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This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that inspired Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is Buffy the Vampire Slayer and you can find details on why we're watching it in the announcement post here (it's a weird one!). The movie will start about 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!
Jul
…Greetings WingNuts,
The Wing Commander movie club has explored Los Angeles of the… recent past… and if there was ever any doubt, we all love Blade Runner. It's an incredible movie whose aesthetic grabs you from the first frame and carries you through even the film's weaker moments (which include the meat of the climactic third act fight and in the theatrical version we watched the well-intentioned-but-poorly-done narration.
The big story when it comes to Wing Commander is Blade Runner's connection to Privateer's New Detroit environment. We thought it would be fun to walk you through exactly how we go from one of Syd Mead's stunning concept paintings to the finished animation in Privateer.
And here's how that concept was realized by director Ridley Scott:
Here is an excerpt from a March 18 1992 art list by Privateer's lead designer Joel Manners. He describes the planet, then known as New Chicago instead of
Jul
…Here's a little gem from the Internet Archive: scans of a Polish gaming magazine called Computer Studio. This is an April 1993 article covering the current state of Origin Systems. It's largely focused on Richard Garriott's Ultima group but there's an interesting section about Privateer as well. It's cool to have a snapshot of the game from a very different perspective! A translation of the Privateer section is included below.
Another pair of important figures at Origin are Joel Manners and Scott Russo. The former previously collaborated with Roberts during the creation of "Wing Commander" and now he has decided to use the knowledge he acquired to benefit a proven idea. Together with Scott Russo he is currently working on a spinoff game game titled "Privateer". Many aspects of it will come straight from "Wing Commander" but the action of "Privateer" goes further than in Roberts' program: it is not
Jul
…Like most people, I constantly find myself needing to refer to the ship sprites from the original Wing Commander games. Four (or five, depending on how you count Super Wing Commander) different Wing Commander games used an engine called 3Space which stored ships not as 3D objects but as collections of sprites that were resized and rotated to simulate 3D. This allowed the earliest games to have ships that appeared to have textures or details beyond what was possible on home computers when they were released.
Over the years, we've collected plenty of orthographics and sprite sheets to show off this material extracted from the games... but it just occured to me: why not just upload all the source images in galleries? So that's what we've done! All 3,362 in game sprites are now accessible via the WCPedia links below! Whether you're studying up on Kilrathi insignia or just need a side view of a Gratha for a
Jul
…
Buffy the Vampire Slayer didn't quite live up to the highs of the franchise that followed but it was an interesting little movie… just one that fell short of the premise or its colorful cinematography. This week, we're returning to space with one more movie in 'part one' of our series: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.
Our connection to the making of Wing Commander once again comes from the March 1992 art list composed for Wing Commander Privateer which notes the following for the external design of Perry Naval Base: "Perry Naval Base: Perry looks very similar to the orbiting base in Star Trek." This would be the massive orbital starbase facility first created for Star Trek III and then reused extensively in later features and serieses. Perry Naval Base is one of the signature designs in the game, making a significant appearance on the box
Jul
Just one more day to take advantage of GOG's latest summer sale. The Wing Commander series is marked down 60% for the whole series, so each package below is $2.39. Act now... or hang tight for their next sale!
Jul
Thirty years ago this month, Electronic Gaming Monthly pulished this short but interesting preview of the upcoming Wing Commander III 3DO. Wing Commander III 3DO had a playable build ready fairly early in development... but a lot of aspects changed before release, including a complete redo of the video player. If you look closely at the gameplay screenshots in this preview you will notice they're a lot darker and some aspects of the interface are closer to the original PC release. And check out that destroyed labeled Exeter, another indication of how WC3 3DO retains some Super Wing Commander DNA!
Jul
…You all can identify any fighter in space at this point… but what about the small arms? Today we've put together a guide to the smaller weapons of Wing Commander Academy: handguns, rifles, grenades and more! Animated shows like Academy create a sort of visual bible of model sheets of "props" that can be reused from episode to episode… resulting in a consistency where the same weapon can appear each time that type is needed. It's interesting to see where Academy does this and where it creates new weapons for particular stories! We've divided everything by faction: Space Force, Marines, Kilrathi, Dioscuri and then unique weapons that appear only once associated with a particular character. Enjoy!
