Jedi Academy Questions & Answers (http://www.theforce.net/games/articles/qa_jediacademy.shtml)

We had the opportunity to send a few questions in to LucasArts about the upcoming game Jedi Academy. The questions were answered by Kenn Hoekstra, Project Administrator, at Raven Software.


Some new info there for you all...

Turning the double saber into two sabers was considered, but we decided against it because that defeats the purpose of choosing the two-saber fighting style

Yay! I'm so glad to hear this! :)

Oh and this: Siege will feature usable vehicles

:bounce1: Excellent! Thanks for the link jp-30 :)

That's a great interview. Thanks for that link! :)

*I was wondering when that was going to be made public*

:D

TFNG: What species’ will we be able to pick?
KH: You will be able to choose between Human male or female, Rodian male, Twi’lek female, Kel Dor male and Zabrak female during the character creation process.



NOOOO!!! I WANT ZABRAK MALE!! Oh sorry for the caps :) But please, I want male and female for all races!


Power Duel is a variation on Duel which lets two players fight against one player (instead of the standard one on one) a la Darth Maul vs. Obi Wan and Qui Gon from Ep I

GREAT!! I'd very much like to see 2-2 duelling, hope that makes it into JA too!

TFNG: In terms of Multiplayer modes, are there plans to remove any, and can you give any hint as to new ones?
KH: We have removed Capture the Ysalimiri, Jedi Holocron and Jedi Master since we found them not to not be very popular in terms of number of people playing on the net. We added the new modes mentioned above to replace them.

Fine :)

TFNG: How will the multiplayer force system compare to Jedi Outcast?
KH: The force system is similar to the Jedi Outcast system with a host of neutral powers along with dark side and light side abilities, which counter-balance one another. During the character creation process, you will be able to customize your character, your lightsaber, your saber style and your force powers.

So no mixing dark and light side powers as some ppl suggested...



Nice article, thx dude!!

Nice. I'm really glad they decided not to include spliting the lightstaff into two sabers, since there would be no purpose chosing two sabers then.

But I'm dissapointed you can't chose male or female for all races. I don't see the point of not giving that option. :(

no twi-lek male... :( they already have the main parts to the male body, how hard is it to go one step further? :(

Thanks for the heads-up on that, jp-30 :thumbsup:

It's a shame to hear some of the races are currently restricted to either male or female. :(

It also appears the races already mentioned are the only ones currently available. I'm not so worried about that, though.

I suspect someone in the mod community will figure out how to add more...

I'm not surprised about some of the MP modes being omitted...I didn't really play the ones mentioned very much in JO myself. I can't wait to play the Siege mode. I have a feeling it is going to be very popular.

It's good to see there will be even more guest appearances in addition to Chewbacca.

Another good read...

Originally posted by Squater
Nice. I'm really glad they decided not to include spliting the lightstaff into two sabers, since there would be no purpose chosing two sabers then.I happy about this too. I felt it was overkill. But having the option to go with double sabers or lightstaff is nice. I think it said that there will be about double the moves for each stance, which should be great :)

Originally posted by Squater
But I'm dissapointed you can't chose male or female for all races. I don't see the point of not giving that option. :( Since I'll be going with the human male, this isn't a big deal to me. But I am surprised that this is the case. It is a good thing that the game will be so moddable. I bet we see a male Zabrak in the first week. :D

power duels sounds awesome :D cant wait to get into that


thats for the alert. ill post it up on the news asap

OK, I know I'm well established as NOT being much into MP ... but guess my favorite mode - Jedi Master. Oh well ... as has been said, Siege seems quite cool. It may well pull me into more online gameplay, as being part of a SW team universe sounds interesting.

It was also interesting about the saber-split cheat ... in that they used it to highlight both modes in the trailer. Many of us found the trailer to seem a 'quick-off' ... and I'd have to say that confirms that!

I wonder if Power Duel will just mean 3 people doing foolish things like stack themselves up while others watch instead of two? It would be interesting to have a 'duel arena' where the newcomer takes on the highest (available) on the ladder, and so on ... that way you could have up to 16 duels at a time. I know you can do that in FFA, but ... oh who knows, I like Jedi Master after all ;)

Good stuff otherwise!

Mike

Character Creation

TFNG: What species’ will we be able to pick?

KH: You will be able to choose between Human male or female, Rodian male, Twi’lek female, Kel Dor male and Zabrak female during the character creation process.

Raven's decisions continue to baffle me. Parading character customization around only to limit something so basic as full gender choice is akin to handing someone the keys to your Porsche knowing full well that it's been retrofitted with a Ford Taurus engine block.

Originally posted by txa1265
I wonder if Power Duel will just mean 3 people doing foolish things like stack themselves up while others watch instead of two? It would be interesting to have a 'duel arena' where the newcomer takes on the highest (available) on the ladder, and so on ... that way you could have up to 16 duels at a time. I know you can do that in FFA, but ... oh who knows, I like Jedi Master after all ;)

Actually, I think they should have done the Duel bit like RUNE. I recall someone made a map with a few arenas, and a central chamber where you selected all of your weapons, etc. Then you just entered whichever arena you wanted to fight in...wait for the two combatants to finish their duel, and then take on the winner (allowing them time to replenish their health). For such a brutal game, it was all very civilised, and it was quite rare (at the time) for lamers to turn up and spoil the fun for others.

