My support

Discuss the Wing Commander Series and find the latest information on the Wing Commander Universe privateer mod as well as the standalone mod Wasteland Incident project.
delanvital
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My support

Post by delanvital »

What a joy to see the great universe of WC in such vigor. I remember playing just about all the games. And great fun to play privateer again, my favorite.

I would like to offer my support to the development. Who do I talk to?
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Post by charlieg »

That's a good question... who is "in charge of" (or at least, providing organisitaion for) WCU?

One of spiritplumber, chuck starchaser, klauss, mkruer, hellcatv, or privateer ferrius.

Somebody needs to take charge!
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Post by klauss »

Well... it would be a first step knowing what kinds of things you can/are willing to do.
Art? Coding? Web design? Playtesting? Something else?
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Post by Privateer Ferrius »

Woah ... when'd I get put in charge? :P I'm not even on the credits list :lol:
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Post by klauss »

Charleig was making reference to the fact that in the WCU's history, it has eluded leadership in several ocasions.

And... somehow... I think it'll remain leaderless for a while. WCU is more a peer-to-peer development than a server-client one.
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Post by Spaceman Spiff »

I hate to say it, but that's the problem the wcnews guys have with WCU... :|
You are a newbie and need help? Check out the Wing Commander Universe and Privateer Remake Library Project

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Post by chuck_starchaser »

Who cares about wcnews, anyways?

Project leader is spiritplumber, whether she likes it or not; and even if she's not around as much as she used to, I'd say. And lead programmer is Klauss, without question.
delanvital, did you mean you want to work on the project, or donate? If you mean donations, I think klauss would make the best use of them, at the moment.
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Post by Privateer Ferrius »

I'll call myself Lead Canon Nazi :lol: :mrgreen:

More realistically speaking, all I see myself as is an overly amitious artist :P

@Chuck: What's with Spiritplumber anyways? I don't think I've seen a post by her since I signed up here.
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Post by chuck_starchaser »

Busy with school; she should be back soon.
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Post by Privateer Ferrius »

chuck_starchaser wrote:Who cares about wcnews, anyways?

Project leader is spiritplumber, whether she likes it or not; and even if she's not around as much as she used to, I'd say. And lead programmer is Klauss, without question.
delanvital, did you mean you want to work on the project, or donate? If you mean donations, I think klauss would make the best use of them, at the moment.
Klauss nor none of use could legally accept money to support a Wing Commander project without the good graces of EA, or we'd get up shit creek without a pattle reeeeaal fast.
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Post by chuck_starchaser »

I'm no lawyer, but I'm skeptical about that. First of all, Klauss is not producing any content; he's involved in programming for the engine in general, which serves any and all mods. Secondly, donations are "gifts", not money "in exchange for something".
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Post by charlieg »

Privateer Ferrius wrote:Klauss nor none of use could legally accept money to support a Wing Commander project without the good graces of EA, or we'd get up shit creek without a pattle reeeeaal fast.
There's a world of difference between donations and charging money for a game. There's no way accepting voluntary donations could be construed as profiteering from WCU. Even so, it's a little early to think of donations... it's not like there's a queue of beneficiaries.
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Post by chuck_starchaser »

Well, I believe actually Klauss could use better hardware than he has presently. I said that with that in mind. I sent him my old 6600GT videocard, and that's barely adequate for a developer; and he was just telling me that his machine takes 15 or 20 minutes to compile vegastrike. I never timed mine; but I'm sure it takes less than 5, for comparison.
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Post by Privateer Ferrius »

charlieg wrote:
Privateer Ferrius wrote:Klauss nor none of use could legally accept money to support a Wing Commander project without the good graces of EA, or we'd get up shit creek without a pattle reeeeaal fast.
There's a world of difference between donations and charging money for a game. There's no way accepting voluntary donations could be construed as profiteering from WCU. Even so, it's a little early to think of donations... it's not like there's a queue of beneficiaries.
You obviously aren't familiar with the megacorp friendly American copyright law.
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Post by Privateer Ferrius »

But EA does, and anything involving the WC franchise by license is dealt with there.

