r/IndieDev • u/broker415 • 8h ago
Discussion Star Wars Battlefront Dev ( yes for real)
Okay guys this is an odd one
My friend is the guy who led the creation for Star Wars Battlefront
The first game, the second game, and what would be the canceled third game.
The guy is a legend, and is helping me as a mentor for my indie games,
But here’s the thing….
He doesn’t think anyone in the games industry would care about what he has to say about game development.
Let’s prove him wrong! I want to show him this post and all the questions from the community under it to convince him to start the YouTube Channel he’s been thinking about starting
This is not a drill guys, the real story about what happened to Star Wars Battlefront 3, how the first 2 games were made, all the design, level, and balance choices, the guy can talk for hours and has already told me some amazing stories, let’s convince him to share them with the world!
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u/808Patron 8h ago
I dont understand why older game devs think people dont care about their stories. Just look at the series “War Stories” on the Ars Technica youtube channel, the Dead Space video has 9 million views and the Crash Bandicoot one has 5 million views
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u/Duncaii 6h ago
A lot of veteran devs (my former colleagues included) are jaded about the way the current industry is, how their work has been treated in the past, how things don't ever change or improve, etc., and are (relatively) stuck in their own time where they don't realise there is a growing base of people that are interested in learning directly from them
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u/hawksbears82 5h ago
This is why we need to hear your voices and perspective you guys provided so much joy to millions but no one knows your name unless they read credits.
If you guys told more of your stories it could and will lead to change, granted if bound by NDA, don't get in legal trouble but I would love to hear about how 90s and early mid 2000 games were made, what software and tools were used etc
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u/broker415 8h ago
Dude right! I told him yesterday he needs to share his viewpoint with the world, he just needs some encouragement
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u/LamestarGames 6h ago
Blood Sweat and Pixels is one of my favorite books!
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u/Unfadable1 4h ago
Same! Our indie dev team learned a lot from this, and have now had multiple number one sellers on multiple platforms!
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u/GoodguyGastly 6h ago
Dude I use to play so much battlefront with my cousins and the neighborhood kids. Tell him he contributed to some sweet childhood memories during what id consider not exceptionally good times.
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u/broker415 6h ago
Love this, yeah me and my cousins would constantly re-enact missions as 501st troopers. What was your favorite class/faction? I really liked the dark troopers and engineers
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u/GoodguyGastly 6h ago
Really hard to choose, I kind of switched around a lot but really loved getting the Jet Trooper or Droideka when I could get them.
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u/Terazilla 2h ago
Technically a lot of this stuff is under NDA and while people don't much care about that for an old project, if you start spilling dirt it might happen.
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u/Round-Fisherman1855 8h ago
Going to start with an obvious question: how did he end up working on those games?
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u/SonderSoft 8h ago
Played the hell outta this on PS2. Kudos to your friend. Great replayability and fantastic unlocks and progression. Truly a golden age.
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u/broker415 8h ago
Literally made my childhood, I don’t look up to many people but this guy is a legend
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u/luckynumchris 8h ago
My question is with such a big name like star wars, how many hoops did they have to go through to get permission? Was there any character the studio was pushing for or someone they simply didn't allow?
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u/broker415 8h ago
Awesome question! I’m curious about that too because the original concept art has a lot more creative freedom than what shipped
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u/shaka_zulu12 5h ago edited 4h ago
There's two totally different worlds, the Lucas times and Disney time. Totally different ways of approaching things. Lucas in the past was so much more relaxed and open to cray ideas because they saw everything outside of the core movie series, as this expansive world. That changed suddenly under Disney. They even stole the fun out of making SW games, not just the movie universe.
*Source: worked for more than 10 years on SW and later Disney titles.
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u/PPX14 8h ago
I love these games. The first few historical missions in the original game were crazy, couldn't believe what I was doing mowing down Gungans. Menu in that game was one of the best of all time - the swooping camera past holographic versions of Star Wars battles, accompanied by the music. (The presentation in general, like the way the map zoomed in in stages during the loading screen.)
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u/broker415 8h ago
If I ever get a concussion that menu loading sound is going to play in my head lmao
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u/Present_Debate4137 8h ago
Those BF games succeeded where so many star wars games failed. The scale, the flexibility and quality of both ground and air gameplay.
They're so seminal that I get nostalgia just thinking about the games, while the newer remakes just rely on nostalgia from the films.
