Complicated Being a Feminist Youtube Video Humor Art Studio
Games + Apps // SEPTEMBER ix, 2021
Star Wars: Knights of the Onetime Republic Strikes Back with New Remake
Lucasfilm Games' Orion Kellogg and Aspyr'due south Ryan Treadwell speak exclusively with StarWars.com about remaking a video game archetype.
At that place are some video games that seem to modify everything. Their genre, the art form, what we call up a game could exist. Orion Kellogg, executive producer at Lucasfilm Games, and Ryan Treadwell, atomic number 82 producer at Aspyr, consider Star Wars: Knights of the Sometime Republic (known to fans as KOTOR) amid those rare works.
"I was a big RPG fan growing upwards. I started on the Apple tree IIC and played all the BioWare games. Information technology wasn't until I started playing KOTOR that I really understood how cinematic they could be," Kellogg tells StarWars.com. "When I first put in KOTOR and saw that the camera was pulled downward to ground level and I could look upwards at the skyscrapers of Taris, I actually felt that I'd been put in the world in a way that I never had before. The characters were speaking to me in full VO [voiceover] and reacting to my choices, whether I was going light side or dark. It felt similar it was a paradigm shift."
"When I was 9, my parents did two things that were incredibly impactful: they bought me my first video game console — an original Gameboy — and they sat me downwardly to watch a VHS re-create of A New Hope. Ane set me on my career path, the other kick-started my dearest of storytelling," says Treadwell. "When KOTOR was released it married those ii passions brilliantly. I was so excited to finally create my hero and explore the milky way, making the choices I wanted to. As a kid I would pretend to create my own lightsaber out of wrapping paper rolls and this game was letting me customize my own. I was enamored and an instant fan."
That personal connection for Kellogg and Treadwell has new meaning today. Appear at PlayStation Showcase 2021, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – Remake volition meet the classic RPG return as a PlayStation 5 console exclusive at launch and for PC. Aspyr — the Texas-based studio that has collaborated with Lucasfilm on various projects for over a decade, including a recent spate of well-received re-releases from the LucasArts era — is handling development, rebuilding the game from the ground-up. So to borrow a line from Darth Vader, the circle is now complete for Kellogg and Treadwell.
"I really, actually think that RPGs take never been the same since," says Kellogg. "Information technology's a big honor to have the opportunity to piece of work on it."
"Speaking for the evolution team, most of the states are triple-A RPG developers," says Treadwell. "This has been something that is a dream for all of the states."
KOTOR reborn
Today, KOTOR stands as one of the nearly critically acclaimed Star Wars games always, with the PC version amassing a current score of 93 on Metacritic. Fans take long requested a remake to bring the title, originally developed by BioWare and LucasArts, upward to mod standards. As information technology turns out, Lucasfilm has been listening.
"We know that KOTOR is one of the virtually dear Star Wars stories e'er told," Kellogg says. "We really appreciate the stature it has with all of the fans out at that place. As hardware advances and equally our game-making prowess advances and as storytelling [techniques] accelerate, what better time to allow players to re-experience this great story with all of those lessons learned, and bring it back to mod platforms using modern methods? That'southward something I've wanted to exercise personally for a very long time, and I think everybody involved with Star Wars games has wanted to do for a very long fourth dimension."
"From our side, the relationship that we have with KOTOR is long, too," says Treadwell, referencing the company'due south ports of the original game to iPhone and iPad. "It'due south something that we've been very excited near and interested in for quite a long time. We're only really excited to make it there and exercise this amazing game justice."
"We have had a long and fruitful working human relationship," says Kellogg of Aspyr. "We knew that they understood the brand, we knew they understood how to collaborate with usa, and we felt really good about that. And then, to offset seeing the team that they're edifice and the developers that they're adding from a variety of triple-A, top-notch development studios from effectually the globe, nosotros knew that they were ready to take that pace. So we're actually happy to exist working with them." Aspyr and Lucasfilm Games aren't in it solitary, yet.
Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) is a creative collaborator in the project, working closely on development with Aspyr and Lucasfilm Games, especially on how to take total advantage of its newest, cutting-border platform.
"Having SIE on board has been fantastic," says Kellogg. "They're helping all of u.s.a. navigate this space and navigate their hardware with an inside track on the cutting edge."
KOTOR, which is part of Legends storytelling, dials the Star Wars clock back to over 4,000 years before the Skywalker saga. The Galactic Democracy is at its meridian and has just been through a major war. Jedi are plentiful, but so are the Sith, and the evil Darth Malak leads a growing legion of night warriors. Players will go on an epic run a risk and, along the way, visit different worlds, amass a political party of memorable beings, and uncover their ain mysterious past.
"It's telling a story that should feel very familiar and authentic to Star Wars fans. It tells stories most light and night, about heroes, and the journeys that common people can become on to become heroes and figure out who they are," Kellogg says.
One of the breakout characters from KOTOR, Revan, has only grown in stature over the years with fans.
"Revan's is a heroic tale of succumbing to the dark side," says Treadwell. "It is a deep and impactful story that has a ton of depth and interest." (Indeed, Hasbro's Revan Strength FX Elite lightsaber sits backside Treadwell on a credenza in his home, proudly on display during the Zoom telephone call for this interview.)
"Plus, Revan looks really cool," adds Kellogg. "We tin't forget that."
Though he won't requite specifics, Treadwell says development on KOTOR – Remake has been active "for a piffling while," and in shut collaboration with Lucasfilm Games.
"At that place'due south a lot to build on this one, and then we've been having a lot of great conversations on how to build what we're doing, what are the pillars of the game, and coming up with all of that together," Treadwell says. And in that location's a specific reason that Aspyr and Lucasfilm are taking their time in these early stages, and having those conversations.
