A (Not So) Hostile Introduction to Mission Building

Well, we are making good progress on some of the missions, but there is still much more work to do. Designing good-quality missions from the ground up is a long, involved process. The first step involves writing the mission script, which outlines what happens in the mission, what characters and ships appear, dialogue sequences, briefings and debriefings, objectives, etc. The mission script is NOT the one-and-only basis for the actual mission, although the mission events that the script outlines remain largely unchanged in the finished version of the mission.

------------------

And at the end, it is indeed amazing to see how far the mission has come since it was started. I still have a few videos showing early versions of the WCHF missions, and after watching them through, I'm proud of my accomplishments so far, and I'm still improving my missions to perfection. Also, don't forget that we're still looking for people to help make the missions. If you're interested in joining the team, please contact me on the WCHF forum on HLP or by e-mail.

WC3 Intro a Game Star

Actually you could put every intro from a Wing Commander game on this list - especially the intro to Privateer 2 with Clive Owen in the lead role. But we have opted for Wing Commander 3, since it was revolutionary when it came out it 1994. Real actors in front of rendered backgrounds! And then even Mark Hamill, Luke Skywalker, the actor in the role of Christopher Blair. Malcolm McDowell as Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn, Jason Bernard as Captain William Eisen and Tom Wilson as nuisance Todd Marshall. Only the Kilrathi costumes were not well received by many players.

That's an odd comment about the Kilrathi costumes. Wing Commander 3's Kilrathi have won all polls where we've asked for fans' favorite.

Origin Discounts Classic Series

Saga Targets Content Milestone

We are just a few weeks away from being content complete. During the next few days we will be working on missing assets as we get ready to lock down. Right now our big focus is on balance tweaks, bug fixing and the little details that make the game feel more "real".

Fleet Assembled for Last Line of Defense

Here is the last ship with the VLS missile launcher. The Caernavon frigate is outgunned by the Ralarrad destroyer and even by the Kamrani corvette. I put here only one turret inside. It fire 2 VLS. With this firepower it is more powerful then the Kamrani and when the Ralarrad is not close enough, the Caernavon's VLS destroys the destroyer.

The Savannah, Talahassee and the Gettysburg have enough firepower with their AMG guns, but the frigate was outgunned for its class. I am building on another hull of a Talahassee to create a missile-only cruiser. The idea is from the Wing Commander Online project. It is not in the mod, because it's too overpowered, but it's a idea how Confeds forces can be gunned in the future beyond Prophecy.

EA Promotes "Origin" as Austin Studio Expands

For fiscal 2012 and beyond, the three pillars of EA's business growth are IP: "building roughly twelve franchises into year-round businesses across a range of platforms, packaged goods, and digital," Platform, "building a solid ecosystem for leveraging our content and services, focusing on our own platform, Origin, while supporting our retail partners," and, finally, Talent: "investing in our creative and engineering talent to drive and maintain our IP across multiple platforms from console to social and PC to mobile."

EA Sports COO Daryl Holt told Joystiq "I think we'll probably start this first year somewhere around 30-35, just to get the team up and moving, just so they can start building features and working on HD platform development." He said the team could grow "exponentially, however we want," into new IP and "live services." EA has yet to decide which franchises to put the new Austin team onto.

Two Weeks To Go!

We've even already started writing the front page text, because...

Taking the Party IRL

Hangar Hits Major Milestone

In this series of pictures you can see how I inserted a ton of supporting structures to keep the model together as the build continues. Everything was getting a little lopsided, so I started forcing it back into place with these cardboard struts. It's not perfect, but it'll be barely noticeable when I'm done.

I completed assembly of the hangar, got the back wall on and reinforced the side walls. I need to find a way to light that hangar bay so that some of the interior is still visible! I put the Confederation insignia on the bottom of the ship, I think it looks rather good. Also, I covered and started completing the area over top of the hangar bay. Finally got that roof on!

I've been doing a lot of detail work, and I added the little wing/turret things on the front, I haven't done the barrels yet. I've also covered up a whole bunch of white lines that were showing on the model. I've still got a nasty crease on the underbelly to take care of.

Thanks for your continuing interest and feedback! :)

Happy Birthday Wing Commander Arena!

