Friday 31 August 2007

The Star Trek: Bridge Commander Community

I don't normally go apeshit insane about a mod community, but I gotta say, the guys over at bridgecommander.filefront.com are seriously dedicated.

For those of you not in the know, Bridge Commander is a tactical simulator, where the player can pilot starships from the franchise. The only problem with the game was that the ship selection was incredibly limited: you could only choose from around 6 Federation ships, 2 Cardassian, Romulan, Ferengi and Klingon ships.
This is where the mod community came in, a group of people dedicated to modding the game to make it the most authentic Star Trek experience anyone could find. They created a vast array of ships, both canon and non-canon, most of them true to the series and added features to the tactical HUD.
One major feature, created by the folks at The Beginning: TNG, was the WalkFX feature, which enables the player to walk around the selected bridge. Another groundbreaking feature is the NovaFX mod, which improves the graphics, adding new damage textures, plasma trails and a feature which allows the player to select the warp speed.

Out of all the mod communities out there, I gotta say that the Bridge Commander modders are the most dedicated. Top notch stuff!