House Globe, Space RTS in the Second Dimension
August 30th, 2008, Competitions, House Globe, LuaRemember “Because it’s fun, Fay?” It was a game we made for the TIGSource Procedural Generation Competition, held earlier this summer. We created it using our Lua script engine, Daisy Moon, which we usually use when we want to prototype different game ideas (we also use Multi-media Fusion sometimes, depending on the situation). The game turned out to be a two-player platform game with one character living in a rotated dimension, and with a JRPG end-boss fight. Maybe not our greatest game, but if you haven’t tried it, you can find it here.
Now it’s time for a new TIGSource competition and a new game! This time the theme is Bootleg Demakes, and people have posted over 100 threads about competition projects. A “bootleg” means “inofficial copy” and “demake” means “that is made to look as though it were running on older-generation hardware”. We could obviously not resist competing again and, using our Daisy Moon engine once more, created House Globe.
Hit the jump for the full story!
Artifact’s House Globe – 2D Real-time Strategy Game
Our competition entry is a demake of the classic Homeworld by Relic. If you haven’t played it, the short story is that Homeworld is a real-time strategy game in space. Your fleet is centered around your Mothership, which constructs units and is the drop-off zone for resources. In the game you are travelling through space in order to find your homeworld, while evil aliens attempt to destroy you (obviously).
When we began making the game we set our hardware target at the PC games of the mid-ninetees, think Dune 2 (i.e. the 320×240 resolution is intentional). We wanted to translate Homeworld’s 3D view to a flat 2D version, while keeping the key features that made Homeworld the game it is. That means your Mothership (called Maternal Vessel in House Globe) is the center piece of your fleet and will construct all units. It also means that we wanted to keep the tactical/strategical toggle that Homeworld has.
Beyond those initial concepts, we felt quite free to design our own game. We put much effort on making the “micro” part interesting (good control/response when moving units), and having a balanced technology tree. In the end we believe we managed to make a really good game in only 10 days or so.
Features:
- 2D RTS
- Single-player practice vs the computer
- 1on1 online multi-player
- Replay recordings of multi-player games
Screenshots:
Downloads:
Check the readme for game controls (it’s fairly inituitive). If you play any multi-player games, please send us the replay files! And… have fun! 
/ jeb
August 30th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
This game is very beautiful! Unfortunately, I am unable to locate the readme on the MacOS client. Could you help me find it?
August 30th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Heya jello
The readme is in the dmg package. Check below the application icon when you open the dmg.
/ jeb
August 31st, 2008 at 9:28 am
i love rts =D im gonna try it right away
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Awesome, looks great. I love Homeworld and I’ll probably try this out tonight after work.
In fact, it looks almost too great… Most games of that era were limited to a 256 color palette, which necessitated the characteristic dithering, whereas your backgrounds seem to blend much too smoothly… have I picked enough nits? Good job!
September 5th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Ben: Yeah you are right, we aren’t using a strict 256-color palette. We intended to, but I think we forgot, hehe.
/ jeb
September 6th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Forgot is the right word
Either I just forgot to pack the compressed version of the background or I forgot to compress it all together.
Now that I think of it, the background’s realy bugging me out
September 12th, 2008 at 6:26 am
I’m in awe. That’s amazing! Any plans for a Gnu/Linux version?
September 12th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
[...] game developers are able to create in 10 days for the TIGSource Demake Competition. When you see HouseGlobe, the demake of the award-winning space RTS Homeworld, in action, you’ll be in awe. 10 [...]
February 14th, 2011 at 1:17 am
I just found this game! How cool is this?! I’ve shown it to 4 of my friends, they all have it too. We’re going to hold a MP tournament! Thanks for a great de-make
April 16th, 2011 at 3:25 am
The download for windows has gone
June 10th, 2011 at 5:10 pm
i am rts fan..and i have try this game..this game is unique and i really love it..the gameplay to like collecting asteroid as resource, and just one building is really new for me and awesome..hope you can make more simple rts games like this game..
June 22nd, 2011 at 3:59 am
Hmm… Haven’t played any human opponents, but the stragey of, “Build miner x20, use funds to make giant army of fighters with upgrades, win” seems to be easier then, “Build miner x10, tech up, slowly build up army, take down the enemy through lots of battles and skirmishes”, just sayin’.
June 22nd, 2011 at 11:51 am
Thanks for the tip =)
The current AI is not that agressive, so being defensive is likely a very good option.
June 29th, 2012 at 11:41 am
i love the game but i want to be able to carry on playing after i beat the enemy. maybe a 2nd enemy who’s tougher and some more asteroids that drift in after you beat the 1st one so you have resources. i used all the asteroids up the first time i won. also instead of more asteroids drifting in you could maybe have harvesters able to pick up the dead ships and use them like the asteroids as resources.
June 29th, 2012 at 11:50 am
Or maybe when you beat the game there would be 2 more of the current enemy and when you beat them there would be one, tougher, enemy and one new faction/fleet who fights both you and your enemy.
just thinking