The point I'm making is...there was no waiting around for your turn...you just went into any arena and by doing so indicated you were ready to have a fight.

I'd love to see a similar system implemented for Duel. Because at the moment, I've gone onto a few FFA servers, and all you get is people standing around watching duels...and waiting their turn. So in that respect, it's similar to the RUNE style I mentioned above...but people can fight when they choose. It's just that in FFA they should all be fighting...not standing around.

So if Raven implemented something like this...it would potentially cut down people idling in FFA, and keep people happy (ie, fighting rather than having to watch) while in Duel mode.

A way to cut down on lamers spoiling fun is to simply make Duels like they are in FFA...you go into a Duel mode, which means other players can't harm you...but this time allow the full range of Force powers, etc., depending on the Server settings.

Having 4 or more arenas (rather than one) to play in, must be a better way to do it. Are there any maps like that out there? I haven't had time to check...

BTW...I'm also glad that the single and dual sabers and saberstaff will be kept separated. I was rather dubious after seeing that footage, but now I feel happier about it. It's one of those rare occasions when I'm glad that choice is limited. I have to wonder if they will retain the cheat in there somewhere, though...

OK ... I know Kenn said the saber style was indicated as "The inside blue arc shows what saber style you’re using…fast, medium or strong, represented by the darker arc/icon inside the arc. " But in looking at the newest screens, I see what looks like 3 possible positions for that blue line ... this seems less intuitive to me. Or am I missing something - is it possible that there are 'substyles', and all we see are 'blue stance', but then there are differences for different styles, and then there is a line for 'yellow' and 'red' or whatever? Any thoughts?

Mike

Originally posted by StormHammer
The point I'm making is...there was no waiting around for your turn...you just went into any arena and by doing so indicated you were ready to have a fight.


That sounds perfect to me. I don't join a Duel server to check out the map ... or a FFA server that is supposedly 14/16 full to run around and realize there's no one to kill me ... errm I mean for me to kill ;)


BTW...I'm also glad that the single and dual sabers and saberstaff will be kept separated. I was rather dubious after seeing that footage, but now I feel happier about it. It's one of those rare occasions when I'm glad that choice is limited. I have to wonder if they will retain the cheat in there somewhere, though...

I'm sure it will be there ... I just hope it is easily blocked in MP. Personally, while I want as much player customization as possible, when it comes to weapons load-out, I want to be quite limited. I don't want to be able to carry single, dual and double sabers, blaster and rifle and repeater and disrupton and missle launcher and concussion rifle and DEMP2 and ... well you get the picture. I'd be very happy with one saber choice (double or dual could count as one), one explosive, 1 small arms, 1 medium arms, 1 heavy arms.

Mike

Thnx mate for the info, now i have more stuff to droul on :D

this was a good article, now we know some more about sertain subjects we have been debating

I don't think you really want to play as a male Twi`Lek. They're pretty nasty.

Nice. I'm really glad they decided not to include spliting the lightstaff into two sabers, since there would be no purpose chosing two sabers then.

I'm assuming that one will still be able to use only one saber at times and deactivate one side of the light staff at times to have/fight a single saber with it's styles and advantages/disadvantages?

On the gender thing:
I wonder if the restriction is do to voice talent. If they used the Rodian language, or whatever they jabber, perhaps they didn't want to have to record a whole other set of sound files. Perhaps the same is true for the Kel-Dor. Who knows about the Sabrac/Twilek - I assume they will speak like the humans?

Originally posted by taekwondo joe
this was a good article, now we know some more about sertain subjects we have been debating

The great thing about these articles is that they don't have to be huge to be useful. Little tidbits of clarity are very helpful as we understand more and more what this game will be all about.

It is also interesting how the video clips we've seen become less and less useful with each passing bit of information. By that I mean that we see the resolution is mediocre, know the build is old, it is too dark to see enough detail, and now we know that they cheated to get a certain effect ...

Mike

Originally posted by txa1265
Personally, while I want as much player customization as possible, when it comes to weapons load-out, I want to be quite limited. I don't want to be able to carry single, dual and double sabers, blaster and rifle and repeater and disrupton and missle launcher and concussion rifle and DEMP2 and ... well you get the picture. I'd be very happy with one saber choice (double or dual could count as one), one explosive, 1 small arms, 1 medium arms, 1 heavy arms.

Mike

I'm inclined to agree with you on this as well. The way they talk about selecting your weapons in SP certainly makes it sound like you have a limited weapon loadout there. I would like to see that carried over to MP as well, just as you describe above. So if you want to pick up another weapon in a certain category, you have to drop the one you already have in that category. That way, you still get to carry a range of weapons, but you have to choose more carefully. I especially hope this kind of thing is true in the Siege mode, where I expect weapon loadouts will be restricted according to class anyway.


