News Collection: Star*Soldier Gloss

2008.287 (October 13, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 62

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the wanted page:CONCEPT: This is the end! Also, the beginning. The Privateer 'wanted poster' was one of the first things that popped into my head. It was included in the original eight-page mockup of the manual (with the travel guide and the like).

2008.286 (October 12, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 61

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the second controller page:CONCEPT: See the previous post!REFERENCES-I found this page inordinately frustrating; describing how to use Xbox controller buttons is not my idea of a good time. We had 'button combo' graphics at one point, but they didn't come across well.The graphic is one of the pre-release screenshots.

2008.285 (October 11, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 60

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the first controller page:CONCEPT: There isn't much to asy here: these were a late addition to the manual (which allowed some last-minute expansion of the timeline). They're the only pages requested by Electronic Arts - my guess is that they saw the next-to-last draft, decided it was cool and then wanted something regular players could understand. They may seem out of place, but they're probably what ultimately allowed for the booklet's print run!REFERENCES-The Confederation symbol in the background is a nod to the Kilrathi Saga's beautiful multi-game input reference card.

2008.284 (October 10, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 59

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the recruitment page:CONCEPT: This page was something I always wanted to see but done on the cheap. I'd love to see a beautiful painted World War 2 style recruiting poster someday... but, time and budget. Although those are near and dear to my heart, this is actually based on a more modern army advertisement -- those "look what a great time soldiers have!

2008.283 (October 9, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 58

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the back issues page:CONCEPT: Another late addition - simply the result of thinking 'what else do magazines have...' in order to fill an empty page. Note that each of the previous issues corresponds to the date of a 'main' Wing Commander game!REFERENCES-"Next Month" - I should be clear about this - there was never going to be a 'next month'; this is all to sell the illusion.

2008.282 (October 8, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 57

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the classifieds page:CONCEPT: This one should be self-explanatory; many Wing Commander manuals have had short classified sections and they've always been so much fun... so, why not a full page? It increased in size as time went on - it originally shared a page with the Crusader movie advertisement. As I had so much fun writing more and more in-jokes, long overdue facts and nods to fans the Crusader picture became a half page and then a quarter page and then its own separate page.

2008.281 (October 7, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 56

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the third weapons page:CONCEPT: See the previous post!REFERENCES-"Paulsen Kinetics" - Paulsen Kinetics was a company mentioned in the Wing Commander Secret Ops fiction; it was probably there intended to reference the arms company owned by the family of Captain Hugh Paulsen (as mentioned in the Wing Commander IV novelization)."aren't just for salvage ops anymore" - This explains the change in role for the tractor beam (in Arena you use them to grab other fighters during combat).The images are all from the Privateer source renders: the tractor beam is the tractor beam, the Sonar is a software package, the cloak is thrusters, the power core is an engine, the turret is a Galaxy upper turret, the flares are ECM pods and the fusion batteries are jump drives.

2008.280 (October 6, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 55

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the second weapons page:CONCEPT: See the previous post!REFERENCES-The missile graphics are also all from the original Privateer's source models. The ones that aren't familiar are ones that were cut from the game - the torpedo model was an antimatter torpedo and the "Vampire Missile" was originally the "EMP Missile". "Terran Standard" - I think End Run actually says the language of the fleet is English...

2008.279 (October 5, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 54

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the first weapons page:CONCEPT: This was one of my very earliest concepts - I wanted a unique way to include the weapons in the manual, which is something other booklets haven't done. What I was picturing was those cheap newsprint advertisements for car dealerships or grocery stores -- just badly put together and BUSY as all hell. I think it ended up being slightly too slick to get that across... but it's close!

2008.278 (October 4, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 53

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the fourth Port Broughton page:CONCEPT: See the previous post!REFERENCES-The pictures on this page are the amazing promotional image of the TCS Midway from Prophecy and one of the 'prototype' renders from Gaia. I told you I would sneak them in!"F-44X Rapier II Cavaliers" - I mostly avoided giving the new fighters letter designations, I'm not sure why the mood struck me here.

2008.277 (October 3, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 52

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the third Port Broughton page:CONCEPT: See the previous post!REFERENCES-The screenshots on this page are both from Arena itself, from the Midway map. Is it just me or does the exploding Dralthi look more like a Vaktoth in that frame?"lighting seem almost Kilrathi" - References Hobbes' preference that for a red light to emulate Kilrah, from the Wing Commander III novelization.

