Computer Studio Visits Origin Systems

Here's a little gem from the Internet Archive: scans of a Polish gaming magazine called Computer Studio. This is an April 1993 article covering the current state of Origin Systems. It's largely focused on Richard Garriott's Ultima group but there's an interesting section about Privateer as well. It's cool to have a snapshot of the game from a very different perspective! A translation of the Privateer section is included below.

Another pair of important figures at Origin are Joel Manners and Scott Russo. The former previously collaborated with Roberts during the creation of "Wing Commander" and now he has decided to use the knowledge he acquired to benefit a proven idea. Together with Scott Russo he is currently working on a spinoff game game titled "Privateer". Many aspects of it will come straight from "Wing Commander" but the action of "Privateer" goes further than in Roberts' program: it is not limited to just taking part in combat patrols in space.

The player takes on the role of a spaceship pilot and will have complete freedom of action and travel in any diretion. Initially, "Privateer" was defined as a cross between "Wing Commander" and "Elite". The fabulous (even by today's standards) graphics complete the picture of a dream game. Unfortunately, this miracle will be available only to those who have computers with 386DX processors or higher, SVGA and sound cards. Maybe there will be versions "Privateer" for new computers like the Atari Falcon or the Amiga 1200, but these are early ideas.

Reminder: #Wingnut Movie Night Tonight!

This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that inspired Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is Buffy the Vampire Slayer and you can find details on why we're watching it in the announcement post here (it's a weird one!). The movie will start about 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!

After Action Report: Blade Runner

Greetings WingNuts,

The Wing Commander movie club has explored Los Angeles of the… recent past… and if there was ever any doubt, we all love Blade Runner. It's an incredible movie whose aesthetic grabs you from the first frame and carries you through even the film's weaker moments (which include the meat of the climactic third act fight and in the theatrical version we watched the well-intentioned-but-poorly-done narration.

The big story when it comes to Wing Commander is Blade Runner's connection to Privateer's New Detroit environment. We thought it would be fun to walk you through exactly how we go from one of Syd Mead's stunning concept paintings to the finished animation in Privateer.

And here's how that concept was realized by director Ridley Scott:

Here is an excerpt from a March 18 1992 art list by Privateer's lead designer Joel Manners. He describes the planet, then known as New Chicago instead of New Detroit and specifies how each "options screen" should look and what the player should be able to do with it. Street Level, called Main Street at this point, is described: "The main street of New Chicago is a dark, wet, rainy place full of neon signs, traffic (in the air and on the ground) and so on. Blade Runner rip off in the worst way. The player can go to: Weapons dealer, Bar, both guilds, the commodities exchange, the mission computer, and the ship dealer."

Wing Commander Privateer's concept artists used this description to design the screens that would be used in New Detroit. From the composition it's extremely likely they were referencing Syd Mead's concept painting directly. The New Detroit sketches are not credited but several others from this set were signed by the late, great Paul Steed.

Origin Systems' 3D artist Jake Rogers took this sketch and turned it into a 3D environment and animation that was then rendered into what you see in the final game. You can explore these and other 3D models created for the early games via the WC3D Collection Index.

The 3D model has a great deal more detail than could ever have been visible. Take a look at some of the textures which were too small to be seen, including signs on the hotel, a street sign, the elevator button labels and a funny message on the ATM screen!

And here's the final animated screen, credited to Chris Roberts' Wing Commander Privateer!

That wasn't quite the end of the story: just four years later Origin would hire Syd Mead himself to work on Wing Commander Prophecy. If you compare the concept art you'll see that it's a surprisingly short jump from his design for Blade Runner's Spinner to the Nephilim fighters in Wing Commander Prophecy!

Chris Roberts would return to the Blade Runner well one more time. The environment was chosen as a good selling point for some of Star Citizen's first bespoke artwork (distinct from the Wing Commander material reused for the Squadron 42 pitch). Here's the familiar concept piece which was ultimately turned into an interactive previz animation!

Here's the same progression for New Detroit's other Blade Runner inspired options screen, the New Detroit landing pad.

Hangar. The landing berth for the player is located on top of a landing platform which is supported high above the city on a very slender pole. There is a large repair and refueling facility on the edge of the platform, and an elevator attached to the side, but not much else. From here the player can go to the Main Street.

