Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Star Wars: Knights of the recent Republic could be a role-playing game developed by BioWare and revealed by LucasArts. Written by John Drew Karpyshyn, the sound recording for the sport was composed by Jeremy Soule. it absolutely was free for the Xbox on Gregorian calendar month fifteen, 2003, for Microsoft Windows on Gregorian calendar month nineteen, 2003, on September seven, 2004 for waterproof OS X, and on might thirty, 2013 for iOS iPad, that was later updated on Gregorian calendar month nineteen, 2013 for iPhone and iPod bit and on the Gregorian calendar month twenty three, 2014 on Google Play for humanoid devices. The Xbox version is playable on Xbox 360 via the latter's Backward Compatibility feature.

The sequel, Star Wars: Knights of the recent Republic II – The Sith Lords, was developed by volcanic glass diversion at BioWare's suggestion as BioWare wished to specialize in their own intellectual properties.

Gameplay
Players select from 3 basic character categories at the start of the sport, and later select from 3 Jedi subclasses. on the far side category, a personality has "skills" stats, bed "feats", and shortly, bed Force powers, just like magic spells in fantasy games. Feats and Force powers square measure unbolted each level-up, whereas the player is given talent points to distribute among their skills each level.

Combat is round-based; time is split into distinct rounds, and combatants attack and react at the same time, though these actions square measure given consecutive on-screen. the quantity of actions a combatant might perform every spherical is proscribed. whereas every round's period could be a mounted short interval of real time, the player will piece the combat system to pause at specific events or at the tip of every spherical, or set the combat system to ne'er mechanically pause, giving the illusion of time period combat. Combat actions square measure calculated mistreatment DnD rules. whereas these don't seem to be displayed directly on the screen, the total breakdown for every action (including die rolls and modifiers) square measure accessible from a menu.

For abundant of the sport, the player will have up to 2 companions in their party. These companions can participate in combat; they'll be manually controlled by the player, or act autonomously if the player doesn't provide them any input. Outside of combat, the companions can haphazardly have interaction the player or one another in dialogue, typically unlocking extra quests. they'll conjointly participate in conversations the player has with different non-player characters.

Non-combat interaction with different characters within the game world relies upon a dialogue menu system. Following every statement, the player will choose from a listing of menu responses. The dialogue varies supported the gender and skills of the most character.

The alignment system tracks actions and speech—from straightforward word decisions to major plot decisions—to confirm whether or not the player's character aligns with the sunshine or dark facet of the Force. Generosity and selflessness result in the sunshine facet, whereas inconsiderate or violent actions can lead the player's character to the dark facet, which can alter the character's look, turning their eyes yellow and their skin pale.

In addition to the quality role-playing gameplay, there square measure many minigame events that come back up over the course of the sport. The player will have interaction in swoop athletics to realize cash, and typically heavenly body travel are interrupted by enemy starfighters, that begins a minigame wherever the player controls a turret to shoot down the opposing starcraft. The player may also have interaction in an exceedingly cards called pazaak, that is comparable to the sport of blackjack, to gamble cash.

Story
The story takes place more or less four,000 years before the increase of the Galactic Empire. Former Jedi Darth Malak, a Dark Lord of the Sith and Darth Revan's former apprentice, has unleashed a Sith fleet against the Republic. Malak's aggression has left the Jedi scattered and vulnerable; several Jedi Knights have fallen in battle et al have sworn allegiance to Malak.

The game opens with the player's character—the player will opt for a face and be male or feminine (canonically a male)—awakening aboard the Republic ship, Endar steeple, that is vulnerable by Malak's forces. The player's character step by step gathers companions and items along their past whereas trying to prevent Malak. whereas taking refuge at the Jedi Academy on Dantooine, the player's character learns to be a Jedi, discovers a "Star Map", and learns of the "Star Forge", the probable supply of Malak's military resources. The player's character and their companions search planets across the galaxy—Dantooine, Manaan, Tatooine, Kashyyyk, and Korriban—for additional data concerning the Star Forge. Through the course of their travels, the player can eventually discover their character's true identity - the brainwashed Darth Revan, whom the Jedi Council on Dantooine took in and subjected to memory modification so he would now not be a threat to the galaxy. Darth Revan had been cut once assaultive a Republic planet as a result of Darth Malak turned his guns on his former master. as a result of Bastila Shan was aboard Revan's ship with a Jedi strike force, she was ready to heal him and convey him to the Jedi Council on Dantooine. Her actions result in the force bond between her and Revan, that plays a task later within the game.

Depending on the character's alignment, upon ultimately reaching the Star Forge he or she either defeats the Sith (the light-side path) or usurps management from Malak (the dark-side path). A light-aligned character is hailed as a savior and hero; a dark-side character stands before the remaining Sith forces because the new Dark Lord of the Sith.