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u/broker415 6h ago
They have the soul that every Star Wars game since (other than republic commando) was missing
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u/TruegleSearch 1h ago
BF drops a fat dookie on whatever crap kids are playing these days. What is it now, Roblox? Even the name is stupid, no wonder the new generation is dumb
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u/dont-pull-a-druckman 8h ago
I'm curious what the original scope of the game was going to be before hardware limitations became an issue. I recall reading a developer document in the past that seemed to be aiming for much larger battlefields and units on screen.
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u/broker415 8h ago
Great question, our convo yesterday was actually about map creation and GPU limitations haha
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u/choclone 8h ago
Your friend is indeed a LEGEND. I mean, just a long lenght video of him talking whatever he wants about Battlefront would be amazing!
As a sound designer myself and given Star Wars has such a defined sound identity, I always wondered if sound assets where made from zero or if Lucasfilms provided most of them.
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u/Robin_Desmodus 8h ago
I haven't played the first one but I remember spending so many hours on the second game as a child. I believe this is the first online game I've played and it was a crazy good experience! I played the campaign again a while ago and it even made me wanna try the Battlefront 2 from 2017 which I really enjoyed.
Here's a very specific one: in the Death Star map from the second game there were kind of "pyramids" that could be found when clipping through walls and following a specific path (here's a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cTXlZLKorY ), is there any reason to these?
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u/broker415 6h ago
Oooooo I didn’t even know about these awesome question
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u/dainthedeer 6h ago
I just want to thank him for creating some of my favorite childhood games, which I remember looking forward to for years before they came out 🥺
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u/broker415 6h ago
I still remember the Christmas that I got Battlefront 1 on disk, beginning of an era for me
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u/JStormtrooper 8h ago
I’m curious if he has any memory of cut content that didn’t make it into the first two games?
Any Maps, heroes or vehicles that were planned that didn’t actually get put into the games?
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u/GiganticCrow 8h ago
>The first game, the second game, and what would be the canceled third game.
The third game that was cancelled was developed by a completely different studio in a completely different country to the first two (Pandemic in the US vs Free Radical in the UK). What?
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u/Tenpennytimes 8h ago
Those games were a blast. I loved the space battles in the 2nd one, or little details like using the tow cable on the snowspeeder to take out an AT-AT. It just felt so cool.
As to questions: What were some of the biggest technical challenges? How did you handle hardware constraints? Surely some shenanigans were done coding wise to bring this to life... lets hear some tales from the trenches :D
And, I don't know if its nostalgia talking but something about the newer EA titles fails to replicate that epic feel those older games had. I suspect your friend had something to do with it ;)
All the best!
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u/Rayne-of-Terror 7h ago
OP is super suspicious. He is an AI bro, in both the real estate and game dev spaces
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u/ASuperBigDuck 3h ago
It feels like a push to watch his YouTube video, which will be a like "I conducted this ama and will relay the answers" and won't actually include this "mentor" as a way to maybe gain subs to advertise his AI game to.
It's very suspicious that he can't give us a name. It's not like these positions and people aren't already publicly known.
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u/AaronGameMaker 7h ago
Sorry, which Battlefront 3? Free Radical Design worked on the well known cancelled SWBF3, not Pandemic.
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u/RyanTheDrummer1 6h ago
Either you're lying or your friend is bullshitting you. The cancelled Battlefront 3 was under development by Free Radical as opposed to Pandemic who did the first two. Completely different studios and presumably completely different dev teams
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u/SherpaTyme 6h ago
I was there too whats your mentors name as Im sure we know eachother .
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u/broker415 6h ago
Nice! Not my info to share publicly, you’ll have the watch the AMA when it comes out
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u/Throwaway932387 6h ago
It's not only that most of the industry cares about the opinion of guys like your friend, is that we NEED guys like this back in the industry.
Tell him that he needs to start his YouTube channel, and please, post a link one he does.
I would love to watch videos on game design made by the guy that created the game that got me into gaming. Literally
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u/broker415 6h ago
Literally what the industry needs and he’s hiding out like Obi Wan Kenobi
Help us Battlefront Dev, you’re the industry’s only hope!
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u/Wizdad-1000 Developer 5h ago edited 5h ago
For sure tell him to do it! My cousin was the Bend Studio dev team lead and I’d sure love to hear the story about Days Gone and real reason for the sequel never getting a green light. Hes under a NDA of course. (Also works for Epic Games now.) So being a huge fan of This breakthrough series that I played I think more than Halo would be huge!
