For a game that is largely credited with revolutionizing the strategy genre, Dune II begins with a very simple premise. Brett Sperry, the visionary behind Dune II, recalls his thinking at the time of the game's creation.

"What became Dune II started out as a challenge I made for myself.

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The challenge was that strategy games would be out-of-control fun if the real-time aspect of Eye of the Beholder could be combined with resource management and a dynamic, flat interface. Just one mode of play and no additional screens. But how? Long before I decided to experiment with actually building this new game in a Dune setting, I kept toying with the answer."

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These thoughts apparently percolated for a long time. "The thought process began around 1989 during Eye [of the Beholder]'s development," remembers Sperry. "This is how many of my 'visions' for a new game start. It's always 'What if you add this and that?' or 'Wouldn't it be hellaciously cool if...?' Then I kick it around for a few years, make random notes, and then maybe we build it. I remember we built several prototypes to see and feel the dynamics I had been pondering for so long. And the first three instances (at least) were crap. So we kept working on it again and again. The vision was powerful, but the details eluded us for a good year."

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Dune II is based on the familiar terrain of the famous novel by Frank Herbert, and it contains many of its elements, like the infamous Sandworms. Three royal houses battle for control of spice, the only resource. The game is an improvement upon Herzog Zwei in several respects that would seem trivial nine years later, but the improvement essentially established the conventions of the real-time strategy genre. First of all, you can build bases anywhere in Dune II--they aren't placed for you ahead of time, and you can do it in any order you choose. Also, the game introduces structure dependencies. To produce harvesters and tanks, you have to build a heavy factory. But to build the heavy factory, you first need a light factory. And so on.

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Dune II also introduces the idea that different sides can have different units and weapons. Whereas the two sides in Herzog Zwei have access to exactly the same units, the House Atreides, House Ordos, and House Harkonnen of Dune II all have their own special "house weapons" in addition to the standard ones. Not all the units can be ordered directly: Ornithopters just attack the enemy base automatically, and carryalls pick up units according to the computer's preferences. Furthermore, there is a 25-unit build limit, after which point you can buy units only from a spaceport. This made Dune II a compact game compared with some of the massive battles that would be found in later RTS games. But with the hardware of the time, this wasn't surprising. Even in somewhat miniature form, the characteristic features of an embryonic genre are all there.
 

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