What's Next for Wing Commander?

Over the weekend, Chris reflected a bit on recent events and kicked off an interesting discussion on the future of the Wing Commander franchise. The last 10 to 15 years haven't been particularly exciting for space sim players, but the incredibly successful Star Citizen funding campaign has shown that genre still has a lot of life left in it. What shape and direction do you think the next Wing Commander release will take? Share your thoughts and hopes here.

It's been a while since we've had a discussion on this topic. There was lots of speculation when Star Citizen was announced, but now we've got 18 months of that behind us. We got the WC Blu-ray recently, Chris Roberts gets the rights back to the film soon, and George Oldziey's music album is coming, but those are a different topic. We will undoubtedly continue to be surprised by more awesome things like these in the future.

The landscape has evolved quite a bit over just the last few years. PC space sims have made a bit of a comeback, but there are also the new generation consoles. Even iPads and other mobile devices are so powerful now, and can stream to TVs, that every platform is graphically amazing. Ultima made a comeback on the iPad with a free to play game, which combines two hot markets. EA's Origin recently stopped selling discs, and the new consoles can also deliver everything digitally, so how much life do boxed copies of games have? Even Arena, which is now seven years old, was only available digitally. When the next game shows up, how do you think it'll arrive?

And where do you think it'll take place? Is it a foregone conclusion that the Kilrathi are the go-to Wing Commander enemies? Does anyone think the Nephilim will actually return? Something entirely different? Will it be a first person space sim?

RSI Dogfights Into PAX East

This past Thursday Cloud Imperium Games descended on Boston for PAX East and a very special livestream event. Fifteen hundred fans were able to obtain entry to the event, including yours truly, and we were treated to a night of the latest from Star Citizen. After crushing a few last minute bugs, Chris Roberts went into a recap of the game's development accompanied by a short film showing some of the trials and tribulations the team faced in the days before PAX. After the film, Chris Roberts jumped into the game and showed off entering your ship and space. When preparing for launch the player-character flips their helmet, a sequence that sent the crowd wild. The hangar doors opened to show the world outside. To call it gorgeous is an understatement. The flight mechanics were on full display: newtonian physics, destroyable asteroids, and some combat made appearances.

Following the gameplay demonstration, Chris Roberts unveiled more details about the dog fighting module. Instead of being a simple testing setup, the module is part of the in-game fiction. Described as “2944’s Hottest Space Combat Sim...” and brought to you by Original Systems, “Arena Commander” is the in-game simulator that can be run in the hangar. Arena Commander allows players to jump into the sim, connect with other players and battle in five different game modes: Free Flight, Battle Royale, Squadron Battle, Capture the Core, and Vanduul Swarm. Players will be able face off against other players and AI pilots. The sim will feature leaderboards tracking multiple stats as well as daily, weekly, monthly and all-time rankings. These features are just the first wave in the Arena Commander launch.

The second release, Arena Commander II: Revenge of the Vanduul, will add multi-crew ships, variants of the single-seat ships, co-operative AI pilots and in-game communications. The third release, Arena Commander III: Heart of the Empire will add more environments, FPS boarding mechanics, Capture the Idris mode, and double-precision coordinates to handle the massive arenas that players will battle in.

Beyond Arena Commander, the team will focus on fleshing out the rest of Star Citizen and continuing the implementation of new features. Chris Roberts also mentioned Squadron 42 as “if we did a next-gen Wing Commander, Squadron 42 would be that.” Wing Commander fans should certainly be excited by that prospect. Be sure to check out the entire presentation below!

LOAF Appearing at DragonCon Again

The CIC's very own Ben Lesnick will make another appearance at this year's DragonCon. As the community manager and a designer for Cloud Imperium Games, LOAF hosted last year's Star Citizen panel and was interviewed by several video game news reporters. Development has progressed a lot since last Summer, so there will be lots to talk about. The website for this year's conference has a short bio online:

Ben Lesnick
Ben Lesnick is Community Manager and Designer on Star Citizen, Chris Roberts' epic return to space sims! Ben has been involved with Star Citizen since the start of the project. He's worked on several titles in the Wing Commander universe, including creating all of the fiction for Electronic Arts' Wing Commander Arena.

WC Album Kickstarter Rocks It With $42,113!

