Wing Commander II Demo

Wing Commander II Demo
Platform	MS-DOS
Engine	3space, Origin FX
Release Date	January 10, 1991
Language	English

Wing Commander II Demo is a rolling demo of Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi. It features an early version of part of the game's introduction showing Prince Thrakhath's audience with the Emperor. It was the first Origin product to include recorded speech. The demo was created by Origin Systems to demonstrate the game at Winter CES 1991 (January 10 to 13 1991) and was released to the public via BBS afterwards. At the time it was published Wing Commander II was scheduled for a Summer 1991 releasee. It ultimately shipped in September, making the eight months between the demo and the final product the longest such stretch in Wing Commander history. he demo is not known to have received a physical commercial release.

Differences

• The 3space engine section uses a version closer to the original Wing Commander. It uses Wing Commander's palette and several other assets (including the Dralthi and Star Post ships).

• Prince Thrakhath's Bloodfang model is a distinct version created for the demo and it looks significantly different from the final version used in Wing Commander II. The sprites can be imported into the original Wing Commander but it does not include assets like a VDU graphic.

• The scene is set at the "Imperial Palace", a Star Post, instead of at K'Tithrak Mang. K'Tithrak Mang is not mentioned in the dialogue.

• The scene includes a longer introduction in which Thrakhath flies to the Imperial Palace and walks past rows of Imperial Guardsmen.

• There is a 'talking head' view of an Imperial Guardsman announcing Thrakhath's arrival which does not appear in the final game.

• The medium and closup backgrounds for Prince Thrakhath and the Emperor are different from the versions used in the game. Both pieces are digitized from paintings by Daniel Bourbonnais.

• The dialogue between Thrakhath is different although it retains the same general structure and many of the same ideas. It does not mention K'Tithrak Mang or the rebellion on Ghorah Khar.

• The voice acting is performed by different people. Prince Thrakhath and the Emperor are played by developers Philip Brogden and Siobhan Beeman in the demo and writer G.P. Austin and actor Edwin Neal in the finished game. The Imperial Guard, played in the demo by Martin Galway, does not speak in the final game and is only referenced but not seen.

Screenshots

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Credits

The Wing Commander II Demo does not have official credits separate from Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi but several roles specific to the release have been confirmed:

Role	Name
Development
Background Artwork	Daniel Bourbonnais
Performances
Imperial Guard	Martin Galway
The Emperor	Siobhan Beeman
Prince Thrakhath	Philip Brogden

Speech

Speech	Download	Speaker	Transcript
	WC2DEMO_SPEECH_0.wav	Guard	Prince Thrakhath approaches, your majesty.
	WC2DEMO_SPEECH_2.wav	Emperor	Excellent. Guards, you are dismissed.
	WC2DEMO_SPEECH_4.wav	Emperor	Arise, grandson. This isn't a formal audience.
	WC2DEMO_SPEECH_6.wav	Emperor	How goes the war against the humans?
	WC2DEMO_SPEECH_8.wav	Thrakhath	The first test of the cloaking device was a glorious success.
	WC2DEMO_SPEECH_10.wav	Thrakhath	The pride of the Terran Navy, the Tiger's Claw, has been destroyed.
	WC2DEMO_SPEECH_12.wav	Thrakhath	And soon my stealth fighters will demolish the rest of the human fleet--
	WC2DEMO_SPEECH_14.wav	Emperor	I care not for technological advances.
	WC2DEMO_SPEECH_16.wav	Emperor	I granted the title of slavelord of Terra to you, not to your scientists.
	WC2DEMO_SPEECH_18.wav	Emperor	Speak of your plans, not of your toys!
	WC2DEMO_SPEECH_20.wav	Thrakhath	Yes, my Emperor.
	WC2DEMO_SPEECH_22.wav	Thrakhath	My human spies have informed me of a weak point along the frontier.
	WC2DEMO_SPEECH_24.wav	Thrakhath	While a diversionary attack draws the Confederate fleet away--
	WC2DEMO_SPEECH_26.wav	Thrakhath	--my armada will crush the defenseless colonies.
	WC2DEMO_SPEECH_28.wav	Emperor	And what of the human pilot who has caused us so much trouble?
	WC2DEMO_SPEECH_30.wav	Thrakhath	Those foolish apes blame HIM for the loss of the Tiger's Claw.
	WC2DEMO_SPEECH_32.wav	Thrakhath	Even if they do not execute him for treason--
	WC2DEMO_SPEECH_34.wav	Thrakhath	--he will never fly a fighter again!
	WC2DEMO_SPEECH_36.wav	Emperor	Excellent!
	WC2DEMO_SPEECH_38.wav	Emperor	Without him the humans cannot stand against us.
	WC2DEMO_SPEECH_40.wav	Emperor	Soon Earth itself will be in our grasp!

