“When I grow up, I want to become a Jedi.” Why not, we’ve seen worst career choices. But in practice, what’s the daily life of a Force-practitioner? And what if we happen to lean a bit towards the dark side? Or somewhere in between? Writing your own Star Wars story is exactly the goal of Star Wars : The Old Republic, the most ambitious MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) since World of Warcraft. From space missions to resales on the run, we asked the flying smuggler Emmanuel Lusinchi from planet Bioware, developer of the game, to tell us what his job really is about and how we should start to play.

Emmanuel Lusinchi © Charly Hel

Hello Emmanuel.

Hi there. I warn you, since I live in Austin, I speak Frenglish.

Well, we don’t mind, we’re bilingual. But we do have some issues translating your title: Associate Lead Designer, what does that mean?

In a development team the lead designer holds the highest position, he calls the shots. The best Bioware games have one thing in common: they have the same lead-designer, James Olen. He is also the game director for SWTOR, so he oversees a lot of elements in the game, but also retains the honorary title of lead designer. I act somewhat as his right arm. Basically, I have all the responsibilities without the glory. Today, my job is mainly to take care of any problems we might have, quickly forming teams to solve the issue. I also have to take care of player feedback and work to improve their experience. In this case, I see if I can send over their remarks to our developers, or even fix some issues myself, thanks to my programming skills.

I’ve had a copy of World of Warcraft lying around my place for a while now, but I’ve never dared to open it. What can push a MMO newbie to play SWTOR?

Three things. First, peer pressure, your friends yelling at you “man, you must try this thing!”. No marketing trick can be as powerful as word of mouth. Following the massive beta trial tested by 750,000 players, preorders exploded, which really made us super happy. Then, if you like Star Wars, it’s an opportunity to discover previously unreleased aspects we’ve always wanted to know, particularly what the daily life of a Jedi is like. You have everything in the game: from the academy where you learn about the Force and how to assemble your first light saber, to the moment you get a knighted and are sent into the galaxy. There is no other way to get that level of knowledge about these aspects. Finally, it’s just the greatest game ever developed by BioWare.

Well, I can’t promise anything, but I’ll do my best to try it, I swear! Who do you think I should start with: a Jedi, as a Sith Lord, or a Republic trooper?

I have great affinity for non-Jedis, since they don’t have access to the Force. I like the soldiers, they make you discover another aspect of life in the Republic: they are members of a strict hierarchy, and must obey their superiors and follow many rules, which is something I find interesting. But when I was a kid, my hero was Han Solo. I loved his attitude, and above all, his spaceship. It is ultimate freedom: he can move from planet to planet, he has no boss, he does whatever he wants. So the smuggler is definitely my favorite!

Star Wars – The Old Republic is available now.

Comments

• No comments yet - be the first.