2008.276 (October 2, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 51

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the first Port Broughton page:CONCEPT: See the previous post! I do want to note that this article is a pastiche - it's supposed to sound like an overly dramatic popular magazine article, not attempt to be a piece of great writing.REFERENCES-"first ten Midways" - The ICIS Manual establishes that the Navy plans to build ten Midway-class ships. I call this the 'first ten' because I assume the war changed the goal to building as many as possible...

2008.275 (October 1, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 50

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the first Port Broughton page:CONCEPT: This was another late addition, which basically came about when I realized this would probably be my only chance ever to write prose set in the Wing Commander universe. It's supposed to give a little more life to the much-abused Midway map. It's patterned after the 'Interview with a Frontiersman' article in the Privateer manual.REFERENCES-"Chandra Karr" - The same person who wrote the already-mentioned Privateer article.

2008.274 (September 30, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 48

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the ninth timeline page: CONCEPT: See the previous post! "2670" - Alternate version addition. From the unpublished Wing Commander IV version of the timeline."2669-2671" - My addition, describes "False Colors".

2008.273 (September 29, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 47

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the eighth timeline page: CONCEPT: See the previous post! "2669.262" - Alternate version addition. From the unpublished Wing Commander IV version of the timeline.

2008.272 (September 28, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 46

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the seventh timeline page: CONCEPT: See the previous post! "2669.233" - Alternate version addition. From the unpublished Wing Commander IV version of the timeline.

2008.271 (September 27, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 45

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the sixth timeline page: CONCEPT: See the previous post! "2668" - No changes."2669" - The first half is from Victory Streak. It has been rewritten slightly to change the tense - the original version was about the mission having just left.

2008.270 (September 26, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 44

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the fifth timeline page: CONCEPT: See the previous post! "2653-2655" - No changes."2656-2667" - No changes."2667" - My addition, describes Special Operations 1, Special Operations 2 and End Run.

2008.269 (September 25, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 43

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the fourth timeline page: CONCEPT: See the previous post! "2654.185" - My addition, describes "Recreation"."2654.

2008.268 (September 24, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 42

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the third timeline page: CONCEPT: See the previous post! "2649.189" - Alternate version addition. From the Super Famicom version of Wing Commander I, translated from Japanese.

2008.267 (September 23, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 49

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the tenth timeline page: CONCEPT: See the previous post! "2680 and 2681" - Alternate version additions. These come from Origin's elaborate multi-generation timeline created for Privateer Online (second attempt). 2680 and 2681 were the only two years that overlapped with our pre-Nephilim history, but the rest exist online (and don't necessarily mesh with Arena, mind you).

2008.266 (September 22, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 41

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the second timeline page: CONCEPT: See the previous post! "2634.235" - No changes."2634.

2008.265 (September 21, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 40

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the first timeline page: CONCEPT: The timeline is my favorite part of the manual and it is the single thing I am most proud of including and working on. It's an surprising mix of self restraint and over-the-top qualities that it's hard to quantify. I set myself a huge number of ground rules for this section... and found myself begging and pleading with myself for just one more page to add more material.

2008.264 (September 20, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 39

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the Crusader page: CONCEPT: Most Origin games included this type of in-joke, if not in their manuals then in the games themselves. Voices of War advertised the Bioforge movie, Victory Streak had a review of System Shock, etc. I should note that these were in-jokes - no one meant for all Origin games to have a shared continuity. The background is a heavily filtered version of (part of) the Crusader: No Remorse artwork.

2008.263 (September 19, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 38

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the fourth powerups page: CONCEPT: I had no idea the game even had different 3D models for the recharge stations until I saw them in a pack of artwork from Gaia! The fanboy in me had to create little specification sets for each one..."plates of extra Durasteel" - Again!Insect Names - I clearly said 'bug' when I saw these things.

2008.262 (September 18, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 37

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the third powerups page:CONCEPT: See the previous post! "armor plates" - This is a concept that the development team was very big on, but that I never quite saw as being so important - ships in Wing Commander Arena differ from classic ones in that they have plates and plates of simple Durasteel armor which can be easily replaced, rather than hulls made of increasingly prized metals. I felt the need to reference it a few times, regardless."Mace Tactical Nuclear Mine" - Originally the Mace Tactical Nuclear Missile from Special Operations 2 and Wing Commander IV.

2008.261 (September 17, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 36

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the second powerups page: CONCEPT: See the previous post! "Merc Inc" - References the 'disposable wingman' backstory from the first Privateer Online concept. Obviously, this was something of a difficult powerup to explain... the runner up was that it created a holographic duplicate of your fighter.

