KickStarter Homeworld 3 from Blackbird Interactive

[Infinitron]

Fuck the times we live in, fuck Randy Pitchford and fuck Epic games for making a Homeworld 3 announcement fill me with dread instead of joy. All I can think of is the myraid ways Randy and Epic will fuck Fig backers over. I can't wait for the devs to deviate from what was backed and the devs to turn round and say "We don't need your money anymore. The glorious people's republic has paid off our loan to you."

This game is due out in Q4 2022! I'm not sure Epic exclusives will still be a thing by then.

 

[Hellraiser]

Fuck the times we live in, fuck Randy Pitchford and fuck Epic games for making a Homeworld 3 announcement fill me with dread instead of joy. All I can think of is the myraid ways Randy and Epic will fuck Fig backers over. I can't wait for the devs to deviate from what was backed and the devs to turn round and say "We don't need your money anymore. The glorious people's republic has paid off our loan to you."

This game is due out in Q4 2022! I'm not sure Epic exclusives will still be a thing by then.

Knowing life it might get delayed also. If Epic's sole stream of cash to jumpstart their store was fortinite I would say it is certain they will stop the exclusive deal bullshit by then. The unknown variable are the chinamen, they might have cash to burn and this whole exclusivity deal idea seems like their idea all along. Furthermore there might be other incentives involved between Gearbox and Epic, as Gearbox uses Epic's engine for their main cash cow so I could imagine royalty discounts might also be used, which could be substantial wtih a series as high-selling as borderlands.

 

[DraQ]

how can you explain Maakan trying to destroy the gate and prevent you from following even though you carried one of the space silmarils without which he would remain trapped deep in the core?

That was pure derp. But you have to admit, he had a kickass Potato dub.

Dunno, lol. I have thankfully avoided getting original HW2.

For comparison:

• I ran to buy HW1 as soon as I played the demo (and discovered it wasn't out in Potato yet),
• I bought Cata and while it was rather disappointing compared to HW1 I enjoyed it and easily got enough bang for my buck.

 

[Grotesque]

 

[Grotesque]

What?
Epic games launcher? Unity??

It's clear.

 

[Jenkem]

it's obvious it would be an EGS game because fucking gearbox has the publishing rights for homeworld

 

[Grotesque]

https://www.fig.co/campaigns/homewo...6sR7pNgPidyqF8hH0X1a7s_GzuosKD023NfRCN7Snc7EU

UPDATE

 

[Grotesque]

 

[Alpharius]

For the record, anyone claiming that Deserts of Kharak was anything other than a stinking pile of shit of a game is not only a decline enabler but also either never played it or is mentally unfit to offer his opinion on anything whatsoever.
The campaign in that game was beyond atrocious, with retarded plot and braindead AI. Multiplayer was balanced as if no one ever tried playing it before release, which was an achivement considering most units in the game fit nicely into a "brilliant" rock-paper-scissors scheme.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.fig.co/campaigns/homewo...6sR7pNgPidyqF8hH0X1a7s_GzuosKD023NfRCN7Snc7EU

UPDATE

Week 1 Recap – We’re 68,500,000% over our goal!
POSTED: 09/10/2019

Thank you to everyone that has joined us on this journey! With your help, we have rocketed past $685,000 in just 10 days! We’re so grateful to have the opportunity to make this game with you.

Rob Cunningham, CEO of BBI has this to share with you:

We’re still in pre-production and we still have a lot of work to do, but it’s so great getting to see this community as excited as we are! This is the stage where we can do the most with your feedback. Real game-play decisions will be made because of your responses! We'll leave the survey open for two weeks after the campaign closes. After that, we'll talk about how your feedback is influencing the game in another update. We’ve been watching and responding to a lot of you on social media, in the Discord server, and here on Fig, and it’s been so valuable to see what Homeworld has meant to you. We’re so grateful and would love to hear about the first time that you played Homeworld in the comments.

Now, for some more cool concept art:

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

I want to believe.

 

[Grotesque]

I want to believe.

 

[DraQ]

I quite like ship concepts, but locations in the galaxy map are strongly offset and wrong.

 

[Grotesque]

 

[Storyfag]

Looks suspect.

 

[Grotesque]

https://www.fig.co/campaigns/homeworld3/updates/986

Fig Update Week 2 - Going Ballistics
POSTED: 09/17/2019

We are still awaiting the final results from the Fig Supporter Survey (which will stay open an additional 2 weeks after the Fig campaign ends on September 29th), but in the interim we are actively reading all the comments on the Fig campaign and in the Supporter Discord channel (discord.gg/homeworld).