Transcript

TITLE CARD: ORIGIN FX Sound and Graphics System

SUPER: Deep in Kilrathi space...

SUPER: Kirathi Imperial Palace

GUARD: Prince Thrakhath approaches, your majesty.

EMPEROR: Excellent. Guards, you are dismissed. Arise, grandson. This isn't a formal audience. How goes the war against the humans?

THRAKHATH: The first test of the cloaking device was a glorious success. The pride of the Terran Navy, the Tiger's Claw, has been destroyed. And soon my stealth fighters will demolish the rest of the human fleet--

EMPEROR: I care not for technological advances. I granted the title of Slave Lord of Terra to you, not to your scientists. Speak of your plans not of your toys.

THRAKHATH: Yes, my Emperor. My human spies have informed me of a weak point along the frontier. While a diversionary attack draws the Confederate fleet away-- --my armada will crush the defenseless colonies.

EMPEROR: And what of the human pilot who has caused us so much trouble?

THRAKHATH: Those foolish apes blame HIM for the loss of the Tiger's Claw. Even if they do not execute him for treason-- --he will never fly a fighter again!

EMPEROR: Excellent! Without him, the humans cannot stand against us! Soon Earth itself will be in our grasp!

TITLE CARD: WING COMMANDER II VENGEANCE OF THE KILRATHI

TITLE CARD: COMING SUMMER 1991...

TITLE CARD: ONLY FROM ORIGIN

Comparison

Wing Commander II Demo	Wing Commander II	Wing Commander II Speech Version
Deep in Kilrathi space... |style="width:33%"| |style="width:33%"|
Kilrathi Imperial Palace	K'Tithrak Mang Kilrathi Sector HQ	K'Tithrak Mang Kilrathi Sector HQ
Prince Thrakhath approaches, your majesty.
Excellent. Guards, you are dismissed.	I will speak with Prince Thrakhath alone. Guards, you are dismissed.	I will speak with Prince Thrakhath alone. Guards, you are dismissed.
Arise, grandson. This isn't a formal audience.	Arise, grandson.	Arise, grandson.
How goes the war against the humans?	How goes the war against the Terrans?	How goes the war against the humans?
The first test of the cloaking device was a glorious success.	The Terran carrier, Tiger's Claw, tried to attack us here at K'Tithrak Mang.	The Terran carrier, Tiger's Claw, tried to attack us here at K'Tithrak Mang.
The pride of the Terran Navy, the Tiger's Claw, has been destroyed.	But my stealth fighters destroyed it!	But my stealth fighters destroyed it!
And soon my stealth fighters will demolish the rest of the human fleet--	And soon we will demolish the rest of the human fleet---	And soon we will demolish the rest of their fleet---
I care not for technological advances.
I granted the title of Slave Lord of Terra to you, not to your scientists.
Speak of your plans not of your toys.	Speak of your plans, not of your toys.	Speak of your plans, not of your toys.
	Tell me how you will defeat the humans!	Tell me how you will defeat the Terrans!
Yes, my Emperor.	Yes, my Emperor.	Yes, my Emperor.
My human spies have informed me of a weak point along the frontier.	Without the Tiger's Claw to defend them, we can crush the rebellion on Ghorah Khar.	Without the Tiger's Claw to defend them, we can crush the rebellion on Ghorah Khar.
While a diversionary attack draws the Confederate fleet away--	And then my armada will sweep through the Enigma Sector---	And then my armada will sweep through the Enigma Sector---
--my armada will crush the defenseless colonies.	---to attack the defenseless human colonies!	---to attack the defenseless human colonies!
And what of the human pilot who has caused us so much trouble?	And what of the human pilot who has caused us so much trouble?	And what of the human pilot who has caused us so much trouble?
Those foolish apes blame HIM for the loss of the Tiger's Claw.	Those fools blame HIM for the loss of the Tiger's Claw.	Those fools blame HIM for the loss of the Tiger's Claw.
Even if they do not execute him for treason--
Excellent!	Excellent!	Excellent!
Without, him the humans cannot stand against us!	Without him, the Terrans cannot stand against us!	Without him, the Terrans cannot stand against us!
Soon Earth itself will be in our grasp!	Soon Earth itself will be in our grasp!	Soon Earth itself will be in our grasp!

Recording

Original Version

• Download: Pix_Wing_Commander_II_Demo.mkv

Planet Fix

• Download: Wing_Commander_2_Rolling_Demo_AllTinker_Planet_Fix_v2.mp4

This recording also corrects the aspect ratio.

