On top of indicating that this will indeed be a large update, he also said that "
the Homeworld 2 movement code fought us every step of the way but it now bends to our will (because it was ripped out entirely and replaced)."
And some comments from one of the developers who is fixing the remaster:
I really, really hope everyone is happy with what we end up putting out...
it has been SO MUCH work, I can't even begin to explain it. Though, it is likely we'll do a 'dev diary' about this last patch and the insane stuff we had to do... it may help other devs looking to do similar work in the future. Thanks for the kind words though, if it wasn't clear, we're still working for the fans - the chance of this just magically making a bank-busting amount of money is zero...
To be honest, I am probably one of the most talkative people out of choice... And others are silent because they choose to be. Sure the PR/Marketing group does what you'd expect (as is their job) - they define the way we want to approach a market/customers and they attempt to do that... and generally they don't want random developers to say something that would cause trouble. I think that is entirely understandable. If you were on a team busting your ass, getting ready to release a project dozens/hundreds of people had spent years of their lives on - and one guy posts something that creates a huge mess... I doubt you'd be happy. So, there's an element of risk with having developers talking.
That said, HW:RM is a very small team, the game is out and has a well defined audience, and our marketing group has shown a tremendous amount of trust in letting us talk without really defining boundaries... well, besides the obvious stuff that is just going to cause legal issues, etc.
But hey, I want the fans to see what we've done, love it, and where they think we can do better, tell us. If I chose not to talk here/forums/facebook - it'd be really hard to support Mod groups, do the technical support I've done, or even really understand what to do next.
We're almost a year after release and still working - that more than anything should tell you how Gearbox feels about the property as well as the fans of that property.
I can't go into details for many reasons...
but think HW1 meets HW2 with new (better) stuff in the mix... 'stances'... um well, again, that is a bit hard to explain without releasing the patch. Certainly, in most ways that matter, the game can now play/feel like HW1, a bit less like HW2, and with new stuff which is neither, but is WAY BETTER.
As for Fuel - nobody on the dev team wanted it, including the original guys from Relic that did HW1/HW2. It isn't broken, the team overall just broadly didn't think it added to the game, and was a mistake which HW2 fixed. So will we put it back? Not a chance. For the fans that disagree - you have excellent Mod support and the ability to do 'custom ship' commands now that mean you can go live your dream...
It is the same engine. It has new stuff that makes new things possible. In some cases, HW2 changes, but overall, it is largely the same. Behind the scenes the code is VERY different - but we had to rebuild on top of the code the stuff that made HW2 what it is (multi-ship Squadrons maybe the most obvious example). That said, when you want things to feel like/act HW1, they can more than ever before. And again - the changes go beyond either... some of the ways the systems have been created add new layers to old mechanics, stuff everyone who's tried it is very, very positive about. The goal is happy players - finally after months that goal is looking to be a bulls-eye shot