Dr. Forstchen Goes to Hollywood (via Bulgaria)

Wing Commander author Dr. William Forstchen has found quite an audience with his most recent writing, the "One Second After" series. The books tell the story of the aftermath of a horrific EMP attack which renders modern technology useless and they've become very in vogue among "preppers" who are concerned about surviving major disasters. And now they're making a movie! Dr. Forstchen is executive producing the film which shoots in September. Here's the press release:

Movie Adaptation Just Announced for Apocalyptic Bestseller One Second After: Shooting to Begin in September

WASHINGTON, D.C., DC, UNITED STATES, April 21, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Author William R. Forstchen, Ph.D., announced that his New York Times #1 bestseller, One Second After, about an EMP strike against the United States, is being adapted into an MPI Original Film (Motherland, Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game) in association with Startling Inc. (Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon). The feature film is penned by legendary sci-fi screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski (Changeling, Sense8, Jeremiah, Babylon 5), with Forstchen serving as an executive producer. Scott Rogers is directing the film, which is scheduled to begin shooting in Bulgaria this September.

Long regarded as a foremost expert on EMP technology, Forstchen has been consulted by numerous federal, state, and local governments and private entities and has spoken at conferences all over the United States.

His book One Second After was the first to give readers a realistic look at an EMP strike and its awesome power to destroy the entire United States, literally within one second. One Second After spawned three sequels, each of which is a fictional exploration rooted in the cold, solid facts of how an EMP strike above U.S. soil would impact society.

“I believe the threat of America being hit by an EMP weapon is the single greatest danger to our survival,” Forstchen said. “Electricity is the fundamental building block of our society. Everything is predicated on electrification.”

An EMP causes widespread cataclysmic damage to power grids due to what’s called the Compton effect, he explained.

“An electromagnetic pulse is the byproduct of detonating a nuclear weapon. When a nuclear weapon is detonated 200 to 250 miles above the Earth, the gamma ray burst when it hits the upper atmosphere sets off the Compton effect. In essence, a giant electrostatic discharge hits the earth’s surface and wipes out electronic devices as well as entire power grids, leaving affected areas in the dark,” he said.

For more information, please visit https://www.onesecondafter.com/.

More About William R. Forstchen
William R. Forstchen is a New York Times bestselling author and a Professor of History at Montreat College, in Montreat, North Carolina. He holds a doctoral degree from Purdue University with a specialization in military history and technology. He is the author of more than 50 books.

A noted expert historian and public speaker, he has been interviewed on FOX News, C-SPAN and many others on topics ranging from history to technology and cultural issues, to space technology development, to security threats.

The other interesting aspect of all this is that the novel was adapted for the screen by J. Michael Straczynski, best known as the mastermind behind Babylon 5. Straczynski has a slight connection to Wing Commander: in an August 8, 1996 GENIE post he mentioned that he had met with Chris Roberts 1n 1995 to discuss working on what would become the Wing Commander movie: "Actually met Chris Roberts last year, when we were in some preliminary discussions about us doing a Wing Commander movie or series. He definitely wants to be a film-maker." Pretty neat crossing of the streams! (JMS' Wing Commander bona fides had already been established at that point; he had previously posted asking for cheat codes for Wing Commander III!).

Wing Commander Album Production Update

Greetings all. Just to let you know I'm not "slacking off" here. I'm in contact with the company making the vinyl deliverables. Vinyl is a very hot format these days. Here is the latest reply from the company making your vinyl discs...

Hi George,

I'm so sorry I did not get back your voicemail yesterday, I was unexpectedly out of the office.

I want to also apologize for how late your order is running, and our lack of communication regarding the timeline. Things are running very late across the board right now due to production delays at the 3rd party facility that handles all of our stamper plating. They have been having some technical issues with their equipment that have put them very behind and we're currently waiting on your stampers to arrive back here so we can complete your pressing. As soon as they do arrive, the pressing and packing follows quite quickly. I am pushing them for status updates and to get our highest priority orders including yours to us as fast as they possibly can, and I will let you know as soon as I have an update for you. We appreciate your continued patience as we work through this delay.

So, as soon as they arrive I will let you know! Thanks for your patience!

George

Orchestral Recording Live Stream Archived

Back in August of last year, Wing Commander composer George Oldziey graciously live streamed the orchestral recording sessions for his spectacular new Wing Commander album. If you missed out on the chance to see them, we've added screen recordings of both to YouTube. They aren't a substitute for the real thing but hopefully they'll be useful for reference in the future!

