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PAX East 2011: Hall Hood Interview

Yesterday here at PAX East 2011, BioWare Senior Writer Hall Hood was nice enough to take a few minutes with Professor Walsh to discuss Star Wars™: The Old Republic™.

If you know the Professor, you know that he KNOWS his Star Wars (having read all 190 Star Wars novels) and asked some tough lore-related questions.

Hall is an awesome guy who we first met at Star Wars Celebration V in Orlando, and was able to provide some great insight into some of the more pressing matters. Just want to shout out to Hall for being such a great sport!

Enjoy!

 

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Doctoring The Story: GameSpot Interviews Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk

During the DICE Summit this week, GameSpot had a chance to sit down with BioWare co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk to talk about Star Wars: The Old Republic.

They talk about not just the game, but also the service – how its equally as important as the quality of the game. Good news indeed!

The video is almost 7 minutes long, and well worth a watch. Head over to GameSpot to watch in in HD!

Update: Another video interview with the Doctors has turned up on VentureBeat:

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Clint Young Interview – Star Wars Celebration

Wrapping up our series of Star Wars Celebration interviews with the BioWare designers, today we bring you Clint Young. Clint is a Senior Concept Artist (Environments) at BioWare and brings with him extensive previous Star Wars experience from his years at LucasArts. This is really a great read for anyone interested in the process of making games, especially the art process. Aspiring artists take note! On a side note, the audio is not great on this one. We do have a clean audio recording, and will try to dub it and re-load the video.

Also, if you missed our previous Celebration coverage, we also have interviews with Drew Karpyshyn, Hall Hood and Arnie Jorgensen. If you’re a fan of Star Wars: The Old Republic, all of these are sure to be of interest to you. Enjoy!

Ask A Jedi: Hi Clint, thanks for taking a few moments with us. Can you please tell us a little bit about your background, projects you’ve worked on and your current role on TOR?

Clint Young: Sure. I actually got a job at Lucasfilm back in 1994 just as they were finishing up Full Throttle with LucasArts, and I was then on to Rebel Assault. And that’s how I got my start.

I was a huge Star Wars fan. I had a portfolio and I was showing Lucas, and they were thumbing through it, and unbeknownst to me there was a drawing that I did when I was 12 shoved in there, a family member stuck it in there as a good luck sort of piece. It was a huge piece I did where I melted crayons, got my liquid paper stars. I was absolutely embarrassed when she pulled it out in the interview, but it turns out that’s what got me the job. She said anyone that’s been drawing Star Wars since they were 7 deserved it. Long story short, I worked at Lucas for 11 years and then came back to Texas where I’m from and by the grace of God BioWare came to Austin and they had The Old Republic IP and asked if I was interested doing Star Wars again. So it works like the mafioso, I got out and they pulled me back in!

It’s a fantastic job. I get to concept most of the environments. I’m the guy they hand the documentation to that says, “hey we wanna do Hoth but 3,000 years prior… can you design something new and fresh but on that same world 3,000 years before?” So I sit down with a blank canvas, and give them 30 or so drawings and we decide on the look for the planet.

AAJ: How early were involved in the project?

CY: Arnie (Jourgensen) was the first concept artist hired on, and I came on 6 months after him. So it was very early on while BioWare was first forming down there. I’ve been at the studio from the beginnings all the way up until now.

AAJ: As a concept artist for environments, what documents or briefings are you given to work off of?

CY: It’s different for every planet. If it’s a brand-spanking new planet that we have come up with and are introducing into the Star Wars galaxy, obviously I gotta hit all of those cool factors that make Star Wars planets cool.

But then there are existing planets. A great example of this is Hoth was great in the films, but there’s nothing there… it’s tundra. Fantastic for that big battle, but for an MMO doesn’t give you a whole lot to explore. So it really becomes a question of like, how do I put a forest on Hoth? It’s those types of things I have to sit there and think about. For example, we did lava pools. So in the lava pools, the snow melts and then re-freezes, and then there’s a canopy of ice that just goes on like a forest, like a crystallized forest. It’s that sort of “how do I make it cooler?” that I really get into and do it day to day, but its a slippery slope because everyone has a preconceived idea of what Hoth looks like.

AAJ: What comes first, the environments or the story that takes place in them?

CY: It goes both ways. Sometimes they come to be with something that’s very big, that comes with a lot of documentation and I have to draw it out. And sometimes it’s very little which gives me a wider palette to play in.

