Watch Klavs Paint a Shuttle

Most of the Wing Commander ships are textured with simple procedural panels and occlusion (Howard Day does this much better and more professionally than I do. I have a more comprehensive UV unwrapping technique for my professional stuff.) Then I bake those into a texture map and paint in modo, rotating the ship as if the model was an actual model ship. This works pretty well with the more cartoony look I'm going for with the WC ships, versus the more detailed stuff I do in my other work.

I basically just think about how the maintenance and air crews would see the ship, add placards, warning labels, markings, etc with contemporary warplanes in mind. Finally, I try and add extra splashes of color here and there where I can, to avoid 'grey ship syndrome'

Hellcat Model Ready to be Revved Up

We finally have some thrusters installed!n The nozzles are made from cardboard, which I first cut to shape in lengthwise pieces. I then measure and cut the "petals" of the nozzle, and finally it is rolled into shape and glued together.

I was unsure for a long while how to approach the interior detailing of the thruster nozzles. Painting them a solid colour, be it black, blue or white, seemed to bland for my taste. So, I took a bit of inspiration from the Star Citizen 300i commercial (quite fitting, if you think about it..). I think the detail adds quite a bit of life and realism, without being too overstated. The coolest thing of all is, the silver paint I used catches and reflects even the faintest light, so in in a dark room these pipes positively glow!

As you can see I have yet to make the four smaller thrusters to complete the engine assembly, but that promises to be quite a tricky prospect, so I'm still experimenting to find the best solution.

Hope you enjoyed this update!

Let's Play Prophecy!

With the third wave, the aliens finally wised up and sent out some fighters who could pose a threat to us. I believe I counted eight Mantas and six Stingrays flying out from the dreadnaught's launcher, which was more than enough to keep five Vampires busy. The Mantas had a bad habit of distracting a pilot with one Manta flying evasive maneuvers while a second Manta came up behind you and blasted you from behind. And if you switched over to that Manta, the first one would take up the position behind you. It was a no-win situation, and the only way out was to ignore the Mantas and call for help from your wingmen.

Russian WC4 Translation Completes First Mission

Yes, I've reconstructed formats of nearly all items: guns+missiles, nav map objects, targets, and communication subtitles. Of course, a few inscriptions in the cockpit remain untranslated, and I suspect they are simply "painted" into cockpit picture.

I plan to translate the game and upload translations of A and B mission series in week or two. Then, I plan to freeze translation of cutscenes and translate the game until both translations will be synchronized. If there are errors encountered, then please notify me and upload last file named like dxmci-wc4dvd-yyyymmdd-hhmmss.log.

Russian-speaking gamers welcome to my topic at old-games.ru: most technical details are being discussed there.

Kilrathi Capships Strike an Imposing Stance

Really in Kilrathi mode this weekend. Cat engineers really seem to excel in sinister design concepts. I wonder how it extends to their everyday items.

"This is the GUT-TEARER class bottle opener. This is the EVISCERATED CORPSE OF THYNE ENEMIES step ladder.

YOU WILL BEAR STARK WITNESS TO THE UNRELENTING HOLOCAUST WROUGHT BY THE KILLING POWER OF FELIX BRAND KITCHEN DISINFECTANT!!!!!"

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

One more really nasty, somewhat unconventional Kilrathi ship to add.

Tried to add just a hint of Steltek design cues. Could provide some insight as to why they never built another one... :)

As much as it ticks people off around here to redesign things, he's meant to be a take on THE 'Sivar' of Goddard Colony Infamy. Hopefully it'll all make sense when you see it in motion :)

Announcing 2013 Winners!

Another annual contest has run its course, and we have a new set of winners! For the past few weeks, Wingnuts have been voting for the Wing Commander fan projects and web sites that made the most impact in 2013. Most of you are familiar with the process, so let's get to it!

