3D World and Game Developers: 3D Worlds Set in Space and Time

MASTERWORKS IN GAME DESIGN SERIES

Jade Empire Bioware

All Images included in this article copyright(c)Bioware, all game titles and content remain copyrighted and all rights reserved (R) (TM) The Trademark Jade Empire (TM) and all products and publications in any current and future media remain the sole property of Bioware. (c) 1994-2008. Any Concept art included in this article and other articles on this blog remain the sole copyright of the artist unless otherwise included within the copyright of the development project concerned. .

A masterpiece of world making, Jade Empire stands as a marker along the path of style and content development in the progress that the game industry has made in the art of world making. JE is a beautifully crafted and artistic masterpiece with historic foundations that are intriging and make the game much more than a role playing adventure.

The Game follows the path of a young and unkown person, you choose the character, sex and type of your main character with a number of options all based on classical Imperial Chinese history of the Han historic era. The entire game is crafted as a work of art, with a thematic classical Chinese atmopshere which is very pleasing and harmonious for the entire play through. I found it quite intriguing and the philosophy and archane historic and cultural tenets espoused by the game characters true to the Chinese experience and very enjoyable. One does not need to be versed in the Tao or the other past Chinese paths but it makes it even more fun to explore this beautifully rendered world.

The player finds themselves training at a remote mountain temple school led by a wise master of the martial arts. Your tutorial period in the game is not onerous and you quickly gain facility in the hand to hand combat and other styles needed to progress in the game. You also have companions and friends that you encounter until you have a quite large party of 8 I believe if memory serves me...and some of them you pick for your immediate in play companions, 2 at a time, with focus on their various attributes and abilities.

You get to know one of your closest companions

There are in game dialog screens that show you what others are saying and give you a chance to reply as you wish, thus the game has a dynamic path that evolves over time and can and does affect your path in the game. Thus this game is quite replayable and has many variations on the story and the direction you can take.

For my main interest of 3D world making this is a beautiful example of artistic style being applied with a wide and thoughtful brush to the entire game experience and it succeeds very well indeed. The scenes are luscious and beautifully rendered in loving detail yet stylistally coherent and true to the overall feeling. You have a chance to become settled into this world in the opening part of the game, as you move about the Temple School meet and talk to your fellow students and your Master and gain the story background you will need for your journey which will take you across the Empire, to the Imperial City and beyond.

The fleeting nature of time and life is emphasized by the beauty of the idyllic School and then the fact that after you leave on a mission......you return to find the entire school destroyed and under attack by enemies that you must then seek out and attempt to subdue in the path of your own awakeneing.....

The game has lovely cut scenes

Cutscene of a flight from a Tibet like temple.....in your own past as an infant

and a deep and intriguing story is woven thru the game play and you gradually discover more about your own past, and the past of the Empire of which you are a tiny part..of vast forces moving in this world and beyond, and indeed you do get to visit Heaven and other spiritual realms in this universe and even talk with some of the Divine Spirits for your life story is bound up in the very web and warp of this universe indeed.

Your journey takes you from the temple school through wilderness and mystic temples....

to a mystic temple with puzzles to solve as you progress...

to teeming villages and towns with a full and varied cast of NPCs with stories and quests to solve, all with well acted spoken dialog, indeed the only charcter with no voice in this game is you......

to the exotic lairs of pirates with stunning vistas across this fabled land...

and we get to visit and explore in detail the amazing Imperial city a vast metropolis with a number of areas all true to historic ancient china and filled with philosophers, princesses, court dignitaries, scoundrels, bandits, and more...even ghosts in the burial tomb district and associated spirits....

The levels and areas are very well designed with many changes of height and direction so that you truly have the feeling of exploring a vast and intriguing world. You get to interact with many of the city's residents, battle in the arena and argue with the Court philosphers which was a favorite of mine....in their Garden Retreat...you eventually end up with the imperial princess as your alternative partner and you can choose a romantic attachment to her or one of your earlier female (or male if your main character is female) companions as this love interest....and you end up at her father's imperial palace.....where you undergo many other suprises and trials.

The Vast and historically accurate Imperial Palace

A Chamber of Testing

You finally come full circle in the story of the game and end up at a mountain monastery very reminiscent of modern Tibet and begin the final phase of your life adventure in this remarkable world....

Mountain Monastary

The overall experience of this wonderful game is of self discovery and self mastery, which are noble and worthy goals, making this quite a remarkable game experience with both depth and value to the play through. The companion system is managed through a series of screens as are your own attributes, attack style and other qualities and skills that you gain in the progress of the game. Overall I rate this game high as an example of a very well crafted world and universe and an enjoyable game experinece. It is not often a game will venture to create Heaven and also show us the path to self enlightment on Earth, so I found this a very interesting and valuable example of the evolution of the 3D game worlds of the modern path of game development.

self development

and Heaven....