Terran Confederation Space Force
The Space Force pistol is the most common weapon to appear on Wing Commander Academy, used by six different episodes. Like the similarly prolific Kilrathi Pistol, it has more
Jul
This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that inspired Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and you can find details on why we're watching it in the announcement post here (it's a weird one!). The movie will start about 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!
Jul
…Greetings WingNuts,
The Wing Commander movie club has traveled to distant galaxies and lived through some of the most deadly warfare in human history… and now we can add surviving high school in Los Angeles to our list of accomplishments! Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a movie that never quite comes together: it's endlessly promising a slightly better film that you sincerely wish you were watching. It's perfectly pleasant and certainly plenty of fun… but you come away wondering why there wasn't just a little more there.
As previously noted, the Wing Commander connection is slight: the original introductory story for Privateer included a character named Jake Rubio, a sketchy privateer who attempts to take advantage of the player when he is just starting out as an independent operator. Rubio's appearance was to be based on actor Paul Reubens' appearance in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Reubens plays vampire
Jul
…Here's a piece of fan art I never expected to see: a chibi version of the Kilrathi priestess from Secret Missions 2 by DeKreteOne on DeviantArt!
This is one that is a little less than usual, but I still wanted to try. I've enjoyed the Wing Commander series since my dad showed me the games when I was a kid. The Kilrathi always stuck in my mind as such a neat villain race, and the Priestess of Sivar, one of the only female Kilrathi ever to be seen (in a cutscene in Secret Missions 2 for the first game), has remained in my mind since I first saw her.
I drew this a while back, and just got around to wrapping up the colors/shading. Even though it is a little obscure of a concept, and not everyone enjoys the idea of more than one pair of breasts, I will probably draw some more art of her when I come up with some new concepts. I liked drawing her, and exploring what she would look like under the (admittedly
Jul
…Last month, we posted some cool Hornet art by ulimann644 on DeviantArt. At the time we wondered what they were going to do next… and now we know, one of my favorite Wing Commander ship designs of all time: the original Fralthi!
Fralthi-class Carrier (DeviantArt)
This is my second WING COMMANDER mesh. The FRALTHI-CLASS Cruiser/Light Carrier of the Kilrathi in WING COMMANDER 1.
Hope you like it.
Software:
- Lightwave 2024
- PhotoshopUlimann644 also posted two work in progress versions which show how much effort when into this ship.
Fralthi-class Carrier (DeviantArt)
This is a second WIP-Picture of my second WING COMMANDER mesh.
I made some changes at the basic-colors and added a few new details. The Light Carrier/Cruiser has also it's gun-turrets now.
Hope you like it.
Software:
- Lightwave 2024Fralthi-class Carrier WIP 1 (DeviantArt)
This is a first WIP-Picture of my second WING COMMANDER mesh - a few others will
Jul
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Spock has been found – and guess what, he regenerated and lived his whole life and happened to end up exactly as old as he was the first time. What luck! In all seriousness, we loved Star Trek III and talked a lot about how important it was in setting up the next twenty years of Star Trek storytelling.
This week, things are changing just a little bit: we're moving from the previous collection of films, which were exclusively ones which inspired Wing Commander, to add a new set of movies that are referenced in Wing Commander stories (either in front of or behind the screens). If we come across another reference to a movie that inspired Wing Commander, we'll prioritize that in future weeks. Until then, enjoy a new batch of films with a little more variety… and some interesting Wing Commander connections that we'll explore in these intro posts.
With that in mind, we're kicking things off with the Star Wars
Jul
Display MoreThis month's analysis of the influence held by key figures in the core systems has arrived, courtesy of Conrad Sterling of Vox Galactica.
His latest survey of system populations suggests the following five powers enjoy the largest sphere of influence:
Rank 1: Aisling Duval – 1,661 systems
Rank 2: Edmund Mahon - 1,581 systems
Rank 3: Arissa Lavigny-Duval – 1,480 systems
Rank 4: Yuri Grom – 1,114 systems
Rank 5: Li Yong-Rui – 1,018 systems
The largest increase in system influence belonged to Aisling Duval who can claim an additional 104 systems as supporters.