I wouldn't be adverse to giving a hand with Klauss' hardware when I have money, but as a matter of legality and of professionalism I do not think it would be wise to accept monetary donations for or related to the project.
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Post by chuck_starchaser »

Okeydoc; won't bring up the subject again. Any eager donors, talk to HellcatV (the Vegastrike engine's author).
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Post by Privateer Ferrius »

To elaborate a bit, if Klauss wants to ask for help getting better computer components to develop the project, that'd be okay; it's just accepting donations is pretty likely to be construed by EA as profiteering on the franchise.
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Post by chuck_starchaser »

Well, actually Klauss is working on the Vegastrike *engine*, NOT on WCU, AFAIK; even if he spends more time in this forum than in others. But like I said, I won't invite a donation again.
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Post by Privateer Ferrius »

VS itself could certainly ask for donations, but one'd have to be careful not to make it look like it's going to WCO for abovementioned reasons.

And I'm rambling by now, aren't I? :P
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Post by klauss »

Legality issues: Donations are not profiteering. International treaties may extend EA's copyright protection all the way here (Argentina), but it does not by any means give American law jurisdiction over Argentinian citizens. That is... if it's not profiteering (and thus a crime) here, they can whine all they want, and get nothing.
Plus... failing that... my dad's a great lawyer :P

Nevertheless... I would feel awkward receiving donations, because
a) I'm not the only developer, and I've already received my share of donations (Chuck & Daniel have made sure I have a quite nifty test bed for any graphics related task).
b) Right now, I do think we're in need of coding/artsy/whatever help more than financial help - we're too few, doing too much.

Leadership: Spirit can't be the leader if she doesn't want, for she would have to act like one. And she doesn't. Noone here acts like a leader. A leader says: Today we do this, and by next week it has to be done.
Of course... this being a fan project with "free time" contributions make such deadlines hard to meet, and of little consequence when they aren't met (noone will be fired) but a leader will make them both "reasonable" and "compelling", actually motivating people.
Also, a leader would have final say on things. Though Spirit's word is highly regarded, she herself says she's not authoritative canon-wise because of her lack of canon knowledge. That makes it hard to make leadership decisions - a leader should know a fair amount about canon (though not necessarily be an expert).
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Post by chuck_starchaser »

klauss wrote:Leadership: Spirit can't be the leader if she doesn't want, for she would have to act like one. And she doesn't. Noone here acts like a leader. A leader says: Today we do this, and by next week it has to be done.
Of course... this being a fan project with "free time" contributions make such deadlines hard to meet, and of little consequence when they aren't met (noone will be fired) but a leader will make them both "reasonable" and "compelling", actually motivating people.
Also, a leader would have final say on things. Though Spirit's word is highly regarded, she herself says she's not authoritative canon-wise because of her lack of canon knowledge. That makes it hard to make leadership decisions - a leader should know a fair amount about canon (though not necessarily be an expert).
Well, if someone says "I don't want to be the leader" but everyone follows him or her... In a way, we're following her in the sense that she started wcu and did 99% of the work; and in the sense that when she's around we get tons of people coming in and starting to do something, and after she leaves most of them leave. But I'd agree she can't be the "official" leader if she declines the title.
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Post by delanvital »

Wow.. seems like i started something there.

I figured I could do a bit of graphics and play testing, maybe a tad coding. What I would prefer to do is help out with storylines... but it does not seem to be a major issue? Or what? :?:
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Post by chuck_starchaser »

We did some work on a possible storyline, I sent you a PM (Private Message) about it; --if you have popups disabled, check your messages manually, top of the screen. That's a bit in the back-burner, though, since what we'd like to do first is get remakes done of all WC games.
For coding, speak to klauss. For graphics, speak to me. :) What kind of graphics you do?
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Post by Privateer Ferrius »

klauss wrote: Leadership: Spirit can't be the leader if she doesn't want, for she would have to act like one. And she doesn't. Noone here acts like a leader. A leader says: Today we do this, and by next week it has to be done.
Of course... this being a fan project with "free time" contributions make such deadlines hard to meet, and of little consequence when they aren't met (noone will be fired) but a leader will make them both "reasonable" and "compelling", actually motivating people.
Also, a leader would have final say on things. Though Spirit's word is highly regarded, she herself says she's not authoritative canon-wise because of her lack of canon knowledge. That makes it hard to make leadership decisions - a leader should know a fair amount about canon (though not necessarily be an expert).
I agree wholeheartedly, and I feel that we're in need of such a leader if this project is to survive to fruition and completion. Klauss himself has been pretty good in the regards of trying to organize and drive tasks, but per his own admission, he's not the most schooled in the canon.

Perhaps what we could do, averyone willing, is have the leadership spilt somewhat. Klauss could organize tasks and such with Spirit, I can have the canon veto, being the most knowledgable about the canon, and Chuck, being the resident modelling expert could have that sandbox as his.

Thoughts?
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