News Archive 2008

FROM: Rear Admiral Tolwyn, CINCWEAPONSDIVISION
DATE: 2008.24.12

The Wing Commander Saga team wishes all of you a merry Christmas. We would like to thank all of you for your supports throughout the year, and we know that we can never express our appreciation enough. We will continue to dedicate ourselves to bringing you an exciting and interactive space opera, and we hope that you will provide us with continuous supports in the coming year! Merry Christmas!!!

-Tolwyn

FROM: Captain Sphynx, CINCWEAPONSDIVISION
DATE: 2008.21.12

This has been a very productive year for the Wing Commander community! Many great fan projects have been produced some high quality releases this year. We are excited that the Wing Commander community has so much creative energy. The CIC is holding its annual awards ceremony for fan projects and websites. Drop by the CIC and see what has been released this year. There are a lot of great projects to choose from, so make sure to cast your vote for the one you think deserves the award for project of the year and website of the year.

 -Sphynx

FROM: Rear Admiral Tolwyn, CINCWEAPONSDIVISION
DATE: 2008.03.12

As we get closer to the release of Wing Commander Saga, we are continuing our policy of releasing new information about our upcoming game every few weeks to continue to keep you up to date on the project's progress. Today we would like to share some new screenshots, that demonstrate the progress we've made with the Kilrathi textures since the release of the Prologue. You will note our visual style for these textures has evolved. You'll be seeing more of our new art style as we continue pushing out media. These shots are just an appetizer.

One thing many people may not know about textures is that it is very easy to overcomplicate them. Oftentimes, the many sources we use as inspiration lead to an avalanche of good ideas, so we start piling one atop another and eventually, instead of a good, cool texture, we end up with an over-designed, bloated mess. As one graphic designer put it, you should keep adding to the design until you realize that you have ruined it, and then go back and do it again, but leave out the last step that killed the design. In our design process we went down the path of trying to cram too many good ideas in, but thankfully we realized the error of our ways and pulled back. We think we have pulled back in a way that we're allowing ourselves some growing room.

-Tolwyn

FROM: Rear Admiral Tolwyn, CINCWEAPONSDIVISION
DATE: 2008.13.11

For this week's update, we would like to focus on one of the lesser-known featuress of Wing Commander Saga, namely the fiction viewer. We haven't said a lot about it in the past, which is unfortunate because it is actually a rather large part of the Wing Commander Saga experience.

One of thing that's always difficult for game designers is to figure out how to convey the story yet not interfere with the game play. This is difficult because not all gamers are the same. You might classify gamers into two camps: first, you have the gamers that LOVE story and want to know everything about every character, location, and event, and then you have the gamers that just want to blast Kilrathi out of the sky. We didn't want either of these camps to be dissapointed. So, we came up with a system that we believe lets us have the best of both worlds.

During missions the player will encounter in-game dialogue and scripted cutscenes which contain aspects of the story that are "mission critical," which means that without them the story just doesn't hold together and the characters are meaningless. The story told through the fiction viewer, though, is completely optional, but adds a tremendous amount of depth. It covers action that occurs in between missions, fleshes out characters' relationships and motivations, deals with human dilemmas, joys, triumphs, and downfalls, and provides background information, all while expanding the overall narrative. In this way, the fiction viewer allows players that are interested in the deeper aspects of the story to dig in a little further. However, it doesn't force this extra content on players who just want to jump back in the cockpit for the next mission.
 
So, if you are content just focusing on dodging missiles and icing Kilrathi, nothing will get in your way, and you'll still be able to enjoy the Wing Commander Saga story. If you would like to dig deeper into our representation of life in the Wing Commander universe, give the fiction viewer a try!

-Tolwyn

FROM: Captain Sphynx, CINCWEAPONSDIVISION
DATE: 2008.05.11

Since Wing Commander Saga takes place during the events of Wing Commander 3 and will take the player through some of the most pivotal events of the Terran Kilrathi War, you can bet there is a chance you might run into a few familiar faces along the way. That's where our poll this week comes in.

