GameSpot Interviews Chris Roberts (October 1, 2012)

[AD]

Gamespot has conducted a new interview with Wing Commander creator Chris Roberts. In it, they discuss Roberts' motivations for reentering the game industry and his visions for what's to come. Some of the answers mirror what he first mentioned during the CIC 14th Birthday Party in August. Gamespot has also posted a teaser trailer that features a brief glimpse at a few space fighters!

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Roberts said that the project's visuals may be slightly ahead of what next-generation consoles from Microsoft and Sony will offer, and this visual prowess has always been an aim for the developer. "I want to get back to the roots of what I did in the old days with Wing Commander, which was, if you've got a really badass PC, this is going to show it off," he said.

One way in which Roberts' new game will leverage current technology is through its use of an online component. He said his new game will allow the community to connect in ways that Wing Commander or Freelancer players never could.

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Original update published on October 1, 2012

 

[jjcoolay]

The background music evokes the best of BSG. It runs a chill down my spine with anticipation

 

[centaurianmudpig]

The first couple seconds of the video had me thinking of the WC fanfare, overall it has the same feel to Battlestar Galactica.

 

[Aginor]

Some thoughts:
- I read that interview and there was this paragraph:

One way in which Roberts' new game will leverage current technology is through its use of an online component. He said his new game will allow the community to connect in ways that Wing Commander or Freelancer players never could.

and I was like NOOOOO, please not what I think it is! Please don't! I really hope it is NOT an online game (like in MMO).
An online mode like in StarCraft2 or something would be highly appreciated though. I want co-op and/or arena or whatever, just please don't force me to buy an MMO and not play it (I'm already playing an MMO and don't have time for two of them.)
- Mr Roberts talks about new technology and stuff. I instantly thought about what modern PCs are capable of and was reminded of another space game project I participated in: "Infinity". The I-Novae guys were a bit quiet this year but they said they will release a tech demo of the engine (not the game itself, just the engine they plan on selling), and maybe....
I don't really think it will be the I-Novae engine since they said the demo will come in december or something, but it would be really cool.
- I want Wing Commander! (although it isn't too bad if it isn't WC, I just, you know, WANT IT to be WC!!)

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the project.

 

[Quarto]

and I was like NOOOOO, please not what I think it is! Please don't! I really hope it is NOT an online game (like in MMO).

I think if you can read anything from that one paragraph, it is that the game is not an MMO. Think about it - have you ever heard of anyone talking about an MMO's "online component"?

- Mr Roberts talks about new technology and stuff. I instantly thought about what modern PCs are capable of and was reminded of another space game project I participated in: "Infinity". The I-Novae guys were a bit quiet this year but they said they will release a tech demo of the engine (not the game itself, just the engine they plan on selling), and maybe....

I'm willing to bet (well, not really - no money to spare ) that the game engine is the area Chris Roberts will risk the least on. He's spoken before in interviews about how he hated the need to build an engine for each new game, and how he loves the fact that today you can just use an existing engine. If I really did have money to spare on an actual bet, I would bet on Unreal 4.

 

[LeHah]

I really hope it is NOT an online game (like in MMO).

MMOs are dead. The Old Republic is really what killed them. There is no chance that this is something like that.

 

[Quarto]

Oh, the irony. Here we are, discussing a possible new WC game, or at the very least a new space sim - and declaring that MMOs are dead. And why was the last WC project at Origin cancelled? Hah! Vengeance at last.

(that having been said, I wouldn't really say MMOs are dead; it's just the subscription-based model that's exhausted. There is quite a few free-to-play MMOs out there, and they're not going away)

 

[c0mc0]

Yeah - You have heard of a little game called Guild Wars 2, right? MMOs are alive and well...

In other news, that trailer, if you freeze frame it, features the same twin-tailed fighter that features in the carrier and "New Detroit"/Freelancer concept art pieces.

 

[c0mc0]

- I want Wing Commander! (although it isn't too bad if it isn't WC, I just, you know, WANT IT to be WC!!)

Just read this in the Gamespot interview.

Roberts does not plan to have a publishing partnership with companies like Activision or Electronic Arts for his new game. Rather, the financing for the project has been arranged privately.

