2020. 3. 3. 03:25ㆍ카테고리 없음
I am posting a complete playthrough of my favorite Star Trek game of all time, Bridge Commander, on Youtube. I'm splitting each game 'mission' into its own video, so I plan for there to be about 25 videos. There will be a new video every day or so.Link:Initially released back in 2002, the game was ahead of its time for gameplay and still holds up as one of the best 'Capital Ship' space combat simulators ever made.
The story is incredibly fun and truly feels like you are playing in a Star Trek episode, as you will see during this series. Visually though, the stock game leaves a lot to be desired by today's standards.In come mods!Bridge Commander has had an avid modding community for the 16 years it has been around. Many talented modders (and some passable ones such as myself ) have brought this game into the modern era with models and textures that almost match the CGI of the Star Trek TV shows. Thanks to the work of the community, we now have a game that looks and plays better than the original developers would likely have thought possible. The updated models and textures are far too many to list, and a significant portion of the scripting is my own custom work, but the actual number of non-visual mods are light in order to allow the singleplayer story to still function properly.If you are interested in finding out more or getting some of these mods for yourself, check out Bridge Commander Central:I'd love to hear your feedback and constructive criticism. I'd also love to answer any questions you may have about the game, mods, or other related info!
Click to expand.Yes, balancing the game is definitely a big chore in order to make the ships preform the way they do in the shows while also keeping the gameplay fair and fun.It has taken me years of on-and-off tinkering with hardpoint files and mission scripts to accomplish this, because in my opinion, not modifying the ships' capabilities was simply not an option. Stock BC was a great framework for a game but it had very dull ship variety. Almost every ship had the same weapon layout and combat was very slow paced.Adding variety to the ships and updating the visuals was all it took to make this old game shine again. But it was not an easy task by any means.
Click to expand.It doesn't have to be more or less powerful. If I wanted I could have changed the physical model and left the weaponry and defenses exactly the same as the stock game's station. But to adjust the weapon ports and hull systems to fit with the completely different shape of the new model, a lot of tinkering had to be done. The same goes for any ship and station in the game.For the new Cardassian installations, I replaced the non-canon models of the Outpost and Station with the canon model of the Cardassian Monac shipyard. The Station is the full Monac base and the Outpost simply lacks the 5 docking arms. The Starbase (which is the Nor-Type station such as DS9) was left alone but given an updated model that is far more detailed and screen-accurate.
And to match up with the new balance of the vessels in my modpack, the stats of these stations were buffed a bit from stock. Click to expand.I definitely plan to do so. I have a few more little tweaks to finish off before I consider it 'ready', but they are mostly minor things.The real difficulty is how I go about wrapping it all up into one nice package that will be easy for others to install. It's been years since I've started with this so making sure I've gathered ALL modifications into the modpack will be tricky. One missing script and it will not function.Then there's the issue of giving proper credit to all of the ship modelers who's effort has gone into this, but that's just a matter of research to see where I've dug up all of these high quality models over the years.Glad you're taking an interest though! When I do release the pack it will definitely be posted here!
Click to expand.It is actually possible to make entirely new single-player campaigns for any Trek era. Changing ships, bridges, characters is relatively easy if know what doing: the biggest issue is changing the story/dialogue and 'voice acting'. Though even that's now possible with text-to-voice software.It mainly just needs a lot of scripting work, and those experienced in BC don't think it's worthwhile for what is now a great-but-26 year old game! What is more achievable in short term is single campaign classic missions.
For example, this is the TwOK Kobayashi Maru in Bridge Commander:There's also DS9FX Xtended mod, which adds a lot of new elements to game. Click to expand.Just text would probably be okay as most as a lot of spoken content in fan mods tends to be average. Most VO actors in these are just not very good or they lack good recording equipment.But getting a good writer is also a challenge.I hope the new Star Trek Excalibur when released will be open and interesting enough for fans to make new Single Player campaigns with.Other than the Original Series I mentioned I would love to have recreated some of the key battles of an old Marvel Star Trek comic called Telepathy War.
Cardassian and Dominion forces attacking DS9 before the episode 'Call to arms', a Starfleet-Klingon task force under command of the USS Enterprise E in the Gamma Quadrant being attacked twice by the Dominion with during the second time the Dominion using captured Romulan warbirds, and Alaya 2 where the Enterprise E alone had to defend the Telepath Conference taking place there against Dominion forces. It is actually possible to make entirely new single-player campaigns for any Trek era.