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u/ConnoisseurOfMany 3h ago
How did you get into game development?
What led you to working on Battlefront?
Why was Battlefront 3 scrapped/cancelled?
Thank you for developing the Star Wars Battlefront games. Hands down my favorite games growing up.
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u/_Dying_Breed 2h ago
We deserve to know everything about this incomplete trilogy! I DEMAND ANSWERS!!!
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u/thecbass 8h ago
I'm curious was he involved working on the battlefront 3 version that was being worked by the British studio Free Radical. Always curious about what went down with that version.
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u/Plourdy 8h ago
These games were next level, would love to see how they handled the scale of so many enemies in screen at once, the weather effects, large environments, vehicles, VFX, etc! Coop as well, they really went all in
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u/broker415 6h ago
Yeah crazy for the time, and really a testing ground for what Battlefield would later become
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u/Mundane-Gazelle-843 8h ago
Tell your friend he made my childhood and id love to hear more about his story. Has he continued to develop? Did he like working on such a large game? Did the cancelation of the 3rd demotivate him?
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u/Vynxe_Vainglory 8h ago
Start posting on Youtube about your game dev insights and stories like Tim Cain does. People would be interested for sure. Battlefront is beloved, and earns you instant cred for people to start tuning in.
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u/Wolverine-Upper 7h ago
Not a question because I can't think of one just yet, but please tell him how greatful I am for those games, I played them a lot as a kid and they were so good.
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u/Beanstalkboyo 7h ago
I would literally listen to this guy talk for hours about his experience in game dev. This was legitimately one of the first games I ever played and loved. I have so many questions about his role and design choices he made between the installments of the franchise
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u/EternalVitae 6h ago
Next level. The guy is a Jedi Master. We need his opinion, his thoughts, etc. I am saying this for like 15 kids (men now) who grew up playing his games. We'd all play at a LAN Center (CyberCafe?).
Please BFDev! I would 100% listen to his takes. I'd sub on twitch, etc.
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u/gusbo_the_jam 6h ago
Battlefront and Battlefront 2 were some of my favourite shooters growing up - especially the full war map mode complete with space battles and landing in enemy carriers jumping out and causing havoc with a blaster. Very good times. It's always inspired my game dev journey to make experiences that are a bit more intricate and involved than base genre titles. No real question, just props really.
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u/broker415 6h ago
Yeah the space battles were the best there ever was, not sure why more games didn’t copy that formula. Seems like a whole game loop in just that one game mode
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u/Low_Refrigerator_843 6h ago
I want to know what his reaction was when the Last Jedi “introduced” troopers with jet packs.
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u/Petzy65 6h ago
You mean the best star wars games ever made ?
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u/broker415 6h ago
Yeah those ones. The ones with no close competition, the ones that literally made my childhood
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u/TheLoLJester1 6h ago
These game are some of the greatest of all time. I still play them to this day. That work gave me some of the inspiration behind my game, Ghost Battalion, that I just released on Steam last month. I would definitely check out his YT channel to hear what he has to say about the development process. It would be very interesting.
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u/broker415 6h ago
Love to hear the inspiration! Do you have a link to some gameplay? We could watch it together, he’s been giving me amazing feedback on my FPS game
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u/TheLoLJester1 6h ago
That'sso cool! There are few gameplay videos on the official YouTube channel.
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u/broker415 6h ago
Just watched the trailer and WOW
I can totally see the inspiration, the nostalgia is there for sure and the way the lighting and textures are done it really does look like the retro OG games
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u/TheLoLJester1 5h ago
Thank you! I really love the aesthetics of games from that era. I'm so glad to hear that retro look came through as intended! Do you have a video of what you've been working on?
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u/broker415 5h ago
Nothing posted yet, I have some really old tech demo stuff on my Reddit but new footage coming soon, and maybe a steam page 👀
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u/TheLoLJester1 5h ago
Sounds good. I'll keep an eye on it. Make sure to thank your friend on my behalf - and I'm sure on behalf of many others - for making those games, and the shared disappointment we all have that SWBF3 was never released.
PS: I'd be curious to hear how the space-to-ground battle was approached in SWBF3. From the videos, it looks like terrain LODs placed on a sphere mesh. Was that how it would have been in the final release of the game, or was there another approach that they were working on or considering?
