- Part one: Akalabeth and the beginnings of Lord British's teenage fortune.
- Part two: The labyrinthine Texas castle that video games built.
- Part three: Catching a ride with the Russians to the International Space Station.
Wing Commander Prophecy did include medals and promotions, but only barely. The game's FMV sequences featured three 'scripted' awards and one promotion. This document covers all of that - but also elements cut, including performance medals and ribbons similar to those which appeared in the original Wing Commander.
These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!
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Medals Download (36 kb)
Date: March 25, 1997 |
Thanks to a converter found here I have been able to try and see what the Wing Commander Faces I made look like in Fallout 3.The results are that it works for the most part. I could not find a way to get facial hair to transfer properly so the Paladin face did not work. Here are pictures from Fallout 3 showing Blair, Maniac, Who1 and Who2 as well as just as another test Winona Ryder. Also I notice in the case of Who1 the glasses did not transfer, but I think that's because glasses are a item in the game that can be worn.
Blitz
We've spoken about Prophecy's AI before, but now you can learn exactly how it reacts to different situations. It's interesting to me that back in 1991, this sort of data was actually published in the strategy guide. Not so, ten years later (or today). It's good to see they planned for enemies to be able to do the Shelton Slide, too...
These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!
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Maneuvers Download (18 kb)
Date: April 28, 1997 |
I've been a longtime fan of RiffTrax and they have a cuts feature on their website. This allows you to upload a video, or use one they already have, and put in previously recorded quotes from Mike, Kevin, and Bill. So I uploaded the final scene from Privateer 2, from the CIC's Holovids section, and riffed the hell out of it. If you're interested you can catch Kronos The Final Riffdown and let me know what you think.
One element of game design that we usually forget about is the install process. For the player, games just magically appear after processing something for a few minutes (or less, today). That process is actually incredibly complicated - as this flowchart-heavy document explains (actually, I do remember very fondly the Wing Commander III and IV installations... with the spinning carrier, the test sounds and the explicit judging of your computer setup).
These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!
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Install Download (55 kb)
Date: March 25, 1997 |
What progress has there been this week?The main thing has been voiceovers. Tempest's delivered another bunch of in-flight voiceovers. Other than that, Pierre has made some progress on his missions, as well as fixing (together with Pedro) some bugs in the OpenGL DLL.
Our voiceovers are now just 197 lines away from completion - we now have more than 500 voiceovers ready for this episode. In terms of voiceovers (well, and in terms of pretty much everything else), this episode is much bigger than the previous ones - even Episode 1, which contained the lion's share of the generic voiceovers for the Confed pilots contained 659 lines. That's quite an impressive chunk of work... and all of it done by volunteers! The folks who have recorded voiceovers for us along the way outnumber the actual core Standoff team by a ratio of at least two to one, maybe even three to one. And they're the people who really make the game what it is - without voiceovers, even the best-designed missions are just plain dull.
Even so, I sure wouldn't mind having some mission progress to report...
Apparently flying a space fighter is actually very complicated, as this design document about Wing Commander Prophecy's keyboard and joystick input paths explains. Most of it is entirely beyond me, but I am very interested in the proposed Playstation controls. This same team spent quite a bit of time trying to develop an improved input for WCIV PSX, so all of this complicated madness might have worked quite well had the game been released. Also great is a note from Billy Cain: "THIS NEEDS TO BE MADE EXPLICITLY CLEAR. RIP OFF THE BEST SYSTEM OUT THERE, OR COME UP WITH A COMPOSITE".
These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!
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Input Download (69 kb)
Date: March 25, 1997 |
Today's update: the ICIS bible... or, we should say, the 'CFOD' bible (Combat Flight Ops Display). Learn the original full plan for the ICIS system - in short, it would include a lot of other information (loadout, wingmen, tactical plan, etc.). Contains a bonus FMV storyboard!
These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!
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ICIS Download (601 kb)
Date: March 25, 1997 |
It's one thing to read countless blog entries of gaming websites calling for the resurrection of old classic franchises, and yet another to see it in print. So it's with great interest that the March 2009 issue of PC Gamer ran a column calling for just such a thing.
While the column mostly discusses the success of the resurrection of the Fallout franchise, the writer specifically mentions a handful of titles he thinks would be great to resurrect. Interestingly, of the eight he mentions by name, half are old Origin titles, and of course we wouldn't be talking about this if Wing Commander wasn't among them.
