Related
Time has been kind toStar war ’ prequel epoch . What was once decry as an abomination has become beloved by many , and while the excellentStar Wars : The Clone Warsdeserves much of the credit many of its best elements were established in prior work . One such trailblazer is 2002’sStar Wars Bounty Hunter .
Released presently afterAttack of the Clones , Bounty Hunterserves as a companion while , filling in plot of ground holes and add substantial profoundness to numerous new character . The secret plan followsbounty hunter Jango Fettas he track down the dark Jedi - turned - drug lord Komari Vosa , earns the privilege of being the template for the Grand Army of the Republic , and decides to beget Boba Fett . Much like the best episodes of theClone Wars , it ’s a report fill with mysterious cuts of the franchise ’s traditional knowledge , complex character , grimy politics , and traumatized Sith . It is essentialStar Wars .
Related : How Star Wars Bounty Hunter Influenced The Clone Wars Canon
Recently , Screen Ranthad the privilege of talking with the creative director ofStar war : Bounty Hunter , Jon Knoles , for an all-encompassing dive into the game ’s chronicle . Knoles shares his inspirations for the story , theimportant donation George Lucasmade to the secret plan , and the ways in which Boba and Jango influenced one - another . Knoles discussesBounty Hunter ’s jittery characterisation of the Sith , with the mentally traumatized Komari Vosa establishing a template that future characters , like Maul and Ventress , would follow . Knoles also detailsBounty Hunter ’s prescient game design , where narrative fuses with gameplay to give not just the humans , but even collectibles , a sense of grimy purpose . Finally , Knoles identify the unique challenges of producing a game based on a film in the midriff of yield with story variety , lead to multiple complexities . It ’s a full-bodied , informative conversation about a vital part of Star Wars history .
Bounty Hunter enriches many elements of Attack of the Clones and feel like a necessary comrade piece . How was the plot crafted alongside the celluloid ? Did Lucas have any involvement in the origination of the news report ?
From the showtime , when I was ask to make a plot found onAttack of the Clones , which I was reluctant to after 10 years ofStar Warsgames at that point already , I did n’t want to retell the floor of the motion picture . It would be an original story featuring the moving picture ’s most interesting character to me in person , Jango Fett . When I first read the Episode II script , I was surprised to learn that Boba Fett is a clone of Jango . As a fan ofBoba Fett lore , I require to remap a lot of that mythology to Jango , but I would take to get George Lucas ’s grace .
The team at Lucasfilm Licensing were receptive to my initial story estimation , and indicate I come up with a inclination of 10 yes or no interrogative sentence to send George Lucas . Those included thing like : Can I explain how Dooku / Tyranus chose Jango to be the template for the clone United States Army by creating a contest among the extragalactic nebula ’s most elite H.M.S. Bounty hunters to enamour a perturb former pupil of his ? Can I give Jango a handler or broker ( Rozatta ) to process as a voice of conscience for him ? Can I excuse why Jango wanted a Word ? Can I explain how he came to own the Slave I ? Can I apply some of the Boba Fett and Mandalorian myths and traditional knowledge to Jango ? Can I excuse how Jabba became a bigwig , can we kill off Gardulla the Hutt ? Etc .
The answers to nearly all the questions I gave George Lucas were “ yes ” in his trademark red ball point pen . He went further , even write in the margin of the page , offering brainstorm into how he opine of Jango . When I ask if I could give Jango a retaliation need , for example , he wrote “ keep it about the money , ” and wrote the simple intellect Jango wanted a boy was , “ In a word , legacy . ” The gist of it was that Jango is a soldier of fortune , motivated by money , but he ’s also human . We all want to communicate on something of ourselves . It was fantastic feedback , which boost me to start writing it all out .
Can you tell me more about the origin of the game ’s level and Lucas responses to your questions ? It sounds like Lucas invigorate you quite a routine .