AAJ: We haven’t heard a whole lot about urban areas. What are the big themes we might see with those? More clean, pristine environments?

CY: Well there’s nothing pristine when drawing Star Wars, that’s rule number one. It’s one of those things… you’re capturing Coruscant for instance, but you’re doing it 3,000 years prior. It’s a slippery slope, because you want to give the fans the acknowledgement of what they’re familiar with. There’s also Nar Shaddaa, which nobody has seen a lot of. It’s been in video games, but it’s never been imagined quite like we’ve put it together.

AAJ: How do you approach the design of two worlds that might have similar environments? Tython and Alderaan may both have forests. Or there may be two ice worlds like Hoth and Ilum. How do you make them feel different?

CY: Well it all comes down to points of interest. You start with a basic shape… you draw the silhouettes and they become the points of interest. I’ll take your example Ilum. If I was doing Ilum, its a crystal world, it’s where the Jedi go to get their crystals, where they first start to become a Jedi and forge their lightsaber, so you want to make it a dangerous place. Because you know they’re still in their training and the elder Jedi are watching them do this hoping that they’re going to succeed. So I would start with sharp objects, like crystallites, stuff you haven’t seen on Hoth. The mountains may be sloped and broken or shattered. One might have 5 moons. Maybe you have ice asteroids that are in a low altitude orbit that are just crashing in. It’s those sorts of though processes that make the planets different and cooler looking than the ones previous.

AAJ: I have a feeling you’re a huge EU fan.

CY: When you work at Lucasfilm for 11 years, you know your Star Wars.

AAJ: How many pieces of concept art for an environment have to be created before it’s handed off for the world builders to begin building?

CY: I usually like to give them 5 fully painted scenes. Like the one I did yesterday which was an hour, I usually try to do one of those in a day, about an 8 hour painting. So I usually try to give them 5 paintings. Each one from a different zone… If there’s a battle zone on it, depending on what faction it is, I like to give them a piece of every zone. Or if there are several points of interest for instance Korriban, you’ve got the Imperial Palace, the Sith Academy or the Tombs, you want to give them all of those themes so they know exactly what they’re getting.

AAJ: What sort of approval process is there between your step and the time you hand it off to the world builders? Or is it more of a collaborative process?

CY: It’s absolutely a collaborative process, from the writers all the way up through management… from the world builders to the concept artists, everyone has their two cents to put in, and rightfully so because everybody is a Star Wars fan. So it’s like one of those things where we get together and say, “what do you think of this?” And that’s how it works.

AAJ: As a concept artist, you must have been influenced by Ralph McQuarrie and the things he’s done.

CY: I’ve met Ralph multiple times, and without a shadow of a doubt, he is the biggest influence in what I do and who I am in terms of concept art. Obviously the other players, Ian McKay, Doug Chang, Eric Tiemens, Ryan Church… all of these guys, I’ve watched them draw, I’ve met them, super nice guys. And I’m absolutely floored by the stuff they do. Every time one of those guys updates their site, I’m the first one to go up there and shoot them an email and say “awesome!”

AAJ: Do you work strictly in the digital medium, or are some things done the “old fashioned way”?

CY: Absolutely. I have to paint first because I have to find that palette before I digitally make it. And nine times out of ten, when I start a piece, the first thing I do is get a white canvas with black paint and I make brush strokes on it. I photograph those and use them as brushes in Photoshop. The trick is making your own brushes.

AAJ: For The Old Republic, there must be virtually every kind of environment… which is the most challenging to depict? Interior, Exterior? Atmosphere? Landscape? Organic? Mechanical? etc.

CY: Well, when you’re boss comes over and says “we need lightsabers” and “we want them to be cooler than they were in the films.” How do you do that? How do I make Tatootine cooler? How do I make the Millennium Falcon cooler? How do I make Hoth cooler than it was in the film? (No pun intended on that one.) How do I make these things more fanciful than they were in the films? I really am fighting with the 6 year old who saw A New Hope in ’77. It becomes a real challenge.  A lightsaber is cool because it is simple. It’s daunting in that you know that somebody out there is not going to like what you did. But there will be plenty of people that do.

AAJ: Of the planets revealed so far, which has been your favorite to work on?

CY: Well that’s a two-part question. What do I like best that I’ve done in the game? Tattooine beyond a shadow of a doubt. Why? Because for some reason its the epicenter… it’s where the Skywalker tale started. So I have a passion for that one. Not to mention I grew up out in the sticks. I used to take that John Williams music on a little cassette recorder and play that music while I was watching the sunset… no joke! So I have a real connection to that planet.

