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Force Unleashed, Developer tells All.
WATCH FORCE UNLEASHED TRAILER NOW
Bundling together impressive technology, a deep plot, and the enticing chance to "kick *** with the Force," Star Wars: Force Unleashed casts the player as Darth Vader's apprentice during the years separating Episodes III and IV.
As the Star Wars world revs up to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of the original movie, we spoke to Force Unleashed's project lead, Haden Blackman, about wielding the Force, traveling the galaxy, and breaking things.
Haden Blackman's name is on almost every Star Wars game released over the last ten years. In that time he's worn an impressive collection of hats: writer, voice director, creative director, producer, and executive producer. Players of the massively-multiplayer online RPG Star Wars Galaxies know him as Shug_Nix, from his time as lead producer of the game. Now he's project lead -- "kind of a hybrid between an executive producer and a creative director" -- on Force Unleashed.
Blackman's keen to emphasize the role of Force Unleashed's character-driven plot. You play a Force-wielder who starts the game working as Darth Vader's secret apprentice during the period between the prequel and classic trilogies. As Blackman puts it, "There's an importance behind that word 'secret' - Darth Vader's the only one who knows you exist."
You'd better keep it that way. "Some of your mission objectives are related to making sure nobody else finds out about you," Blackman explains. "You're being trained by Darth Vader in the use of the Dark Side and the Force, how to use it to defeat Vader's enemies and defeat the Jedi you'll be confronting as you go through the game."
Blackman gets a little more detailed. "In one mission, Vader has ordered you to do something that could potentially draw attention to yourself, and so you're given the order to wipe out all witnesses," he describes. "Everybody becomes an enemy. This allows us to create really exciting environments and lets you fight characters that you normally wouldn't if you were strictly an Imperial or a Rebel guy."
Force Unleashed's combat system focuses on using traditional powers from the movies and other games, like Force Push and Force Lightning, in combination with each other and with lightsaber moves. "We've never really seen this type of character before," says Blackman, whose Star Wars experience includes a sideline writing Jango Fett comic books for Dark Horse Publishing. "Vader was trained as Anakin, as a Jedi. He's incredibly powerful, but he also knows the ins and outs of the Dark Side. He's able to teach you his own unique manipulations of the Force -- and then you meet other characters that can teach you about the Force on your journey."
That journey will take you to locations familiar from the classic trilogy, the prequels, other Star Wars video games, and some that are entirely new. Blackman reels off some examples. "Kashyyk, the Wookie homeworld from Episode III. Felucia, the fungus world from Episode III. A junkyard world called Raxus Prime that's been in other Star Wars games. And then we've created some new locations that feel very Imperial, including a TIE Fighter construction facility where brand-new TIE Fighters are being built. You have to go on an adventure through that facility."
What about Episodes IV, V and VI? "We will be featuring recognizable locations from the classic trilogy. We just haven't announced them yet," stonewalls Blackman. With the game still nearly a year from its planned release timeframe, Blackman's keeping some cards close to his chest.
Although you play the apprentice of an evil character, like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the new Force Unleashed will allow you the freedom to make some decisions for yourself. "We wanted a strong storyline, but also the opportunity to make some key choices along the way," Blackman says. Among them will be the opportunity to redeem yourself, presumably at the end of the game.
Two new technologies headline Force Unleashed's impressive graphical credentials: Euphoria, a "biomechanical AI" system that provides on-screen characters with realistic reflex responses, and Digital Molecular Matter, which simulates the way different materials shatter and deform under impact and stress. Blackman's team is working with Lucas's celebrated special effects house, Industrial Light and Magic.
"We've developed Euphoria in collaboration with our partners Natural Motion from Oxford, England. It infuses our characters with a central nervous system, not just a brain," Blackman enthuses. "They have a sense of self-preservation, reflex, muscle. In the game, it allows us to do things like Force Push a character and have him try to protect himself from the fall or the impact."
He continues, "If I throw a stormtrooper up into some rafters, he'll try to grab on, because he knows otherwise he's going to fall to his death. They also maintain their balance through procedural AI, so if you're using the Force to grab a walkway or gantry and shake it and there's a bunch of stormtroopers on it, they'll stumble around and hold onto one another. It gives a different pay-off every time you do anything in the environment."
