Happy Birthday from Billy Cain (September 8, 2007)

[Bandit LOAF]

A few weeks ago we asked veteran Wing Commander Prophecy developers to say a few words in honor of the game's tenth anniversary. Now Lead Designer Billy Cain has answered the call. He's really gone all out, giving us a big history of the entire production! Check it out - it clears up a lot of questions fans have had about the production:

"Wing Commander: Prophecy was a really awesome experience for everyone involved. As the lead designer, I guess I have a few secrets I can tell about the 'making of.'

A little about what's happened to me since shipping WC: P. After Prophecy shipped, we were working on a game called Battle Cry, which was to be a 3D spiritual successor to Golden Axe, with an epic story. The Ultima honchos decided it was too much like Ultima, so it lost executive support at just the same time I was offered a job at another company. I don't like to leave in the middle of anything, so I told the team at EA and Origin that I had a great offer and that if they would like me to stay on, I would be glad to, but they could not match what I was being offered. I went to another company for a few years and worked on Crimson Order, a 3D Tactical Squad Based Real-Time Strategy / Action game. It was coming together and we had gotten a ton of great press when the owner of the company shut us down after a lawsuit (settled out of court) with his backers.

After that, I signed on with Kalisto, who were working on Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius for PS2 and GC. We were in the middle of negotiations for SpongeBob SquarePants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman, which we eventually got and I produced for PS2 and GC. During the production, Kalisto France (our parent company) closed their doors and we went independent and re-named the company BigSky Interactive. However we were not able to set up another gig to follow SpongeBob and Jimmy, so we closed our doors, found everyone jobs, and exited gracefully. SpongeBob went on to win Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Game of the Year and did very well. We were very proud of what we accomplished in 11 months on it.

After a couple of months, Matt Scibilia, Grant Pimpler and I (all ex-BigSky) decided to open a studio (Critical Mass Interactive, Inc., or CMI) that catered to the type of productions that we did at BigSky Interactive, which used over 60% contractors to keep costs down and morale high. We were sick of the ridiculous turnover after going into QA, so we set up clearly defined deliverables for our contractors and they delivered! We believed in this model so much that we built our new business around it - except this time, we were managing contractors for other studios.

This model has been very successful for us, and even though Grant got married and left the business, Matt and I have kept CMI going through thick and thin since early 2003. You can read tons of background about all of this at www.criticalmassinteractive.com.

But back to why I was asked to speak here. Wing Commander. Let's put the game into perspective. Chris Roberts had created Wing III because it allowed him to do the movies he wanted to make and it was among the first games to really use CDs to their potential. It had a side-effect of capitalizing and driving the growing PC-CD market. It was a huge success. EA wanted... nay demanded... a sequel to it and they wanted it by the next Christmas season. So, Chris said no and they said yes. This was the beginning of the end. Chris went to Hollywood and started shooting without a complete script (not the best idea), shot on film (extremely expensive), and EA went ballistic. Origin was working on the game engine to ensure delivery of a game, but also delivery of a game that could be translated easily. You see, in order to ship Wing III on time - many things were hard-coded to work in English. Artwork that could have been multi-lingual needed to be coded so that it would work. Yes, this made translation next to impossible, but it shipped on time. A miracle by all accounts. But Wing IV had 2 imperatives - ship on time and be easy to translate. The team did it.

Then Chris left EA / Origin.

It was at this point that the future of Wing Commander was in jeopardy. He had a non-compete, I believe, so he couldn't hire away any of the team for a while so this was the chance to create Wing Commander V. The team knew how to make a Wing, but needed direction and focus. This took a while. At the beginning, there was a Wing PlayStation team (that I was responsible for) that was working alongside the PC team. Phil Wattenbarger was the lead designer on the PC side, and I was the Associate Producer for the PS team. Two things happened relatively near one another: Phil announced that he was leaving and EA budget cuts meant that we had to fire the PS team. I was asked to take over Phil's position and to remove the PS team. That was one of the hardest things I had ever done in my life.