Daedalus Station is the runner up for WC Web Site of 2013! The site's style is out of this world, and their monthly Destiny's Way magazines are as slick as they are charming. And it doesn't hurt that the Maslas Brothers behind it are also putting together a sharp looking WC fan game!

The first are the Collected Works of HCl! He's always a busy dude, but HCl redoubled his efforts in 2013 with research that helped enable the GOG releases and increase our understanding of WC video decoding. He released patches that ensured people can upgrade their Prophecy games to the DVD version and also added deinterlacing to Privateer 2 movies. Not wanting to leave any corner of the series untouched, he even made big breakthroughs this year in editing WC3+ ships into WC2/Academy!

Also winning Fan Project of the Year are Klavs' Models! He stunned Wingnuts everywhere with both gorgeous digital renders and incredible fully-textured physical 3D prints. His images are often paired with witty flavor text, and he's always up for trying something new - be it a more traditional sketch, custom scale physical model or breakthrough 3D printing technique.

And that's what we have for 2013! If you want to read about more great undertakings, check out our year in review and nominee list.

Suit Up!

Last Chance to Vote for Web Site / Fan Project of the Year!

RPS Reviews WC2

Combat holds up well – I mean, these are really the core rules of starbound dogfighting, ones still used in those few games that fear to tread the undiscovered country, and while perhaps it feels slower and less dramatic (in terms of sound, vibration and explosion effects) than we might call for noawadays, in the main it hasn’t aged. There’s an appropriate edge of desperation to trying to keep a bead on a target that can move anywhere in what feels like an instant, the cockpit looks/feels fragile and claustrophobic, the right sounds and music play when you score a finishing shot – it’s all there and it all still works. I’m not particularly far in so haven’t been able to play with too many weapon systems but hell, I’d like to.

It looks great too, it really does. I’m sure it was a high-budget game for its time and it shows, but even so, and even despite all its fart-huffing fascination with its own fiction, it’s got a Saturday morning, Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon serial ethos in both presentation and tone that somehow keeps it appealing low-key no matter how much its cast preen and posture. Perhaps it’s because the dreary browns and greys that were the unfortunate necessity of 3D games old and new hadn’t yet turned up to assert their dreary dominance, or that a mere 256 colours made a brash, comic book palette unavoidable, or that the games’ industry idea of escapism and the desires of adolescents were a little more innocent, a little more cartoon-inspired.

Or perhaps, as I prefer to believe, it’s simply deliberate design that this is a game rich in vibrant blues and yellows, space combat as unabashed derring-do rather than posturing towards reality or militarism. The 23-year vintage shows, of course it does, but its gaudy, chunky, space opera tapestry remains immediately appealing and enticing.

More Chinese Localizations Emerge

I lived in Beijing. So far as I know, WC4 was the first release in the series in Chinese markets (mainland). It should have been 1996 and it came with a Chinese box, manual, and a translated novel (the translation work was not so good...). This all happened after the EA China office was set up.

I clearly remember the day I got WC4. It was a present from my mom (I was just a kid and this was really expensive). After we bought the game, we went to some relatives' home. I got the game but there was no PC in my relatives' house, so I spent a whole day on the bed with my new game. I opened it and closed it then opened it again... I tried to read the novel, but the translation was bad so I could not understand anything... and then the only thing I did was fly in the space with nothing but my imagination. I stared at the face of Mark Hamill for a whole afternoon... (I hadn't watched Star Wars at that time, so I had no idea who he was).

It was really an unforgettable memory in my life.

CIC Organization Up and Running at RSI

Mark Hamill Holding AMA Wednesday

LeHah tipped us off about an AMA with Mark Hamill that will be held tomorrow, January 22, at 1 pm Eastern Time. Hopefully there are some Wingnuts out there who can make a good showing and get some Wing Commander questions into the mix. We wouldn't want it to be all about Star Wars and Batman!

