Dune II was not the first RTS game

[crazArra]

there was one RTS game before it called Herzog Zwei and it was released for the genesis.

[Caid Ivik]

Even Dune I was RTS. But Dune II was the One, with capital "O", which defined the genre.

Anyway, such threads should flow into Games section.

[bob_fox]

Anyway, Dune I isn't a true strategy game (it's just got a strategy element). There may have been RTS games before Dune II, but that doesn't matter. Nobody cared about RTS before Dune II.

[Vanguard3000]

You can get the PC version of Herzog Zwei from Home of the Underdogs (the-underdogs.org), of you want to see it.

Think of Dune2 as the Wolfenstein of the RTS genre. It wasn't the first, but it brought the genre out of obscurity.

[Guest LtTitan]

What about Dune: The Battle for Arrakis? That was an RTS, the first I think, made in 1994 for the Sega Genesis. Is this the Dune I of which you people speak? Dune: The Battle for Arrakis defined the RTS genre for me.

[Vanguard3000]

The genesis Dune is based on the PC Dune2. And Herzog Zwei came out in the late 80's, I think.

[bob_fox]

Yes, if what you say is true, LtTitan, Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty (the PC version) came out before the Genesis version because it (the PC version) came out in '93.

[gryphon]

At first I thought you brought back a very old topic. . although it appears you have made a new one.

This is one with the same name and subject.

[ just looked over it another time .. better not post a link to it. . . I was going mayby a bit oftopic there. . :-[ or then. . mayby I wasn't :-X ]

[neonext]

i thought the same thing gryphon.

overall, it's pretty obvious that Dune 2 wasn't the first RTS game, but it is well accepted that it is the first mainstream RTS game - meaning it was the first RTS game that made the masses know what an RTS game is

[FireSnake]

there was one RTS game before it called Herzog Zwei and it was released for the genesis.

I've not even heard of that Herzog Zwei (which means ... Duke Two in German ... anyway ...)

I can also say that the first RTS game was Akakori Limbo Sieben.

Are You gonna believe me? Of course not. I just made that up.

Basicly - those names just don't ring a bell. So first RTS or not - they're not know to the publicity.

It's safe to say that Dune II was THE RTS game - the GRANDFATHER of all RTS. The game that made its genre famous and started a legacy.

- Matthew

[King-Mega]

Yeah but where would we be in the gaming world without Dune :'(. It's sad to think about it.

8)

[Ninja_Sher]

Yeah but where would we be in the gaming world without Dune

[tag]

Naming the "first" Real-time Strategy game is very difficult as the early 90's marked a time when real-time games were more wide-spread than is often realised.

[Terror]

Good post, for all people who agree with Bashar say I.

"I"

[gryphon]

I. :)

although however nice and well putt, the first RTS game is a term given to a genre, a game which is the first RTS game which started that idea to and for a lot of people. Just as the winner Idols might not be a great singer or even the most tallentfull contestent of the show. . but he is the winner.. .

Things can not be classifiek as a genre if the genre doesn't exist yet. So the thing starting it, might indeed not be the first thing. . but will be the thing which named it for everything after that.

[Andrew]

I

No matter what Bashar says is great. Everytime he posts it is great.

Castles was a good game. Played the demo about 40 times.

[Ninja_Sher]

I.

Dune II was Grandfather of all C&C games.

And that was the first media covered game. The other games had no media so would not affect much though rts was inevitable.

[Vezner]

Dune II is the first RTS game of its kind that really mattered. I still have fond memories of it and that was YEARS ago.  Dune I was not the same kind of RTS that Dune II was although it was really good in and of itself.  As far as that Genesis game, well...it sucked.  ::)

[Eyebeam]

We were all adicted to Herzog Zwei at Westwood. We played for hours on the SEGA. However, Dune was inspired by more than Herzog .. The whole industry was moving to more interactiviity. FTL had Dungeon Master that took the Ultima and Wizardry games to a new level. We were already doing "what if" games like DragonStrike and Eye of the Beholder.

At that time it was all about usability, not just about the character or the story. That was the problem with Dune I, it was just Zork with graphics. We wanted to place the player into the environment and let them create their own story.

I always felt that Warcraft was a clone of the original Dune. Virgin at that time had a close relationship with Blizard. But now, having years to reflect upon it, I think it was a common synergy going through the industry. There were probably five or six development teams thinking about the same thing.

Anyway just my thoughts .. from a guy on the original Dune design team.

[Dunenewt]

You're from the orginal design team?? What've you been doing since?

[Davidu]

Better question: do you have the source code?

Or, can you help up the mods?

One more thing: in Dune2, in the briefings, you use the same tech as in the dialogs in Dune1. How was that made? The facial movement? It was most interesting.

[ant222]

The first 'real' RTS was Nether Earth for ZX Spectrum. I played it first on my Pentagon 128 (Kb RAM) when I was about seven years (in 1992), and I still sometimes play it. The game was released in 1987.

[nemafakei]

Davidu, the DI 'technology' was Remi Herbulot's facial animations, which sound like they may have been part coded, part just bitmap overlays. The DII 'technology' was definitely just a set of overlays (which can be found in the pak files) for the eyes and mouth - the eyes responded to cursor poisition, and the mouth alternated between a number of overlays during dialogue.

[MrFlibble]

The first 'real' RTS was Nether Earth for ZX Spectrum. I played it first on my Pentagon 128 (Kb RAM) when I was about seven years (in 1992), and I still sometimes play it. The game was released in 1987.

There's a remake for this game (separate versions for Win32, Mac or Linux). Check it here.