Making the Game - Part 1 (May 6, 2008)

[Bandit LOAF]

We are proud to present a new daily feature which represents a major part of our mission -- the preservation and study of Wing Commander's history. Thanks to several very generous material donations we have been able to put together an impressive archive of documents relating to the development of Wing Commander Prophecy.

Just over twelve years ago the development team first met to put together a plan for what was then called Wing Commander V. It was a project full of firsts -- the first Wing Commander game designed for the ground up for the PC and the Playstation simultaneously, the first one to include multiplayer and the first one without Chris Roberts at the helm.

We would like to thank Prophecy Lead Billy Cain, Designer Captain Johnny Guentzel and Joe Garrity's Origin Museum for all the help and material provided for this project. We'll be running through all the dated documents in order and then providing a series of interesting undated ones. We will end by looking through Billy Cain's project bible for the game! Lets get started!

Today's document is the earliest yet identified -- so early, in fact, that it dates to just days after Wing Commander IV hit store shelves. This is the first of two rough plot pitches for the game... this one by Chris Douglas, whose artwork defined the style of Wing Commander III and IV. Mr. Douglas didn't go on to continue work on Prophecy... but his story is certainly very interesting.

Obviously the first thing you will notice is how different (and interesting) this pitch is -- military governor Blair, the return of Prince Thrakhath, Lt. Connor White and the TCS Eagle. I think that a close study, however, reveals some similarities -- and gives you a good idea of what basic elements potential script: the new character, the two alien races, the requirement that Blair be included in the story.

Wing Commander 5 Game Design Document
Download (2.5 mb)

Date: Feb. 15th, 1996
Project: Wing Commander Prophecy
Donated By: John Guentzel
Pages: 15

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Original update published on May 6, 2008

 

[Jason_Ryock]

Wow...just wow. I just got done reading the whole thing, and that was...fantastic. The connections to the older WC Games, that was just brilliant.

It's so easy to see the connection between the script-that-could-have-been and WCP, right down to the characters and their archetypes.

I can only imagine what would have happened (what WILL happen?) in a game that's a sequel to WCP based on that information.

It just seems that script leads us through Prophecy...and then the notes at the end give a back story that just makes me wonder...is that where they were going with the Nephilim? The whole phrase "aligned people" has new meaning after reading that end section.

I know that's not an official source so it doesn't give us any REAL information, but based on those notes...yeah. Interesting stuff.

 

[d3r3k]

What a fascinating thing to stumble upon.

 

[Gamer8585]

Great find, and a great read. Although right now it's little more than fan-fiction, it dose give some insights on the thought process behind Prophecy.

And with all the similarities to the finished Prophecy I can only imagine how much more they're going to use throughout the future games. The idea with Thrakhath coming back first felt hokey, but I think he did a good job with it. And the whole, Steltek/Nezari conflict has great potential, that I would actually like to see play out. I always felt that the Steltek presence at the end of Privateer was supposed to be a foreshadowing, and I think this treatment really brings it together.

When I read about the Nezari plan to subtlety manipulate other races into a large military force under their control my mind immediately said "Aligned People."

If this is the plan that is generally followed it may also give one more "out" for Blair. Basically a Steltek could have saved him at the last minute. And instead of a Nezari Thrakhath clone in the next game we may get a Steltek Blair clone (or both).

If there is one bad thing about this (aside from some spelling errors) its that it has whetted my apatite for WC VI/WCP 2. I had forgotten this craving and hoped it wouldn't be stimulated again until the arrival of a favorable press release.

Now we continue the waiting game....

 

[NinjaLA]

I love the idea that the Nephilim could just be one of 10 races that were to be pitted against the player. I also love that the primary bad guy of Prophecy could have been the Kilrathi again.

So much here to digest!

 

[Death Angel]

thats so cool.....right now Ì'm at work so I only had time to read the first 4 pages - it's funny to see that this approach to WC5 was similiar to the one I did (just for fun) some years ago for a possible WC6 game - I also brought Thrakhath and the Kilrathi back.

Can't wait to get home and read the rest tonight.

 

[Mekt-Hakkikt]

I have not much time to write but let me say that I like very much what I read (with small exceptions of course).

Really interesting, many thanks to everyone who made this possible!