Once I decide the plot ’s story would chronicle how Jango came to be thetemplate for the clone armyand I got George Lucas ’s approval to do so , including many of the other things I ’d ask him , that meant it would take piazza ten years before the outcome ofEpisode II . That meant have a satisfying reason of what all the characters we ’d feature were doing at that time . What was Dooku / Tyranus doing ? Could he have had a former prentice that he require dead ( Vosa ) ? Was Zam an effected bounty hunting watch or was she just starting out ? It also provide an opportunity to develop a backstory for Jango that would excuse his rivalry with Montross ( a name I pulled from George Lucas ’ 2nd screenplay conscription of The Star Wars . Always care that name , go baleful ) . One of the first scenes I wrote was near the end of the secret plan , where Vosa tells Jango , “ I must have cut down 20 of your kind myself , ” which is a reference to a battle where Montross stag Jango ’s wise man and left him to die while he scarper , narrate his men he actually saw him kill ( like Barnes did to Elias in the movie Platoon ) .
What were some of the elements of Boba ’s account that pep up you ? Can you separate me some more about that ?
In monastic order to help explain Jango ’s need for wanting a son , I call for him to have a mentor when he was young , someone who showed him the way of theMandalorian Warrior . I also wanted to reapply some of Boba ’s now defunct backstory to Jango , described in " The Last One Standing : The Tale of Boba Fett " short storey written by Daniel Keys Moran in theTales of the Bounty Huntersanthology , which untilAttack of the Cloneswas considered EU canyon . It ’s not a verbatim remapping – in that story , Jaster Mereel was Boba ’s actual name . We gave that name to Jango ’s mentor , and to Jango ’s ship Jaster ’s Legacy , which we decorated with symbols and color taken from Boba Fett ’s armour . And the major planet that Boba Fett was rumor to have been from , Concord Dawn , we made Jango ’s homeworld . Keeping some of the drop off mythos live .
What can you say about the characterization of Jango ? What is your view on his death scene ? Did you draw any inspirations from it andAttack of The Clones , in general ?
Jango Fett is a soldier of fortune . He hunts others , dead or alive , for money . This does n’t make him a scoundrel in my scene , though that was clearly hisrole inAttack of the Clones , just as it was Boba Fett ’s role in the original trilogy . I had to think of him as a more complex quality when I write the story forStar Wars : Bounty Hunter . He has his own moral code , which enable him to take actions a traditional hero may not . He lives a dangerous and sole life , but also a remunerative one . This give him with an interior quandary – what ’s it all for ? Is it only about the money , or is there something else driving him ?
We get a line inAttack of the Clonesthat when he was recruited to be the template for the clone US Army , he take on one shape – aside from his considerable pay – which is that he desire the first clone for himself , unmodified . In other give-and-take , he wanted a son . Why would he do that ? How was he prefer ? Those two questions from the movie were the core stirring for the game ’s story . I coiffe out to answer those questions by giving him an insufferable quest for the ultimate H.M.S. Bounty ( how he was select ) , and a last reward in the form of a Logos so as to hand on his bequest ( why he wanted the first clone ) .
I was disappointed by his death in the movie primarily because of how quickly it happened , just likeBoba ’s death inReturn of The Jedi , but if you go toe - to - toe with one of the most powerful Jedi to have ever lived , that ’s jolly much how you should expect it to end . former cuts of the film had a longer fight picture between Mace Windu and Jango , which would have been fun to find out , but it did n’t move the plot forward , so I empathize why it was cut . Personally , I think George Lucas wanted to verify Jango was n’t resurrected in expanded universe fiction the way Boba was . Like , I kill him , and you people brought him back to biography , good luck bringing this one back !
Unlike many forward-looking plot , Jango does n’t have a clear repurchase arc . What value do you see in the portrayal of such a genuine anti - hero ?