"Bring back X-Com, X-Wing, Crusader, Baldur's Gate, Wing Commander, Ultima, Syndicate, MechWarrior, and (insert your favorite classic-but-inactive game franchise here)! There are dozens of excellent development teams out there who are passionate fans of all these games and their universes, just like Bethesda is about fallout, and would love nothing more than to work their hearts out to make high-quality 21st century versions."
If yesterday's gameflow document suggested the design philosophy behind the game, today's update specifies it -- in a point-by-point analysis, done very early in the process, of how the team will make Armageddon the greatest Wing Commander game yet. Discussion topic - which of these goals were met and which weren't?
These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!
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General Design Goals Download (29 kb)
Date: March 25, 1997 |
A new poll is overdue, and we've gone with a clever question suggested by Mincemeat. He asks which missile lock tone was your favorite. They vary quite a bit over the years, and some of them are definitely more satisfying and memorable than others. Is it the final torpedo lock signal in your Broadsword after lining up on a Fralthra? Maybe the multi-toned chirp of the Armada Banshee? If you're not sure which to go with, check out the discussion over at Crius.net.
Whether it's a simple Heat Seeker or a ponderous Hellraiser Torpedo, ducking and weaving for a missile or torpedo lock is an indispensable part of every wingnut's experience. Which missile lock tone is your favourite of 'em all? The best music to your ears?
Our traditional new years poll was pretty typical this year. We let it run longer than usual, which skewed the results somewhat. No matter which way you voted, we think you'll be pleasantly surprised by what this year has in store.
Gameflow refers to how the player interacts with the game; in Wing Commander, that usually means everything interactive outside of the cockpit -- how the game tricks the player into thinking a simple menu is actually the ready room of a starship. This document interests me, because it very much defines the team's design philosophy - simple and immediate over complex.
These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!
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Gameflow Download (102 kb)
Date: April 30, 1997 |
WC1 mission entries - we've made some good progress this week, we've gotten quite a few entries started and have added USG text, however most are missing the WC1 script text. We need pre-flight conversations, briefings, and debriefings entered.General WCPedia maintenance discussion - if we've noticed any bugs, (like the white on white text that appeared on the special pages page, etc) other things that we think we need to discuss, anything that doesn't fit into our primary goal of fleshing out WC1.
WCPedia Promotion - mostly aimed at KrisV, we should talk about making the WCPedia link more prominent on the front page and perhaps going with your idea of making the latest edits something that appears in the same manner as the Standoff Sim scores. We should make sure that as many people as possible realize the project exists and that it already contains a good deal of information for wingnuts to surf through.
I'll be honest with you: I have no idea what this document means. My guess would be that it has to do with the internal bug reporting process -- but it's equally possible that it's something wholly unrelated.
These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!
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Error Codes Design Download (25 kb)
Date: March 25, 1997 |
Proxima 4: I check the killboard before this final mission, and note the 674 aliens that I have personally accounted for. The briefing for this mission tells us that taking out the alien accretion device can have bad long-term effects, so we’ll destroy the alien cap ship controlling the device. Upon launching, Zero wishes us all good luck since this won’t be an easy mission. Spyder gives us his kudos just in case he does not make it back. Maestro insists that we’ll win, and Zero jokes about going thru Maestro’s stuff if he dies.
As soon as we reach the point where the accretion device is, there is a bit of a welcome waiting for us. A Tiamat dreadnought is controlling the accretion device, and there are two Devil Rays that would love to try to make our Devastators destroyed. The captain of the Cerberus points out that time is of the essence here, and I see a Moray trying to get away with a direct attack on my bomber. It is easily destroyed by one shot from the plasma cannon, and then I try to help Zero out. He’s forced to eject as the Devil Ray takes out his bomber, and it takes four of my missiles to reduce the Devil Ray to rubble. I go after the shield emitters on the Tiamat, and the other Devil Ray makes itself an easy target with a direct attack. One shot takes down that Devil Ray, and I get the shields down on the Tiamat. I get behind the dreadnought, and put six plasma shots into its engines to take them out. Captain Murkins warns us that the alien accretion device is warming up, but eliminating the Tiamat controlling it should do the trick. I get a bit lucky at finding the soft spot of the bridge to hit with my plasma cannon. Two hits take out the threat of the Tiamat, and there are only the remaining fighters to handle. I destroy five of the Squids with just the plasma cannon on my Devastator, and we all get congratulations from the captain for our good work.
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"Easter Eggs" suggests pretend credits and hidden John Romero heads -- but in this case, it seems to refer to 'cheat codes'. This document doesn't list any planned for the PC... but quite a number for the aborted Playstation version! The 'score keeping' cheat is inspired.