Bioware
Jade Empire Team

Executive Producers Ray Muzyka (Chief Executive Officer),
Greg Zeschuk (President)
Project Director Diarmid Clarke
Associate Producer Darcy Pajak
Technical Producer Derek French
Programming Owen Borstad, Steven Hand
Director of Quality Assurance Philip DeRosa
Principal Quality Assurance Lead Jason Leong, Homan Sanaie
Quality Assurance Bruce Venne, Chris Priestly, Stanley Woo, Curtis Knecht
Contract Testers Craig Graff, Jack Lamden, Darren Gilday, Justin Stedman, Arone LeBray, Chris Corfe, Ameet Thandi, Andrea Hussey
Lead Artist Nolan Cunningham
Texture Artists Casey Baldwin, Charlie Wong, Andre Santos, Steve Klit, Mike Hong
Director of Marketing and Business Development Craig Priddle
Marketing Manager Jarrett Lee
PR Coordinator Erik Einsiedel
Web Team Manager Robin Mayne
Graphic Artist Colin Walmsley
Web Developer Jeff Marvin
Web Content Developer Johnn Four
Principal Promotional Artist Michael Sass
Community Manager Jay Watamaniuk
Community Coordinator Chris Priestly
Client Care Specialist Jason Barlow
Director of Legal and Business Services Robert Kallir
Special Thanks Moye Daniel, Jason Barlow, The Jade Empire Team, Kevin Martens, Mike Laidlaw, Everyone at BioWare, past and present, who has contributed to Jade Empire's success. The BioWare fan community for their continued support, Our families!