A huge last-minute surge, including about $2,000 in the final hour, pushed the Wing Commander music Kickstarter album project up to $42,113 from 588 backers. That's a past the minimum $35K goal, which means there's a good chance that a bit more than the original 15 minutes of live orchestra recording will be made. For fans who contributed $50 or more, George is planning 45 minutes of music, although the exact mix of live versus digital reorchestration is still in flux pending negotiations with the musicians.

We know money is tight for many folks out there, but it's been so exciting to see hundreds of Wingnuts rally around this project over the last month. Great things come from sweat and sacrifice, and the fans out there have proved that they can make great things happen. George has gotten word that some interested people were unable to pledge before the deadline and/or would have pledged if there was a non-credit card option such as Paypal available. We'll post the details here if alternative arrangements are made to continue the fund raiser in some limited ongoing capacity. We think such an option would be a great idea, since it potentially increases the length of live orchestration that all past pledgers would receive.

Last, but not least, here's what George had to say upon the Kickstarter's completion!

I've got to run to a recording session (I'll have a more detailed report later), but I just HAVE to tell everyone how absolutely THRILLED I am with the results of this campaign! It's turning out to be a project beyond my wildest dreams. While I was jogging early this morning I was thinking about all of your incredible support, and made me realize that there are times in one's life when you don't realize what an impact you are having. I'm starting to think that the work I was blessed to do for Wing Commander may indeed turn out to be my most significant artistic achievement, especially in terms of reaching people. Your enthusiasm is, and I've used this term before, humbling! I will not let you down when I say I'll deliver the most amazing sounding product you can imagine!

More later! Again, my most heartfelt thanks! Many more updates to come!

George

Wing Commander Music Kickstarter Enters Final Week

It's been another productive week for George Oldziey's mission to produce a Wing Commander album with a live orchestra. An impressive $20,000 has now been pledged toward the cause. However, the funding drive is now in its final seven days, and another $15,000 must be contributed or no funds will be paid out and the album won't move forward! A lot of people wait until the end of a fund raiser to donate, however, so we're all hopeful that your generous pledges are still on the way.

In order to spur some big numbers, two very exclusive $3,000 tiers have been added. The first offers up an authentic Kilrathi rifle used in the opening sequence of Wing Commander 3. It's from the personal collection of Ben Bandit (LOAF) Lesnick, who doesn't give up priceless Wing Commander memorabilia lightly! But this is a worthy cause, and the rifle will surely find a loving home. The second $3,000 item is a rare leather jacket given only to the development team at Origin who made Wing Commander 3. This one was given to George in 1994. Finally, the $5,000 option to sit in the booth during recording and choose some of the music that will be produced has been lowered to $3,000.

Hello everyone!

I'm Ben Lesnick, Community Manager and Designer on Chris Roberts' Star Citizen. Many of you know I initially became involved in Star Citizen's campaign because I ran the Wing Commander community at WCNews.com for over fifteen years. Star Citizen is full steam ahead right now, but the Wing Commander universe will always be my first love... and I'm incredibly excited to hear the Wing Commander III, IV, and Prophecy the way it was meant to be heard. George Oldziey's project is, to my mind, the most pure use of crowd funding possible: he's not funding a product to sell, he's doing this so that we can hear music that wouldn't otherwise exist. When you think about it, that's pretty cool!

To that end, I'd like to do whatever I can to make it a reality. I'm kicking in one of the star pieces from my personal Wing Commander collection as a big ticket item to try and make this recording session happen: a Kilrathi rifle prop used in Wing Commander III. Watch closely during the introduction or any of the other Kilrathi court scenes and you can see it in the background! It's a really cool prop weapon made of wood and plastic, and looks great on a shelf. It's one of the few physical items made for the Wing Commander III shoot, and it has decorated my office for years (my wife will be very happy to see it go!)

Now get out there and pledge; I want to hear this music!

Greetings all! First of all, I want to truly thank EVERYONE for their great support so far. You've all been amazing! I've noticed several people increasing their pledges over the last few days. That is truly inspiring and humbling for me!

We are approaching our final week of pledging. For those of you who may be new to Kickstarter, basically if you don't reach your goal the project does not get funded. So I'm hoping that we can meet the target number in the next 7 days so that we can have AT LEAST 15 minutes of fully orchestral Wing Commander music! It's been my dream since I wrote the first notes for Wing Commander III!

But even if we don't get there, I'll always remember the tremendous support from all of you.

Always,

George

Star Citizen Pulls In $40 Million!

