In a bid to right the wrongs of the original release, Robert Koon, one of the programmers on the iconic 1993 RTS game Dune II, is currently working on remastering the classic for Amiga AGA and OCS versions.
Key Information:
- Dune II: Considered an influential RTS title based on Frank Herbert’s novels.
- Original Release: Initially released on Amiga, PC, and Mega Drive.
- Challenges with Amiga Version: Koon cites issues like extensive disk swapping, limited soundtrack presence, and no AGA-specific version.
- Remaster Goals: To recreate Dune II for the Amiga from scratch, addressing those shortcomings and more.
Why It Matters:
This remaster aims to provide a more refined experience for fans of the original game on the beloved Amiga platform. With an updated visual and audio experience, it promises to offer a closer-to-perfect version of one of the most influential RTS games ever made.
Do you think remastering classic games like Dune II for modern platforms can reignite interest in the genre and bring nostalgia to new audiences?
I loved my Amiga 500, I liked the gaming part, but mostly made music on it all day every day.
Fantastic machine that had a 4 channel audio Paula chip and with the right software called OctaMED, turned into an 8 channel music studio. I could sample, mix, hook up external MIDI hardware. It was the heart of my mini home studio back in the day.
Audio on the Amiga was way ahead of its time. I had a device for my A500 that you could plug in an RCA cable and sample audio. I plugged my VCR into it and recorded all the best lines from Aliens and some other movies and shared them with my friends. Game over man, game over!
And I like to fire up my Amiga emulator and play some of my old mods once in a while. They still sound good.
Word!
I had the Techno Sound Turbo.
Friend said his IBM pc could do music…bleep bleep from the motherboard speakers, lmao. Everything changed with the 16bit Soundblasters though. My first was an AWE32, it was like a betrayal to Paula.
It was Atari ST or Amiga for music back then. The Atari didn’t have the sampling capabilities of the A500 until the Atari Falcon, but Atari had Cubase, and if you had a shitload of money for outboard gear, Atari was the way to go because it was compatible with most studio’s at the time just as Protools today.
Before I had an Amiga 500 my fosterdad had a C64 with Steinberg Pro 16 and a MIDEX interface, a Fostex 8-track tape machine and outboard gear back in the 80s where I learned how to produce music. He had a DX-7, drumtraks and six-trak from sequential along effect pedals and what not.
Still making music on the Amiga seemed less complicated, more spontanious, my own thing so to say and a fraction of the money.
I wish I have the energy and enthusiasm for equipment and music I had back then…I have the Akai S-1100 samplers I could not afford and stuff now, they are all in storage, minimal setup now.
Yeah I am rambling on, please forgive me.
Nothing to forgive, I love hearing about cool stuff people did with their Amigas! Thanks for sharing.