-Sphynx

FROM: Rear Admiral Tolwyn, CINCWEAPONSDIVISION
DATE: 2008.15.10

Greetings to all. We would like to give you some great news about the development of Wing Commander Saga.

The Wing Commander Saga main campaign will consist of 7 episodes and will have a grand total of 50 missions. We are happy to announce that as of a few days ago, all of the missions for the first 6 episodes are now "gameplay complete".

What that means is each of those missions is now completely playable. However, there is a difference between "gameplay complete" and "done". "Gameplay complete" means all the enemies, objectives, secondary goals, and so forth are in place and functional, so that you could play through the mission and the whole thing would work. To get to "done", there is some additional art that needs to be added, as well as the ever present process of polishing and refining balance.

However, we are very excited to reach the "gameplay complete" milestone on the vast majority of the missions. The game is almost completely playable, and now it is time to add the real detail work.

-Tolwyn

FROM: Captain Sphynx, CINCWEAPONSDIVISION
DATE: 2008.05.10

This week, we would like to display some more of our revisioned fighter textures. As we mentioned with our Confederation fighters, we believe our new textures capture the general emotional feel of this period of the war: gritty and battleworn. Check out the screenshots for updated pirate ship textures with a new look. 

-Sphynx

FROM: Rear Admiral Tolwyn, CINCWEAPONSDIVISION
DATE: 2008.13.09

Every large project has to face the problem of distribution and Wing Commander Saga is no different. Recently our list of download mirrors had to be shortened and we need your help to improve its level of quality again. We are looking for mirrors all over the world, specifically for the Macintosh version. If you run a mirror and would like to have it listed on our site, please send us a note. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank those who are already providing Wing Commander Saga with mirrors. Thank you!

-Tolwyn

FROM: Rear Admiral Tolwyn, CINCWEAPONSDIVISION
DATE: 2008.04.09

It's an exciting time for our fans in Germany and Austria as Mind Crusher Studios have completed voiceover work for the German version of Wing Commander Saga. We think it came out fantasticly! We were extremely lucky to work with such an incredible and talented group. These guys and gals just nailed it. I could continue gushing, but instead I have simply uploaded a completely translated intro video as a showcase. Get it here and don't forget to leave feedback via the commentary function.

-Tolwyn

FROM: Rear Admiral Tolwyn, CINCWEAPONSDIVISION
DATE: 2008.21.08

Our old poll asked which Kilrathi ace in WC III is your favorite. Thrakhath won our tally, Stalker and Fireclaw came in second and third.

The new poll asks which Kilrathi fighter you would like to fly. There are a lot of possibilities: Bloodfang, Darket, Dralthi MK4, Khahaf, Paktahn, Sorthak, Strakha, Vaktoth. Vote now and then hit the 'Write comment' link to tell the world how you decided.

- Tolwyn

FROM: Rear Admiral Tolwyn, CINCWEAPONSDIVISION
DATE: 2008.15.08

Hello folks,

In order to finish off our project, we need more voices to round out our voice talent. Previous voice work for another game is preferred, but not required. Candidates should be serious and be able to sound like someone in their 20s. Openings are for miscellaneous ships and roles, with a strong emphasis on Confed fighter pilots.

Here is your chance to become part of the Wing Commander Saga team. Send your voice demo to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . We are looking forward to hear from you soon.

-Tolwyn

FROM: Rear Admiral Tolwyn, CINCWEAPONSDIVISION
DATE: 2008.29.07

Good morning!

Right, let's get this over with. I am happy to say that Germany is currently enjoying it's requisite two weeks of sunny weather for the year, and the weather is not the only thing that is hot this week. This news update features five brand new screenshots! They show much of the progress we've made since the release of the Prologue in terms of the visual look of the game. Read all about it below and don't forget to visit our public forum if you're interested in learning more about Saga, chatting with our development team, and suggesting features for upcoming releases.

