2006.128 (May 8, 2006)

Red Light's A Go For Hydra Cockpit

Howard is just about done with WC Pioneer's Hydra cockpit. This one has been in work for quite a while, so he's anxious to wrap it up and move on to new exciting pieces of art. The biggest change since last week is the inclusion of submarine-style red lamps to give the ship a more aggressive tone. A temporary back wall has also been added, and a variety of textures have been sharpened up. Check it out in 3D here.

This redlight version is just too damn cool not to use. Good call, LOAF, good call. It's completely unique from the other cockpits, and very, very deadly looking. Who cares if I loose some detail in the process? You'll still see it when the sun hits it directly. Still to do: finalized controls, seats and completed back wall and textures.

Join The Discussion On Wing Commander Cockpits

Speaking of cockpits, you can head over to Crius.net right now and let everyone know how you felt about them in the Wing Commander series. Stone48420 has started a discussion on the merits of detailed cockpit art versus drop-down invisible HUDs. The majority of Wing Commander fans seem to agree that they added a tremendous amount of realism and atmosphere to the games, yet many of those same people routinely disabled them in Wing Commander 3, Armada and Kilrathi Saga to free up more screen space. Before long, virtual heads-up displays were the only option Origin built into its games, and the space sim genre as a whole quickly adopted this model. Was the larger viewing area worth the loss of some distinctiveness and identity? You can share your feelings on this series of events at the CIC Forums here.