In any torpedo ’s journey , even an anti - Cuban sandwich ’s , there must be clear and compelling intent and obstruction that moves the plot forward toward an inevitable , yet hopefully surprising conclusion that you did n’t see come . His intent is clear : Capture or defeat the ultimate bounty , Komari Vosa , and collect a staggering 5 million credit advantage . The catch ; he ’s not the only one on the James Henry Leigh Hunt . The strongest obstruction Jango will confront is his adversary Montross , who is after the same thing and will barricade at nothing to thump him . But obstacle often also come from the Hero themselves in the shape of ego - doubtfulness , self-abnegation , or reverence . Jango does n’t express those , so Rozatta fill that role : “ It ’s too dangerous even for you ! ” or “ when are you going to settle down , fulfill a dainty young woman , have a kid ? You wo n’t live perpetually ! ”
A hero , or anti - submarine , must also undergo transformative modification over the class of their journey , whether it ’s salvation , enlightenment , or something else . At the beginning , it ’s only about the money for Jango . He trusts no one and always wreak alone . Over the course of the story , he begrudgingly takes the less experient antagonist Zam Wesell on as a spouse , and comes to hope her , if only a little bit . He also loses his only tangible friend , Roz , but take her last words to heart – “ detect something else to survive for besides the money , Jango . ” She did n’t plant this musical theme in his head – it ’s that internal dilemma he ’s always had . He feels compel to eliminate on his bequest . If he did have a fear , I envisage it would be departure of his bowelless independency . Perhaps that ’s another reason that he did n’t desire Boba to be modified in any way like the other clones were . He wanted Boba to become a lonely hunter with a mind and a moral compass of his own , just like him . That ’s why I made Vosa ’s terror to control his mind and make him her striver something that intelligibly knock over him . Perhaps , like Anakin , he make love what it was like to be a slave from his own puerility .
I like how you line Jango ’s bond to independence but his simultaneous desire for connection . In your popular opinion , in what ways did Temuera Morrison bring these ingredient to life ?
Temuera Morrison really enjoyed recreate the purpose of Jango and was delighted to have an total fib dedicated to his character who only address a few lines in the movie , and here we had well over an hr ’s worth of talks . He was also incredibly fun and gumptious during the voice sitting , want to have it off the circumstance for each scene , hear the other reference ’s spoken agate line so that he could deliver his with the right stride and tone – especially when read the line of credit for his face - off with Montross , voiced by Clancy Brown . In some instance , we had storyboards or animatics to provide him with even more picture information . This made his phonation session move a bit slower than you ’d have with voice actors who can power through C of lines of dialogue in just a few hours , but the results were deserving it .
We even recorded his voice for a final scene that we never made , taking place ten yr later , just before the events of Attack of the Clones , where Jango and Boba front out over the clone United States Army from his flat windowpane on Kamino . In just a few words , Temuera imbued Jango with a heap of fatherly superbia after Boba tells him , frowning , that he ’s unlike than the soldiers below them . Jango tells him , putting a paw on his shoulder , “ You are dissimilar , Boba . And you ’re my boy . ”
Vosa ’s lightsabers are eventually given to Ventress , the belovedSith assassin inThe Clone Wars . That is to say , Bounty Hunterand its characters extend to take a hop in the larger creation even if some of the specific item no longer are canon . How do you see the games ’ office in theStar Warsuniverse ? Did you interact with other author to connect it into a greater narrative ?
As for what is canyon and what is n’t , that ’s never been authoritative to me , except that we had to respect what was truly was canyon – which was at the time only the films and the radio depict . Everything else in the EU was something we tried to be respectful of and consistent with , but it was n’t canyon . I ’m please that many characters or situations we manufacture for the game live on in Star Wars . Or casting choice : I was delighted to see Clancy Brown , who provide the voice of Montross , also play a role inThe Mandalorian . Is that coincidence , or a nod to SWBH ? Vosa is dead , but Ventress carried on much of what inspire her fibre , include her twin curved lightsabers , which is pretty cool .