Wing Commander Arena is a fast-paced space combat game where players can team up to attack other teams of ships. The game introduces the classic franchise to an arcade-style experience that allows up to 16 players online in battle at once. Players can propel their customized ship through space, fire torpedoes and unleash deadly gravity bombs as they try to climb the leader board. Online players will compete for Frag count, high score and dueling stats.

Star*Soldier Brings It All Together

The ENEMY can appear ANY TIME and ANYWHERE!

Learn these planes and watch the skies!

Novel Art Defies Convention

Best known for his high-tech illustrations - "one of the top 'gadget' artists currently working in the American paperback market" according to Vincent diFate, 1997), Paul is still 'old school' when it comes to painting - no computers for him!

Although Paul became as proficient at illustrating people as he did machines, it's his machines that fans seem to remember best. Paul always works in gouache on illustration board, using handbrush and airbrush. Paul was featured in DiFate's Infinite Worlds: The Fantastic Visions of Science Fiction Art (1997). Paul's work was also selected for Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art Volumes #1-4. While still doing SF art into the 1990s for Baen, most notably David Drake's "Hammer's Slammers" series, and Keith Laumer's "Bolos" series, by the middle of the decade Paul realized that Photoshop has effectively put him back to "square one". He has no use for the "Devil Machine" (aka the computer), and so the commercial part of his art career is behind him, now. He paints for his own enjoyment and occasionally for local church, civic and charitable organizations. He's a member of Mensa, a lover of classical music, a very active Episcopalian, and is a 'rail fan' (and loves painting old trains, too).

It is a Rapier, Wrapped in a Mission, Inside Enigma

I want to use now several WC1 ships in the [game] too. So here is an update of models we need:

Bloodfang MK1
Fralthi
Ralari
Targu II
Dralthi MK1/2 - Reason: Remember the old dos intro before WC2 was released? I take some lines from that intro and put it into the new one
K'tithrak Mang
Sol Sector Base
Supply Depot (Confed)
Supply Depot (Kilrathi) - in the works by FekLeyrTarg
and several civilian fighters and bases.

Perhaps someone can help us and send meshes.

Metallic Models Manifest Familiar Favorites

Well you asked for it....

You Killer Bees Have the Next Shift

Hello everyone, I've been working on this model for ages, going though many revisions, I think this is model 8. I tried making a very smooth sub-d model several times, but now I've gone back to simply following the original blueprints, even if that gives the model fairly sharp edges. But it does look fast! So, being the first model I've managed to do in several years, I'm looking for critique. Most of the detailing remains to be done, modeling plates etc, but any comments are appreciated!

I made the guns a bit thicker, but doing it more would veer off from my reference too much. It would be fun to put something more howitzer-like there though :)

Atlantis Completes Final Shuttle Mission

Space shuttle Atlantis touched down on the Shuttle Landing Facility's Runway 15 at 5:57 a.m. EDT on July 21. After 200 orbits around Earth and a journey of 5,284,862 miles, the landing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida brought to a close 30 years of space shuttle flights.

"Although we got to take the ride," said Commander Chris Ferguson on behalf of his crew, "we sure hope that everybody who has ever worked on, or touched, or looked at, or envied or admired a space shuttle was able to take just a little part of the journey with us."

One Step Closer to Flight Ops

Here are a few pic's of my ongoing build of the TCS Tiger's Claw. It may not look like much has been done since I last posted but I've built in a lot of support structures and started to really assemble the model. I've had to do some cheating to make everything fit, but hopefully it will all start to come together.

There's also an early rendition of the Tiger's Claw Registration number, but I'll clean it up a lot before I apply it to the model. What do you think of the placement and color of the Reg #? Too big or too small? Bad location?

It's Absolutely Enormous!

He stared at the readout for a long time before it hit him. The mass was wrong, completely different from everything in their records on the facilities at Baka Kar. The docking complex was supposed to be large, but these figures were almost twice what they should have been. Banfeld ordered the computer to zoom in on the orbital dock so that he could study it more closely.

It took along time for the computer imaging system to interpret the sensor data well enough to comply with his request, and that wasn't right either. Something anomalous was out there, something that was distorting Highwayman's probes . . .

