Software:Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3

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Short description: 1998 video game
Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3
Developer(s)Ion Storm
7th Level
Publisher(s)Eidos Interactive
Designer(s)Todd Porter
Platform(s)Windows
Release
Genre(s)Real-time strategy
Mode(s)Single-player, Multiplayer

Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3 is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Ion Storm, published by Eidos Interactive, and released for Microsoft Windows in 1998. The game was originally developed as a spin-off of the mech simulation game G-Nome by 7th Level. Ion Storm acquired both Dominion and its lead designer, Todd Porter, from 7th Level for completion.

Gameplay

One aspect of the design of the game is that the races are not "equal": Darken forces are sturdier, but are slower to build; Scorp forces cost much less to manufacture, but are weaker than the other races; Merc soldiers are more difficult to control, but are more accurate when firing; and the Humans are a balance of all features. In addition, each race also gets one weapon type unique unto itself: Darken has a "cloaker" vehicle - which renders other vehicles invisible; the Mercs have the Widow Maker, which converts enemy towers and tanks into allies; the Humans have the M-Cat, which freezes any opponents' machinery from firing; and the Scorps have a Digger - an underground transport to deliver up to six men anywhere visible on the playing field. Each of these vehicles are extremely fragile - an infantryman with a rifle can destroy it in one shot if not well protected.

There are a set of twelve missions (a campaign) for each of the races, where the computer opponent has the next level up in armaments, men or machines. For instance, when the player has light infantry and machine gun towers, then the computer opponent will have bazookamen and rocket towers. There is a list of objectives to complete a mission, some requires the performing of certain tasks, such as recapture a fallen base or rescue a leader from prison, others to merely wipe out the opponent completely.

Multiplayer

There is a full eight player multiplayer mode that can be hosted for other players. There are four built-in connection types, serial, modem, IPX and TCP/IP for direct play. Like other real-time strategy games the multiplayer options can be set to have high or low resources and slow to fast speed. MPlayer.com was launched with Dominion and installed from the start.

Plot

The game takes place on the fictitious planet of Gift 3 where war has broken out between four different races: the Scorps, Darkens, Mercs and Humans. The setting is shared with G-Nome.

Development

The game employs a voxel-based graphics engine.[2]

In November 1996, John Romero and Tom Hall left Id Software to form Ion Storm, but their excessive spending forced them to sign a deal with Eidos Interactive, which required them to provide six games for Eidos to publish. To quickly fulfill this requirement, Romero and Hall sought near-completed games for Ion Storm to polish before hand-off to Eidos.[3] In November 1997, video game developer 7th Level exited the market, selling the intellectual property rights of its 1997 game G-Nome to Ion Storm for $1.8 million.[4][5] When hired from 7th Level, designers Todd Porter and Jerry O'Flaherty were tasked with finishing their spinoff titled Dominion. Despite Romero and Hall believing they could finish development of Dominion in three months, which would cost $50,000, they ultimately needed a full team to work for more than a year.[3]

In October 1997 other top members of Ion Storm thought of firing Porter because the game was running over schedule and budget, but Romero vetoed it. The team hoped to make it for under $3 million, but it had cost more than that by December 1997, six months before release. Porter became CEO of Ion Storm and the Dallas Observer said "He turned down a deal with Compaq computers that would have paid ION 75 cents to $1 for every Compaq computer sold with Dominion preinstalled, and would have guaranteed Ion a minimum of $1.5 million." Porter said that RTS games in 1997 "were a pretty disappointing lot" besides Age of Empires, since they "didn’t really feel much like the old real-time strategy", but he thought Dominion was more like oldschool games in the genre. The game was designed to have a simple interface because Porter thought that RTS games had gotten too complex, and Porter said that the interface would probably be borrowed by other games. It was released as Ion Storm's debut title in June 1998, to poor sales - with possibly less than 24,000 copies sold in four months.[6][7][8]

Marketing

At E3 1996, 7th Level showcased Dominion by having staff pretend to play pre-rendered footage, as the game was too unfinished for live gameplay. The showcase neighbored Blizzard Entertainment's large booth for StarCraft, which led Blizzard to reboot their game to increase its visual distinctiveness. Blizzard's developers did not learn that 7th Level had presented pre-rendered footage until years after releasing StarCraft, which ultimately outcompeted Dominion by releasing three months earlier in 1998.[9]

Soundtrack

Dominion features an electronic soundtrack by Will Loconto; the tracks vary between dark spacey atmospheres and classic 90s style video-game-themed techno/electro.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
GameRankings55%[10]
Review scores
PublicationScore
AllGameStarStarStarHalf star[11]
CGSPStarStarHalf star[13]
CGWStarStar[14]
Game Informer8.5/10[15]
GameSpot5.9/10[16]
Hyper65%[17]
IGN4/10[18]
Next GenerationStarStar[19]
PC Gamer (US)55%[21]
PC PowerPlay55%[22]
PC Zone43%[23]

The game received mixed reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings.[10] Next Generation said that the game "should have shipped in a plain white box with 'Realtime Strategy Game' stamped on it."[19]

The game sold poorly upon release. The Dallas Observer reported that "Dominion averaged 7,000 copies per month in the first four months it was on the shelves."[6] In the United States, market tracking firm PC Data reported that its sales reached 9,952 units by the end of August 1998, for revenues of $367,600.[24] This number rose to 14,000 units by November 30, 1998, which drew a total of $466,600 in revenue.[6] GameSpy later declared Ion Storm's handling of the game one of the "25 Dumbest Moments in Gaming", noting that the game likely sold less than 10,000 copies.[3]