2008.260 (September 16, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 35

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the first powerups page:CONCEPT: This is a directly gameplay related section. We planned it from early in the project but didn't have a concise list of powerups until very late in the game... and when it arrived it came with these absolutely beautiful high resolution renderings of each one! I ended up expanding the section to give everyone a better view of them.

2008.259 (September 15, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 34

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the Paktahn page:CONCEPT: Yet another late-in-the-game filler page! The basic idea here was to better explain how the rollout and private ownership of space fighters in Wing Commander Arena worked. Are they newly built or actual war surplus? Who is flying them?

2008.258 (September 14, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 32

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the Nephilim page:CONCEPT: I have been dreaming about this image for years - I even have a drawing of it that I did as a kid, with the Wing Commander I ships. It comes from a British plane spotting poster from the Great War which featured all the fighters at the top, the bombers in the middle and then huge blimps and Zeppelins at the bottom. I've always thought it would transition perfectly to Wing Commander, with capital ships replacing the ligher-than-air stuff. There's a copy posted at the Air and Space Museum in Washington DC and I should really go take a picture the next time I'm in town because I can never find exactly the one I'm thinking about online.

2008.257 (September 13, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 31

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the second maneuvers page: CONCEPT: See the previous post!REFERENCES-"The Basics" - I wanted to find a better way of putting this, I really did - but it was agreed that it was important information (frankly, I'm surprised that I got away with 'describing' the different manevuers rather than printing button combos...)."To Live is to Fly" - An excellent Townes van Zandt song.

2008.256 (September 12, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 30

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the first maneuvers page: CONCEPT: These pages were planned early on, as a maneuvers page was integral to Claw Marks... and Wing Commander Arena relies even more on 'special' maneuvers which are somewhat akin to those found in a fighting game. As you can see we're using original Scimitar line art positioned in different ways -- that's because several games (including Super Wing Commander!) reuse the classic 'Scim as the example fighter for these articles.

2008.255 (September 11, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 29

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the achievements page: CONCEPT: We're getting into the gameplay-related 'meat' of the document, so the comments will be light for a few days. This is a somewhat flimsy excuse to directly integrate the game's Xbox 360 achievements into the greater continuity. I love the idea that you're actually collecting/being awarded/etc. the various icons...

2008.254 (September 10, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 28

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the second Dralthi page: CONCEPT: This excerpt was a late addition, an easy way to fill an extra page when it was decided that the manual would be printed. I actually sat down and wrote about 50 pages of Maniac's book at one point, as sort of an exercise in tone. If Wing Commander is ever a smash hit again I'd love to see me or someone else take a crack at doing the whole thing. I will also note that the format (down to the introductory quote) and some of the tone here are based on Chuck Yeager's fantastic and entirely enjoyable autobiography.

2008.253 (September 9, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 27

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the first Dralthi page: CONCEPT: This is another filler article, designed to make the magazine printable after some other more important addition (you'll find we took full advantage of the need to add three extra pages for each new one EA dictated). The general goal is to further connect Arena's setting to the Wing Commander continuity... with the most famous fighter known to man or cat. The silhouettes - in most cases we painted over a VDU image, although the movie Dralthi is new.

2008.252 (September 8, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 26

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the second Maniac page:CONCEPT: This excerpt was a late addition, an easy way to fill an extra page when it was decided that the manual would be printed. I actually sat down and wrote about 50 pages of Maniac's book at one point, as sort of an exercise in tone. If Wing Commander is ever a smash hit again I'd love to see me or someone else take a crack at doing the whole thing. I will also note that the format (down to the introductory quote) and some of the tone here are based on Chuck Yeager's fantastic and entirely enjoyable autobiography.

2008.251 (September 7, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 26

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the first Maniac page:CONCEPT: This is everyone's favorite page and also the one with the most embarassing error! The concept here was that it would look like a cheap 'Book World' type advertisement; I don't know if anyone has seen these, but they always have especially fake looking pretend books with the real cover image slapped on front of them. The big issue in my head was Maniac's picture, which no one ultimately cared about. It's from a scan of the "Biggest Fan" prop from Wing Commander Prophecy, but I have no idea if Electronic Arts had any right to reproduce a picture of Tom Wilson.

2008.250 (September 6, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 25

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the seventh systems page: CONCEPT: See the previous post! REFERENCES-"Antares Quadrant" - Straight out of the Wing Commander Universe map! Note that I used the original version and not the one found at the CIC - sadly, the additions there come more from a fan's desire to include everything than from necessary logic. I do mention plenty of the missing systems, but I stuck with Captain Johnny's elegant sector map rather than the more confused update.