There's another incredible milestone on the books over at Roberts Space Industries. The Cloud Imperium team has now collected more than $40 million from fans pledging towards Star Citizen. Over 200 people are now employed across several global studios to build the game. They've ended a run of star system unlocking and are now moving on to more exotic reward tiers. At $42 million, the built-in "Galactapedia" will see enhancements in style, scope and user interface. There will also be a new ship - the Gladius, and last, but not least, a virtual towel! If you're a backer over at RSI, you can join the WCCIC organization here.

Gladius – The Squadron 42 team will develop an additional fighter for the game, the Aegis Dynamics Gladius-class light fighter. The Gladius will be the first fighter built entirely from concept to CryEngine in the UK! Here’s the official description: The Aegis Gladius is the UEE’s reigning light short-range patrol fighter. A single-seat ship with no room for expansion, the Gladius is fast, maneuverable and capable of punching far above its weight. The main advantage to the design is simplicity: cheap to produce, easy to repair and outfit and quick to train new pilots on. The Gladius is an aging design nearing the end of its life-cycle, although iterative updates have kept it the most nimble fighter in the active fleet.

Towel – And of course, everyone who backs before we hit $42 million will also receive a towel for their hangar. Don’t explore the galaxy without it!

Remember that our stretch goals are examples, ways of showing you how we are improving the game with the additional funding and ways to thank you for your early support. The full impact of each additional dollar is actually felt across the board: the project currently employs over 200 people. As a result, every dollar allows us to support this large team and helps improve Star Citizen in both scope and scale.

AD's Almost Lost But Not Forgotten Chris Roberts Interview

Here's a little something I've had on the back-burner for a while now. After Outlander came out LOAF got me in touch with Chris Roberts and I sent him a number of questions about the Wing Commander movie. I had a pile of follow up questions that hopefully Chris will be kind enough to address someday, but, alas Chris got sidetracked (presumably with Star Citizen) and we never did finish the interview. Some of the details have since been released in other interviews and statements from Chris, and some details like what formats the movie has been released on are outdated, however we figured it was about time to release what we had to you all:

LOAF - As promised, I'm putting the two of you in touch to talk about the Wing Commander movie.

As I mentioned--Aaron is the guy who did the big Outlander site a few years back and he's equally fascinated by the Wing movie... so he's been compiling everything we know about its development in our wiki. We've seen a very messy VHS transfer of the rough cut which hasn't been made available to the public and have probably read four or five different revisions of the script at this point... so that's where he's coming from.

(Actually, to both of you, I found a 1991 Wing Commander movie proposal in the material at University of Texas last week. It's credited to GP Austin, who did Privateer... some of the names are the same (ie, Forbes) but it seems to be very different from and may be unrelated to the finished product. I'll try to get a digital copy of that available soon.)

CHRIS ROBERTS - Hi Aaron -

Happy to answer questions...

The GP Austin script is unrelated to the film script as Kevin Droney wrote his script from scratch - I don't know if I shared an outline with him on some things that I wanted to see (probably) - and that's where the Forbes name may have come from... But I didn't commission the WC movie script until early 1995

AD - Hi Chris! (Thanks for putting this together Ben...)

I think I last spoke briefly (by email) to you back during the UK release of Outlander... That was a great project and am glad I was able to be a part of it even in a small way. I still talk to Howard from time to time just to say hello. It always seemed like it would be a fun concept and I was impressed with the results that you were able to pull off on a shoe string.

I guess, in a way, this kind of relates to my fascination with the Wing Commander film. I have always enjoyed the look of the film and feel the CG has held up remarkably well over time, and the cinematography is top-notch. It does have a level of polish that is surprising for it's modest budget, even if there are a few rough edges. Watching it in HD is always impressive (though I've been somewhat dismayed by only being able to rent the HD on itunes/amazon/zune marketplace instead of being able to purchase it digitally or on bluray). Deep down I guess I'm a bit of a film buff though perhaps not as versed as many others. But I'm also as equally interested in the methods as much as the finished films.

I actually was going to start by asking about the origins of the ideas in the movie script but I see you've addressed that a little. I had intended to ask about whether you had given Kevin Droney an outline or writer's bible to work off of in developing his script - a laundry list as it were of points and ideas you wanted to hit.

Reading through the various script drafts and revisions certainly brought up some interesting questions as did comparisons to the theatrical cut of the film (and of course the work-print Ben mentioned).

