Thursday, December 19, 2013

Our lives are all poorer without "Star Wars 1313"



This one's a heartbreaker.

First-person shooter/RPG, Star Wars 1313 was one of the casulaties of the LucasArts acquisition by Disney. Though deep into development, it was axed and the dev team was let go.

It's a terrible tragedy on a number of levels. Besides the loss of employment for hundreds of staff, the game itself looks (looked?) incredible. The graphics and motion capture appear cinematic--and I say that without an ounce of hyperbole. This would have been a truly immersive action/adventure game with the story points flowing seamlessly into gameplay.

While the game won't be released, at least we have this video to see some of the more intriguing concepts that would have been introduced into the Star Wars universe.

Here's a rundown of elements that you still could use to inspire your Star Wars or sci-fi pen-and-paper RPG campaigns:
  • Game takes place in the underworld of Coruscant (captial of the galaxy)--more than a thousand levels (1,313 to be exact!) below the surface of the metropolis-laiden planet. There's a quick line about how the environment is different below the surface (maybe needing a mask filter to breath?)
  • Giant conduits allow for small-to-medium sized vessels to move between levels (think Cleopatra 2525!)
  • The game was invisioned arounds bounty hunters, specifically Boba FettMid-air ship-to-ship battles! Zip line raids! 18th century pirate-style combat!
  • Seems to be a "streetwar of mercenaries," I'd wager that deciding who to be alligned with and when to switch sides would be a big factor in successful mission completion
Here's some recovered imagery from the game's development:

Hover shafts lead to the subterranean city levels...







Denizens of the underbelly...













A bounty hunter's paradise...






4 comments:

  1. You are correct, our lives will be poorer without it. It looks damn good.

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    Replies
    1. Hopefully, whatever they learned from development can be repurposed into another awesome game.

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  2. It's like a million voices cried out in pain...and were suddenly silenced.

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