These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!
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Easter Eggs Download (14 kb)
Date: March 25, 1997 |
Great ideas never die. It didn't matter that Fallout was a series that was silent for 10 years. The world and core mechanics of Fallout 1 are so inherently awesome that they deserved to be done again, but in a new way. So much of reinventing something again is the presentation. Read old game reviews and see how the audience responded at the time, and find a way to make that happen again. Don't let anyone tell you 'People no longer like that.' What I wouldn't give to see X-Wing or Wing Commander reborn again. Hmmmm.Todd Howard is also the man behind the latest installment in the Elder Scrolls series, Oblivion. Thanks to Hurleybird.
When Wing Commander Prophecy was shown at the E3 expo in 1997 it had a mission for attendees to play -- a unique mission created for the Beta version of the game shown at the conference. This document has the specifications; perhaps some intrepid fan designer can recreate this mission?
These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!
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E3 Mission Download (14 kb)
Date: June 8, 1997 |
This lengthy document is an exacting mission-by-mission pass schedule for Wing Commander Prophecy -- when each one must be completed and ready for the various milestones (Alpha, Beta, E3, ECTS, etc.) I would say that the fan projects could learn from this -- but they seem to have a pretty professional testing system already in place! Also note the fact that the various multiplayer points are 'not started'.
These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!
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Design Schedule Download (40 kb)
Date: September 15, 1997 |
So as the title states, I've managed to get the AI to upgrade its starbase AND build all its classes of available capital ships and fighters in skirmish (I'm not worried about the GC aspect at the current time). On this particular map the AI did, infact, capture all but one of the available mining asteroids, and it took around 45 minutes to get to building the Midway (which acts as a final capital ships class), although I never seen the Vesuvius. Those two Bengal Class ships did manage to take out at least three of my defending Acclamators and had I not have had two more in reserve the AI would probably have won. I'm just glad the other 6-8 capitals the AI had produced didn't manage to get to my base, but at least it works.
Today we have a short table showing the comm 'types' used in Wing Commander Prophecy. Unlike previous games, Prophecy featured some fifty-odd wingmen... and every single one needed to have every single type of taunt recorded (well, needed is an interesting point - you might not have had that dedication in a non-Origin title).
These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!
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Comm Priority Download (54 kb)
Date: July 9, 1997 |
As you know, Standoff is a modification of Secret Ops. Even if SO is much easier to mod than the previous WC games, many aspects of the game were hardcoded into it: the number of guns, number of ships, number of displayed asteroids, etc. To be able to break those limitations, the main game's EXE has to be altered. Those of you who have tried hex-editing their favorite games knows you can't do much using that method. To solve this problem, WC editing guru HCl developed a very effective method: do a very small hack to the EXE so it loads a DLL, and from that DLL rewrite the EXE directly in memory!Using this trick, HCl has made many amazing patches to WCP/SO, like the hi-res and DVD patches. He also made a number of patches for Unknown Enemy and Standoff... but the really cool thing is that he gave us a formidable tool through which we've been able to add on our own little patches every time a need arises.
At this stage in the Episode 5 development, Standoff includes over 80 patches which allow us to raise the limits of the original SO, add new mission commands and making the game closer to the original Wing Commander 2 gaming experience.
I have prepared a small demonstration explaining a very simple patch I recently made. After hearing people complain about the game's screenshots being overwritten with new images every time the game was reloaded, I decided to make a quick patch. The problem is that when the player hits the "Print Screen" key, the game doesn't check for existing files and starts to save them over what already exists.
Today's document is a list of Nephilim (then: alien) comm messages to be recorded for Wing Commander Prophecy. The alien comms in Prophecy are especially interesting because they're arguably the single largest source of information on the alien culture. As in the original Wing Commander, there were no cutscenes between Nephilim leaders plotting mankind's downfall - the player was put up against an entirely mysterious threat that appeared only in brief viewscreen taunts. Nevertheless, in these taunts alone we learn about their biological caste system (soldiers, warlords, mother creatures), their relation to humanity (they know Blair and refer to him as the World Slayer) and their religious beliefs (a fear of dissolution, of 'the blackness').
These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!
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Comms Alien Download (30 kb)
Date: July 9, 1997 |
I had the sudden urge to redo a sketch I used to do often when I was but a wee lad. I don't recall seeing any hand-drawn stuff in the news for a while now. And yes, I know those aren't the Drakhri you see on the box...