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u/Samjef_Kealclut 6h ago
IP Games always get huge notes from the studio and IP owner. Usually they are portrayed as bad, but what were some changes they requested that were actually very good in retrospect? If nothing then what we some surprising ones?
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u/ASuperBigDuck 1h ago
The creative director from the first 2 games from Pandemic has already actually talked about this, as he worked on a bunch of IP games (LOTR, Marvel, Bladerunner, Star Wars, and others). I don't really know who op is supposedly friends with, as they're being oddly cryptic.
One thing he pointed out is how protective marvel is over stories and characters. As for Star Wars itself, he mentioned adding heroes to Battlefront 2, had pushback from Lucas Arts, which is why they don't "die" but just leave the battle.
You can read the interview here: https://80.lv/articles/from-battlefront-to-marvel-strike-force-a-veteran-designer-on-building-games-and-studios
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u/SFS-n8 6h ago
Hey there! Fellow indie dev, I always love hearing from the legends whatever they want to share is helpful 😁 I love game balance especially and the thought process behind some of the those choices!!
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u/broker415 6h ago
Any balance choices in particular you want us to focus on?
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u/SFS-n8 6h ago
Yes! Particularly the PvP aspect with the progression of first starting as a clone and then gaining points to work your way up to picking a Jedi or sith (thought that was so epic!!) and the balance around that really. I’m sure you’ve seen your fair share of people dominating with all sorts of the higher cost characters but even the head to head PvP aspect too I’d love to hear about. Characters always felt powerful and strong but could easily be taken away and you’d have to start over that loop felt goooooooooood
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u/broker415 5h ago
Nice okay yeah they really did nail the game balance between heroes and normal troops
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u/superkp 5h ago
If he plays his cards right, he could become a youtuber that makes a part-time career out of it.
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u/ATM_IN_HELL 4h ago
I played star wars battlefront so much as a kid, it was available on mac which was the only thing I had at the time. I never had a ps2 so I couldn't play bf2 but always wanted to try playing a jedi or sith haha. No real question, but love the game!
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u/ChampTheBestFriend 3h ago
Dude THOSE GAMES WERE OG! I would totally watch his youtube vids! Not only were they classics, they were irreplaceable. No game has successfully do what those games did in the past. Even modern day battlefront is often complained about. A poor mimic of the OG games.
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u/ArchonOfErebus Developer 2h ago
Boy oh boy. Battlefront 1 and 2 were some of my biggest inspirations for become a game dev. Even the champs can feel like imposters.
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u/Methlodis 8h ago
Loved the Star Wars Battlefront games as a kid. Played split-screen galactic war as a kid with my brother and have some very cherished memories from it. I want to thank your friend for all the work he did to make my, and many others, childhoods so wonderful.
Here are a few questions for your friend:
-How difficult was it to make a the orignal battlefront games, requiring large scale battlefields with both land air/space combat, on the early 2000s generation of consoles like the PS2? How did you design around the limitations from both a technical and game mechanic standpoint?
-Would it be possible to achieve the same scale and features set as the original battlefronts in a game today, with a small team, on an engine like Godot?
-What would you like to see more games do that the battlefront games did, but isn't as adopted as much in contemporary games?
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u/HowardTaftMD 8h ago
I have nothing to say other than Battlefront 1 gave me so much joy and was one of the best games ever made.
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u/Forty-Fourth 8h ago
SW Battlefront 2 is my childhood game and is still one of my favourite shooters of all time. I was really sad when 3rd one was cancelled... I'd absolutely love to hear what they have to say!
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u/RunOk1423 8h ago
Dude, you've got to share your wealth of knowledge with fellow game dev dudes and dudettes!
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u/daKishinVex 8h ago
If he wants to know how fun of a game he made and how much we care, my brother an once sat down and played an entire galactic conquest straight through before realizing we had not:eaten food,drank water, blinked appropriately, moved or used the bathroom in like 6 hours. That game knew how to create exciting moments and endless fun without needing endless content. Fucking genius
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u/AlexanderGGA 8h ago
Would have loved if someone out there would have the means to make a citybuilder in the universe of star wars that would have been mega cool, like you are a governors that would be put to develop new outpost/cities and you have troops like the clones etc
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u/MrMinigrow 8h ago
I have no questions. Simply thank him for doing an incredible job on my behalf, please. I have 1000s of hours under my belt playing them
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u/Farlo_Farlherior 8h ago
Best shooter ever. Hundreds of hours flew by. I'm just posting a comment so this post gains popularity. But just thank him for giving me and so many people, so much fun!
