Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun

Audio

Dwight Okahara, Senior Sound Designer:

We had a blast with this game. We hooked up with the FBI to record explosives from their bomb detonation training course to bring realistic sound effects to the game

Development

The design team started work on Tiberian Sun in 1995, just a few weeks after Command & Conquer shipped. The final design document was finished in late 1997. In July of 1998, in the 110 degree heat of the Nevada desert, a crew of more than 40 came together to film the story of Tiberian Sun. The game was completed in July of 1999.

German version

The German version replaces all the soldiers with cyborgs. Some violent scenes were cut from the cutscenes.

Online servers

The game's online servers were migrated from the official Westwood Online infrastructure to the community-run XWIS (XCC WOL IRC Server), under approval and sponsorship from EA's German office on 20 October 2005. The Westwood Online domains have acted as a redirect to XWIS services since then, requiring no additional steps from the user to access the servers short of registering an account.

References to the game

In 1999, German electronica-house-metal band Think About Mutation released the single Two Tribes, which featured a video with some Tiberian Sun footage and the band members wearing the helmet seen on the game cover. The cover of the single is a stylized Tiberian Sun cover, depicting a woman instead of a male soldier.

Sales

• As of 2005, Tiberian Sun was the fastest selling game on the EA Games label (1.5 million copies within a month).
• Between 1999 and 2000, the game won a single Gold and three Platinum awards from the German VUD (Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland - Entertainment Software Association Germany) for selling more than 100,000 units (Gold) and more than three times 200,000 units (Platinum) in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. As the Gold award is not counted into the Platinum award, all four awards total in between 700,000 and 1,700,000 units sold.

Soundtrack

All tracks were composed and performed by Frank Klepacki (Westwood Studios) and Jarrid Mendelson (Digital Media House).

* - track was initially GDI-only, but was later enabled for Nod as well
** - track was initially Nod-only, but was later enabled for GDI as well

1. Valves (03:27) (Klepacki)
2. Dusk Hour* (04:11) (Klepacki & Mendelson)
3. Flurry (04:11) (Klepacki & Mendelson)
4. Mutants* (04:11) (Klepacki & Mendelson)
5. Approach (04:42) (Klepacki)
6. Gloom (03:37) (Mendelson)
7. Infrared (04:26) (Klepacki)
8. Mad Rap (04:29) (Klepacki)
9. Red Sky (02:22) (Klepacki)
10. Ion Storm / Storm Coming (04:14) (Klepacki)
11. Time Bomb (02:04) (Klepacki)
12. What Lurks (05:14) (Klepacki)
13. Defense** (04:03) (Mendelson)
14. Heroism (04:06) (Mendelson)
15. Lone Troop* (04:39) (Mendelson)
16. Pharotek** (04:38) (Mendelson)
17. Scout (04:14) (Mendelson)

Installer/main menu track: Options Menu (03:27) (Klepacki)
Map selection screen track: Map Theme (01:06) (Klepacki)
Post-game track: Score (01:49) (Klepacki)

Additionally, a looping ambiental track is played separately from this list in campaign missions where ion storms are occurring:

• Ion Storm Ambient (00:34)

The soundtrack disc of the game is included in the Platinum Edition and the Firepower bundle. It was also separately available for purchase. As of 2005 it has been available digitally on Apple iTunes, followed by other streaming services as they arrived. Note that the list is reordered and some tracks were cut out, and some tracks were slightly renamed.

1. Timebomb (Klepacki)
2. Pharotek (Mendelson)
3. Lone Trooper (Mendelson)
4. Scouting (Mendelson)
5. Infrared (Klepacki)
6. Flurry (Klepacki & Mendelson)
7. Mutants (Klepacki & Mendelson)
8. Gloom (Mendelson)
9. Heroism (Mendelson)
10. Approach (Klepacki)
11. Dusk Hour (Klepacki & Mendelson)
12. The Defense (Mendelson)
13. Mad Rap (Klepacki)
14. Valves (Klepacki)
15. What Lurks (Klepacki)
16. Score (Klepacki)

Frank Klepacki:

I didn't want to stray too far from the original C&C soundtrack, but it had to be more futuristic and ambient. From there I tried to capture the mood the designers wanted for each mission. I even brought in another composer for some of the in game scores, Jarrid Mendelson, who I knew would compliment my style for this genre of music. Also, you'll notice I put more development into GDI & NOD's signature themes for the movie sequences.

Awards

• PC Gamer
  • April 2000 - #29 in the "All-Time Top 50 Games" poll
• PC Player (Germany)
  • Issue 01/2000 - Most Hyped Game in 1999
• PC Powerplay (Germany)
  • Issue 03/2005 - #3 Biggest Disappointment
  • Issue 02/2006 - #3 Hype Disappointment
• Power Play
  • Issue 02/2000 – Biggest Disappointment in 1999
• Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland
  • 1999/2000 - Gold Award
  • 1999/2000 - Three Platinum Awards

Information also contributed by FloodSpectre, Grant McLellan, Karthik KANE, paul cairey, PCGamer77, Plok and Xoleras.