Development Cycle Archive

Why not let everyone be a Jedi?

Everyone wants to play a Jedi. Every other SW game that has any semblance of role-playing allows players to fulfill this fantasy. SWG is the singular exception.

The canon of the time period maintains that they are rare. But rare compared to what? SW is a universe that represents thousands and thousands of worlds, with millions of inhabitants on each. The game only models a handful of those worlds, and incredibly few non-player inhabitants. Coronet itself should be a city teaming with a life its own, not just a collection of solid prop buildings. Where are the newspapers? Where are the hints that there is some sort of life going on beyond the player run cantinas and the starport entrance auction area? Canon doesn’t need to be broken, merely the fiction surrounding play circumstance. Instead of the players representing all the life there is in the galaxy the fiction needs to be reworked so that it accurately describes the players as those rare rugged individuals who leave home and hearth seeking adventure. If all the players are rare being then all of them possessing rare powers becomes much less an issue.

Lots of Jedi break continuity. Any more than cloning? Any more than multitudes of blaster shots failing to kill bunnies and butterflies? Any more than being able to exchange blows with Rancors? Reality is consistently broken in favor of fun. The fiction of the game itself could easily be bent to maintain canon for the most part. Certainly it wouldn’t hurt the fiction any more that it already is.

I don’t want to see big groups of Jedi blasting away at each other. Too late. There are already guilds that have multiple individuals with FSCS. As time progresses and with the interest in becoming Jedi that the fanbase have this situation will only grow more pronounced.

But most of all the subscribers, the fans want to play them. That reason alone is enough to reconsider the philosophy of trying to maintain a type of rarity. Rarity of such an iconic figure only rewards the most hardcore players who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. The bulk of the subscriber base and the majority of paying customers are locked out.

Changes that could be implemented to allow all players a crack at Jedi.

• Create a sense that the universe beyond the players exists. Newpapers, Info terminals, and NPC conversations should be created and updated regularly to include frivolous back story fluff, like reports of battles happening out on the rim, crime in the cities, and political intrigue among the governors and moffs of the universe. Woven into these could be hints to missions and POIs that already exist in the game.


• Make Jedi rare on specific planets. Allow player jedi to do their thing on the rim, the fictionally unpopulated world like Dathomir, but have the entire Imperial army come down like the hand of God if force powers are used on Theed or Corellia. This may force an even greater number of Jedi to congregate on certain planets, but those locations would at least be fictionally representative of areas fugitives might gather.


• Cap the amount of XP a FSCS can receive in any one day. Players will be unable to rush straight to the top. Devs will also be able to monitor and predict with greater accuracy the levels that Jedi players will be able to achieve. For achiever characters this may very result in their only playing the Jedi character while it is capable of receiving XP. Perhaps only allow play of a Jedi character for a set amount of time in excess of their XP cap each day.

I have read what you believe is a good way to become a jedi, and altought im not a dev or anything,I just personally wanted to commend you because I believe your way is a great way to do this, and its also a way that alows every player, not just power players, to become a jedi!

Sincerely,

'Alex Naberie ( Valcyn Server)

Old Yeller

Short quest that is one leg in the player’s quest to unlock the FSCS. At several points the player will have to make moral decisions that while not particularly changing the outcome of the quest may help determine whether the player follow a dark or light path in their drive to Jedihood.

This adventure is assuming the player will need to hunt down clues leading them to a fifth column of hidden Force Sensitives who will eventually reveal how to unlock the FSCS. It also assumes that there is some sort of information network for the characters to access, libraries with research computers, governmental record computers, fifth column jedi operative placed throughout the galaxy, etc.

On completion of the previous quest the player will be given the name Mitzi Regal who helped the Jedi during the clone wars. She was a medic during the war and made friends with several Jedi, she may have information leading to surviving Jedi, if the player can find her.

The first part of the quest is tracking Dr. Regal down. Trips to libraries should reveal that she is now involved in the Arquarian Society, a group of doctors dedicated to wiping out degenerative diseases. Further research show that the Arquarians are headquartered on Rori. Once on Rori any medic or doctor NPC should have an additional conversation text box that displays for players flagged with this quest. They will reveal the waypoint to where Dr. Regal is harvesting rare flora to make medicines for the rapidly escalating civil war occurring out on the Rim.

Once the player arrives at the farm they will find Dr. Mitzi and several staff member fretting over several sets of crates. Conversation will open with Dr. Regal expressing disbelief that some of her equipment is missing.