Session One

Session Two

When a David Lynch Created the Roman Lynch

... and also he was Prince Thrakhath. The May 1994 issue of Electronic Games magazine brings us a pretty interesting profile of an Origin writer who doesn't get enough credit these days, Gilbert Austin. Credited as G.P. Austin for his work at Origin, he served as a writer on Wing Commander II, Strike Commander and Privateer (and provided voice work for Wing Commander II and Ultima Underworld 2!). At the time of the interview he had just moved on to write and design his own game, Harvester, for a newly formed studio. The most interesting note is that his last project for Origin was an outline for Wing Commander III, which it notes was finished before Strike Commander released. He's not credited on Wing Commander III so I'd be very curious to know what his plan for the game had been so early on!

Wing Commander Movie Night: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

What can we say about Blade Runner? No matter how they end it, it's a great movie and it gets the Wing Commander movie club seal of approval (which is technically a sea lion). Now we've got an unusual one this week, the 1992 comedy Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy seemed like a fun-but-light treat at the time but in the ensuing decades it has developed into quite a popular franchise with multiple tv shows (and a reboot in the works now). You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

But how does a comedy movie about fighting vampires from 1992 impact Wing Commander? Wing Commander does have (F-109) Vampires… but that's not it. This is a convoluted one. Manual readers may recall that Wing Commander Privateer has a very elaborate backstory published as a short prose story, "The Frontiersman: Interview with a Privateer". It details the man character's past including a battle with the Retros and his inheriting his grandpa's Tarsus. None of this is actually referenced in the final game but it's a beloved part of the story to anyone who took the time to read the piece. But none of what you read in the final version involves Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Rather, development documents have revealed a much earlier version which was intended to kick off the game's main story. In this iteration, there's a section after the destruction of Shoel where Brownhair (then called Aaron Burton) is betrayed by a fellow crewman named Jake Rubio. Jake is completely cut from the final version (unless he's one of the renamed Scarab crewmen) but he was part of the plan long enough to be included in the (ultimately unused) manual artwork commissioned from Greg Follender. Here's the art description that Follender received:

Pilot of the Bella Dona on which Aaron Burton obtains passage to Gemini. Jake is a nobody with big ears and an even bigger mouth when it comes to rumors. He is a merchant / smuggler who thinks shipping a gram of brilliance is high risk. He wants to be thought of as a respected street-smart insider but is basically a coward who thinks too small to ever be a threat to anyone.

Appearance: Paul Reubens (the way he looked when taken in for exposure or in Buffy the Vampire Slayer). He tries to dress tough but just looks cheap and kind of skanky. He's a Han Solo wannabe without the requisite ambition or guts. Stutters when you call his bluff, which happens often enough that it's easy to make him lose his composure.

You can read all about this cut content here. But as you can see, this character that doesn't actually appear in the game is based on Paul Reubens' Buffy character… so let's watch the movie and compare them! Here's the artwork that includes Jake that we never saw in the manual:

And here's the infamous "taken in for exposure" mug shots referenced in the art description:

There are some funny six-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon connections here, too. Buffy would famously go on to spin off a TV show with actress Sarah Michelle Gellar in the title role. Gellar would go on to marry Freddie Prnze Jr., Blair from the Wing Commander movie (but despite the IMDb's claim, the 'Saranya Carr' poster in his quarters in the film is not her). And hey, it also stars Luke Perry… who voiced Sub Zero on the Mortal Kombat Annihilation show that crossed over with Wing Commander Academy.

Where can I find a copy of the movie for the watch party?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is available for rent or purchase on the standard streaming services. If you would like a physical copy, the movie was released on BluRay in 2017 and remains in print around the world. If you are not able to locate a copy please stop by the Discord and ping a CIC staff member before Friday's showing.

How do we watch the movie together?

It's pretty low tech! Simply join the Wing Commander CIC Discord on Friday and we will be chatting (in text) along with the film in the main channel. Everyone who wants to join in should bring their own copy and we will count down to play them together at 10 PM EST. Everyone is welcome and we encourage you to join in the conversation; sharing your thoughts helps make the experience better for everyone!

Wild Lines, I Think I Love You

We've got a fascinating piece of Wing Commander archaeology today: the script for Wing Commander III's "wild lines". What's a wild line? Have you ever noticed distant talking in the background during cutscenes and gameflow aboard the Victory? These not-quite-audible-on-their-own PA announcements play to add a sense of texture to the world, making the carrier feel like it's a living, breathing place. And Origin's audio group too the challenge of recording them very seriously... they aren't nonsense lines but a set of 63 intentionally scripted possibilities.