Chris Roberts conducted a couple AMAs back in 2012 during his the Star Citizen crowdfunding campaign. You can read up on what he had to say here and here.

andy_herbert: Which is your favourite Wing Commander, or Wing Commander-alike game? My personal favourite is Privateer :) Many thanks for literally years of enjoyment!

CommanderRoberts: WC1 & WC3 are tied for different reasons. WC1 is probably the most perfect game I'e ever made in terms of matching the vision in my head to what the finished game was. WC3 is my other favorite as its where I think we perfected the combining the story with the action i a big cinematic way.

Tribute Tallahassee Tweaked

I finished the map of Sol Sector. You can see it in the screens. Green systems are frendly, red - were occupied by kilrathi. the game is also almost fully playable. It means you can: - logon with test account,
- choose side (TC or KI),
- choose your predefined ship (for now only 1 ship for each side),
- choose system for battle,
- fire missiles and laser shells at another player or system's main base
- check results of the battle which are stored at DB.

Next I want to improve GUI and battle mode (update visual effects, ship physics).

For now my very big issue is to do (or to find :) ) good 3D models of ships. I'm currently working with very old models and giving them a new life. But it's quite hard for the developer. :) If someone can tell me where I can find models it would be a great.

Also some updates on the Tallahassee cruiser. For now it's my version of "old lady" with antennas and new missile launchers. Sure, the model is far away from ideal but work is in progress. Also there's a new Earth with atmosphere. How do you like it?

Any comments are welcome as usual :)

Vega Vanguard of the Kilrathi Fleet

Voting Continues for Annual Awards

RPG Campaign Adds Authenticity With Kilrathi Language

This week I continued my forays into the Kilrathi language. At this point I'm really making some headway towards something that hopefully will be usable in the Elegy campaign and beyond. On Monday, I began the process of seeing if I had enough material translated to go ahead and translate some of the more well known material "back" into Kilrathi, namely the Oath of Service from Armada, the Codices and Warrior's Oath presented in False Colors (I still need to prepare to add the response), and the Prophecy of Sivar; when I have these translated there should be sufficient material available to move onto other things. Translation of the Oath of Service went quickly and I had it done by the end of the day on Tuesday. I decided then to have some fun with the language based on a post in the WC Online Workshop thread and began a translation of the "Major General's Tune" from The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan. I managed to translate the first verse of that by the end of the day on Tuesday, though I'm still stuck on the second verse (largely due to the fact that before I can translate the words into Kilrathi, I have to figure out just what exactly Gilbert was trying to say in his libretto in the first place - I mean, how many of you know the definition of "animaculous"?).

Play Standoff and Secret Ops on OS X Mavericks

Mac gamers have been able to play Windows games for a while now using Wine, an open-source Windows API emulation layer for Unix/Linux/OSX, but it's typically a somewhat long and complex process to set up.

Using existing tools and some help from other Mac gamers on the web, forums regular wcnut made his own Mac wrapper app for both Secret Ops and Standoff ! That means playing those games is now as easy as clicking on the package file (.DMG), dragging the Secret Ops and Standoff icons whereever you want it stored on your Mac and click to play ! No more complicated Wine and application setup.

Watch The Complete Secret Missions; SM2 Close Behind!

He's also jumped right into recording The Secret Missions 2: Crusade. Each episode is complete with voiceover commentary and plenty of nostalgia. Additional editing has also taken place that streamlines away some of the 'repetitive' sections such as mousing around the Tiger's Claw. The first is below, and you can find many more at his YouTube Channel. There's a special playlist just for SM2.

Russian WC4 Translation In Development

I present my work in progress: Russian translation of Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom. This is the add-on to DVD version of game and based on deep mod of dxmci.dll; six-CD version upgraded by DVD upgrade patch is suitable too. Unfortunately the GOG version of WC4 isn't supported by my addon, and I have no idea about how make it compatible yet :-( but I hope that idea will come - sooner or later.

