Homeworld
Relic Entertainment was founded in Vancouver, Canada, on June 1, 1997, and began work on "Homeworld" as their first title. Relic co-founders Alex Garden and Luke Moloney served as the director and lead programmer for the game, respectively, while Erin Daly was the designer and Aaron Kambeitz the lead artist. Garden was 22 years old when he founded the company. Writer David J. Williams is credited with the original story concept, while the script itself was written by Martin Cirulis and the background lore was written by author Arinn Dembo. Cirulis and Dembo, credited jointly as "Marcus Skyler", were selected by the publisher, Sierra Studios, partway through development to expand the story concept of Relic and Williams. Sierra agreed to publish the game early in development based on, according to Garden, "two whiteboard presentations and no demo". The development of the game took over two years; the game systems were largely complete by the final eight months, which Relic spent polishing and improving the game, including adding the whole-map Sensors Manager view. The game was initially expected to be released at the end of 1998; Garden stated in a 1999 interview that the team found creating the core game itself much easier than getting it to the quality level they wanted, and that if they had known how difficult it was going to be they may have chosen not to do the project. Several ideas for the game, including ship customization, convoy routes, and different unit types for the Kushan and Taidann fleets were cut during development as they could not be done well enough for the project.
Rustix
Rustix formed in 1967; the band was signed to Rare Earth Records, a Motown Records subsidiary. Prior to signing with Rare Earth, the band had a single on the Cadet Records label. Prior to their recording career, the group had been a popular attraction in upstate New York, opening for Jimi Hendrix and Soft Machine at one point. Among their singles were "Can't You Hear the Music Play" from the album "Bedlam", released in 1969 and "Come On People" from the album of the same name, released in 1970. "Bedlam" peaked at No. 200 on the "Billboard" 200. A sophomore effort, "Come On People", followed in 1970; both of the group's first two records were produced by R. Dean Taylor. A third album was recorded in 1971 but never released, and the group disbanded later that year. At that point, Chuck Brucato and Al Galich recorded a pair of songs under the Rustix name ("We All End Up In Boxes" and "My Peace Of Heaven") backed by the Funk Brothers. Both were released in 1971, and both backed by a Rustix outtake from their 2nd album sessions ("Down Down").