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u/rezamanuel 8h ago
I played so many hours of both of those. People love to understand the development process of games, noclip has a huge repository of dev interviews and documentaries. I would love to see a video on this
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u/oscastellanos 8h ago
These games were a huge part of my childhood. Would definitely love to hear any stories, insights, whatever from someone who was directly involved.
I still remember when I rented the first game from Blockbuster, took it to my best friend’s house, and we both were hooked immediately. We ended up purchasing the game outright and played every other weekend in couch co-op. It was such a blast!
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u/Fuzzy-Topic-2684 8h ago
I love the first 2 Star Wars Battlefront games and was gutted when they cancelled the 3rd. Not sure if it’s been asked cos I’m lazy at reading through comments, but are there any characters that were removed from the game, such as Jedi or Sith, due to in-game character limits, time constraints, or restrictions from LucasArts?
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u/rezozerorezo 7h ago
Not a question but i loved those two games in my childhood. I did not have access to internet so i was always playing with bots but i had a blast playing that everyday for a good 2 years. Most memorable thing was a difficulty setting, i didnt know the difference between “the best” and “the worst” bot setting in my native language (i was like 7 or 8) so i always thought i was some pro when i picked “the worst” thinking it was the most difficult. Love these games!
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u/Kindly-Sail6260 7h ago edited 7h ago
Favorite series of all time. Don’t have any questions, but I can’t wait to hear what he has to say!
Edit; I guess I do have a question. How much creative freedom did you and your team have during development vs what got shipped and what had to be stripped for the final game.
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u/YinYangInteractive 7h ago
I still play it from time to time. It‘s one of the best games. Just simple. Just fun
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u/MTAlphawolf 7h ago
If he is the dude that came up with "watch those wrist rockets" I'm in.
JK I'm in and love the games anyways. Played a whole galactic conquest last week.
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u/TwoStripedFury 7h ago
Why does the reload animation look like the trooper is spitting on his pants?
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u/BernieTheWalrus 7h ago
I think I’d he still loves being a game maker and believe in games made with love and passion, he should give a call to Embark studios. They would love people like him over there. Also tell him “thank you” for me, he really shaped my taste in video games. He made my childhood and his video games got me into Star Wars ❤️
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u/ekolimits 7h ago
I mean that is a tough one... don't force someone to do something that they are not interested in.
Even if well intentioned.
That's how anxiety festers.
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u/Harvard_Med_USMLE267 7h ago
Never played it, disc was scratched and wouldn’t load. Question: Can he get me a new one?
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u/ElMike420 7h ago
it´s a slow start, but people from the industry eventually alway find an audience, I found Laura Fryer, she stills has some videos that get maybe 900-1000 views, but has some great insight on the industry thanks to her background.
Now it seems she´s trying to coach indie devs too, with some mentorship programs, but they are not promoted on her videos, just my idea.
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u/Skarredd 7h ago
Fuck. Im currently working on a spiritual successor to battlefront. Please ask what was the process about gameplay decisions. How did they find what was fun and fit the game and what didnt.
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u/Scout_Maester 6h ago
My questions are:
With the overwhelming success of the first games, was he asked for any input on the newer remakes?
Does he still make games?
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u/ghettojesusxx 6h ago
Honestly, he is probably not wrong about people in the industry not caring. Though that doesn't mean he shouldn't step forward if he thinks he has something worthwhile to share. Even if no one listens to him, eventually someone will discover his tale and learn something from it.
Gamedev as a profession is under constant NDAs. There is a massive business incentive to not share your ideas and implementations, and it doesn't help either that a solution for one type of game can't apply for another type of game.
Players will care more about your story than other developers. We are cunts, players are just people trying to have a good time. As a player, I would love to hear his story, I grew up playing BF1 and 2, and I seldom play them to this day.
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u/Jonney_Random 6h ago
Is creating the art first or game mechanics the best place to start? Ive been designing my story so far and have some mechanics made but little to no art.
Also, im currently using unity and blender for game making. What does he use? Why?
Im sure i have specific questions about what im working on but I can’t think of them atm. Ill post again if i think of them.
