The engine allows us a huge amount of flexibility and has some highly original features, like the Game-Object-Model, which make it much easier to develop on. So Excalibur has been built on a custom engine called “Evolved” and also utilises the “NanoFX” renderer which was another BC spin-off project. Could you tell us a little about that?Īs open as BC was for third party content, we were always going to be limited to a DirectX 8 renderer and some very basic functionality within the engine which ruled out features like ship animations and extensive interiors.
In the years before Excalibur kicked off there were a couple of projects which aimed to rewrite massive swathes of Bridge Commander’s code and vastly improve the game many of our current team members were involved in those efforts.Įxcalibur is running on its own built-from-scratch engine and renderer. The developers clearly had intended to push this concept much further but unfortunately ran out of time. One of its best features was that it was built to be quite open and, once the SDK was released, that made it possible to develop it far beyond the scope of the original product.Īt the same time I think BC was quite adventurous in the gameplay and story options it introduced even to this day there aren’t many games that offer the player an option to command a large space vessel from both first person and third person perspectives. Star Trek Bridge Commander (BC) was released over a decade ago in 2002 to mixed reception. Could you tell us the origins of the project, how the team first came together and how the project took shape?
Since my role has a particular focus on the creative disciplines I have to try to keep the artistic work within the project running smoothly, and that means I oversee anything from ship modelling through to script writing or SFX production.įrom what I’ve read, Excalibur began as an ambitious mod for Star Trek Bridge Commander, and then evolved into something much bigger. I work alongside the Technical Director, John Hardy, to give the project direction and guide the team towards meeting our ultimate goals. My name is Mark Ward and I am the Creative Director for Excalibur. To start, could you please explain your position on the team and what you do on Excalibur? Thanks again for taking the time to talk with us.
I got in touch with Excalibur’s technical director, Mark Ward, and he generously answered a few questions about the project and where it’s heading. That said, Excalibur is something special and the professionalism of the project is impressive. With recent fan community successes like Black Mesa Source, and the steadily growing list of games created through Kickstarter and other kinds of crowd funding, it’s not hard to imagine DIY development becoming a major source for innovative new games. It turns out that one of the most exciting developments isn’t even happening in the established game industry rather, a group of intrepid fans are hard at work making the ultimate Star Trek video game: Star Trek Excalibur. Late last year I did a retrospective on some of my favorite Star Trek games, and did some speculating about what the future held for Trek gaming.