Software:Strike Commander

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Short description: 1993 video game
Strike Commander
Developer(s)Origin Systems
Publisher(s)Electronic Arts
Director(s)Chris Roberts
Producer(s)Chris Roberts
Designer(s)Chris Roberts
Jeff George
Programmer(s)Jason Templeman
Chris Roberts
Paul Isaac
Aaron Martin
Artist(s)Bruce Lemons
Danny Garrett
Chris Douglas
Jake Rodgers
Writer(s)Gilbert P. Austin
Composer(s)Nenad Vugrinec
Dana Karl Glover
Platform(s)MS-DOS, PC-98
ReleaseApril 1993[1]
Genre(s)Air combat simulation
Mode(s)Single-player

Strike Commander is a combat flight simulation video game designed by Chris Roberts and released by Origin Systems for MS-DOS in 1993. Its 3D graphics-engine uses both gouraud shading and texture-mapping on both aircraft-models and terrain, an impressive feat at the time. Significant plot elements are presented through in-game cut-scene animations, a hallmark storytelling vehicle from Chris Robert's previous Wing Commander games. Strike Commander has been called "Privateer on Earth", due to the mercenary role-playing in the game.

The game was included as part of a 1994 Creative Labs bundle pack with Syndicate Plus, Software:Ultima VIII: Pagan and Software:Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi. It was also available in a CD bundle with Wing Commander: Privateer; both games included the core game, the expansion pack and voice pack on a single CD-ROM disc.

The game was re-released in 2013 on Gog.com with support for Windows.

Gameplay

The player accepts missions from interesting characters and gets paid for doing them which allows the player to buy more weapons. The missions involve flying an F-16 Fighting Falcon and, in the last missions of the game, the more advanced F-22, while accomplishing certain objectives and missions.

Other simulators, such as the F-22 series from Novalogic have been compared with Strike Commander because of their simplified flight model and emphasis on graphic detail, which makes them relatively similar in terms of philosophy.

Plot

Setting

The game takes place in the then-near-future 2011. The end of the Cold War and the Gulf War have triggered a massive rise in global instability, compounded by natural disasters and failed economic policy in the United States. Capitalizing on the growing need for security, the Turkish government allows private security contractors to operate with near-complete freedom from Istanbul provided they register with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a regular fee.

The protagonist is the second-in-command of the Wildcats, a private security company specializing in air combat led by James Stern; the player is referred to as "Commander" by in game characters. Although the Wildcats are a veteran squadron, the company has struggled to keep pilots on its roster as of late, owing primarily to Stern's strict policy against civilian casualties. The Wildcats' biggest rival is the Jackals, led by Stern's former second-in-command Jean-Paul Prideaux.[3]

History

Development

The Strike Commander project took more than four years and over a million man hours on background development. Very little of that production time turned out to be actually usable in the final product, as at least one and possibly several complete project "reboots" were required to refine the graphical engine to a playable state. Nevertheless, some successful gameplay elements from Strike Commander were re-used by other more notable Origin products such as Privateer and the Wing Commander series. Chris Roberts, in the game's manual, compares the game's long development time with the events in the 1991 documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse, a film account of what it took to get the 1979 film Apocalypse Now made.

Release

A separate Speech Pack, sold on floppy disk, replaced some of the game's text-dialogue with voice-acted recordings. An expansion pack Strike Commander: Tactical Operations continued the game's story by adding more missions and flyable aircraft. A later CD-ROM edition of Strike Commander bundled the game, expansion pack, and more audio content (beyond what was available in the Speech Pack).

In March 2013 Strike Commander was re-released in the Digital Distribution by gog.com.[4]

In 2013 a SC reverse engineering project by Fabien Sanglard with a reconstructed source code variant became available on GitHub as the original source code was most probably lost in the take over of Origin by EA.[5][6]

Reception

James Trunzo reviewed Strike Commander in White Wolf #37 (July/Aug., 1993) and stated that "Zoom across oceans and watch waves ripple as you streak by. Fly over snow-capped mountains and travel to detailed cities complete with skyscrapers and factories. Take out drug cartels, strafe battlefields and escort diplomats as you try to survive in a war-torn world of the near future. Strike Commander took years to arrive on the scene, but with upcoming add-ons, you'll be playing it for a lot longer than that!"[7]

In August 1993 Computer Gaming World wrote that "Strike is not and does not attempt to be a high-fidelity simulation ... It focuses on action and combat" and "is designed to get players in the air and having fun in the shortest amount of time", with a "much gentler learning curve" than Falcon 3.0 or Red Baron and better graphics than F-117 Stealth Fighter 2.0 or Jetfighter.[8] In December the magazine described the game as "probably the most hardware-intensive game yet released".[9] In April 1994 the magazine said that the CD version's additional difficulty levels, improvement to the "admittedly enhanced combat sequences" including a more realistic F-16 flight model, and the expansion missions made it "the best option".[10]

In 1994, PC Gamer UK named Strike Commander's CD-ROM release the 36th best computer game of all time.[11] In 1996, Computer Gaming World ranked Strike Commander as the 13th top vaporware title in computer game history (due 1991, delivered 1993).[12]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Strike Commander". PC Zone (1): 8. April 1993. ISSN 0967-8220. OCLC 173325816. 
  2. ↑ "It's War! on Ozi Software Prices". The Age: pp. 33. April 22, 1993. https://www.newspapers.com/image/120756895. "Strike Commander has arrived! Available Thursday at all stores" 
  3. ↑ Strike Commander Manual. Origin. 1993. https://archive.org/details/StrikeCommanderManual. 
  4. ↑ Strike Commander - Simulations-Klassiker jetzt über GOG.com veröffentlicht on Gamestar.de (german)
  5. ↑ Sanglard, Fabien (2014-01-22). "Reverse Engineering Strike Commander". http://fabiensanglard.net/reverse_engineering_strike_commander/index.php. Retrieved 2014-01-23. "Most people assume the source codes and gold versions of all finished games were stored in a Vault somewhere at EA. But after getting in touch with people at Wing Commander CIC, it appeared that all the source code was lost when the company closed.[...]On his first day one developer managed to delete the full 900MB of Strike Commander source tree." 
  6. ↑ libRealSpace on github.com
  7. ↑ Trunzo, James (July–August 1993). "The Silicon Dungeon". White Wolf Magazine (37): 60, 62. https://imgur.com/a/vYdlufI. 
  8. ↑ Basham, Tom (August 1993). "Origin's Strike Commander". Computer Gaming World: 130. http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1993&pub=2&id=109. Retrieved 12 July 2014. 
  9. ↑ Schuytema, Paul C. (December 1993). "In Search Of... The Ultimate Game Machine". Computer Gaming World: 83–85. http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1993&pub=2&id=113. Retrieved 29 March 2016. 
  10. ↑ "Invasion Of The Data Stashers". Computer Gaming World: 20–42. April 1994. http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1994&pub=2&id=117. 
  11. ↑ Staff (April 1994). "The PC Gamer Top 50 PC Games of All Time". PC Gamer UK (5): 43–56. 
  12. ↑ CGW #148: The 15 Vaporware Titles in Computer Game History
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
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