UnDUNE II: The Classic RTS Demade in PICO-8

⬅️ Back to Games

🎮 Play UnDUNE II (browser, free)

Paul Nicholas spent three years on this. He started it as a quick fun idea he expected to wrap in a month or two. Three years later, what shipped is one of the most complete demakes I have seen of any classic game.

UnDUNE II recreates the original Dune II from scratch inside PICO-8, the fantasy console that limits you to 128x128 pixel display, 32K of cartridge space, and a fixed palette of 16 colours. The fact that this contains all three factions, all nine mission levels, 19 building types, 21 unit types, fog of war, multiple AI opponents, and a full soundtrack says something about how well the constraints were managed.

What Is Here

Everything that made Dune II the template for the RTS genre. You pick a house, build a base, harvest spice, train units, and fight for control of the planet. Wind traps generate power for your buildings. Refineries convert raw spice into credits. Sandworms eat units that sit on the sand too long. The Sardaukar show up when you are doing too well.

The controls work with mouse, keyboard, gamepad, and touch. The game spans twelve PICO-8 carts, which get swapped transparently as you progress. It auto-saves after each level and shows end-of-level stats with rankings.

The music and sound effects were remade for PICO-8 by Gruber, and they fit the constraints naturally. There is something about chiptune versions of orchestral Dune themes that works better than it has any right to.

Why It Works

PICO-8 demakes usually fall into two camps. Either they capture the feel but cut most of the mechanics, or they cram everything in and become unplayable. UnDUNE II lands somewhere else. It keeps the full game loop and makes it work within the limits. The interface is readable. The units are distinguishable. The fog of war works. The AI puts up a fight.

The original Dune II is thirty-three years old and still playable, but this version is lighter to launch, runs in a browser tab, and costs nothing. It is a preservation project disguised as a demake.

Links

Crepi il lupo! 🐺