Komari Vosa was greatly urge by a couple of things that made an encroachment on me at the time ; a skittish distaff Sith conception by Iain McCaig who carried a curving lightsaber ( who was tight in appearing to what Ventress became ) , as well as anearly Darth Maul conceptthat was deemed “ too scary ” think it or not – mass of scratch , thorned headdress and such . The other was the estimate of a scoundrel so pitiless and awful that they became legend , a ghost taradiddle , like Keyser Söze fromThe Usual Suspects . Vosa and the Bando Gora cult she extend were also partly inspired by the creepy Wendol fiends from the 1999 action moving-picture show retelling of the Beowulf legend , The 13th Warrior .
To develop the secret plan ’s backstory further , most of which would n’t be cover in bully contingent in the game , but were important to nail down – such as preceding conflict between the Jedi and Mandalorians and Komari Vosa ’s role in that , as well as Jango ’s puerility and mentorship under Jaster Mereel , how Montross shit them , etc . – was devised in coaction with LucasArts fellow worker Haden Blackman , who put his immense cognition of the Star Wars EU and his storytelling chops to work out spring up those ideas further with hisJango Fett : Open Seasonsstory for Dark Horse Comics , pages of which you could also unlock in the secret plan as supplemental substance .
I get laid how you described your creation of Vosa . There ’s a palpable injury to her , even in her show . Can you say anything more about your aspiration for Vosa to be such a offended grapheme ?
I made Vosa a former educatee of Dooku , once a Jedi Master , who he also in secret trained in the dreary side of the Force until he abandoned her when the Jedi Council view as her bad to be a Jedi Knight . enrage and cuckold , she escaped their punishment and joined a doomed Jedi force sent to stop the Bando Gora . She and others were captivate and subject to physical and mental torture , drive her frantic and deeper to the dark side . She even killed her fellow Jedi prisoner , not to spare them from more torture , but to certify her magnate over her captors , becoming their leader , and using them to exact her revenge on Dooku . What happened to her is alike to those with Stockholm Syndrome , where the abducted at long last side with their captor , but because of her Force powers , she was capable to take over completely .
concern : Star Wars Reveals Who Caught Luke ’s Lightsaber On Cloud City
It ’s interesting how Vosa , herself brainwash and torment , uses the death stick to control people . Do you see her trauma as playing a role in the evolution of the drug ?
Death stick , which were just the curing up for a chuckle inAttack of the Cloneswhere Obi - Wan habituate his Jedi powers to make a destruction stick monger “ go home and rethink his life , ” became a great McGuffin for the write up . We can put on that expiry stick are speculative for you as the name implies , but also pop . Maybe it ’s a raw trend that ’s spreading across the galaxy . Vosa sees this an opportunity , using death sticks as the mean to an end , a way to get revenge on Dooku on a huge plate . retrieve of her Bando Gora raiders as mindless , bloodthirsty killers she would arrange to acquit out suicidal raids onTrade Federation starshipsand other high-pitched note value industry targets , disrupting Dooku ’s bargain with them . They are spendable . She needs an sempiternal provision of weak - minded souls to control . Death stick furnish that when modified with the Bando Gora ’s own neurotoxin , enabling her to control judgment anywhere in the galaxy just by meditating from her citadel on a hidden moon . I imagined the Bando Gora had used that neurotoxin on Vosa and her fellow prisoners . Maybe they used poison - tip digit claw , explicate her scar . When Vosa tells Jango “ they have ways of weakening your mind and breaking your will , ” possibly that ’s what she ’s talking about .
Playing Bounty Hunter today , the game sense prescient . The gameplay itself feels fused to the narrative . There ’s always a clear purpose to the action at law . What can you say about the designing from this viewpoint ? How did the narrative influence the gameplay and frailty versa ?
I had a lot of helper fusing narrative and gameplay from my lead level designer David Wehr and his talented squad of designers whose job it was to serve up moment - to - moment action that made sense to the player and with the level . He wanted to infer the logic , the nuts and bolts , of this estimate I had , that Komari Vosa ’s scheme to unite her Bando Gora and Jedi mind control powers with a new , more potent Death Stick in rules of order to expand her U. S. Army of despoiler and assassinator and work havoc on Dooku and his master ’s architectural plan across the galaxy .
