The Creators of Star Wars: The Old Republic

GeekSugar — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:30:36 PDT

Now that you've gotten a good sense of what Star Wars: The Old Republic is all about from my sneak preview of the game, here's a behind-the-scenes video. I captured it where the art director, some of the producers, and lead designers weigh in on the game and its development;, from inception to final product.

Lucas and BioWare Announce Star Wars: The Old Republic

GeekSugar — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 02:00:30 PDT

If you can't get enough Lucas info (you know I can't!), then you should be pretty stoked about their latest release for your small screen. I got an early preview of Star Wars: The Old Republic at LucasArts studios yesterday afternoon, where we were given a sneak peek of the newest Lucas and BioWare title.

The latest game to come from the Star Wars franchise will have you playing online with thousands of others (a la World of Warcraft) and battle against evil...or even be evil and play as a Sith! The Old Republic will let you choose how your story plays out, sort of like a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book, but of course, in game form. Although the game isn't finished just yet, I did get to view some pre-production gameplay during the press event held at LucasArts and I gotta tell you - it's quite beautiful!

View 5 Photos ›

The folks from Lucas and BioWare were pretty tight lipped on specifics about when the game will be released, and on which consoles it will appear (other than the PC), but I did get a few tidbits from the Q&A session with the developers, writers, and artists. To find out what I learned, just read more. The Look:

Concept art for the game was completely hand painted, and then translated to the in-game effects.
The game is "Stylized Realism" - meaning they didn't want characters in The Old Republic to look like photographs, but didn't want them to be cartoonish either.
You'll be able to customize your character and distinguish yourself from other online players.

The Story:

The game takes place 3,600 years before the movies when there was an uneasy truce between the Republic and the Sith Empire.
There are several different "classes" in the game, and each class has a story, but none of the stories are the same - you will not see the same dialogue, battles, or concepts if you play different classes (i.e.: you can play as a Jedi and/or a Sith).

Gameplay:

If you aren't into playing in a group, you don't have to! You can play the game solo if you want to.
You will have companions that assist you in the game.
The story won't get in the way of the action. Usually story-based games have you performing mundane tasks to earn money or points. They assured us that bad-ass Darth Vader would not be taking a job in a desert planet somewhere to earn some coin!
Although they could not go into details, but I'm crossing my fingers for some racing!
There are lots of wardrobe changes as you progress in the game.

What do you think? Are you excited for a new Star Wars game?