Also, I love Belsavis. That’s one of the ones… They asked “what do you want to do?” I said I want to do this ice world that’s got lava, and the lava causes these huge craters to form when the ice melts, it causes this lush forest at the bottom of the craters. And everything fills with this hot air. And they loved it and said lets do it!

AAJ: For all of the aspiring game artist out there, what advice would you give to someone pursuing a career like yours?

CY: Persevere. I wrote to Steven Spielberg when I was in 9th grade and sent him some artwork. A lady by the name of Bonnie Curtis wrote back to me, she was his assistant on the film he was doing at that time. She said I’m sorry, I can’t show these to Steven, they are fantastic. But they are so good I wanted to write you a letter and tell you to follow your dreams and remember this word: persevere. And that has always stuck with me. It’s funny because I keep wanting to find Bonnie now. She actually went to his assistant on one movie, and I think by the time they finished A.I. she was executive producer or something. I always say persevere. Draw every day and persevere.

AAJ: Last question – what’s your favorite class?

CY: Smuggler. I am going to be a Smuggler.

AAJ: Appreciate the time Clint!

CY: My pleasure!

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Drew Karpyshyn Interview – Star Wars Celebration

Our cavalcade of Star Wars Celebration V interviews with the BioWare developer team continues today with none other than Drew Karpyshyn. For many of you, Drew needs to introduction. For everyone else, Drew is nothing less than a journeyman writer who has created not only some of the best video game stories and characters in history, he’s also penned what some consider the best Star Wars expanded universe novels in the Darth Bane series.

We sat down with Drew at Star Wars Celebration to talk about everything from the Jedi Knight to multiplayer story continuity. Once again we were joined by AAJ team member Professor Walsh who helped tackle the tougher Jedi-oriented questions, and Drew handled it all with grace (under pressure!)

This video is quite a bit longer than yesterday’s with Hall Hood, but also a bit more rough. We wanted to post it though because sometimes it’s better to hear the conversation as it was spoken rather than reading the transcribed words. Enjoy!

Ask A Jedi: In the narrative back story of TOR we see the Republic, more or less, dominated by the Sith. Are we going to see this scenario as a consistent theme in TOR or will we get the chance to see the roles reversed where the Republic is dominating the Sith on a Sith controlled planet and the Sith are “just barely holding on” while the Republic is the aggressor with the upper hand?

Drew Karpyshyn: So, what I can say is you can’t confuse marketing with the entire content of the game. It’s funny because to sort of take this and run with it, there’s been a lot of talk about the Jedi Knight class. The thing about the Jedi Knight is that it’s probably the most iconic character in Star Wars. The story has been told in various forms a lot of times and we were trying to find a fresh angle on it. So it was the hardest one to write. So one of the reasons you don’t see any of the Jedi updates is honestly because we were still working on it. Hall and I, both Senior writers, were both hammering on this thing trying to make it awesome.

The thing you have to remember is before the Empire showed up, before the Sith showed up, the Republic was the only game in town. They were just “it.” So anything that changes the status quo for them is going to be stunning and shocking.They’re gonna feel like “wow, we’re getting our asses kicked,” even if it’s basically even. I think you’re getting a little bit of that perspective too. The people who had nothing have more than they had, the people who had everything have less than they had. Even if it’s “even” now, they feel like they’re behind. Once the game comes out, you’re going to see both sides of the equation.

AAJ: James Ohlen made a comment about how the status quo had to be upheld in regards to planets changing hands/control. But if that’s the case, how will we ever see that transition?

DK: What James was saying is you can’t change it because other players coming in won’t get to experience the arc. But what we do have is the overall arc of the game. For example, you might go somewhere in a situation, and when you go back later, that situation might be different. In the fiction it’s the same world, but mechanically it wouldn’t be the same.

AAJ: So, are we looking at something like staged instances?

DK: Not exactly. I can’t say a whole lot here, but there are things we can do behind the scenes and things like that. For example, instances specific to characters, but that’s not something you want to do on a planet wide scale. But there are things we can do.

AAJ: So we will be able to see the war effort advance?