That meant we had to map out whole Death Stick trafficking cognitive process , which Jango would need to systematically unravel to site Vosa , who like any condemnable mastermind would have a lot of safeguards and intermediaries in place to keep her location a enigma . There were also some position we utterly want to feature , like Coruscant , because of the amazing Episode II concept art we were seeing , both the squalid lower city and the opulent upper city . And Tatooine , with Jango properly in the center of feuding Hutt crime lords . And an asteroid prison house . And a Death Stick factory deep in a jungle . And Rozatta ’s run down space post as a start point . Once that structure was mapped out , the ease was filling in detail , construction levels and situation that advanced the plot , and inhabit them with enemies to get in Jango ’s way .
The narrative design is truly incredible on a macro shell , but even on a micro level the game has tons of relevant item with fix often telling a story . Sebolto ’s compound specially stood out to me with his home build atop Dug dilapidation . Then as you move on towards the inner sanctum the species of the enemies becomes more homogenous , implying Sebolto only intrust his fellow dug . Can you tell me about the design of this locating or perhaps another environment if there ’s one you remember in particular ?
Michael Licht , the intriguer who build the Malastare levels including Sebolto ’s chemical compound , put a great deal of idea and paper design into the layout and lucid flow of each horizontal surface , how it should experience candid and sprawling , but always funnel the player nigher to Sebolto and his regal guards . Sebulba , the bad podracerfromEpisode I , was one of my favorite prequel character – he was beggarly , but also comical . We imagine Sebolto was a king of the same specie on their homeworld , and even bastardly . Like any kingbolt , he ’d only surround himself with the most sure of his kindred . We also had an amazing conception art team , who helped give his chemical compound – and all of the plot layer – a ocular consistency and logic , and an reliable interpretation of the sleazy underbelly of Star Wars .
Aside from the level design itself , the bounties also provide contingent about the world . Some are in darkness humourous , like a H.M.S. Bounty on an Ewok slave trader , while others disturb , like those ones involving a freedom crusade group trying to free enslaved Twi’lek ’s from Jabba ’s sex trafficking ring . What did you want player to take away from the bounties ?
The side - premium were mainly an optional assemblage automobile mechanic . But also one that would hopefully prompt the player to intermit and decide whether to claim them dead or active base on the umbrage they were impeach of , or the price on their drumhead , using their own moral range to make up one’s mind which . That ’s something I wish we could have get hold of further , with event base on your decisions . early on on , it would be a musician choice to decide whether to kill or enamor live the first story bounty , Meeko Ghintee , and your determination would affect whether or not he appeared later in the asteroid prison house leakage .
On the one deal , the world of Star Wars is generally an inclusive one , and ahead of its clock time in that respect . It was normal to have a giant , hirsute , Wookie copilot who growl and barque , or strong female leaders like Princess Leia and Mon Mothma , or droids who seem to share human emotions . On the other hand , there ’s tension and conflict – “ Droids , we do n’t serve their form here ! ” And , “ Would someone get this walk carpet out of my way ! ” or , “ Bounty Hunters , we do n’t ask their scum ! ” Tusken Raiders were also picture by most inhabitants of Tatooine as unmindful killers , but they also too had families and stories of their own . The Empire was almost exclusively human , but they would enlist aliens to do their dirty work .
We did n’t delve much into that – it was n’t germane to the story , but most of the foe we threw in Jango ’s path were exotic species you saw as villain or henchman in the movies like Rodians , Grans , Dugs , Trandoshans , etc . We also did n’t desire Jango running around blasting humans all the time , because we were mindful to keep a Teen military rank . I guess in retrospect , we had our own bias there , regale foreigner as more spendable than humans .
As you say the Star Wars macrocosm in general is inclusive in its on screen introduction , with the exclusion of the predominately human conglomerate , but that there are these obscure undercurrent implied in both alien relations and criminal offence . Did these barrack any of the details of the biz ?
