http://kotaku.com/5964799/battlefront-iii-was-99-percent-done-when-lucasarts-scrapped-it
Shame to hear it was so close to being completed when it got scrapped :(
Don't know if this news is old ('cause they're talking about the SWBF3 of '08), or new because they salvaged the old project, made it nice, and then Disney came and destroyed it.
Right now Disney is playing a dangerous game with the Star Wars community in general. If they clip too much, they might get alot of negativity, far more than what they had when they bought LucasFilm.
This is way back when, Free Radical closed down a good while ago now. Nothing to do with disney.
Well, at least what I saw of swbf3 I didnt like it, so its k for me x)
After I played the pre-alpha, I gave Lucas an even bigger finger. I recall that part of the reason the game got shut down was because they were ahead of schedule. Completely idiotic. I played it on my laptop, not my desktop. It was extremely laggy because you know, it was a pre-alpha and my computer is good, but it isn't the best.
I really loved how they fixed the camera to move whenever you did. That is an amazing realism factor right there. Then there is the ability to fly into space from the planet (wasn't able to try this out) and the one map I played looked great.
It's unfortunate this got cancelled so close to completion.
However, the one thing I've always wondered, is why this project never got passed on to another competent developer?
Obviously, Free Radical had their own issues, and Lucasarts wasn't helping matters at all, but why didn't this game move someplace else to get further development going?
I just can't believe that Lucasarts would cancel a game that would almost certainly ship millions of copies, bring star wars back into video gaming in a big way, possibly set up a competitive scene similar to COD/Halo, and hype up the next generation of star wars movies set to come out in 2015.
It's all a brilliant plan, but nobody's pounced on it. Why?
Quote from: Droideka on December 04, 2012, 07:43:12 PM
It's unfortunate this got cancelled so close to completion.
However, the one thing I've always wondered, is why this project never got passed on to another competent developer?
Obviously, Free Radical had their own issues, and Lucasarts wasn't helping matters at all, but why didn't this game move someplace else to get further development going?
I just can't believe that Lucasarts would cancel a game that would almost certainly ship millions of copies, bring star wars back into video gaming in a big way, possibly set up a competitive scene similar to COD/Halo, and hype up the next generation of star wars movies set to come out in 2015.
It's all a brilliant plan, but nobody's pounced on it. Why?
The same reason the original Halo movie was scrapped. Except in that case the assets were converted to District 9. With BF3, the code is literally just sitting in some closet gaining dust. Not to long ago there was an independent group who took their own free time to further the game development, but it wasn't their job and had more important things in their lives to do. Technically, one of us could go and grab the code right now if we wanted to.
Someone should seek out whoever has the code.
Quote from: jdee-barc on December 04, 2012, 08:10:43 PM
Someone should seek out whoever has the code.
I suppose you could take it apart since in order to play you need to install the SDK. This is where I got the pre-alpha, so it may be able to be taken apart provided that you have a clue as to what you are doing.
http://unofficialbattlefront3.blogspot.com/ (http://unofficialbattlefront3.blogspot.com/)
Thing is guys we are getting one side of the story. http://games.on.net/2012/12/tit-for-tat-flame-war-erupts-over-star-wars-battlefront-iii-99-percent-claim/ (http://games.on.net/2012/12/tit-for-tat-flame-war-erupts-over-star-wars-battlefront-iii-99-percent-claim/) Now LucasArts some people are claiming that Free Radical's claims are over exaggerated. I'm not saying I think LucasArts didn't stuff up or that I think they did. With out knowing the entire story I can't come to a proper conclusion. Neither should you.
I also don't think SWBFIII would have been as successful as everyone is thinking it would have been. A gimmick like ground to space is something that would be hard to make flow with a mare 32 players (The common amount of players current network technology can handle with out increasing latency for all players.).
Quote from: RoxasAfter I played the pre-alpha, I gave Lucas an even bigger finger. I recall that part of the reason the game got shut down was because they were ahead of schedule. Completely idiotic. I played it on my laptop, not my desktop. It was extremely laggy because you know, it was a pre-alpha and my computer is good, but it isn't the best.