In the Prologue, we wanted our models to stick with a clean military look. At the time, we were still learning the tech that we were using as tools, so we weren't certain of the limits of exactly what we could pull off. So, we went with something a little on the safe side: pristine models that looked like they had just come off of the assembly line. In the past months, however, we went back to the drawing board and started applying different effects to the textures and models.  As you can see, Confederation fighters now look like they have seen hard combat duty, and are dirtier and battle scarred. In this visual shift, we wanted to show that the war effort is not going well for Confed, that every fighter counts, and that every effort was made to keep these warbirds flying, sometimes even long after they should have been decommissioned. We are hoping that this visual evolution will add to the overall atmosphere of the part of Wing Commander history that we are trying to capture in our main campaign.

-Tolwyn

FROM: Captain Sphynx, CINCWEAPONSDIVISION
DATE: 2008.12.07

It's been a while since our last website update - sorry about that, but here it is. The latest and greatest:

One of our main goals in creating Saga is to provide a strong story that is grounded in the Wing Commander universe and offers compelling characters in thought provoking situations. That takes a lot of work to create and refine, and we have been putting a lot of effort into that lately. We have almost finished the fine-tuning of the script. We've still got a few straggling parts we need to address, but for the most part we feel that this particular beast has been slain. This is important because so much of our mission programming hinges around the script. Like everything in game development, creating a story is always more difficult than it sounds. We have received a lot of great input and a lot of great ideas from many sources, and because of that we believe that we have created a great story for you. Our goal is to make the story extremely immersive, helping you feel that you are just watching what Sandman does but actually stepping into the role and experiencing what it is like to be Sandman.

-Sphynx

FROM: Rear Admiral Tolwyn, CINCWEAPONSDIVISION
DATE: 2008.19.06

Our last poll asked which type of mission is your favorite to fly. 'Strike' missions blew away the competition coming in with 65.7% of the vote. 'Patrol' came in second, with 14.9%, barely coming in ahead of the 'Carrier Defense'.

Today's new poll asks which ace in Wing Commander III is your favorite: Bhuk "Bloodmist" nar Hhallas, Dakhath "Deathstroke" nar Caxki, Kramm "Deathfang" nar Caxki, Najji "Fireclaw" nar Ragitagha, Marjakh "Stalker" nar Kurutak and Prince Thrakhath nar Kiranka are your choices.

-Tolwyn.

FROM: Rear Admiral Tolwyn, CINCWEAPONSDIVISION
DATE: 2008.06.06

Today we released the very first patch for the MacOS X version of Wing Commander Saga: Prologue. The new version features extensive improvements for ATI card owners. The patch also adds real widescreen support and fixes a number of small glitches. Learn more and download now.

Report Wing Commander Saga bugs with Mantis

-Tolwyn

FROM: Captain Sphynx, CINCWEAPONSDIVISION
DATE: 2008.18.05

For this week's update, we would like to share some creative fan work inspired by Wing Commander Saga. Dark Hunter, one of our fan's at WingCenter, has created three wallpapers. Each one has a slightly different tone, ranging from serene to ominous. Check them out below.

-Sphynx

FROM: Rear Admiral Tolwyn, CINCWEAPONSDIVISION
DATE: 2008.28.04

For this week's update, we would like to show you our latest work on the most advanced fighter available in Wing Commander Saga: the Excalibur. This model was created by limdaepl. We have used the highest detail official Origin Excalibur models as our guide, and we have tried our best to stay faithful to the original renditions.

A next generation fighter currently undergoing trials, the F-103A Excalibur heavy fighter is ConFleet’s first attempt into copying Kilrathi cloaking technology. Specifically designed to outfly and outfight the Kilrathi Bloodfang super heavy fighter, the Excalibur can take on any fighter in the Kilrathi arsenal and win. It can be configured to fly any mission in any space or planetary environment. It packs heavier beam weaponry, missile loadout, and shielding then any ConFleet heavy fighter in service with the speed and acceleration to rival even light fighters. 