Jade Empire Xbox Team
Lead Animator Enrique Deo Perez
Game Animation Carman Cheung, Chris Hale, Mark How, Rick Li, John Santos, Jim Jagger, Henrik Vasquez
Lead Cinematics Animator Tony de Waal
Cutscene Art and Animation Jonathan K Cooper, Nick DiLiberto, Paul Dutton, Cristian Enciso, Rod Green, Joel MacMillan, Christopher Mann, Sherridon Routley, Gina Welbourn, Shane Welbourn, Robert Shaw
Director of Animation Steven Gilmour
Motion Capture Performance and Choreography The Smashcut Action Team
Motion Capture At Giant Studios Syncrude Center for Motion and Balance
Art Director Matthew Goldman
Artists Nolan Cunningham, Mike Grills, Shane Hawco, Kevin Hayes, Matthew Park (Joonseo), Eric Poulin, Alex Scott, Shareef Shanawany, Sean Smailes, Jason Spykerman, Rob Sugama, Rion Swanson, Jillian Tamaki, Neil Valeriano, John Samuel Gallagher, Jessicah Mih, Arun Ram-Mohan
Lead Technical Artist Harvey Fong
Technical Artists and Art Tools Programming Ted Chen, Ben Hindle, Lindsay Jorgensen, Suhwan Pak, Kees Rijnen, Steve Runham
Additional Art Dean Andersen, Warren Heise, Tobyn Manthorpe, Matt Rhodes, Mike Spalding, Michael Trottier, Derek Watts, Ryan Blanchard, Mike Leonard
Director of Art David Hibbeln
Contract Artists Grant Arthur, David Cathro, Jeremy Elford, Paul Hodge
Audio and External Resources Producer Shauna Perry
Sound Designers Michael Kent, Michael Peter, Steven Sim
Audio Line Producer Craig Westley
Audio Programming Don Yakielashek
Original Score Jack Wall
Additional Sound Design David Chan, John Henke
Lead Designer Kevin Martens
Lead Cinematics Designer Brad Prince
Cinematics Designers Dusty Everman, James Henley
Lead Technical Designer Georg Zoeller
Technical Designers Jason Booth, Jonathan Epp, Brent Knowles, Emmanuel Lusinchi, Cori May, Aidan Scanlan, Keith Warner, John Winski
Lead Writers Lukas Kristjanson, Mike Laidlaw
Writers Drew Karpyshyn, Peter Thomas, Mac Walters, Brian Kindregan
Editing Jay Turner
Additional Design Rob Bartel, Preston Watamaniuk
Original Language Development Wolf Wikeley
Director of Design James Ohlen
Localization Producer Jenny McKearney
Localization Programming Robert Krajcarski, Kris Tan
Localization Line Producer John Campbell
Producer/Project Director Jim Bishop
Co-Executive Producers and Joint CEOs Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk
Assistant Producer Sheldon Carter
Assistant Technical Producer Keith Soleski
Line Producers Steve Lam (slam), Chris Klassen
Project Scheduling Manager Duane Webb
Lead Programming Mark Darrah
Programming Rob Boyd, Michael Devine, Aaryn Flynn, Neil Flynn, Daniel Hein, Ryan Hoyle, Pat Labine, Adriana Lopez, Daniel Morris, Ernesto Novillo, Jan Sacharuk
Lead Graphics Programming Patrick Chan
Graphics Programming Brook Bakay, Matt Peters
Lead Tools Programming Chris Christou
Tools Programming Marwan Audeh (The Coconut), Jonathan Baldwin, Lee Bererton, Christopher Mihalick, Réjean Poirier, James Redford, Sydney Tang, Jon Thompson, Ryan Warden, Darren Wong
Additional Programming Derek Beland, John Bible, Sophia Chan, Brenon Holmes, Robert Niewia-domski, Timothy Smith, Janice Thoms, Craig Welburn, Peter Woytiuk
Director of Programming Loren Andruko
Tools Programming Lead Don Moar
Graphics Programming Lead Jason Knipe
Quality Assurance Lead Alain Baxter
Quality Assurance Guillaume Bourbonnière, Derrick Collins, Mitchell T. Fujino, Keith Hayward (K2), Rob Henry, Scott Horner, Sam Johnson, Curtis Knecht, Alex Lucas, Bob McCabe, Ryan Plamondon, Chris Priestly (Evil), Ian Stevens-Guille, Bruce Venne, Stanley Woo
Additional Quality Assurance Nathan Frederick, Scott Langevin, Andrew Nobbs
Director of Quality Assurance Philip DeRosa
Contract Testers Steven Deleeuw, Chris Halina, Stephen Ho, Ryan Hrycun, Brian Mills, Sean Molofee, Celest Morris, Kyle Scott, Michael Goldman
Public Relations Lead Teresa Cotesta
Public Relations Specialist Tom Ohle
Promotional Art Todd Grenier, Michael Sass, Colin Walmsley
Web Manager Robin Mayne
Web Developers Johnn Four, Jeff Marvin
Client Care Specialist Jason Barlow
Community Manager Jay Watamaniuk
Director of Marketing Craig Priddle
Director of Finance and Systems Administration Richard Iwaniuk
Director of Business and Legal Services Robert Kallir
Director Of Human Resources Lesley Menzies
Human Resources Manager Mark Kluchky
Senior External Producer Diarmid Clarke
Finance Todd Derechey, Jo-Marie Langkow, Cherie Kleparchuk
Human Resource Coordinators Theresa Baxter, Leanne Korotash
Systems Administration Julian Karst, Nils Kuhnert, Dave McGruther, Craig Miller, Brett Tollefson, Duleepa Wijayawardhana (Dups), Chris Zeschuk
Administrative Assistant Teresa Meester
Receptionist Agnes Kokot Goldman
Lead VO Director Ginny McSwain
VO Direction Robert King, Caroline Livingstone
Casting Services TikiMan Casting
VO Recorded AT Technicolor Sound Services Blackman Productions Inc.
Voice Actors Jocelyn Ahlf, Julien Arnold, April Banigan, Shannon Blanchete, Wes Borg, Andrew Bowen, Victor Brandt, Coralie Cairns, Joey Camen, Clinton Carew, Dominic Catrambone, Cam Clarke, John Cleese, Robert Clinton, Josh Dean, Barry Dennen, Melissa Disney, Jeff Doucette, Terri Douglas, Robin Atkin Downes, Paul Eiding, Carey Feehan, Nathan Fillion, Dave Fouquette, Bartley P. Flynn, Paul Francis, Will Friedel, Karen Gartner, Pamela Gordon, Beth Graham, Kim Mai Guest, Ray Guth, Jeff Haslam, Andy Hirsch, Sherman Howard, John Hudson, Roger L. Jackson, Keith James, Peter Jessop, Danielle Judovits, Michael Keenan, John Kirkpatrick, Charles Klausmeyer, Matt Kloster, David Ley, Tom Lim, Tiffani Mann, David Markus, Gord Marriott, Masasa Moyo, Drew Massey, Mark Meer, Brian Murray, Jeff Page, Holly Palmer, Greg Palmer, David Anthony Pizzuto, Vic Polizos, Chris Postle, Nicky Pugh, Gustavo Rex, RD Robb, Cathleen Rootsaert, Armin Shimerman, George Silagy, Jan Alexandra Smith, Lark Spies, Josh Stamberg, Brian Stepanek, Fred Tatasciore, Simon Templeman, Daniela Vlaskalic, Kari Wahlgren, David Walsh, BJ Ward, Audrey Wasilewski, Stephanie Wolfe
Special Thanks Robbie Bach, Chris Borders, Andrew Flavell, Laura Hamilton, Shane Kim, Frank Klier, William Hodge, Marc Holmes, Laurel Holmes, Casey Hudson, Matthew Kaustinen, Shannon Loftis, Scott Mathews, Peter Moore, Greg Philyaw, Bonnie Ross, Phil Spencer, Ryan Wilkerson, Everyone at Microsoft Corporation who contributed on the Jade Empire project.