Work is in progress. At now, I have:
• all fonts are cyrillized, i.e. contain Russian, Ukrainian and Bielarussian letters;
• "static" part of game fully translated: main terminal (except weapons in fighter selection screen), carriers' interiors, mission texts (from beginning to mission G3), list of pilots, loudspeaker subtitles, post-"funeral" menu;
• in flight translated: comm menu for Confed and Border Worlds fighters, in-flight options and help screens, а "form" of nav map, messages from fighter's computer;
• about 55% of movies (from intro to Pasqual system, ejecting, lose game) subtitled;
• about a half of in-movie choice menu strings translated;
• tools and utilities:
  • treutils are currently incorporated into dxmci pack;
  • iffparse, decompiler of IFFs to text, - currently supports not all of IFF types but I continue developing it;
  • iffmake, compiler of decompiled and translated IFF, - is fully functional, and its input language is as simple as possiible;
  • fontxtra is an exractor of fonts from globals.iff game file and can be modified to extract other WC4-like fonts

To Do: hack formats of:
• subtitles of in-flight radio talks;
• naming of targets on targetting comp screens;
• naming of star systems on nav map;
• naming of weapons.

New Strategy Game is a Tribute to Wing Commander

Wing Commander.

With these words many gamers, especially of the old school, imagine space battles where they command space fighters. Battles between people and intelligent cats thrilled gamers for many years. The saga has had a lot of official parts and also numerous fans’ mods developed in the universe for long time. And despite the fact that opposition between people and Kilrathi is over, the universe turned out to be so multiform that it continues to live. This project is a tribute to this great game and to some extent - its development.

So, the full game name is Startship Tactics: Wing Commander Tribute. Unlike the original idea of the saga as steering space fighters or bombers, the game provides the opportunity to control main ships of the space fleet – corvettes, destroyers, cruisers and even battleships. Huge ships will fight for stars systems. In the game there will be an opportunity to control separate ship systems such as canon and missile armaments, radars, engines and reactors.

Another special feature of this project is a multiplayer. Probably it will be the first opportunity for many to fight on the Kilrathi’s side and re-write history by capturing Earth and overwhelming the Terran Confederation. Multiplayer is based on the principle of separate rooms where each room is a battle for a separate star system.

It is planned to implement three sectors in the game: Sol, Vega and Kilrah. Battles will expand for star systems. Their occupation will help to reach the main aim – the enemy’s home planet.

Gamers will have an opportunity to develop his/her avatar to control bigger ships and receive experience in order to inflict more damage and shoot accurately.

Now the game is in active development, so many of its aspect will change and a lot will be added. But the main idea will remain unchanged: it's time for the Kilrathi to re-write history or for people to defend Earth again and to win a victory in Kilrah’s system.

Blast Into the New Year With Some Slick Ships

A little progress on the Tarawa today

Play Wing Armada Online

The dedicated server software communicates with the website so that players can use it when setting up their games. Players will also be able to connect up via a peer-to-peer mechanism since DOSBox has a built-in server as well if they do not want to use a dedicated server. Players are required to create an account (for free of course) and through the website configure their DOSBox and game settings (ie: local paths and CD information if needed). Once that is all setup they will then be able to setup game rooms which will use either a dedicated server or themselves as the server and allow others to join the room and get connected.

We have tried to make the process as thin and streamlined as possible so as to create a great gaming experience for the players. (one of the things that killed the services of the past was bandwidth issues and lag) We have done quite a bit of testing over the past several months with different platforms (Windows and Linux) and network scenarios, including wireless, desktops and laptops and any combination there of. So far it has all been very successful.

The CGA Client and Server are publicly available for both Windows and Linux.