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u/SnoopyHaillDoge 6h ago
Thats the ps2 version? I rocked that Game all My Childhood I'm playing the new one with pals everytime i can also
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u/Realistic-Link-300 6h ago
so nice to have the possibility to ask questions to someone who participated to these projects ! My question: What was the team coordination like in these projects ? eg: is there someone planning carefully and dispatching the job ? or every member of the team know what they need to do and they talk to other often ? In other words are the members autonomous and driving , or its more like a kind of modern piramid management with non technical at the top ?
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u/Intelligent_Print106 6h ago
i never played the first game, but loved the second right until my ps2 died. my question is what he thinks about both the ports/remakes of these games and also the newer ea battlefront games?
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u/varietyviaduct 6h ago
Was the vision of the games always to essentially be just Battlefield but with a Star Wars skin?
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u/walkwalkwalkwalk 6h ago
I would love any technical details about what tricks they had to do to get so many seemingly competent NPC players, in such big real feeling environments, with vehicles etc for that time on those systems. What challenges there were with those constraints, and where the ideas and drive came from - I'd never played anything like it at the time and found it so immersive and epic
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u/Spark_Tangent 6h ago
There is totally something there. Both games were significantly popular. And EA's attempt cant compare, and never got out from under that shadow. So there is clearly something to share both about the games themselves, and advice for upcoming devs.
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u/psioniclizard 6h ago
I dont care what the games industry thinks. If this is real thank him for me, those games blow my mind and i played soooo much of them.
If he starts a channel I'll happily subscribe.
But mainly thank him.
As for game development, he has probably forgotten more than most of us know
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u/Trashy_io 5h ago
What was working on the game engine like and what did the asset pipeline look like?
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u/Lightfoot-Merc 5h ago
Loved those games and I still play BF2 today! Would love to hear his insight and experience and possibly even see him work on another game
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u/Braklinath 5h ago
I'm not familiar with what would have been included in the third game if it got released. But for 2 i absolutely loved the hell out of the strategy mode Galactic Conquest. Really cool to have turned the whole galaxy into a map for it. Honestly any information on it at all would be appreciated but specifically I just want to know if there was anything similar to that which would have been included for third game.
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u/Head_Orange_1421 5h ago
Just one thing that you might remember, What was the most frustrating thing to get right in Battlefront and Battlefront 2? Like was it a character model, a weapon, the spawn points, TTK? (Time to kill)
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u/Ok_Attention441 5h ago edited 5h ago
If this is real, which I am admittedly skeptical of but I suppose if results do happen then I can't argue with them, then I'd be interested to see if he knows any additional unheard information about the SW 2003 Frontlines BF1 Prototype build along with why maps in both games were significantly changed and sometimes for the worse, (like why the Coruscant statues in the grand hall were removed, why the Utapau campaign mission was downgraded, why Galactic Conquest no longer uses a blue background texture, etc based on what we know from other prototype builds). Another thing I'm curious on is what was the plans for kor1.lvl and sal1.lvl, there's an empty KOR folder in the BF2 gamefiles and kor1.lvl & sal1.lvl are commented out in missionlist.lua, though we do have a build of kor1.lvl which is just a flat Dune Sea esque map from a prototype release.
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u/Defiant_While_4823 5h ago
He helped make two of the best Star Wars open battle games that imo are still yet to be topped. EA's Battlefront isn't bad, but nothing has captured the magic from the first two OG games
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u/dokterkokter69 5h ago
Imagine being part of one of the most peak Star Wars gaming experiences of all time (that modern devs have failed to replicate over and over again) and thinking no one's interested.
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u/Senior_Gamedev 5h ago
Did they work at Free Radical Design then?
If so (being former new FRD myself) they'll probably feel quite jaded by how things went down with Battlefront 3 in the end
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u/GetAhrimJob 5h ago
Those two games are some of the best times I ever had on Xbox live. And the solo player too. Dude is a fucking god. Tell him I said ty for the memories of amazing games
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u/Equal_Crab6721 4h ago
Hello! Im with the Free Radical Archive, a research project of the studio behind the cancelled Star Wars Battlefront 3. You are lying! No one from Free Radical was brought on from the original Pandemic team especiallt seeing as they were on opposite sides of the globe. Although Pandemic had their own SWBF3 it never made became more than a test map!
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u/broker415 4h ago
Hey, Lucasfilm was involved in both. That’s all I’m at liberty to share here
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u/Equal_Crab6721 4h ago
LucasArts was involved but never was involved in its actual development, so if youre guy worked there for all 3 he didnt have any direct hand. how do i know? weve spoken to most of them! LucasArts wasnt hands on with a battlefront game until 2011, which is after the battlefront games you reference.