Attached today is a master table of communications message types, which includes a look at one of the more interesting and unspecified portions of Wing Commander Prophecy - the fact that the various 'other wings' have their own comm trees. We can see here that some types of messages are "chained" - so if another wingleader requests a status report, for instance, you will then hear the other parts of the conversation. I imagine the system created to allow this functionality was in turn used on Secret Ops for the in-flight conversations that told that game's story.
These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!
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Comm Table Download (32 kb)
Date: June 13, 1997 |
Another week... another step closer to our final goal of the ultimate WC resource wingnuts!We had a productive session and have determined to dedicate the next several weeks strictly to fleshing out WC1 mission entries.
LOAF will be posting the WC1 script soon so that users can start to copy and paste the relevant text into articles. This is something that the average user can readily do and we are asking you to contribute what time you can to fleshing out an article or two.
I'm also sending out a call to all Ultimate Strategy Guide owners, we need your help in transferring the text from there into WCPedia in the mission entries. We want all the WC1 mission entries to look like the Epsilon Wing entry with all the text from the game itself and from the USG. That way fans and *hopefully* future WC developers will have access to every bit of information possible.
DaveO is going to work on getting the necessary images for the mission entries and the rest of us are going to set out and create the empty articles templates for EVERY mission in WC1 in the following weeks.
Another good session and another week closer to our final goal.
Today's document explains, in plain English, the "logic" behind Wing Commander Prophecy's comm system. Interesting to me is the fact that pilots are 'ranked' in the background, which determines their placement in the various randomly generated flights.
These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!
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Comm System Download (19 kb)
Date: March 25, 1997 |
This Sunday morning I went together with JC to an abandoned industrial facility which was used as shooting location for some scenes of different movies, one of which was "Wing Commander"
Today's document is a game designer's notes on the intended communication system. We learn that there is only room for 80 megabytes of comm speech plus video available on each disc, so what was intended as an incredibly complex system must be pared down. Once again, years after the original game shipped on 3 1.44mb disks, space limitations are forcing developers to think differently. Imagine what could have been done with a BluRay...
These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!
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Comm Notes Download (14 kb)
Date: March 25, 1997 |
A (much belated) happy new year!It's now February, but this being the first update of the year, we'd like to wish you all a Happy New Year! For us, this year is going to be an especially happy one - because it is absolutely, definitely, beyond any shadow of a doubt, going to be the very last year of Standoff's development. We'll be releasing Episode 5 (along with fixes to various bugs from previous episodes), and that's it. Of course, if you're sceptical, I can understand that - it just so happens we said almost exactly the same thing at the start of last year. Still, we are close to finishing. Some of us have literally run out of work to do :-).
To make up for the lack of recent updates, this update is going to be quite a lengthy one :-). At this stage, we have completed all the remaing FMV cutscenes for Episode 5. Some of them are still waiting for music, but the videos are done. So, there are three areas of Episode 5 still incomplete - music, voiceovers, and missions. Having finished all my work with cutscenes, I also spent a bit of time improving some elements of the game that had already been completed. We've been going at this for way too many years now, we've all gained quite a bit of skill along the way, and some of the old stuff really jumped out in quality. This includes the cockpits for some of the campaign ships (Rapier, Gladius, Sabre), as well as the hangars for both the Lionheart and the Firekka.
To show you all of this progress, we've put up seven new screenshots. Apart from the stuff mentioned above, there is also a shot from the Episode 5 intro. Finally, there is a shot of the Firekka's recroom, in 1280x960. Ever since we've switched to OpenGL, the rooms were rescaled at higher resolutions from the 640x480 files, which meant a significant loss of quality. This is no longer the case - Pedro has made further improvements to our DLLs, and now the rooms are rescaled from the 1024x768 files instead :-).
What about missions, is there no progress in that area? As a matter of fact, there is progress, though not as much as there should have been - as always, blame Quarto... I mean, getting engaged, what kind of a lame excuse for lack of progress is that? :-) Anyway, Pedro's delivered his last mission, and Pierre's delivered an early version of two other missions - so we're definitely moving forward.
In the meantime, the end of the year - as usual - is the time of the Wing Commander CIC's annual awards. The awards are given out for the best fan project of the year, and the best fan website of the year. Thanks to all of you who voted for us, Standoff was voted runner-up (in a tie with Wing Commander Saga, yet again)... in the fan website of the year category. Now, when your fan project is given an award in the web site category, clearly that means you've got a problem with progress. Yes, Episode 5 is making progress, yes, it is close to release, but the fact remains, we have not released anything at all in 2008, our last release was September 26th 2007. It is high, high time for us to bring this project to a close. Anyway, here's our award graphic for this year:
Thanks again to everyone who voted!
