July 14, 2000
By John Callaham

Relic Entertainment's Homeworld was a huge critical success when it was released in the fall of 1999. The first real 3D real time strategy game combined with an epic science fiction story was a major coup for Relic and its publisher Sierra Studios. Now, Sierra is continuing the Homeworld franchise with Homeworld: Cataclysm the plans that its developer Barking Dog Studios has for the game could top even Relic's already lofty heights. Stomped got a chance to chat with Barking Dog's designer Chris Stewart on the development of the game and what they are doing to keep Homeworld fans busy this summer.

Stomped: How did a start-up company like Barking Dog secure the rights to produce a continuation of Homeworld?

Stewart: We won them in a game of poker with (Relic Entertainment head) Alex Garden. That man has no poker face. Oh! You mean the “official” story. Barking Dog has actually been involved with Homeworld from fairly early on. As the company was forming, some of our guys actually did contract coding for Homeworld. As Sierra got more excited about the way Homeworld was shaping up, they decided a continuation of the saga might be in order and we were a natural choice to do that continuation.

Stewart: As before, Barking Dog was involved in Homeworld early on and from there transitioned to Cataclysm. Approximately two years.

Stomped: It must have been a challenge to follow up on Relic's efforts in the first game. What were your team's goals that you wanted to accomplish in Cataclysm?

Stewart: Our basic goal was “Homeworld, only more-so”. We wanted to take Homeworld and add to it - we wanted to create a game that Homeworld fans would be familiar with, but would offer them new challenges. We wanted more strategy, so everything we added was designed to create new tactical options for players. Fog of war, upgradeable ships, new resources, all of it was chosen because it would add to Homeworld’s gameplay.

Stomped: The story of the game has been called a "continuation" rather than a "sequel". What is the basic plot of the game and why did you take this indirect approach?

Stewart: Yeah, Cataclysm is what we call a spin-off. Relic has very clear ideas about things they’d perhaps like to do with the Homeworld storyline in the future. We felt that with the story we wanted to tell, we could make sure we weren’t interfering with any future Homeworld plans Relic may have by telling a story on the side. If you imagine the Homeworld story as a line, we’re a little loop in the middle, a little self-contained tale about a heroic minor Kiith (a Homeworld clan).

The cribbed version of the story is that the Kiith Somtaaw is a Sleeper Kiith, as in a clan in which most of its members were in cyro-sleep during the journey to Hiigara. They awaken to learn that most of their Kiith was been destroyed when Kharak was burned. As a result, they have less political clout than the larger Kiiths, and so they opt to continue working in space, mining asteroids for the colonization of Hiigara. They discover an ancient, alien emergency pod and hoping for new technologies that will increase their standing among the Kiith, they recover it. Only something within it is released and begins to spread. The player must then stop the spread of this “Beast” before it consumes everything in its way.

Stewart: There are always some hiccups when working with other people’s engines when you want to add new stuff. You want to add (A), but the people who created the code you’re working with planned for (B), so combining the old functions with the new can be challenging. Our code crew has been very pragmatic and disciplined, but innovative about the whole merging process and they’ve worked some amazing features into the Homeworld engine.

Stomped: What new ship in the game is your personal favorite and why?

Stewart: This question gets asked a lot. All of the ships are really cool, which sounds like a cop-out answer, but it’s not really. The game is designed so that a good player will be able to work with all the ships available - there is no one favorite ship because it can be used to dominate opponents. Now, if you’re asking about just personal style preferences… Everybody really likes the Acolyte, especially when they’ve been upgraded with their missile compliment. Some of us can pull some stunts with processors and their repair ability. They an easy target, but just having one floating around a battle, healing ships, is a real blow to moral for the enemy. And the Dreadnought and its baby brother, the Deacon class destroyer, cause a lot of havoc. Homeworld fans really want to play with the Dreadnought.

Stomped: What new multiplayer features, if any, will be incorporated into Cataclysm?

Stewart: Gameplay-wise we’ve added a lot to multiplayer. Multiplayer in Cataclysm is a whole new game compared to multiplayer Homeworld. Fog of war makes for a different game, allowing you to flank your opponents. Crystals, slip gates, and mines have added a lot of “terrain” to the game. And of course, the two polar-opposite fleets are so much fun. The game takes on a whole new dimension depending on what fleet your opponent is using.

Stewart: Relic pretty much left us to do our own thing. They were very hands-off about the project in many ways. They have been very interested in the game’s progress and are anxiously awaiting its release, just like us.

Stomped: Will Barking Dog supply tools for mod makers to alter Cataclysm like Relic has with the original Homeworld?

Stewart: The tools Relic has released can still be applied to Cataclysm. We used similar tools in creating Cataclysm. Most of the requests we’ve heard from modders are non-viable due to the design of the Homeworld engine or can already be handled by the tools Relic has released. We’d like to give modders a chance to have a look at the game, to play around with it first.

Stomped: Is everything still on schedule for the game's August date in stores?

Stewart: We’re still on schedule and getting kind of antsy - we can’t wait to release the game.

Stomped: Can you give us any hints as to what Barking Dog's next game will be after Cataclysm?

Stewart: Check back with us a little later.