Extracted Graphics

Animations

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Backgrounds

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Title Cards

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Talking Heads

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Space Objects

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Sky Box

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Music

The Wing Commander II demo plays four pieces of music including Soundtrax Logo (Origin F/X) and Debriefing - Unsuccessful from Wing Commander I and a shorter version of Main Theme - Cloak and Dagger from Wing Commander II. There is an additional short piece played when the Imperial palace appears on screen which does not appear on another Wing Commander soundtrack.

Play	Title	Time	Download
	Soundtrax Logo (Origin F/X)	0:25	Current.MID
	Main Theme - Cloak And Dagger	0:53	0.MID
	Untitled	0:04	9.MID
	Debriefing - Unsuccessful	0:43	1.MID

• All MIDIs (10K)

Original Art

Artist Daniel Bourbonnais donated his background artwork to the Origin Museum. The 'close' version was mirrored in the demo so it could be used for both Thrakhath and the Emperor. Joe Garrity provided scans of both pieces:

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  Medium

These photos were posted when the artwork was listed for sale on eBay:

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  Close (Reverse)

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  Medium (Reverse)

Documentation

The download includes a file called README.1ST which includes instructions for installing the demo.

To setup the demo:

1. Make a directory called INSTALL
2. Copy all WC2DEMO files to this directory
3. Type CD\INSTALL
4. Type INSTALL

The demo will then create a subdirectory called WC2DEMO and install the program here. You will need to manually delete the files from the install directory.

To run the demo:

1. type CD\WC2DEMO
2. type WING2

Behind the Screens

Wing Commander I & II: The Ultimate Strategy Guide

Mike Harrison's Wing Commander I & II: The Ultimate Strategy Guide discussed the development of the Wing Commander II Demo:

In December, Beeman dropped a CMS Sound Blaster card in his computer and started exploring what it was capable of doing. His experiments led to one of the most exciting enhancements in Wing Commander II. "I messed around with the Soundblaster for a while and thought it was really cool," he explained. "I programmed something to play a digitized speech sample, and knew then that I wanted to include speech in our CES demo." The winter CES was scheduled for early January. "Then I just went ahead and did it," he said. "We had a cheesy little microphone, no studio or sophisticated electronics, and we just sat in my office and spoke into the microphone. Then we digitized the speech with the software that came with the card. Anyone could have done it. The we worked with synchronizing the speech and graphics for the demo."

The CES demo was a rousing success. "It was like going from silent movies to talkies," Beeman noted. "Speech makes all the difference in the world. Until you're involved with developing products like this, you can't appreciate the difference between text and speech. You can convey much more information with the spoken word... information that drops out when you have to read text on the screen."

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Pix's Origin Adventures

On January 23 2012 Siobhan Beeman posted a reminiscence of the Wing Commander II Demo's development in reply to a post at Pix's Origin Adventures:

“You can just imagine two guys at Origin recording that on their PCs.”

Heh… yes, that’s literally what happened. We had exactly one SoundBlaster card in the entire company at the time, so our audio recording computer was the desktop PC I coded the demo on. Thrakath was voiced by Savage Empire writer Phil Brogden, the guard by composer Martin Galway, and the Emperor by me. The actors were picked not for our acting ability (clearly!) but for our presence in the building at 3AM.

“For years I wondered where the demos actually came from, assuming they were done for trade shows and store demo machines.”

The WC2 demo was a teaser created for the Origin and SoundBlaster booths at Fall COMDEX in ’90 to announce the game. It was the very first work I did on WC2–once I wrapped on Savage Empire, Chris tossed me the SoundBlaster card and said “hey, see what you can do with digitized speech”. The SDK was really easy to use, so I got voice working in a day, at which point we decided to make that the big tech advance for WC2 (much to the delight of the SoundBlaster marketers!). Start to finish I think the demo took maybe 80 hours of work… so basically one calendar week, considering the Origin lifestyle.

How to Play

The demo can be run in DOSBox.

Although there is no configuration file, sound and graphics can be selected through the command line. Most options are unavailable and will default to the default Sound Blaster but "WING2 r" will utilize the Roland MT-32.

AllTinker has developed a patch to correct the matte error visible around the planet and moon in the demo. Download the patch and replace the original copy of INTRODAT.WC2.

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  The original graphics with the incorrect matte colors visible.

Characters

Speaking

• The Emperor
• Prince Thrakhath nar Kiranka
• Unnamed Imperial Guard

Non-Speaking

• Unnamed Imperial Guard (10)

Ships

Kilrathi

• Star Post (Kilrathi Imperial Palace)
• KF-100 Dralthi
• Bloodfang

Download

• wc2demo.zip (1,805 K)
• INTRODAT_AllTinker_Planet_Fix.zip (55 K)

Links

• Pix's Origin Adventures review
• YouTube recording