The Old Republic‘s combat uses cover, which is the first time the mechanic’s appeared in a massively multiplayer online game. Why did you feel that you needed this feature on TOR?
Many parts of our combat system were not originally planned. With so much innovation just in designing and scripting the incredibly complex quest structures of BioWare’s single player games in an MMO environment, we had a huge amount of work on our hands. Everything we do gets held up by Creative Director James Ohlen to the “Does this look/feel like Star Wars?” light. When we put in traditional MMO combat–with two people standing in front of each other and playing unconnected animations–it failed the test hard. So James and our combat designers, especially Lead Systems Designer Damion Shubert and Associate Lead Designer Emmanuel Lusinchi, sat down to not only make Lightsaber combat look dynamic and exciting, but to make the gun classes look like they were in the movies. The answer was obvious. When you look at any big gun battle in Star Wars, there it is: cover. Implementing that answer successfully would be the work of years.
What have you been able to do with the dialogue and characteristics of TOR’s all-new characters that you would’t have been able to do with Luke, Han or other established Star Wars characters?
With the established characters you can only retell the same stories. Or, at best, extend the existing stories. And while those stories are beloved and comforting, it doesn’t give Players the sort of ownership that building their own Star Wars legacy from scratch does. Our Smugglers don’t have to be redeemed if the don’t want to. Our Jedi Knight could decide that the dark side sounds like a good deal. The Players get to decide where the story goes and that’s only possible if the Players own the characters.
The Old Republic is kind of a reunion for BioWare and LucasArts, coming six years after the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Xbox game. Will there be any Easter eggs or any overt connection to KOTOR 1?
There are heavy connections to KOTOR and KOTOR2, which are both important pieces in our timeline. All of the major unanswered questions will be addressed and although it isn’t necessary to have played the games to enjoy the content there will be lots of fantastic things to discover for long time fans.
MMOs are notorious for dribbling out a little bit of empowerment at a time. How long into the game will it take for you to wield Force powers as a Jedi?
Less than five minutes. We don’t believe in killing rats for ten hours and we don’t believe players dream of being anything less than heroic.
What’s the most pivotal moment in the prequel trilogy for you? In the original trilogy?
In the prequel trilogy, it’s the death of Qui-Gon Jinn. He’s the one that brings Anakin into the order and it’s arguably his death that allows the coming of Darth Vader. Thinking of how the story would have changed with his survival is an interesting exercise. In the original trilogy, I’m going to say it was Han being frozen. Although the Vader reveal is obviously what we all remember it’s the moment that Han slams to the ground that we understand that bad things can and do happen. In the same vein is Luke losing his hand.
What’s the most important planet in the Star Wars universe, past or present?
Tatooine, without a doubt. For a bleak planet that nobody wants to be on, it is pivotal to a huge number of important storylines. It’s also surprisingly one of the most beautiful worlds in our game.