Annual Awards Contest Begins

Web Site of the Year
• Concordia Hangar - Wing Commander fans also got a hangar module this year, thanks to Howard Day! His prototype ship viewer has expanded significantly over the year to add more ships, gorgeous graphical effects and a familiar WC2 atmosphere.
• Daedalus Station is the home of the Flat Universe fan game, but it’s also a lot more! It’s a very stylish website that has developed a very distinct personality. The Destiny’s Way magazine is regularly posted here, which further extends the experience. Even more features are planned for 2014.
• HCl's WC Editing Site - HCl’s work is vast and far-reaching, but he still makes time to collect and organize some of it concisely on his Solsector page. A quick scroll through the projects can leave a reader wondering how one man has the time and know-how to do so much!
• Pix's Origin Adventures - Pix is an expert in quite a few classic game series, so a quick visit to his site might not reveal Wing Commander stories right at the top of the news. But scroll through the year’s archives and there’s still a ton of Wing Commander material he’s uncovered in 2013!
• Wing Commander RPG Wiki - The core RPG was officially finished in 2013, but work didn’t stop there! capi's project’s Wiki continues to steadily grow with expansion pack information and innovative research into subjects such as Kilrathi language.
• World Creator’s Workshop is another new Wing Commander site that hit the scene in 2013. It primarily allows fans to customize missions for WC1 now, but its creator is also experimenting with other exciting modding technologies such as customizing the game’s cutscenes.

Fan Project of the Year
• The Collected Works of HCl touch on nearly all aspects of the franchise! In just the last couple months alone, HCl made advancements in WC2/Academy ship importation, movie extraction for the 3DO version of WC3, added new features to Privateer 2 and upgraded his enhancement patch for Prophecy to ensure compatibility with the GOG release, Linux and Mac.
• Flat Universe turned heads in May when it debuted a beautiful top-down scroller that leveraged some of the best ship models made by the Wing Commander community. There’s no playable demo yet, but the Maslas Brothers have kept fans engaged with trailer videos and numerous content updates as development continues.
• Klavs’ Models kicked off a new era of 3D printing in 2013 with the advent of color designs. Now, larger ships can be ordered that come complete with detailed textures, decals and hull paint. As an emerging technology, Klavs continues to work through the growing pains associated with various 3D printers, and his digitally rendered models still rock the house too!
• The diversity of ScoobyDoo’s Models have helped to spread appreciation for some of the more exotic designs in the Wing Commander universe, especially concerning Privateer 2. His imagery has helped inspire other artists to take on Wing Commander projects, and Scooby’s models have even found their way into a couple of fan projects in development.
• Wing Commander: A Defiant Few has helped broaden the types of fan projects that the community is engaged in. Plywood Fiend has taken fan fiction to a new level by casting actors to participate in his exciting audio dramas. They’re one of the few fan projects that Wingnuts can take with them and enjoy on the go while mobile!
• World Creator’s Workshop’s biggest splash was the demonstration of customizable WC1 cutscenes in December, and while that is still in testing, fans can already generate custom missions via the WCWorkShop website. It’s part of a new renaissance in modification of the first few Wing Commanders!

It's a Real Life MIP!

It’s almost impossible to imagine the self discipline required to be stuck inside one of those for long periods of time but, believe it or not, Exint pods, man-carrying pods designed to be carried by fast jets and choppers exist.

They were conceived as an alternate method of inserting and extracting special forces (or wounded soldiers) and were developted by AVPRO UK Ltd in the late 1990s. They were reportedly tested on the Harrier jump jet, the AH-64 Apache and, according to some sources, were as still are certified for use on the Israeli AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters.

Another Artist Takes On The Darkening's Exotic Ships

Here is a Heretic I did only took me 6 hours... Cockpit complete with pilot.

Edge Revisits Super Wing Commander

Wing Commander has enjoyed considerable success on a variety of formats, but this 3DO version is without doubt the best of the lot. Developers Origin could have chosen the easy option and simply ported the already excellent PC version, but that’s not their style. Instead, they’ve isolated the rougher aspects – including the scaling of the in-game fighters and the substandard Star Cruisers – and smoothed them out, while leaving the rest of the game intact...

