QuoteA Rebel view point would really suit the transition from the Galactic Civil War to First Order–Resistance war; which is almost what they were going for in SWBF2 (2017).

I remember in the reveal trailer when Iden said that she was waiting 30 years for revenge, while showing footage of the First Order. That implied that she never would have changed sides. Sure, one of the devs said in an interview that they never intended to tell the story about how the First Order came into existence, but clearly there was once some thought in place to cover Iden's perspective of the era transition as a bad guy instead.

QuoteHopefully we get something more like that one day, especially with the great canon contribution that is Battlefront Twilight Company (still one of the best new canon books).

Oh, I love that book! I'm not sure that it would make a good campaign, though, given how much characterization is given. There's a lot of subtle cues in the dialog which, unless an adaptation were to undergo major revisions, would require MGS4-length cutscenes. Still, there was a lot of cool set-pieces that would certainly be welcome in a game.

I finally got my hands on the issue of PC Gamer Magazine that reputedly had the very first leak of Battlefront 2 in March 2005, when BF2 was 6 months into development and had about another 6 more months left. In it, there's a very interesting passage which describes the Tantive IV level as involving you helping Leia and the droids reach the escape pods (paraphrasing Producer Dan Pettit). Who knows for sure when the story would change to solely cover the perspective of the 501st instead, but it would be another 2 months before that legion is even mentioned. Clearly, the dev team was undergoing some major changes to the story in the early months of 2005.

There's a few more neat details, like how BF1 pilots and Wookiees were still being used. Man, I love learning how the game changed during development.

QuoteMost of the initial modders for the game have long since moved on to bigger and better things.  It's been 15 years!  I am sure that many a current programmer or IT tech learned a lot from programming LUA for this game.   

That's understandable. Still, if there could be a thread in which modders give approval for their older works to be remade, or maybe those gone for 10+ years no longer requiring consent, then that would be good for opening up creative opportunities. I can imagine "Legacy Map Packs" being released to celebrate modding history.

Quote from: Giftheck on March 15, 2019, 12:21:20 AM
Also depends on what you're asking for. Are you talking about mod maps being remade, or the stock maps?

Mod maps. The stock maps are great.

This is just a thought that crossed my mind. I figured that, with some of you having so much more experience from years of modding, perhaps some of the older, more basic, and more clunky designs from the past can be rebooted with more current standards. I don't know what maps in particular would warrant this, nor how feasible/worthwhile doing such would be, but I'm curious.

It's just a bunch of hallways. How interesting can it be--

[mind becomes blown]


Oh, this is a treasure. The custom units, alone, are remarkable. Add the pristine aesthetics, the polished minimap, and some cool places like the rooms that show stars flowing across view screens, and this becomes another reason why every BF fan should get this game. I'd love to try it in multiplayer!

Oh, it was leaked for a while on the Free Radical Wiki (as well as an obscene amount of content related to BF3).

I love how the MAF looks completely different from the final version.

To you fine people, among the most dedicated to Battlefront 1, with some of you perhaps having been around to enjoy it since the beginning, I'd like to present my draft about the history, mechanics, and context of Battlefront. You might be among the most insightful to point out errors and areas to improve or expand it. If interested, then PM me for a copy.

I've reached the point where I think I've exhausted nearly every single available resource and now I'm sick of looking at it. So, for now, I intend to leave BF1 behind and concentrate my effort towards either BF2 or the canceled BF3. Obviously, it's unfinished--I still need to determine the best formatting and optimize some of my more verbose sections, as well as clear out any notes and "to-dos" that litter the document. But having a different perspective read it in the meantime would make it a better project in the long-term.

Currently, it's 363 pages. But don't worry! Much if it is articles copy-pasted onto a timeline and photos! Here's the structure:


01-25: a history of LucasArts. The purpose of this section is to show how LucasArts rose and fell and therefore show what Battlefront, as their first true blockbuster success in a time when they weren't doing well, would mean to them.

25-41: Battlefront's context among other SW games and what little we know of its development history.

41-59: A basic overview of what was shown to us in the announcement, then in the months up to release, and how it implies the kinds of changes that the game underwent during that time.