How about Digital Molecular Matter? Developed in conjunction with Switzerland-based Pixelux Entertainment, it creates "Glass that shatters like glass, wood that splinters like wood, and metal that dents like metal," as Blackman puts it. "If I slam a stormtrooper into a plate-glass window, it'll shatter differently depending on the force and angle of the impact, the size of the enemy, the distance we are from the window. It's uncharted territory for games." Both Euphoria and Digital Molecular Matter will also feature in Lucas Arts' upcoming Indiana Jones game.
The technologies also tie closely into the game's creative use of well-known Force powers. "We take a power like Force Push, which in the past might have just knocked somebody over," Blackman begins. "Now we can make Force Push hit somebody with the force of a cannonball, send them flying backwards and go shattering through walls or columns, or smashing into metal walls and denting them, or whatever else might be in their path."
Blackman's team has made coming up with creative combinations of classic Jedi abilities a priority, too. "We have a deep combo system that will allow players to string together lightsaber attacks with Force powers, and Force powers with other Force powers. So you can do a saber attack and follow it up with a bolt of lightning, and it does a brand new effect - not just visually, but also gameplay-wise."
He goes on to get a little more specific. "We've got a great new power where you can grip an enemy, lift him up in the air, supercharge him with lightning and slam him into the ground where he'll explode in a fury of Force energy and destroy everything around him. It's like having a bomb constantly at your disposal," he continues, enthusiastically. "It's been really exciting to see all the various ways we might combine a handful of powers to create cool new effects."
Are these canned, pre-determined combos, or does the player have any freedom to create their own? "It's a combination of both," Blackman answers. "We do have some canned combos, especially in relationship to the lightsaber. If you do a series of lightsaber attacks they'll result in a specific finisher, for example. A lot of people like that. But we're also trying to give you the freedom to combine powers in new and interesting ways."
He's already testing this system, and has been startled at some of the results. "People do stuff we've never expected, and come up with some surprising applications of the power. They'll use it to set up traps before the enemies even arrive, which has been really cool for us to watch."
Blackman is heading an internal team working on Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of Force Unleashed. This is an unusual move for Lucas Arts, which in the past has preferred to farm development of its biggest Star Wars games out to external companies: Galaxies to Sony, Knights of the Old Republic to Bioware, Battlefront to Pandemic. It's not a total departure from the norm, though: PSP, PS2 and DS versions of Force Unleashed are also in development at Crome Studios on the Sony platforms and N-Space, Inc. on the DS.
One console is conspicuous by its absence from that list. Why no Wii version? We've all played Star Wars games and thought, hey, wouldn't it be cool to be waving a lightsaber for real, right? An uncomfortable silence ensues, until our Lucas Arts PR rep volunteers, "We have not announced a Wii version at this time." Make of that what you will.
One thing Blackman is able to unveil is the first details of the game's voice cast. Sam Witwer, fresh from playing Lt. Crashdown in Battlestar Galactica and Neil Perry in Showtime series Dexter, stars as Vader's apprentice. Blackman's enthusiastic about the prospect. "He's a great young actor who's just starting to come into his own -- it's going to be awesome to have him be part of this project."
Co-starring with Witwer is Nathalie Cox, a British model and actress best known in the US for her role in Kingdom of Heaven opposite Orlando Bloom. She plays Juno Eclipse, an Imperial pilot who's charged with ferrying the player character around the galaxy on his missions, and the game's love interest. As Blackman puts it, "Over time their relationship evolves, and as the story unfolds she becomes a sounding board for him. Nathalie did a fantastic job."
Blackman goes on to describe a third important Force Unleashed character, a Jedi named General Kota. "Kota's a hard-boiled Jedi character you encounter. He's played by a stage and TV actor named Cully Fredrickson, who captured the spirit of this edgy, unemotional, unsentimental Jedi general perfectly." Kota is very different from a lot of the Jedi that we've seen in the past: "Militaristic rather than meditative," as Blackman puts it.
If you're noticing a lack of familiar Star Wars names, it's not accidental. Force Unleashed began its life featuring more characters from the movies, but Blackman's team was convinced otherwise by one of the most famous Star Wars names of all. "We met with George Lucas a number of times to talk about this game and its storyline," he says. "George really encouraged us to go out and create new characters: the apprentice, Juno, Kota, a new droid sidekick for the player character, and a number of new enemy types."
Star Wars: Force Unleashed is due to release in Spring 2008, on: Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP and DS.
