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Babylon 5 Games Coming?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the zathrus dept.

Johjn Callaham writes "Today at Gamecloud we chat with J. Michael Straczynski, the creator of the sc-fi TV show Babylon 5. He hints that a new game based on the show is a real possibility." From the article: "Every year or so, WB makes noises about a B5 game...and they're making them again this year. Whether or not this actually goes anywhere this time, we'll have to see. Certainly the B5 universe is almost tailor-made for a game, especially an immersive, online experience."

13 of 39 comments (clear)

  1. B5 Mod for Nexus by BigDork1001 · · Score: 3, Informative

    There is a B5 mod out for the game Nexus. I haven't followed it at all but a co-worker talks about it all the time. Check it out at http://b5col.firstones.com/

    --
    "Armed forces abroad are of little value unless there is prudent counsel at home" - Cicero
  2. Translation by MBraynard · · Score: 3, Funny
    "Certainly the B5 universe is almost tailor-made for a game, especially an immersive, online experience."

    Certainly the B5 universe is tailor-made for the kind of sci-fi dorks who we can charge up front $50 and then another $15 every month for years on end.

    That's what he really meant. You know, like SWG and TMO.

  3. For those of us who missed 1993-1998 by QuantumG · · Score: 2, Informative


    Wikipedia to the rescue.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
  4. I've Found Her: Danger and Opportunity by dbhankins · · Score: 4, Informative

    There's a freeware B5 game available at http://ifh.firstones.com/ called "I've Found Her: Danger and Opportunity". It's a prequel to a full game, and has a good couple of hours of playability in it.

    It's not a mod, as far as I know. In any case, you don't need to install any other game in order to play it.

    It's a linear mission-based fighter game (Starfury), similar in structure to X-Wing, Wing Commander or Starlancer.

    I enjoyed it.

  5. The sad part... by earthbound+kid · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...is that after all the time that's passed since B5 was on the air, they could probably take the actual CGI models that they used to make the show and render them in real time on an XBox 360 or whatever. At the time, the CGI was really cool, but it probably wouldn't be that hard to surpass anymore.

    1. Re:The sad part... by forkazoo · · Score: 3, Informative

      How is that sad? The pilot was from 1993, so they probably started on it in like 1992. That's 13 years ago. Thirteen years before B-5 was 1979. We went from the Atari 2600 to the SNES in that length of time. The level of visual detail in F-Zero certainly wouldn't have been doable in real time on any sort of consumer hardware in 1979.

      If anybody still has the original models, it would actually be quite easy to incorporate them into a game engine. They were made on Amigas using an early version of Lightwave. Not only does Lightwave still exist, so it could open the old files without much trouble, but the file format is extremely well documented. I used .LWO's in my last interactive animation project. Have somebody write some glsl or equivalent for any procedural textures used on the models, and you are should be able to have a great time.

      And, really, most of the CGI wasn't that impressive even in the mid 90's. What was cool was that they managed to do it every week for a TV show. It also allowed them to have fighters, while Star Trek relied on large ships. With model shots, it's hard to have many ships on screen. With CGI, it's pretty easy to have a squadron of fighters flying in formation, etc.

    2. Re:The sad part... by BlueHands · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I remember reading a review (circa 1999) on the still-born B5 rts game. The models in game for the "Angle Fish of death" were about 1000 polygons, while the tv were about 100,000. Looking quickly, it seems that many models for Unreal Tournament today will come in around 3000 polygons. Kind of a scale difference.

      Still, a B5 game would rock and look awesome on modern hardware.

      --
      I mod everyone down who says "I'll get modded down for this." I hate to disappoint.
    3. Re:The sad part... by iainl · · Score: 2, Interesting

      No, the really sad part is that Netter Digital were contractually obliged to destroy all files with the model and scene data on, and Warners accidentally destroyed their backups as well. So even though you're right that modern hardware could practically render at least the first season or two in realtime already, the files don't exist any more to do so.

      That's why every digital effects shot on the HD broadcast and DVD release looks so poor - they couldn't re-render them and so we've just got the low-res 4x3 output done for the original broadcast left.

      --
      "I Know You Are But What Am I?"
    4. Re:The sad part... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      They do exist, I have a full set of all models used from the Pilot through to the River of Souls movie. They arent supposed to exist but they do.

    5. Re:The sad part... by Guspaz · · Score: 2, Informative

      100,000 is trivial these days due to the use of normal maps. Most models for modern games start out at something like a million polygons. They're then reduced to a few thousand polys for in-game display, and the normal map simulates the difference to make them look like they still have a million polys.

      It's probably pretty easy on modern hardware to render the TV models to LOOK pretty much identical.

  6. Not another primarily-online game! by Short+Circuit · · Score: 3, Insightful

    While I'd love to play a game based in the B5 universe, I'd hate for its primary mode to be online play. I don't live in an area that has broadband, and I'm sure there are a lot of geeks out there in the same position. And I don't like shelling out twenty to fifty dollars a month to play at a cyber cafe.

    It's funny, but with all the growing focus on broadband markets, and the inherent costs in making broadband geographically widespread in a country as physically diverse as the US, there's a growing segment of potential gamers out there who are stuck on yesteryear machines and yesteryear internet connections. If I had as much drive as ideas, I'd find a way to make games tailored to that market.

    And, no, I don't want to spend money on a console system; There will never be as many possibilities for a Nintendo Revolution as there are right here on my PC-compatible Linux machine.

    --
    tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
  7. Re:There's a B5 game on Freespace 2 engine... by dbhankins · · Score: 3, Informative

    It took some digging, and Google was not as helpful as I would have liked, but I found the new home page here:

    http://www.hard-light.net/hosted/babylon/

    I'm downloading the current version now. It includes the Freespace 2 engine, so you don't have to buy Freespace 2 in order to install and play.

  8. Re:There's a B5 game on Freespace 2 engine... by dbhankins · · Score: 3, Informative

    Additional info for those that download the game:

    Downloading the base package is not enough - neither campaigns nor missions are included. Those are downloadable separately from the same site.