What you need to know
- Homeworld 3 is an upcoming real-time strategy game being developed by Blackbird Interactive and published by Gearbox Software.
- In a blog post, the developers have shared more of what's going into crafting the game's audio design and enhanced visuals, such as making sure each ship has two distinct voices: a pilot and a tactical officer.
- The developers also shared a quick look at some of the game's cutscenses.
- Homeworld 3 is currently slated to launch in February 2024.
Just because you're alone in the dark of space doesn't mean you have no one to talk to.
In a blog post, the developers of Homeworld 3 have outlined a number of systems being used to make sure the game's visual and audio fidelity is as high-quality as possible, while still fitting the oft-eerie mood of the game. We've also got a look at Homeworld 3's cutscenes, which you can check out in the video below:
An iconic part of the Homeworld franchise is the background chatter across ships that develops in response to everything happening at the moment. The developers also shared how much work has gone into maintaining that individual personality per ship for Homeworld 3, with each ship having a pilot voice and a tactical officer voice.
According to the developers, this allows for "call and response" dialogue, with almost 245,000 possibilities per ship chatter situation, with a number of variables such as position, the exact situation, and the camera location all playing a part in what you hear and when you hear it. You can see an example of how this works below:
A lot of work has also been put into the way the game looks. Homeworld 3 is being developed using Unreal Engine 4, allowing the team to use advanced rendering systems to improve the ways ship materials look under different lighting conditions, meaning there's a ton of visual variety despite the general theme of "vast empty space" given the nature of the game.
There's an example of this below using the Mothership:
Homeworld 3 is currently scheduled to launch in February 2024, while the developers are promising to share more this summer.
Windows Central's take
The two-mission slice of the game I played last year already looked impressive, and some of the stuff shown in this update is even more beautiful. The audio design is the real standout for me, as I remember thinking how sublime the background chatter was in Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak.
To see the developers going even further is great, and I'm looking forward to seeing what else the team has in store next year.
