks like we put some other stuff in there too! --Chris [attachment archived by Gobalopper]

The Contaminator was created to fill a couple of design needs. Besides needing a cool unit for the Tleixu flesh vats to produce, we wanted to add unique units with unique strategies. (We did not succeed on every unit :) We really liked the idea of a viral attack, or a unit that propogated like a virus. That idea became the genesis for both the Leech & the Contaminator. Once converts infantry, the other machines. Both are organic technologies, and its a rather organic attack form, so it fit the Tleixu ethos perfectly. In the early versions, both units were so deadly, they would quickly overwelm & dominate any opponant. (Talk about a Zerg attack!) So, they had to be nerf'd. In the end, we took a tad too much sting out of them.. but they are annoying as hell <evil grin>. When the Contaminators kill too quickly, they become very difficult to defeat. Also, their original spawn time was faster.. so when the enemy solidier died, you had another Contaminator in less than a second. :) They also walked faster initially.. he he.. again a 10 contaminator Zerg attack became lethal if you had any amount of infantry around. I used the Leeches more than the Contaminators.... and nowadays, I'd try them inside an Ordos APC, and dump them in the middle of a base, or in the middle of an infantry group. --Chris

hmm.. yes... I think .. through a custom map and/or campaign/mission INI settings.. wow...so foggy now... there might be some flag somewhere to make two sides play as one, even with differnt units ... I think... hmm. --Chris

Oh the tease .. (sorry, I feel bad now.) :) Seriously, there was a complete proposal with concept art, units, sides, everything. We pitched it to the execs September 8th, 2001. It was turned down.. for a number of reasons... most not having to do with the game proposal. Most definitely due to poor forcasts on a sequel title. I intentionally did not take a copy with me when I left Westwood, as I knew it would be too tempting to have in my possession. .. .. Much like... (dare, I tease again..??... ah shucks, its 2am .. nobody is looking..) the Emperor DVD version I found last night in an old box. Yup. I found this box in my closet, thinking all these years it was my last case of "Into the Void", another game I produced ..which barely saw the light of day (longer story). When I went to open it, I a bunch of stuff from my Westwood desk. This was the very last box I packed, quickly, as they stood in my door ready to push me out the front door. I just sweeped the last few stacks of stuff into this box, and left. Besides a couple of fresh, unopened Emperor boxed copies (which I needed, as I loaned out my opened box), I found the DVD version that Tim Fritz & I made in early October, 2001. It's the full version 1.09, with all the map packs, the editor, trailers, screenshots, marketing kit, etc. etc. I belive the main EXE is identical to v1.09 you all have, but the installer was rev'd to work off the DVD. Anyhoo... I'll have to go see what else is in that box .. who knows.. I was too sleepy to get past the top layer... ;) --Chris

Oh, and a completely new AI model. (Given current spec PCs, some time & money to develop, there are some cool new things to be done... and nobody doing them yet!) --Chris