Stackpole quotes on using game mechanics in books.

[VT-16]

Yep, I need actual quotes for a wookiepedia argument over sensor domes vs. shield generators. I've heard that he Michael Stackpole has said in interviews he literally uses game mechanics from the X-wing games when writing his depictions of combat. Where does these quotes come from?

[Kurgan]

That's pretty danged lazy and fanboyish if true...

[Quadlok]

That's pretty danged lazy and fanboyish if true...

but true. have you ever read his books? The first X-Wing novel even takes a level in the game and makes it into a training simulation that all X-wing pilots go through just before becoming flight certified. Not that I didn't like them, but he used game mechanics right down to non-Newtonian flight in a vacuum.

[Vympel]

Yep, I need actual quotes for a wookiepedia argument over sensor domes vs. shield generators. I've heard that he Michael Stackpole has said in interviews he literally uses game mechanics from the X-wing games when writing his depictions of combat. Where does these quotes come from?

I would've thought the OT:ITW resolved this pretty sufficiently. Who cares what Stackpole may or may not have said?

[VT-16]

Who cares what Stackpole may or may not have said?

People who need to learn how canon works and how X-wing novels do not supercede higher source like the DK line of books. I managed to flesh out alot of quotes (a thousand thanks to this site and Poe`s Morgue for those, btw.) so hopefully they were thoroughly schooled by LFL`s stance.

Still would have liked Stackpole`s own words, though. Does anyone know which interview that was and if it`s quoted on the net?

[Chris OFarrell]

I've never heard of any quote from the man himself saying anything of the kind.

Regardless on the sensor dome vs shield dome, they're both. End of story.

Who wants vodka shots?

[Old Plympto]

I rushed home to grab Star Wars Adventure Journal #7 with his interview right after his short story Missed Chance... but they talked about his history as a pen & paper game designer as well as how the comic series will segue into the novel series... nothing explicit about literally using X-wing sim game mechanics in his novels (though it is evidently obvious the description of X-wing combat is a direct lift of how one plays the sim).

In fact they didn't talk about the space combat sim at all in the interview.

[Mange]

This interview might not be what you're looking for, but it shows that the games were a major influence.

[Darth Wong]

If you read his books and can't tell that they're just novelizations of the game world, you're not paying attention.

[VT-16]

Having posted the link to that interview I don't think it's possible to get a more clear view of LFL policy. But just for fun, here's the ISD thread on SW Wiki where evidence goes to die.

[Lord Poe]

http://www.theforce.net/SWTC/towers.html

The loss of a globe on the Executor was not the cause of shield failure, but rather an opportunistic attack permitted by shield failure occuring moments earlier. The naïve "testicle theory" of star destroyer vulnerability (i.e. globes primarily as "shield generators" yet somehow unprotected by their own emissios) is effectively dead and buried.

Interview with Stackpole:

+http://www.echostation.com/echo6/6stckpol.htm

ES: Did you spend some time playing LucasArts' X-Wing and TIE Fighter in preparation for writing the novels and comics? Did the games have much of an influence regarding your envisioning and describing of dogfights and the like?

MS: Yeah, I logged a lot of hours in a virtual cockpit. The games did influence how I described things, but research I did into aces and fighter tactics really gave me the perspective on all this that the game didn't. The Redemption scenario (RS chapter 1) comes straight from X-wing and Corran's opinion of Y-wings mirrors my own.

Interview with Allston:

+http://www.echostation.com/echo3/allston.htm

ES: How much research was necessary before you began to write?
AA: A lot. I wish I'd had time to do more. I read every Star Wars technical manual I could get my hands on, plus Stackpole's novels, Zahn's novels, other novels in which Wedge Antilles and Rogue Squadron make appearances, comic books, and several of West End's Star Wars game supplements. I watched the movie trilogy repeatedly. I played the X-Wing computer game. I bought eight of the Action Fleet toys and used them for measurements and estimations of their performance in atmosphere. I read books on aircraft carrier life and pilot survival.
ES: In addition to LucasArts' X-Wing, did you spend any time with Tie Fighter or X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter before writing? Did any of those simulations help you with writing dogfights?

AA: Did playing X-Wing help? Well, if I were writing about a character whose dominant trait was that he crashed into everything he saw, I suppose the gameplay would have counted as a help. A combination of my native lack of ability with flight simulators, a lack of a joystick, and a mouse with a sticky ball doomed most of my flights to disaster. However, the screen shots of the cockpit and the technical information included with the game documentation were quite helpful.

[Galvatron]

It'd SO rock if Allston wrote a scene in which a TIE pilot goes EVA and manually activates the fighter's laser cannons by depressing the large button on the rear of the ball cockpit.

[Lord Poe]

It'd SO rock if Allston wrote a scene in which a TIE pilot goes EVA and manually activates the fighter's laser cannons by depressing the large button on the rear of the ball cockpit.

Or hit the wrong button and make the solar panels pop off.

[Cykeisme]

It'd SO rock if Allston wrote a scene in which a TIE pilot goes EVA and manually activates the fighter's laser cannons by depressing the large button on the rear of the ball cockpit.

Or hit the wrong button and make the solar panels pop off.

laff till krai