Internally, we spend a lot of time looking back at the four previous Homeworld games analyzing which elements we think worked best in each of the games, and how we want to utilize and adapt those features to create the best Homeworld 3 we can. Unsurprisingly, we are not the only people with strong opinions on the topic of the relative strengths of each entry in the Homeworld franchise. One area where we have seen the community feedback strongly mirrors our own thinking is the debate about the weapon systems in Homeworld 1 versus those in Homeworld 2. Homeworld 1 used a ballistic weapon system where weapons would fire at their target and could miss or be blocked as the attack played out in real time. In Homeworld 2 the system was changed so that weapons fire was deterministic, based on math rather than physics. Whether a shot would hit or not was predetermined and then the corresponding animation would play out to represent that predetermined calculation.

Within the community there is a strong and unified voice that the ballistics systems of Homeworld 1 is better, and we agree! It is our goal to have ballistics be the primary method of ship to ship combat in Homeworld 3. Our plan is for all ships to utilize projectile based ballistics that are fully simulated. This will benefit the game in a number of significant ways. Ships will fire at hostile vessels and even if another ship blocks line of sight of the target the weapon will keep firing. Units will be able to block incoming fire for other ships, either sacrificing themselves to save a more valuable unit, or to utilize their heavier armour or higher health pool to protect weaker more vulnerable ships.

Defensive formations have the potential to be inherently more meaningful, especially formations comprised of multiple classes of ships. Utilizing heavily armoured capital ships to protect the flanks of more vulnerable frigates for example. Map objects will also have greater meaning; players will be able to use asteroids, megaliths and ship debris as cover. 3D movement and combat will be even more important as players seek out the best attack angle to engage a specific formation or negate a defensive formation or positioning.

While a lot of decisions on how we will implement ballistics from a technical standpoint are yet to be made, we wanted to share our decision with you and to thank all of you. Your feedback reinforced our beliefs and helped us feel confident that ballistics are the best approach moving forward with combat systems in Homeworld 3.

Lance Mueller, Lead Designer
Iain Myers-Smith, Communications Manager

 

[Quatlo]

Holy shit that was unexpected, they actually know what they are doing.

Switching my stance to "cautiously optimistic"

 

[Alpharius]

Well thats cool and all, but its kinda hard to imagine in what world would

Utilizing heavily armoured capital ships to protect the flanks of more vulnerable frigates for example.

make any sense. Shouldn't it be the other way around?

 

[underground nymph]

Well thats cool and all, but its kinda hard to imagine in what world would make any sense. Shouldn't it be the other way around?

In real world there couldn’t be any linear health bars. Damaging important module can make huge air carrier obsolete. The only way out I see for devs are the power shields.

 

[Perkel]

If Epic's sole stream of cash to jumpstart their store was fortinite I would say it is certain they will stop the exclusive deal bullshit by then.

I wouldn't be so sure. Epic could release Unreal Engine 4 with 5% split and still handsomnly survive. Even without Fortnite 12% cut is enough to warrant people moving to Epic store abandoning Steam. The worst fears also became true and it looks like after much rage and outcry people ignored steamtards and bought BL3. Which also means more developers will pick now Epic store.

Imho it will only end when Epic will reach about 30-40% market, because at that point it will not make much sense to give free games and cut extra deals. I think they will even rise cut some more to like 15-17%. Everything depends on competition though, if new shop will open with strong leverage it will continue.

I bought Cata and while it was rather disappointing compared to HW1 I enjoyed it and easily got enough bang for my buck.

Cata had imho much more interesting atmosphere. That being said HW1 was special and anything that is not bad compared to it is automatically awesome.

For the record, anyone claiming that Deserts of Kharak was anything other than a stinking pile of shit of a game is not only a decline enabler but also either never played it or is mentally unfit to offer his opinion on anything whatsoever.

The problem with it was that it was not homeworld. No one cares about AI or multi when you play some different game in homeworld art clothes. Game wasn't even homeworld for most of production, it was supposed to be different game with homeworld art style.

Still Homeworld wasn't some technical masterpiece and it didn't have amazing AI or anything. Strength of HW was in mission design, narrative, continuity of your forces and theme.

I hope though folks who make HW3 take cues from Complex mod.

 

[Grotesque]

https://www.fig.co/campaigns/homeworld3/updates/987

The Art of Homeworld book returns in brand new Fig bundle!
POSTED: 09/19/2019

Thanks so much to everyone who’s decided to come aboard so far for the development Homeworld 3. It’s been absolutely surreal to see the outpouring of love for Homeworld these past few weeks. We can’t wait to build this game alongside you over the coming years. Today, we wanted to find a new way to celebrate with a new limited bundle for the Fig campaign.

Years ago when working on Homeworld Remastered Collection, the Gearbox crew worked directly with Blackbird’s Rob Cunningham and Aaron Kambeitz to lovingly craft a dedicated, 236-page art book for Homeworld, called The Art of Homeworld. The only problem is that we deeply underestimated demand and sold out pretty much immediately. These books now go for near $1,000 on eBay. It’s kinda nuts.