Banfeld let out an audible gasp as the computer imager finally displayed a picture based on the collected data. Something massive really was over there, docked with the orbital facility. Something that dwarfed the spidery framework of the station. It was the biggest ship Banfeld had ever seen―if it was a ship, and that's what the computer was insisting. It measured nearly twenty-two kilometers in length, bristling with hardpoints and radiating an awesome amount of energy even when it lay quiescent alongside the dock.

The Guild leader had only heard rumors about such ships, but now he was sure he was seeing the reality behind those rumors. A Kilrathi dreadnought, one of the vast and powerful warships Prince Thrakhath had ordered for the final solution to the war with Mankind.

And it was here, with Ragark's fleet.

Cold fear washed over Zachary Banfeld. He had wanted to help Ragark even the odds so that the war on the frontier might be prolonged and the Guild profit from the war. But a Kilrathi dreadnought made all the defenses of the Landreichers useless. Even their new supercarrier would be no match for such a powerful ship of war, whether they fully restored it to fighting trim or not.

When the Kilrathi smashed their way across the border, the question of Guild profits would no longer be a factor in his plans. The question would be one of Guild survival.

Congrats to Dedicated German Wingnuts!

Shotglass.de is celebrating ten years of German Wing Commander community hubs! Patrik's current WC news site came online just recently, but it traces its roots back to the original WingCenter.net, which is currently managed by the Saga team. WingCenter.de has put together a nice retrospective article with screenshots of the original site and a recent history update.

There's also an easy raffle drawing! All you need to do is comment on this news post to enter. Partipants have a chance to win a copy of Sword of the Stars: Complete Collection or the GoG release of Wing Commander Privateer! If you don't read German, just hit up Google Translate!

10 Years of WingCenter - A Review

When you think back over the years, sometimes it's surprising how much time has passed. As I watched the dates go by on the calendar, I realized that it's already been ten years since I founded WingCenter. After a five-year break, ShotGlass.de punctually (though unintentally) arrived just in time to recognize the occasion. This is reason enough to look back and review the journey so far.

Gemini As It Was Meant To Be

I've been admiring the extensive universe map you have available for a little while now, and I've been wondering if source data (coordinates, classes, jump-line doubles) might be available. I recently created an SVG map of the Gemini sector (attached for your reference) for my personal use, printed so that I might better plan cargon runs when on solid ground, and while it is stylistically simple, I find it is both useful and has a certain sense of beauty.

Steltek Carrier Looking Very Sharp

After about the 5th attempt at photographing this thing, I got a batch that works well enough. I eventually had to photograph it on a light blue background so I could both get dynamic range and a color that is easily removed. The model itself is quite smooth, most of the texture is done by airbrushing through various masks.

I think this set of pictures best shows how cool this model looks as you rotate it.

Watch the Prologue Played

Patch Tweaking Leads to New KS Solution

Armed with nothing but a hex-editor, I've managed to get the Kilrathi Saga WC3 working with Mash's patch and ddhack... Strangely enough, ddhack by itself won't work on my XP environment, but runs combined with Mash's patch? (I get a black screen if I tried ddhack on its own)

This is what I did...

1. Download Mash's patch and extract to my C:\Program Files\Kilrathi Saga\WC3 directory. Rename his ddraw.dll to mashp.dll
2. Hex edit WC3W.EXE, replace all instances of ddraw.dll with mashp.dll (should be one occurence)
3. Test WC3W to ensure Mash's patch is taking effect.
4. Download ddhack and extract to the Kilrathi Saga WC3 directory.
5. Rename the ddhack ddraw.dll to dhack.dll. Move only that file to C:\Windows\System32 (or whatever Vista/7 equivalent)
4. From what I understand, Mash's patch intercepts the game's DirectDrawCreate call, does its thing, then makes DirectDrawCreate call from the real ddraw.dll. It specifically gets the system path using GetSystemDirectoryA to load the real ddraw.dll...
5. I then hex-edited mashp.dll, replacing all instances of ddraw.dll with dhack.dll (should be two instances)
6. Now, with Mash's patch looking for dhack.dll from the system directory, it somehow successfully loaded ddhack. Note that the ddhack config file needs to stay in the WC3 directory.

Haven't played it for any extended period of time but it seems to work fine. Proceed at your own risk :)

There's a Nuclear Missile in My Ship?!