Characters and locations
Further information: List of Star Wars: Knights of the recent Republic characters
Eventually connexion the most character's quest square measure veteran Republic pilot Carth Onasi, the Twi'lek adolescent Mission Vao and her Wookiee companion Zaalbar, the Jedi Bastila Shan, 'Gray' Jedi Jolee Bindo, utility droid T3-M4, Mandalorian mercenary Canderous Ordo, and assassin droid HK-47 if he's bought. Juhani, another Jedi, may additionally  be a part of the party if she isn't killed fighting the most character. many of those characters, together with Canderous Ordo, HK-47 and T3-M4, conjointly seem within the sequel, Star Wars: Knights of the recent Republic II – The Sith Lords. Republic soldier Trask Ulgo is additionally playable shortly on the Endar steeple. Antagonists embody Black Vulkar gang leader Brejik, crime boss Davik Kang, bounty hunter Calo Nord, Zaalbar's twisted brother Chuundar, Sith apprentice Darth Bandon, Sith Admiral Saul Karath, Sith superintendent Uthar Wynn, Rakatan tribe leader The One, and Darth Malak, the Dark Lord of the Sith. On many planets the most character deals with Czerka Corporation, an organization operational on many planets that allied itself with the Sith, engaged in slave traffic and different wicked practices. Major allies that facilitate the player's party on the approach square measure Hidden Bek gang leader Gadon Thek, Jedi Masters Vandar Tokare and Zhar Lestin, game hunter Komad Roman deity, Zaalbar's father Freyyr, former Sith Apprentice Yuthura Ban, Republic leader Roland Wann, the Rakatan tribe "The Elders", and Republic Admiral Forn Dodonna.

Action takes place on the planets Tatooine, Dantooine, Kashyyyk, Korriban, Manaan, Rakata Prime, and Taris; aboard the cruiser Endar steeple and Saul Karath's Leviathan; and on the Star Forge satellite. an area station close to Yavin could be a playable location within the laptop and waterproof OS X versions of the sport and is out there to Xbox players via transfer from Xbox Live. Travel between these locations happens aboard the merchant ship ebony Hawk, that is additionally a playable location.

Production

Development
In Gregorian calendar month 2000, BioWare proclaimed that they were operating with LucasArts to make a Star Wars role-playing game for the laptop and next-generation consoles. Joint BioWare CEO Greg Zeschuk commented that "The chance to make a richly elaborated new chapter within the Star Wars universe is unbelievably exciting for U.S.A.. we have a tendency to square measure honored to be operating with the extraordinarily proficient people at film maker Arts, developing a role-playing game based mostly upon one amongst the foremost high-profile licenses within the world." the sport was formally undraped as Star Wars: Knights of the recent Republic at E3 2001. At now, the sport had been in development for around six months. "Preproduction started in 2000, however the discussions started back in 1999," LucasArts' electro-acoustic transducer Gallo aforementioned, "The first e-mails were in Oct or Gregorian calendar month of '99. that is after we initial started lecture BioWare. however some very serious work finally started at the start of 2000."

Technical
LucasArts and BioWare settled on developing Knights of the recent Republic for the laptop and Xbox. The Xbox was chosen over different consoles thanks to BioWare's background of developing laptop games and larger familiarity with the Xbox than different consoles: "We may do the items we have a tendency to wished to try to to on the Xbox while not the maximum amount effort as we'd ought to screw on the PS2 or GameCube," Gallo aforementioned. different factors enclosed the console's recent success and also the chance to unharness one amongst the Xbox's initial RPGs. BioWare had antecedently developed MDK2 for the Dreamcast and PlayStation two. Hudson aforementioned that "Having expertise in developing for different consoles gave U.S.A. the right mind-set for implementing this game on the Xbox, and, by comparison, the Xbox was comparatively simple to develop for."

Hudson did, however, note that there have been some challenges throughout development. one amongst the difficulties was when making a decision what proportion graphical detail to supply. "Since our games typically have plenty of AI and scripting, varied character models, and big environments, we have a tendency to stress the hardware in an exceedingly very completely different approach than most games," Hudson aforementioned. This created it tough to predict however well the sport would run. the sport uses the Odyssey Engine, supported the Aurora Engine (previously developed by BioWare to be used in Neverwinter Nights) however fully rewritten for Knights of the recent Republic. it absolutely was extremely elaborated for its time: grass waves within the wind, mud blows across Tatooine and puffs of sand rise because the player walks across the Davy Jones's locker.