2008.249 (September 5, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 24

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the sixth systems page: CONCEPT: See the previous post! REFERENCES-"S'thran-Pak" - An anonymous Kilrathi system from the Wing Commander Universe map. This is Arena's "duel" mode, which is a very cool map. I'm proud of not taking the easy way out here - it would have been very simple to write a story about an asteroid crater rather than working out Wing Commander's equivalent of pistol duels.

2008.248 (September 4, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 23

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the fifth systems page: CONCEPT: See the previous post! REFERENCES-"T'Kirsa" - T'kirsa is the 'other' Firekkan system introduced in the Wing Commander Universe map. This bio, which represents Arena's "Bearpit" mode, was cut down from the original demo version of the manual. My reasoning was that the Bearpit was the least 'Wing Commander' game mode, as fun as it is - so if I could come up with a reasonable backstory for it, I could do anything.

2008.247 (September 3, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 22

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the fourth systems page: CONCEPT: See the previous post! REFERENCES-"Natanya" - This was one of the three additional star systems which left the Empire in Special Operations 1. Here it's representing Arena's criminally underappreciated 'satellite' map. The backstory comes from the fact that the system was named N'Tanya in Special Operations 1 but Natanya on the Wing Commander Universe map.

2008.246 (September 2, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 21

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the third systems page: CONCEPT: See the previous post! REFERENCES-"Corsair System" - Corsair was originally seen in Secret Missions 2, although we don't learn much about it. The game mode here is, obviously, the 'Gauntlet' map with the Midway-class ship centerpiece."New Confederation" - Although I flesh out this one later (and note it!

2008.245 (September 1, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 20

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the second systems page: CONCEPT: See the previous post! REFERENCES-"Space Station" - This is the space station map which is shared by at least two of Arena's modes. It's an all-encompassing superstructure that surrounds all of the level's action (and features neat fly through bays and so forth). "Polaris Roads Naval Station" - I was so happy to add this to the canon.

2008.244 (August 31, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 19

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the first systems page: CONCEPT: This is a thickly veiled guide to Wing Commander Arena's different maps. Nine systems, nine maps -- coincidence? I think not! This was actually one of the sections that helped sell the project.

2008.243 (August 30, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 18

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the sixth pilots page: CONCEPT: See the previous post!REFERENCES-"Robert 'Twilight' Irving" - Wing Commander Prophecy redshirt."Ryan 'Zombie' Coolidge" - Wing Commander Prophecy redshirt."Flash" - Originally Jace Dillon from Wing Commander III.

2008.242 (August 29, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 17

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the fifth pilots page: CONCEPT: See the previous post!REFERENCES-"Dakhath" - Kilrathi word meaning 'Deathstroke', from ace pilots Dakhath nar Sihkag (WC1) and Dakhath nar Caxki (WC3)."Kiranka" - The Emperor's clan, as introduced in Fleet Action."Regina 'Snapshot' Ortwin" - WC:CCG pilot card.

2008.241 (August 28, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 16

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the fourth pilots page: CONCEPT: See the previous post!REFERENCES-"Bobcat" - A type of Earth wild cat."laq" - Alternate honorific from False Colors."Pak Ma'hran" - Kilrah Sector, Kur'u-Pak Quadrant.

2008.240 (August 27, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 15

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the third pilots page: CONCEPT: See the previous post!REFERENCES-"Kur 'Human-Killer' nar Tr'k H'hra" - I chose to do a bio on Kur because I always wanted to know more about the Kilrathi aces in Wing Commander II. Three of them play a major role in the plot (Thrakhath, Khasra and Jazz)... but the other two are only mentioned after they show up (because WC2 had no Claw Marks-style manual) and then only briefly.

2008.239 (August 26, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 14

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the second pilots page: CONCEPT: See the previous post!REFERENCES-"Kyle 'Sandman' Travers" - Travers was the male replacement for Kyra Hunter(discussed on the previous page), The story discussed here (General Drakas, Steltek weapon, Nephilim relics) are all elements of his cancelled game."Merc, Inc." - A 'Privateer Online' concept proposal.

2008.238 (August 25, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 13

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the first pilots page: CONCEPT: One thing Wing Commander games have always (well, often) had is a roster of particular 'ace' pilots. Even when it isn't printed in the manual, it's in the game (Rakti, Kur, etc.) It was a no-brainer when I was expanding the manual... except there wasn't anything like that in the game.

