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[Lucas Sparks]

These videos always make me feel weird, so much anticipation and wonder around canceled things, when in reality if they came out most people would be like, "Meh. Next". The videos around a canceled game always are longer than a video review of a released game.

I love hearing these stories though, thanks for the post!

 

[LiamR]

The quick trailer we cut and that you likely saw didn't show much of the improvements that Rogue Wii had since we had to use game captures from the old games for a lot of the shots. The global illumination system used in WiiFly was first implemented in Rogue, and levels like Hoth and Bespin looked unbelievably good. Hoth in Rogue Wii looks like a lower-resolution version of Battflefront, but with everything else intact. We also exchanged the landscape engine for the new one, and with that you had infinitely more detail through normal maps in the landscapes. What you see in that WiiFly video Rogue also had and then some. Crazy things for the Wii like Ambient Occlusion, volumetric lightshafts, full-screen Anti-Aliasing and full normal maps for all assets in the games when on GameCube we often still used Bump Mapping. Of course the head tracking was in both games as well, as were a ton new particle effects and a new effects system specifically for Rogue and of course let's not forget that we did learn from the sins of the past and redid and changed all the weak spots of the original games. And yes, that included the redone character bits.
The lightsaber 1:1 combat was a level above Wii Sports Resort, had Force powers and a great set of locations and characters (including Darth Maul) and fully stretching the indoor engine to the max. We went to great lengths to be even more authentic, and integrated our video Decoders deep enough into the game that we were able to play video on any surface - making it possible to have the full original early CGI video of the death star attack schematic playing on the monitor in the back of the Rebel briefing room on Yavin. Last but not least, Chris Huelsbeck flew to Prague and recorded all of his original compositions for the Rogue games finally instead of Midi simulations with a real symphony orchestra. That finally made them flow with John Williams score so much more perfect.
So sad just thinking about it, but glad to answer a few questions.

Aaand this is where my obsession with Factor 5 comes from. They were getting absolutely everything they could out of the Wii. No half measures.

 

[fredrancour]

The quick trailer we cut and that you likely saw didn’t show much of the improvements that Rogue Wii had since we had to use game captures from the old games for a lot of the shots. The global illumination system used in WiiFly was first implemented in Rogue, and levels like Hoth and Bespin looked unbelievably good. Hoth in Rogue Wii looks like a lower-resolution version of Battflefront, but with everything else intact. We also exchanged the landscape engine for the new one, and with that you had infinitely more detail through normal maps in the landscapes. What you see in that WiiFly video Rogue also had and then some. Crazy things for the Wii like Ambient Occlusion, volumetric lightshafts, full-screen Anti-Aliasing and full normal maps for all assets in the games when on GameCube we often still used Bump Mapping. Of course the head tracking was in both games as well, as were a ton new particle effects and a new effects system specifically for Rogue and of course let’s not forget that we did learn from the sins of the past and redid and changed all the weak spots of the original games. And yes, that included the redone character bits.
The lightsaber 1:1 combat was a level above Wii Sports Resort, had Force powers and a great set of locations and characters (including Darth Maul) and fully stretching the indoor engine to the max. We went to great lengths to be even more authentic, and integrated our video Decoders deep enough into the game that we were able to play video on any surface - making it possible to have the full original early CGI video of the death star attack schematic playing on the monitor in the back of the Rebel briefing room on Yavin. Last but not least, Chris Huelsbeck flew to Prague and recorded all of his original compositions for the Rogue games finally instead of Midi simulations with a real symphony orchestra. That finally made them flow with John Williams score so much more perfect.
So sad just thinking about it, but glad to answer a few questions.

Does a copy survive someplace? Cause I'd buy a Nintendo Wii classic mini to access this.

 

[OmNomKnight]

It's a shame this was canceled. I would've played the hell out of this when I was a kid with my Wii. I actually loved the flying mode in Wii Sports Resort.

Spoiler

Honestly though I loved Wii Sports Resort in general, I remember playing it on the jogging mode often to try and "run" because it was too cold outside. I was a dumb kid.

 

[toneroni]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFVM5NVqQpM&list=PLE51D8DC24EBCBFA5&index=1

-Factor 5 pitched a Pilotwings Wii game to Nintendo. Nintendo was interested but eventually passed on it because they wanted to do Pilotwings in Wii Sports Resort. Nintendo still encouraged Factor 5 to make the game, however.

-Factor 5 goes to this weird, tiny publisher "Green Screen Interactive" who agrees to publish the game and they start to make the Pilotwings game under the name "WeFly."

-Factor 5 built an open world Pilotwings game where you could go all around a condensed version of Earth in real time. You could visit the Big Ben and the Golden Gate Bridge. If it was raining in New York while you were in New York in the game, it would be raining in the game (via syncing up with the Wii Weather Channel)

-Nintendo was building a head tracking peripheral for Factor 5 that would have been released alongside the game.