To help, we’re bringing back that exact same art book in a marked 2nd edition (that’s for you, current owners), bundled with five 5x7 prints of Homeworld 3 art, and the Collector’s Edition of Homeworld 3. Priced at $300. It’s limited to 5,000 units, so if you want it, hop in right now to guarantee your copy. If you want to change your pledge to lock in your copy of the book, Fig makes that super easy:

· Just click the new bundle on Homeworld 3’s Fig page

· In the “Edit Reward Bundle” carousel on the next page simply click the new bundle

· NOTE: If you’re already pledging at the $1,000 tier (holy crap, thank you), we’ve got you covered. Your bundle will automagically be upgraded to include The Art of Homeworld.

FAQ (to be included with backer update AND added to the actual FAQ):

Q: Why not make an Art of Homeworld 3 instead?
A: A couple reasons: First, a reborn version of The Art of Homeworld is something we can actually deliver in 2020 rather than waiting for 2022. Second, this is actually a good way for us to gauge future interest in this kind of book for future publishing efforts around Homeworld 3.

Q: I’m at $1000 do I miss out on The Art of Homeworld?
A: Your bundle will be automagically updated to include the book.

Q: What will the five Homeworld 3 art prints be?
A: We don’t know yet, and that’s because we want to include you in the process. The plan is to put together a selection of 10-20 Homeworld 3 art pieces and let backers vote on the final five in a survey.

Q: I’m an owner of the original book, aren’t you just wrecking my collector’s value?
A: That’s not our intent. Philosophically, we want this beautiful book to be more widely available while still respecting the value of a copy from the original printing. That’s why we’re clearly marking this run as a 2nd edition.

Q: I have the original book, should I buy into this?
A: Up to you, but the book is identical outside the 2nd edition marking. The only additional value in your case will be the five Homeworld 3 prints and the Collector’s Edition of the game.

Nathaniel Wattenmaker, Brand Manager, Gearbox Publishing

 

[Jenkem]

 

[Grotesque]

https://www.fig.co/campaigns/homeworld3/updates/991

Fig Update Week 3 - Delicious Destruction
POSTED: 09/23/2019

Time for an art update! As we're going through pre-production, the art team is thinking about how to bring more visceral combat into Homeworld 3. In Homeworld Remastered, we got a glimpse of ship scarring - weapon hits against your mothership would leave behind charred details. So we wanted to enhance this experience and really make the destruction more delicious.

We started off with the design notion that ballistics from Homeworld 1 made the gameplay more compelling but from an art perspective we really wanted that initial impact to resonate and make the damage feel more tactile. As with every new idea we start brainstorming in concept, thinking about all the kinds of scenarios before committing to the work. Think of concept as your initial research - We talk through the idea, start thinking about what type of armour these ships have, how the interiors are constructed, all the different types of weapons, etc.

We didn't want to just generalize the damage but make something more meaningful based on the type of weapon hits. Wouldn't it be cool if your battlecruiser pulled into a berth after a long battle and being able to tell the laurels of its battle by looking at it's damaged hull? So the art team took the Battlecruiser from Homeworld 2 (slightly reskinned for fun) and started to work towards a previsualization.

Getting shelled by small weapons would leave behind pock marks of displaced metal.

Larger weapons or critical hits would buckle the hull and eventually break open revealing it's guts. You can just imagine the sound effects that would follow.

Going through this process of conceptual development and previsualization allows the rest of the team to think through the design and technical implementation. We're still very early in developing this idea, there are many more pieces we need to think through but we're excited to continue our exploration. We really thought this would be a cool feature for Homeworld 3 and just wanted to share our process and thank all of you for all the support. PEW PEW!

Karl Gryc, Art Director

 

[DraQ]

In real world there couldn’t be any linear health bars. Damaging important module can make huge air carrier obsolete. The only way out I see for devs are the power shields.

There are better damage systems around than linear health bars, you know.

 

[Trans-Financial-Man]

Fig Update Week 3 - Delicious Destruction
POSTED: 09/23/2019




We didn't want to just generalize the damage but make something more meaningful based on the type of weapon hits. Wouldn't it be cool if your battlecruiser pulled into a berth after a long battle and being able to tell the laurels of its battle by looking at it's damaged hull?

Getting shelled by small weapons would leave behind pock marks of displaced metal.

Okay, maybe my senility is showing through, but I'm starting to think perhaps we're getting some tentative hints towards some kind of Total War or Empire at War style Galactic Conquest with persistent damage. I am almost certainly wrong about this. But that would actually be a really fun and engaging mode for Homeworld and a natural way to unfuck the plot after HW2 nosedived it into Space Jesus Star Destroyer.

Seriously though, Homeworld's gameplay in some kind of Sins style real time 4x with real time persistent ballistics and damage. Along different races having different playstyles like Endless Space would be the final word in Space 4x games.