Hitting the Books (August 11, 2010)

[Bandit LOAF]

It seems impossible to me, but it's time to tell some of my own 'behind the screens' story. One of the first 'serious' Wing Commander things I ever did was advise Peter Telep and an editor for Baen about continuity for the movie novelization and False Colors, respectively.

I recently discovered that I had saved an old mailbox with a record of this correspondence. Reading these e-mails is a great way to see the amount of work that goes into something that seems so simple--how much unappreciated effort and passion people like Mr. Telep put into making their corners of Wing Commander just right. Check it out here.

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Original update published on August 11, 2010

 

[Wedge009]

This is amazing stuff. I really appreciate Mr Telep making an effort to use pre-existing material for his 'embellishment' instead of just making stuff up. And it surprises me that Lynne had to resort to outside assistance since Baen couldn't/didn't help.

I suppose the Internet was a very different place in 1998 - I can't imagine companies looking for background information on a game going to random fan sites asking for help in today's rabid Internet where fans cry foul over any and every little thing. Mr Telep's plea for secrecy highlights how risky such an action is from a legal point of view as well.

 

[ChrisReid]

I suppose the Internet was a very different place in 1998 - I can't imagine companies looking for background information on a game going to random fan sites asking for help in today's rabid Internet where fans cry foul over any and every little thing. Mr Telep's plea for secrecy highlights how risky such an action is from a legal point of view as well.

To a certain extent things like this still happen today, although a decade of practice brings a host of ready made nondisclosure agreements and such. Fan involvement was certainly nice and open in the 90s, which made a lot of things easier. Things like the Prophecy map and the WCNews links would have been tougher to pull together today.