I'm also working on a model of the Mace Tactical Nuclear Missile. We also intend to use it in Saga, as well as the Salthi. I'm working on the UV Mapping and the texture. It still needs lots of work.

Zohrath Supplying Star Slayers

I've been experimenting with materials over several months, mostly failures and abandonments, but I think I'm getting close to ok with the latest tests. This is with the basic hull material, no painted strips yet. Would love some advice.

Launch Systems at the Ready

For Last Line of Defence, the plot for the first 15 missions is done. Here I can use different ships and stations in the missions and the cutscenes. That means you are not always on the TCS Adenauer. In Last Line of Defence I have no rules for what kind of ships are in the sector in 2669. In the cutscenes I can tell the story also with the ingame graphics better than in the WC2 Remake. Here is one example:

You help four of the new corvettes to the jump point and return to the carrier. Then in the cutscene you see a heavy convoy of Kilrathi transports. The corvettes hide in an asteroid field and start firing they capship missiles on the convoy. After the destruction the camera shows the Terran battlegroup and they are talking about the success of the strike.

The end of the Fralthi 2. Confed fires all VLS Batteries!

Trojan IV Naval Yard Gets Busy

Hey everybody, thought you might be interested in following my construction of a papercraft version of the TCS Tiger's Claw. I'm basing it on Howard Day's amazing Bengal render, in fact, I'm using his meshes to skin the model. Basically, I printed out the one texture map I could find of his Bengal and then I edited, re-sized and refit it so that I could print it out, mount it on thin cardboard and hopefully create some facsimile of a decent model.

EA Makes Big Casual Gaming Purchase

As some of you may have heard, we recently announced that PopCap Games is being acquired by Electronic Arts, a small mom-and-pop boutique software publisher. What does this mean for the future? It’s simple:

1. EA is being rebranded to Poptronic Arts
2. Sim Zuma: The SwampLife Edition
3. Peggle: Dead Space – Bjorn’s Breakfast
4. Bejeweled Battlefield Blitz
5. Plants vs. ZombEAz: NFL Lockout Edition

Wow!

Ok, not really.

It means PopCap will join forces with one of the world’s largest game publishers, giving us access to many more resources and a greatly expanded global audience. It doesn’t mean that PopCap is going away or changing what we do or how we do it. On the contrary, PopCap’s creative culture is the main reason EA was interested in us. We’re not changing our focus from creating awesome casual games everyone can enjoy.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced an agreement to acquire PopCap Games, a leading provider of games for mobile phones, tablets, PCs and social network sites. With blockbuster titles like Plants vs. Zombies, Bejeweled, and Zuma, and a proven ability to create new hits, PopCap is a leader in the fast growing market for casual digital games.

“We picked EA because they have recast their culture around making great digital games” “EA and PopCap are a compelling combination,” said EA CEO John Riccitiello. “PopCap’s great studio talent and powerful IP add to EA’s momentum and accelerate our drive towards a $1 billion digital business. EA’s global studio and publishing network will help PopCap rapidly expand their business to more digital devices, more countries, and more channels.”

“We picked EA because they have recast their culture around making great digital games,” said David Roberts, CEO of PopCap. “By working with EA, we'll scale our games and services to deliver more social, mobile, casual fun to an even bigger, global audience.”

“PopCap has a proven financial trajectory with sustained revenue growth and double-digit operating margins,” said EA CFO Eric Brown. “On a non-GAAP basis, this deal is expected to be at least ten-cents accretive in fiscal year 2013.”

PopCap is one of the largest and most respected digital and social gaming companies with more than 150 million games installed and played worldwide on platforms such as Facebook®, RenRen, Google™, iPhone™, iPad™ and Android. In calendar year 2010, approximately 80% of PopCap’s revenue was on high growth digital platforms.

Ancient AOL Chat Provides Glimpse Into the Past

OnlineHost: Mark Hamill may be best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in one of the most popular and successful trilogies of all time: "Star Wars," "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi." Most recently, Hamill has been heard as the voice of the Joker in both the "Batman" animated television series and the theatrical animated feature "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm."

AOLiveMC14: Welcome back to AOL Mark Hamill!

