Latest Official Site Updates: Community, Voss Planet Reveal
There have been two recent updates to the Star Wars: The Old Republic official website. The first is an article by Damion Schubert, Principal Lead Systems Designer, on the community aspect of the game. Here is an excerpt:
Massively multiplayer games are not new. The first true massively multiplayer game was a text-only virtual world called MUD, put together by Richard Bartle and Roy Trubshaw in 1978. This little window of dizzying text descriptions was a far cry visually from the seductively lush 3D virtual worlds of today, but it was enough. Enough to get the genre started, and enough to get armchair designers across the world to imagine the possibilities, and debate philosophical matters of game design. One of these questions, still asked today, is whether or not massively multiplayer environments should strive to be games or to be worlds.
Next, a new planet has been revealed: Voss. This has been a fairly common update recently, except this one is a bit different: it is a planet never before seen in the Star Wars universe.
We’re thrilled to announce not only the next planet to be featured in Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ but also a planet never-before-seen in the Star Wars™ mythos: Voss.
An alien species resides on the mysterious world of Voss and is said to have an incredible aptitude for the Force. These Voss Mystics – rumored to be enigmatic healers as well as seers – struggle to protect their utopian society from annihilation.
Discover the secrets of Voss as you are forced time and again to choose between maintaining the appearance of neutrality so important to your leaders or striking against your enemies while you have the chance.
Access the HoloNet records to learn more about the darkness at the heart of Voss. Encounter the narrow trails and wide rock shelves in this video and visit the media section for never-before-seen screenshots, concept art, and wallpapers depicting the madness and despair creeping through the lands.
Jedi Consular Developer Blog
This week’s update is a new developer blog on the Jedi Consular:
Writer Joanna Berry brings to light some thoughts behind crafting the Jedi Consular!
Quote:
“For me, the challenge – and the fun – of writing the Jedi Consular is keeping a sense of balance between intelligence and arrogance, between what’s right and what could win the war against the Empire. A Jedi Consular must sometimes accept the grayer path, the less perfect choice. He or she must make the decisions the Republic can’t, in order to save it.”
New Developer Blog Discusses Sith Inquisitor
This week’s update sees writer Rebecca Harwick take us through the process of writing for and coming up with ideas for the Sith Inquisitor class:
Writer Rebecca Harwick takes us down the path to the dark side as she composes the Sith Inquisitor!
Originally Posted by RebeccaHarwick
How to explain the Sith Inquisitor?I could tell you that the Sith Inquisitor is the Emperor Palpatine to the Sith Warrior’s Darth Vader, but that sells it short. The archetype is just inspiration. It’s not the destination, or the road we take to get there, but the guide. The Sith Inquisitor is Raistlin. The Sith Inquisitor is Lucifer. The Sith Inquisitor is Julius Caesar. The Sith Inquisitor is what you make him.
Holiday Roundup: Developer Dispatch, Developer Blog
Happy New Year and welcome to 2010 folks! We learned quite a bit about Star Wars: The Old Republic in 2009 but there is still a lot left to be unraveled in 2010. This site is going stronger than ever and I hope you continue to make it the best place for SW:TOR news in 2010. Here are the last two official site updates from 2009.
Designing the Dark Side
Inspired by notorious characters such as Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, the Sith Inquisitor and Sith Warrior take different approaches to their rise to power. The Sith Warrior achieves victory through pure aggression and might while the Sith Inquisitor excels by cunning ambition and Force manipulation.
From storyline, to art style, to combat tactics, each design decision was made to support the dark side themes of power, domination, and destruction.
Watch Developer Dispatch: Designing the Dark Side, and learn how Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ developers created this dominating force. (Source)
Top Secret: Dossier on the Imperial Agent!
Senior Writer Alexander Freed divulges some of the secrets of the life of the Imperial Agent!
http://www.swtor.com/news/blog/20100101_001
… and now Sean is going back to bed; Happy New Year (and new Decade) everyone! (Source)
Friday Updates – Developer Blog, Threat of Peace, and Class Reveal
This week Senior Writer Drew Karpyshyn, who you may be familiar with as the lead writer of the original Knights of the Old Republic, blogs about what went in to writing the Jedi Knight class. Check out the entire blog to read what he has to say.