The game was a runner-up for Computer Gaming World's 1998 "Coaster of the Year" award, which ultimately went to Jurassic Park: Trespasser. The staff wrote, "Ion Storm's initial release sailed like a lead balloon, complete with overhyped and ineffectual AI, 1995-era graphics, and a back story so bad that it had us wondering why we even briefly stopped playing StarCraft for this."[25]

References

  1. ↑ GameSpot staff (June 11, 1998). "New Releases [date mislabeled as "April 28, 2000""]. CBS Interactive. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-releases/1100-2463935/. 
  2. ↑ "Does John Romero Still Enjoy Shooting People?". Next Generation (Imagine Media) (30): 12. June 1997. https://archive.org/stream/NextGeneration30Jun1997/Next_Generation_30_Jun_1997#page/n12. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 GameSpy staff (June 9, 2003). "25 Dumbest Moments in Gaming (#25: Ion Storm's Final Option)". IGN Entertainment. http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/june03/dumbestmoments/index2.shtml. 
  4. ↑ Fishman, Gary; Romeo, Susan (17 November 1997). "7th Level Gets Out of Games". The Computer Show. http://www.thecomputershow.com/computershow/news/7thlevelnogames.htm. 
  5. ↑ "ION, Eidos, 7th Level Make It Official". GameSpot. 10 September 1997. http://headline.gamespot.com/news/97_09/10_ion/index.html. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Biederman, Christine (January 14, 1999). "Stormy weather". Dallas Observer (Voice Media Group). https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/stormy-weather-6427649. 
  7. ↑ Ocampo, Jason (February 7, 1998). "Todd Porter on ION Storm's RTS game". Strategy Plus, Inc.. http://www.cdmag.com/articles/010/054/porter_interview.html. 
  8. ↑ Fudge, James (1997). "Strategy game moves from 7th Level to ION Storm". Strategy Plus, Inc.. http://www.cdmag.com/articles/004/070/dominion.html. 
  9. ↑ Schreier, Jason (October 2024). Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment. New York City: Grand Central Publishing. pp. 45-48. ISBN 9781538725429. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3 for PC". CBS Interactive. https://www.gamerankings.com/pc/61815-dominion-storm-over-gift-3/index.html. 
  11. ↑ Woods, Nick. "Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3 - Review". All Media Network. http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=12107&tab=review. 
  12. ↑ Cirulis, Martin E. (July 2, 1998). "Dominion: Storm Over Gift3 [sic"]. CNET. http://www.gamecenter.com/Reviews/Item/0,6,0-1910,00.html. 
  13. ↑ Hunter, Scott (July 15, 1998). "Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3". Strategy Plus, Inc.. http://www.cdmag.com/articles/013/060/dominion_review.html. 
  14. ↑ Coleman, Terry (October 1998). "Dominion Over None (Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3 Review)". Computer Gaming World (Ziff Davis) (171): 280. http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/issues/cgw_171.pdf. Retrieved March 27, 2021. 
  15. ↑ Bergren, Paul (October 1998). "Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3". Game Informer (FuncoLand) (66): 64. https://archive.org/details/Game_Informer_Issue_066_October_1998/page/n65/mode/2up. Retrieved March 27, 2021. 
  16. ↑ Kasavin, Greg (June 26, 1998). "Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3 Review [date mislabeled as "May 1, 2000""]. CBS Interactive. https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/dominion-storm-over-gift-3-review/1900-2539863/. 
  17. ↑ Wildgoose, David (October 1998). "Dominion - Storm Over Gift 3". Hyper (Next Media Pty Ltd) (60): 71. https://archive.org/details/hyper-060/page/70/mode/2up. Retrieved March 27, 2021. 
  18. ↑ Harris, Craig (July 31, 1998). "Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3". Ziff Davis. https://www.ign.com/articles/1998/08/01/dominion-storm-over-gift-3. 
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 "Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3". Next Generation (Imagine Media) (46): 130. October 1998. https://archive.org/details/NEXT_Generation_46/page/n133/mode/2up. Retrieved March 27, 2021. 
  20. ↑ Saltzman, Marc (September 1998). "Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3". PC Accelerator (Imagine Media) (1): 93. https://archive.org/details/PCXL01Sep1998/page/n91/mode/2up. Retrieved March 27, 2021. 
  21. ↑ Harms, William (September 1998). "Dominion: Storm Over GIFT 3 [sic"]. PC Gamer (Imagine Media) 5 (9). http://www.pcgamer.com/reviews/108.html. Retrieved March 27, 2021. 
  22. ↑ Soropos, George (December 1998). "Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3". PC PowerPlay (Next Media Pty Ltd) (31): 106. https://archive.org/details/PCPowerplay-031-1998-12/page/n105/mode/2up. Retrieved March 27, 2021. 
  23. ↑ Wand, Phil (September 1998). "Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3". PC Zone (Dennis Publishing) (67): 98–99. https://archive.org/details/PC_Zone_67_September_1998/page/n97/mode/2up. Retrieved March 27, 2021. 
  24. ↑ IGN staff (October 1, 1998). "Ion Storm Fights Back". Ziff Davis. https://www.ign.com/articles/1998/10/02/ion-storm-fights-back. 
  25. ↑ CGW staff (April 1999). "Computer Gaming World's 1999 Premier Awards (Coaster Runners-Up)". Computer Gaming World (Ziff Davis) (177): 105. http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/issues/cgw_177.pdf. Retrieved March 27, 2021. 
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
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