I really loved how they fixed the camera to move whenever you did. That is an amazing realism factor right there. Then there is the ability to fly into space from the planet (wasn't able to try this out) and the one map I played looked great.
Wait what, how? You friend's with one of the developers or something?
Quote from: Roxas on December 04, 2012, 08:14:21 PM
I suppose you could take it apart since in order to play you need to install the SDK. This is where I got the pre-alpha, so it may be able to be taken apart provided that you have a clue as to what you are doing.
http://unofficialbattlefront3.blogspot.com/ (http://unofficialbattlefront3.blogspot.com/)
You realize this does not have anything to do with Free Radical, it is just a guy like one of us that is using the Unreal engine to make his own game that happens to use droid models and stuff. A valiant effort to be sure, but ultimately it will not lead to anything. For home-made mods, the Galactic Warfare version is still my favorite looking one.
Quote from: Buckler on December 04, 2012, 08:25:21 PM
You realize this does not have anything to do with Free Radical, it is just a guy like one of us that is using the Unreal engine to make his own game that happens to use droid models and stuff. A valiant effort to be sure, but ultimately it will not lead to anything. For home-made mods, the Galactic Warfare version is still my favorite looking one.
Galactic Warfare Mod: The only reason I would ever want Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. :P
On a side note, I was actually one of the few "contributors" persay of that Unofficial SWBF3 project. I also gave him the idea to release a pre-alpha, no joke. :)
SWBF III wouldn't be a big interest for me.
It's exactly what hapened with Starsiege: Tribes. The first game was a huge success. So the engine had a chance to continue being developed. The new engine turned out to be much prettier, but the physics and game structure were all wonked up. Nothing like the original. Then the changing hands, buying and selling of dev assets, while developers grow and move on to bigger, better things. Every incarnation since shares only a few internal strings in common with it's Great Grandparent. And since it's all on modern engines, the physics are nothing like what made the game fun to begin with.
BF II, being a bit more elegant than BF I in some ways, mucks up the things I like about the game. So a prettier version in a next gen engine has no chance of replicating the feel. It may turn out to be good, but that would be for it's own reasons, and not because of a shared title from a predecessor.
Battlefront is what it needs to be. A modern squad based combat, Star Wars themed game has many newer influences and much better hardware to concider. BF III couldn't be anything like Battlefront. It wouldn't sell.
If it were up to me, I'd rope in all the development efforts and make a new, genre changing franchise of it's own.
In Battlefront, space to ground transport would be a novelty, but in a new Star Wars game, Planet wide sieges, and quasi-persistant battlefields could become a WoW killer.
In Battlefront, getting a couple of A.I. to follow you is neat. In BFII it's essential. In a new game, commanding entire squadrons, RTS style, untill you have to fend off the battle droids that just raided the command center is genre changing.
If BF III is just going to be unreal with Stormtrooper skins.. I'll skip it.
Just my 2 cents.
Quote from: tirpider on December 04, 2012, 09:10:48 PM
SWBF III wouldn't be a big interest for me.
It's exactly what hapened with Starsiege: Tribes. The first game was a huge success. So the engine had a chance to continue being developed. The new engine turned out to be much prettier, but the physics and game structure were all wonked up. Nothing like the original. Then the changing hands, buying and selling of dev assets, while developers grow and move on to bigger, better things. Every incarnation since shares only a few internal strings in common with it's Great Grandparent. And since it's all on modern engines, the physics are nothing like what made the game fun to begin with.
BF II, being a bit more elegant than BF I in some ways, mucks up the things I like about the game. So a prettier version in a next gen engine has no chance of replicating the feel. It may turn out to be good, but that would be for it's own reasons, and not because of a shared title from a predecessor.
Battlefront is what it needs to be. A modern squad based combat, Star Wars themed game has many newer influences and much better hardware to concider. BF III couldn't be anything like Battlefront. It wouldn't sell.
