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You, my friend, have been playing far too much Homeworld.

How about simply modding homeworld?? Not up for it?? No worries, someone is already working on one.

no new good RTS this year? I beg to differ...

Dawn of War

or,

Eschaton

Phooey. You have to click through an obnoxious EULA then fill out a nosey registration form-- which doesn't seem to work for me; no matter how many times I filled it out and hit "submit" it kept bouncing me back to the same registration page-- before the mighty lords of the Relic Development Network deign to confer upon you the rank and honour of "RDN access level 1", which may or may not include a single whiff of source code. "Not GPL'd"?! Not only is it not GPL'd, it's total jive. A curious would-be game developer would be better off poking through some of the many existent game engines rather than playing Relic's silly registration game.

Phooey. You have to click through an obnoxious EULA then fill out a nosey registration form-- which doesn't seem to work for me; no matter how many times I filled it out and hit "submit" it kept bouncing me back to the same registration page-- before the mighty lords of the Relic Development Network deign to confer upon you the rank and honour of "RDN access level 1", which may or may not include a single whiff of source code. "Not GPL'd"?! Not only is it not GPL'd, it's total jive. A curious would-be game developer would be better off poking through some of the many existent game engines rather than playing Relic's silly registration game.

It's not around anymore, but the old Relic Entertainment site (circa Homeworld) had an easter egg in it. The site was a large flash movie with the floorplan of Relic's office... if you clicked on the toilet in the washroom, it flushed.

--
"Time flies like an arrow... fruit flies like a banana."

I have worked in the games industry for 10 years on and off, on platforms from Game Boy to PC and many consoles in between. For companies like EA, Relic, and some that shall remain nameless. Between projects in games, I've worked in "traditional" software for about half that time.

My summary (it varies from day to day) is this...

The games work is much harder, much more challenging, sometimes well-paid, sometimes not. And I wouldn't trade that experience for the world. The most brilliant programmers I've worked with are game programmers, bar none. (Not the most organized or best planners, though!) I hope this doesn't sound too idealistic, but... Games aren't made because they're necessary or because a client needs a feature set, or because a competitor is neglecting a niche in the market. Games are made for really noble reasons, IMHO -- so people can have fun, and interact, and be challenged. People play (and hopefully, buy) your creation. And they use it because they want to. That's rewarding. To me.

I have a degree in CS, which still puts me in the minority of games programmers. I have programmed, led, hired, and designed. (Though design is becoming less and less accessible to programmers.) I believe that on the planning, organization, and methodology front, some education and non-games experience is good for the games industry. But make no mistake: you're going to suffer a bit working in that industry. So it's all going to come down to single-mindedness and passion to make a game. If you don't have that, then don't waste your time -- you'll make more money and be happier elsewhere. Projects are getting longer and longer. Budgets are getting bigger and bigger. And of course, it's Big Business now, so occasionally corporate boneheadedness gets in the way. So do it because you want to. And have a backup plan for when you burn out. Then take some time off, and throw yourself back into the trenches. It's the Good Fight in software.

By the way, if Vancouver is in your range of acceptable places to live (and it should be!), then those two companies I named above are fantastic places to work.

Sigma is a game being developed by Relic, the studio that created Homeworld (Game of the Year by some accounts, etc, etc.) Anyway if you dig B&W, you might also dig Sigma (when it's out, late this year?) It involves crazy creatures, a B-movie plot, genetic wackiness, a pretty impressive rendering engine, etc. I'm sure the dev team of Sigma has watched B&W closely (it's been in development for about as long), though the gameplay and objectives seem to be different enough. Homeworld cameras and gameplay were great, so I have high hopes for Sigma!

In the words of Relic's CEO, Alex Garden, (who has brushed shoulders with Peter Molyneaux)... "We prefer to think of Sigma as what happens when a geneticist smokes far too much crack."

Some links for more info...
http://forums.relicnews.com
http://pc.ign.com/previews/14840.html
http://firingsquad.gamers.com/features/gamestock01 /page2.asp
http://www.gameweek.com/features/gamestock01/pc/in dex3.shtml
http://gamepen.ugo.com/gamepen/Features.asp?itemid =92&pageid=5
http://www.gamesmania.com/articles/PC/sigma/previe ws1.asp

How does Relic afford to fund a game that has also been something like 3 years in the making? Microsoft dollars. Sierra funded Homeworld. Not sure why MS is backing this one, and say what you want about the evil empire... but they've got money to risk on crazy games like Sigma. And I think that's pretty goddamn cool...

From a business strategy point of view, I'm not sure if it has an edge over other games, but Homeworld has a lot going for it as an intro to RTS for a user who hasn't played this genre before:

- fantastic suspension of disbelief
- no cut scenes used for cinematic sequences (helps above point)
- deeply designed visuals and audio (consistent aesthetic also helps above point)
- good tutorials to hold your hand thru initial single-player missions before you venture out onto the net

Strategically, it's fantastic (but so are other RTS games, to be honest). Many games shoot for those goals above, but I believe Homeworld was conceived and implemented by a team that gave a shit, without a spin-off-a-sequel-or-copy-an-existing-formula mindset. Support it!

You can find a lot of Homeworld sites out there, but here's an official site and a user forum on strategy to browse.

Disclosure: Yes, I was a Homeworld coder. No, I won't make any money if you buy it now.