“Never will you find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy”
Concept Art in Star Wars: The Old Republic
It is almost been a year since I was able to partake in the fun and mayhem that is Star Wars Celebration. This was my second time being able to attend this event and I was overwhelmed once again by outpouring of fans that are always there to greet Star Wars with open arms. Although living in Florida makes you somewhat immune to most heat, especially after having grown up in the corn fields of Central Illinois, the week of Star Wars Celebration was one of the hottest, stickiest, and nastiest that I have expierenced since moving to Florida, which with the crush of attendees almost gave it that lovely Comic-Con or PAX funk.
On Friday and Saturday we were treated to dual presentations on the Art and Writing in The Old Republic, hosted by Drew Karpyshyn, Hall Hood, Arnie Jorgensen, and Clint Young. This presentation really revolved around Arnie or Clint doing live concept art for the game on an enourmous digital screen while the rest talked about aspects of the game from a story and writing perspective.
Follow the flow of the show after the jump
Clint took the stage on Friday working on a planetary landscape that he did live during the event. During this time they talked about a lot of stuff we already knew after E3 with the release of advance classes and player ships. Below you will see a progression of the artwork that they worked on from start to finish.
Saturday was just as crazy as Friday with a whole slew of fans waiting in line to get into the auditorium to see the presentation. Once again we were treated to the “Hope” cinematic on a giant High Def screen with the sound cranked up to 11. Once again the guys took the stage but this time with a twist. Arnie took over the artist’s brush for the day and worked on a character concept piece. This was never released through the SWTOR website and Arnie did make mention at the end “I might get in trouble for this” Check out the shots below and I will let you draw your own conclusions to the race and outfitting of the concept.
Each day after the presentation the developers also did a meet and greet with the fans at the “G4” Hoth Ice Bar. Needless to say I think they were a bit overwhelmed by how many of us fans and fansites showed up to check it out. Also included in this round were Rob Cowles (Marketing for LucasArts) and Leo Olebe (Marketing for BioWare). With the lines and the queue to get in I got to spend a little time with Rob and Leo and was able to ask them a few questions. Being a from a business background we talked more about the logistics and marketing than anything else. First I learned that BioWare and LucasArts work hand in hand on everything from the “Friday updates” to “packaging” and “marketing design”. Everything that we see come out on a weekly basis as well as what we see in the final product is gone over with a fine tooth comb to make sure we are only seeing the things that are ready. Are there some things that have slipped by, “Yes.” When you have a bunch of rabid fans looking for anything and everything we are bound to find something that maybe wasn’t supposed to be seen yet.
Also in talking to Rob we will see a “major marketing push before launch” as well as hopefully some “new products” in addition to some of the shirts, hats, and figures that have been slowly leaked into the mainstream.
In addition this weekend I will also try to live blog from the opening weekend of Walt Disney World's Star Wars Weekends
I know we probably won't see any new information from SW:TOR but there should be some cool reveals none the less. I will keep you updated as best I can.
