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Q&A with Battlefront: Renegade Squadron Team
(From StarWars.com)
 LucasArts Lead Designer Mike Rosser, Lead Tester Ryan Adza, Assistant Producer K.C. Coleman, Product Marketing Manager Mike Webster and Renegade Squadron Blog Master Chris Baker answer fan questions about Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron.
If we can play as the CIS and Republic, will there be a remade Geonosis map?
Mike Rosser, Lead Designer, Battlefront: Renegade Squadron: The Geonosis map has been remade and can now be played in both eras. It's actually more compact than the one in the PS2 version of Battlefront II because Battlefront: Renegade Squadron supports fewer players, and we have tailored all the maps to be appropriate for the PSP platform. Geonosis is still an action-packed level, one of my favorites. The big vehicles (i.e. the AT-TE and Spider Walker) start at the far ends of the level and march inexorably towards the middle for a clash of the titans. Don't worry -- there's plenty of room for the walkers to maneuver!
Will this Battlefront title utilize the full processing power of the PSP? (I have heard rumors that newer games are planning on unlocking the full potential of the PSP's hardware.)
Rosser: The single-player portions of the game will indeed be using the full 333mhz. We are not allowed to use this in multiplayer (due to the power consumption of the Wi-Fi hardware), but rest assured that in both modes you'll experience a smooth frame rate.
Are you focusing on Jedi Knights, and if so, do they have new abilities?
Rosser: The focus in Battlefront: Renegade Squadron is on the customizable soldiers, not the Jedi Knights. Of course, all the Jedi you know and love from Battlefront II return, along with new ones such as Ben Kenobi, Asajj Ventress and Kit Fisto. You can expect all the classic abilities too, like Force push/pull, Force lightning, Force choke and so on.
Although our focus hasn't been on the Jedi, we know how much people like playing as them, which is why we've introduced the new Hero Capture the Flag gameplay mode. In this mode, you can pick up your own flag to transform into the hero; as the hero, you must try to defeat the enemy hero so that your teammates can steal his/her flag, whilst protecting your own team's flag. It's a lot of fun!
How many A.I. will be playing in each match?
Rosser: The maximum we support is 8 versus 8, although you can specify fewer through the server variables, if you so wish. Bear in mind that we have significantly altered all of the Battlefront maps so that they are ideally suited for 16 players, so even though we have fewer players than the home console versions of Battlefront II, the action is just as intense and unrelenting!
How easy is it to kill people with blasters? In the first two games you were better off spamming the rocket launcher and grenades than trying to own with blaster rifles. Is this going to be fixed this time around?
Rosser: This isn't really a problem with the new lock-on system we're introducing. The rocket launcher only locks onto vehicles, so you have to go into free-look mode to dumb-fire it -- this makes it potent as an anti-vehicle weapon, or if you're in a good defensive position, but it's certainly not overpowered. The blaster rifle is a good all-rounder. In general, I'm very pleased with the weapon balance -- in play testing, everyone had their own favorite load-outs, and there weren't any weapons that were always the automatic choice. People will have to mix it up and change their load-out based on the map and game mode they're currently playing.
Can you tell us what vehicles from both the PC version and PSP version of SWBF2 will be back again for another round?
Ryan Adza, Lead Tester, LucasArts: All of the vehicles from BF2 except for the hail fire droid and the cloud car made it into Renegade Squadron, and we've added a bunch of new vehicles like the T4-B Rebel tank and the A5-RX battle tank, which is the new vehicle to the Star Wars universe that Mike described the other day. We have also added hero vehicles in space, so you will get the opportunity to play as the Millennium Falcon and Slave I.
Will I be able to make a character with a Jetpack, Clone Blaster Rifle, and Clone Commander's chain gun, decked out in a dark gray Jet Trooper armor? Or is this strictly a Galactic Civil War affair and you won't include some Clone Wars stuff?
Adza: First off, this is a full Battlefront game, so you will be able to play as not only in the Galactic Civil War time period, but also in the Clone Wars. As for the character you are asking about in your question, you can make a character on the Clone side that looks sort of like this. There is no actual Jet Trooper skin but there are some clone skins that will get you close. There is also no gray custom color, but there is black -- which I think looks really cool.