It was at this point that we needed to lay down some ground rules as to what constituted a Wing Commander game. I didn't want to lead the design as a 'whim,' I wanted to do it the best I could with feedback from all the major players - since I had never 'designed' a Wing from scratch before. I sat in the 'War Room' with all the major players from the previous Wings and had them describe what they thought Wing Commander was until I had it distilled into a cohesive outline.

I felt it was critical to get the game back to its roots of arcade 'gameplay first' and get away from a keyboard with a million buttons to press, so I spent weeks designing everything about the interface to revolve around the fewest button presses possible. I made it so that the script called for all the 'required' movies to play automatically while players cycled from the Rec Room to the Briefing Room. If there was an 'extra' movie, they would be attached to the 'postage stamp' animations that you see sitting at tables or standing at the bar, etc. The reason that this was done was because on Wing IV, there were too many letters from fans saying that they couldn't find the right person to talk to that would 'turn on' the mission. This was completely unacceptable. In fact, many of the changes to the game came from the post-mortems of Wing III and Wing IV. These documents were put together by the QA and CS teams after the game shipped for use internally, but they were crucial for creating the initial design for Wing V.

Other changes were little noticed, but I believe were critical to a more mainstream success of Wing Commander. Players no longer needed to radio their main capital ship and ask for clearance to land. You got near the ship and it happened automatically. Of course for purists, we left in the option to turn this off and do it the other way, but I don't believe many people did that after experiencing it the other way. We also added an option to 'turn off movies,' and in order to back that up, we added an in-flight reminder movie to tell you what your mission is. This turned out to be a great idea because the GBA version could use those lines and it fit the property well. Changing your power distribution was as easy as pressing one button and moving your joystick, but this wasn't necessarily required.

All in all, I was happy with the general direction of the game.

There are literally hours of stories that can provide some insight into the game's production and lifecycle. Here are a couple of highlights...

We were under the schedule gun from the very start. Christmas or bust. At the beginning, EA's sales expectations were very low and they did not even expect to sell over 200k copies. This affected team size, morale, budget, and the movie budget.

We had to make the budgetary pain from Wing IV go away for EA. This was a constant pressure throughout our production.

Our E3 "behind the scenes" showing literally doubled the sales figures based upon support from the retailers that saw it.

The original script was much longer, but EA cut our movie budget from something like $6 million to $1 million. This meant that we had to cut tons of original content and go to lots of reused shots. It might have been different if we had a locked budget from the beginning, but we had to make those cuts. Players noticed the lack of a great script and this was the main reason for it. We had to make do with what we had. And I am still proud of what we accomplished given those resources.

All in all, Wing Commander: Prophecy is one of the games I've worked on that I am most proud of for many reasons. We shipped in time for Christmas (barely), we made a game that is fun to play, and we did it all in spite of all the obstacles that were in our way. Now I just need a 3DFX card and an old machine so I can see it the way it's supposed to be seen.

If anyone wants to contact me for consultations, speaking engagements, or work on their game titles, please contact me through www.criticalmassinteractive.com.

Sincerely,
Billy Cain

Thanks so much; this is so much more work than I expected! You can also read previous birthday notes from J. Allen Brack, Sean Murphy and George Oldziey.

--
Original update published on September 8, 2007

 

[Wedge009]

That was a great story. I realise there's little point in going over the 'what-ifs' of history, but I wonder how Prophecy would have fared with six times the movie budget. I played Prophecy before WC3 and WC4, and I still find the gameplay aspects to be the best of all the WCs, but if the movie part of the game was even better...

This meant that we had to cut tons of original content and go to lots of reused shots.

I know there are several Prophecy story drafts in the document archives, but do we have any idea what the huge cuts to the story might have included?

 

[Mekt-Hakkikt]

I agree with Wedge wholeheartedly.

Though one question:

Players no longer needed to radio their main capital ship and ask for clearance to land. You got near the ship and it happened automatically. Of course for purists, we left in the option to turn this off and do it the other way, but I don't believe many people did that after experiencing it the other way.

You could manually ask for landing in WCP?