MarkHamll: Thank you. Glad to be here.

AOLiveMC14: OK lets get right to the questions. Our first one is from BM0768:

Question: Hello Mr. Hamill, I really enjoyed all three movies in the "Star Wars Trilogy," and you were excellent in "Wing Commander" 3 and 4. My question, will you be cast in any future "Star Wars" Movies, or "Wing Commander' games?

MarkHamll: The next trilogy takes place 30 years prior to what you've seen, so I'm too old for the part. There has been discussion of a new Wing Commander, though nothing definite. George talked about me playing a role in the final installment of Star Wars, but I defy anyone to add an imaginary 20 years to their age and not be appalled, but you never know. We'll see what happens.

AOLiveMC14: Pachecod sends this question:

Question: What prompted you to move into the field of cartoons and comic books? Do you have difficulty finding acting jobs because of your role as Luke Skywalker?

MarkHamll: I found far more varied roles, character parts and so forth, on Broadway and off-Broadway. Animated voices seem to be an extension of that kind of character work. Coming up on the USA Network is "Wing Commander Academy" with Malcolm McDowell, Dana Delaney and Tom Wilson. I'm also in Jim Lee's "Gen 13." And listen for a wild voice on Bruce Willis' new cartoon "Bruno The Kid!" I always loved the funny papers, comic books, and animated cartoons, but to tell you the truth, I was trying to get a writing assignment on "Batman: The Animated Series," which led to my audition and my role as the Joker, and I've never looked back. I really love this kind of work. Typecasting means you play the same part over and over, and I think I've successfully avoided that.

AOLiveMC14: LaCoquett asks:

Question: What's the biggest difference between doing action films and CD ROM movies like "Wing Commander?"

MarkHamll: The obvious difference is the multiple story lines in an interactive movie. I liked that because it was such a unique experience, but actually, in terms of physically shooting it, there's not much difference.

AOLiveMC14: TCN Bayle asks:

Question: I have 2 questions. Do you keep up with the "Star Wars" universe? Like do you read all the novels or play the computer games? And are there any plans for Wing Commander V?

MarkHamll: Wing Commander V has been spoken of with no firm offer. With the "Star Wars" universe, it seemed to me all or nothing, so after "Jedi," I just stopped. Luke wasn't mine, anymore. I've heard they've done a terrific job, though.

AOLiveMC14: AFA Alice sends this in:

Question: How did you get involved with CD ROM games and how do you feel about them as an actor?

MarkHamll: Chris Roberts asked to meet me. When he explained the concept, I couldn't wait to get involved. We had so much fun making them, I'm not surprised they're fun to play. As for acting in them, any challenge is a good challenge. Your job as an actor doesn't really change despite the adjustments you have to make for the medium.

It's That Time of Year Again!

Complete Your Collection With Wing Commander Academy

I just completed a rewatch of the entire Wing Commander Academy series, and I think you should too! WCA is a must-have for all Wing Commander fans: the series follows the adventures of the TCS Tiger's Claw and crew through a very exciting year in Wing Commander history. Grab all thirteen episodes, plus some special features, below.

NOTE: Wing Commander Academy episodes are no longer available for download. Please support the franchise by buying the complete DVD set through the link above.

	Opening titles 1 (8.4 MB) Opening titles 2 (8.4 MB) Saga of the Warrior King Story - Download
Original Press Kit Series Bible & Scripts Viewers Guide History of the Warrior King Ships Guide Background Artwork Production Jacket

Saga Boosts Beta Bits

Our latest beta update is now available to our beta testers. With this release we have introduced a ton of new features including (but not limited to):

• revamped launcher: revised UI and user friendly navigation
• performance improvements in various areas
• HUD enchancements
• revised mouse control
• sound system updates

The Frontier Laid Out in Black & White

I've been admiring the extensive universe map you have available for a little while now, and I've been wondering if source data (coordinates, classes, jump-line doubles) might be available. I recently created an SVG map of the Gemini sector (attached for your reference) for my personal use, printed so that I might better plan cargon runs when on solid ground, and while it is stylistically simple, I find it is both useful and has a certain sense of beauty

I began to imagine what a wonder a grand map might look like, how refreshing it would be to control its styling easily and so on. The only trouble is that to re-plot each star would be a rather onerous task---Gemini wasn't so bad with only 69 stars and 82 routes, but it still took some time to get it right, sadly. In the hope that I migth save myself considerable trouble, I thought I might ask.