Vox Galactica will provide another update on the state of the powers next month.
Jul
…We recently put together an article covering the names of the different transports in Wing Commander II. A few weeks later I was surprised to discover I had received a pretty fascinating anonymous message about it:
I was just reading the Wing Commander II transports article, and noticing the breakdown with the comm portraits I remembered: have you guys ever written about how those portraits are originally from Ultima VI (Gwenno and Nomaan)? I can't be the only one who noticed that, right?We had not written such an article because we had never noticed the connection! But sure enough, it's 100% true: both of the VDU images for the male and female freighter pilots in Wing Commander II are reused from NPC portraits in Ultima VI! To the best of my knowledge (and despite the huge amount of crossover between Wing Commander and Ultima players, myself included) I've never seen anyone else point this out.
Jul
…This one is straight outta the Wing Commander Discord! Talented regular user Friend Computer has created three Wing Commander fonts for everyone to use. They say: "You might want to note there are minor differences to improve readability and kerning. Otherwise the fonts are free to use in projects as people see fit." Awesome! They've created a font based on the one used in computer menus in Wing Commander III and IV and then two more based on ones seen in Privateer: the Quine 4000 font and the in flight nav computer font.
Wing Leader
Note: "This is my version on Wing Commander Font. There are minor changes to the font to improve readability and kerning There's a few style choices I made as some of the letters didn't feel consistent.
Download
Quine 4000
Note: "Here's the Privateer font from the QUINE 4000 computer with some small adjustments for readability. I had to guess on the extra
Jul
…Zorgon Peterson has issued a public call for support in the final production phase of the long-anticipated Panther Clipper Mk II.
The heavy freighter, hailed as the largest solo-pilot cargo vessel ever produced for civilian use, has encountered logistical setbacks. Whilst the perpetrator has not been explicitly named, analysts have pointed towards retributive pirate operations following the Kumo Crew's recent defeat in Beta-3 Tucani.
A spokesperson for Zorgon Peterson said:
"We remain fully committed to launching the Panther Clipper Mk II on schedule. With the help of the independent pilot community, we aim to stabilise supply chains and defend our shipping lanes."
Pilots are invited to support the initiative from Vespucci City in the Aiaba system. Assistance is requested in two forms: deliveries of Superconductors, Polymers and Gallium to the station, and anti-piracy operations to protect
Jul
…The recent three-way conflict between Princess Aisling Duval, Jerome Archer, and Li Yong-Rui has drawn to a close, with all parties claiming success.
The campaign began with Federal and Sirius-aligned forces launching operations into Princess Aisling's territory around the Daikulcandi system, citing concerns over instability following her prolonged absence from domestic affairs. Imperial loyalists responded in high numbers, rallying behind Princess Aisling's call to arms and defending her influence over several key systems.
Aisling's forces retained control in Daikulcandi and neighbouring strongholds but were forced to concede territory in Gondul and Santy where both Archer's Federal supporters and the Sirius Corporation's auxiliary fleets concentrated their efforts.
Senator Zemina Torval, who had questioned Aisling's ability to defend her territory, issued a frank statement acknowledging the
Jul
This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that are referenced by Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is The Empire Strikes Back and you can find details on why we're watching it in the announcement post here. The movie will start about 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!
Jul
…Greetings WingNuts,
The Wing Commander movie club found the Search for Spock worth the effort! It sometimes feels like Star Trek III gets a bad rap just to fit together the 'even good, odd bad' Star Trek movie joke. The reality is that it only ever falters at the very end with a final ten minutes of dull Vulcan resurrection that loses more and more meaning the further we travel from the tastes of 1980s fandom. But everything else, what a movie! And not only that, Star Trek III takes the world of Star Trek II and twists it into what it will become for the next thirty years. The 'tone' of Star Trek TNG and its spinoffs is born in Search for Spock's first act… as are a huge number of the models, sets and ideas (including the modern Klingon) that will go on to fuel an enormous franchise. And a rousing story, to boot.
The big connection to Wing Commander is that Star Trek III was the origin of the
