[HN Gopher] Technicalities of Homeworld 2 Backgrounds
___________________________________________________________________
Technicalities of Homeworld 2 Backgrounds
Author : todsacerdoti
Score : 126 points
Date : 2025-03-23 13:14 UTC (9 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (simonschreibt.de)
(TXT) w3m dump (simonschreibt.de)
| robin_reala wrote:
| I meant to play this again last year, but it turns out that it's
| another casualty of the mac 32-bit kill-off, and there doesn't
| seem to be an obviously easy way to get it running with Wine or
| equivalents. Maybe I'll look into it again...
| maineagetter wrote:
| With intel and amd getting much better in the low end power and
| performance-wise, Apple should look at going back to x86. The
| developer situation is still a mess with Docker x86 and arm
| mismatches, and it was so convenient just to throw Windows on
| to a mac to game.
| solardev wrote:
| I really hope they don't do this. Apple never cared about
| desktop gaming and I hope they don't sacrifice the amazing
| gains that Apple Silicon made in power and efficiency just to
| support a niche use case that's often better served by
| GeForce Now anyway.
|
| The Apple Silicon machines I've had were tremendously better
| than any x86 one I've ever used, at any price point, for
| laptop work. Powerful, silent, battery efficient. Definitely
| worth the tradeoff of losing x86 support IMHO.
|
| I guess the x86 compat depends on what you work on. For the
| web teams I've been a part of, it was a real headache in the
| first couple years (the M1 era) but hasn't been an issue at
| all since then. But that's just anecdotal.
| stouset wrote:
| The M-series of chips is quite possibly the most universally
| beloved thing Apple has done in a decade.
| withinboredom wrote:
| Def not universal. It annoys me to no end when I need to
| cross-compile on my windows machine so the content guys at
| my company can use it, and then I have to walk them through
| how to allow their machine to actually run it. God forbid
| someone wants to just run internally developed software on
| their own hardware.
| dismalaf wrote:
| Realistically, Macs are meant to develop for Apple devices
| only. Apple creates their own ecosystem where nothing else
| matters.
|
| Want to develop on Docker (Linux)? You should use Linux.
|
| AMD and Intel getting better means now you can have a very,
| very good Linux experience too.
| KronisLV wrote:
| As someone who has about 800 Steam games (mostly various
| indie titles, some free games, few AAA games grabbed on a
| discount: * all 800 of those work on Windows,
| in very few cases any of those work better on another
| platform * about 600 of those can be made to run on
| Linux distros with Proton (with varying degrees of success,
| relatively few actually have native versions) * when it
| comes to Mac, only about 120 of those have native versions
| that run and Proton doesn't seem to be an option * I
| know that Game Porting Toolkit exists, but haven't really
| looked that much into it, I probably should in the future
| * none of that, not even Proton would be really necessary, if
| people bothered to export versions of their games for all
| platforms, which is at the very least an option that is
| offered by all big mainstream game engines, or even smaller
| ones like Godot; but we don't live in that kind of a world,
| sadly * oddly enough, in many cases games won't run
| because the developers explicitly choose not to support
| additional platforms, especially in the case of the various
| anti-cheat solutions, which plain sucks
|
| It's quite unfortunate, because otherwise I could definitely
| enjoy more gaming even on my slightly dated M1 MacBook Air -
| because while I wouldn't be playing that many cutting edge
| AAA games, if you could have a satisfying gaming experience
| even on a Nintendo Switch, then I see no reason why the same
| couldn't be said about Apple hardware.
| ziofill wrote:
| Same... I've tried everything (or hopefully not). Does anyone
| have a recommendation on how to play this on M-series macs?
| solardev wrote:
| The Windows version should work on Crossover: https://www.cod
| eweavers.com/compatibility/crossover/homeworl...
| robin_reala wrote:
| Ah, right. I'd been looking at the remastered version,
| which definitely doesn't get anywhere near as good results:
| https://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility/crossover/homewor
| l...
| solardev wrote:
| Ah, I didn't realize that was a different executable
| altogether. Thanks for clarifying!
