Paul Nicholas (Liquidream) rebuilt the original Dune II RTS from scratch in PICO-8 across ~3 years, spanning 12 carts with all 3 factions and 9 missions.
Key Takeaways
Full feature parity with the 1992 original: 19 building types, 21 unit types, fog of war, palace weapons, sandworms, and faction-specific units like the Harkonnen Devastator and Ordos Deviator.
Spans 12 PICO-8 carts to fit the content within the platform’s strict limits; uses PX9 data compression, TLINE sprite rotation, and A* pathfinding.
Music and SFX were fully remade for PICO-8 by Gruber (Chris Donnelly), not sampled from the original.
Auto-behaviors reduce micromanagement: Harvesters auto-mine and return, units auto-retreat and seek the Repair Centre, Carryalls auto-transport.
Known missing features include AI not rebuilding structures, Frigates not delivering units, and infantry unable to traverse rocky terrain.
