STARS FIND NEW WARS : GAMES TAP BIG NAMES, AND FANS ARE BUYING.

Byline: P.J. Huffstutter Daily News Staff Writer

Creeping across a dimly lit cavern on an alien planet, Mark Hamill stalks his enemy.

Forget that the cavern is actually an empty warehouse, and the backdrop nothing more than a blank green screen. Ignore the fact that the unknown enemy is really a woman, standing on a ladder, waiting for her cue to drip slime down Hamill's face.

The camera's rolling. Hamill's acting. And nearby computers sit idle, waiting for a team of digital artists to transform Hamill's mundane surroundings.

Clad in a snug, blue flight suit and black leather boots, the gun-toting, goatee-sporting, 43-year-old actor looks every inch the celestial swashbuckler.

Only this time, the film isn't ``Star Wars.'' It's Wing Commander: Prophecy, the fifth chapter in Origin Systems Inc.'s extremely successful CD-ROM game series. The Wing Commander franchise also includes a TV cartoon show, several novels, a card game and hundreds of discussion groups on the Internet.

``It's really fascinating to see where this whole thing has gone in the past few years,'' said Hamill, who stars in three of the Wing Commander titles. ``It's not a movie, it's not a TV show, it's a totally different entertainment experience.

``Too bad I don't play these games.''

In 1990, the staff at Origin Systems guessed that fans wanted more than flight simulators and shoot-'em-up software. Their first two Wing Commander titles featured animated sequences with digital characters and subtitles, but no real-time video footage.

``They did well, but we thought the market was bigger,'' said David Swofford, a spokesman for Origin.

Gambling with a $4 million budget, Origin created what was at the time the game industry's most expensive effort, Wing Commander III. Set in the year 2654, Hamill played a space pilot who battles catlike aliens called the Kilrathi and tries to save the human race.

The player, who sees the action from the pilot's perspective, has dozens of opportunities to alter the path of the game.

For example, the player must decide whether to date the lovely, spunky female mechanic or the equally attractive co-pilot. If he opts for the mechanic, he can't fly with the pilot for the rest of the game. Select the pilot, and he could find himself floating in space in an unarmed craft.

The gamble worked, as Wing Commander III broke the million-sold mark. Over time, and with another sequel, the Wing Commander series has sold more than 3.5 million copies. Prophecy producer Mark Day expects the three-disc game to be released by Thanksgiving.

``Part of the appeal was tied to an actor known for his science-fiction role playing a similar kind of role,'' said Rod Nakamoto, executive producer of Prophecy. ``The re-release of the `Star Wars' series can only help us.''

As two-dimensional arcade games give way to 3-D, multimedia experiences, the line between games and movies has blurred. And many well-known actors are accepting such virtual-reality roles as cyber-demons and hotshot heroes: Dennis Hopper, Gillian Anderson, John de Lancie, Christopher Lloyd, Steven Spielberg and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry are just a few celebrities who have either performed in or created their own CD-ROM game.

``As this industry gets bigger and budgets are increasing, we're going to have to use professional actors and directors and screenwriters,'' said Travis Howards, an independent game producer. ``It's a viable industry that demands name recognition. You can't afford to use some no-name off the street anymore.''

Like its predecessors, Prophecy develops along parallel tracks. One crew of programmers started writing the computer technology needed to run the game, while another group launched the film production by developing a script and selecting actors.

This month, the video crew spent two weeks working at Shades of Light Studios. There, men in paint-splattered jeans struggle to adjust the lights and move parts of the set.

There, Hamill revives his role as the game's hero, Chris Blair. During one scene, Hamill slowly crawls inside the mouth of a monster. Dense fog cloaks the prone figure of his fallen comrade, who lies only a few feet away.

In one take, Hamill looks left. Take 2, he looks toward the right. Take 3, he stares straight ahead.

While a traditional movie follows a linear path, interactive titles can have hundreds of outcomes. For the Wing Commander series, actors need to memorize different lines and film multiple takes of each scene.

Once the video sections are completed, the computer programming team intersperses these film bits with combat game sections throughout the movie.

``It's an incredibly tedious process, but the final product makes it worthwhile,'' Hamill said. ``At least my kids love it.''

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3 Photos

Photo: (1-2--Color) Above, a stand-in for actor Mark Hamill waits while the camera and lights are positioned. At right, a uniformed Hamil is ready for action.

(3--Color) Viril Harper, director of photography, gives directions for an upcoming shot on the set of Wing Commader V.

Michael Owen Baker/Daily News