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Wow, great reaction! I'm glad so many people are interested in this stuff. A lot of what we see won't be as sexy as this, but it's going to be pretty darned interesting for anyone who wants to know how a Wing Commander game was developed.

I should say a special thanks to Captain Johnny. He scanned and emailed me several documents out of the blue one day, which really tied together this entire project. Everything else you'll see in the coming weeks involved begging, pleading and multiple twenty-hour-straight scanning sessions on my part...

thats so cool.....right now Ì'm at work so I only had time to read the first 4 pages... I also brought Thrakhath and the Kilrathi back.

Heh -- keep reading...

Actually, I remember people being worried that Origin *had* brought Prince Thrakhath back when the 3Dfx Test came out -- since he was one of the pilots you could fight.

... and then before that I remember people being worried that Origin had brought back *Hobbes* for Wing Commander IV because - I'm not kidding - the download version of the WC4 Demo had a loading screen with a nebula which (supposedly) looked like his head.

We take our demos *seriously*!

And the whole, Steltek/Nezari conflict has great potential, that I would actually like to see play out. I always felt that the Steltek presence at the end of Privateer was supposed to be a foreshadowing, and I think this treatment really brings it together.

In all honesty, I've never liked the common-to-unused-pitches-and-fanfic concept of the Steltek as potential heavies... I always thought it went against their introduction in Privateer, as a species that's basically evolved beyond all this. There's certainly room to write them as a super-threat (or super-ally), but I think it makes the original possibility a lot less interesting.

Anyway, keep talking about this - this actually lead to a great discussion of time travel as a gameplay mechanic in a space sim on IRC early this morning.

There will be another early pitch from Captain Johnny tonight!

 

[Capn Johnny]

Yeah.. but mine is only 4 pages.. its mostly just an outline..

 

[NinjaLA]

don't knock it before we try it Captain! I love this sort of thing!

 

[Jason_Ryock]

Yeah.. but mine is only 4 pages.. its mostly just an outline..

How long was the other one? I didn't even notice, I was to busy reading it.

 

[T.K. Sax]

That document was very very cool. I can definatly see how prophecy was born out of that doc, but I think I would have enjoyed that game very much. It is intersting to see that very early on they were going move the player away from being "Blair" and onto someone else.

 

[Farbourne]

Fascinating read.

I second that I would have enjoyed that game a great deal.

Some interesting elements that have recurred in other sci-fi. Parallels between the Nezari and the Go-auld (sp?) of Stargate fame... Between the Steltek and the Vorlons/Shadows/First Ones of B5...

I wonder if the Double Helix might have eventually have wound up as one of the nine opponent races...

On the other hand, parts of it seem a little too magical and fantastic. The Steltek being able to warp in and out whenever/wherever they want... new technology so advanced it looks like magic, and then new countering technology just showing up on data screens so "let me make one quick adjustment, and suddenly our existing technology can do magic too". (Kind of Son of Ether-ish...) In the end I'm glad Prophecy stayed a little closer to it's purely technical roots, if you know what I mean...

 

[Lorien]

Having read both of them, I really like the joint idea that Prophecy's aliens aren't the problem, they're just the start. I wonder how Star*Soldier would have turned out with this information available to them?

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Having read both of them, I really like the joint idea that Prophecy's aliens aren't the problem, they're just the start. I wonder how Star*Soldier would have turned out with this information available to them?

Actually, we may find that out soon -- we're working on arranging another regular series of updates that will be page-by-page erratta by the team behind Star*Soldier.

 

[Mekt-Hakkikt]

So, to be a bit more detailed:

The character seems a bit more realistic, less shallow than Casey. At least he has some issues, making him look more human. I also like the idea you can be at odds with Blair or the CAG, especially since I can imagine rather well that, after WC IV, you wouldn't dismiss it immediately, that Blair has lost it a bit, just like Tolwyn (concerning the idea that Thrakhath is still alive).
Also, I find the idea of Blair being military governor of Kilrah extremely appealing. I think the Kilrathi would accept him the most. Of course, I also like that the Kilrathi seem to play a more important role in this version and, something I found extremely lacking in WCP, there's more interaction with the rest of the universe, it's not completely isolated as it felt to me in WCP.

Likewise, I like that Patrol ship being the homebasis. Not again something "old rust bucket" but not the pinnacle of the fleet either.