| moritonal wrote:
| Fun fact, when I was like... 12, I made a presentation to my
| parents based off the Demo of this game as to why they should buy
| it. I sold them on it when one slide was just a photo of a single
| perfectly rendered missile being fired, traveling across space.
| MrLeap wrote:
| Adorably nerdy. Was it a powerpoint on the livingroom TV?
| moritonal wrote:
| Okay, I actually found the presentation, if you want a laugh (/
| be impressed at game that's >20 years old), here you go https:/
| /docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vR18QhznFBRK....
| SquareWheel wrote:
| This is absolutely adorable. Thank you for sharing!
| tryfinally wrote:
| Thanks, this made my day! No wonder your pitch was a success.
| bombcar wrote:
| Don't tell my kids (hi kids, if you're reading this!) but the
| first thing they ask for with a freaking presentation they're
| probably getting.
| sevg wrote:
| This is so great!
|
| You even had call to action links on your "where to buy?"
| slide.
|
| I enjoyed the "Special thanks to dad for paying the
| electricity bill and Internet bill for this project" XD
| bot403 wrote:
| Thanks for sharing this amazing bit. I love the "our team has
| found out..." At the end.
|
| Like....who is the 12 year olds team?
| airstrike wrote:
| Tom, Tom, Tom and Tom. It's right there in the credits!
| pipes wrote:
| Great pitch! I now want to play homeworld 2! It was only a
| tenner in Tesco? Why so cheap?
| zipy124 wrote:
| This is bloody brilliant!
| pbohun wrote:
| Hahaha amazing! This is better than the some of the
| presentations our junior hires do at work.
| brulard wrote:
| 2 weeks later, a presentation why you need a new hardware to
| run your Homeworld 2 smoothly on.
| tumsfestival wrote:
| It really is some of the most beautiful looking space games ever
| made, I used to play this a lot as a kid and I was so
| disappointed to learn that nowhere in space looks like this game.
| I wish more sci-fi media embraced this kind of aesthetic, bright
| colorful space with nebula sunsets, almost makes the void
| inviting.
| qiine wrote:
| and don't forget about the music !
| tumsfestival wrote:
| Absolutely, back then I was in love with some of the tracks
| in the second game that had this tribal ambiance mixed with
| electronic music. The entire art direction in the series is
| fantastic in fact, all those colorful ships straight out of
| Jodorowsky's Dune... Beautiful!
| pawelduda wrote:
| I had high hopes for the recent Homeworld 3 "reboot" of the
| series but apparently they butchered it
| tumsfestival wrote:
| Gearbox was involved so there were no surprises there, seems
| like everything they touch turns into crap. They also screwed
| up the remaster of the first two games, the geniuses there
| decided to port the first game into the second game's engine,
| only they forgot the first Homeworld had a ship formation
| mechanic that was absent in the second one, they tried
| recreating it post-launch but the AI was pretty much
| lobotomized in the process. Such a shame, because it looks
| gorgeous on the newer engine.
| aledalgrande wrote:
| The personal project linked in the article is so beautifully
| done. A joy to interact with
| dostick wrote:
| One thing is not so nice, in Substack this article is under
| huge Russian flag hero image. Is russia the homeworld?
| ceejayoz wrote:
| A friend showed me the Homeworld (1) beta in... 1999 I think? The
| beauty of the backgrounds was a huge part of the appeal. I wound
| up administering the Relic forums for many years. Delightful to
| see the franchise here on HN.
| nntwozz wrote:
| I love the Homeworld games (especially the Cataclysm expansion),
| but I think EVE online has far superior backgrounds.
|
| https://evetravel.wordpress.com/visible-nebulae-in-new-eden/
|
| Cloud ring is my favorite.
| laurex wrote:
| This is just a note to say Aaron Kambietz is great. [buy the book
| https://www.homeworldremastered.com/artbook/]
| egypturnash wrote:
| The early Spyro the Dragon games on the Playstation 1 did this
| too. Looked gorgeous.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2025-03-23 23:00 UTC)