Dog barks about Homeworld

Barking Dog Studios are currently hard at work putting the finishing touches to "Homeworld : Cataclysm", a stand-alone expansion on last year's hit space-bound real-time strategy game. Featuring a whole new storyline, an enhanced engine and new ships and technology, it has become more than a mission pack but is also not a full sequel. In an interview with GameSpy.com, designer Chris Stewart explains that "a traditional sequel is something we felt was Relic's prerogative, not ours".

"Our approach to the story was different enough that we decided to treat it as a spin off. Our story is a lot darker. Rather than Homeworld's story about finding the truth, finding the Homeworld, we wanted to tell a story about keeping it, and things aren't always black and white in our game. By doing a spin-off, we have a lot more room to tell our story without having to worry as much about interfering with any possible future plans Sierra and Relic have for the Homeworld saga. Initially, our game was going to be an expansion pack for Homeworld, but Sierra liked our early work so much they gave us the funding to make it a stand-alone product."

The game is due for release around the end of this month, and judging from the beta code we have seen Barking Dog could be on to a winner.