Forums > Game Talk > Hard Vacuum: an early RTS [cancelled]
MrFlibble (18937) on 9/29/2012 6:09 PM · Permalink · Report
Some time ago, while searching the Internet for Dune II-related stuff, I found a page with a description of a cancelled real-time strategy game that was under development in 1993, called Hard Vacuum. If only it were not cancelled it could have very well preceded both Warcraft: Orcs & Humans and Command & Conquer. Planned features included highly interactive, deformable terrain, varying terrain height that would affect combat, and supply lines.
What survived of Hard Vacuum is a screenshot and graphics packs which the artist who did them had released into public domain:
When I posted this in a couple of retro gaming forums, people immediately started telling me that the graphics are very recognizable, reminding them of Tyrian (a game I was hardly familiar with back then). And indeed, the site with the article about Hard Vacuum belongs to none other than Daniel Cook. One can only imagine what the game could have become but what's true is that later RTS games almost invariably used pre-rendered sprites for graphics, while Hard Vacuum would have had high-quality hand-drawn images. What was done by Daniel Cook graphics-wise can be downloaded from his site, and he gives permission to freely use the graphics if one so desires.
Game Guesser (28) on 9/30/2012 9:40 AM · Permalink · Report
oh man, these are delicious. Yeah, a lot of RTS games started looking ugly after the first wave of quality reactions to C&C/Warcraft (like War Wind), and even in the prettiest games from that period, they can look pretty garish and be an aesthetic mess. This looks quite clean by comparison. Thank you for posting this.
Rola (8478) on 9/30/2012 5:13 PM · Permalink · Report
Very interesting, thanks - I recall most of the cancelled PC games from 1990s as they were previewed by the press, but not this one!
Sadly, this game sounded much better than many RTS clones released later (say, Dark Colony?).
<hr>@MrFlibble: If that graphics set is free to use, perhaps you should get in touch with, say, those people who spent their time (for free) on enhanced Dune2 port and suggest them completing the game? Such project would be a greater challenge than just a remake. Maybe even a Kickstarter project?
MrFlibble (18937) on 10/2/2012 11:26 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Rola wrote--]@MrFlibble: If that graphics set is free to use, perhaps you should get in touch with, say, those people who spent their time (for free) on enhanced Dune2 port and suggest them completing the game? Such project would be a greater challenge than just a remake. Maybe even a Kickstarter project? [/Q --end Rola wrote--] Yeah, I had that idea, and even contacted some people who showed only moderate interest so far. One guy, the creator of Dune II: The Golden Path told me he'd consider doing a game with those assets, except it wouldn't be a free game :-| I don't think he did anything in that direction though.
The idea is good nevertheless, although I think most people who work on Dune II remake projects (like Stefan Hendriks) are busy with continuing their development, so perhaps it would be more effective to reach out to a wider indie game development community.
One more thing is that indie RTS projects seem to be in a kind of a minority, perhaps it's not the most preferable genres for the developers.