[Wrench]

Is there any website or something that has a continuation of FS2  story. I would really like to know what happens next, also it would be nice to know the past better.

Is this a pipe dream? I think FS series has the best story line in any action game.

I did searches but nothing but partials.

[StratComm]

This is a bit of a community sore spot, I'll admit.  Unfortunately there exists no published document from Volition or anyone involved with the development of the game as to what would have come next.  For backstory there's the reference bible (anyone got a link handy?) which is pretty good, but the unfortunate state of things is that we don't know what had in store for the story's conclusion.

[Wrench]

Damn it lets start a petition for fs3...

But alas Space sims are more or less dead genre. .

[ToecrusherHammerjaw]

ehhh...Wrench, I'd advise you not to mention fs3. That has the high potential to start flamewars around here.

[Kie99]

Originally Posted in Karajorma's Freespace FAQ
When is FreeSpace 3 coming out?
Without a doubt this is probably the most common question asked by people entering the FreeSpace community. They see how brilliant FS1 and FS2 were and they find it hard to believe that FS3 isn't already available for people to play. I can't say I blame them. I found it hard to believe myself but the main reason FS3 isn't out already is because FS2 didn't sell that well.
Despite widespread critical acclaim the sales of FS2 compared to FS1 were actually quite poor. The community puts this fact squarely at the feet of FreeSpace's publisher, Interplay. Quite frankly FreeSpace 2 was hardly advertised at all so it's hardly surprising that it didn't sell.
Volition, (Simply known as [V] by the fans), the makers of FreeSpace later struck a deal with another publisher THQ and no longer work for Interplay but Interplay retained the rights to FreeSpace. The really annoying thing about this is that [V] have made several statements that show their programmers are willing to do a third FreeSpace game but can't since Interplay hold the licenses and THQ prefer to own the rights to any games they make.

The FreeSpace community has tried various methods to bring about FS3 including petitions and mailings to [V] and Interplay. None of these have had much of an effect because since FreeSpace 2 didn't do very well so Interplay doesn't wish to stick their neck out and hire someone to write a third.

A while back an announcement by Derek Smart (creator of the BattleCruiser 3000 series) that he was attempting to purchase the licence caused widespread consternation amongst the community. The quality of his other games, the attitude with which he treated the community when suggesting this and the fact that he showed no intention of asking [V] what they had planned for the storyline of FS3 left the community up in arms. Fortunately the situation appears to have normalised since then with Derek Smart deciding to leave FreeSpace alone and make up his own universe instead.

While the occasional juicy titbit from [V] or Interplay (The fact that Interplay has been hovering near bankruptcy for the past two years for instance) occasionally stirs interest the general consensus of the community is to not mention FS3 at all unless there is something new to say about it. Comments about FS3 are generally unpopular amongst the veterans because we've seen them all before. If you have something new to contribute people will generally receive it politely but posting questions about FS3 that we've all seen a hundred times before generally results in a terse answer and a link to this site or the Wiki at best.
How about we get the community together and write our own FS3?
After questions about FS3's release date this is one of the sorest points in the community. Posting a topic like this on one of the FreeSpace boards is actually more likely to get you insulted that simply asking when FS3 is coming out. While that question is merely naive this one carries a rather subtle insult. After all if the solution is so simple wouldn't the community have to be idiots not to have thought of it before? The fact is that the idea has been brought up several times before. It came up shortly after the FS2 source code was released when for the first time not only could we make a new story for FS3 but also improve the engine to do it. The idea was rejected then for several reasons and continues to be rejected every time it comes up for many of the same ones.

    * What would the plotline be? - The various members of the community have their own viewpoints of where the FS3 plotline would go. Furthermore we've had several years to become convinced that our particular plotline is the best one. It would be very hard to persuade the community to rally around a single official storyline for FS3. In fact the only thing that the community would rally round would be an official plotline from [V] but they continue to play their cards very close to their chests. Without this the community tend to go by the motto that "If it isn't [V], it ain't FS3".
    * Who would play it? - The entire community would know large portions of the plot line so who would the campaign be for?
    * Who has the time? - Most of the community are working on their own campaigns already. To do this would mean that they would have to give them up for the duration of the project.

Since a fan made FS3 would be no more official than Inferno or Derelict or any of the other campaigns already released or currently in production most people don't feel there's much point. Many of these mods are our own visions of FS3. There is no need for a semi-official one.

[Wrench]

Isn't Interplay Bankrupt? why wouldn't the license become free? What is the legal mumbo jumbo to this?

[karajorma]

They're not quite bankrupt. They're circling the drain pretty fast judging from the state of their website but they're not quite dead yet.

If they did go bankrupt their assets would be sold off and the license for any of their games would most definately be called an asset.

[Galemp]

Despite being bankrupt, they still count the game rights among their assets, and though it's possible the rights to Freespace might come up sometime in the future, they will cost tens of thousands of dollars, and the original dev team has expressed serious interest in purchasing them.

In any case, we can assume that the first chapter would revolve around re-establishing contact with Sol. For gameplay purposes it would be probable that the contact would not be a peaceful one, since both FS1 and FS2 started the player off in an existing conflict before the Shivans arrived. We would hopefully find out why the Shivans did their thing at the end of FS2, perhaps find out what Bosch's fate was, and learn a little bit more about the Ancients. Really, it's up to the original writers to tell us what they had in mind, and they're guarding THOSE rights just in case.

Many campaigns hosted here on HLP (Like Inferno and Scroll) take place after the events of the main FS2 campaign, so you can play them and see how various community members are approaching it.

[karajorma]

Originally posted by karajorma
If they did go bankrupt their assets would be sold off and the license for any of their games would most definately be called an asset.

I ought to qualify that. They're all assets apart from Fallout. That one might be a liability.

[Charismatic]

Originally posted by Galemp
it's possible the rights to Freespace might come up sometime in the future, they will cost tens of thousands of dollars, and the original dev team has expressed serious interest in purchasing them.

Where do you know this from?
-So the origional FS Series team wants to buy the licence themself? IF they bought it, what company woudl they give it to to make it?

[Galemp]

It's been said, somewhere, too long ago to remember tho.

And since it would be developed by Volition, it would have to be published by THQ.

[Spartan Zero]

So uh... with Interplay being all but dead these days, what could that mean :-)

[karajorma]

A lot of speculation for two years on this board and still no sequal

[ZmaN]

better off playing inferno, its a better continuation of the story......  i played realease 1 and i loved it!

EDIT:  oh and it looks like interplay decided to put another link up for self support for their games on their site...  freespace 2 isnt there i noticed...  wonder why?  answer anyone?

[Goober5000]

It's there.

[EAD_Agamemnon]

the INFERNO mod/campaigns is about as good as you will get for continuing the FS2 story...

[StratComm]

Actually (and no offense to the Inferno team) there's too much overdone stuff in Inferno for it to be "the best".  I personally think BWO has the best shot of making the best continuation out there of the projects still alive.

[MrBig101]

Wow, didn't know interplay published Baldur's Gate 2 and Redneck Rampage!  So many classics...

[Ferret]

Like EA and Lucasarts, they used to be good.

I hate you video game industry.

[Getter Robo G]

Publishing dont mean JACK, it's about the creating.... Black Tide Studios was BG1,2, and TOB. So Interplay publishing is irrelevant.

EA & Lucasarts are different cause they actually made the games.  Now if Interplay actually made the game that would be different but from your examples listed they had nothing to do with them.