Battlefront: Renegade Squadron Interview

Once we saw that we could do this, we started to ask how many players we could do it with. Sixteen players, in the beginning, was a pie-in-the-sky type of goal, but with the help of [developer] Rebellion and [server provider] Gamespy, we made it happen.

YVG: Are you going to have voice communications, or any other way for players to talk to each other?

KCC: At this time, we're not, but we're going to have tons of personalization aspects built in. When you go in and create a character, you can change their colors and insignias to create a clan feel. Then of course we have leaderboards, stats, awards and medals for people that we're tracking through Gamespy. People will build their own subcommunities off that.

YVG: Making first-person shooter controls feel right on the PSP has been a challenge. How do Renegade Squadron's controls work?

KCC: Battlefront 2 was actually the number three best-selling game to date on the PSP. We had a lot of success with those controls, but we wanted to revisit them and make them a little more arcade-style, if you will. Now, using the control stick will move you forward, left and right, but it'll also have a target lock feature using the right shoulder button. Hold that down and it'll lock you on a target that you've chosen. So once you're locked on you can circle-strafe around them, use the X button to fire and the circle button to throw your grenades. It has a good flow with the run-and-gun style of the franchise, and these controls are laid out in a very fun, arcadey style.

YVG: Tell us about the new multiplayer mode in Renegade Squadron.

KCC: We created a new mode called Hero Capture the Flag. Instead of having the flags at opposing ends of the map, you can actually choose to play as a hero who runs around holding the flag. You can't actually do anything -- as Darth Vader holding the flag you can't kill anyone. Once you're killed, the flag drops. Your teammates can actually kill you as well, if they want to play as the hero. But this is not recommended -- in this case, your flag becomes vulnerable.

YVG: What character builds are proving popular with the testers?

KCC: Right now, the standard blaster rifle with the jetpack and maximum health is a good one. Again, we've balanced them so that there's no super, uber character -- there's a very fine balance. My personal favorite right now is the rocket launcher with maximum speed and a little bit of extra health. I like making a tough guy who's also really fast.

YVG: Sounds like playing old-school Quake.

KCC: Exactly.