I am not too much into aliens having evolved beyond physical bodies and being able to dominate other persons or this teleporting stuff. But that's not WC specific, I don't like it in other sci-fi as well.

All in all, I found it extremely compelling. I tend to agree with LOAF (now, it wasn't always so) that it takes away a bit of the originality of the Steltek if they're used again to interfere. But connections to the Steltek, maybe even have former adversaries of them or something like that, is ok with me.

Actually, we may find that out soon -- we're working on arranging another regular series of updates that will be page-by-page erratta by the team behind Star*Soldier.

I can't wait to find out what that will be. An errata of what?

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Also, I find the idea of Blair being military governor of Kilrah extremely appealing. I think the Kilrathi would accept him the most. Of course, I also like that the Kilrathi seem to play a more important role in this version and, something I found extremely lacking in WCP, there's more interaction with the rest of the universe, it's not completely isolated as it felt to me in WCP.

Yes! I also love the idea of Blair as military governor; not as an excuse for him to dream about Ghost Thrakhath, but because it could present him as a sort of postbellum Civil War general. I think Blair as Sherman has a lot more potential than the final choice of Blair as spiff-spaceship designer.

As for the isolation... I think that's more of a money-enough-and-time thing. Unlike many of the other things in these early concepts, the idea of involving the Kilrathi in the actual game is something that will be kept in development for quite a while -- it seems to be very late that the decision not to open the game fighting cat pirates is dropped.

I can't wait to find out what that will be. An errata of what?

Errata is like... gloss. Going through each page and pointing out references and why this and that choice was made and so forth. Like a DVD commentary for a book. In fact, if you have any particular issues/questions about S*S, post them here and we'll see that they're read and (hopefully) addressed.

 

[Jason_Ryock]

In fact, if you have any particular issues/questions about S*S, post them here and we'll see that they're read and (hopefully) addressed.

When do we get the next issue? I'm keen on the rest of the Timeline for the war.

(Just kidding! Unless there really is an answer...)

 

[rtheriaque]

In sci-fi, it seems that many of the more popular franchises have darkened significantly over time. Deep Space Nine took the Star Trek universe to an all-out war. Star Wars I-III painted pictures of betrayal and overwhelming evil. Even smaller and less known universes such as Forstchen's Star Voyager Academy got quite dark in its third installment.

Now, we see something similar in this possible Wing Commander universe. As if the war with the Kilrathi wasn't enough, humanity is facing even longer and more overwhelming odds once again. Obviously, it makes for fantastic storytelling and the gaming possibilities increase significantly (a game about WC universe peacetime doesn't sound quite as fun ), but this parallels between sci-fi franchises of increasing evil and impending darkness is an interesting thread.

For this type of story to have worked, the ability to complete the series would have been critical to its success. It seems like Wing Commander's future wasn't as certain when Prophecy rolled around as it was for, say, Wing III. This installment would have expanded the universe to such an extent as to making a wrap-up quite daunting (though exciting if a trilogy could be guaranteed). Having the series cut off after this storyline would have left far more uncomfortable loose ends than Prophecy, at least in my opinion. There is a significant draw to this story, however, and quite a bit of "what if" running around in my head.

 

[Mekt-Hakkikt]

Yes! I also love the idea of Blair as military governor; not as an excuse for him to dream about Ghost Thrakhath, but because it could present him as a sort of postbellum Civil War general. I think Blair as Sherman has a lot more potential than the final choice of Blair as spiff-spaceship designer.

I totally agree with that, it would have quite some potential for character development of a Blair filled with remorse (though I do not know much about Sherman's post war position to make a comparison).

As for the isolation... I think that's more of a money-enough-and-time thing. Unlike many of the other things in these early concepts, the idea of involving the Kilrathi in the actual game is something that will be kept in development for quite a while -- it seems to be very late that the decision not to open the game fighting cat pirates is dropped.

I see. Still too bad but it's good to know that they saw it would add to the game.

Errata is like... gloss. Going through each page and pointing out references and why this and that choice was made and so forth. Like a DVD commentary for a book. In fact, if you have any particular issues/questions about S*S, post them here and we'll see that they're read and (hopefully) addressed.

Ah ok, I only knew errata for being corrections of an earlier volume e.g..

That sounds very nice and I hope I'll get to read through S*S again for it. I know I had lots of questions.