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General Answers
1. I've seen the screenshots and I've got one question, When is it going to be released?
Well this is a question we'd all like an answer too, But we are all willing to wait to make the game even better I think. A projected release data is Q4 2001 or Q1 2002.
2. What are the system requirements for Bridge Commander?
The official specs have not been released at this time.
These are the specs from the Bridge Commander Read me file... (New)
- 3-D Hardware Accelerator (with 16MB VRAM)*
- US version of Microsoft Windows® 95 OSR2/98/ME/2000/XP operating system
- Pentium® II 300Mhz processor (Pentium® II 450Mhz processor recommended) or Athlon® processor
- 64MB RAM**
- 650 MB of uncompressed hard disk space for game files; plus an additional 100 MB for Windows® swap file
- 100% Windows® 95/98/ME/2000/XP compatible computer system (including compatible 32-bit drivers for CD-ROM drive, video card, sound card and input devices.)
- DirectX® 8.0a or higher (included)
- 100% DirectX® compatible 16MB video card and drivers
- 100% DirectX® 8.0a or higher compatible sound card and drivers
- Quad Speed CD-ROM drive (600 K/sec sustained transfer rate)
- 100% Microsoft®-compatible mouse, keyboard
Peter Leahy explains further...(Old)
Minimum spec the team has always been working towards was a P2-266/300, 64MB RAM, 8MB Video Card (Voodoo2/TNT or better) w/DX8a drivers. It has still not been officially set and we definitely do have some performance improvements to make yet to keep steady frame rates on whatever our low end machine is.
A P2-266 may or may not be realistic even when turning off a lot of the graphical features and running at the lowest resolution with the lowest resolution models and maps. If your machine has an AGP video card TNT w/16MB or better and 64MB 100MHz SDRAM it will play and look considerably better than PCI w/8MB and 64MB 66MHz SDRAM. Naturally the faster your CPU and the faster your RAM and video card the better graphics and performance will be. As manufacturers reach 2GHz levels it is a lot tougher to keep supporting 4-5 year old technology as PCs/3D Video cards have doubled in performance on average every 18 months.
I'm certain when minimum spec is announced it will be quite low even when comparing Bridge Commander to other shipping games.
3. So, who is making this great game?
Well, the game is being developed by Totally Games. The game is being produced by Activision.
4. Is anyone from Star Trek: The Next Generation voice acting in Bridge Commander?
Patrick Stewart AKA Captain Picard and Brent Spiner AKA Commander Data will be providing there voice talents.
5. What's the current development state of Bridge Commander?
Bridge Commander is currently at the Alpha stage of development, Dan Hagerty posted the best explanation of Alpha so here it is...
Alpha - all features and functions are in the game and working as originally designed. Final quality sound effects, voiceovers and movies are in the game, though some may be still placeholders. The code has yet to be optimized and game play is still rough with a lot of bugs. However, the central core of the game is there. Anyone can sit down at the game and form a reasonable impression of how it works.
The interim stage between Alpha and Beta is used as follows...
The time between Alpha and Beta is used to test. And test. And test. Generate as many bugs as you can so that you can fix them. During this phase, designers will tweak things, balance game play and may even drop (or, in extreme cases, redesign) certain features that may have looked good on paper but failed to impress once implemented.
Here's the explanation that was posted to cover the next stage of development called Beta.
Beta - from here to code release, it's just about squashing bugs and improving the stability of the code. Code optimizations may happen, although most of those would have been done at Alpha. Testing continues, and many developers opt to release the game to a small group of beta testers to shake out even more bugs.
At this moment in time, the team are fast approaching beta. (19/10/2001)
6. Will we get a demo of Bridge Commander?
A demo is slated for release around the time of the full version release. David Litwin explains in more detail...
