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Blackstar Chronicles, Just in Time!
There's good news from Spacetime Studios, a company made up of an amazing list of Wing Commander veterans including Anthony Sommers, Chris Douglas, Cinco Barnes, Jake Rodgers and Reece Thornton. They've worked out an agreement to keep the rights to the "Blackstar" universe, the setting of the MMORPG they had been previously been developing for Richard Garriott's NCSoft.
Their new title, Blackstar Chronicles, will be a traditional single/multiplayer experience which includes Wing Commander-inspired spacecombat and a truly brilliant style of artwork. A beautiful PDF with details on the game can be found here. Here's the official word:
AUSTIN, Texas – May 8, 2008 -- Spacetime Studios, LLC announced today it has acquired the rights to the Blackstar IP from its previous publisher NCsoft. Spacetime Studios, an independent game development studio made up of industry veterans, now fully owns all the tools, technology and intellectual property from their previous publishing deal. Set in the far future, Blackstar is a fresh universe full of wildly original space fighters, horrifying demonic enemies and epic drama. “The IP lends itself to almost any kind of gameplay that one could ask for, and was specifically designed to be a long-term franchise,” said Cinco Barnes, creative director and co-founder of Spacetime Studios. “It’s a nice sweet spot when you own all the puzzle pieces and we now have extraordinary flexibility in where to take the game universe next.”
“After two years of development, the Blackstar universe is quite near and dear to our hearts” said Gary Gattis, executive producer and co-founder of Spacetime Studios. “Owning the IP as well as the engine and tool set puts a tremendous amount of potential in our hands. With all the developed components under the Spacetime team’s control, the options for the IP are diversified.”
The new “Blackstar Chronicles” development underway is a space fantasy combat game based on the single-player traditions of “Wing Commander” and the multiplayer feel of “Descent.” “The Blackstar Chronicles is a very powerful product,” said Jake Rodgers, art director and co-founder of Spacetime Studios. “The Blackstar universe has the potential to be something special and it’s great that we are able to bring the IP to fruition.”
[LOAF] [# 8657] [Discuss (4 comments)]
Making the Game - Part 3
This is a very simple update for introducing a complex subseries. This coversheet represents the Wing V Component Manager Meeting Archive - a series of weekly status updates on all individual parts of the game. Each one includes meeting minutes, talking points, notes, plans for the next week... and since this was the 1990s, a Dilbert cartoon. They're an invaluable tool for learning exactly how the game was developed - and we'll be looking at each one soon.
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Wing V Component Manager Meeting Archive
Download (489 kb)
Date: Unknown
Project: Wing Commander Prophecy
Donated By: Billy Cain
Pages: 1
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[LOAF] [# 8653] [Discuss]
View the scoreboard
Start Your Printers!
Here's some great news for fans of the folded arts: Péricles has released the long-awaited Dralthi IV paper model! It's available here at Paper Commander. What could be next?
[LOAF] [# 8644] [Discuss (15 comments)]
Making the Game - Part 2
Today we have a second take on the Wing Commander Prophecy concept, this one by Captain Johnny himself. It's shorter and less dramatically different - I think everyone will appreciate that this version comes a lot closer to the chosen plan than the Chris Douglas version presented yesterday. It also features a new pilot, an older ship and two alien races, organic ships... as well as many opportunities for reintroducing previous characters as available.
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Wing Commander V plot proposal
Download (543 kb)
Date: Unknown
Project: Wing Commander Prophecy
Donated By: John Guentzel
Pages: 4
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[LOAF] [# 8652] [Discuss (6 comments)]
Making the Game - Part 1
We are proud to present a new daily feature which represents a major part of our mission -- the preservation and study of Wing Commander's history. Thanks to several very generous material donations we have been able to put together an impressive archive of documents relating to the development of Wing Commander Prophecy.
Just over twelve years ago the development team first met to put together a plan for what was then called Wing Commander V. It was a project full of firsts -- the first Wing Commander game designed for the ground up for the PC and the Playstation simultaneously, the first one to include multiplayer and the first one without Chris Roberts at the helm.
We would like to thank Prophecy Lead Billy Cain, Designer Captain Johnny Guentzel and Joe Garrity's Origin Museum for all the help and material provided for this project. We'll be running through all the dated documents in order and then providing a series of interesting undated ones. We will end by looking through Billy Cain's project bible for the game! Lets get started!
Today's document is the earliest yet identified -- so early, in fact, that it dates to just days after Wing Commander IV hit store shelves. This is the first of two rough plot pitches for the game... this one by Chris Douglas, whose artwork defined the style of Wing Commander III and IV. Mr. Douglas didn't go on to continue work on Prophecy... but his story is certainly very interesting.
Obviously the first thing you will notice is how different (and interesting) this pitch is -- military governor Blair, the return of Prince Thrakhath, Lt. Connor White and the TCS Eagle. I think that a close study, however, reveals some similarities -- and gives you a good idea of what basic elements potential script: the new character, the two alien races, the requirement that Blair be included in the story.
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Wing Commander 5 Game Design Document
Download (2.5 mb)
Date: Feb. 15th, 1996
Project: Wing Commander Prophecy
Donated By: John Guentzel
Pages: 15
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[LOAF] [# 8651] [Discuss (16 comments)]
Final Standoff Installment Creeps Closer
The Standoff website has been updated with a progress report on Episode 5, and the Characters page now has entries for Saxman, Popsicle and Henderson. It sounds like they are still hoping for a 2008 release. Here's the official word from Eder:
 Yet again, we've managed to go several months without an update. Honestly, every time we celebrate the release of another episode, it gets a little harder to get back to work ;-). Still, once more into the breach...
