Preacher
Swabbie
Banned
Hello, all.
I've been a "Wing" fan since late 1995, when I bought a copy of WC III. I found the graphics and gameplay superb, and of course the story line most compelling. So much so that I determined to buy any & all previous WC games I could get my hands on, to be able to see (& experience firsthand) for myself the PRIOR episodes in this great saga. I find the evolution in graphics engines (both for general gameplay and combat in particular) over the 9 years' time to be fascinating. Each succeeding game in the series has shown more improvements of various kinds, but especially graphics, than the ones before it. Nowhere is this MORE evident or obvious than in the difference between WC III and the ones that came before it . When Origin/EA released "WC: The Kilrathi Saga" a couple years ago (the only WC title I DON'T yet have...), I was heartened to hear about it, but soon saw that it wasn't quite what I'd expected. While it was good that they released this compilation of the first 3 episodes in 1 package optimized for Win 95, I guess I was expecting more. Specifically, I was hoping/expecting that there'd be more "new & improved" features to this new release.
I was hoping specifically that they'd taken the first 2 games and basically "re-done" them so that the combat (and perhaps the rest of the gameplay's) graphics were more "state of the art"; more equivalent to the gameplay/combat graphics in WC 3&4. In short, I was thinking that perhaps they'd remade the first 2 games with WC3's graphics engine. How awesome that would be, I thought to myself. I didn't necessarily expect as complete an overhaul in the gameflow graphics (--I'm sure it'd be prohibitively expensive to use FMV and live actors) to go back and reshoot cutscenes from the first 2 games. Nonetheless, I was at least expecting to see more sophisticated animation, so the cutscenes/etc. would be less "cartoonish" looking. I was disappointed to see that the main thing "new" about WC: KS was simply that it's all 3 in one place, and optimized for Win95.
Now some people who've been Wing fans from the start & have followed it over the years of its evolution would probably say to me that they wouldn't WANT to see that happen, because they see a certain charm or sense of nostalgia in the evolution of the game from the beginning till now. I respect that sentiment, but I'm not one of those folks. I'm from the camp that came to Wing in the middle of things; when it'd just made the transition over to "modern" graphics and FMV. I'd love to see the first 2 games redone in the way I described above, for then all 5 of the games would have more
cohesiveness, more of a "flow", more of a sense of continuity to them, esp. as one "plays through" from WC to WC Prophecy.
To that end, I have a suggestion. I at first suggested this to Origin/EA, but received no response. I then farmed it out to Mario ("Hcl"), but shortly after he got the e-mail, he "went into hiding" to take/finish his University exams. While he is back now, I nonetheless throw this question out to all of you: Though it is perhaps a daunting and "undo-able" task, what do you all think: Wouldn't it be great if you (or a consortium of programmer-type WC fans like yourselves) could come up with, essentially, retooled "versions" of WC1 & 2?... The fact that you've expended so much effort to import and convert ships from the older games into WCP tells me that y'all might be interested in something like this. It'd probably be easy enough, once all the ship models from an earlier game were converted to the WCP game engine, to simply recreate the missions from any/either of the earlier games.
The more significant challenge here would be for someone (or more than likely, a few someones) to be able to retool the REMAINDER of the first 2 games' interfaces. I see 2 major obstacles/challenges here. The first challenge would be to come up with more updated (that is, more realistic & lifelike) animation for the cutscenes. Something along the lines of the cutscene animation found in, say, "Cyberia 2: The Resurrection" comes to mind.... The remaining major obstacle (probably less of a challenge than that first one) would be to come up with photorealistic "action" areas within the game where the player interacts w/ the game interface (clicking a character to "talk" to them in the ship's bar/lounge, clicking on a bunk in the barracks to save or load a game, etc., in the first game as examples).
Anyway, that's just an overview of a new thing I'd like to see happen in the Wing Commander universe; one that hasn't yet been suggested, to my knowledge. Please write back and let me know what you think of this idea, whether or not you think it'd be do-able, whether of not someone's already tried this before (or IS working on it now), and any other response you may have to this e-mail. I'm very curious to hear your take on this. I hope to hear back from you in the near future. Thanx.