LTI Gray Matter
Owner / CEO Michael Livesay
Executive In Charge of Production Daniel R. Chavez
Lead Programmers Jason L. Maynard, Daniel Zahn, Chris Farrar
Programming Mark Fessia, James Ivers, Vinh Tran, Jimmy Tarn, Ben Bayani
Special Thanks Our Friends & Family

2K Games
President Christoph Hartmann
VP Product Development Grégoire Gobbi
VP Business Affairs David Ismailer
VP Sales & Licensing Steve Glickstein
Development Manager Jon Payne
Producer Sean R. Scott
VP Marketing Sarah Anderson
Director of Marketing Thomas Bass
Associate Product Manager Alison Moy
Director of Public Relations Marcelyn Ditter
Media Specialist Larry Stephens
Director of Operations Dorian Rehfield
Art Director, Creative Services Lesley Zinn
Web Manager Gabe Abarcar
Web Designer John Kauderer
Game Analysts Jim Yang, Walt Williams
Strategic Sales and Licensing Manager Paul Crockett
Production Manager Jack Scalici
Quality Assurance Director Lawrence Durham
Quality Assurance Lead Michael Chang
Quality Assurance Senior Tristan Clark
Testers Dimitri Becerra, Griffin Funk, Ian Clark, Larry Bolden, Tyler Harris, Josh Chastain, Karen McOscar, Sean Miller, Kevan Killion, Mark Todd
Network Administrator James Curry
Network Technician/ Product Support Adam Birstock

2K INTERNATIONAL
General Manager Neil Ralley
International PR Director Markus Wilding
International Marketing Director Matthias Wehner
International Product Managers Ben Wyer-Roberts, Lia Tsele
International PR Manager Karl Unterholzner
Localisation Project Lead Marco Angiuoni
Localisation QA Technicians Alessandro Cilano, Nicolas Adam, Karen Rodríguez Anadón, Alessandro Gatti, Sebastian Sparr, Hugo Sieiro, Sebastian Frank, Beatriz Gonzalez, Mirko Stoeckigt, Noelia Gonzalez, Didier Pruvot, Adele Dalena, Terryll Garrison
Mastering Engineer Wayne Boyce
Standards Lead Michael Greening
Standards Testers Eric Lane, Andrew Garrett, Matt Newhouse, Paul Diaz
Special Thanks Marc Berman, Alice Chuang, David Boutry, Scott DeFreitas, David Edwards, Dan Einzig, Steve Glickstein, David Ismailer, Jennifer Kolbe, Jerry Luna, Xenia Mul, Tim Perry, Peter Shin, Drew Smith, Take‑Two Sales, Nan Teh, Natalya Wilson, Peggy Yu
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MASTERWORKS IN GAME DESIGN SERIES

Knights of the Old Republic I Biowar and LucasArts

All Images included in this article copyright(c)LucasArts, Biowar and Obsidian, Origin and EA, all game titles and content remain copyrighted and all rights reserved (R) (TM) The Trademark Star Wars (TM) and all products and publications in any current and future media remain the sole property of LucasArts. (c) 1994-2008. Any Concept art included in this article and other articles on this blog remain the sole copyright of the artist unless otherwise included within the copyright of the development project concerned. .

CGI Game design has seen space simulations and space based game worlds from the very outset of modern game development. Few areas of game design, and publishing have seen more varied and remarkable achievements and some of the greatest masterworks to date in the game design field are in the space game genre.

Some of the finest are those published by LucasArts in the Star Wars series, notably Knights of the Old Republic I, created with Biowar and LucasArts (KOTR I) and Knights of the Old Republic: The Sith Lords, (KOTR II) by LucasArts and Obsidian. Both are remarkable achievements of game design and have vast game worlds and stories that are deeply crafted and woven around believable characters, a moving and carefully crafted game universe and are a credit to both the publishers, developers and the vision of their overall design.