-Green Screen Interactive went bankrupt after the 2008 recession and this caused Pilotwings to get cancelled.

The video has a fuckton of footage of the game so please watch.

I worked for Green Screen when it was founded up until they shuttered.
It was made up of ex Take 2 Founders and we worked out of the old Rockstar offices.
Lots of awesome projects were pitched and many dev studios were almost purchased.
I remember testing this one quite often. It was awesome...shame it didn't release.

They might have survived if the market didn't crash.
You can find many of their games on the Wii/DS under Zoo Games.

 

[rjc571]

The quick trailer we cut and that you likely saw didn't show much of the improvements that Rogue Wii had since we had to use game captures from the old games for a lot of the shots. The global illumination system used in WiiFly was first implemented in Rogue, and levels like Hoth and Bespin looked unbelievably good. Hoth in Rogue Wii looks like a lower-resolution version of Battflefront, but with everything else intact. We also exchanged the landscape engine for the new one, and with that you had infinitely more detail through normal maps in the landscapes. What you see in that WiiFly video Rogue also had and then some. Crazy things for the Wii like Ambient Occlusion, volumetric lightshafts, full-screen Anti-Aliasing and full normal maps for all assets in the games when on GameCube we often still used Bump Mapping. Of course the head tracking was in both games as well, as were a ton new particle effects and a new effects system specifically for Rogue and of course let's not forget that we did learn from the sins of the past and redid and changed all the weak spots of the original games. And yes, that included the redone character bits.
The lightsaber 1:1 combat was a level above Wii Sports Resort, had Force powers and a great set of locations and characters (including Darth Maul) and fully stretching the indoor engine to the max. We went to great lengths to be even more authentic, and integrated our video Decoders deep enough into the game that we were able to play video on any surface - making it possible to have the full original early CGI video of the death star attack schematic playing on the monitor in the back of the Rebel briefing room on Yavin. Last but not least, Chris Huelsbeck flew to Prague and recorded all of his original compositions for the Rogue games finally instead of Midi simulations with a real symphony orchestra. That finally made them flow with John Williams score so much more perfect.
So sad just thinking about it, but glad to answer a few questions.

I assume it was still targeting 60 fps like the Rogue Squadron games on Gamecube? And was We Fly going to target 60 fps as well?

 

[Cow Mengde]

I assume it was still targeting 60 fps like the Rogue Squadron games on Gamecube? And was We Fly going to target 60 fps as well?

It was 60fps in the video they uploaded.

 

[Mr_Moogle]

Really wish Nintendo would have bought them. Could have picked them up for real cheap.

Me too. It seems like a missed opportunity. They we're a very technically accomplished studio with a great understanding on Nintendo's hardware.

 

[Turrican]

Does a copy survive someplace? Cause I'd buy a Nintendo Wii classic mini to access this.

Of course there are copies. Multiple. As well as complete backups. It's all in that warehouse next to the Lost Ark.

 

[Turrican]

I assume it was still targeting 60 fps like the Rogue Squadron games on Gamecube? And was We Fly going to target 60 fps as well?

Both Rogue Wii and WiiFly are 60 FPS, of course!

 

[LiamR]

Both Rogue Wii and WiiFly are 60 FPS, of course!

That is pretty crazy. You guys could do some excellent things with the Switch.

 

[toneroni]

Both Rogue Wii and WiiFly are 60 FPS, of course!

Would be awesome if you guys were still around. Do you guys still work on projects together at times? Would be great to make some switch stuff like the comment above suggests.

 

[rjc571]

It was 60fps in the video they uploaded.

Are you talking about the Unseen64 video or is there another video I missed? All of the Rogue Squadron Wii and WeFly footage in the Unseen64 video was captured at 30 fps.

 

[Turrican]

Would be awesome if you guys were still around. Do you guys still work on projects together at times? Would be great to make some switch stuff like the comment above suggests.

The core team has worked together uninterrupted for a very long time. All the core team members from the last 30 years worked together to bring VOD streaming and services to consoles and other platforms. We are responsible for many of the technologies that bring Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and YouTube to users and have built complete clients for quite a few of them since 2009.

 

[iidesuyo]

A bit OT and I know it's mean to dig out old stuff, but I find this amusing.

"What's your goal for the year 2000?" "Being larger than Nintendo"

 

[Turrican]

A bit OT and I know it's mean to dig out old stuff, but I find this amusing.

"What's your goal for the year 2000?" "Being larger than Nintendo"

Though the next sentences say “Create virtual realities and the ultimate entertainment”, and all of our work outside of games is exactly that. Try the Hulu VR apps as an example.

