Nitpickers rejoice! This document has everything you ever needed to know about the Nephilim fighters... and it's remarkable how much data exists! Why did the team develop lengths, masses and other 'fictional' data which was never published? Note the older names for the capital ships, like the Osprey carrier and the Leatherback transport.
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Bible 08 - Alien Ships Download (17 MB)
Date: Unknown |
A significant amount of planning was done on a Wing Commander Prophecy PSX port -- but it wasn't to be. These few pages are all that survived through the end of the game's release in the official designer's bible.
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Bible 07 - PSX Philosophy Download (1.8 MB)
Date: Unknown |
Here's one for future historians: a big bundle of handwritten notes, emails and other documents fleshing out exactly how the MED (mission editor) software works. It will take some studying to appreciate, but this is a great indication of how the team worked together - check out the hand-written mission coding!
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Bible 06 - Mission Editor Download (15 MB)
Date: Unknown |
Here's a system that unfortunately didn't make it into the finished games: a series of ribbons and medals awarded for achieving various goals, similar to those found in the original Wing Commander. The finished game had only two or three static medal awards which were not influenced by the player's performance.
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Bible 05 - Medals & Ribbons Download (2.1 MB)
Date: Unknown |
Ever wonder where the ICIS system came from? Right here! These pages define the ICIS interface and even argue over what the name should be ('CFOD'?). It's actually an elegant system for cutting down on the amount of live action video required in the game.
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Bible 04 - Input Interface Download (5.4 MB)
Date: Unknown |
This "unlabeled" section of the Wing Commander Prophecy bible sets forth the in-flight communication system - what needs to be recorded, how interactivity works and so forth. It also seems to be the origin of the 'squadron' and 'wing' confusion which continues to bother the continuity-obsessed.
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Bible 03 - Unlabeled Download (5.4 MB)
Date: Unknown |
The second part of the Wing Commander Prophecy designer's bible is the gameflow section. This lays out all of the 'static' screens in the game - ie, the interactive menus where you pick which character to talk to or which door to go through. One interesting thing is the reference to the Wing Commander Universe map, at one point considered for inclusion in the game itself.
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Bible 02 - Gameflow Download (3.0 MB)
Date: Unknown |
This is it - the big prize, the third and final portion of our Making the Game feature. Over the next several days we will be walking through scans of Wing Commander Prophecy's designer's bible. This is all the background and internal information that Billy Cain thought was absolutely necessary to the project - it should be quite interesting. we start with the 'Easter Eggs' tab (future historians note that the titles for these sections come from the binder's original tabs) - which actually seems to be only a small email.
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Bible 01 - Easter Eggs Download (367 kb)
Date: Unknown |
There's another art treat today! This document contains early sketches of the Vampire, Panther, Devastator and Marine LC. Look at all the work that went into figuring out the 'dustbuster' design for the Hercules!
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Ship Sketches Download (704 kb)
Date: Unknown |
This is the big prize for anyone interested in Wing Commander Prophecy's early visuals: an early version of the TCS Midway designed by Chris Douglas early on in the game's development. The evolution from Wing Commander III and IV is a lot more clear here!
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Early Midway Download (4.4 MB)
Date: Unknown |
Here's an interesting one: at first glance it appears to be a screenshot from Wing Commander IV... but look closely! It's actually a mockup showing changes that the team hoped to make to the cockpits in Wing Commander Prophecy. I especially like the range gauge on the right side.
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Cockpit Mockup Download (704 kb)
Date: Unknown |
Yesterday's Whole Comms List has a companion - the Wing Commander Prophecy Whole Movies list. Can anyone find the elusive 'Tiger in Your Tank' scene on this list? Best description - "S&M Blair", for the alien torture scene.
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Whole Movies List Download (26 MB)
Date: Unknown |
Here's a big document for the obsessive fan to check through: a twenty page chart listing every one of Wing Commander Prophecy's comm messages. An internal file name and a short description are provided for each -- are they all in the game? "WHY WON'T ANYBODY HELP US!!! THE BRIDGE IS ON FIRE!!!!! YYAAAAAAAAA!!!"
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Whole Comms List Download (19 MB)
Date: Unknown |
You've seen some sketches, now here's the original handwritten list of set requirements. You'll find that it's largely similar to the finished game, although several were clearly cut or duplicated. The 'Monroe and O'Neil Research Vessel' reference is interesting, as it suggests there was originally something more to the intro sequence.
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Set List Download (1.0 MB)
Date: Unknown |
Now we're getting visual - today's document contains a set of Wing Commander Prophecy set sketches. They range from a familiar ready room to an absolutely different version of the trainsim (it can't be called a pod!). Check out the photocopied reference material from 'Alien', too.
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Set Concept Art Download (5.5 MB)
Date: Unknown |
On Friday, you saw how Wing Commander Prophecy's missions worked - now you can see how they fit together. This Series Flowchart document first shows how the entire game functions as a single progressive unit and then breaks down each series to show how the missions attach together.
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Series Flowchart Download (4 MB)
Date: Unknown |
Here's a little document for the holiday weekend - a single scan of the TOBY rendered artwork. You can find a full color digital version here. So, the question in this case is... why was this the one ship promo image photocopied and included with the lead designer's paperwork?
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Research Vessel Download (1.1 MB)
Date: Unknown |
Today you learn exactly how difficult a job mission designer is - with this large document containing forty-six pages of mission layout diagrams. Each has symbols representing what appears at each nav point alongside objectives, conditions and other mission criteria. Just look at how complex even some of the early missions are (some of them are quite beautiful, too.)
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Mission Flowchart Download (11 MB)
Date: Unknown |
Up for offer today is the first Wing Commander 5 (Prophecy) "Game Design Document". This sixteen-page doc includes the initial proposal and argument for the game, as well as early notes on things like keyboard layout and new gameplay elements. It starts with an interesting counterpoint to yesterday's comments as to just who decided to include Privateer 2 in the Wing continuity: "The Wing Commander 5 story will be the basis for an expanded fictional universe full of potential. Including a sustainable core product line (Wing Commander 6, 7...) as well as an extended product line (Privateer: The Darkening, and any other action oriented game we can fit into the fiction)."
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Game Design Document Download (7.5 MB)
Date: Unknown |
This is the last Component Manager Meeting agenda in the collection - and also the last dated Wing Commander Prophecy document, so we'll be moving on to some different things in the next few days. The game is approaching beta and will soon be displayed at ECTS. This is where our memories pick up: next comes the briefest screenshots in magazines, the video interview with the team, the original web site, the Universe Map posting and then the 3Dfx demo.
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Component Manager Meeting Agenda Download (2.2 MB)
Date: August 15, 1997 |
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