Just as an example. The first draft by Kevin Droney has a side element regarding time-dilation and relativity regarding near light space travel. I also noticed in the recent G4 interview with you (great interview by the way!) that you mentioned The Forever War as an influence in creating the games. I don't really remember this as being a major element of the first game. Regarding the film, was this a concept you specifically wanted to explore or was it also something that that Kevin came up on his own? Some elements of this idea - minor lines of dialogue - made it through to the finished film. Was there a particular reason there seems to be an effort to remove this in later drafts?

CHRIS ROBERTS - The time relativity was one of my favorite parts of the script – it was definitely influenced by “The Forever War” and was a note I gave Kevin who ran with it. I loved the idea that to defend humanity you had to make the ultimate sacrifice as you were literally losing your loved ones to defend them. I thought it made the ship board dynamics really powerful – in essence all the pilots and crewmen had was each other – it was their new and only family. It was cut due to notes from Fox who were concerned that it wasn’t fleshed out enough and the idea was more intellectual than visceral – especially as we just had one scene that explained the concept (Deveraux getting the holo-vid from her ex-fiancé). I still think it was great but do agree that it would have to be woven into the fabric of the film more to truly resonate. I’m a much more experienced film maker now (even though I’ve been producing instead of directing but I’m always involved in script development, shooting and editing) and if making the film again I would definitely work the concept back in but place a lot more “small” moments (which would be visual rather than dialogue based) than re-enforced the feeling of loneliness and sacrifice that the crew of the Tiger’s Claw were making to defend humanity.

AD - This isn't the only case where major changes happened along the way. I really enjoyed the idea that each ship's computer seemed to have it's own personality. In the script, Merlin was intended as a sort of holographic digital assistant and sidekick. We actually recovered a handful of shots of a doll being filmed for these scenes. Was Merlin intended to be a CGI character? Or some other method of filming an actor and compositing him into the shot with various effects much like the hologram communications in Wing Commander 4? How late in production was the decision made to remove Merlin from the film, and why? I'm sure this must have presented a pretty big challenge to the editing process.

CHRIS ROBERTS - Losing Merlin was the biggest mistake in my opinion. It didn’t happen until mid-way through post production. We shot everything and the intention was to film a big star (I was wanting Robin Williams) on a green screen for a day or so and then composite in a holo –effect. We were over budget and the producer, Todd Moyer had persuaded me to try a cut without Merlin as he didn’t think we needed him and we couldn’t afford the VFX shots or the additional green screen shot (let alone a fee for a big actor). When I didn’t get a response back from Robin Williams camp I gave in to the idea. I really regret it as losing Merlin we lost a lot of the humor plus a lot of exposition that explained the whole Pilgrim backstory – not to mention the fact that the Captain turned out to be a Pilgrim. Between losing Merlin, the bigger opening (when the Pegasus was more like Hawaii of Pearl Harbor) and the Kilrathi not working I feel a lot of what made the script work for me was lost. The final film was too simple without these extra layers. I have often toyed with the idea of taking the original footage, re-doing the Kilrathi with today’s digital VFX, filming Merlin and making a new cut – I even proposed it to Fox a while back but they declined. When I get the rights back in 2015 I may do as this would all be a lot cheaper now than before. I don’t think it would make WC a great film as there are some basic flaws with it, but I do think it would make it better.

AD - This is interesting... I never really pictured Robin Williams in the role when reading the novelization or the script. I always imagined his lines being delivered in a more dry/ironic kind of way.

CHRIS ROBERTS - I wanted Robin Williams because he liked and played Wing Commander and I thought he could handle Merlin's dry humor (he doesn't always have to be whacky Mork). Funny thing is that I ended up working with him on The Big White

Hellcat Model Ready to be Revved Up

We finally have some thrusters installed!n The nozzles are made from cardboard, which I first cut to shape in lengthwise pieces. I then measure and cut the "petals" of the nozzle, and finally it is rolled into shape and glued together.

I was unsure for a long while how to approach the interior detailing of the thruster nozzles. Painting them a solid colour, be it black, blue or white, seemed to bland for my taste. So, I took a bit of inspiration from the Star Citizen 300i commercial (quite fitting, if you think about it..). I think the detail adds quite a bit of life and realism, without being too overstated. The coolest thing of all is, the silver paint I used catches and reflects even the faintest light, so in in a dark room these pipes positively glow!

As you can see I have yet to make the four smaller thrusters to complete the engine assembly, but that promises to be quite a tricky prospect, so I'm still experimenting to find the best solution.

Hope you enjoyed this update!