-Preacher
I've been a "Wing" fan since late 1995, when I bought a copy of WC III. I found the graphics and gameplay superb, and of course the story line most compelling. So much so that I determined to buy any & all previous WC games I could get my hands on, to be able to see (& experience firsthand) for myself the PRIOR episodes in this great saga. I find the evolution in graphics engines (both for general gameplay and combat in particular) over the 9 years' time to be fascinating. Each succeeding game in the series has shown more improvements of various kinds, but especially graphics, than the ones before it. Nowhere is this MORE evident or obvious than in the difference between WC III and the ones that came before it . When Origin/EA released "WC: The Kilrathi Saga" a couple years ago (the only WC title I DON'T yet have...), I was heartened to hear about it, but soon saw that it wasn't quite what I'd expected. While it was good that they released this compilation of the first 3 episodes in 1 package optimized for Win 95, I guess I was expecting more. Specifically, I was hoping/expecting that there'd be more "new & improved" features to this new release.
I was hoping specifically that they'd taken the first 2 games and basically "re-done" them so that the combat (and perhaps the rest of the gameplay's) graphics were more "state of the art"; more equivalent to the gameplay/combat graphics in WC 3&4. In short, I was thinking that perhaps they'd remade the first 2 games with WC3's graphics engine. How awesome that would be, I thought to myself. I didn't necessarily expect as complete an overhaul in the gameflow graphics (--I'm sure it'd be prohibitively expensive to use FMV and live actors) to go back and reshoot cutscenes from the first 2 games. Nonetheless, I was at least expecting to see more sophisticated animation, so the cutscenes/etc. would be less "cartoonish" looking. I was disappointed to see that the main thing "new" about WC: KS was simply that it's all 3 in one place, and optimized for Win95.
Now some people who've been Wing fans from the start & have followed it over the years of its evolution would probably say to me that they wouldn't WANT to see that happen, because they see a certain charm or sense of nostalgia in the evolution of the game from the beginning till now. I respect that sentiment, but I'm not one of those folks. I'm from the camp that came to Wing in the middle of things; when it'd just made the transition over to "modern" graphics and FMV. I'd love to see the first 2 games redone in the way I described above, for then all 5 of the games would have more
cohesiveness, more of a "flow", more of a sense of continuity to them, esp. as one "plays through" from WC to WC Prophecy.
To that end, I have a suggestion. I at first suggested this to Origin/EA, but received no response. I then farmed it out to Mario ("Hcl"), but shortly after he got the e-mail, he "went into hiding" to take/finish his University exams. While he is back now, I nonetheless throw this question out to all of you: Though it is perhaps a daunting and "undo-able" task, what do you all think: Wouldn't it be great if you (or a consortium of programmer-type WC fans like yourselves) could come up with, essentially, retooled "versions" of WC1 & 2?... The fact that you've expended so much effort to import and convert ships from the older games into WCP tells me that y'all might be interested in something like this. It'd probably be easy enough, once all the ship models from an earlier game were converted to the WCP game engine, to simply recreate the missions from any/either of the earlier games.
The more significant challenge here would be for someone (or more than likely, a few someones) to be able to retool the REMAINDER of the first 2 games' interfaces. I see 2 major obstacles/challenges here. The first challenge would be to come up with more updated (that is, more realistic & lifelike) animation for the cutscenes. Something along the lines of the cutscene animation found in, say, "Cyberia 2: The Resurrection" comes to mind.... The remaining major obstacle (probably less of a challenge than that first one) would be to come up with photorealistic "action" areas within the game where the player interacts w/ the game interface (clicking a character to "talk" to them in the ship's bar/lounge, clicking on a bunk in the barracks to save or load a game, etc., in the first game as examples).
Anyway, that's just an overview of a new thing I'd like to see happen in the Wing Commander universe; one that hasn't yet been suggested, to my knowledge. Please write back and let me know what you think of this idea, whether or not you think it'd be do-able, whether of not someone's already tried this before (or IS working on it now), and any other response you may have to this e-mail. I'm very curious to hear your take on this. I hope to hear back from you in the near future. Thanx.
-Preacher
; I'd be happy to see the 1st 2 stories told in a medium comparable to WC3 ("Alias" engine, as I understand it). A |more modern engine would thus be a "plus". 