Now for the weapons: You can have a clone with a jetpack and either a blaster rifle or a Clone Commander's chain gun, but you cannot have both since they are both in the weapon 1 category. But there are a ton of really cool choices for a secondary weapon that you can have to complement your weapon 1 choice and your jetpack. Some of these weapons include an explosive blaster pistol or an EMP launcher.
Are the load times okay?
Adza: They're better than most PSP games, with loading times at 10 seconds or less.
Will there be more to shoot in space battle than the last one?
K.C. Coleman, Assistant Producer, LucasArts: There certainly will. Not only is there full support for 16 players online, but we'll have that same number of A.I. in the offline modes as well. You'll have bots doing things like bombing runs and hangar invasions, as well as dog-fighting in space. Have fun!
Will there be downloadable content, like maps and stuff from the Internet?
Coleman: The game's not even out and already you want more!?!? Sheesh. Well, to answer your question, at this time there won't be. We think that once you see the amount of content that is available in the game that comes in the package, you'll be satisfied for a long time.
Will this game have VOIP? I mean, can you talk to people from around the world through the Internet and a mic?
Coleman: No, but we will have other ways of identifying your friends during online play, like Insignias and unique color combinations.
What size will the maps be? Anything like the first two big brothers?
Coleman: For this game, we knew that we had to really get into the minds of the PSP player and what they like and don't like about a unique PSP experience. For that, we went back to the drawing board (literally) when it came to designing the maps. We knew from research that a lot of PSP owners fall under the category of "opportunistic" gamers, meaning gamers that like to play games when the opportunity arises. Whether it be on the bus or at lunch or on the plane or after their homework, we knew that the game we were making had to be fun and compelling in not only long periods of gameplay but also in short bursts.
With this in mind, we were able to design and redesign the maps to help accentuate this idea. Every map in the game is new is some way or another. If it's a map that was in previous Battlefront games, we repurposed it. If it was a new map that we had never seen before then we...well, we made it new!
As for the size of the maps, we feel like since the battles are going to more focused so that players can get into the action of the game quickly to take advantage of that opportunistic style, we wanted the size of the maps to be more focused too.
You'll find as you play that the areas of combat are pretty focused and fierce, as well as easy to locate. There's always going to be someone/something to fight. And yet we also made the maps large enough for 16-player combat with all the great vehicles and areas to explore.
In conclusion, yes the maps are like the first two games in the fact that you are going to get all the great Battlefront action of solider combat and vehicle combat, but they are also brand new experiences that will allow for great fun in true PSP fashion.
Will there be an option to have everyone be pre-made classes like before?
Coleman: There will not be an option to have multiple pre-made classes, but you can make a class that is exactly the same as the ones in BF1 or BF2. Once you've customized your character, the game will save that particular weapon load-out to your guy so that no matter what mode you go in to (Instant action, Multiplayer, etc.), you'll have that character loaded out. AND, it'll also save across factions. For example, if you make a sniper for the Rebels, it'll save that weapon load-out for when you play the Empire or Republic or CIS.
BUT THAT'S NOT ALL, FOLKS!!
You can even go into the customization part of the game before you even get into battle. There is a section at the main menu that will allow you to customize your characters for each faction, so that if you always want to play as a clone trooper with the shotgun and the Imperial with the jetpack and Carbonite Freeze Gun (that's right -- FREEZE GUN!), the game will remember those specific load-outs.
Will there be unlockable content so you can play as George Lucas?
Coleman: HA! Actually, we thought long and hard about adding something very similar to this into Renegade Squadron, but alas, we had to scratch it. There are plenty of achievements and medals in the game that players are going to have a lot of fun attempting to complete, hopefully that'll hold you over. Some of them are really tough, so be sure to report back once you've accomplished them all!
Is there an analog nub sensitivity option?
Coleman: There sure is. We actually allow you to control the pitch, yaw and turn rate of the control nub.
Are there completely customizable controls?
Coleman: We have two very cool controls schemes in the game: the one we revealed yesterday, and we've also got the PSP Battlefront II controls in there as well. These proved very popular as most of you know, seeing as Battlefront II is the third best-selling game on PSP to date!