CIC Organization Up and Running at RSI

Yesterday, RSI launched their Organization System that allows fans to create a variety of groups from the basic organization to complex role-playing groups with their own internal rules and ranks. It's sure to be a very cool feature of Star Citizen. We've created a CIC organization where Wingnuts can join now. After you apply, it requires someone to accept the application before you have access to the organization's internal Description, Members, and Chat areas. In the future, a Chart and Fleet View section will become available. The page could certainly use a Wing Commander touch, just in case any Wingnut artists are interested in contributing. We're sure other fans will form organizations to make their way through the Star Citizen universe as RSI continues to expand the system. There's already a, mostly, settled ChatZone debate over a squadron that quite a few Wingnuts will be joining and operating from. The number of organizations listed on the RSI website is growing quickly since the launch of the system yesterday. Twenty organizations on the list are already over 100 members with one already over 1,200!

Mark Hamill Holding AMA Wednesday

LeHah tipped us off about an AMA with Mark Hamill that will be held tomorrow, January 22, at 1 pm Eastern Time. Hopefully there are some Wingnuts out there who can make a good showing and get some Wing Commander questions into the mix. We wouldn't want it to be all about Star Wars and Batman!

Chris Roberts conducted a couple AMAs back in 2012 during his the Star Citizen crowdfunding campaign. You can read up on what he had to say here and here.

andy_herbert: Which is your favourite Wing Commander, or Wing Commander-alike game? My personal favourite is Privateer :) Many thanks for literally years of enjoyment!

CommanderRoberts: WC1 & WC3 are tied for different reasons. WC1 is probably the most perfect game I'e ever made in terms of matching the vision in my head to what the finished game was. WC3 is my other favorite as its where I think we perfected the combining the story with the action i a big cinematic way.

Happy New Year! (A Look Back at 2013)

Happy New Year Wingnuts! It's been another big year for Wing Commander fans, and 2014 should be even better. The biggest news stories often arrive out of nowhere, so it's exciting to think about what might happen next. But before we go charging forward, here's a brief look back at a few of the big stories from last year. If someone were to just look at a couple random days of WC news, it might not seem like a whole lot is happening - but skimming the weeks and months of news in our archives is amazing!

Star Citizen Development Gets Under Way
• The Austin office of Cloud Imperium Games was established around the beginning of the year, and developments poured out regularly thereafter. We're not a Star Citizen news site, but we do cover Roberts Space Industries events that are Wing Commander-related such as numerous ex-Originite hires, inclusion of a neat easter egg or the theatrical showing of the WC Movie at Citizen Con.

Wing Commander: A Defiant Few Launches
• Plywood Fiend's audio adventure in the Gemini Sector kicked off with scripting, casting and previews in January. Over the course of the year, several chapters were were released and the story is still going strong.

Wing Commander Highlighted in 3D Printing Breakthrough
• In early February a German company demonstrated a new form of micrometer-scale 3D printing that could be used to build incredibly tiny structures. Many major magazines and websites ran with the story, so it got a lot of press. What did they build to demonstrate the technology? A Hellcat V!
Hamill's WC3 Flight Suit Resurfaces
• Pix's Origin Adventures helped reconnect with the fan who won a 1995 contest for the screen-worn Blair flight suit in Wing Commander 3. The suit has been well cared for over the course of 18 years and the winner graciously provided some cool pictures. Later in the year, we got a peek at quite a few artifacts that also decorate Chris Roberts' office today.

Amateur 3D Printing Explodes
• Wingnuts have been 3D printing small miniature ships for years now, but the technology really took off in 2013! One of the biggest breakthroughs happened in March with Klavs' color 3D prints. For the first time, fans could go beyond hand-painting tiny figures and order large designs with relatively detailed color textures and decals. They have been extremely popular and dozens of sharp models were made in 2013.

GOG Rereleases Entire Wing Commander Series
• 2013 was huge for digital rereleases of Wing Commander games! The entire DOS/Windows saga was completed with the addition of Academy in August, P2: The Darkening in September, Prophecy & Secret Ops and Armada & Proving Grounds in November. Don't forget that Strike Commander was also added in March and Macintosh compatibility was expanded all year. As great as it is for a whole new generation to be able to buy Wing Commander cheap and easy, this also provided HCl an opportunity to flex his considerable programming muscle and add new features such as the deinterlace patch for Privateer 2 and DVD video upgrade for Prophecy. All of these enhancements even work for both the digital GOG releases and the old school disc-based versions!