That's not to say we have not made progress, though. Although things have been all too quiet lately, Standoff continues to make small steps towards completion - and this time, we're really talking about completion, since finishing this episode means finishing Standoff entirely. And about time :-P.
So, what have we been up to this year? Well, since most of the other graphics are done (you won't see much in the way of new ships this episode :-P ), I've been concentrating on pre-rendered cutscenes. Episode 5 has quite a few of them - indeed, even the intro this time will be pre-rendered, as there was no way this particular intro could be created as an in-game cutscene in any reasonable amount of time. This one will be particularly interesting, you'll see... :-)
In the meantime, Quarto, Pierre and Pedro have been working on missions. I'm actually rather disappointed in their progress - Quarto keeps promising me that next update, I won't have any red left on the progress chart, but... well, see, it's still there, next to in-game cutscenes and fiction :-P. Still, there is steady progress. Just, you know, not much of it. So, if you want to see Standoff's Episode 5 out this year, feel free to drop by the forum and let those lazy bastards know what you think about that... :-P
Oh, and since we don't at the moment have too much to post in screenshots, we've finally updated the characters page, adding profiles for the last three cutscene characters - Saxman, Popsicle and Henderson. That's gotta count for something. :-P
[KrisV] [# 8656] [Discuss (6 comments)]
Built Vak-Tough
JasonRocZ has released yet another new Kilrathi ship for his Collateral Damage Secret Ops mod project. This is the famed Vaktoth heavy fighter, which made a pain of itself throughout Wing Commander III (and an object of slight pity in Wing Commander Prophecy.) These are all amazingly well done and they arrive faster than light... but I'm looking forward to seeing elements of this project beyond just the ships. The Vaktoth is available in both original (left) and stylized (right) versions:
[LOAF] [# 8642] [Discuss (3 comments)]
Countdown to K'tithrak
 Wingnuts are playing through the whole series again and posting their battle accounts to the Forums. The community replay of Wing Commander 2 is now entering its fifth week. This week covers Enigma missions 1-3. Lorien recalls Tesla:
Two weeks later, the Concordia jumps into the Tesla system. The time has just flown by and Sparks comments that she hasn't seen me much lately. I'm really coming to appreciate her no-nonsense approach to the situation as she checks to make sure the thing with Angel is for the right reasons and re-assures me about my importance to the Concordia. After all, Tolwyn hasn't sent me home yet.
Today's mission promises to be an exciting one. There's a Kilrathi listening post in the system and we're to take it out using the single torpedo on an Epee. Delivering a torpedo run in the fragile Epee will be a challenge, but I'm up for it. No, wait, that's someone else's mission. Instead I get to patrol the system with Stingray. Yay. We set off in our Rapiers to find some Jalkehi in the asteroids, I still don't like dogfighting in asteroids but the Jalkehi like it even less. Nav 2 contains a suprise, a Free Trader being bombed by Grikath. Stingray engages one as I swoop in on another in the middle of a torpedo run. My shots arrive just as the torpedo drops off it's mount and detonate it, taking the Grikath with it. Stingray and I double-team the remaining Grikath with Stingray claiming the kill. The Free Trader turns out to be Paladin's Bonnie Heather and we escort it back to the Concordia. No doubt something big is happening. Angel seems distracted as well, keeping herself busy in her work.
- Community Replay - General Discussion
- WC1 Week 1 - Enyo, McAuliffe, Gimle, Gateway, Cheng-du
- WC1 Week 2 - Brimstone, Dakota, Kurasawa, Rostov, Port Hedland, Hubble's Star
- WC1 Week 3 - Venice, Hell's Kitchen, Alternate Paths
- Secret Missions Week 1 - Goddard, Border Zone, Midgard
- Secret Missions Week 2 - Jotunheim, Bifrost
- Secret Missions Week 3 - Valgard, Vigrid
- SM2: Crusade Week 1 - Firekka
- SM2: Crusade Week 2 - Corsair, Near Firekka
- SM2: Crusader Week 3 - Corsair, Charon
- WC2 Week 1 - Gwenydd, Niven
- WC2 Week 2 - Niven, Ghorah Khar
- WC2 Week 3 - Novaya Kiev, Heaven's Gate
- WC2 Week 4 - Heaven's Gate, Tesla
- WC2 Week 5 - Enigma
[KrisV] [# 8655] [Discuss (6 comments)]
The Little Transport That Could
In real life, clydesdales are bred to be as big and strong as possible... but not here! Péricles, the man behind the amazing Paper Commander models, is putting together a Clydesdale transport... a really small one! This adorable paper transport is in testing right now and will be available for download in the near future (they won't all be this small - users will be able to choose between 1/200, 1/700 and 1/1000 scale versions.) The model is based on the 3D version created by Eder for the Wing Commander: Standoff mod.
[LOAF] [# 8643] [Discuss (15 comments)]
Free Republic for Which it Stands
QuailPilot has put pen to paper to scanner and created a neat sketch of a Banshee light fighter in Landreich colors (and in front of a Landreich flag.) A strange choice, but a cool picture!
[LOAF] [# 8646] [Discuss (12 comments)]
All news for May 2008 can be found here.
Older news can be found in the archive.
Wallpapers
Files
SETI@home
Music
Cheats
Links
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Added nineteen wallpapers.
Recent files added.
CIC group stats updated.
Dozens of tracks added.
Prophecy Advance and WC IV Playstation cheats added.
Fifteen links removed, ten updated, fifteen added.
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