If it were up to me, I'd rope in all the development efforts and make a new, genre changing franchise of it's own.
In Battlefront, space to ground transport would be a novelty, but in a new Star Wars game, Planet wide sieges, and quasi-persistant battlefields could become a WoW killer.
In Battlefront, getting a couple of A.I. to follow you is neat. In BFII it's essential. In a new game, commanding entire squadrons, RTS style, untill you have to fend off the battle droids that just raided the command center is genre changing.
If BF III is just going to be unreal with Stormtrooper skins.. I'll skip it.
Just my 2 cents.
This.
Quote from: tirpider on December 04, 2012, 09:10:48 PM
SWBF III wouldn't be a big interest for me.
It's exactly what hapened with Starsiege: Tribes. The first game was a huge success. So the engine had a chance to continue being developed. The new engine turned out to be much prettier, but the physics and game structure were all wonked up. Nothing like the original. Then the changing hands, buying and selling of dev assets, while developers grow and move on to bigger, better things. Every incarnation since shares only a few internal strings in common with it's Great Grandparent. And since it's all on modern engines, the physics are nothing like what made the game fun to begin with.
BF II, being a bit more elegant than BF I in some ways, mucks up the things I like about the game. So a prettier version in a next gen engine has no chance of replicating the feel. It may turn out to be good, but that would be for it's own reasons, and not because of a shared title from a predecessor.
Battlefront is what it needs to be. A modern squad based combat, Star Wars themed game has many newer influences and much better hardware to concider. BF III couldn't be anything like Battlefront. It wouldn't sell.
If it were up to me, I'd rope in all the development efforts and make a new, genre changing franchise of it's own.
In Battlefront, space to ground transport would be a novelty, but in a new Star Wars game, Planet wide sieges, and quasi-persistant battlefields could become a WoW killer.
In Battlefront, getting a couple of A.I. to follow you is neat. In BFII it's essential. In a new game, commanding entire squadrons, RTS style, untill you have to fend off the battle droids that just raided the command center is genre changing.
If BF III is just going to be unreal with Stormtrooper skins.. I'll skip it.
Just my 2 cents.
Yea, basically how I feel too. Why do you guys want SWBF3 when you like SWBF1 better than its sequel?! SWBF3 would just build on SWBF2. So yea. No that it wouldn't be a good game but it wouldn't be SWBF.
I saw if you like SWBF1's feel make a mod for it but make it like a whole new game! ;)
Quote from: Kit Fisto on December 04, 2012, 10:51:12 PM
Yea, basically how I feel too. Why do you guys want SWBF3 when you like SWBF1 better than its sequel?! SWBF3 would just build on SWBF2. So yea. No that it wouldn't be a good game but it wouldn't be SWBF.
Because SWBF1 no longer has support from Lucasarts, and there are not as many people playing it now as there would be with a SWBF3. Since SWBF3 wouldn't be made by pandemic, it would not be like SWBF1 or SWBF2, but would instead be completely different. I think that a more modern take on the star wars universe in an FPS setting would be great. Modern shooters are not bad, and just because a potential SWBF3 wouldn't be like the original SWBF, does not mean it wouldn't feel like a massive star wars campaign.
Franchises have to evolve in order to get people to keep playing them; A lot of people complain about Halo 4 diverging from Halo 2 and how they just want Halo 2 remade with better graphics, but what would that really accomplish? I don't know if I want to play the same thing remade.
I saw a video on youtube of the pre alpha, and what it looked like to me is what elite squadren is now. It has the same general idea, just a much more advanced map. And the story was like from the script (i woukd know, i have it)
Quote from: Droideka on December 04, 2012, 11:37:00 PM
Because SWBF1 no longer has support from Lucasarts, and there are not as many people playing it now as there would be with a SWBF3. Since SWBF3 wouldn't be made by pandemic, it would not be like SWBF1 or SWBF2, but would instead be completely different. I think that a more modern take on the star wars universe in an FPS setting would be great. Modern shooters are not bad, and just because a potential SWBF3 wouldn't be like the original SWBF, does not mean it wouldn't feel like a massive star wars campaign.