 

[Pedro]

Again I agree with Wedge. I absolutely adore the gameplay in Prophecy, it controls wonderfully and was a very satisfying experience, but having gotten hooked on the series thanks to IV's superb storytelling it was... a let down would be inaccurate as I loved the game, more like an anti-climax.
It would have been amazing to see with six times the budget, I dare say I would be listing it as my favourite title of all time instead of Wing IV.

 

[Quarto]

You could manually ask for landing in WCP?

Yep. There was no point in doing it, though, since you just got the same answer as you did when you asked automatically.

 

[Mekt-Hakkikt]

Ok, yes - I misphrased that. I remember that you could switch to the comm VDU and "Request landing" would be an option - entirely silly, since, IIRC, Casey asked for permission to land quite shortly after arriving at the Midway navpoint.

But in the Billy Cain text, it says (emphasis mine):

Of course for purists, we left in the option to turn this off and do it the other way

What I meant to ask (and which I failed miserably, I admit): was there a possibility to switch off the automatic request for landing (and therefor the automatic landing)? Maybe by turning off all in-Flight comms?

 

[Quarto]

Hmm, that's a good question. I think he was misremembering it - as far as I can see, the only way to turn it off would be indeed to turn off all comms (or at least limiting it to plot-critical, though that might include landing comms too).

 

[Dyret]

or at least limiting it to plot-critical, though that might include landing comms too

Anyone who has played WC1 knows just how critical those are.

 

[Edx]

". The reason that this was done was because on Wing IV, there were too many letters from fans saying that they couldn't find the right person to talk to that would 'turn on' the mission. This was completely unacceptable."

These lazy fans must have been the ones that didnt bother to notice they could simply push a key to find out who they had to speak to in order to get to the next mission or not.

 

[Quarto]

These lazy fans must have been the ones that didnt bother to notice they could simply push a key to find out who they had to speak to in order to get to the next mission or not.

You're missing the point - the map in WC4 wasn't some great feature that improved the game... it was a fix for a problem. When you need a map just to lead people to the next portion of the story, that's a serious issue.

 

[Edx]

You're missing the point - the map in WC4 wasn't some great feature that improved the game... it was a fix for a problem. When you need a map just to lead people to the next portion of the story, that's a serious issue.

Well maybe but if they didnt have the map I could see them complaining, but they did so why spend time and effort writing to Origin and moan they dont know who to talk to. If I didnt want to find the cinematics myself I could just bring up the map click on the right place, and bam Im there. How hard is that? But according to this story the fans wrote in and complained they couldnt find the right people to talk t so they couldnt unlock the missions which suggests they didnt know about the map.

With the map it seems they are are lazy if they couldnt be bothered to use it. To me its a pretty minor inconvienience really, one that doesnt seem to cause that much annoyance unless you really didnt like the cutscenes anyway in which case WC4 was really the wrong game for them to be playing in the first place!

 

[Bandit LOAF]

The map wasn't very well documented, I certainly didn't know about it on my first run-through. I'm sure the keyboard shortcut page mentions it, but most people who bought Wing Commander IV in 1996 were Wing Commander III veterans who didn't read that sort of document.

Also, remember that computers were a lot slower at the time - it could take minutes and minutes to cycle through all the different rooms to find the hotspots (which weren't always animated, since the film shoot missed some parts they were supposed to record).

 

[Dundradal]

The map wasn't very well documented, I certainly didn't know about it on my first run-through. I'm sure the keyboard shortcut page mentions it, but most people who bought Wing Commander IV in 1996 were Wing Commander III veterans who didn't read that sort of document.

Also, remember that computers were a lot slower at the time - it could take minutes and minutes to cycle through all the different rooms to find the hotspots (which weren't always animated, since the film shoot missed some parts they were supposed to record).

The only reason I found out about it was that I always had the keyboard shortcut sheet in front of me while playing and I remember seeing that 'M' would bring up the map.

I used to hate slogging through WC3 trying to find the hotspots (if there even were any between that set of missions) I thought the map was an improvement, but both methods left a bit to be desired.