Actually getting to read these lines gets you an interesting sense of life aboard the TCS Victory, with passengers and cargo coming and going and all sorts of shipboard events. Some of them are even specific to missions in the game, like one announcing Hobbes' escape. Most of the names are in jokes, referencing members of the development team like Adam Foshko, Chris Douglas, Chris Roberts and many more. And there are some pretty obscure references to other media in there; who remembers Buck Godot?

1) Chief Foshko please report to Admiral Tolwyn's quarters.
2) Engineers Perez and Leitch are needed in reactor bay seven. Bring CQ60 meson generator packs.
3) Medics required in Chief Potter's laboratory, deck three.
4) Project status meeting in four minutes. Officers Roberts and Savage report to Hollow Deck immediately.
5) Repair crews to flight deck in five minutes. Returning fighters inbound.
6) Chief engineer Daniel to the keel mount control deck immediately.
7) Flight Deck ready for arrivals.
8) Unauthorized fighter departure - bearing 3-22-8 at maximum speed. Sensors indicate Captain Hobbes in the ship.
9) Matter shield lowering.
10) Officer Douglas report to the bridge.
11) Officer Todd report to deck four galley.
12) Technicians Halverson and Downing required in forward gunnery two.
13) Ordnance officer McCall required in Captain Eisen's office.
14) Patrol launch at 1400 hours. All crews report to flight deck.
15) Fighter maintenance crews report to flight control.
16) Excalibur tech briefing at 1200 hours. Engineers Roan and Oljay report to mission room seven.
17) Weapon status report to Captain Eisen's office immediately.
18) Incoming cargo freighter, docking bay ninety-four.
19) Patrol debriefing at 1600 hours. All returning pilots report to mission room two.
20) Commanders Lee and Lee are needed on the bridge.
21) Professor Yenawine's lab is in need of a clean-up. Cleaning crew four report as soon as possible.
22) Security guards Chemla and Shelton needed in the Rec Room immediately.
23) Doctor Steed to excercise room six, we have a possible cardiac arrest.
24) Captain Eisen requests engine maintenance schedules by 2200 hours. Engineer McLean to make the report.
25) Commander Krishnan, flight deck reports your special order XP-38 has just arrived. Please report to docking bay four to take delivery.
26) Officer Day to Commander Vearrier's quarters.
27) Engineers Galway and Shelus to reactor bay twenty-one. Staff report possible flux inversion and your assistance is needed immediately.
28) Deck officer Krishnan please finish your lunch and get to flight control! That's straight from Commander Williams.
29) Chief Technician Ray requires a clean-up crew in his quarters immediately.
30) Warrant Officer Morone to the bridge.
31) All pilots to debriefing, mission room four.
32) Passenger Chow-Yun-Fa, please report to customs.
33) Security Team Kilroy to docking ring nine, terminal zero. Situation Code: Azure. Repeat, Situation Code Azure.
34) All passengers must be briefed on emergency procedures, Class One thru Class Two, before boarding. Please report to the nearest service representative if you have not been briefed.
35) Transport shuttle Jade Grey will be arriving twenty-seven minutes late. Please check any public information terminal for revised docking location.
36) Golden Princess Lines cruiser Shwee Ka has docked at ring three, terminal four. Passengers will be debarking in five minutes.
37) Decompression drill in service area seventeen will be commencing in thirty seconds. This area is declared off-limits to all unauthorized personnel.
38) Emergency exits are located on both wings of main concourse.
39) Will a representative from Diplomatic Contact Services please meet the arriving contingent of Hoffmanites from Foglio's World at Customs?
40) Red areas are for loading and unloading only.
41) Good morning, good morning. Feel free to have another pleasant day.
42) Will passenger Vax, passenger Vax, please report to the nearest paging terminal.?
43) Passenger Paul Headrick or passenger Vincent Lin, please contact the nearest service representative.
44) Priority request for loading transports to containment areas five and six.
45) Code 234K. Code 234U. Received and logged.
46) Last boarding call for Seraphim, docking ring five.
47) Seargeants Amos and Neapolitano, your presence is required at security checkpoint nine Alpha.
48) Security team order five--cancelled. Repeat, security order five has been cancelled.
49) Medical alert. Medical alert. Teams RX-87 and RX-88 please report to the main concourse, walkway nine, immediately.
50) An exhibition of Edo period artifacts from Japan, Earth, will be on display in the main concourse through the end of the month for your enjoyment.
51) Pilots Su Tuin and Wade Walker, briefing in conference room five dash five will begin in twenty minutes.
52) Attention. As required by Confederation law, notification of the inherent risks of traveling during periods of potential conflict must be acknowledged by all passengers.
53) Funeral services for pilots Penya, Rice, and Lackey, will be held in the Universal Chapel at 2400 hours.
54) Repair teams Roth and Whittaker, please report to deck ten.
55) Emergencies may happen at any time. All personnel are required to remain on alert.
56) Off-duty rotations will proceed according to schedules B-9 and R-17 until further notice.
57) Medical alert, medical alert. Medical team TP-6 to main flight deck, bay four.
58) Techs McManus and Hempel, please report to your Duty Officer.
59) Power coupling tests will begin in one minute. All non-critical areas should remain on stand-by.
60) Weapons dry loading runs have been rescheduled. Repeat, weapons dry loading runs have been rescheduled.
61) Transports Carerra and Javidovich will be docking in twenty minutes.
62) Unloading of polydichloroeuthamol lots fifty-seven and fifty-eight will be completed on schedule.
63) Special Envoy Nordquist, your presence is requested in Special Operations, deck five.