WATCH FORCE UNLEASHED TRAILER NOW
Bundling together impressive technology, a deep plot, and the enticing chance to "kick *** with the Force," Star Wars: Force Unleashed casts the player as Darth Vader's apprentice during the years separating Episodes III and IV.
As the Star Wars world revs up to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of the original movie, we spoke to Force Unleashed's project lead, Haden Blackman, about wielding the Force, traveling the galaxy, and breaking things.
Haden Blackman's name is on almost every Star Wars game released over the last ten years. In that time he's worn an impressive collection of hats: writer, voice director, creative director, producer, and executive producer. Players of the massively-multiplayer online RPG Star Wars Galaxies know him as Shug_Nix, from his time as lead producer of the game. Now he's project lead -- "kind of a hybrid between an executive producer and a creative director" -- on Force Unleashed.
Blackman's keen to emphasize the role of Force Unleashed's character-driven plot. You play a Force-wielder who starts the game working as Darth Vader's secret apprentice during the period between the prequel and classic trilogies. As Blackman puts it, "There's an importance behind that word 'secret' - Darth Vader's the only one who knows you exist."
You'd better keep it that way. "Some of your mission objectives are related to making sure nobody else finds out about you," Blackman explains. "You're being trained by Darth Vader in the use of the Dark Side and the Force, how to use it to defeat Vader's enemies and defeat the Jedi you'll be confronting as you go through the game."
Blackman gets a little more detailed. "In one mission, Vader has ordered you to do something that could potentially draw attention to yourself, and so you're given the order to wipe out all witnesses," he describes. "Everybody becomes an enemy. This allows us to create really exciting environments and lets you fight characters that you normally wouldn't if you were strictly an Imperial or a Rebel guy."
Force Unleashed's combat system focuses on using traditional powers from the movies and other games, like Force Push and Force Lightning, in combination with each other and with lightsaber moves. "We've never really seen this type of character before," says Blackman, whose Star Wars experience includes a sideline writing Jango Fett comic books for Dark Horse Publishing. "Vader was trained as Anakin, as a Jedi. He's incredibly powerful, but he also knows the ins and outs of the Dark Side. He's able to teach you his own unique manipulations of the Force -- and then you meet other characters that can teach you about the Force on your journey."
That journey will take you to locations familiar from the classic trilogy, the prequels, other Star Wars video games, and some that are entirely new. Blackman reels off some examples. "Kashyyk, the Wookie homeworld from Episode III. Felucia, the fungus world from Episode III. A junkyard world called Raxus Prime that's been in other Star Wars games. And then we've created some new locations that feel very Imperial, including a TIE Fighter construction facility where brand-new TIE Fighters are being built. You have to go on an adventure through that facility."
What about Episodes IV, V and VI? "We will be featuring recognizable locations from the classic trilogy. We just haven't announced them yet," stonewalls Blackman. With the game still nearly a year from its planned release timeframe, Blackman's keeping some cards close to his chest.
Although you play the apprentice of an evil character, like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the new Force Unleashed will allow you the freedom to make some decisions for yourself. "We wanted a strong storyline, but also the opportunity to make some key choices along the way," Blackman says. Among them will be the opportunity to redeem yourself, presumably at the end of the game.
Two new technologies headline Force Unleashed's impressive graphical credentials: Euphoria, a "biomechanical AI" system that provides on-screen characters with realistic reflex responses, and Digital Molecular Matter, which simulates the way different materials shatter and deform under impact and stress. Blackman's team is working with Lucas's celebrated special effects house, Industrial Light and Magic.
"We've developed Euphoria in collaboration with our partners Natural Motion from Oxford, England. It infuses our characters with a central nervous system, not just a brain," Blackman enthuses. "They have a sense of self-preservation, reflex, muscle. In the game, it allows us to do things like Force Push a character and have him try to protect himself from the fall or the impact."
He continues, "If I throw a stormtrooper up into some rafters, he'll try to grab on, because he knows otherwise he's going to fall to his death. They also maintain their balance through procedural AI, so if you're using the Force to grab a walkway or gantry and shake it and there's a bunch of stormtroopers on it, they'll stumble around and hold onto one another. It gives a different pay-off every time you do anything in the environment."