As graphcis engines and capacity of the most modern platforms have continued to evolve the game design possiblities have expanded as well and the designers have met the challenges and pushed the envelope with each new title. These Star Wars titles and a number of newer ones continue this trend, including the Empire at War and an expansion Empire at War: Forces of Corruption. There is as well the possilbity of a new partnership just formed by LucasArts and Biowar, rumors that it might be an online Star Wars title are varied and there are no details at this time.

This series has grown from the eary days of its inception with Dark Forces and with each new title the game engines and the game experience has been improved: modern graphcis and the fullest sense of a well realized game world dates back to Jedi Knight II: Outcase and Jedi Knight III: Academy by which titles the game grapchis have become fully believable and rendered with craft, art and beauty. Vast planetary and deep space scense are well and artfully crafted by these engines, and the player visits large and varied levels and game worlds of huge cities, a vast array of different land types and clilmates, ecologies and planetary worlds. Many of these games have excellent story lines, perhaps the best are the two KOTR I and II titles, for they as much as any of the Star Wars games surpass even the films Lucas has created in presenting a dyanamic and integrated future world of depth and great charisma. There are some wider view games in the genre, Star Wars Battlefront I and II and the Empire at War and its expandsion that are wargaming on a vast scale, yet with intricate and incredible detail in the rendering of the settings, scenes and range of worlds and game areas. There are a number of other remarkable spac sims and space based games that I hope to include in this topic but will begin with the Star Wars titles as being some of the most fully developed in terms of back story, and graphcis engines and detail and some of the most beautiful in content and imagery.

One of the most interesting aspects of the series of Star Wars games is how the game designers have chosen to place the point of view, the path of the player, in each game and series of games. When rendering an entire universe and world view, this choice can make all the difference in a game experience. In some of the earliest games, they were relatively primitive, almost like enhanced arcade games. Textures were rough and blocky and movement problmenatic at times as well. As the game engines improved and the development of the SW universe storyline grew in depth and complexity, the games reflected this in how the player was able to interact with the game storylines. With the Jedi Knight series, the player became able to move freely in the game world, which was often quite large, and beautifully rendered, and many of the games of this type showed great creativity in the level design and in the setttings portrayed.

Fantastic Future City Setting from Jedi Knight III: Jedi Academy

In the most recent titles, the KOTR series and some of the later Jedi Knight titles, the player is able to experience from a personal "you as you" journey through beautfully and fully rendered gameworlds, with great depth of detail and innovation of 3D space creation, with both actual 3D sets and scenes and excellently rendered cutscenes. There are alos the more universal view games such as the Empire at War and its expansion, The Forces of Corruption which allow you to move entire fleets, armies and to visit over 60 planets.

Many of these games includes the capacity to make mods, community created enhancements and the SW community has shown great creativity and energy and support for many of these titles, including remarkable efforts to complete and restore content that was begun but not included in some of the titles, notably KOTR II, major community team projects are working to restore the full range and depth when development limitations of the original publications had dropped out scenes and other important elements. Team Gizka Mod Project to restore major content to KOTR II can be found at: Team Gizka Forum and another team project Team Exile is working on additional significant restoration content for KOTR II at Team Exile Site It is worthy of note that with modern presure for major game development to bring in major profits in the thinking of some short sighted executives, some of the finest game titles get left behind or have their development rushed and pushed before completion. Hopefully this trend will change for the game industry could fall in to the same trap as other publishing industries and become a pale shadow of its own highest potential grinding out pot boilers and cheap knock offs that appeal to the lowest common denominator. Fortunately for some such significant and important game titles, the player communties themselves carry on and either help restore or add to content as is the case with both of the Knights of the Old Republic titles, but especially with KOTR II.

My focus is immediately on the deepest and most developed titles, the KOTR pair and some of the other titles and development projects like Homeworld, Freespace 1 and 2, the Wing Commander series, EVE, ORB, and community based enhancements and mod expansions of many of these as well. What intriges me as a game researcher and designer and developer about the KOTR games is the range of options and story paths that are available and fully developed with complete dialog and character development, game story path divergence and possiblities and the beauty and depth of the game world.

Both these titles have some of the most fully created and realized 3D game worlds that the player can interact with and progress through, both on planetary surfacds, cities, forests, and in space, with a wide and beileable range of interior and exterior spaces, flyable ships and story and plot developments, but overall one of the most amazing things about these games are the visual worlds that you visit and esperience.