Well I guess that settles that, then.

 

[ChrisReid]

Just read this in the Gamespot interview.

Well I guess that settles that, then.

Publishing is different than licensing - it's basically who pays for development and manufacturing, the people who own the process. As we've been posting for the last year or two, Chris Roberts has been going about getting his own private funding. To go back to the Star Giants/Raylight example I posted a week or two back, Wing Commander Prophecy Advance was published by Destingation Games, not Electronic Arts. In theory anyone could license a Wing Commander game under the right contractual terms.

 

[centaurianmudpig]

MMO = Mundane, Monotonous, Obtuse.

Sticking a hot brand on tat don't make you rich, unless you go FPS. Perhaps I'm just having a bad day, I really want the FPS genre to die.

 

[LeHah]

Yeah - You have heard of a little game called Guild Wars 2, right? MMOs are alive and well...

Oh good, yes, you found the exception to prove the rule.

The Old Republic cost an insane sum of money to create. Its done badly and has now reverted to the "free to play" / "pay for premium" package system thats only taken hold after MMOs started to sink. Dark Age Of Camelot, Everquest, Star Trek Online... they're all on the way out. Matrix Online? That Superhero one I can't remember the name of? They're canned. TOR has not only killed the MMO franchise by simply existing, its also proven that you can't break even by outdoing your betters: pour a ton of money into your project and get barely any return. No, this fad is over.

Guild Wars 2 is out and its popular, yeah, but can one game keep a genre alive? Unlikely.

 

[Wojo]

Funny though, Space Combat Sims were some of the earliest 'First Person Perspective' games, weren't they? But yes, I agree, the typical 'gun sticking into the screen from the lower-right corner with some floating magic crosshairs-shooter' is getting a bit tired. Fortunately all soldiers in computergameworld are all right-handed... and shoot from the hip... (and yes I know there are exceptions)

I have to say though I'm a bit worried about the aliens in this game... Vanduul? Come on. They better NOT be aliens with such an obviously human history-contrived name... Next we will be introduced to the Terrah-Wrighst!

 

[LeHah]

Fortunately all soldiers in computergameworld are all right-handed... and shoot from the hip...

With the exception of snipers, most soldiers shoot from the hip in FPS. I've noticed that for the most part.

But the right handed thing? Thats never occured to me until now...

 

[Aginor]

Like Quarto I don't agree with LeHah's point about MMOs. MMOs are a huge market and they will stay a huge market.
But there are changes in that market, actually I think Guild Wars 2 (which I am also playing) may be the MMO that kills the subscription model. It shows that you can make a full-blown MMO without subscription fees. Even though it is not as big as WoW (yet?)
And SWToR (which I also played) shows that only having a popular franchise and a "standard" MMO gameplay is not enough anymore to keep players in the game. You need something more than just a WoW clone gameplay-wise.
But there are still other MMOs in the works. The Elder Scrolls online for example. The market changes, but MMOs are here to stay. In Asia they are even bigger, the company that published GW2 owns half a dozen other MMOs that have _millions_ of players each. WoW is still there (although getting weaker) and there are several other MMOs with 250,000+ players: EVE, AoC, Tera, RoM and Rift, just to name a few.
Even the "failed" SWToR still has 100,000+ players IIRC. It is just far away from the number the publisher expected, more than the whole WC + FreeSpace community combined. So we are certainly not talking about a dead genre here. Declining? Yeah. Dead? No.

Back to topic: I hope you are right, Quarto. But the way I read that paragraph it said something like: "Yeah, Freelancer was cool and all, but it wasn't an online game so you could only play singleplayer stuff, now you can do the same stuff in a world with thousands of other players."
Whatever, I guess we will see. I really hope it is not an MMO, so I think I'd be happy if I understood that wrongly.

@Right-handed stuff: I think there was once a FPS where you could actually adjust that, it may have been Unreal Tournament (the first one).
And in Battlefield or OFP when you aim you lift the gun up. You are still right in most cases.

 

[Dyret]

Err, every MMO after WoW has failed horribly, it's not something invented by ToR.

