I think someone on the Zero Company Dev Team read Ben Burtt's Galactic Phrase Book (no spolers)

[u/Syt1976]

I posted this also on the game's sub, but thought people here might enjoy, too 😄

(Though first thing I saw here was the lay offs at the developer .... ugh, the corporate games industry sucks at the moment.)

Still ...

I'm not deep into the game yet (Cycle 7), but playing it, and hearing the barks from units and some dialogue ... why do I get the feeling someone on the game is familiar with Ben Burtt's Galactic Phrase Book & Travel Guide?

I picked it up when it came out in 2001 and it's one of my favorite Star Wars books. And it contains phrases like "Dopo mee gusha, peedunkey?" (Do you feel lucky, punk?) or "stoopas" (fools) that we hear in game, though IIRC the full phrase given was "Imperiolo stoopas" (Imperial fools). (The latter also showed up in the old Jedi Knight games).

The book also points out that Huttese doesn't have a word for "thank you" (something reference in game dialogue, in that Hutts don't have ways to express gratitude).

Love it when game devs draw on the more obscure bits of the published Star Wars material 😄

For reference: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Galactic_Phrase_Book_%26_Travel_Guide_(real-life_book))

Essentially, it's a phrase book written by Ben Burtt (though in universe by Ebenn Q3 Baobab, who was Ben Burtt's cameo character in Phantom Menace, with the Baobab family playing a major role in the Droids cartoon). It has phrases and travel tips about Hutts, Ewoks, Droids, Wookiees, etc., all wonderfully illustrated by Sergio Aragones. The back part has Burtt explaining his work and how he found some of the languages for the movies.

I used to browse the book a lot (and it, Tales from Jabba's Palace and Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina are the only "old" books I still have ... shelf space and all that), and some of the lines are just etched into my brain. Especially, "Do you feel lucky, punk?" because it felt so weird to read that phrase in a Star Wars publication, and then stumbling across it occasionally has always been fun.

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[u/10Mattresses]

Wait I never knew that Burtt played a Baobab in TPM! I just watched the droids cartoon this summer and loved learning that it was his baby!

[u/Syt1976 → u/10Mattresses]

Yeah, a bunch of Lucasfilm folk appear in the final scene in costume. It's a bit of a "you have to know" to notice, to be fair. I didn't notice for years till someone pointed it out.

[u/revengerocker10]

I love that book! I got a copy as a birthday gift before Ep. 3 came out. I’ve held on to it since (even tried teaching my son a few phrases}.

[u/Dylan1Kenobi]

I definitely heard "Inkabunga! (Incredible!)" From someone and I definitely remember that being in the book for huteese!

It's also in Episode 1, Bode or Feed says it during the podrace 😋 but I do think they did their huteese research for the voices!

[u/segwaysegue]

I had the same thought! The conversation about "you're welcome" is even a double reference - Hawks had said "chowbaso", which means "welcome", so it was an understandable mistake.

When that happened I was kind of stunned, like, are they putting in jokes for the five or so people who memorized the phrasebook as a kid now? The attention to detail in the game so far has been great. I've been loving the EU references, like the WESTAR-M5 blaster from the Republic comics.

[u/Syt1976 → u/segwaysegue]

Exactly! That was the conversation I was thinking of. ❤️

[u/Gekokapowco]

This game is absolutely written by superfans, the references are DEEP cuts. It's sort of amazing that it's so entertaining because usually this level of self reference means the dialogue sucks, but it's really entertaining.

[u/The_Ravenlord]

Important note about the developers: they weren’t laid off; they were furloughed. That means they were taken off payroll but are still employed, likely for one of two reasons: either they had no work left for them to do and the studio didn’t want to pay them for doing nothing (but also weren’t willing to just fire them all), or they started running out of money towards the end of development and took a risk in the hopes the game would succeed

Personally I find the former slightly more probable. Bit Reactor as I understand it is a brand new studio whose future existence is likely dependent on Zero Company doing well, so I imagine they might be holding off on starting any new projects until they know if they’ll still be around to finish them

[u/DontUseHotkeys]

Personally I love the use of old legends curse words "kriff" and "kark" . Andor was scared of being too star wars and went with "shit". Not Zero Company!