In the trailer it said you can choose your guns. But will you unlock upgrades or new guns through beating part of the game, or is there some type of currency that you get from kills, Jedi kills, etc.?
Coleman: Each player will start out with 100 credits that they can use to purchase their weapons and even their abilities like health and speed. We didn't want players to earn more credits because we thought that would get unbalanced in multiplayer. However, we are certainly open to adding that feature on future versions of this game!
In Battlefront II, if you died then you just became someone else in the majority of the modes. So when you say "create a character," do you mean "create a Jedi" or "create a class"?
Coleman: It's more like create a class. While we still have the opportunity for you to play as heroes (including Jedi), the customization happens around your solider class. No longer are you forced to have one weapon set for your character. You can finally have whatever you want...for me it's the pink Wookiee with the jetpack and the rocket launcher!
Just wondering, are you guys planning on releasing a demo for this game?
Mike Webster, Product Marketing Manager, LucasArts: Unfortunately, no. This was really tough for us, but by adding customization, personalization, online multiplayer and a whole single-player campaign, we just didn't have the time to do a demo and maintain the LucasArts quality level on the rest of the game.
Any idea when this is going to have a UK launch date? I'm a HUGE Star Wars games fan and have been keeping tabs on this for a while now. Is this coming out in the UK? If so, how much?
Webster: The European release is scheduled for 12 October for 49.99 Euros.
Why does the Daxter bundle get an extra 1 GB memory card and a UMD for the same price? The UMD and Daxter is more or less equal to the price of a new PSP game, so why no memory card?
Webster: Great Question. Sony sets the pricing on the bundle, as well as its contents. However, I think a lot of Star Wars fans would agree that the Vader PSP is an incredible Star Wars collectible on its own. Keep it in good shape and -- who knows -- you might just have something worth more than $199.99 before too long. Take the Vader PSP to the "Antiques Roadshow" in 100 years and let us know how you made out.
Why a PSP exclusive? Not too mention a shooter? Was it ever considered for other consoles/handhelds?
Webster: The PlayStation platform has been a great platform for Battlefront, and we have always felt like this platform delivers on the Battlefront experience of being able to play the classic Star Wars battles any way you want (and now anywhere you want and with anyone you want!). We are always looking into how we can deliver that experience to more consumers and once we feel that we can deliver an experience worthy of Battlefront, you will see it on retail shelves.
Is there any way this'll make it to the PS2? Is it coming to Wii?
Chris Baker, Renegade Squadron Blog Master, LucasArts: Well, you can never say never to anything, but there haven't been any announcements of the game arriving on anything but the PSP. Since Renegade Squadron was created from the ground up for PSP, it's mostly likely to only ever be a PSP game.
Seeing as T4-Bs have been included. Would we see some more Empire at War content make into BFRS, like Tyber Zahn?
Baker: The T4-B is the only content from Empire at War, but there is another vehicle appearing for the first time in Battlefront that originated in a LucasArts game. It's called the TIE Defender, and the first place it ever showed up was in the beloved 1994 PC game, TIE Fighter.
Will there be any Clone Wars battles in the game?
Baker: Since the story mode occurs in the Galactic Civil War era, there won't be any actual Clone Wars battles there. However, a mission does occur on Boz Pity, which was briefly mentioned in Episode III. Outside of the story mode, you can relive several Clone Wars battles in Instant Action, including Saleucami (for the first time ever), Mygeeto, Mustafar, Naboo, Geonosis and Kashyyyk.
Can you customize your characters with a lightsaber?
Baker: A lightsaber is a Jedi's weapon, and since none of the customizable characters are Jedi, well...you get the idea. However, you of course have the chance to wield a lightsaber whenever you unlock the ability to play as Jedi hero characters.
Seeing from the name of this game, this isn't really Star Wars Battlefront III. Are there any plans for a real Star Wars Battlefront III any time in the future?
Baker: We haven't announced a Battlefront III. (Side note: The Battlefront franchise is the best-selling Star Wars and LucasArts franchise ever. Just thought you'd like to know.)
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October 4, 2007 