We are also treated to the latest episode of Threat of Peace this week, as the third chapter begins with issue 19. Followers of the webcomic may be pleased to know that it will be published as a graphic novel. Look forward to that in May 2010. In the meantime, check out the latest episode now.
Lastly, a relatively surprising reveal is given to us this week as the Imperial Agent class is officially confirmed, just one week after learning about the Jedi Knight class.
For those of you who may have attended or read reviews from the Electronic Arts European Press Tour that happened earlier this week, you already know the answer to this. It’s the Imperial Agent!
The Imperial Agent is heavily inspired by several classic Star Wars characters such as Zam Wessel and Grand Moff Tarkin. Imperial Agents work behind the scenes to get the work of the Empire done. Specializing in high-tech gear, the Imperial Agent always has the right tools at the right time. They use abilities of subversion and subterfuge to infiltrate and assassinate enemies of the Sith Empire with deadly efficiency. Players who choose to be Imperial Agents in The Old Republic (TOR) will see the underbelly of the Empire in a whole new light.
Look forward to screenshots to be added to the site later today!
UPDATE: Check out the screenshots below or in our gallery!
New Developer Blog Details Smuggler Creation
This week we’ve got a new developer blog written by Senior Writer Hall Hood on creating the Smuggler class. It starts out quite compelling:
Try this hypothetical scenario… you’re relaxing at the local cantina when three trigger-happy Rodian mercenaries pick a fight with the most attractive Jedi Knight you’ve ever seen. After the smoke clears, the Rodians are carried outside and the Jedi apologizes to everyone for making a scene. Do you:
Read on to find out your options!
Developer Blog #10 – An insight into game dialogue
The official site has been updated today with another Developer Blog, this time by Shauna Perry, Director of Audio and Localization who talks about the process of scripting and recording the dialogue. It includes an amusing recollection of the dialogue between herself and the lead designer informing her of their plans to voice the entire game. Here’s a snippet with facts from the end of the article.
* The voice-over is being recorded in 5 different cities (so far); Los Angeles , London, New York, San Francisco, and Toronto
* By the time the project is finished, we will have worked with hundreds of actors – many on multiple occasions.
* The entire game ‘script’ contains approximately 40+ novels worth of content.
* One of the biggest challenges of the production: consistency in pronunciation across the whole project! You would be amazed at how many ways there are to say “Thul” or “Holo” Projector. An audio pronunciation guide sure has helped.
Read the full blog here.
Thanks to PastramiX for the heads up!
Developer Blog- Trooper Class: Happiness is a Warm Gun
Principal Lead Combat Designer Damion Schubert has updated the official developer blog with a new entry entitled “Happiness is a Warm Gun”, detailing the creation process for the Trooper class.
Here’s a snippet.
The Trooper has evolved over time since that first playtest, but at the core he remains the same: a dedicated soldier who believes in military precision, tactical superiority and above all, a whole lot of firepower. With his impressive arsenal of assault rifles and grenades, the Trooper is the best ranged damage dealer the Republic has to offer.
Read the full Blog entry here.
New Developer Blog Focuses on Ord Mantell
After a week with no updates last week we get two this week, the first of which can be found in the previous post. The second update we are treated to this week is a new developer blog entry by Rebecca Harwick, a writer on the SWTOR team. She writes about the vision for Ord Mantell, fleshing out the world, coming up with quests, and more. Check out her entry at the official site.
Developer Blog: Creating the Bounty Hunter
A few weeks ago we got a sneak peak at the first official Star Wars: The Old Republic class: the Bounty Hunter. Bioware Community Liason Sean Dahlberg posted an article to his blog giving us an inside scoop into the creation of the Bounty Hunter. The amount of thought and detail that went into the planning of the different SWTOR classes is very impressive and makes me want to see the rest of the classes ASAP! Here is a snippet from Dahlberg’s blog:
“There were a few decisions we made early on. First of all, there would be two distinct factions. This was Star Wars™, not Star Neutral Guy’s Adventure. When there is a war that spans an entire galaxy, nobody can stand on the sidelines. Sure Han is unaffiliated for about six minutes of the movies, but that doesn’t last long, and even if he’s not with the good guys he sure doesn’t like the Empire. The war affects everyone, even if they’d rather it didn’t.”
Visit Dahlberg’s Developer Blog for the rest of this great read.
-RoxStar