Wing Commander In Concert
• In April it was revealed that famous Wing Commander composer George Oldziey's music would finally be performed live in concert by the Austin Symphony. Due to unfortunate circumstances, the WC portion was ultimately removed from the planned October concert, but all hope is not lost! Stay tuned for more on this subject in the future.
  
  Wing Commander FPS Unearthed
• Origin veteran Binky Launius uncovered "lost footage" of a first person shooter set in the Wing Commander universe. The project didn't get very far, but in 1997 it was considered and pitched at Origin. There's even a very rudimentary concept video!
Flat Universe Shooter Project Kicked Off
• Flat Universe was one of several promising fan projects that were initiated in 2013. The Maslas Brothers worked with prominent Wingnut artists to import existing assets into their 2D engine. They also supplemented their project with a flashy website and electronic magazine.
  
  EA Releases Ultima Forever
• Origin's other vaunted franchise received a boost this year with the release of Ultima Forever for iOS devices. Although we'd much rather see a new Wing Commander game, it's great to see a new title based on one of Origin's classic series. The game continues to receive updates and has a strong social media component. Supposedly it even includes an easter egg quest with a Kilrathi ship!

WC RPG Completed
• capi's well-planned and meticulous role playing game was finally completed and released this year. It's not the only RPG project that was active in 2013, but what is remarkable is that the project set out with a very specific set of goals, set specific targets and then provided status updates with progress details on a regular basis. It's a model that many people could learn from - and it works!

CIC Hits Ten Years of Constant News
• We proudly tooted our own horn in mid 2013 when the CIC reached ten years of constant daily updates. Around the time that Prophecy was released for the Game Boy Advance in 2003, the CIC Staff decided to kick things into overdrive and hunt something down to report every day. We now sit at about 3870 consecutive days of Wing Commander news on our front page! The material isn't always earth shattering breaking news, but this very roundup proves that quite a bit of exciting stuff does happen!

Fatman Cleans Up WC1 Album
• George The Fatman Sanger updated his commercial release of WC1 music mid year when discrepancies were found with two tracks. This was the kind of thing that could easily have been ignored and left to sit for eternity, but Mr. Fat graciously avoided leaving Wing Commander fans in the lurch.

Wing Commander on Blu-ray!
• On August 6, Wing Commander was finally released on Blu-ray! The long-awaited high definition physical media release did not include any extra features aside from higher resolution and detail, but seeing a brand new boxed Wing Commander product on regular store shelves with simply a joy to behold. Even the regular DVD was updated with an anamorphic aspect ratio, and the sound track was released digitally on iTunes/Amazon.

The CIC Turns 15 Years Old
• August 10 marked 15 years of WCNews.com! Our birthday party was a huge success and ton of fun. We released a new OEM demo of WC Prophecy, modernized our video section, reported on tons of fan projects and posted some very interesting archive material. Here's to the next 15 years!

Bandit (LOAF) Gets Married
• Wing Commander and LOAF go together like Shotglass and the Tiger's Claw Bar, but he made room for a second love in his life this year! His CIC friends were there to share pictures from the happy event. It'd been nine years since the last staff member got married, and it was fun to see how much we'd changed in between (and stayed the same!).

Classic WC1/2 Modding Back in Style
• It was also a great year for modification of the first couple Wing Commander games. Most modding over the last decade or so has focused on the later games in the series, but HCl and Howard's additions to Academy and delMar's WCWorkShop site have reinvigorated interest in the classic titles. We're anxious to see this trend continue!

Chris Roberts Definitely Focusing on PC, Open to Next Gen Consoles

As a new generation of gaming consoles kicks off, a recent post by Chris Roberts has clarified his position on the various systems. Some fans of Star Citizen were dismayed to see Playstation 4 dev kits pop up in photographs around the Cloud Imperium Games offices. There was concern that development could shift away from cutting edge personal computers. Mr. Roberts has allayed these concerns by emphatically reiterating that PCs are and will continue to be the primary platform that he is developing for and there was zero chance of his new game showing up on the PS3 or Xbox 360. On the other hand, he did credit either the new PS4 or Xbox One as "essentially a mid-level gaming PC of today (which) punches above its performance weight," and therefore he would consider porting to them under the right circumstances.

Star Citizen IS a PC game. It will NEVER be dumbed down for a lesser platform. We will NOT limit the input options or supported peripherals to the lowest common denominator. We will NOT pass on features and technology just because they will only run on some hardware configurations.

