Making the Games: Wing Commander IV Sketches (October 28, 2008)

Bandit LOAF

Bandit LOAF

Long Live the Confederation!
Today we have more behind-the-screens material from Wing Commander IV: six early sketches of the game's various spacecraft. These are really cool - a length for the Black Lance transport, a more streamlined Dragon... a Bearcat with a different name ("Cougar")! In order, they are: Avenger bomber, Banshee light fighter, Black Lance transport, Bearcat, Lance (Dragon) and Durango (BWS Intrepid).

Thanks to Captain Johnny for both archiving and providing this material!







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Original update published on October 28, 2008
 
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I just love concept art.
Thing I noticed is while all other ships look very much like in the concept the Dragon looks different. While I prefere the final version this one also looks quite interesting.
Mh just noticed that the Bearcat was first named cougar. Would also be a good choice. Wonder what made them change the name.
 
gevatter Lars said:
Thing I noticed is while all other ships look very much like in the concept the Dragon looks different. While I prefere the final version this one also looks quite interesting.
Click to expand...

Notice how the nose of the Dragon sketch is similar to Prophecy's Vampire fighter. Hint, hint!
 
You can also see the Panther body as the fuselage -- interesting stuff.

Also, it feels a lot more like the "developed from the Excalibur" idea attached to the Dragon/Lance in the script (and then novel).

For my part I don't think I've ever found the finished version all that sexy -- it has a neat color scheme, but the actual fighter looks kind of like an overpowered rowboat. And it's *huge*!
 
Bandit LOAF said:
You can also see the Panther body as the fuselage -- interesting stuff.

Also, it feels a lot more like the "developed from the Excalibur" idea attached to the Dragon/Lance in the script (and then novel).

For my part I don't think I've ever found the finished version all that sexy -- it has a neat color scheme, but the actual fighter looks kind of like an overpowered rowboat. And it's *huge*!
Click to expand...

Wow, seeing the connections in the Lance is pretty cool.

I always thought the Lance looked like a crate with a nose and wings attached.
 
I agree , the Concept Dragon ,looks great. It feels more "right" than the actual one.Closer to the Excalibur as you already said but also it looks very close to
the new range of Confed Fighters we see on Prophecy. It could be a great "link" between the generations of Fighters


Edit: Is there any Concept of the actual Dragon that made it ??
 
gevatter Lars said:
Mh just noticed that the Bearcat was first named cougar. Would also be a good choice. Wonder what made them change the name.
Click to expand...
Bearcat makes more sense as a reference - you know, historically the Bearcat followed the Hellcat...

And speaking of which - wow, with the "medium fighter" tag on this sketch, I suddenly realised that the Bearcat does look like the follow-up to the Hellcat. Wonder if they ever actually thought about having the Bearcat as the main Confed fighter from the start of the game.

Also - I guess we finally know where the Banshee got its "heavy fighter" classification...
 
Bandit LOAF said:
Also, it feels a lot more like the "developed from the Excalibur" idea attached to the Dragon/Lance in the script (and then novel).
Click to expand...

ScoobyDoo said:
Saved the Cougar for future use, I like the design. The Dragon is too confusing for me.
Click to expand...

I can almost see the resemblance more in the Bearcat here as a descendant of the Excalibur. It looks a bit like a tough light Excalibur, which is similar to the role it plays in WC4.
 
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