Flyable ships?

Is this project wing commander living universe (with fuzzy edges like time lines and such), or wing commander collection of mini games universe? Or are we not going to use (psudo) real time? I personally think that sticking to a X happens in Z year is the worst mistake you can make. I do think that most (if not all) the major events should happen but forcing a time line would be railroading the player. I personally belive that if all the major events happen in more or less the same order then the exact dates shouldn't be that important. Though some events (galaxy spanning wars and such) should happen based on a speicifc time and if the player misses it (after much hints and prodding) then he missis it too bad so sad.

Well thats at least one example I can think of that sticking to the canon would be a mistake (did I use it correctly? been 36 hours no sleep and a little hypothermia from riding all night).
 
my understanding is that he universe would run in a form of real time, only that on specific dates, the specific battles would happen, for that one day all the stuff that needs to be there would be there, and then back to wherever it was. or things in the universe would be scripted to slowly move to where they need to be, be it that key system, or whatever. I'd imagine that the idea is, instead of being some hero type character, you're not really important at all to the overall. the battles will be setup to go exactly as they actually did, and then from there things go on. We all know how it ends, you get to make yourself a living inside of the result.
 
Is this project wing commander living universe (with fuzzy edges like time lines and such), or wing commander collection of mini games universe? Or are we not going to use (psudo) real time? I personally think that sticking to a X happens in Z year is the worst mistake you can make. I do think that most (if not all) the major events should happen but forcing a time line would be railroading the player. I personally belive that if all the major events happen in more or less the same order then the exact dates shouldn't be that important. Though some events (galaxy spanning wars and such) should happen based on a speicifc time and if the player misses it (after much hints and prodding) then he missis it too bad so sad.
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Well, obviously we would have to get a team together to discuss exactly what the game should be.

My theory is that the basic idea behind Wing Commander Universe is that we're building the playground. We would want to release a game with the capacity to do anything Wing Commander has ever done: the ships are all there, the gameplay is all there, etc. The actual 'game' that comes with the release would be Privateer writ large -- the Privateer experience expanded to fill out the rest of the universe. The idea of having 600 years of Wing Commander history going on in the background never really appealed to me because it's a whole lot of work for very little payoff. Set the base game at one given time (2669, I suppose) and expend effort to create new and innovative gameplay instead of a weird game that takes ten years to get from one point to another.

Just as important, though, we'd want to make 'soft modding' easy to do. Give people a mission editor where they can easily create their own scenarios or missions just from the resources available in the game. Want Tayla to send you on a mission to blow up a Ralatha? Well, her face and the ship are in there and the game lets you put them together with ease. Wing Commander Universe would be a big 3D storytelling tool for anyone whose ever wanted to share a Wing Commander story or a Wing Commander mission. We'd use this tool to accomplish the promised "historical" Wing Commander Universe -- have the game release with a series of historical scenarios that let you play missions from the games and novels and whatnot in the Wing Commander Universe engine.
 
That sounds like a reasonable set of basic parameters. I'd be willing to offer my assistance as a Graphics Artist/Ship/Set Modeller.
 
hehehe, if you think you can work for a detail specific 3d lead like me, sure :)
 
Hey if spiritplumber needs a traditional artist, count me in. I've decided that I need a hobby to consume a lot of me free time during the summer between work and minimal schooling.
 
hey... sorry i've been away v_v i'm trying to get the asteroids and the capship AI just right.

What I would like to do is basically do my bit. If you want me to be in charge of this thing.... well thanks *blushies* I'll do my best. If you want someone else to be in charge just tell them...

about canon.... I think it should always take 2nd place to playability... right now the Drayman isn't playable without turrets so until we have good escort code, the turrets stay... they're easier to remove than to re-add later anyway :)

anyway ^^; the big thing right now is WE NEED INTERIORS FOR ALL THE NEW BASES (including kitty bases!)

As to how I "see" WCU: First off I see it as a framework where people can code their own plots and punch them in. This said... well the player is DEFINITELY not Blair or another superhero. He's some guy who's (hopefully) good at flying and has business sense. I wanted to take cues from the canceled Privateer game/tv series combo if anything...

As to when... I'd say wc2/wc3. I think that post - Kilrathi War removes a lot of the feel for the game. I also think that the whole Nephilim thing was tacky. I finally think that someone'll make a Neph add-on to THIS add-on anyway :) just not me.
 