Franchises have to evolve in order to get people to keep playing them; A lot of people complain about Halo 4 diverging from Halo 2 and how they just want Halo 2 remade with better graphics, but what would that really accomplish? I don't know if I want to play the same thing remade.
Not really they don't. If your going to make a completely new style of gameplay why bother keeping the series name? Well for starters big publishers can use it as a way to make more money off the game. You use the name of an already established series, a new developer, bring completely new style of gameplay and completely screw over loyal fans who have played the series since the first game. That is what I am afraid will happen to SWBFIII and most likely will happen to SWBFIII. (Also just because I only got into the community last year do not underestimate how long I have owned and played SWBF for.)
Now do games need to evolve to keep people playing? The answer I am fairly certain is no. Would you look at that would you, on Steam Counter Strike so far has peaked at 52,854 players playing at the same time. Far beyond any of the COD games. Now have Counter Strike's sequels core gameplay diverged from the originals? They don't seem to have and they are all played heavily on Steam still.
I would say games needing to evolve ultimately is a lie. Fans buy a squeal because they want more of the same just with new content and some new features. Not a completely new style of gameplay. If you as a publisher or developer are going to completely change the style of game the previous one in the series setup. Why are you using the name of the old game then? Far Cry 2 is an excellent example of this, way different to Far Cry. And both are very great games but they are very different to the point where it was wrong to use the Far Cry branding in my mind on the said sequel.
My apologies if I miss understood you and in that case my semi-wall of text is for nothing.
CS:GO is already marketed towards the more hardcore crowd. They don't need to change much of the core gameplay, and they can still satisfy players. SWBF3 would have to draw some casual people in to the game to make it successful, especially since Star Wars is such a popular universe catering to many different types of people.
You change up the gameplay in a series when you need to draw in a new crowd, and yes money is the influence behind that. I mentioned Halo before, it's a highly competitive game with a lot of seasoned gamers on it, but the new halo has a lot of aspects that appeal to casual players, and the gameplay is still fun and exciting.
I think the main thing that keeps drawing people to Battlefront is that you feel like you're in the middle of an epic battlefield, flying in speeders with your allies following you, headed towards the AT-AT to prevent it from taking out the generator. Soaring star wars music plays as you fly around the AT-AT, and you get the thrill of taking it down after 3-4 go-arounds. There is a certain bravado to this game that is very unique. I still see the same bravado in SWBF2, it's just that that game has better graphics, space, some gameplay changes that are probably not for the best, and Jedi.
As long as SWBF3 maintains good class balance, doesn't have a stupid shotgun that kills everything within 10 feet, or the detpack as a weapon belonging to the same class, and it maintains thst star wars feeling, it will be a good game. I think that the casual appeal of SWBF2 really scares a lot of us, and I understand those concerns. Some change won't hurt the series...and let's be honest, there are a lot of questionable things in SWBF already, like the jet trooper and the Droideka being useless, so some work on classes is needed.
And yes, I'm mad about the droideka being useless, it's a killing machine that scares Jedi away, and in SWBF all you need to do is run behind it and wait for its shields to go down, then it's bye bye deka :rant:
Well yes you basically correct on all accounts. And my post may have been a bit redundant, but they are just my concerns after seeing many games get a sequel that leaves loyal fans in the dust. FYI I have never played the Halo series I want to but I have no xBox 360.
Here is what I think the next SWBFIII should be gameplay wise if you are going to target casual players (Which is what SWBF is all about casual gaming.) . No more of these pathetic small battles now I may be completely wrong here but current tech is probably up to the task of having huge battles with hundreds of players on a single server. All you would really have to do is lean heavily into the servers raw power, only sending player data of what is happening with in an area around them or just their FOV. This way you can cut down load on all the players' connections. Thus making it possible to have huge battles, their are many ways you could do it on current tech I have only stated one. Dedicated servers can be very powerful you get one with a gigabit connection you can be sending up to 125 MB/s which would be more than enough to have heaps clients connected at once. And processing power is definitely not a limiting factor we have eight core CPUs now. It should be possible and I would love to see it happen. Think about it the battle starts in space and you have to work you way onto landing onto the planet and conquering the enemy's base.