The World City of Taris is Beautifully Rendered

You select either a Light or a Dark path, and can gain game progress in either direction with immediate and long range impact on the pace and path of your game play, and your in game character. You also have a party of other characters you can choose to join you and who can if you choose, be the leading characters in any one scene.

Jedi Knights from the Light Path Battle a Dark Jedi Master

The game engine is very well designed, in that you can control movement and also make immediate action choices of both your characters immediate combat or other actions, use of force abilties and use of other elements of your inventory. The player has the option each time you encounter an enemy to engage and which actions to chose, this feature can be changed or activated wtih a hot key as well, but the action is fluid and very easy to manage as you use teh WASD movement keys plus the mouse to control the camera view so you really have excellent action control. As a result the action scenes are seamlessly part of the game story.

Bastilla and Jedi Knights Confront a Dark Jedi Master

I have had to work hard to feel confortable with such technicalities in other game platforms and game titles, in these two titles and in other titles of the Star Wars series these choices, such as use of Force powers, are intuitive and become very comfortable thus making this aspect of the Star Wars Universe and ethos real in a way that the films and more seperated and distant and vicarious experience can never convey. You literally do become part of this concieved universe of George Lucas and his teams, and this makes these games remarkable achievements on any scale of assessment.

The Ebon Hawk, your space cruiser, is your path to the SW Universe

Movemnet is free and well controlled and the 3D world allows your characters full interaction wtih their environment and each other, and a remarkable dialog system allows you to respond in detail to both in game situations that are scripted, i.e. triggered by certain plot events and also by interaction by demand by you, at any time. These responses are fully voiced and the voice acting is some of the best I have ever had the privledge of experiencing. Some of the characters as well are so fully realized that they rank with literature of any genre, and have great impact on how the player empathizes and experiences the game story.

The Main Character in KOTR is a mysterious figure who becomes a Jedi student

Bastilla is a Jedi Mentor for the player - she is a unique and remarkable character

The various planets and worlds of the games are fully rendered with large playable areas both interior and exterior and with a complex range of main and sub plot and quest values. I have rarely seen such care and detail crafting games that are far more than nicely framed shooters or rpg knockoffs. The Star War games form a wide variety of types and the best are some of the finest game publications to date.

The complexities of character "values" and abilities are well organized and the levelling up is some of the smoothest and most intuitive I have seen, not detracting at all from the game play and easily understood with some study. The character can improve skills, Force Abilities and atributed in a well displayed process that allows the player also to manage an unlimited inventory and to equip the in game character and his or her party of companions, by making any of the party the active player and then allowing the player to adjust and control that specific character for game purposes.

The party of companions is aquired as you progress through the game and you have the choice to add any member or not as you wish. The total character party is all accomadated on the Ebon Hawk, the space cruiser you travel thru the game on, and they are selected by you to work with you, you can add two other members at any one time and once you are engaged in some of the more active areas or combat you cannot change or send them back. Each has their own skills and atributes and each can contribute accordingly. They all have complete and complex dialog that changes as you progress through the game, so there is a constant dynamic in your interaction with them and as your character and the gamestory develop.

The companion selection screen

The cutscenes and movies are an essential part of the magic of these titles for they convey the breadth and scope of the universe, allow the player to see the space ships in flight, to follow essential story and plot events and overall though the storyline has some linearity to it, there is great artistry and craft in how the story is unfolded and the character of the player learns of the world we see and experience. The heros and the villans, the Light and the Dark, the evil Sith and the noble Jedi Masters and studnets all come to life painted in 3D action in the cut scenes and in the game flawlessly in both the KOTR titles and many of the other Star Wars games.

The Leviathan, Sith Fleet Flagship

The Dark Jedi Master of KOTR I on the bridge of his Starship the Leviathan.

Departure from Kashyyk, the Wookie Homeworld

Arrival of the Ebon Hawk at Manaan, a Water World

Landing at the secret Jedi Academy

Knights of the Old Republic Development and Production:

BioWare
Core Game Design David Falkner, Steven Gilmour, Casey Hudson, Drew Karpyshyn, James Ohlen, Preston Watamaniuk, Derek Watts

Producer / Project Director Casey Hudson

Executive Producers Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk

Lead Programmers David Falkner, Mark Brockington

Lead Designer James Ohlen
Assistant Lead Designer Preston Watamaniuk

Art Director Derek Watts

Lead Animator Steven Gilmour

Audio Producer David Chan

Lead Tools Programmers Tom Zaplachinski, Darren Wong

Lead Graphics Programmer Jason Knipe

Quality Assurance Lead Scott Langevin

Assistant Producer Nathan Plewes

Programmers Marc Audy, Robert Babiak, Sophia Chan, Howard Chung, Michael Devine, Dan Fessenden, Aaryn Flynn, Andrew Gardner, Ryan Hoyle, Janice Thoms, Craig Welburn