-----------------------------

IF the platform holders (Sony & Microsoft) allow us to update the code and data without restrictions and odious time consuming QC procedures, IF they allow our community to openly interact with each other across platforms then I would CONSIDER supporting them. Why?

Well because then they are essentially inexpensive small form factor PCs with a custom operating system focused on gaming and who wouldn't want a bigger community of Star Citizens? If Sony or Microsoft are willing to let their platform be open, then I see no real difference between them or Valve’s Steambox, a Mac or a PC running Linux, all of which are platforms that I don’t think this community would mind supporting as they are all viewed as “PCs”. In fact most Macs are probably much worse gaming machines than a next gen console (as Apple is the antithesis of what I love about PCs)

Yikes!!! - Over the weekend Chris upgraded to 2 Titans and a 4K monitor on his desk

A Peek Behind the Wing Commander Curtain

Chris Roberts is hard at work building Star Citizen, yet still finds time to discuss things like the game's physics with fans on the RSI forums. Chris was actually studying physics at Manchester University when he decided to switch paths and make games full time. In a series of recent posts, he also had some interesting revelations regarding the Wing Commander engine and its physics implementation. It's a fascinating (and detailed) look at an aspect of the game many haven't thought about:

...The idea is that the basic / beginner / simple IFCS will be set up to make flying around pretty simple and intuitive. It will take the pilot's inputs and map them to behavior similar to Wing Commander / Privateer - you control the orientation of your ship and set a desired velocity, the IFCS tries to achieve a velocity vector matching your forward vector multiplied by desired speed - which was actually how Wing Commander / Privateer actually worked - it was a basic Newtonian under it all despite popular belief - its why you would "slide" when you hit afterburners and tried to turn - normally there was enough excess thrust for maneuvering to adjust the velocity fairly instantaneously but as the speed got higher it would take a little while to correct to the desired velocity vector...

...as WC is concerned the ships had two thrust ratings - a "Maneuvering" thrust rating and a "Main" thrust rating. The maneuvering thrust rating was used to adjust the velocity vector outside the main thrusts direction (which was always forward). IT was assumed the maneuvering thrust could be applied in any direction (Other than forwards which the main thrust took care of) WC did use a basic Newtonian model (I should know as I programmed it!) but it was simplified in terms of simulating the ships ability to apply force to change its velocity vector, with the simulation of the thrusters abstracted to a maneuvering and main thrust ability per ship.

Chris Roberts' Office Decorated with Priceless Wing Commander Artifacts

Chris Roberts and Sandi Gardiner have posted pictures of their first batch of the large scale Star Citizen mouse pads that we recently mentioned. They're impressive, to say the least. But even more tantalizing is all of the memorabilia hanging Chris Roberts' office! On one wall, he's got the WC3 and WC4 promo posters hanging side by side. On the back wall is the authentic solar system painting that graces the introduction of the Wing Commander Movie. And encased on the cabinet is the original Snakeir model used for the film. We also know he's got one of the Kilrathi statuetes still hanging around somewhere. Can you imagine any better décor than that?

Woot - mousepad samples showed up!!! Chris snagged the first one off the press

New Bearcat Hits The Drawing Board

Hi everyone! Haven't posted anything in a very long time, but I figured I'd share something I've been working on. With all the new stuff going on for Star Citizen and the 3D model prints through Shapeways, I started thinking about how one of my favorite fighters would work. So I give y'all the Bearcat. This is my first model, and I'm extremely new at this and still learning. Here're some of the things I changed/imagined how it would look when finished.

First, the engine thrusters. Instead of the Bearcat's six engine ports, I thought that two large thrust vectoring nozzles would be more fitting. Next, I moved the wingtip mounted tachyon guns to a more central position. I think with internal missile bays, the missiles would launch one by one out where the guns were. I also made small housing area for the guns in case anyone would want to swap the guns out (I honestly don't think I have the scale of the tachyon guns right, but that can be fixed). I haven't added the maneuvering thrusters yet. Still learning on how I could do that, but I think they'd work best right where the wings meet the fuselage and also near the cockpit. Instead of intakes right by the cockpit, I decided to make those the retro rockets for reverse thrust and leave the intakes by the engines. Finally, the last thing I can think of right now (it's 2 am) is the cockpit. Once that's finished, it's going to be a strut-less or near strut-less canopy to give the pilot an uninterrupted field of view.