 

[Wojo]

With the exception of snipers, most soldiers shoot from the hip in FPS. I've noticed that for the most part.

But the right handed thing? Thats never occured to me until now...

Yep. If you grab something that approximates a gun (or, if you're in America, an ACTUAL gun I suppose, heh ) and hold it at your hip and look forward, you won't see it. Floating gun was invented by Doom, which had it central to the player, not at all in any direction. The first game I ever saw with a direction was probably Dark Forces...

Back in the day there was a game called Seal Team - visuals of the weapons were noticably absent. And you picked off enemies when you spotted 3 pixels moving in the distance. Probably one of the most realistic shooters of it's day.

 

[c0mc0]

Publishing is different than licensing - it's basically who pays for development and manufacturing, the people who own the process. As we've been posting for the last year or two, Chris Roberts has been going about getting his own private funding. To go back to the Star Giants/Raylight example I posted a week or two back, Wing Commander Prophecy Advance was published by Destingation Games, not Electronic Arts. In theory anyone could license a Wing Commander game under the right contractual terms.

I understand what you're saying, Chris. But I find it extremely hard to believe that EA would hand over distribution and marketing of one of their more profitable franchises to a 3rd party, even if it is the man who created it in the first place. I'm putting it out here and hoping to be proved wrong in a couple of weeks, but I just can't see a Wing Commander game ever getting published by anyone except EA. Prophecy Advance is a little different - IMHO - as it was never an attempt to revive/reinvent the franchise. Just a side project to take advantage of an idea someone came up with. Much like the GoG releases, I imagine.

As far as private funding - before I heard confirmation that Chris was going to self-publish - or at the very least, avoid the big publishers - I assumed the funding he was seeking was to get his studio running. I saw that as the first hurdle to convincing EA that they should give him a crack at the WC franchise again, not that he was seeking to fund the entire publishing process. Again, I'd love to be proved wrong - and it's interesting talking in this thread with people who already know the answers to this stuff (), but I'd say this bodes poorly for this project being a WC game.

Oh good, yes, you found the exception to prove the rule.

Actually, I simply looked at the latest MMO to be released.

Claiming that a single game "killed the genre" is just silly. ToR has lost EA a lot of money. So what? So did virtually every other MMO that was created since WoW. As has been stated, very few have made a profit, by all accounts. The most you can say about ToR is that it may make EA very shy about investing any money into an MMO in the future, but to suggest that no one will be willing to make MMOs any more is completely without basis.

Free-to-play MMO models are hardly a sign that things are dire. Considering the F2P games are the most profitable games in the mobile and social media stage and that MMOs like DDO gained significant population and profit after switching to the model, not to mention the fact that GW2 was released and designed as F2P from the start suggests that there's a ton of money to be made in this model. Sure, MMOs that are failing because they are not fun/well made will probably try the F2P model as a last ditch effort to recoup some funds, but they will die a natural death - not because the MMO market is dead, but because they weren't well designed games to begin with. ToR is arguably an example of this.

 

[AD]

As far as private funding - before I heard confirmation that Chris was going to self-publish - or at the very least, avoid the big publishers - I assumed the funding he was seeking was to get his studio running. I saw that as the first hurdle to convincing EA that they should give him a crack at the WC franchise again, not that he was seeking to fund the entire publishing process. Again, I'd love to be proved wrong - and it's interesting talking in this thread with people who already know the answers to this stuff (), but I'd say this bodes poorly for this project being a WC game.

Think about what Chris Roberts said in the interview about online components. Combine this with a PC platform and you have Steam... Now I hardly think a game marketed and sold primarily on Steam is going to break the bank in the way you are thinking. Also I think he quite heavily hints at a mostly digital distribution model in that article as well.

 

[c0mc0]

I'm not entirely sure I follow you're point, AD. I have no doubt that digital distribution would be far, far cheaper than a bricks and mortar approach with boxed copies etc. I think that's highly likely, given Chris is talking about adding to the game over time post release. I was merely saying that I don't think EA would hand over distribution to someone else. Why would they? If the game is as good as everyone hopes it will be (WC or not...), then it would be a massive boon for EA and their own Origin platform.