2021 Recovered Wing Commander Development Files

On January 17, 2021 a set of three hard drives belonging to an unidentified Origin Systems employee was recovered by Joe Garrity of the Origin Museum and Dan Chisarick. The contents included installations of Wing Commander I and II and a copy of DeluxePaint with several Wing Commander II-related animation files saved.

While the images were originally stored as ANM animation files they are actually collections of static images, likely grouped together as animations for ease of organization and/or presentation. Inividual unique frames have been saved as PCX files and exported as PNGs for the galleries seen below.

The copy of Wing Commander II appears to be a stock install of the original diskette release.

SABRE.ANM

SABRE.ANM includes concept images for all of Wing Commander II's player ships with the exception of the Rapier (which was already designed for Wing Commander I). These concept images use UI elements from Wing Commander I to show how they will function. A previously unknown cut ship named the Mongoose is included as the final design.

• The Ferret features two VDUs instead of the final single unit.
• The set includes a side view for the Broadsword with the note that it would not be needed for the final game.

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SABRE2.ANM

SABRE2.ANM is a variant of SABRE.ANM with an alternate initial frame.

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TURRETS.ANM

TURRETS.ANM includes layouts for Wing Commander II's three turrets and some of their UI. The color scheme used on the turrets is significantly different from the finished game.

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WCII.LBM

WCII.LBM is a single DeluxePaint image which seems to be an imcomplete title treatment for Wing Commander II.

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