Like I said, this is a work in progress, but I would appreciate any feedback on how to make this better or any ideas on features to add to the model. Also, if anyone can point me to tutorials on texturing, I have an idea on a paint scheme I want to use on this. I'm going to work on this when I can so progress might be slow, but hopefully the final product can be something everyone can use and enjoy.

RSI Surpasses $25 Million!

At $25 million, you allow us to build a stronger infrastructure for the Star Citizen alpha test:

Enhanced Alpha – We will use additional funding to build a wider alpha test than we had originally intended for the first phase of Star Citizen’s launch. The initial plan was to first launch servers in North America and then expand to areas such as Europe and Australia to decrease latency in these areas, perfecting the game as we improve the experience around the world. This funding will allow us to invest in a wider infrastructure for our early testing, spinning up remote servers earlier. Hitting this goal will also allow us to increase the number of remaining alpha slots. Extra alpha slots not only means more Star Citizens will travel the ‘verse at launch, but that we will receive more feedback and more stress testing. This in turn will allow us to better balance and enhance the Star Citizen experience!

Sharp New Dralthi Concept Brought Into Third Dimension

Thought you guys would like this. My re-imagined Dralthi in 3D (courtesy of Zohrath)

Roberts Space Industries Event Video Online

As we mentioned on Thursday, Cloud Imperium Games hosted "Citizen Con 2013" in downtown Austin on October 10. The gathering was primarily a summit to bring together the internal and external development teams that are producing Star Citizen on a global scale. Designers, programmers and artists are busy working in Austin, multiple Southern California locations, Montreal and even Mexico to bring the massive space sim undertaking together.

Cloud Imperium Games Celebrates Big Birthday

The team over at Roberts Space Industries is celebrating the first anniversary of their Star Citizen announcement. A special live stream will take place this evening at 6:30 pm Central Time (-5 GMT). Chris Roberts and his team are known for pulling off exciting live events, so we would definitely recommend you check it out. Since the party is being held in Austin, it's likely that other famous Origin or Wing Commander personalities will make an appearance, and it should all be lots of fun. You can find more information here or catch the party webcast here.

Greetings Citizens,

We’re less than a week away from the first anniversary of Star Citizen’s announcement! October 10th will mark the one year anniversary of Chris Roberts’ announcing Star Citizen at GDC Online. And we’re celebrating with a special event! Star Citizen developers from offices around the world are gathering in Austin, Texas, where the game was first announced, to celebrate the progress we’ve made.

In honor of this anniversary, Cloud Imperium is hosting a special event in downtown Austin. And… since Star Citizen wouldn’t exist without our backers, we’re opening the show to you! Chris Roberts and the rest of the Star Citizen team will be giving a special keynote presentation to show everyone the work we’ve been doing this past year… and talk about what’s coming next! You can tune in live starting at 6:30 PM CST (-5 GMT) on Thursday, October 10th. One note for our fans worldwide who may not be able to view the event: any limited-time offers will run through the following weekend (ending Monday, October 14th). We will also be announcing the winners of the Star Citizen photo contest. If you’d like to enter, this is your last chance; the deadline is tonight at midnight

Next week also marks the first time the entire Star Citizen team will be in one place at one time, and we’ll be taking full advantage of the opportunity! The MobiGlas concepts above are a small taste of what we’ll be fleshing out during a series of major planning sessions. If you’re familiar with the Star Citizen fiction we’ve already published, you probably remember a character using their MobiGlas, a portable computer interface. Now a challenge for our designers is coming up with how the player will use the MobiGlas; it’s like building an entirely new computer system! These storyboards, created by the team at Behaviour, show our current progress. Next week, the team will be talking about everything from how you’ll use your MobiGlass to how you’ll command capital ships!

We’re looking forward to the summit and to the livestream presentation. We can’t wait to share some more of the work we’ve done in the past year with the community… along with a surprise or two!

WC Documentation Guru Interviewed at RSI

What projects have you worked on? Have you worked with Chris Roberts before?

Projects … I arrived a Origin a few months after Ultima VI and Wing Commander (I) shipped. As editor, my name was on every product that shipped from that point until I left, in 1997. That includes WC II – V (Prophecy), Ultima VII – IX (some of this after I left Origin, as a contractor), all of the Speech Packs, Secret Missions and other add-ons, all the various console titles, Strike Commander, WC Armada, and so forth.

… yes, I’ve worked with Chris before. :)