There is one last thing to say in this update. Over at the forum, Chris pointed out that a weekly schedule of updates might help us mobilise to make progress. It surely would - it's something that really worked well towards the end of UE, and the only reason we haven't done it with Standoff is because we were lazy :-P. Well, it's time to speed things up a bit and finally get this project done, so here goes:
From now on, we are going to do a news update every friday evening, all the way until release. Some of these updates will be short, and new screenshots probably won't be too frequent either - but the updates will show up every single week.
Today is the first of several documents used to develop Wing Commander Prophecy's communications system. This is a list of all the comm voices used by the game. Most fascinating is the ranks for each pilot - these weren't even included in the official guide! (Note that a voice is assigned to the TCS Eisen... sadly, that didn't make it into the game.)
These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!
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Comm Characters Download (16 kb)
Date: March 25, 1997 |
Depending on how they fared in Luyten, pilots of the TCS Cerberus take on either Sirius or Krieger in this week's Community Replay assignment. Here are some of Lorien's notes from the action in Luyten:
Luyten 2:
Now that we've succesfully forced out way into the Luyten system, it's time to start thinning out the alien presence here. The captain has dispatched three of us in Black Vampires to patrol a 4-point route and eliminate any alien craft we encounter. I've spent so much time in a Panther lately that it takes a little adjustment to get used to the Vampire's vertical fighting style, but I'm soon on top of the game.
The alien presence in this system is best described as heavy. Though Nav point 2 was clear, there was a heavy alien presence at the other locations, including a large number of independent Skate's. These aren't worrying on their own, but they can certainly be an annoyance as you hunt down bigger prey. Nav point 4 is a perfect example of this bigger prey with three Devil Rays and 3 Barracuda corvettes blocking our progress. I'm glad that I'd conserved a number of missiles up until this point, as the Pulse Particle Cannons on the Vampire feel like popguns against the heavy armour and shields of the heavy fighters and corvettes.
Zero is forced to eject by the crossfire from the Corvette's but Maestro and I are able to avenge his ejection with relative ease and mark his location for the SAR as we return to the Cerberus.
Luyten 3: Luyten station has reported that an alien cruiser is moving in to attack it. We need the information available from the sensor array on the outpost as well as a resupply, so the Cerberus herself will be moving to support the station, with all of our Vampires flying in support. True to form, the aliens attempt to stop out mission before we can even reach the station using a mixed force of Mantas, Morays and Stingrays. Only the Stingrays pose a threat to the Cerberus and receive priority targetting until their numbers are thinned down enough to prevent them clustering up and attacking. With the aid of the Cerberus, the rest of the mop is a breeze.
Arriving at the station, we find the situation to be grim. A large number of fighters threaten to overwhelm the Excaliburs defending the station, while the cruiser is sitting off and launching capship missiles towards the station. Targetting the capship missiles, I order my wingmen to cover me as I take out the missiles one-by-one, the first with an ELRIR and the rest with my guns. Once the cruiser's missile banks are emptied, the remaining alien fighters are quickly overwhlemed by our firepower. We move to start stripping turrets off the now exposed cruiser, but it's able to jump away before we finish the job.
With the station now secure, we're ordered to patrol the rest of the system to make sure no more attacks are forthcoming. We find some scattered light fighters, but nothing that poses a threat. With that station and the area surrounding it now secure, we land onboard the Cerberus, ready for our next mission.
Luyten 4: Cerberus has detected an alien convoy moving through the Luyten system. We're not sure what the convoy is carrying but we do know that whatever the aliens want to have, we want them not to have it. To that end, Cerberus is launching a strike force of Shrikes and Vampires to take care of the convoy.
Alien presence in the Luyten system remains numerous, as we discover on our way to the convoy when we're attacked by a large for of Skates and Morays. Despite their numbers, the fragile craft the aliens are flying don't last long under a sustained bombardment and we're soon moving on to the convoy's location.
The fighter presence around the convoy is much heavier, including some Devil Ray Space Superiority fighters, but we've got some extra numbers on our side as well, with fighters from Luyten station joining in on the action. I order my wing to break and attack and move to take out the alien CAP with our escort to give my wing an easier time. I concentrate my fire on the lighter Skates and Morays that get too close to me and swiftly attract the attention of the Devil Rays. As usual against the more maneuverable fighters in a bomber, I'm forced to play chicken with them, relying on my heavy shields and armour to protect me as I tear chunks out of the fronts of the alien fighters with my guns.