And about the Droideka that annoys me greatly as well. In my opinion it should have been left out of the game since they clearly could not accurately represent it or balance it well.
I'd love to see user cusomizable bot behavior.
Ancient games like Quake exposed it, why don't any new games?
Because tirpider you see the interesting thing about 75% of all FPS' made now days is that they are made by big name greedy publishers who follow with what they know sells. No room to experiment with classic concepts or new concepts! Really shame that they are like that.
Then I say give 'em tha hax :P
Seriously, it's a shame we can't make the AI as mean as some of the kill-bots of yore.
I see your point. We'll spend months digging up a feature for fun (and free), but if it were in a commercial environment, each of us would want appropriate pay and broad deadlines. Stuff publishers hate to give out.
Quote from: SleepKiller on December 05, 2012, 05:43:49 PM
Well yes you basically correct on all accounts. And my post may have been a bit redundant, but they are just my concerns after seeing many games get a sequel that leaves loyal fans in the dust. FYI I have never played the Halo series I want to but I have no xBox 360.
Here is what I think the next SWBFIII should be gameplay wise if you are going to target casual players (Which is what SWBF is all about casual gaming.) . No more of these pathetic small battles now I may be completely wrong here but current tech is probably up to the task of having huge battles with hundreds of players on a single server. All you would really have to do is lean heavily into the servers raw power, only sending player data of what is happening with in an area around them or just their FOV. This way you can cut down load on all the players' connections. Thus making it possible to have huge battles, their are many ways you could do it on current tech I have only stated one. Dedicated servers can be very powerful you get one with a gigabit connection you can be sending up to 125 MB/s which would be more than enough to have heaps clients connected at once. And processing power is definitely not a limiting factor we have eight core CPUs now. It should be possible and I would love to see it happen. Think about it the battle starts in space and you have to work you way onto landing onto the planet and conquering the enemy's base.
And about the Droideka that annoys me greatly as well. In my opinion it should have been left out of the game since they clearly could not accurately represent it or balance it well.
SK, you are right there in some spots. There are actually some games that can house 100s of players, like MAG on the PS3. You can literally have over 200 people in one massive battle. As for processing, there's still alot of people out there with quad-core and even dual-core CPUs, it might take some time for the average computer owner to have an eight core CPU. As for the battle aspects right there, that would be pretty sweet.
The Droideka, it is true how the deka is very unbalanced in the game. Though there are very rare moments where that thing can be used effectively, like a massive hallway. :P
Quote from: {Alpha}Gold Man on December 05, 2012, 07:02:45 PM
SK, you are right there in some spots. There are actually some games that can house 100s of players, like MAG on the PS3. You can literally have over 200 people in one massive battle. As for processing, there's still alot of people out there with quad-core and even dual-core CPUs, it might take some time for the average computer owner to have an eight core CPU. As for the battle aspects right there, that would be pretty sweet.
Planetside 2 is a game based on continental-scale battle, it's absolutely massive. The capability for hosting a lot of people in a very large battleground is there.
Quote from: {Alpha}Gold Man on December 05, 2012, 07:02:45 PM
The Droideka, it is true how the deka is very unbalanced in the game. Though there are very rare moments where that thing can be used effectively, like a massive hallway. :P
The Deka can be alright in the hallway, that is true, but any jet can just fly up to the walkway and rocket the crap out of you. Dekas are also not very maneuverable, so if one gets in trouble, there is almost no way for it to escape other than recharging its shields bit by bit.
Tribes had 32 people on the same server at one time (accessable via a lobby, directly from irc, or in some mods, a weblink) with an endless map, pilotable flyers, and sharp bots in '98 on a pentium 166 across 28.8k modems.