How about Digital Molecular Matter? Developed in conjunction with Switzerland-based Pixelux Entertainment, it creates "Glass that shatters like glass, wood that splinters like wood, and metal that dents like metal," as Blackman puts it. "If I slam a stormtrooper into a plate-glass window, it'll shatter differently depending on the force and angle of the impact, the size of the enemy, the distance we are from the window. It's uncharted territory for games." Both Euphoria and Digital Molecular Matter will also feature in Lucas Arts' upcoming Indiana Jones game.
The technologies also tie closely into the game's creative use of well-known Force powers. "We take a power like Force Push, which in the past might have just knocked somebody over," Blackman begins. "Now we can make Force Push hit somebody with the force of a cannonball, send them flying backwards and go shattering through walls or columns, or smashing into metal walls and denting them, or whatever else might be in their path."
Blackman's team has made coming up with creative combinations of classic Jedi abilities a priority, too. "We have a deep combo system that will allow players to string together lightsaber attacks with Force powers, and Force powers with other Force powers. So you can do a saber attack and follow it up with a bolt of lightning, and it does a brand new effect - not just visually, but also gameplay-wise."
He goes on to get a little more specific. "We've got a great new power where you can grip an enemy, lift him up in the air, supercharge him with lightning and slam him into the ground where he'll explode in a fury of Force energy and destroy everything around him. It's like having a bomb constantly at your disposal," he continues, enthusiastically. "It's been really exciting to see all the various ways we might combine a handful of powers to create cool new effects."
Are these canned, pre-determined combos, or does the player have any freedom to create their own? "It's a combination of both," Blackman answers. "We do have some canned combos, especially in relationship to the lightsaber. If you do a series of lightsaber attacks they'll result in a specific finisher, for example. A lot of people like that. But we're also trying to give you the freedom to combine powers in new and interesting ways."
He's already testing this system, and has been startled at some of the results. "People do stuff we've never expected, and come up with some surprising applications of the power. They'll use it to set up traps before the enemies even arrive, which has been really cool for us to watch."
Blackman is heading an internal team working on Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of Force Unleashed. This is an unusual move for Lucas Arts, which in the past has preferred to farm development of its biggest Star Wars games out to external companies: Galaxies to Sony, Knights of the Old Republic to Bioware, Battlefront to Pandemic. It's not a total departure from the norm, though: PSP, PS2 and DS versions of Force Unleashed are also in development at Crome Studios on the Sony platforms and N-Space, Inc. on the DS.
One console is conspicuous by its absence from that list. Why no Wii version? We've all played Star Wars games and thought, hey, wouldn't it be cool to be waving a lightsaber for real, right? An uncomfortable silence ensues, until our Lucas Arts PR rep volunteers, "We have not announced a Wii version at this time." Make of that what you will.
One thing Blackman is able to unveil is the first details of the game's voice cast. Sam Witwer, fresh from playing Lt. Crashdown in Battlestar Galactica and Neil Perry in Showtime series Dexter, stars as Vader's apprentice. Blackman's enthusiastic about the prospect. "He's a great young actor who's just starting to come into his own -- it's going to be awesome to have him be part of this project."
Co-starring with Witwer is Nathalie Cox, a British model and actress best known in the US for her role in Kingdom of Heaven opposite Orlando Bloom. She plays Juno Eclipse, an Imperial pilot who's charged with ferrying the player character around the galaxy on his missions, and the game's love interest. As Blackman puts it, "Over time their relationship evolves, and as the story unfolds she becomes a sounding board for him. Nathalie did a fantastic job."
Blackman goes on to describe a third important Force Unleashed character, a Jedi named General Kota. "Kota's a hard-boiled Jedi character you encounter. He's played by a stage and TV actor named Cully Fredrickson, who captured the spirit of this edgy, unemotional, unsentimental Jedi general perfectly." Kota is very different from a lot of the Jedi that we've seen in the past: "Militaristic rather than meditative," as Blackman puts it.
If you're noticing a lack of familiar Star Wars names, it's not accidental. Force Unleashed began its life featuring more characters from the movies, but Blackman's team was convinced otherwise by one of the most famous Star Wars names of all. "We met with George Lucas a number of times to talk about this game and its storyline," he says. "George really encouraged us to go out and create new characters: the apprentice, Juno, Kota, a new droid sidekick for the player character, and a number of new enemy types."
Star Wars: Force Unleashed is due to release in Spring 2008, on: Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP and DS.
