What engine does the Remastered Edition run on?

[guyvatzian (TheGuyvatzian)]

Pretty astonishing work by Gearbox then!

[BitVenom]

HW2 with some cybernetic implants - not sure what version I’d call it… HW2-BIONIC !!!

Tons of code is new, tons of old code was deleted/nerfed/modified - not to mention getting it to build on 2014 development systems…

[dbrower]

Well, as a developer who frequently works on C code that has 30+ years of history in it, I’m not that impressed by getting it to compile with a newer development workflow.

I understand and can live with a great number of the changes that have been made. I don’t mind that research costs. I don’t mind that resourcing is a little different. I don’t mind that

I DO mind that group assignments don’t stick very well, and I DO mind that you can’t bandbox salvage, I DO mind that you don’t get the assault frigates you salvage in M3, and I DO mind the absence of parade formation, and I DO mind the absence of clicking on one thing after jump to select all identical units, and I DO mind the difficulty of selecting units of a type because of illegible icons instead of a legible list of words.

I’m on the fence about the other major anti-salvage nerf, which is limiting you to 14 salvettes. I’m onlhy to M5, going to bed while it harvests, just like the old days.

-dB

[BitVenom]

I think a somewhat light-hearted thread about the update took a strange turn. We’ll do a dev diary at some point about the porting, it’s impressive - 15 year old code/libs in 2014 tools is no joke. Sleep tight.

[Lordx87]

Hey Bit, I’m really glad to hear that you’re going to do a Dev-Diary at some point. Could I pick your brain on something?

The big issues I’m seeing a lot of people complain about are essentially gameplay mechanics that changed from HW1 to HW1-Remastered. Along with some minor cosmetic issues.

What stopped Gearbox from rewriting the code to properly match HW1’s mechanics? For example:
no Z box selection means that support frigates/corvettes have to be insanely micromanaged. (along with an abysmal range that requires they actually be touching their target)

Or no group box salvage options for salvage corvettes. You used to be able to target a set of frigates and the corvettes would automatically divide up into teams to attack?

There’s also complaints about balance, with fighters becoming practically useless, while frigates are becoming completely OP (due to how HW2 handled projectiles vs HW1)

You don’t have to answer all of these in depth, I’m just curious if these issues will actually be addressed.

[k_Sezegedin]

I look forward to hearing about why you guys included Homeworld 1 formation buttons when they don’t actually work. Why not just stick to strike groups if thats the way the wind was blowing?

Military parade doesn’t even work, you know, the part where ships line up…in a row.

I guess it was pretty naiive for me to think HW1 would ever work in a modified HW2 environment, but I figured if the team was going to all the effort of a remaster and rerelease they’d figure it out.

Well, you have my custom - that’ll have to suffice as thanks.

I know you tried to do something special - but if the original’s character couldn’t be maintained, - why even bother?

[hugobertington]

Yeah Bit, I am very skeptical about how dedicated GBX was to the whole “remastering” gig, cos so far it looks like HW2 got all the love and HW1 was crippled

[BitVenom]

First of all, remember this is all ongoing - we haven’t even released a first critical issues patch. Very little is set in stone when a game is a living, breathing thing, yeah?

Second, I did graphics, audio, UI systems, tools. I didn’t do gameplay (at all). So I am not being evasive when I say I can’t answer your questions - I really can’t. That said, sometimes a bug is a bug - and we’ll address those as such. Sometimes a change is a change - and we likely have reasons, which get addressed based on many factors.

HW1 in HW2 is what we said early on we were doing. I’m very happy with the results.

A few quick points:

No Z box? Try Y-band box - for healing. G-band box - for guarding. It works - I just looked at it

Balance? I do pictures and pixels.

[Lordx87]

Hey! Thanks for the feedback regardless.

[k_Sezegedin]

Well, no one can argue against the quality of the Artwork, - Even though Homeworld was an impressive looking game in its day, I still remember thinking about how great it would be if kharak looked like a planet instead of…whatever it looked like.

All the ship texture work, models and backgrounds are great, no issues there.