It's a tactic that I've used a number of times before and it's no less succesfully now than it was back then. Soon the Vampires and I are moving in on the transports as I watch Amazon begin to pick off the bridges of the transports. I continue to play the support roles and take out the turrets on the transports, especially the vital rear turret, to help my wingmen do their jobs. I still get time to pump torpedoes into two tranports and take them out before we return to Cerberus.
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Today's update is the plan for Wing Commander Prophecy's "component" capital ship system. Clearly inspired by X-Wing, the system was a response to the idea that capital ships were simply fat fighters in Wing Commander 1, 3 and 4. You can see the genesis of one of the game's biggest bugs here - in the rush to include an option for preventing enemy ships from launching fighters, the developers forgot to note that such damage suffered by the Midway would break the game. Note also the larger variety of capital ship weaponry: ion, plasma and flak turrets did not make it into the finished game (although ion cannons are mentioned in the ICIS manual).
These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!
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Cap Ship Constituate Parts Download (17 kb)
Date: August 14, 1997 |
The simple title belies a fascinating document today: "Audio" includes three amazing things: the plan for the game's music, the audio budget and the plans for the massive about of audio recording necessary. Here's a fateful decision: "The music will see the addition of militarized, high adrenaline rock in the spaceflight action to offset the world class orchestral scoring of George Oldziey during movie segments."
These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!
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Audio Download (15 kb)
Date: March 25, 1997 |
- Added quest achievements. When you complete a quest, an achievement describing what you did will be added to the Achievements section under Stats in your Quine5000 (if the quest author has added an achievement to his quest).
- Added quest requirement. If used in a quest, the player can't play the quest if he hasn't completed the required quest.
- Fixed bug that would crash the game when entering the quest menu if you're playing a new game (not a loaded game).
- Fixed bug that caused time not to pass for some events when using the autopilot (mainly the simulation of production and consumption of commodities as well as the commodity affecting events - which resulted in these events being active for way too long and not happening often enough).
- Fixed bug with characters trying to get an object on the ground even though somebody is standing there.
- Allowed character dialogues in quests to use the STEP feature used in ship dialogues. This can give the player up to five different reply options and more branching dialogue than just Accept/Reject.
- Added a GOTO feature in quest dialogues to allow an immediate "jump" to another step without having to wait for the player to choose a reply.
- Added quest ship settings: Armor, ECM, Guns, GunBoosts, GunCoolers, Missiles, Experience, Morale, Shields, X and Y positions in space.
- Added quest character settings: Health, Equipment, CriticalWounds, Order, OrderTarget, Precision, Speed, Strength, Template.
- Added quest trigger events: AreaEntered, CargoBought, CargoSold, CargoInHold, CharacterBlinded, CharacterHitByPlayer, CharacterKilledByPlayer, CharacterOrderCompleted, CharacterStunned, Credits, ItemAcquired, ItemLost.
- Added quest trigger results: ChangeCharacterOrder, ChangeCharacterOrderTarget, CreateCharacter, RemoveCargo, CreateItem, GiveItem, PlaceItemOnBase, RemoveItem, RenameItem and RemoveCredits.
- Made some changes to the "Kilrathi Hunt" example quest to use some of these new quest features.
- When a fixer or wingman has left his chair due to a fight breaking out, he will now stay inside the bar and will in time sit down again when the fight is over.
What's an "attaboy"? It refers to the 'landing' scenes found in Wing Commander 1, 2 and 3 - where a crewman or crewmen welcome you back home and comment on your mission performance and/or damage taken. Remember how surprising it was the first time the entire Victory crew appeared to welcome you home in Heart of the Tiger? And then how odd it was that it happened over and over? This is the Prophecy team's plan to change that!
These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!
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Attaboys Download (19 kb)
Date: March 25, 1997 |
Today's update is an early list of the art assets -- 3D models and other objects -- that the Prophecy team needed from their artists. Two fateful decisions here: "This should NOT disappear when destroyed", referring to a space station but ultimately every capital ship... and "Eisen can be on the other side of the Jumppoint", cutting the game's other carrier into oblivion. Note the inclusion of destroyers and cruisers on the Confed side -- but that the various 'intro' ships (Devereaux, pods, etc.) are only planned for cinematics at this point.
These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!
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Art List & Object Names Download (48 kb)
Date: March 25, 1997 |
This Sunday, 5pm EST, yes two hours earlier than normal, hoping that it's still not too late (or early) for some of our European and Asian friends, while working hopefully well for many of us Americans. If too many people see it as a problem we can move it back to 7pm.Agenda
To-Do List for WC1 - Mission entries are starting to get created, we just need people with some of the other sources to start including that text and information as well. We should also work on a more complete To-Do list, much like LOAF's ClawMark's list.