 

[iidesuyo]

Though the next sentences say ”Create virtual realities and the ultimate entertainment", and all of our work outside of games is exactly that. Try the Hulu VR apps as an example.

Yup. The post wasn't meant to badmouth your work, but outclassing Nintendo was pretty ambitious.

Why did the relationship with Konami never become any closer? Factor 5 produced Probotector 2/Contra III for the Game Boy (which I loved*) and Animaniacs. It really showed how an SNES-->GB port can be done. Around the same time Street Fighter II GB was released, which looked nice on screenshots but played like crap.



(*Summer 1995, a loooong bus tour to Disneyland Paris, my Game Boy with Probotector 2 kept the boredom away during the trip. Those memories.)

 

[Cow Mengde]

Are you talking about the Unseen64 video or is there another video I missed? All of the Rogue Squadron Wii and WeFly footage in the Unseen64 video was captured at 30 fps.

You sure? Turn on 720p or 1080p option on youtube. It's listed as 60fps in those modes.

 

[Turrican]

Yup. The post wasn't meant to badmouth your work, but outclassing Nintendo was pretty ambitious.

Why did the relationship with Konami never become any closer? Factor 5 produced Probotector 2/Contra III for the Game Boy (which I loved*) and Animaniacs. It really showed how an SNES-->GB port can be done. Around the same time Street Fighter II GB was released, which looked nice on screenshots but played like crap.



(*Summer 1995, a loooong bus tour to Disneyland Paris, my Game Boy with Probotector 2 kept the boredom away during the trip. Those memories.)

Glad you liked the Contra Spirits/Contra 3 port. That was a lot of fun!

Konami was strange. They invited us to Osaka and we met with the team there as a kick-off for both Genesis/MD and Game Boy titles, but the MD side, which frankly we were more interested in, did not happen at that point. We were supposed to do Castlevania and certainly were extremely excited about that - having loved Castlevania IV on the SNES and the third one on NES (and especially the Japanese version with the extra soundchip on the cart,... still an absolute favorite for the NES). But the contract stalled out and somehow Konami pulled back from that. Must have been internal politics. Of course, quite a while later the relationship did in fact develop and they asked us to do International Superstar Soccer for the Genesis/MD, which was a dream project due to the game being the unrivaled best soccer game on the planet. I tend to think we did the series proud and used every trick in the book on the platform. Konami was happy. After that the relationship fizzled due to the move to California of most of the team and the subsequent focus on LucasArts properties. Star Wars: Rogue Suqadron for the N64 needed extreme focus from everyone and we simply did not have time for anything else.

 

[LiamR]

You sure? Turn on 720p or 1080p option on youtube. It's listed as 60fps in those modes.

The video I made was rendered at 60fps, but that doesn't mean all the individual clips in the video are 60fps. The WeFly footage used is 30fps. WeFly, the game itself, ran at 60.

 

[Glowsquid]

snip.

Since there's a Factor 5 employee posting, I do wish to take the opportunity to say I had a great time with Lair and that I'm sad Sony's brokenbrain management during the early PS3 years buried a fundamentaly good game. (why is the THX vanity plate unskipable, tho)

 

[Mael]

In another universe, I'm still playing WeFly and I'm mad at Nintendo for dropping the Weather channel.
Nintendo should really have bought them then again maybe they never were in a position to do so.
Fuck everything that happened there.
In that same universe, whenever we're talking about impressive game that pushed above their weight this game is the #1 example.
I love everything about this project, that this can't be revived somehow for whatever platform is an even bigger tragedy.
Which reminds me, fuck whoever is blocking a rerelease of Rogue Squadron games.

The core team has worked together uninterrupted for a very long time. All the core team members from the last 30 years worked together to bring VOD streaming and services to consoles and other platforms. We are responsible for many of the technologies that bring Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and YouTube to users and have built complete clients for quite a few of them since 2009.

That's fantastic to hear!
I imagine you get that a lot but it would be awesome if you could make a big comeback on the gaming scene.
It feels like something is missing when wizards aren't there to show everyone what's actually possible.

 

[Turrican]

Since there's a Factor 5 employee posting, I do wish to take the opportunity to say I had a great time with Lair and that I'm sad Sony's brokenbrain management during the early PS3 years buried a fundamentaly good game. (why is the THX vanity plate unskipable, tho)

Thanks. Much appreciated. The THX logo isn’t skipable because the game is loading and copying data to the hard drive during that time. The logo hides that.

 

[Cow Mengde]

Thanks. Much appreciated. The THX logo isn’t skipable because the game is loading and copying data to the hard drive during that time. The logo hides that.

Any chance of us getting higher quality videos of Rogue Wii? Sounds like Hoth looks amazing. Love to see it in 60fps.