— Ch. 1 · Development And Design History —
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.
~12 min read · Ch. 1 of 7
Game planning began in the summer of 2004 when a small group of about six developers started with a clean slate. They spent more than a year brainstorming ideas for what might make a good game. Over one hundred initial concepts were whittled down to twenty or twenty-five that included making the game the third entry in the Knights of the Old Republic series. Other ideas involved having the protagonist be a Wookiee superhero, Darth Maul, a bounty hunter, a smuggler, a mercenary, or the last member of the Skywalker family living five hundred years after Return of the Jedi. The decision to focus on the largely unexplored period between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope helped energize the design team. Consumer feedback helped the developers narrow in on seven concepts, and elements from those seven went into The Force Unleashed overall concept. Production was greatly aided by concept art which was intended to bridge the two Star Wars trilogies visually. An off-hand comment about the Force being powerful enough to pull a Star Destroyer out of the sky inspired an image by senior concept artist Amy Beth Christenson. This illustration became an important part of the developers idea pitches and evolved into a major moment in the game. These illustrations also inspired the creation of dozens of simple three-dimensional animations. Eventually a one-minute previsualization video highlighting the idea of kicking someone ass with the Force helped convince the designers that The Force Unleashed would be a great game. George Lucas told the designers to go make that game once he saw the video. Once the concept was solidified the development team grew from ten to twenty people.