DK: Yes, definitely. Both the Imperial and Republic story arcs have a very steady progression of the war. Well, it’s technically not a war when it starts but there’s a progression of this galactic struggle for want of a better term that definitely does progress in ways that make an actual difference in what’s going on as you progress the story. Now it’s not going to change the world for someone who is at a different point in the story because they haven’t played the story. Now, not every world is like this… some worlds are more static than others.

AAJ: In the January issue of PC Gamer there was a quote that said the Sith Inquisitor was the “most dark” while the Bounty Hunter was the “least dark” class on the Sith side. This indicated that there were kind of relative benchmarks, meaning that a Bounty Hunter won’t ever be as Dark as an Inquisitor but an Inquisitor won’t be as Light as a Bounty Hunter (or a Jedi Knight) could be.

DK: I wouldn’t put the characters on a spectrum of light and dark in that regard. If you choose to play an Imperial faction, you are always going to be a part of that faction, you can’t change factions… we’re not allowing that. If you are, for example a Sith, your goal is to advance to a more powerful position. How you go about doing that is where the light side/dark side comes in. It doesn’t mean that if you play a light side Sith, you get to redeem yourself and go join the Jedi. That’s not what it’s about. It’s about thinking you have a better chance of advancing yourself through maybe instead of killing someone who is weaker than you, realizing that they can be an ally down the road.

AAJ: So, even though you might go as light side as you can, you still believe in the Sith philosophy.

DK: Yes, because the thing is that’s what you’re getting into when you’re playing that class. There’s always going to be certain core things that apply to your class. We want people to have a sense of what these are before they play the class. Yes, the Sith are about power and advancing themselves and doing it through various means that other people don’t always approve of. You’re pretty much always going to be in that role as a Sith.

AAJ: That’s one of the big debates, people we’re wondering that if they’re a light Sith, you could be light as a pure stark Jedi Knight.

DK: Yeah, the situations you’re in don’t even allow for that.

AAJ: If you like, can you simply go out into the world and “grind” your character from level 1 to max level without any quests/missions/story?

DK: Yes… if for some reason you want to skip the quests and the story you can go out and earn experience and level your character.

AAJ: Does your class story content scale? For example, if you went off to help some friends and came back to your class story a few levels higher, would your class story scale to match your new power, or simply be a little easier because you’re a high level?

DK: The various planets are all designed to be done within certain levels. There isn’t necessarily scaling in that sense. If you go off to level somewhere then when you come back to your class story, it may be a little less challenging because you’ll be a higher level.

AAJ: Are the planets designed for a specific level range? In other words, will there be reasons to go back to Tatooine after you’ve completed the planet missions/quests?
DK: As mentioned the planets are generally designed for a specific level range for the class stories, but there will be content and reasons you will want to go back to visit them later, perhaps at a higher level.

AAJ: When 2 players of the same class are in a party together, how is it decided whose continuity is used inside of a class story flashpoint?

DK: I can’t say too much about this, but there are mechanics in place to ensure each player gets a chance to play it their own way. Whichever player owns the flashpoint will be the continuity that the players see.

AAJ: Thanks for your time and all the hard work you guys are putting into the game, we can’t wait to play it.

DK: No problem guys, any time!

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Hall Hood Interview – Star Wars Celebration

Ask A Jedi spent all last weekend at Star Wars Celebration V, right here in sunny Orlando, Florida. There were all sorts of “Star Warsy” things to do and see, but it goes without saying that the highlights for us revolved around everyone’s favorite upcoming MMORPG, Star Wars: The Old Republic.

For our first interview, we wanted to give you the discussion we had with Hall Hood, Senior Writer with BioWare. He’s a veteran writer who brings a lot of experience to the BioWare writing team. He’s also the main man behind the Smuggler class. To top it off, he really couldn’t have been a nicer guy.

So, we hope you enjoy the interview, and don’t forget to watch the video clip of Ask A Jedi team member Professor Walsh clearing up one of the great forum debates with Hall. Priceless!

Ask A Jedi: Can you tell us a little about yourself? Your background, and maybe some things you’ve worked on before?

Hall Hood: I am a mysterious man who came from the shadows to work on the greatest MMO ever created! Haha. No, actually, I started out as the staff screenwriter for an independent producer, and I spent numerous years developing feature films and television pilots, things like that. I managed to earn a living doing this, yet saw none of those projects ever make it to film. It became a little disheartening after a while. I dabbled in video games from time to time, I got to work a little bit on Ultima Online 2… right before it got canceled. So that was very exciting. I am determined to not crush this game, so this game is coming out even if I have to ship it myself!  I went to film school at the University of Texas at Austin, so it worked out. I managed to stay in Austin long enough to get a job here doing something that I love.