You didn't really address any of the pretty sweeping issues we've been discussing in this thread...
 
Bandit LOAF said:
My theory is that the basic idea behind Wing Commander Universe is that we're building the playground. We would want to release a game with the capacity to do anything Wing Commander has ever done: the ships are all there, the gameplay is all there, etc.



The actual 'game' that comes with the release would be Privateer writ large -- the Privateer experience expanded to fill out the rest of the universe. The idea of having 600 years of Wing Commander history going on in the background never really appealed to me because it's a whole lot of work for very little payoff. Set the base game at one given time (2669, I suppose) and expend effort to create new and innovative gameplay instead of a weird game that takes ten years to get from one point to another.

Just as important, though, we'd want to make 'soft modding' easy to do. Give people a mission editor where they can easily create their own scenarios or missions just from the resources available in the game. Want Tayla to send you on a mission to blow up a Ralatha? Well, her face and the ship are in there and the game lets you put them together with ease. Wing Commander Universe would be a big 3D storytelling tool for anyone whose ever wanted to share a Wing Commander story or a Wing Commander mission. We'd use this tool to accomplish the promised "historical" Wing Commander Universe -- have the game release with a series of historical scenarios that let you play missions from the games and novels and whatnot in the Wing Commander Universe engine.
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I agree with you on all this!!! That's what I wanted to do in the first place -- get the universe to the point where, well, it's dynamic and lives WITHOUT player intervention (cargo ships shuttle between bases, fleet of capships move around and fight, etc). The player can roam around and fit in (or, say, blow up a bunch of capships/bases and change the outcome of the war in that sector, IF the player is good enough and has the money) or follow a plot. Land on New Detroit? Starts the Steltek plot. Land on Munchen? Starts the AWACS plot. Land on Jolson after the Steltek plot is over? Start the RF plot. Land on the Concordia when it's in the Enigma Sector? Start a plot that requires flying for confed, in confed ships, and looks somewhat like WC2. And so on... :)

We're really only disagreeing over trivial things here... like... i said i'm not removing turrets from drays becaue it takes 1 keystroke to do so if we settle on it, and it takes a lot more than that to put them back in with no backups if I remove them now and we change our mind.

as to who is the boss around here... i don't know and don't care :p i know i've punched in a bunch of ships and got the asteroids to mine right, and now i'm doing AI, and we need someone to do base interiors. If we need a boss for this, eh, whatever, step right up.
 
Okay, great. Lets set up and promote a design conference with the goal of organizing a team and putting together a specific project outline.

In Wing Commander, the term is "SWACS" instead of "AWACS" -- Prophecy introduced them.
 
Design conference with the goal of organizing a team... Dude, cut the dilbert speak. :p

In plain English: Let's get on IRC or messenger or whatever and talk.

AWACS in this case stands for Armed Workers Against Corporate Slavery.
 
*chuckles* It would be rather silly to call it 'AWACS' in Wing Commander, considering what the 'A' is for.

-thehawk
 
Well, more than just you and I on IRC (I'm in #WingNut 24/7)... we should promote the discussion at wcnews.com and try to attract as many voices as possible.

If we treat it like a professional project, it'll create a unified team that believes in whatever end result is decided on.
 
If we treat it like a professional project I'm so off it the instant it's not fun anymore :p seriously though... what server is #wingnut on?

About who makes the rules... I vote for Michelle. She's good at being a leader and bossing people around. And since she doesn't have a job right now it may give her something to do.
 
I don't think I've ever had more fun than I have helping out professional Wing Commander projects!

#WingNut is on irc.wcnews.com
 
spiritplumber said:
About who makes the rules... I vote for Michelle. She's good at being a leader and bossing people around. And since she doesn't have a job right now it may give her something to do.
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Michelle?
 
It would be nice to IRC with everyone. I know I can be a pain in the @$$ but I am willing to help out where ever I can. I have a decient background in game design (D&D DM, MUD builder, and Im the type of guy that buys game books just to read them and enjoy the systems, currently Im enjoying FUDGE, I also use to lurk on the forge forums for indi RPG design). It would be nice to have a list of goals to work with so we can just grab a job and submit work to be added to the trunk.
 
spiritplumber said:
Michelle is my roommate. She is a born leader, she's beautiful, and she is a wonderful artist.
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The only one of those things I'm not is your roomate.

But I am a bonafide Wing Commander expert with design experience and ten years of community leadership under my belt.
 
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