Atlantis' Last Launch

New WC Mod Won't Be The Last

Well Last Line of Defence is playing in the WC3 Timeline. But not as the Saga Darkest Dawn in the Vega, LLoD is playing in the Enigma Sector. There's a lot of story what is not continued by Origin. And I want to use some of the stuff whats Origin beginn in WC2.

I've seen here in the CIC a pic from Ela Superbase with the Midway. And it was huge. I transform now the size of my Ela Base by factor 2 or 3. So now it can be called Superbase (see the Wake Class in the Bay?)

Final Shuttle Launch Set For Friday

Soundfont Chorium Advances Armada Aria

• Armada Intro
• TCS Lexington Destroyed
• KIS Shiraak Destroyed

You can run Soundfonts with DOSBox but it can't record General MIDI and Roland while capturing videos. I set the soundfont in Windows. But you need certain Soundcards in order to use them. I have a Soundblaster Audigy. What do you think? Have fun :)

MT-32 Emulation Comes to DOSBox

Some of you may have been aware of Munt for a long time and thought it has gone stagnant. Not anymore! Turns out it has been being worked on behind the scenes. Thanks to the contributions of a new member, it has made hHuge strides in the past month to the point where it will soon be almost a perfect emulation if it isn't already now. They claim a new stable build is soon.

What this means for WC? A far better alternative to the standard Soundblaster Emulation in dosbox.

I uploaded a sample play-through of the first mission up on Youtube. Those with real devices should compare it.

Wing Commander Thrustmaster Profiles Posted

For those of you with the old Thrustmaster F-16 FLCS stick and/or WCS Mark II throttle, you know how programing these beasts can be a pain in the ass (not to mention time-consuming). So I have decided to make my files available to you. Enjoy. To use the definition files, unzip them to your 'b50progs' directory.

Happy Fourth!

Happy 4th of July to Wingnuts in the United States today, and to everyone else: happy Monday! Here's your fireworks!

Classic Designs Making a Comeback

I've started working on a model of the Supply Depot. Now I need your feedback. Since the manual mentions that the Depot can carry 52 fighters, I wish to place a hangar on it and I need your suggestion where I should place it.

I'm also building a new Salthi model based on the drawings from Joan's Fighting Spacecraft, the Sprites from WC1 and the model from WC Standoff. Before I UVmap and texture it, any suggestions?

Hostile Frontier Mod Gets Aggressive

Here are the videos:

I've been working on a simulator mission to help players learn essential combat tactics. Many players couldn't get past mission 2 of the WCSaga Prologue, supposedly because they kept getting hit by enemy missiles. This video mainly shows the scripted ship selection system that will be used in this mission and other new simulator missions: http://wchf.hard-light.net/videos/wchf-tactrain.ogg

I just find it awesome when a Sha'kar transport explodes: http://wchf.hard-light.net/videos/wchf-explosion.ogg

These videos are encoded in OGG Theora, but they're viewable in a web browser like Firefox 4 or Google Chrome. There's no sound in these videos because I wasn't using recording software that supports audio capture.

Congratulations Lord and Lady British!

EA Running Huge Fire(works) Sale

In celebration of America’s birthday weekend, we present the biggest EA sale ever. For the first time, we’re offering huge sales on games across many platforms including Origin, the iPhone, iPad, Xbox Live Marketplace, and more. Now when the summer heat wears you down, you can relax inside and play games to your heart's content.

Find deals on our biggest titles like Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, SHIFT 2 UNLEASHED, The Sims 3, FIFA 11, and Dead Space 2. We’ll have 10 Xbox Live games with their prices slashed in half!

You can also get almost 50 games on the App Store for just $0.99 each. That’s just about everything EA has to offer for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad – up to 90% off, like Dead Space and NBA JAM for the iPhone. Amusment park lines aren't half as bad when you can spend the time dismembering necromorphs.

In fact, all of our sales will be between 40% and 90%, with the great majority over 50% off. A sale like this doesn’t come around very often, so enjoy it while it lasts!