Graphics Programmers John Bible, Patrick Chan, Peter Woytiuk

BioWare Lead Tools Programmer Don Moar

Tools Programmers Owen Borstad, Timothy Smith, Kris Tan, Sydney Tang

BioWare Director of Programming Scott Greig

Additional Programming Brook Bakay, Korin Bampton, Rob Boyd, Brenon Holmes, Stan Melax, Charles Randall, Don Yakielashek

Senior Writer Drew Karpyshyn

Designers Jason Booth, David Gaider, Lukas Kristjanson, Cori May, Andrew Nobbs, Brad Prince, Aidan Scanlan, Peter Thomas, John Winski

Sound Implementation / Additonal Sound Design David Chan, John Henke, Steve Sim

3D Artists Dean Andersen, Nolan Cunningham, Mike Grills, Lindsay Jorgensen, Jessica Mih, Matthew Park, Arun Ram-Mohan, Sean Smailes, Mike Spalding, Jason Spykerman, Michael Trottier

2D Artists Sung Kim, Mike Leonard, Rob Sugama, Rion Swanson
Technical Artists Harvey Fong, Tobyn Manthorpe

3D Visual Effects Artist Alex Scott

2D GUI Art Rob Sugama

Additional Art Matthew Goldman

Concept Art John Samuel Gallagher, Casey Hudson, Sean Smailes, Mike Spalding, Derek Watts

BioWare Director of Concept Art John Samuel Gallagher

BioWare Director of Promotional Art Michael Sass

Promotional Artists Todd Grenier, Michael Sass

In‑Game Animation Carman Cheung, Chris Hale, Mark How, Rick Li, Kees Rijnen, John Santos, Larry Stevens, Henrik Vasquez

Cutscene Director / BioWare Director of Art David Hibbeln
Lead Cutscene Animator Tony de Waal

Pre‑Rendered Cutscene Artists Christopher Mann, Sherridon Routley, Gina Welbourn, Shane Welbourn

In‑Game Cutscene Animators Carman Cheung, Mark How, Rick Li, Kees Rijnen, Larry Stevens, Henrik Vasquez

Quality Assurance Alain Baxter, Derrick Collins, Nathan Frederick, Mitchell T. Fujino, Keith Hayward, Scott Horner, Curtis Knecht, Bob McCabe, Ryan Plamondon, Chris Priestly, Ian Stevens-Guille, Stanley Woo

BioWare Director of Quality Assurance Philip DeRosa

Director of Marketing Scott McLaughlan

Communications Coordinator Teresa Cotesta
Communications Associate Tom Ohle
Communications Manager Brad Grier

Senior Web Developer Robin Mayne
Web Developers Jeff Marvin, Duleepa Wijayawardhana

Community Manager Jay Watamaniuk
Live Team Producer Derek French
Joint CEOs Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk
Director of Finance Richard Iwaniuk
Director of Human Resources Mark Kluchky
Accountant Jo-Marie Langkow
Payroll / Benefits Administrator Kelley Grainger
Human Resources Coordinator Theresa Baxter
Human Resources Assistant Leanne Korotash
Senior Systems Administrators Chris Zeschuk, Craig Miller
Systems Administrators Brett Tollefson, Julian Karst, Nils Kuhnert
Receptionist Agnes Kokot Goldman

Special Thanks Scott Greig, Diarmid Clarke, Jonathan Epp, Chris Christou, Brent Knowles, Kevin Martens, Deo Perez, Keith Warner, Dan Whiteside

LucasArts
Producer Michael Gallo
Assistant Producer Julio Torres
Content Coordinator Justin Lambros
Lead Tester Kip Bunyea
Assistant Lead Tester Adam Goodwin
Testers Nick Dengler, Clay Norman, Tony Christopher, Chris Thomas, Randy Chu, Brandon Hutt, Jason Lee, Ian Parham, James Morris, Sony Green
Compatibility Supervisor / Lead Technical Writer Lynn Taylor

Compatibility Technicians Darryl Cobb, Brian Deksnys, Benjamin Estabrook, Kristie Garber, Kim Jardin, Dan Martinez

Additional Compatibility Testing Michael Blair, Bryan Finoki, Eric Knudson, Scott Taylor

