De First Strike mod bracht onlangs , 3 dagen voor hun eerste release, Dev Diary nr 18 uit:

Hello there,

My name is Harold Withers, or as I'm known around these here parts, TALON. And to misquote a famous Megacity Judge, on First Strike "I am the Lore!"

Heh, well that's not exactly true. My primary role here is to work on maintaining the lore accuracy of the mod, yes. But I think every single member of the team here has a great deal of ownership in regards to the lore accuracy of this mod that we're working very hard to get into your hands. Even before I came onboard with this project towards the end of last year I was already very impressed with the accuracy of what I'd seen so far of the mod. The guys had gone to extreme lengths to bring you an as immersive Star Wars gaming experience as humanly possible, and with a universe as rich as Star Wars that lies in the details.

My first job here was to collect as much material as possible on the movies (though when time permits, my games industry background gets the better of me and I can't resist getting my hands dirty, and build a few models when I can), reference images, screenshots, blueprints, technical specifications, you name it, we've got it. Everyone scours the net, and their personal stash of memorabilia (I've been a Star Wars nut since the age of 4, I'm now 34, so you can imagine the size of that stash) for anything we can find. I think we must have the most complete collection of Star Wars reference material outside the Lucasfilm Archives as we have really strived to get every last little detail we can correct. This material is then given to the respective artist/designer to use in the production of game assets be they characters, vehicles, weapons or environments.

One aspect of this which will present itself to you as soon as you first experience the game, being a first person shooter, is of course the weapons you will get to use. We have searched high and low to bring you the most complete and accurate Star Wars weapons load out ever seen in a Star Wars game. and these will primarily be weapons seen in the movies themselves. We have all the classics, the Stormtrooper's E-11, the Rebel Alliance's A-280 and DH-17, and even Han Solo's infamous DL-44 blaster weapons, but there will also be a few little gems in the mix, blink and you'll miss them in the movies, but they're all here in game fully fleshed out loaded and ready for you to use, for the first time in any Star Wars game I'll wager.







The accuracy of our environments is also a very important aspect of our mod. I still remember the buzz I felt the first time we had our first Star Wars map in game (up to that point we had been playing with Star Wars characters with Star Wars weapons, but running around in BF2142 environments) and it instantly felt so much better, like, 'Now THIS is Star Wars!' A lot of work has gone into these maps, in achieving just the right look and feel. Mos Espa is a great looking map which really captures the essence of a Tatooine town, it's buildings are all accurately taken from reference from both Mos Espa, and a touch of Mos Eisley to bring it up to the Galactic Civil War time period, there are nice touches like market stalls, and even Ronto and Bantha tracks in the streets. And the game design behind the layout is going to produce some really exciting battles once you guys get a hold of it. Other land maps to follow will explore the other interesting and diverse locales of the Star Wars universe with just as much attention to detail.

Another critical element of our game to get right are the vehicles. Nailing that signature look and feel of a Star Wars space battle has been paramount. The lighting of the ships, the look of the laser bolts, explosions, engine glows, cockpits. All these details when done correctly add up to an unbeatable Star Wars gaming experience. Another thing is scale. We have managed to get capital ships in game with little or no sacrifice to lore accurate scale, so when you fly by a cruiser in your starfighter it's as big as it should be and then some.




But what should be noted is that lore isn't the be all and end all with this game. Being a game, it is the gameplay that is king, so there is this give and take between gameplay and lore accuracy, and sometimes sacrifices have to be made, but that said, I'm proud to say that there will be no cheap tricks to level the playing field in this mod. No giving TIE Fighters shields and missiles to make them the equal of their Rebel counterparts. Balancing is achieved by utilising lore accurate information. Sure TIEs have no shields, but they're faster and harder to hit. Lore accuracy and gameplay working in near total harmony. Trust me, as a TIE Pilot in this game you'll not be missing those shields or missiles as you light up some more Rebel Scum with your highly accurate twin laser cannons.

Well I think I've waffled on for long enough, so there's nothing left to say for now apart from that I hope you enjoy playing our mod later this week, and that I'll see you out there on the Battlefield.

All the best,

TALON