Bravo.

[BitVenom]

I (and the artists) were so geeked to get to the planets. The planet shader is amazing (and I have some ideas for improvements!). I am SUPER excited to see what kinds of insane stuff the Mod community comes up with once we get them the tools & documentation (soon guys - gotta focus on critical issues to patch first).

[LuckyHRE (Lukyhre)]

@BitVenom Really looking forward to that dev-diary! I’m expecting it from the day you guys recieved the old engine . And thanks for constant feedback, it is indeed REALLY interesting to have this kind of contact with a dev of your most beloved game.

Also, let me please share to you my first reaction when I saw Kharak in mission 1:

Had to Alt-Tab outta the game and share it within a Homeworld fan page on Facebook. If you were THE GUY or at least part of THE GUYS who did that, you. are. amazing.

The shockwaves of the missiles burning Kharak are also quite an spectacle. Though in my opinion, I would have done them more ‘fire-ish’, as they are literally burning the atmosphere.

[Kapella]

The Y-band box doesn’t work. The support craft heal damaged units and don’t switch as other units become damaged, so it requires persistent micromanagement.

[hugobertington]

I’m very happy with the results.

Man, if only I had such optimism as you do

[BitVenom]

Optimism?

~90% rating - both metacritic, users, steam, etc. 9 out of 10, as a dev, is a great starting point. We didn’t do badly by most reasonable metrics. But it’s not just about numbers…

Optimism isn’t how I’d describe it because it’s not a ‘hopefull attitude’ - we are working on fixes/changes/adjustments. And we’ve said many times that we will continue to do that. Both to the main game, to the tools people have to change things for themselves, and also (obviously) for the ‘beta’ MP experience/balance.

So it’s not optimism - it’s my job & passion.

If things aren’t the way you’d like them right now (and indeed, some things may never be changed) - many things will be changed, and your feedback helps direct that. If I or any other members of the team didn’t care, we wouldn’t be signing on for the care and feeding of this project - and that’s certainly not the case.

It’s not my job or responsibility to ‘defend’ the work we’ve done - but I’ll say it anyway. We worked our butts off for this project, put years of our lives into it, without any apathetic, bored, or ‘incompetent’ team-members. The whole group was excited, driven, capable and passionate. And… I’m very happy with the results.

[Kadeshi (aka LightBRz)]

Second, I did graphics, audio, UI systems, tools.

So we you, no h0mo, great job, still hating on the dude that made gameplay though lol

[Lifth]

It’s so easy for someone on the internet to offhandedly dismiss your work without knowing the first thing about graphics. Don’t let it get to you. As much as there are many things we think is wrong with the way HW1 in HW2 has been executed mechanically, the graphics are the one point that have received unanimous praise. And for damn good reason. There’s the occasional crackpot but that’s about it.

I hope that, given time, the HW1 remastered gameplay can join the graphics in being damn awesome. And I don’t mean in a demeaning way towards the people that worked on it. But, and this is me speculating, I am under the impression you could have used more time. My only fear is that the design and gameplay team don’t share the same view as us as to where the HW1 SP should be.

All in all, I’m very impressed by your openness and communication with us. Usually we’d get a community manager and the occasional PR soap. This almost feels like a kickstarter and I really appreciate that.

[hugobertington]

Second, I did graphics, audio, UI systems, tools.

Well, my gripes with those’d have to be the…

-Illegibility of the unit selection box, silhouettes are no where near as quickly readable as a simple list option in the top left hand corner of the screen.
-Pressing B and R for their respective menus brings them up, but doesn’t make them go away again, a real gripe if I want my UI to go away so I can have my open view
-And the strike craft firing sound effects, couldn’t you have kept the “Brrtrrtrrt” from the original? Why did you have to go with what sound like ARMA 3 explosion sound effects?

Oh also my Classic version keeps CTDing endlessly, so there’s that

[Ludovsky]

I have to second what everyone said positive about Kharak.

Gosh, the sight to see the world with those updated graphics. All my kudos for your awesome work folks.

[nathanielmattock]

Removed this post.