I'm personally insulted at being offered less gameplay for the sake of lousy polygons.
Quote from: {Alpha}Gold Man on December 05, 2012, 07:02:45 PM
SK, you are right there in some spots. There are actually some games that can house 100s of players, like MAG on the PS3. You can literally have over 200 people in one massive battle. As for processing, there's still alot of people out there with quad-core and even dual-core CPUs, it might take some time for the average computer owner to have an eight core CPU. As for the battle aspects right there, that would be pretty sweet.
The Droideka, it is true how the deka is very unbalanced in the game. Though there are very rare moments where that thing can be used effectively, like a massive hallway. :P
Yeah I don't think you know me very well. I know a lot about computers and games. If you think I was meaning that the average consumer has an eight core Xeon CPU you are very mistaken. Of course the average person doesn't have an eight core CPU. I am talking about leaning the game into the server side heavily and taking full advantage of it's power something most games don't do. By having the server calculate and select which players actions need to be sent to which clients you could cut back on the clients required bandwidth greatly. Allowing far greater amount of players to be present ingame than ever before.
Quote from: tirpider on December 05, 2012, 07:16:35 PM
Tribes had 32 people on the same server at one time (accessable via a lobby, directly from irc, or in some mods, a weblink) with an endless map, pilotable flyers, and sharp bots in '98 on a pentium 166 across 28.8k modems.
I'm personally insulted at being offered less gameplay for the sake of lousy polygons.
Alas it is the way modern gamers see it sadly. Bad graphics = not worth the time of day. I on the other hand love me a classic game as long as the gameplay is good I don't care about the graphics. Ah I feel like playing through Dark Forces now, must install it after Crysis finishes downloading! You ever played Dark Forces tirpider?
Just the first one.
Basicly Star Wars Doom :P
Pretty awesome game. I never beat it.
Quote from: tirpider on December 05, 2012, 07:57:24 PM
Just the first one.
Basicly Star Wars Doom :P
Pretty awesome game. I never beat it.
Well what else would the first SW FPS be? It's worth picking up the entire Jedi Knight series. They are all brilliant games. http://store.steampowered.com/sub/2103/ (http://store.steampowered.com/sub/2103/) And a bargain at only $20.
Quote from: SleepKiller on December 05, 2012, 08:07:44 PM
Well what else would the first SW FPS be? It's worth picking up the entire Jedi Knight series. They are all brilliant games. http://store.steampowered.com/sub/2103/ (http://store.steampowered.com/sub/2103/) And a bargain at only $20.
Just asked my wife for permission (she has all the cash)... she said "we will discuss this on the way to the store..."
I have played one of the JK games, but it's been so long, I don't remember which it was.
Remember the key to a successful marriage(And your wife giving you the cash when you need it :p) is to treat your wife like a queen.
Some one knows what they are doing o.O
Quote from: tirpider on December 05, 2012, 08:15:09 PM
Just asked my wife for permission (she has all the cash)... she said "we will discuss this on the way to the store..."
Haha! It's like a kid and his mom! ;)
Happy Wife.
[spoiler](https://www.swbfgamers.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdl.dropbox.com%2Fu%2F58361588%2Ftemp%2FHappyWife.png&hash=de7aa94b62f1d4d38d35479a7ef8d603557a136e)[/spoiler]
SWBF III can wait a few years now.
Quote from: SleepKiller on December 04, 2012, 08:15:19 PM
Wait what, how? You friend's with one of the developers or something?
Actually I was. Well, I was a friend of a friend so that would make me more an acquaintance. That pre-alpha is very similar to the Unreal one that I played. It was godly.
Spoiler: Jedi Knight 2 is amazing.
I still play DF2, I started up again when I figured out they made an installer for Vista (Dedicated gamers LoL) and despite the fact you could probably never find a server except through JKHub, it's still fun to do SP and also Bar and Grill 1/2 on MP.