Ask Chris Roberts

frostytheplebe

frostytheplebe

Seventh Part of the Seal
If You could ask Chris Roberts one thing, like say you met him and got the opportunity to ask him one question, be it about Wing Commander or one of his other marvels. What would it be? Why?

Me: Why make Jazz the traitor? Why not Bossman (conditioned during his capture) or better yet KNIGHT. Why make the best wing man in the game the bad guy!?
 
Me: Why make Jazz the traitor? Why not Bossman (conditioned during his capture) or better yet KNIGHT. Why make the best wing man in the game the bad guy!?
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The idea that Bossman might have been a POW is something fans came up with after the movie and which still hasn't been recognized anywhere... so it wouldn't be something a writer could refer to in 1991.

In short, though, Jazz was created to be the traitor - Secret Missions 2 was written specifically to introduce the character for that eventual purpose (which is *why* he's the best wingman - so you'll have a challenge when you fight him later).
 
frostytheplebe said:
If You could ask Chris Roberts one thing, like say you met him and got the opportunity to ask him one question, be it about Wing Commander or one of his other marvels. What would it be? Why?

Me: Why make Jazz the traitor? Why not Bossman (conditioned during his capture) or better yet KNIGHT. Why make the best wing man in the game the bad guy!?
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"Are you making another WC game?" Then keep asking the question until he finally says Yes and puts it into production. :D

No, I think I'd ask him about why he did the traitor-type storylines so much. In the beginning, we had Jazz (which DID surprise me right off when Angel put it together in the narrative), then we go to the Mandarin angle after WC2 (which seems like rather the same type of thing), so when Hobbes killed Cobra it didn't surprise me much. Finally, when Tolwyn up and became the mastermind behind mass murder, it disappointed me...it just never sat right that Tolwyn would take such a drastic shift of character in going from hard-ass but honorable admiral to being the Grim Reaper of civilians. I understand the attempt at shock factor when that was revealed, but...I dunno. I just never really much liked it.
 
Roberts left EA in 1996, after WC4 published, to pursue his Hollywood dreams and establish Digital Anvil.

Did WC4 have "A Chris Robert's Game" attached to it?
 
My question would be, 'If you had a second chance, would you still have done the WC movie knowing what you know now?'
 
Roberts didn't work on Prophecy though, did he?
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He did not. Rod Nakamoto (Sega Interactive) took over as Executive Producer on Wing Commander Prophecy and Adam Foshko directed the film shoot (he started doing Second Unit duties on WC3).

"Are you making another WC game?" Then keep asking the question until he finally says Yes and puts it into production.
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Not up to him, unfortunately -- we need Electronic Arts to sponsor such a project first. Feel free to write them...

My question would be, 'If you had a second chance, would you still have done the WC movie knowing what you know now?'
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I'm not sure what you're thinking he knows now. The Wing Comander movie lead directly to the Hollywood career he always wanted.
 
Bandit LOAF said:
He has repeatedly said he would.
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:( I have mixed feelings about another Wing Commander game possibility. Though I admit the aspect would be exciting.

There is such a thing as overkill.

Examples:
Movies:

The Rambo Series was great... then they had to come out with the pointless 4th movie.

The Rocky Series: well everything went down hill after 4.

Terminator: Enough Already!

Star Wars: This clone wars crap is really over kill.

Video Games:

Final Fantasy: There is only so many things you can do with the same type of game play before it gets old.

Street Fighter/ Mortal Kombat: Does anyone even really play these anymore? They come out with new ones, and within a few weeks, there are a million used copies on sale for half the price.

I think I'll stop there, but there are a million more examples.
 
frostytheplebe said:
:( I have mixed feelings about another Wing Commander game possibility. Though I admit the aspect would be exciting.

There is such a thing as overkill.

Examples:
Movies:

The Rambo Series was great... then they had to come out with the pointless 4th movie.

The Rocky Series: well everything went down hill after 4.

Terminator: Enough Already!

Star Wars: This clone wars crap is really over kill.

Video Games:

Final Fantasy: There is only so many things you can do with the same type of game play before it gets old.

Street Fighter/ Mortal Kombat: Does anyone even really play these anymore? They come out with new ones, and within a few weeks, there are a million used copies on sale for half the price.

I think I'll stop there, but there are a million more examples.
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Well, I'm not so sure about this.

For one thing, the WC universe is expansive enough that prequel games would not be out of the question.

I think that a lot of the problem with the franchises that you have mentioned is that their final iterations were more of a whoring out of the title name instead of great games.

It gets to a point where the producers are simply making games/movies because they know that they can get one more buy out of the name before they can it.

WC hasn't gotten to that point yet (although some would argue about Arena, that is for a different discussion) and I believe could make a comeback under the right circumstances. Honestly, prior to Arena, the WC community has not seen a new game in 10+ years, yet still has a thriving fan base! Pretty amazing, if you ask me.
 
frostytheplebe said:
:( I have mixed feelings about another Wing Commander game possibility. Though I admit the aspect would be exciting.

There is such a thing as overkill.

Examples:
Movies:

The Rambo Series was great... then they had to come out with the pointless 4th movie.

The Rocky Series: well everything went down hill after 4.

Terminator: Enough Already!

Star Wars: This clone wars crap is really over kill.

Video Games:

Final Fantasy: There is only so many things you can do with the same type of game play before it gets old.

Street Fighter/ Mortal Kombat: Does anyone even really play these anymore? They come out with new ones, and within a few weeks, there are a million used copies on sale for half the price.

I think I'll stop there, but there are a million more examples.
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If done properly any series can continue to do well.

WC is definitely one of those series that has done incredibly well over the 8 iterations and 5 add-ons.

There have been minor mis-steps along the way, but all in all the games have retained a great amount of quality, and all of the ones that involved storylines had very quality storylines behind them.

I think if the same attention to detail were to be given to an eventual new game, it would only lead to another quality game.
 
J "Phantom" D said:
I think if the same attention to detail were to be given to an eventual new game, it would only lead to another quality game.
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Considering the level of detail the people at Gaia put into Arena (which was incredible, even without S*S just look at the maps!) I think we could only expect something of the highest caliber.

Hell even if Gaia only created S*S I would have still paid for just the manual in a heartbeat! It's one of the greatest additions to WC canon ever.
 
What was it like to work with [Person X]?

([Person X] would be any number of people - from Mark Hamill to Kevin Kiner to any number of people whom he worked with over the course of the series. Who the person I'd name depends on my mood, I guess.)
 
At what moment did he [Mr. Roberts] know he had a winning formula on his hands? When did the realization set in that this was the beginning of something special?

Obviously, everyone working on the project must have been excited about it. But there had to have been something that sent everyone over the edge. Was it hearing reviewers' feedback? Looking at sales figures?
 
Dundradal said:
Considering the level of detail the people at Gaia put into Arena (which was incredible, even without S*S just look at the maps!) I think we could only expect something of the highest caliber.

Hell even if Gaia only created S*S I would have still paid for just the manual in a heartbeat! It's one of the greatest additions to WC canon ever.
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Perhaps... we'll just have to wait and see.
 
frostytheplebe said:
Perhaps... we'll just have to wait and see.
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Well really, is it worth saying 'No more Wing Commander' because there might be a bad game in the future? Probably not, we have an incredibly kickass series of games, there's nothing hinting that any future releases would be bad. Arena really shows EA cared to put time and effort in. I'd much rather take new WC games with the (*extremely* unlikely) chance that they'll be bad over the loss of my favorite game series.
 
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