“We all think we know Star Wars, we all think we can design for Star Wars, because it has been so ingrained in us. We’ve been watching movies, watching TV shows, reading books, reading comics. But in fact, when you actually try to design things for the first time, it’s very scary,” Cloe Hammoud, Associate World Director, said of designing Star Wars Outlaws.
Over the last few years, Ubisoft’s Massive Entertainment team has immersed themselves into the world of Star Wars, engaging with all forms of media to craft an authentic new story in this well-loved universe. Throughout it all, the team has been guided by an understanding that the world of Star Wars is vast and filled with intricacies, yet grounded by reality, and familiar design principles.
How Star Wars Outlaws began
Design work on Outlaws began with the classic concept artwork of Ralph McQuarrie, most known for his retro-futuristic style and sweeping landscapes. It was a touchpoint to build upon, as the team dove deeply into these iconic images, and even further, to their original inspirations: Japanese samurai films and Western gunslinger tales.
Massive wanted Star Wars Outlaws to share the same cinematic principles that elevated Star Wars, and allowed it to grasp at longevity. The iconography of the franchise remains striking and evocative decades later, and the team understood this reverence began with basic design rules.
The primary guiding principle for the team was that Star Wars focussed 80% on the familiar, and only 20% on the alien. Going too alien can actually alienate or frighten audiences, but with a grounding in the familiar – in sweeping plains, robotic designs, retro artefacts, machines – Star Wars creates a world that audiences can conceptualise and relate to. It’s a balance that’s necessary to create engagement, and to allow players an accessible avatar in an abstract world.
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Star Wars may be filled with towering beasts and alien beings, but in its many deserts and jungles, and in its fundamental themes of good vs. evil, there is far more familiar about the franchise than appears on the surface. Like the films, Star Wars Outlaws aims to capture this balance, with a coming-of-age story that balances the familiar and alien in a grounded tale about finding your feet in a strange new world.
The cinematic lens
Beyond allowing these principles to shape characters, vehicles, and new worlds, Massive Entertainment also leaned heavily into familiar film techniques to add a sense of cinematic realism to Star Wars Outlaws. That’s reflected throughout the game, with a simulated anamorphic lens guiding the action, much like you’d see in the Star Wars films.
That cinematic viewpoint is also elevated with subtle lens effects and distortion designed to reflect a cinematic camera, as well as a 21:9 ratio for viewing the action. That’s not to mention added film grain, colour grading, lighting, and post-effects, all designed with the familiar in mind.
In the game’s Underworld, you’ll see darker, shady colours, with a sense of claustrophobia built into your travels and how much you see of the world. Outside city walls, you’ll find bright and vibrant landscapes, where you get a fuller, more open view. Among the stars, your walls open up even more, allowing in vast and “wonderous” sights.
Massive Entertainment studied the world of Star Wars closely for these contrasts, learning from the “visual journey” of Star Wars, and how it’s been represented on screen. The team was also keen to “not be too referential” but “do the work” by diving into the context of Star Wars, and how traditional films and filmmaking also inspired its world.
That meant going back to watch plenty of American gunslinger stories and Japanese samurai cinema, including the works of famed director Akira Kurosawa (The Hidden Fortress). A nice nod in Star Wars Outlaws is that one of its main locations, Kijimi City, is distinctly inspired by Japanese architecture, and the Ashiga Clan who reside there are also inspired by samurai warriors.
Creating meaning in character
With these principles shaping the world of Star Wars Outlaws, the Massive Entertainment team also worked to create memorable characters who would fit into Lucasfilm’s annals. They wanted each to be strong and recognisable by silhouette (a core design principle for any medium), but most importantly, they wanted each of their characters to be believable and relatable.
In designing protagonist Kay Vess, the team looked to create a strong and interesting character with a design of clever inclusions. Kay has a lockpick device through her hair, her nose is slightly broken – suggesting a darker past – and she has a star map tattooed on her shoulder, hinting at her ambitions and dreams.
ND-5, meanwhile, the hot droid that’s captured the attention of plenty online, is a perfect example of the 80/20 rule of the familiar and alien. While he’s a droid, he also shares a strong resemblance to a hunched human – a familiar body language suggesting insecurity or hiding – and his coat is inspired by that of a real-life soldier. In his appearance, he’s mysterious and intriguing, and there is the suggestion of humanity in his overall design.
Kay’s companion Nix, on the other hand, is relatively more alien, but features appendages, fur and scales that many will recognise from real creatures like axolotls, lizards, monkeys, and pangolins. He’s adorable, and looks enough like a fuzzy real world creature to create an immediate sense of connection to players.
It’s in these touches – familiar and new – that Star Wars Outlaws aims to engage with players, and tell a story that pulls them along through relatable themes, as guided by interesting characters. While grounded in tradition, and the same visual and design techniques that guided the original Star Wars films, Star Wars Outlaws also aims to tell an entirely new tale that meaningfully expands this beloved franchise, with creative Massive Entertainment flair.
We’ll have much more to say on the success of these grand ideas closer to the launch of Star Wars Outlaws on 30 August 2024.