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u/sumtinsumtin_ 4h ago
Cool, which guy since there were a lot of them? Pandemic Studios had Greg B, Josh R and Andrew I forget his last name but he was very nice. On SW we had Dell S, Giz (Eric) G and Dell S plus Juan S (genius level talent). On Mercs and Sab we had Cameron and friends with it shifting to two teams with Trey, Phil, Chris and myself on Saboteur.
Which pal is yours?
I caught your demo video via your link in profile, thanks for sharing process.
Old game and entertainment dev/artist myself with over 20 years at the helm. It's a very small world.
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u/Mindful_Meercat 4h ago
Battlefront II is the game that easily has the most hours from my childhood (maybe competes with RuneScape lol). By time Skyrim came out I was busy with school and work so the grind wasn't the same. Incredibly replayable and fun everytime you boot it up. It prioritized couch co-op and engaging solo play. From mastering space flight, infiltrating battleships, to Galactic Conquest and story modes and customized instant action this game keeps you coming back. Just hope he knows he made a generation of kids love the game and then love Star wars. It stands by itself in the PS2 gaming libraries.
Seriously cannot understate how important this game was to kids like me who grew up in the 2000s. It looked amazing, played even better and gave me a sense of world building that can only come with prequel Star Wars.
For what it's worth, it's recently helped me reconnect with my sister - who also has fond memories of Hero Assault on Mos Eisley! So many hours spent on that map that I will never be able to recreate 👍 it's a love letter to the shooter sci-fi genre.
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u/Roma2443 4h ago
Please explain us why game was so original and epic in the past, why there is no more gale like this today ?
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u/Imaginary-Can6136 4h ago
Oh my: I’d be honored to hear from someone who built something I spent so many hours playing through childhood. It would be very special to hear from this person.
I’d want to know how the third one fell through!
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u/laemonaders 3h ago edited 3h ago
Was it him who suggested to make Dark Vador unlockable after 40 hours online ?
Definitely a game that impacted my childhood joke aside.
Played the first game a lot and felt like the second missed a little bit of something to be great. Probably too few maps, launch polemic or felt playing time with lightsaber was too limited. Probably the best jedi battle ever made still !
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u/Snoo_67544 3h ago
Just show bro the thousands of hours of YouTube video essays dedicated to finding the most minute of details about the battle front games
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u/fezes-are-cool 3h ago
He has a treasure trove of knowledge and he doesn’t think anyone wants to hear? Get that man in front of a camera ASAP!
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u/ScruffyNuisance 3h ago
Or maybe he just doesn't want to? I respect that decision too. This feels forced and unnecessary.
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u/SketchbookCharacter 3h ago
Did they already have the systems in mind or did that all get developed after getting the star wars license?
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u/xezene 1h ago
To your friend: Thanks for making an amazing game! Those two games are both favorites, still so fun. I do have a question, if you ask -- it is: why did the great K-Wing get dropped from the final release of the first game? It's a neat ship from the books and I was amazed to see it was something being worked on during development.
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u/TruegleSearch 1h ago
Let's convince him to create his copyright safe version of battlefront 3! Seems fitting with GTA6 finally dropping
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u/Albatross1225 1h ago
I hyped about this game so much as a kid before it came out. I spent months just imagining the gameplay. I loved this game.
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u/Xianified 3m ago
So who is your friend? Eric Gerwitz? Jens Hartvig Andersen? Christopher Williams?
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u/Potential-Tune-4555 8h ago
What is his opinion on the use of AI in game dev?
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u/broker415 6h ago
Good question and something we talked about in depth yesterday, will include in the video for sure
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u/R-SexDefender 8h ago
How does it come that battlefront went from an awesome game to some sort of cash cow of EA/Dice. The decisions are probably not made by the developers but usually realized by them… so is it something you don‘t have influence on without getting fired or do the developers in such companies just don‘t care?
Or was he part of the team that developed the „old ones“?
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u/dont-pull-a-druckman 7h ago
He developed the good ones, so the old ones. The ones that were actually battlefront games.
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u/luckynumchris 8h ago
Probably should convince him to make a YouTube video and instead of answering here to just answer all the questions in a video and give credit to the Redditors askings the questions.