Dr. Regal if asked immediately will shrug off any inquiries regarding the Jedi. “That was a long time ago, I have work to do.” If asked about the missing equipment she will explain that the floral harvester is specially manufactured for a rare type of plant. She would greatly appreciative any help the play can offer but being a doctor doesn’t have much in the way of reward. She will explain that the missing crates may have been stolen by a nearby group of ne’er-do-wells, fallen of the transport somewhere between the camp and town or possibly been taken by someone in the camp.

The parts in fact did fall off the transport speeder. The crates were then picked up by another group of farmers living near by. If possible there should an animal lair or plants in between the camp and town. Examining these should reveal hints to scouts and rangers, “There’s a deep impression in the ground, as if a heavy object fell here.” Or “Some of the branches of this bush are snapped as if being carrying a heavy object moved past.” Or “There are footprints nearby pressed too heavily into the soil, someone was carrying a heavy object.”

Interviewing the camp personal will have a bunch of dead end conversations. Since most players will have a weapon in hand have a few conversations where the player can threaten the interviewee, “I know you hid that crate, tell me where or I start blasting!” If the player chooses to threaten display a warning asking if they are certain they want to follow this course. If they choose yes then assign a few darkside points that will affect the Jedi powers available to them once FSCS is unlocked. Ultimately interviewing the staff will prove useless.

When the player eventually visits the enemy camp they will in fact find a settlement with struggling farmers. The option to outright attack them should be offered in the radial menu. Choosing to attack should yield a warning and darkside points if the player proceeds with it.

Conversation with the farmers will reveal that they do in fact have the crates. They will be rude and belligerent and refuse to give the crates back as it’s the first financial windfall they’ve had in ages. If the player presses they will find there are a few things that they can do that would encourage the farmer to give back the crates. At this point the conversation would allow the player to view 5 alternate paths to resolve the conflict.

1. Path of Conflict – The player can attack the farmers and loot back the stolen property.


2. Path of Building – The player will have the option of building a piece of machinery the farmer needs. The player will receive a schematic and the final parameters the device needs to be considered successful. The player then must find the resources and build the device. The schematic disappears once the item is successfully traded to the farmer.


3. Path of Healing – The player will need to successfully heal several members of the farmer family back up to full health, possibly even needing to create a unique health agent with a temporary schematic.


4. Path of Stealth (smugglers, scouts, rangers and commandos) – The player will be presented with the option to slip into the farmers home at night and recover the crates without the farmers knowledge.


5. Path of Diplomacy (diplomats and entertainers) – The player will need to work through a convoluted conversation path to find that the farmers will be willing to trade the crates back to the Arquarians in exchange for medical services.

Darkside points can be issued to varying degrees for taking paths that don’t resolve the problem through peaceful and lawful means.

Dr. Regal will be delighted that the player has helped and will hint that she may indeed know something but not quite be satisfied that the player isn’t up to no good. She will press the player to prove their intention by helping to place the harvester. The player must protect an aide who will survey his way to a good spot for the harvester.

The aide will lead the player to a spot where there is a creature nest. The player cannot place the harvester because of the nest. The aide will inspect the nest and become excited. A species of Squall thought to be extinct. The family of Goldenback Squalls is a rare endangered species. The aide at this point can offer some conversation threads to help the player decide what to do.

1. Path of Conflict – The player can simply kill the Squalls and place the harvester.


2. Path of Building – The player could receive a temporary schematic that will result in an alternative habitat for the Squalls. Once placed the aide will yell and hop around chasing the Squalls to the new home. The player can then place the harvester unhindered.


3. Path of Healing – The aide will inform the player that normal stim packs act as a tranquilizing agent allowing the characters to knock the Squalls out and move them to a new location. Once moved the players will need to knock down the lair and place the harvester before the critters awake and return. (alternatively a temporary schematic could provide the same)


4. Path of Stealth (smugglers, scouts, rangers and commandos) – The aide will explain that he can convert any of their traps into a net that will hold the Squalls long enough to be moved elsewhere. If the players give him a trap he will give them a net for use on the Squall.


5. Path of Diplomacy (diplomats and entertainers) – the aide will tell them that they could inform the Rori Wildlife Service of the animals who will then attempt to capture and place them into a zoo. The player will need to travel back to town to inform the wildlife service. The animals will be captured and removed before the player returns to the site.

Dr. Regal will be ecstatic once the player returns having finished the mission. After some thanks and informing the player that their efforts will help save the lives of soldiers fighting out on the Rim as the civil war heats up, she will then give the player the next clue in their quest to unlock the FSCS.