Graphics List - What we need for WC1 entries, Nav Maps, headshots, location images, cutscene images, etc - We should think about a Graphics committee comprised of some of our local artists and designers, I've done some work with WCNav, however graphics are certainly not my strong point. I'd prefer someone more skilled in the field to take control.
To-Do List for Average Users - This list should comprise simple entries and work that people can do using the online resources of the CIC. We have plenty of active CZ posters, I'm sure some of them would be willing to spend a few minutes adding information here and there. It might even give them the confidence that they could do more as the project progresses.
Status Reports - Reports from our core group and the creation of some deadlines for certain parts of the project.
As always, I invite everyone to attend, it's a great time to talk about WCPedia and WC in general as our conversations tend to drift as we get into the nitty-gritty. Don' be shy. If you are unsure how to use IRC, please let us know, we are all more than willing to show everyone the ropes.
Thanks!
You must read this document! Anyone the least bit interested in the plan for the Nephlim needs to read this 'behind the screens' briefing on their society (they're called "BIG ALIEN NAME" at this point). Learn all sorts of details about their culture that can be found nowhere else! Oddly, this also includes a list of Kilrathi taunts.
These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!
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Alien Sociology Download (107 kb)
Date: July 23, 1997 |
So I've been getting back at the Excalibur which will be inclusive to the WC:CD Mod. It will be based off of some of the Arena preliminary screenshots which I am including the screenshot of here. I'll post up what I've come up with so far as progress shots. And the F-103D designation is something I've made, figuring there's been other revisions since. Also I am thinking on renaming the fighter also just like Arena used Rapier Blade or Rapier Cavalier. So enjoy and give feedback and comments. I'm looking to make this a heavily armed fighter with plenty of firepower. I'll give stats as the hours/days go by. Also I'll give you an update to the Nephilim Puffer ship at some point within the next few days.
It's hard to figure why this document was originally created, but it's sure to please numbers geeks. This plans out the martial makeup of the Nephilim fleets seen in Wing Commander Prophecy -- how many cruisers, destroyers, transports, etc. each should contain. Note the original names for the ships - Leatherback, Tsunami, Osprey, Marlin, etc.
These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!
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Alien Fleet Descriptions Download (6 kb)
Date: March 25, 1997 |
As far as the gameplay goes, I think, again, we should get back to the basics that made the original series so appealing. Make the space battles cinematic, with lots of energy and action. Let's have lots of mission variety, from escorting transport ships through pirate territory, to wild chases through asteroid fields, to full on assaults between capital ships. And in true Wing Commander style, we should never have a mission play out the way the original briefings suggest. Have a player's successes and failures influence that path they take through the branching campaign. As the player progresses through the story, he'll gain access to better and better equipment, new squadron assignments, and, most important of all, a higher spot on the kills board. You've got to have a kills board or it's just not Wing Commander.Let's hope Electronic Arts takes notice! Thanks to the many, many readers who submitted this -- including Chris Allen, Tim Lesus, Fellentos, Jim Vessella, Robert Tang-wai, Kyle Sarty, Kerry Dolan and (first!) Daehawk.
Making the Game is back! Starting today we will be looking at a large number of documents and other types of material relating to Wing Commander Prophecy. We hope that future game designers - as well as historians - can someday use this material to understand exactly how one of the greatest games of all time was created.
Today's update is a nine page plan for the artificial intelligence system in 'Wing Commander Armageddon' (Prophecy's original title). This is a particularly fascinating thing to study because AI is such a mystery. It's so often (and easily -- and, in my mind, cheaply) criticized. We picture programmers trying to grow a living Kilrathi pilot or Halo robot in a lab, when in reality the true success isn't in creating an AI that is especially stupid or especially invincible. Rather, it's in creating one that doesn't feel like a selected number of routines being called in some predictable fashion.
These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!
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AI Plus Maneuvers Download (47 kb)
Date: March 25, 1997 |
There's a couple of things here. All the standard fighters are in game along with the hero fighter squadron/s. After looking over the Broadsword and Devastator I'm inclined to leave them out as neither would be up to any kind of standards. All is not lost though as the Wasp doubles as a fighter and missile bomber.Now comes my problem. I've looked over the site and the version of Ella Starbase I have is different from the images here (it doesn't look like a 'H'). To be honest its not really the right shape for the starbase so I'm tempted to go with a different one but I thought I woul dget a second opinion. Please can everyone bare in mind that the used base will have to be heavily armed, carry a radar and have a hangar. Anyway the one directly below is Ella Starbase as I have the model. The one below that is the main starbase that featured in the WC:Invasion mod for Armada 1 that some may already know.
