The past year has been great for Wing Commander fans. Just read our year in review for a glimpse of all the amazing things that happened. Most everyone is familiar with the official rereleases that happened over the past twelve months, but now it's time to recognize some of the fans that made 2013 so great. I think this is one of the most competitive sets of nominees we've had in a while, so picking winners won't be easy! We're starting a little later than normal this year, so without further delay, here are the nominees!
Web Site of the Year
Concordia Hangar - Wing Commander fans also got a hangar module this year, thanks to Howard Day! His prototype ship viewer has expanded significantly over the year to add more ships, gorgeous graphical effects and a familiar WC2 atmosphere.
Daedalus Station is the home of the Flat Universe fan game, but it’s also a lot more! It’s a very stylish website that has developed a very distinct personality. The Destiny’s Way magazine is regularly posted here, which further extends the experience. Even more features are planned for 2014.
HCl's WC Editing Site - HCl’s work is vast and far-reaching, but he still makes time to collect and organize some of it concisely on his Solsector page. A quick scroll through the projects can leave a reader wondering how one man has the time and know-how to do so much!
Pix's Origin Adventures - Pix is an expert in quite a few classic game series, so a quick visit to his site might not reveal Wing Commander stories right at the top of the news. But scroll through the year’s archives and there’s still a ton of Wing Commander material he’s uncovered in 2013!
Wing Commander RPG Wiki - The core RPG was officially finished in 2013, but work didn’t stop there! capi's project’s Wiki continues to steadily grow with expansion pack information and innovative research into subjects such as Kilrathi language.
World Creator’s Workshop is another new Wing Commander site that hit the scene in 2013. It primarily allows fans to customize missions for WC1 now, but its creator is also experimenting with other exciting modding technologies such as customizing the game’s cutscenes.
Fan Project of the Year
The Collected Works of HCl touch on nearly all aspects of the franchise! In just the last couple months alone, HCl made advancements in WC2/Academy ship importation, movie extraction for the 3DO version of WC3, added new features to Privateer 2 and upgraded his enhancement patch for Prophecy to ensure compatibility with the GOG release, Linux and Mac.
Flat Universe turned heads in May when it debuted a beautiful top-down scroller that leveraged some of the best ship models made by the Wing Commander community. There’s no playable demo yet, but the Maslas Brothers have kept fans engaged with trailer videos and numerous content updates as development continues.
Klavs’ Models kicked off a new era of 3D printing in 2013 with the advent of color designs. Now, larger ships can be ordered that come complete with detailed textures, decals and hull paint. As an emerging technology, Klavs continues to work through the growing pains associated with various 3D printers, and his digitally rendered models still rock the house too!
The diversity of ScoobyDoo’s Models have helped to spread appreciation for some of the more exotic designs in the Wing Commander universe, especially concerning Privateer 2. His imagery has helped inspire other artists to take on Wing Commander projects, and Scooby’s models have even found their way into a couple of fan projects in development.
Wing Commander: A Defiant Few has helped broaden the types of fan projects that the community is engaged in. Plywood Fiend has taken fan fiction to a new level by casting actors to participate in his exciting audio dramas. They’re one of the few fan projects that Wingnuts can take with them and enjoy on the go while mobile!
World Creator’s Workshop’s biggest splash was the demonstration of customizable WC1 cutscenes in December, and while that is still in testing, fans can already generate custom missions via the WCWorkShop website. It’s part of a new renaissance in modification of the first few Wing Commanders!
Even though there will be just a couple winners, all of the endeavors mentioned above are worthy of great praise! And they're just a sampling of all the great things that Wing Commander fans are doing every day - keep up the great work in 2014 Wingnuts!