...To describe Super Wing Commander as satisfying to play would be a grotesque understatement. Pursuing the enemy at close range, letting ‘em have it right up their exhaust port with your missiles and then watching them explode in a shower of twisted metal is disturbingly gratifying stuff...

...Once Super Wing Commander gets a grip of your senses, you’ll have to prise it off with a crowbar. So far, most 3DO software has been completely unworthy of attention; happily, Super Wing Commander avoids falling into the same category.

Big Flat Universe Update: New Magazine & Demo Teaser

Last year, Afrim, asked a question about our progress. I'll reveal you a few points regarding the gameplay:

1. Space flight model is 100% complete. Tested on fighters and capital ships.
2. Space environment and physics behaviour 100% complete.
3. Weapon systems is 25% complete.
4. Animations, particles and other lighting stuff 25% complete.
5. Damage modelling, Shields, Capacitors 10% complete. There will be damages, shields and capacitors just like in Wing Commander. We don't like the idea of "life-bars" or "respawns".
6. HUDs and HUD systems (Radars, Comms, Nav etc.) 2% complete.
7. AI 0%.

A Tribute to Lt. Dibbles

Tooner was a great kid. When he was on his game, you could really recognize yourself in his doodles. Some were really hilarious. If he'd spent half as much time in the sim as he spent huddled over his tablet, he'd probably still be with us. The worst of it was that he took his best friend with him when he went.

As his squadron commander, it was my duty to clean out his locker. It was chalk full of drawings and half finished sketches. It was the hardest thing in the world to send those away from the ship with Dibbles' personal effects.

One day, a battered package came via Confedpost to the Bonnie Heather while we were docked at ###redacted###. The original mailing address read 'TCS Tiger's Claw" which was by then was long since gone. It had taken years to catch up to me.

It was from Dibbles' parents. It contained a fabulous gold-bound leather bound book, containing each and every one of Dibble's cartoons. So many memories came flooding back, I nearly sunk to my knees.

Ralgha suggested that if the book upset me so much, we could jettison it into space. It was okay, I said. I just had something in my eye.

-James Taggart

WC2 Video Playback Technique Developed

In order to further explore the possibilities of what can be done with the WC2 engine, I decided to quickly put together a converter for WC2 animations. WC2 in fact supports FMV-like animations which are triggered at various parts of the game. These are, for example, most WC2 landing sequences, the sequence depicting the flyby of Thrakhath's flagship (below), and so on.

As with my other WC2 mods and experiments, I decided to turn to WCA for a quick test, as a proof of concept. ... I took a small 12-frame sequence from the WCM trailer and encoded it with my animation encoder, quantizing the image to the existing WCA palette. I put the newly encoded file into the WCA\GAMEDAT folder and launched the game. Sure enough, the game plays the first animation with the Wraith hunting down the Drakhri and, once it's done, it plays the new WCM animation. Pretty cool! Here's the result.

Not too bad! The canopy-closing animation does play rather quickly, since it's only 12 frames, and the image would end up looking a bit better if I had computed a new palette (and used a better quality source), but not bad for a first test :) I would expect we can have WC3-FMV-like quality animations in WC2, if we change the palettes often enough (although at a much higher rate than WC3 FMV, since WC2 uses simple RLE...).

WC1 should be able to play these animations with some COM-file hacking... That's something to do later though. Anyway, I'm attaching the new INTRO.VGA in case you want to give it a try, or tear it apart for study.

Of course, this opens up a new line of research, in order to study and document the WC2 INCIDENT.Sxx files. That will allow us to have more control over animations, figure out how the game determines that the animation must be differentially-decoded or drawn against a background, and so on (also, it might also be useful to Fabien's Strike Commander efforts and delMar's Workshop).

As an aside, I think it would be pretty cool to make a small WCM mod for WC1/2 at some point. Pretty exciting idea!