Computer Games Strategy Plus Previews Prophecy

Here's a blast from the past: a preview of Wing Commander Prophecy from the October 1997 issue of Computer Games Strategy Plus. This one really brought back memories for me; there's something very special about the dedication you can see behind the Wing Commander Prophecy team... and it's pretty neat that this article was willing to spend so much time introducing so many of the developers involved. This preview was conducted while multiplayer was still planned for the game and it's full of interesting, half-forgotten facts... like the mention that the Vision Engine was rescued from a cancelled game! There are also some stunning rendered screenshots that should all be familiar to anyone that drooled over every piece of promotional material released during Prophecy's press junket...

Reminder: #Wingnut Movie Night Tonight!

This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that inspired Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is Blade Runner and you can find details on why we're watching it in the announcement post here (in a word, New Detroit!). The movie will start about 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!

After Action Report: Firefox

Greetings WingNuts,

The Wing Commander movie club has screened Firefox and what we found was a big surprise: a very, very dour and serious movie about a man charged with stealing a mind controlled airplane. Firefox seems to be a conservative reaction to James Bond's late 1970s outing, offering in its first half an alternative version that completely lacks any sort of levity (or women!). It's clearly deliberate and deserves some credit for that but it's quite a slow walk to the Firefox factory. The second half of the movie, which stretches an expertly-constructed airplane chase to forty plus minutes, is better but never quite reaches the promise of the concept. Firefox's plot also reminded us a great deal of Strike Commander, which climaxes with a behind the lines operation to steal a pair of prototype jets which must then battle it out in an epic finale.

Firefox's major inspiration for Wing Commander was, of course, the fact that the original game… borrowed!... the design of the MiG-31 Firefox plane for the Rapier medium fighter. In recognition of that, here's a little gallery of Firefox frames showing the airplane in plenty of detail. They constructed both a full scale prop plane for ground scenes and a stunning model (whose maker would go on to build the Enterprise D for Star Trek The Next Generation!) for the air combat.

Airborne

On the Ground

Closeups

Cockpit

The Wing Commander I Rapier worked the same way: there was a 3D version designed by Glen Johnson and rendered by Mary Bellis for the flight sections and then a more detailed one by Denis Loubet for the 'ground' takeoff and landing scenes.

Vera reminds us that the ever-taciturn Michael "Iceman" Casey was based on Clint Eastwood himself. Iceman is certainly a lot like Firefox's Grant–they're both top ace fighter pilots secretly haunted by their wars–but this probably wasn't the specific inspiration. You probably have to go back to the Man with No Name or Dirty Harry (listed as one of Chris Roberts' favorite movies in a 1991 Point of Origin) to get the full picture.

Another thing we learned is that Firefox had a video game! In 1984 there was a Firefox arcade machine from Atari. It was a light gun-style shooter game that played over actual footage of aircraft and environments… how's that for an interactive movie? It's pretty funny watching Rapiers flying around!