Hey folks, welcome to the first podcast this year celebrating the fifteenth anniversary of Freespace 2, still the best space combat sim around (yeah, I said it). In this installment, Jim and I talk to Fabian “The E” Woltermann, currently elected leader of the Freespace Source Code Project (whose home is at Hard Light Productions). In this lengthy installment, we discuss the history of the project, some of the more high-profile mods and total conversions of the game such as the Blue Planet mods or the Diaspora total conversion based on Battlestar Galactica. While we discuss the game and its mods, I played them on Twitch.tv as well, which might explain my random outbursts if you’re just listening to the audio. ;)
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As always, thanks for listening, and contact us at hail@spacegamejunkie.com or in the comments below if you have any comments or questions. Also, after the cut will be some helpful links and some videos showing off the beauty of the source code project. Enjoy!
In the show, we discuss the Freespace Open Installer, which is a Java application that downloads all of the mods and files you need to get the Source Code Project’s enhancements up and running. If you’ve never played Freespace 2 before, we suggest you play through that first so as not to be spoiled by other mods that continue the story, such as Blue Planet featured above. Once you’ve finished the game, you can also head over to Battuta’s Guide to Finding Your First (Or Next!) Campaign to see a list of the best of the best in campaigns, and there are several. If you have any questions about getting anything to run, please say so in the comments and we’ll try our best to help you, or head to Hard Light for more help if you feel you need it.
If you want more evidence as to the beauty of this game, check out these videos as well. :) Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9u5OqydYXA
This was a really good interview – I must admit, this is only the second of your podcasts I’ve watched/listened to (and about the third or fourth podcast ever for me). I intend to rectify that. I guess I’m a Luddite in some ways, but I eventually learn.
Also, that Icarus trailer was _awesome_. I noticed it was using Two Steps From Hell’s Freedom Fighters, the same music from my favourite of the Deus Ex: Human Revolution Trailers. Fitting, considering all the Icarus references there. But I must admit, I’ve been somewhat disappointed in the performance of the primary- Dammit, started reliving the first DE’s opening cutscene. Sorry. I meant to say that I must admit I was expecting it to end with “It’s not the end of the world… but you can see it from there.”
Thanks for listening/watching man, glad you enjoyed it. :) And yeah, can’t go wrong with Two Steps from Hell.
Actually, it is Michael McCann – Icarus and it is indeed main theme of Deus Ex: Human Revolution (listen to it here: https://youtu.be/can0xuO9IvE),
while Two Steps From Hell – Freedom Fighters (https://youtu.be/YJm6b-o2pTM) is the music from Star Trek 2009 trailer (https://youtu.be/SyJszxnJydA).
Both tunes sound pretty similar due to their epic nature, no wonder it’s so confusing :)
Thank you.
Just listened to Icarus, and while they do sound similar, I can definitely tell which one is from DX:HR! I thought that the differences between Freedom Fighters and what played on HR was down to the guys at Eidos Montreal putting in extra stuff, but Icarus is not only the right song, but – while Freedom Fighters is great in its own right – Icarus sounds a lot better, at least to my ears.
Thank-you very much for the information, and I’ll have to listen to the rest of McCann’s stuff!
Call this a shameless plug, but you mentioned that you would be interested in playing a mod set before the Shivans show up, showing the fighting between the Terrans and Vasudans, well, one was released only a week or so after the podcast. If you’re interested, check it out here:
https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?board=247.0
Hey Matt, welcome to the comments, and thanks for the heads up. I’ll totally give this a whirl. :)