Star Trek Bridge Commander Windows 10
Changing ships, bridges, characters is relatively easy if know what doing: the biggest issue is changing the story/dialogue and 'voice acting'. Though even that's now possible with text-to-voice software.It mainly just needs a lot of scripting work, and those experienced in BC don't think it's worthwhile for what is now a great-but-26 year old game!
What is more achievable in short term is single campaign classic missions. For example, this is the TwOK Kobayashi Maru in Bridge Commander:There's also DS9FX Xtended mod, which adds a lot of new elements to game. Click to expand.This is really interesting.
I always thought that making an entirely new campaign was impossible, but from what you're saying it sounds like it's not. Simply very difficult and time consuming.I wonder if it would be possible to take the story from another Trek game and convert it to BC. For example, Starfleet Command 3, which had a pretty decent story IMO. The voice acting is already done because the game has all of the sound files. It would 'just' be a matter of scripting it and adding in those voice clips.
. Summary: While on duty in a remote area of space, a nearby sun suddenly erupts releasing a deadly blast that damages your ship, kills your Captain and threatens nearby colonists. Now you must take control of your ship and lead your crew to solve the mystery. Your mission is clear - discover the While on duty in a remote area of space, a nearby sun suddenly erupts releasing a deadly blast that damages your ship, kills your Captain and threatens nearby colonists. Now you must take control of your ship and lead your crew to solve the mystery.
Your mission is clear - discover the cause of the devastating explosion and prevent it from happening again. During the race you will battle the Cardassians, ally with the Klingons, investigate the unpredictable Romulans and reveal a secret plot that threatens the Federation itself. Activision Expand.
It's been 16 years since Bridge Commander came out. A great game with amazing graphics for the time and a decent story. 16 years ago I took It's been 16 years since Bridge Commander came out. A great game with amazing graphics for the time and a decent story. 16 years ago I took the bridge in that game and with various mods and fan patches I still am the captain of the USS Sovereign; NCC-73811. For all those years one question doesn't leave my head.
Why aren't there more games like this? Not even in the Star Trek brand, but at all?
How come nobody knicked the gameplay of this game yet? Between Elite Force games and Bridge Commander we could've had something amazing, alas it never happened. Anyway, Bridge Commander is a game still worth playing, after 16 years and with its status as abandonware. It shouldn't be too difficult to find floating online.
If you're a Star Trek fan and haven't played this game yet, pick it up. It's worth the time. It's nice to see something really new, as opposed to the same old crap with slightly different graphics slapped on it. This game is It's nice to see something really new, as opposed to the same old crap with slightly different graphics slapped on it. This game is truely unique. Some folks (see Sam's comments, errr, comment) will rush in and rush out quickly, not finding the 'Doom' first person shooter interface they were hoping for, or whatever. It takes some patience to adjust to the new mode of operation, and in the beginning you might allow your crew to do too much of the work, leaving you basically watching a movie.
Once you get your hands-on management skills up to par, however, it get's VERY entertaining. The game stays very true to the Star Trek universe while being accessible and very fun. Loads of addon ships, effects, systems, and more give The game stays very true to the Star Trek universe while being accessible and very fun. Loads of addon ships, effects, systems, and more give the game massive replay value, and the online play can be very fun. While the default ship models aren't very good by today's standards, the actual graphics engine is quite good and, with some spiffy new ship models, can look photorealistic. The damage modeling is great, and with mods like NanoFX, explosions are absolutely spectacular. Also, this game stays true to actual space physics - when a ship's engines are disabled, it continues to drift, instead of stopping.
And you can go upside down and roll in whichever direction with ease. The combat model is also very complex and satisfying, though it lacks skin shields for TMP era vessels (I don't blame them, as the stock game only has TNG era ships) The game is constantly being modded and updated by the community with new scripts - and things that were once thought impossible to do with the BC engine are being done by the incredible scripting community. The AI in this game is on the stupid side, leaving some of the single player feeling slightly shallow.
Bridge Commander Maximum Warp Edition
However, it is very fun to start massive battles in Quick Battle mode, with 4 or more ships on each side. And it is fun to see how you can exploit the weak spots in a large, powerful vessel and destroy it with a small, weak one.
The game is now nearly impossible to find in stores; though it is a must buy. You can probably find it on eBay.