Why Choices Make SWG Special
ornj and The SWG Restoration Team - December 6th, 2024
What really stands out about Star Wars Galaxies?
Why—after all of these years—do we still have a passionate community of players and volunteers?
The legacy of SWG is its unparalleled customization and player-agency.
In what other Star Wars world can you customize your character's species to look exactly how you want? You wear custom-tailored clothing and armor from your favorite crafter, who is also a player. You combine skills from a half dozen different professions that make your character truly unique. Collect unique items from across the galaxy, decorate your house or guild hall, and even design your own open-world city and quests to look however you can dream.
It's right there on the box: "Choose your own path, and define your role as you prepare to take your rightful place in the Star Wars Universe. You're only limited by your imagination". This still resonates with us and makes us excited to expand the ways in which you can build your own story, play how you want to play, be who you want to be.
A peek across the horizon….
Choices make SWG special, and we are excited to share a preview of our upcoming Publish, which puts customization front and center. As we finally near our longstanding roadmap goal of restoring and bringing together all the best of SWG, we're going back to the roots and focusing on what is special about this game: how it truly helps you live your Star Wars Story in a way that no other game can.
New Species
One of the most fundamental ways that this game feels like Star Wars is all the incredible species that exist in the galaxy. Soon, we'll be adding five new fully-customizable species into the game; not simply NPC skins that people can walk around in, but fully modeled with new customization sliders, palettes, clothing, just like the original ten that were part of the game. This involved creating entirely new 3D models and axes of customization, new shaders and shader renderers, of course many many textures and mappings. We even ran into a fundamental limit in the number of customization variables allowed in the game and created a conversion to expand it.It's been a winding road to get here, but we are extremely excited to see what kinds of new characters and stories people can create.
New Housing Upgrades
The open world player housing system is truly a one-of-a-kind feature that we've never seen another game come close to replicating. We can't get enough of it, and it's quite literally central to the game's theme of living in Star Wars. One extraordinary thing about the game is that basically every single item that a player can interact with is a fully 3D-modeled asset (which makes adding new things to the game a much bigger challenge!). The key thing that players realized about this though is that it unlocks nearly infinite variety in the true endgame: decorating! Since every piece of loot, every crafting component and final product, any quest reward or random trinket you stumble across has a second life as a unique tool in the toolchest of some of the most creative people we've ever met in a game.We knew that we wanted to expand the horizons of what was possible here, because there's no good reason it should stop at the doorstep. Earlier in the year we expanded the usage of Storyteller props (SOE's way of turning every other type of item into even more decoration!) to now be used as permanent player city props and create some truly unique experiences and stories. Players have also wished for the ability to spruce up the outside of their homes, with things like seasonal decor. We've been thinking about that too…
New Clothing Slots
Little details are what fill the galaxy and make it feel real. One of the more niche but immersive pieces coming out soon comes from a fortunate discovery we made: SOE had built in additional wearable slots that just weren't utilized, and even had some unused assets that never saw the light of day. One of those was earrings! This was the perfect chance to add a new jewelry slot alongside Heroic Jewelry, and also restore all of the original earring assets and apply them to the appearances of all the humanoid species. We've also shared plans for holsters which we are making progress on.
These sorts of character customization choices go a long way, and truly deepen an already rich game in ways we are very proud to be a part of.
New Profession Expansion Paths
And of course, what would SWG be without the professional skill tree system? Well, I guess we do know what that looks like, but that's not how we do things here. The heart of building your character is in choosing what roles it will play in the larger community. You don't just have to be an Armorsmith from Rori or a Pistoleer from Corellia… you can be both, and more. All of the game's skills are available in any combination, as long as you are creative enough. This is deeper than just Star Wars, it's just a fun video game mechanic. It turns character creation into extremely satisfying customization and playstyle tailoring, allowing you to pick what looks most fun, most powerful, or simply what fits your character's story the best. There are no one-dimensional characters in Star Wars Galaxies, and that's truly what makes the game special.
(For more reading on some of the new expansions to the skill trees, be sure to check out our previous Developer Diary).
We've still got a lot more coming in this upcoming release, including two additional major new game systems that add even more layers of customization onto existing mechanics, and a seasonal community decoration activity full of fun personalization.
We are honored to be a part of your Star Wars story…
Standing beneath the glow of twin suns, staring at the horizon, you can feel it: the call of a life bigger than the one you know.
In Star Wars Galaxies, every horizon expands as you chase it, opening a galaxy of infinite paths and boundless choices, all waiting to be explored.
May The Force Be With You,
ornj and the SWG Restoration Team
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