Quality Services Computer Technician John Carsey

Lead Sound Designer Julian Kwasneski
Additional Sound Design Paul Gorman, Todd Davies, Clint Bajakian
Cutscene Mixing Jory K. Prum
Original Star Wars Sound Effects Ben Burtt
Original Music Composed By Jeremy Soule
Original Star Wars Music Composed By John Williams
VO Director Darragh O'Farrell
Senior Voice Editor Cindy F. Wong
Assistant Voice Editors Harrison Deutsch, Coya Elliott
Voice and International Coordinator Jennifer Sloan
Voices Recorded At Screen Music Studios

Cast Jennifer Sloan (Bastila Shan), Raphael Sbarge (Carth Onasi), Rafael Ferrer (Darth Malak), John Cygan (Canderous Ordo), Kristoffer Tabori (HK-47), Kevin Michael Richardson (Jolee Bindo), Courtenay Taylor (Juhani), Cat Taber (Mission Vao), Edward Asner (Master Vrook)

Addtional Voices Provided By André Sogliuzzo, April Stewart, Bill E. Martin, Brian George, Cam Clarke, Carolyn Seymour, Charity James, Charles Dennis, Dan Hagen, Darren Norris, Ethan Phillips, Frank Welker, Gregg Berger, Grey DeLisle, Hillary Huber, J. Karen Thomas, James Horan, Jason Marsden, Jess Harnell, James Kevin Ward, Kevin Schon, Kimberly Brooks, Kristoffer Tabori, Liz Marks, Lloyd Sherr, Michael Gough, Michael Ralph, Nathan Carlson, Neil Kaplan, Neil Ross, Nick Jameson, Patrick Fraley, Patrick Pinney, Paul Amendt, Phil Lamarr, Rino Romano, Robin Atkin Downes, Robin Sachs, Simon Templeman, Steven Jay Blum, Sumalee Montano, Tamara Phillips, Tom Kane

Manager of International Production Darren Hedges
International Producer Bryan Davis
International Lead Tester David Chapman
Director of Marketing Liz Allen
Product Marketing Manager David Zemke
Marketing Coordinator Chris Susen
Public Relations Manager Heather Twist
Public Relations Specialist Alexis Mervin
Internet Community Relations Specialist Ronda Scott
Internet Marketing Jim Passalacqua
Manual Editor Brett Rector
Manual Writers Michael Gallo, James Ohlen, Lukas Kristjanson, Drew Karpyshyn
Manual Cover / Manual 3D Art and Design Gregory Harsh
Director of Sales Meredith Cahill
Sales Coordinator Mike Maguire
Sales Analyst Greg Robles
Channel Marketing Manager Timothy Moore
Channel Marketing Specialist Katy Walden
Director of Sales Operations Jason Horstman
Materials Manager Evelyne Bolling
Manager of Quality Services Paul Purdy
Quality Assurance Supervisor Chip Hinnenberg
Product Support Supervisor Jay Geraci
DVD / CD Burning Goddesses Wendy Kaplan, Kellie Walker
LucasArts I.S. Chris Brody, James Carpenter, John Doak, John von Eichhorn, John Hannon, Daryll Jacobson, Chris McAllister, Gary Pfeiffer, Richard Quinones, Joe Shum, Victor Tancredi-Ballugera, Chad J. Williams
Lucas Licensing Stacy Cheregotis, Chris Gollaher, Kristi Kaufman
Special Thanks Adria Wilson, Andy Alamano, Brent Oster, Brett Schnepf, Camela McLanahan, Candice Gindy, Clint Young, Dan Martinez, Denise Gollaher, Donna Czerwinski, Emily Duval, Haden Blackman, James Miller, Jannett L. Shirley-Paul, Jeff Kliment, John Carsey, Jon Knowles, K.C. Coleman, Karen Chelini, LEC‑RPM, Leland Chee, Lisa Swart, Malcolm Johnson, Mark Barbolak, Mary Bihr, Matthew Urban, Matthew J. Fillbrandt, Mike Nelson, Peggy Ary, Rachel Hardwick, Randall Breen, Reeve S. Thompson, R. J. Berg, Seth J. Steinberg, Shara Miller, Simon Jeffery, Steve Matulac, Tina Carter, Tom McCarthy
Very Special Thanks George Lucas

RESEARCH INTO STAR WARS IMAGERY - 3D Renders

These are some studies I am doing of Star Wars 3D rendering and model construction, ongling as I research the series of Jedi Knight and Knights of the Old Empire games.

All content from Star Wars (TM) is copyright (c) Lucasfilms Ltd 1977-2008. All story characters, scenes, themes and settings from the Star Wars films, games and product lines are (TM) LucasFilms Ltd, LucasArts and related companies: Raven, Biowar, Obsidian in any and all forms current and yet to be developed in all media and mediums.