Prophecy OEM Upgrade Package Ready For Testing

Last August we covered the hard-to-find Prophecy OEM release that came bundled with the Real3D Starfighter graphics card. The Starfighter was an i740 (Intel) based graphics card for Pentium (PCI) or Pentium II (AGP) systems that supported Direct3D and OpenGL. Included in the package was the first of three Prophecy CD's, complete with cinematics. Instead of a disc swap prompt, players were shown a special splash screen inviting them to buy a full copy of the game to complete the story.

Back in 1997, Starfighter owners would have missed out on some of Prophecy's advanced graphical effects, because a 3Dfx-based accelerator was required for full 3D enhancement. Now, PopsiclePete has prepared a new version of the Prophecy upgrade patch that should support the OEM release. The upgrade patch installs Pedro's advanced OpenGL renderer and HCl's multiplayer patch. The Prophecy OEM version is free to download, so anyone can grab it and play a Prophecy multiplayer match. Download the patch here and reach out to Pete on the Forums if you encounter any problems.

Defiant Few Episode 4 Released

Inspired by an uncountable number of childhood days sat before an ancient Amiga 600 (which has since melted), shooting at giant space tigers. Wing Commander - Defiant Few is a free, fan made audio series focusing on the war between the Terran Confederation and the alien insect creatures known only as the Nephilim.

PREMISE:

The ever uneasy peace of Gemini Sector is destroyed when the Nephilim begin a full scale invasion, with their first target being Perry Naval Base. It is left to Admiral Sandra Goodin and the piecemeal forces at her command to stop the considerably larger alien armada and safeguard the lives of the millions of civilians in Gemini.

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

Thanks to everyone who starred in this episode for their hard work and thanks to everyone who's listened thus far.

Now Focus on the Future

The new year also means it's time to run our traditional January poll. Based on what's happened lately and what you think about the year ahead, how do you think 2014 will be for Wing Commander?

Happy New Year! (A Look Back at 2013)

Star Citizen Development Gets Under Way
• The Austin office of Cloud Imperium Games was established around the beginning of the year, and developments poured out regularly thereafter. We're not a Star Citizen news site, but we do cover Roberts Space Industries events that are Wing Commander-related such as numerous ex-Originite hires, inclusion of a neat easter egg or the theatrical showing of the WC Movie at Citizen Con.

Wing Commander: A Defiant Few Launches
• Plywood Fiend's audio adventure in the Gemini Sector kicked off with scripting, casting and previews in January. Over the course of the year, several chapters were were released and the story is still going strong.

Wing Commander Highlighted in 3D Printing Breakthrough
• In early February a German company demonstrated a new form of micrometer-scale 3D printing that could be used to build incredibly tiny structures. Many major magazines and websites ran with the story, so it got a lot of press. What did they build to demonstrate the technology? A Hellcat V!
Hamill's WC3 Flight Suit Resurfaces
• Pix's Origin Adventures helped reconnect with the fan who won a 1995 contest for the screen-worn Blair flight suit in Wing Commander 3. The suit has been well cared for over the course of 18 years and the winner graciously provided some cool pictures. Later in the year, we got a peek at quite a few artifacts that also decorate Chris Roberts' office today.

Amateur 3D Printing Explodes
• Wingnuts have been 3D printing small miniature ships for years now, but the technology really took off in 2013! One of the biggest breakthroughs happened in March with Klavs' color 3D prints. For the first time, fans could go beyond hand-painting tiny figures and order large designs with relatively detailed color textures and decals. They have been extremely popular and dozens of sharp models were made in 2013.