 

[Unregistered]

I always felt that the Midway was a bit claustrophic due to it's two accessible, windowless rooms. I hope the WC development teams compromise on the next release- let you tour the whole ship, but let you auto cycle through all relevant conversations (a la WC2) from one point.

 

[Dundradal]

I actually like the WC1 system better. The Rec Room had several different conversations that took place in there that might tell you about ships, tactics, current events, backstory, character development, etc. It also had the Sim and the killboard. All a wingnut needs in a room. The barracks served its obvious purpose and the briefing room/preflight/postflight cinematics filled in the spots that the Rec Room couldn't cover.

There was no need to have to search for the hot spots in a dozen different rooms a la WC3/4 . I didn't like the WC2 method because it took out that freedom you had to decide who you wanted to talk to first and so on.

WCP came close to replicating the WC1 feel but didn't quite get it right.

I'd hope those who would want to develop a new game would definitely go with the WC1 style of storytelling as it seems like just the thing that would go over with today's general gamer.

 

[Pedro]

I really didn't like WCPs method as I never got a sense of scale, it almost felt as though I was rattling around in a 4 room tub.
For me the map in IV worked wonderfully, and if people used it there shouldn't be a problem. Maybe an onscreen icon would have helped so they didn't overlook it.

 

[Quarto]

The map really took away from the immersion, though. People onboard a ship don't usually have instant access to a map displaying everybody that wants to talk to them at a given instant (not to mention that the map highlighted the excessiveness of the story by marking out which conversations you're allowed to ignore).

And in any case, the stuff that happens between missions... is between missions. It's not a part of the game, it's just a glorified menu. It's not something you should ever need a map or a manual for - the player should be able to get around the game menu without having to resort to such things. So, it's just not a matter of designing the interface so that people would always be able to find the map - the existence of the map is in itself an indication of a major design flaw.

WCP was much, much better. I bet you that, had they had enough budget to make a few extra rooms for the cutscenes (the way WC1 had the commander's office, the room used for medal ceremonies, and the external deck for the funerals), you wouldn't have had any problems with the Midway feeling small.

 

[Mekt-Hakkikt]

I have to side with Edx and Pedro on this one: the WC 4 map didn't bother me at all, on the contrary: I welcomed it after the annoying "check each level for people" in WC 3. The use of the elevator really annoyed me. I didn't know about the map in my first run-through as well but I don't think I missed more than 2 non-plot critical scenes and it added to the replay value (already high, thanks to Speradon/Circe). And the going around in the Lexington did give a way better feeling of a living ship than anything else, I think.
So in my eyes, they fixed a problem from an earlier game and that was good. But I don't have any problems with a more simplistic approach, like WCP had. WC 2 was almost too simplistic for me.

And I disagree here:

The map really took away from the immersion, though. People onboard a ship don't usually have instant access to a map displaying everybody that wants to talk to them at a given instant (...)

We all know from Star Trek that you can ask the computer where a certain person is to be found.

 

[Pedro]

WCP was much, much better. I bet you that, had they had enough budget to make a few extra rooms for the cutscenes (the way WC1 had the commander's office, the room used for medal ceremonies, and the external deck for the funerals), you wouldn't have had any problems with the Midway feeling small.

Actually I felt a little clostraphobic on the claw too. WC3 and 4 were the two titles that really made me feel as though I was part of a living, breathing ship, ok after 5mins I may have turned off the corridor scenes etc, but their presence meant I had some feel for the layout and scale of the ship.
In in 1 and Prophecy they felt exactly like you said, menus, the difference is I consider that to be a bad thing. To me the feeling of immersion onboard your carrier was every bit as important as in flight.

 

[Quarto]

Well, yes, immersion is important - hence why maps are bad .

As for the transition movies... I'm kinda curious if there's anybody out there that didn't switch them off. It seems to me that they were a huge waste of money (and space - imagine, in WC3 those scenes took up exactly the space needed for the newsbriefs and the Hobbes explanation), and no matter what they added to the game's atmosphere during those brief five minutes before everyone switched them off, they were overall very harmful.