Although logic would dictate that the same work needed for the demo is needed for the final product, a demo rarely needs less work than the final product. Sure, you may only have to have one or two missions, but pretty much the entire executable has to be functional and bug free, which is really hard to do months before you are ready to ship the game (or you'd ship earlier...) It's a large effort to take a game and cut it down to a demo, even once you are done. The resources games use these days are staggering: Most games are squeezing on one CD or having to go to multiple. While some of this is not needed for demo, the minimum set just to get the game up and running for one level is still quite large. It takes a lot of time to try to whittle it down and test it to make sure you haven't removed anything that will cause a crash. Beyond that, you have to make sure that the demo you provide isn't too much of a game, or no one will ever need to buy the real thing. And all this while you are struggling to get the entire project through Alpha, Beta and Final QA... So it isn't easy, but we certainly realize the worth of a demo, and the important purpose it serves.
7. What core game engine does Bridge Commander use?
Bridge Commander uses the NetImmerse 3.0 game engine.
8. What detail settings can be used in Bridge Commander (Resolution)
Bridge Commander will use a minimum resolution of 800*600 to a maximum of 1600*1200 depending on system specifications.
9. What version of DirectX will Bridge Commander require?
The minimum requirement will be DirectX 7 but it will obviously function with later versions of DirectX.
10. What languages will Bridge Commander be available in?
Please note the following is unconfirmed. It's looking like it will be translated into German, but nothing is known about other languages.
11. What medium's will Bridge Commander be distributed.
Obviously its going to be distributed on CD but at this time plans for DVD are unknown.
Peter Leahy explains further...
Problem is cost in box and compatibility/explanation. If we were to make a DVD version -- it would cost more to duplicate and we'd likely have to include the CD in box as well to reduce the number of people who bought the wrong version. Either way increasing costs. Plus we are working to have all the data fit on one CD -- which is cheaper to manufacturer and have higher yield rates thus more discs working out of the box i.e. less returns for bad discs.
Good enough for me!
12. Will Bridge Commander support all the bells and whistles features found on the Geforce 3 and other new generation graphics cards?
Well having a Geforce 3 will help your situation but unfortunately the Geforce 3 did not exist when Bridge Commander was in the design stage so it cannot support the new features of the Geforce 3.
13. How many CD's will Bridge Commander be contained on?
Bridge Commander is targeted to be on one CD but it may be more.
14. Are there any in game movies like Klingon Academy has?
There are beginning and ending rendered cut scenes, it does not have a video story line.
15. Will Bridge Commander work properly with Windows XP Pro/Home
David Litwin answers...
More than half of our developers are on 2000. We haven't done much compatibility with XP, but I don't think we're doing anything that would be a problem. The OS won't change the requirements that I can think of, although you probably won't find many low end machines running OS other than 95 or 98.
16. Have there been any major obstacles to overcome during the development process?
Back to TopDavid Litwin explains....
Yes, as in any complex project I'd suspect. No time to go into any details, I'll have to leave that for a post mortem.
17. Why in the blue hell do you keep making references to Klingon Academy?
I'm a Klingon Academy freak :) http://www.klingonacademy.com
18. Where can I find info about the development team?
Right here
19. Will there be a difference between the US and European versions of Bridge Commander. I'll use KA as an example. The US KA had a 300+ page detailed manual, us folks in the UK paid the same price for a crappy 20 page manual.
David Litwin explains...
There will be a fully translated manual for the German SKU, as well as full text translations. No voice is re-recorded however. There will be a UK/European version which will essentially be the US version with special keyboard support for European keyboards (UK, French, Spanish, Italian). Last I checked our manual was over 90 pages. Clearly not the monster 250+ of KA, but substantial no doubt. I don't know that the UK will get any less, and I believe German is getting a full translation.
20. We all know in the Bridge View, the Bridge will be damaged when attacked. How much damage are we talking about here?
David Litwin explains...
You do get the exploding consoles, fire, smoke, sparks and occasionally people flying across your view :) You have a good engineering crew, however, so all is fix up leaving not one scratch.
21.Do you think you will hit the 1 CD target or will it be more?
David Litwin explains...
We fit on one CD.