Remakes in whatever medium tin can be a dicey proposition. Modify besides much and you lot tin can ruin the magic; modify likewise little and what's the signal? And so in that location's the weight of fan expectation. Kellogg and Treadwell, as fans themselves, understand all of this completely and have it top of mind.
"This is something that is important and impactful," says Treadwell. "Our big goals on this are to bring the story to a modern audience and have it be just as impactful today as it was for players when it originally launched."
"We've been working really, really closely with Aspyr for a long time now to deconstruct what fabricated KOTOR and so great and bring that back to new audiences, considering nosotros want this game to be an incredible RPG," says Kellogg. "We want this game to be just as beloved as information technology was earlier. Some of my favorite meetings to have in my calendar week right now are to get into the nitty gritty with Aspyr and talk about, 'Why did we make that choice in the original game and how does that play today? How practice nosotros aggrandize that choice and brand it even more than meaningful and impactful?' Nosotros think about, literally, every discussion of dialogue and [other choices] down to the clothes that the character is wearing."
"We're very lucky that we played this when information technology came out and we have those memories," adds Treadwell. "Because I really think a great and truthful approach to a remake process is to understand what that game was at that moment in time and what the memory of that game was at that moment in time. Our labor of love here is to go and realize that retention equally if it were congenital today." To achieve this, Aspyr has bolstered its ranks, including some hole-and-corner weapons.
"Remaking a beloved game like KOTOR is a big chore, and it requires a talented team that understands the original game at a deep level, likewise as how to approach rebuilding that content," says Treadwell. "We've assembled a prolific grouping of some of gaming's summit RPG developers, including those with direct experience working on Star Wars games and video game remakes. Many of us previously worked at BioWare, with credits going back to the original KOTOR. To further bolster that, we've added some amazing developers from games like Demon'south Souls Remake and Ghost of Tsushima. And our narrative squad is fantastic, with years of storytelling experience across Star Wars games and comics. Nosotros also have Jason Minor and Brad Prince on the team, whose experience with the world, characters, and creatures of this universe is invaluable. And I'chiliad excited to partner once again with Matt Berner, our lead gameplay designer. We worked together on Dragon Age: Inquisition, and we immediately savage dorsum into our old rhythm."
For Kellogg and Treadwell, access to those who worked on the original KOTOR is particularly important. "We can say, 'What were you trying to practise and why did y'all do it this way? Permit's make sure that nosotros take the same goals in mind equally we re-approach it this time,'" says Kellogg. "We're simply going to exist able to do more things with nugget diversity and fidelity and storytelling that merely weren't possible and then, but are still going to come across the same goals."
The teaser trailer revealed at PlayStation Showcase and available to view to a higher place doesn't show much, but information technology does feature a very-absurd looking Revan — and a voice that fans of the original might recognize.
"I can ostend that that is Jennifer Hale. We all think the world of Jennifer. She is an astonishing talent and immediately slipped dorsum into the function of Bastila when she came to help us with the teaser trailer," Treadwell says. "I do recall that you're going to see some other familiar voices return, just that'southward probably as deep as we're gonna continue that one correct at present."
Withal, in terms of graphics and feel, the teaser trailer does convey something else most the game.
"It is admittedly going to be a cutting-edge experience," Kellogg says.
Honoring the by, looking toward the future
For many, KOTOR is not merely amidst the best Star Wars games ever, but one of the best video games full-terminate. The teams working on KOTOR – Remake take that legacy seriously. And in honoring that legacy, the hope for Lucasfilm Games and Aspyr is that a whole new generation of gamers who've never played it volition choice upward controllers.
"I think KOTOR has its reputation for a reason," Kellogg says. "And then if y'all want to know what all the buzz is near, there's no better fourth dimension to requite it a try than when the remake drops. It'south an invitation to be a hero. It'due south an invitation to explore the milky way in a manner that you haven't seen anywhere else. And information technology'due south simply a really great, fun RPG to play, and replay on top of that."
And for those who have loved KOTOR through the years, information technology's a chance to experience something cherished in a new way. From the sound of it, KOTOR – Remake is no nostalgia trip; rather, it'southward a dear letter to what is widely considered a Star Wars masterpiece.
"This is a crown jewel of the Star Wars gaming lineup, and we wouldn't be so excited to share it with everybody if we weren't admittedly confident it was going to be an awesome game," Kellogg says. "We trust Aspyr, we trust the team that's working on information technology, and we're doing the work ourselves to dig in, deconstruct, and reconnect to why people dearest it considering we don't want to mess with that. We dear it, too, and so we want to do it right. We promise everybody feels we've done this game a service when all is said and washed."
While there'southward a long style to become, Treadwell and Kellogg are already appreciative of the opportunity to work on a title they hold dear.
"This has been 1 of my favorite games," says Treadwell. "I'm of course a big Star Wars fan, and it has just been a dream come true to spend hours and hours talking well-nigh Gamorreans and Sith and all of the fun things that nosotros get to do."
"I've been making Star Wars games for a long time, and this is why we do information technology," Kellogg says. "Nosotros go to have the opportunity to retell one of the greatest Star Wars stories always told. I feel nothing only excited and thankful for the chance to get to piece of work on information technology, and hope everybody actually loves information technology."
Dan Brooks is a author and the editor of StarWars.com. He lovesStar Wars, ELO, and the New York Rangers, Jets, Yankees, and Knicks. Follow him on Twitter @dan_brooks .
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Source: https://www.starwars.com/news/knights-of-the-old-republic-remake
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