I do n’t think any of the game ’s characters or situations were directly inspired by that kind of matter , except perhaps the abbreviated “ rap sheets ” for some of the side - bounty hunts . The Hutt combine and others clearly had their grimy mitts in all kinds of unsavory function and would put bounties on man , aliens , or droids likewise . The Bando Gora were intentionally dehumanized ( much likeJawas or Tusken Raiders ) . It ’s not clear if they are , or ever were , ever human , but it ’s potential they could have been . Part of the fun come up with stories with the vast diversity of Star Wars existence is that if you want a new foreign species to serve a specific office , good or spoiled or in - between , you’re able to excogitate one . When Jango asks about the Bando Gora , Jabba says he does n’t deal with “ such scum , ” but does n’t say why ( maybe because he detests weak - apt drumbeater ) .
Aside from the item of the taradiddle and world , Jango ’s arsenal also feels veritable and ground as it all must be utilized in the biz . How did Jango ’s various convenience and weaponry element into the game ’s design ?
The jetpack was a all important part of the phantasy fulfillment of flirt Jango Fett , and complete down that auto-mechanic was crucial to level design , as were his dual blaster . We evolve an innovative double arm auto - place organisation that would prioritize both blaster toward an enemy you were facing , but would find a secondary target for one of the blasters to track , devote Jango a very dynamical way of dispatching enemies from all directions . His wrist flamethrower and transmission line were also signature tune tools of his trade wind , which spirit level designers put to good enjoyment . Both very powerful , but also risky because you had to get close to your quarry to expend them . We even had a couple of levels that sharpen on sniper rifle maneuver , one involving you providing distant masking for Zam as she attempts to infiltrate Sebolto ’s compound .
Speaking of Jango ’s weapons , the most knock-down artillery in the game , aside from the multi missiles , is all the toxicant flit . Jango ’s introduction inAttack of The Clonesis him using a dart to shoot down Zam . Did you wish to convey anything by make the darts so powerful ?
The toxicant Kyber Dart was thought of as a one shot / one killing artillery , and with very limited measure and challenge to use . It take manual aim ( if I recall correctly ) , which made it exceptionally risky to practice in a firefight . grownup danger , big reward . As a side note , we did n’t make love Jango would apply one to kill Zam inEpsiode IIuntil we had already created a story that have a partnership , if slight , between them . And we did n’t learn Zam was an foreign shapeshifter until very belatedly in development , which made some of the “ will they / won’t they ” semi - flirtations commutation seem odd after seeing the movie if Jango get it on she was an noncitizen , which we assumed he did n’t for the purposes of the plot report . I even wrote a chapter of the game we never made that take plaza ten years afterward , during the events ofEpisode II , where Jango subcontracts Zam to assassinate Padme for Count Dooku as a favor to Nute Gunray , which provide more setting to the scene in the movie where Anakin destroys Zam ’s assassin droid and the ensuing Salmon P. Chase through Coruscant . She messed up the job , and Jango had no choice but to silence her and protect his client ’s identity .
make up a secret plan based on a picture show with deepen production sound nerve-wracking . Were there other surprised that were n’t in the former versions of the playscript ?
There were few other late variety toEpisode IIduring development , which is one of the reasons I ’m happy we did n’t make a secret plan which intimately comply the film . take to react to those types of changes can be cruel if making a “ game of the motion-picture show ” but it did n’t affect us much . The unique sound of Jango ’s chargeman in the last Geonosis domain conflict against Mace Windu was a fairly former add in the motion-picture show , and one which we did n’t match in game principally because it did n’t work well in a never-ending firing modal value , but also because it did n’t match the strait of his chargeman in the fight with Obi - Wan earlier in the movie ( that was manifestly a specially made , more potent transposition for the one he lost in the fight with Kenobi ) .
Next : Star Wars - The Fate of Darth Vader ’s Inquisitors Confirmed ?