2008.237 (August 24, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 12

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the eighth Joan's page:CONCEPT: These were the ships I really got to build, since they were actually 'maps' in the game without most specifications. I just had to stick to the right number of turrets on the cruisers and the established history on the Midway. Note that the screenshots seen here were taken by the game's Producer in-game, since the team didn't have time to render new ones before we went to print. REFERENCES-"Midway" - A Midway-class ship makes up the single player gauntlet map in Arena.

2008.236 (August 23, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 11

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the seventh Joan's page:CONCEPT: See the previous post!REFERENCES-"General Wright" - Stingray from Wing Commander II. This is expanded in the pilot bios section. I always liked the fact that the Special Ops team realized that Stingrays real name wasn't ever said in WC2 and so developed reasons for both his first and last names to be stated in the addons.

2008.235 (August 22, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 10

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the sixth Joan's page:CONCEPT: See the previous post!REFERENCES- The magnitude of the whole thing hits me when I think about this page - I got to grow up and help tell the shared history of the Dralthi. It's unbelievable. "Two hundred years" - to jive with a reference to the KF-100 Dralthi's age in the Confederation Handbook.

2008.234 (August 21, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 9

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the fifth Joan's page:CONCEPT: See the previous post!REFERENCES-Note the shift from blue to red headers for the ship names, the color most assosciated with each faction."Deuces" - This story comes from the rarely discussed second official guide to Wing Commander III, the "Authorized Combat Guide"."Blackfish-Type cloaking device" - The Confederation's visual cloak is named Blackfish in the Wing Commander Customizable Card Game (its counterpart is the Shroud sensor cloak).

2008.233 (August 20, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 8

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the fourth Joan's page:CONCEPT: See the previous post!REFERENCES-I love how some of the Broadswords cover up the text. The ships are all to scale and we had a heck of a time fitting them in correctly."pre-war role as a heavy missile platform" - I forgot myself here.

2008.232 (August 19, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 7

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the third Joan's page:CONCEPT: See the previous post!REFERENCES-"CF-117" - This is the confusingly named Rapier fighter from the Wing Commander movie. Apparently the Confederation put a 'Rapier II' into service mere months after we saw aging Rapier (I)s in combat. Go figure.

2008.231 (August 18, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 6

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the second Joan's page:CONCEPT: I didn't have much (if any) control over the specifications - most of them come directly from the game. I had some leeway with the length and mass, but since they're classic Wing Commander fighters... not much. Note the increasing mass as the ships become 'fatter' (more armored) - that's something the game's Producer remembered to include.

2008.230 (August 17, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 5

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the first Joan's page:CONCEPT: You can't have a real Wing Commander manual without ship specifications! Why, that would be crazy! I'm looking at you, Wing Commander IV. This first page should be nice and short since it's just the field definitions used in every manual...

2008.229 (August 16, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 4

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the news page:CONCEPT: This is the 'comm relay' page from Claw Marks. It was actually developed as a filler page (... what wasn't?).

2008.228 (August 15, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 3

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the second letters page:CONCEPT: See the previous post!REFERENCES-"Letter of the Month" - Now, obviously what this letter is about is the fact that the Wing Commander III capital ships never get names. I understand that it was done for gameplay reasons, but wasn't it frustrating as all heck? The fan community only made it worse, giving each ship a whole host of increasingly improbable names that no one really accepted.

2008.227 (August 14, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 2

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the first letters page:CONCEPT: These pages are great - the 'letter to the editor' format lets you answer old questions and also gently poke fun at the series and the fans with impunity. As I went into the project I had a list in my head... how do I answer X and Y question, how to I address this continuity error, how do I comment on this. This format allowed me to do a lot of that in one place.

2008.226 (August 13, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 1

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the table of contents:CONCEPT: Magazines... have... tables of contents? There's nothing much to explain here, other than that the format for the listings (formal name/short description) is modeled after Claw Marks.

2008.225 (August 12, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Inside Cover

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the Arrow Eclipse advertisement:CONCEPT: Here's the car advertisement! All of the 'features' listed at the top are the in-game systems for the Arrow Eclipse. I wish I could say it was original: it was stolen outright from my favorite magazine advertisement of all time, which was a pretend car advertisement for Wing Commander IV PSX's Dragon fighter. The placement comes from a youth spent reading Air & Space Magazine - which always had the especially glossy car or watch advertisements on the first page.

2008.224 (August 11, 2008)

Star*Soldier Gloss: Cover

... and here's our new daily feature which will carry us through the next two months! We'll be offering commentary from the writers and designer of the Wing Commander Arena Star*Soldier manual for each page. Have a question you'd like answered about this or a future page?