GOG Rereleases Entire Wing Commander Series
• 2013 was huge for digital rereleases of Wing Commander games! The entire DOS/Windows saga was completed with the addition of Academy in August, P2: The Darkening in September, Prophecy & Secret Ops and Armada & Proving Grounds in November. Don't forget that Strike Commander was also added in March and Macintosh compatibility was expanded all year. As great as it is for a whole new generation to be able to buy Wing Commander cheap and easy, this also provided HCl an opportunity to flex his considerable programming muscle and add new features such as the deinterlace patch for Privateer 2 and DVD video upgrade for Prophecy. All of these enhancements even work for both the digital GOG releases and the old school disc-based versions!

Wing Commander In Concert
• In April it was revealed that famous Wing Commander composer George Oldziey's music would finally be performed live in concert by the Austin Symphony. Due to unfortunate circumstances, the WC portion was ultimately removed from the planned October concert, but all hope is not lost! Stay tuned for more on this subject in the future.
  
  Wing Commander FPS Unearthed
• Origin veteran Binky Launius uncovered "lost footage" of a first person shooter set in the Wing Commander universe. The project didn't get very far, but in 1997 it was considered and pitched at Origin. There's even a very rudimentary concept video!
Flat Universe Shooter Project Kicked Off
• Flat Universe was one of several promising fan projects that were initiated in 2013. The Maslas Brothers worked with prominent Wingnut artists to import existing assets into their 2D engine. They also supplemented their project with a flashy website and electronic magazine.
  
  EA Releases Ultima Forever
• Origin's other vaunted franchise received a boost this year with the release of Ultima Forever for iOS devices. Although we'd much rather see a new Wing Commander game, it's great to see a new title based on one of Origin's classic series. The game continues to receive updates and has a strong social media component. Supposedly it even includes an easter egg quest with a Kilrathi ship!

WC RPG Completed
• capi's well-planned and meticulous role playing game was finally completed and released this year. It's not the only RPG project that was active in 2013, but what is remarkable is that the project set out with a very specific set of goals, set specific targets and then provided status updates with progress details on a regular basis. It's a model that many people could learn from - and it works!

CIC Hits Ten Years of Constant News
• We proudly tooted our own horn in mid 2013 when the CIC reached ten years of constant daily updates. Around the time that Prophecy was released for the Game Boy Advance in 2003, the CIC Staff decided to kick things into overdrive and hunt something down to report every day. We now sit at about 3870 consecutive days of Wing Commander news on our front page! The material isn't always earth shattering breaking news, but this very roundup proves that quite a bit of exciting stuff does happen!

Fatman Cleans Up WC1 Album
• George The Fatman Sanger updated his commercial release of WC1 music mid year when discrepancies were found with two tracks. This was the kind of thing that could easily have been ignored and left to sit for eternity, but Mr. Fat graciously avoided leaving Wing Commander fans in the lurch.

Wing Commander on Blu-ray!
• On August 6, Wing Commander was finally released on Blu-ray! The long-awaited high definition physical media release did not include any extra features aside from higher resolution and detail, but seeing a brand new boxed Wing Commander product on regular store shelves with simply a joy to behold. Even the regular DVD was updated with an anamorphic aspect ratio, and the sound track was released digitally on iTunes/Amazon.

The CIC Turns 15 Years Old
• August 10 marked 15 years of WCNews.com! Our birthday party was a huge success and ton of fun. We released a new OEM demo of WC Prophecy, modernized our video section, reported on tons of fan projects and posted some very interesting archive material. Here's to the next 15 years!

Bandit (LOAF) Gets Married
• Wing Commander and LOAF go together like Shotglass and the Tiger's Claw Bar, but he made room for a second love in his life this year! His CIC friends were there to share pictures from the happy event. It'd been nine years since the last staff member got married, and it was fun to see how much we'd changed in between (and stayed the same!).

Classic WC1/2 Modding Back in Style
• It was also a great year for modification of the first couple Wing Commander games. Most modding over the last decade or so has focused on the later games in the series, but HCl and Howard's additions to Academy and delMar's WCWorkShop site have reinvigorated interest in the classic titles. We're anxious to see this trend continue!