AAJ: How early were you involved in the TOR development project?

HH: I was involved very early on, and got to see it unfold from the beginning. I have many great stories to tell, none of which I can tell right now. Haha.

AAJ: Since you’re the Smuggler guy, could you give us a description of the Smuggler class in your own words?

HH:  The Smuggler is a wise-cracking scoundrel who never takes anything too seriously. He’s always on the lookout for the next great opportunity to get rich – but is also the best shot in the galaxy. And the ultimate survivor. Smugglers are awesome. I grew up wanting to be Han Solo…

Romance is a big thing. Fly around the galaxy, walk into the cantina, see the very attractive patron… that kind of thing. It’s humor, it’s romance, and it’s a lot of high-octane action.

AAJ: Other than for game mechanics and balance, how is it that the Smuggler aligns with the Republic when they’re an independent sort?

HH: Right, so stop and think about it for a second. You are an independent business person. You own your own ship, flying around the galaxy taking jobs from whoever you wanna take them from. Where would you want to do business? In the free enterprise, peace-loving, freedom-loving Republic? Or in the oppressive totalitarian Empire that controls everything that you not only can do, but also how you do it. So its kind of a natural fit for Smugglers to operate in Republic space. Which is not to say that you can’t occasionally work with the Empire. If you’re a particularly evil Smuggler, you’re gonna be looking for that opportunity to take jobs from anybody, and you’re not particular about who they serve. For me the evil Smuggler’s attitude is basically faction-shmaction as long as I get rich!

AAJ: Is there a Smuggler other than Han Solo that maybe served as inspiration for the Smuggler character?

HH: Well of course… there is a long tradition of the charming rogue in any kind of popular fiction, and I adore all of those characters. I’m a big fan of Firefly, Captain Mal… also a fan of Big Trouble in Little China. I love Kurt Russell’s character in that. He’s really fun. He’s more of a comedic fool character, who sort of blunders his way to victory. My Smuggler is slightly more competent than that. Here’s another one, it’s sort of esoteric so don’t go too far with it but Burt Reynolds in Smokey and the Bandit…

AAJ: We’ve heard statements in the past that as a Smuggler, you’re the best in the galaxy… as a Bounty Hunter, you’re the best in the galaxy. But in an E3 interview with Dallas Dickinson, we also heard that the Jedi will just be average Jedi; thousands of them running around out there. Can you clarify this?

HH: You’re not going to be average anything in our game. Where’s the fun in that? Why would you play the Jedi Knight if you weren’t going to be able to get the Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi or Anakin Skywalker experience? It has to be huge and epic! And as someone who has written for the Jedi Knight, I can tell you it’s huge… it’s epic… it’s amazing. You’re gonna get to places in the plot where you say “wait a minute, I get to do what? My quest is to do what?!” And that’s true of the Sith classes as well. The Sith classes are incredible. The Sith Warrior story is Vader plus a million. The Inquisitor – everything you like about Palpatine is there, and then some. Our idea has always been to start from what is great about the characters from the movies, and then add as much on to that as we possibly can.

AAJ: So, whatever class you play, are you the best of your breed in the galaxy?

HH: Absolutely. As an Imperial Agent, you’re the super best. As a Sith Warrior, the Emperor calls you personally. As a Jedi Knight, you are the last hope in the galaxy!

AAJ: Will you be able to communicate with members of the other faction?

HH: If by communicate you mean shoot at them, then yes! There are many forms of communication. Are you asking if its like WoW, where you can’t understand what the other faction is saying? I don’t think we would want to go in that sort of direction. I can’t really speak to exactly how the communication would happen between factions, but I think you’re on the right track.

AAJ: Will there be a common enemy or foe that represents a greater threat than each other?

HH: Occasionally, sure. I think that would be a really exciting story to have that opportunity to unite against a much more dangerous foe. I can’t answer wether or not we actually have that type of content, but I like the idea and I think its cool.

AAJ: Will we get to explore a story written about our species and our origin background?

HH: Well it’s always been a staple of BioWare stories to acknowledge players choices about who they are. We acknowledge gender. We acknowledge alien species. So it is important, and it does impact gameplay. It matters.

AAJ: Hall, thanks a bunch for taking the time to answer our questions and allowing yourself to be subjected to Professor Walsh!

HH: Glad to do it, any time at all!

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