Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga Interview

YVG: How about the DS version? What are you doing with that?

SS: We're really excited about it. It's brand new, from the ground up. The only thing it has in common with the previous version, Lego Star Wars 2 on the DS, is the platform itself. [Lego Star Wars developer] Travelers' Tales has a new team working on the DS version, putting together a lot of touchscreen games. I was just playing a new build this morning, and we've got touchscreen Force powers for Force-using characters. You can flick away enemies, send them flying across the screen and out of your way. Force Build and Force Move use the touchscreen too.

We also have touchscreen minigames unlockable as bonus content, plus some in-game puzzles that use the touchscreen as well. Oh, and there's wireless co-op as well.

YVG: Wireless co-op? How many players?

SS: Just two. We did have discussions about moving up to four player, but with the amount of screen real-estate you have and the way the camera works, it's best to just stay with two players.

YVG: Can you give us an example of one of the DS minigames?

SS: We have a dozen that we're working on right now. Some may fall out, or we may add some extra ones. For now, there's a pod-racer pitstop game where you have to do various things to a pod racer inside a time limit. There's one we're calling Deflection right now, which simulates Luke's Jedi training experience with the floating orb and the lightsaber.

YVG: You're aiming for 1080p resolution graphics on the PS3. Will you be doing that on the Xbox 360 as well?

SS: I want to be able to do it, and I'm pushing the developers to be able to do it. I'm certainly hoping that it's possible - I don't see why not, but then I'm not a programmer, and I've never played one on television. I can't even begin to put myself in their shoes.

YVG: Tell us about the motion controls you've added for the PS3 and Wii.

SS: We're going to be using the Sixaxis controller for vehicle levels. With the Wii, we're taking that a little bit further and using it to supplement the player's experience of the game. For example, you'll be able to attack with a button press or a trigger pull - or by swinging the remote left to right or up and down to execute lightsaber attacks. Or you can use it with blaster-equipped characters for melee attacks - so when she's in range, pull the trigger and Leia fires her blaster. Get up close and swing the remote back and forth and she starts punching out the nearest enemy characters.

We're trying to be intelligent about it. We don't want it to feel tacked-on or annoying, and that's definitely something we've seen happen with other attempts at integrating the Wii into existing games. We're trying to be careful with it.

YVG: Can you name a couple of the new characters for us?

SS: We've got Watto and Zam Wessell, a couple of new droids, R4-D5, I believe - we have a list of about a half dozen, but with 160 playable characters already in the game we've gone pretty deep into the Star Wars canon to pull out a lot of them already. One of our challenges is to find ones that are contextually important, ones that people will recognize from the movies or from previous experiences they've had with Star Wars lore.

YVG: You're adding DVD-style bonus features to the game. Tell us about what you have in mind.

SS: Sure. We're adding a couple of original, untweaked levels, so people can see what work-in-progress stuff looks like. But the big thing here are our deleted scenes with commentary from the developers, Travelers' Tales -- stuff that was cut from the original releases. We have a bounty hunter pursuit, the asteroid chase from Episode V, stuff that people can look at, hear the commentary and understand why we cut it. We're looking to mirror what's done with DVDs these days.

YVG: Is all that really going to fit on one disk?

SS: Yes! One disk is what we're planning currently.

YVG: How many hours of gameplay is that, all in?

SS: It's hard to say. It all depends on what kind of gamer you are. Some people like to collect every single stud that's available in the levels - others like to play through as fast as they can. Your mileage may vary.

YVG: Were you surprised by the success of the Lego Star Wars series?

SS: You know, it's one of the things we talk about here: who would have thought it? Lego, and Star Wars, together? That's like chocolate and peanut butter. But once you sit back and analyze it, a lot of us had great experiences with Lego blocks as children, and then those same people were enthralled with Star Wars' imaginary world. It's surprising when you first think about it, but on further analysis it's more like, "Gee, why didn't we think of this sooner?"

YVG: So - where next for the series? Lego Star Wars II was, what, the third best selling game in the country last year?

SS: Yeah, something obscene like that.

You've done the two movie trilogies, and now you've put them together, so what are you going to do with this fantastic idea now?

SS: Well - that's actually what the brain tier here at Lucas Arts and Travelers' Tales are busy working on. We've got some ideas, but right now it's all very conceptual. It's much too early to comment, but we definitely want to continue the Lego humor, the fun, all-ages appeal, the pick-up-and-play nature, and the satisfaction people get from playing this endearing and fun game.