Happy Birthday from J. Allen Brack

Wing Commander Prophecy veteran J. Allen Brack was kind enough to follow Sean Murphy and George Oldziey in sharing some memories of WCP's development and wishing the fans a happy birthday! Read on:

Greetings to the Wing Commander community!

It's hard to believe it's been 10 years since Wing Commander Prophecy launched. Like most games, Prophecy took lots and lots of time and effort to get out the door, and we worked really hard to make it the best Wing it could be.

Prophecy was conceived as the next WC trilogy, following Casey from raw recruit in game one, to a hero of the Confederation with game 3. We had a great cliffhanger with Blair at the end of Prophecy resulting in his transport to Nephilim space, and interesting plans for what could happen next. Sadly, the remaining 2 parts of that story will likely never be told.

Memories of the game in no particular order:

• Captain Johnny and the Friday Doughnut Horn.
• Crunching late into Halloween night to post the demo for the game.
• Staying up 3 days straight as we got close to ship.
• Spending time on the one page addendum, realizing that I was too tired and not making sense, and calling in a friend to assist.

Certainly for me the most difficult part of the experience was cutting multiplayer. It was something we were all excited about, but just couldn't make work in time for the holidays.

I'm also grateful for the opportunity to work on Secret Ops. The episodic content idea didn't have a lot of AAA support at the time, and we worked hard to prove that the concept could work. At almost one million downloads, it was a huge success for the time.

A lot of the WC veterans have transitioned to online in recent years. Lots of folks worked on Star Wars Galaxies, and have transitioned onto other products recently. Be sure to check out their great work, past, present, and future.

When the web first came out, I thought success for me would be the day I worked on a project that had people create their own fan page. Thanks for making one of my dreams come true and keep up the great work! You guys have kept the Wing Commander spirit alive since the Usenet days. You are true heroes of the Confederation.

J. Allen Brack
Lead Producer
World of Warcraft

Post-Party Prize Procurement

Birthday Prizes
• CIC Glass - Wedge, Sycrus
• CIC Playing Cards - Ironduke, Wedge
• CIC Polo Shirt (submit size) - TheFraix
• TCS Eisen T-Shirt (submit size) - Justice, Paragon, Priest
• TCS Eisen Hat - Taser, Wedge, Powell99
• Confed Replica Patch - Blitz, ventsetti, HCl
• WC2 Game - BobMcDob, Justice
• WC4 DVD - LeHah, Vinman
• WC CCG Pack - ZFGokuSSJ1
• WC Novel (submit preferences) - Jetlag, matthew954
• WC Movie DVD - Frogzilla
• WC Movie Action Figures (submit preferences) - No Regret, Blonde
• WC Movie Poster - Shades
• WC Movie Longsleeve T - Jetlag
• XBox Live 1 Year Subscription - Jetlag
• XBox Live 1600 Point Cards - Justice, Jetlag
• XBox Smack Talk Device - Dundradal
• Nasa Sticker Set (donated by EddieB) - Dyret
• Star*Soldier Print - Mekt-Hakkikt, Vinman, AD, Shades

Arena Xbox Contest Prizes
• XBox 360 Elite - NinjaLA
• CIC Polo, Playing Card, Glass & Star*Soldier - IronDuke
• TCS Eisen Hat & Star*Soldier - Blitz
• WCM Soundtrack & Star*Soldier - Pedro
• CIC Glass & Star*Soldier - SabreAce
• Star*Soldier - Paragon
• Star*Soldier - matthew954