59-190: a timeline of complete articles, photos, factoids, and videos used in this research, with the occasional narration.

190-351: talking about everything regarding the game, from how it compares to Battlefield 1942, to mods, to patches, to the history of sites like FilePlanet, to canon status, to Easter eggs, and plenty more.

352-363: just stuff that I'm thinking of implementing, like a bit more info about the Jim Ward restructuring of LucasArts in 2004 and photos of cut content.


I understand that it's a lot and might seem intimidating to start reading. That's okay! I know it's a lot and that's why I hope to release a trimmed-down video version at some point! Your effort would be appreciated and you'll be credited as an Editor for commenting about it.

I have absolutely no experience with that. If you'd like, then please PM me with a more detailed proposal for this topic, tell me some anecdotes about it, and perhaps we can incorporate it into the "Multiplayer" section of the document.

I wasn't planning to talk about the history of this site (in major detail, at least), nor about clans. I didn't think that there would be much worth talking about. But, if there is content worth preserving, then I'll be happy to do so! However, the section on LucasArts and BF1 is, alone, 320 pages and still growing, with each month of research feeling like I'm digging ever deeper into a bottomless rabbit hole.  It's an exhausting effort with few signs of stopping anytime soon. So, maybe I'll return to that topic as a post-release addendum, once I'm finally done writing and no longer feeling like such in-depth research is a Sisyphean task. 

Also, the Museum is great! I already devoted a small section to it!

Yes, it's beautiful!

The version of it that survived (GameFront) technically still has most of this stuff, but all of the community contributions like polls and news were relegated to the bottom of the page . . . and there's a lot of content you have to scroll past to find it, so it can be forgiven to assume that all of that stuff was deleted.

QuoteIf you got any more questions about SWBF history, don't hesitate to ask, we've still got active users that were here at the beginning.

After learning that you were hiding a developer from me (even after I said that I was making an in-depth analysis of the BF series, haha), I can only imagine what secrets remain!

QuoteIf you haven't already, I'd also recommend looking at FileFront on the Internet Archive for some lost SWBF history:

The Internet Archive is honestly what saved my project. I thank it for retaining a certain forum post back in March 2005, when Battlefront 2 was apparently first leaked via PC Gamer Magazine, and Psych0fred made a lengthy post reprimanding people for calling BF1 an incomplete product and BF2 a glorified expansion. With his existence known, it was only a matter of time before I found that he was involved here too!

But yes, while I did write a lot about what modding was like back in the early days of FileFront (and where sites like it have ended up), I didn't actually consider delving into the newsletters, reviews, and comments. Okay, I did copy one funny poll about ewoks, but that was the extent of that coverage. I'll give it a second look.

This is great stuff, guys. Thank you so much for the help! He's definitely going to get a section devoted to himself in my Battlefront retrospective!

Just a few questions. In his forum, he posted this line: " The Bothan, Imperial Probe Droid, and Thrawn are in Chain Isle."

What is "Chain Isle"? And were Thrawn (and in another line, Boba) actually made for BF1, or did he release them as some early BF2 content or personal projects?

http://www.secretsociety.com/forum/display_message.asp?mid=960

I recently learned that one of the devs for BF1 and 2, Psych0fred, has made some contributions to this community. I would like to know more about the extent of these correspondences, maybe learn about other devs who participated, and have some questions answered.

Psych0fred's misc items look to me like WIP content intended for BF1 and 2, although they could just be post-launch efforts made by a dev that loves modding. Could anyone confirm which one?

http://www.swbfgamers.com/index.php?topic=3568.msg38044#msg38044


And here's his Beta vehicles:
http://secretsociety.com/forum/downloads/Psych0%20Projects/BetaVehicles/
It seems fairly clear that these are actual assets made during development and that only some were meant for BF1, although I do wonder if there are more dev-provided downloads of this sort available here.

I also found these posts:
Sound Discussion: http://www.swbfgamers.com/index.php?topic=6039.0
Interview: http://www.swbfgamers.com/index.php?topic=6608.0 

The work of digital archaeologists will always be appreciated.

I think we should start compiling a list of all the "official" maps from the Battlefront spinoffs that were ported to the main series. How many were there so far?