The enemy force in Luyten decided to throw a welcoming party for the pilots of the TCS Cerberus. This week's Community Replay assignment kicks off with over twenty enemy fighters at Nav 1. Scramble! Here's a sample of DaveO's adventures in Cygnus.
Cygnus 4
We’re to seek out and destroy an alien capital ship for this mission. We head for the first nav point, and see some Mantas lurking in a cluster of asteroids. I take care of two of the Mantas, and our group handles the other two. There is a Devil Ray along with Mantas and Skates at our next alien encounter. The Devil Ray takes three missile hits before Zero finishes it off, and I make two of the Mantas permanently missing in action. A few shots from my fighter finish off two of the Skates, and we head for the next nav point on our patrol. There is an even distribution of Morays, Mantas, and Devil Rays to duel with. I take out one Manta with my guns, and use a missile along with my guns to take care of the other Manta. It takes two of my missiles and some assistance from Spyder to destroy one of the Devil Rays. I only see a Moray left, so our group must have shot down the other Devil Ray. I engage and shoot down that final fighter, and we head back for the Cerberus. Due to no encounter with alien capital ships, the Captain concludes that they must have fallen back to the Luyten jump point. The concentration of alien forces in Proxima may be more than in both the Luyten and Krieger systems.
Cygnus 5
We quickly launch to attack any alien capital ships guarding the Luyten jump point. There are Devil Rays, Mantas, and Morays at the first nav point. I give the Devil Ray multiple Friend or Foe missiles and firepower to its rear to take it out. I then give three of the Mantas a taste of space, and do the same for the final Moray fighter. And the next nav point, there are Stingrays providing defense for a Hydra cruiser. I gun down one of the Stingrays, and notice that the Cerberus is at close range to the Hydra. There is no doubt that the plasma cannon of the Cerberus is chewing up chunks of the Hydra. I shoot down a second Stingray, and then break apart a clustered Stingray. I take out two more of the Stingrays with missiles and guns, and I only see Stingrays near to the Cerberus. Just as I engage my afterburners in pursuit, our bombers hammer the Hydra. The turrets and plasma cannon of the Cerberus are able to handle the remaining two Stingray ships.
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The Call to Arms live expansion, set to roll out for free in early March and running through the beginning of June, will also include three in-game live events, a new Realm vs. Realm™ (RvR) Scenario, added functionality to the Realm Wars section of the WAR website, the opening of the official WAR Forums, and a new free trial version of the game.“The launch of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning was only the first step in our ongoing quest to make a great MMORPG that players will enjoy for years to come. Over the next few months, we are going to be treating our players to the first of our ‘live expansions’ planned for the game,” said Mark Jacobs, VP and general manager of Mythic Entertainment. “With the addition of new careers and a huge Tomb Kings dungeon that is the spiritual successor to the Dark Age of Camelot™ dungeon, Darkness Falls, Call to Arms is an outstanding example of the massive amount of free content we are committed to delivering to WAR players now and in the future.”
The big star, though, is Mark Hamill as The Joker. I’m glad they got him instead of going for a Heath Ledger sound-alike –- it solidifies Arkham Asylum as a Batman game that stands apart from the movies. Besides, the role of main psychopath is a demanding one. From beginning to game over screen, the pinstripe-sporting super villain is there, taunting the caped crusader, goading him and generally being absolutely crazy at every opportunity. You need a star like Hamill to carry the performance.There's an interesting Electronic Arts connection here, too. EA had the 'Batman' license until December 2008. A series of development issues prevented them from putting out a planned Dark Knight game - first for the release of the movie and then for the release of the DVD. The studio behind the attempt, Pandemic, was among the first laid off several weeks ago. It's not a good time to screw up with that amount of money...
RP: I think Westwood’s use of them in the Command and Conquer series was always pretty stylistic, as were the Wing Commander games with Mark Hamill. This is another argument for having writers and narrative designers in from the start – you really have to design structure so well to be able to tell a story without cutscenes, or with very few, or with interactive ones. It’s a really high bar for developers to reach, and I think the cutscene, while it has become overused, definitely can be blended with other storytelling techniques.It's great to hear Wing Commander mentioned - especially from a woman whose most recent credit is writing for Electronic Arts' new Mirror's Edge IP (Part One of the roundtable is available here)
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