It is also interesting how the video clips we've seen become less and less useful with each passing bit of information. By that I mean that we see the resolution is mediocre, know the build is old, it is too dark to see enough detail, and now we know that they cheated to get a certain effect ...

So very true. :) I hope they continue drip-feeding useful info up until release. Just enough to keep us informed, but not spoiled. :D

This game looks better each time we are told something new. The Siege mode appears to be a good idea too, and those screenies, mmmm mmmm mmmm :D

I guess I'm going to have to upgrade my Commodore 64 :D


-W

Originally posted by Emon
I don't think you really want to play as a male Twi`Lek. They're pretty nasty.
bib fortuna and boc both look like they were dropped as children... they don't represent the whole twi'lek male demographic.

I can't believe no one's pumped about the customizable fighting stances and force powers! You're able to do this from the begining! Whoo hoo!

So you'll have the three basic stances with double the number of moves for each, PLUS picking between several extra fighting stances with unique moves for each AND dual and double lightsabers!

This game = teh hot! :cool:

Glad you all enjoyed the read. I actually provided 3 modding questions, but only 2 were addressed. Here's what I asked in full.
;


I like the direction of the MP enhancements (Objective Based scenarios), and that from what I've read the game will be more "mod-friendly" than Outcast.

a) Given the reported "mod friendliness", will there be an inbuilt "scalability" on player models, so, for instance Yoda, Jawa, Pit-droid or Ewok MP characters created by fans can be in-game at the correct scale without resorting to a 3rd party mod? The strict "6-foot" player size is rather limiting when making Star Wars characters.

b) On a similar note will there be any consideration given to allowing other SP skeletons to be used as the walkplayer skeleton - eg. have a player controlled droid, Wampa, Rancor, dewback etc in MP Objective based missions. Failing that, can 'beasts' be put into MP games as bots?

c) Will there be model exporters for other modelling software outside of the cost-prohibitive 3d Studio Max? (eg. Gmax support, Milkshape / Blender exporters).

Wonder why my question "b" was ignored. :(

I had to limit the number of questions I sent in, and I picked the best ones. That one just didn't appeal to me as much, sorry JP.

I'm disappointed about the lack of Blender support. That would have been big news for the Blender community. (BW holla! :D )

LOL. Ahh, OK. Fair enough.

// still hoping for a Rancor / Wampa vs troops MP scenario //

I'd like an Invasion mode as in UT2003 :) Each wave will get harder... In teh beginning you only get those little nasty bugs you saw in JO, then some other alien lifeforms, maybe flying insects as in JK, then Wampa's and then Rancors etc... Would be great :) Invasion is really fun you know, especially if you want to have a relaxing game where you don't have to kill human enemies, but play against the AI :)

Originally posted by Emon
I don't think you really want to play as a male Twi`Lek. They're pretty nasty.

No way dude. BOC RULES!!!!!!!

Question.... Is the siege mode of play anything like that of battlefield: 1942? That game is awesome. I mean is the game set on a huge map where you have a team of guys that have to go and defeat the other teams and can respawn as a jedi or troop of some sort? Also can you set the ratio of guys on each team so that you can literally have a 30 on 30 battle and what not?

Holy Crap that Screenshot where the character is just chillin on the wall like some sort of stealh ninja owns.

I really have no idea why they aren't including two genders per race. I can understand some species may not even have genders realistically, but at least have Zabraks get both! :mad:

I hope power duel is kind of different, in my opinion it sounds cheap and stupid. I hope there will at least be different maps for power duel than there are for duel. An official DOTF map anyone?

I just hope it turns out be at least pretty different than duel, not just a copy cat version of duel mode with just an added player.

Siege sounds to be cool, I guess we can count on pretty large maps!!! I'd love to see perhaps two large fortresses, ( think the FACE map for UT), with vehicles to get to each.

What concerns me is that last screenshot. Looks like the same old saber collision code. I think I speak for almost everyone who has noticed that problem in JO when I say UGH.

Originally posted by JaledDur
What concerns me is that last screenshot. Looks like the same old saber collision code. I think I speak for almost everyone who has noticed that problem in JO when I say UGH.
true... maybe they hadn't gotten around to fixing it when that screenshot was taken? let's hope.

Originally posted by Sargasso
Raven's decisions continue to baffle me. Parading character customization around only to limit something so basic as full gender choice is akin to handing someone the keys to your Porsche knowing full well that it's been retrofitted with a Ford Taurus engine block.

Not really. That is fraud, and a felony.

What it is actually like is giving you a card for a free Porsche model xxx (about to be introduced) and saying you can have any color combination you want, and you have looked at other models and decided you want leather interior color X, exterior color Y and style Z. When more details of the new model come out, you find out that for style Z you can only have interior color Y and exterior color Y, and that if you want color X youneed style W.

... or whatever ...

In other words, it is a limitation of choices made for some reason - likely financial / timing / resource related. We want total freedom of choice, but have to realize that they will have to draw the line somewhere. I do hope they allow male & female for all 5 races, by the way.

Mike

I think it'd be better if we could switch between dual, and saber staffs.

If you really want to do that I'm sure there'll be a cheat code you can bind for it - at least in SP.