Hudson noted that the variations between consoles and PCs mean that the graphics would got to be changed. "You generally play console games on a TV across the room whereas laptop games are contend on a monitor solely inches away."[12] Console games place effort into close-up action and overall render quality; laptop games emphasize what will be through with high resolutions and super-sharp textures. Hudson conjointly noted that the distinction between a game controller and mouse-and-keyboard setup influenced some style selections. The laptop version options an additional location the player will visit and additional NPCs, things and weapons; these additions were later created out there on the Xbox version through Xbox Live. The laptop version supports higher show resolutions (up to 1600x1200) and has higher-resolution textures.

Sound
While the most game, graphics engine and story were developed by BioWare, LucasArts worked on the game's audio. Knights of the recent Republic contains 300 completely different characters and fifteen thousand lines of speech. "One complete copy of the Knights of the recent Republic script fills up ten 5-inch binders," voice department manager Darragh O'Farrell noted. A forged of around 100 voice actors, together with impotence Asner, Raphael Sbarge, Ethan Phillips, Jennifer Hale, and Phil LaMarr was assembled. "Fortunately, with a game this size, it is simple to possess AN actor play some completely different characters and scatter those components throughout the sport thus you may ne'er notice it is the same actor you detected earlier," O'Farrell aforementioned.

Voice production started six months before the game's beta unharness. The voice production team got the script ninetieth complete to figure with. "There were some changes created throughout recording, however most of the remaining ten p.c are restricted in our pickup session," O'Farrell aforementioned, "The pickup session is correct at the tip of the project, wherever we have a tendency to catch performance problems, tutorial lines, verbal hints, and anything that we'd  have unmarked." A game the scale of Knights of the recent Republic would generally take seven weeks to record; fortnight of recording all-day and all-night meant LucasArts were ready to record all voices in 5 weeks. Actors were recorded one at a time, because the non-linear nature of the sport meant it absolutely was too sophisticated and high-priced to record over one actor at a time.

Most of the dialogue recorded was spoken in Galactic Basic (represented by English); but, around a tenth of the script was written in Huttese. electro-acoustic transducer Gallo used mount Burtt's Star Wars: Galactic book & Travel Guide to translate English into Huttese. "The key to recording alien dialogue is casting the proper actor for the half," O'Farrell aforementioned, "Over the years I've had actors desire Huttese sort of a fish to water, however the other is additionally true. within the past I've had to line-read (when AN actor copies my performance) 150-plus Huttese lines to AN actor so as to create it work."

Award-winning musician Jeremy Soule was signed to compose the game's score. "It are a Star Wars score, however it'll all be original, and possibly the items which will stay are the Force themes and things like that," Gallo aforementioned. Soule was unable to write down a full musical group score for Knights of the recent Republic thanks to technical limitations: "At the time we have a tendency to solely had AN eight unit per second MIDI system. That was state of the art... I had to fool individuals into thinking they were hearing a full orchestra. I’d write woodwinds and drums, or woodwinds, horns and drums, or strings and drums and brass. I couldn’t run the full orchestra quickly, it absolutely was not possible."

Release
When proclaimed at E3 2001, Knights of the recent Republic was originally scheduled  for a late 2002 unharness. In August 2002 it absolutely was proclaimed on the game's forums that its unharness had been delayed: the Xbox version was to be free in spring 2003 and also the laptop version in summer 2003. an extra delay was proclaimed in Gregorian calendar month 2003, with each versions of the sport expected to be free in fall 2003. Zeschuk attributed the delay to BioWare's specialize in quality: "Our goal is to continually deliver a top-notch gameplay expertise, and typically it will be terribly tough to stand out all told areas. we have a tendency to keep performing on grappling every individual issue till we have a tendency to feel we've accomplished one thing special."

The Xbox version of Knights of the recent Republic went gold on Gregorian calendar month nine, 2003 with a unharness date of Gregorian calendar month fifteen. It sold  250,000 copies within the initial four days of its unharness, creating Knights of the recent Republic the fastest-selling Xbox title at the time of its unharness. Following the game's unharness, it absolutely was proclaimed that free downloadable content would be out there through Xbox Live at the tip of the year. The laptop version of the sport went gold on Veterans' Day, 2003 and was free on Gregorian calendar month eighteen. it absolutely was re-released as a part of the Star Wars: the most effective of laptop assortment in 2006.

The game was free on Steam on might fourteen, 2012 for waterproof OS X. the sport was free for the iPad on might thirty, 2013. The iPad version includes the Yavin Station DLC that was antecedently free for Xbox and laptop. the sport was free as DRM-free transfer on GoG.com in Oct, 2014.

The game was conjointly launched on Android's Google Play Store on Gregorian calendar month twenty two, 2014.