 

-Tolwyn

FROM: Captain Sphynx, CINCWEAPONSDIVISION
DATE: 2008.08.04

The Image Recognition missile blew away the competition in our last poll as a favorite secondary weapon, coming in with 40% of the vote. The Friend or Foe came in second, with 17.8%, barely coming in ahead of the torpedo. The lonely Porcupine mine came in last place, with only .04% of the vote.

Our new poll focuses on your favorite type of mission to fly. Come cast your vote!

-Sphynx

FROM: Rear Admiral Tolwyn, CINCWEAPONSDIVISION
DATE: 2008.02.04

One of the most well-known Terran vessels encountered in WC2 is the civilian Free Trader, which in some cases, is much more then meets the eye. One of these special cases is the infamous Bonnie Heather, which was in reality a high-tech special operations ship captained by James "Paladin" Taggart. The WC Saga Team wishes to show their version of the ConFleet Intelligence Scout. This ship is intended to be the missing link between older scouts such as the Bonnie Heather and the Bannockburn (mentioned in the Fleet Action novel), to true cloaking scoutships such as Zachary Banfield's "Highwayman" and the Landerich stealth scouts mentioned in the False Colors novel.

The true speed and capabilities of these scouts remain classified to the highest level. In addition, ConFleet Public Relations can neither confirm nor deny rumors that the latest Terran spy scouts are being outfitted with prototype cloaking devices.

-Tolwyn

FROM: Rear Admiral Tolwyn, CINCWEAPONSDIVISION
DATE: 2008.26.03

As some of you may have noticed, we are experiencing quite a few problems with our server. We won't bore you with all the gory details of what has happened, suffice it to say that we'll move our site to a new server. In the mean time the website is back online, and rest assured that even though we are working on our server woes, our work on the WC Saga main campaign continues.

-Tolwyn

FROM: Rear Admiral Tolwyn, CINCWEAPONSDIVISION
DATE: 2008.29.02

For this week's update, we want to let you know that we are currently working on producing a German version of Wing Commander Saga. We know many of our fans are in Germany or speak German as their first language, so with the help of Mind Crusher Studios, we will have a fully German version, as well. We will give you more details as this release draws nearer.

-Tolwyn

FROM: Captain Sphynx, CINCWEAPONSDIVISION
DATE: 2008.14.02

For this week's update, we wanted to share with you an article that has recently been published about several fan-made space flight simulations, including Wing Commander Saga. To read the article, follow the link.

-Sphynx

FROM: Rear Admiral Tolwyn, CINCWEAPONSDIVISION
DATE: 2008.30.01

For this week’s update, the Wing Commander Saga team would like to give you a sneak preview of the Longbow cockpit. Although cockpits weren’t included in the prologue campaign, they will be available in the upcoming full release. We have tried to stay as faithful as possible to the original cockpit designs, as seen in Wing Commander 3. In fact, some upcoming code changes in the SCP engine will allow us to do a few things with cockpits that we didn’t think were possible until now… but you’ll have to wait until later to hear more about that. Check out the Longbow cockpit below:

-Tolwyn

FROM: Captain Sphynx, CINCWEAPONSDIVISION
DATE: 2008.19.01

Being a good shot with primary weapons is essential, but a good pilot also knows when to bring out the bigger guns, so to speak. Place a vote for your favorite seconday weapon!

-Sphynx 

FROM: Captain Sphynx, CINCWEAPONSDIVISION
DATE: 2008.08.01

The Wing Commander Saga team would like to thank everyone who voted in the CIC's annual Fan Project of the Year contest. This has been a productive year for the WC community, and there were many great fan projects to choose from. Thanks to your support, Wing Commander Saga took first place in a tie with another great WC fan project, Standoff. Among all our reasons for making Saga, our primary goal is to produce something that the fans will enjoy. Your recognition and support help us dedicated to making Saga the best it can be for all of you to enjoy.

So, we'd like to pay you back a little bit for your recognition by providing you with some more eye candy. The Blue Point base (seen in Wing Commander 4) will make an appearance in Saga's main campaign. Although we won't spoil the story with details about why it is included and what role it plays, we'll share a screenshot to show our rendition of this Confed starbase.

-Sphynx