The Making of Star Wars: Dark Forces
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- Опубліковано 27 жов 2021
- A long time ago, in a development studio somewhere in San Rafael, California, a cloning facility took the DNA of Wolfenstein 3D to make a ground-breaking Star Wars video game. This is a brief tale of how the Dark Troopers, Kyle Katarn, and a new series of Star Wars games came into existence.
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Some Sources:
RACKETBOY PODCAST #21 - STAR WARS: DARK FORCES PROJECT LEADER DARON STINNETT: www.racketboy.com/podcast/rac...
Doom Clone Troopers - The Story Behind Star Wars: Dark Forces: www.gameinformer.com/b/featur...
Outlaws Footage: / @hojo06
Electronic Gaming Monthly, August 1996
Computer Gaming World (US), Issue 125 (December 1994)
LucasArts Company Store (Winter 1999/2000) - Ігри
This game..
First saw it running as a Demo on a computer in Circuit City. Could not believe my eyes at the graphics, the music, how well it captured the Star Wars essence, etc. I had to have it. For the next few years it went on to become a huge part of my life. My friends and I making custom levels on Dark Forge, designing websites dedicated to it, hour upon hour replaying various levels. It's 2023 right now, but whenever I see that gate open on the first level, I'm 12 years old in 1995 all over again. Very powerful time machine.
There's a reverse-engineered source port of Dark Forces and Outlaws in development called The Force Engine.
The pre-release testing builds are already online
I love that this channel is a hidden gem but it also deserves more way attention
DITTO! 😎
PS: I know, right? It's like, we have this nice little private club, but more people need to come support the guy who made the club so we can have more and for longer. 😉
Jfc, yes. I don’t know how it’s so damn hidden
I remember my 5 year old self playing dark forces and being terrified of the sewer level... keep the videos coming Saint!
Yeah, those Dianogas were scary af! 😨
I think that level is where I developed my fear of murky water, or just any water I can't see the bottom in lol
I’m honestly so grateful for your content man. Never stop doing your thing. Unfortunately so much rich detail in the SWU is being forgotten
Outlaws... Now that is a name i haven't heard in a long time
I still am sad my demo disk with DF, Jedi Knight, and Outlaws got lost amongst my old computers and stuff... 3 of my favorite demos of all time... I might have sunk more hours in them than many entire games.
First time I saw Dark Forces was shopping at Circuit City. They had the demo playing on one of the computers being sold at the time. I still remember the feeling of awe it gave. It wasn't just the graphics but how polish the entire game felt.
That led to a roughly five year love affair with the game; have unbelievable memories playing with my best friend, us chatting on AIM late summer nights how to beat levels, making custom maps with Dark Forge, even had a Geocities website dedicated to Dark Forces.
Tech has come a long way, but much of the magic has been lost. You had to be there 25 years ago to understand :)
5:53 Hey, that guy looks familiar...
Hope you'll cover all the Jedi Knight games in the future. Dark Forces II, and Jedi Outcast are still probably my favourite Star Wars products ever.
Academy bro, academy. And yes, Shadows of the Empire.
I started with outcast then academy, then I went back and played Dark Forces and Jedi Knight. i now have serious issues with Outcast and Academy's gunplay.
@@DIEGhostfish outcast and academy have the worst gunplay out of any game I've yet tot play, btu the best saber combat out of any game I've yet to play.
That's Dash Rendor
@@nybergsgarageit's a shame because there's some shooters with great gunplay on that engine (Quake 3, Soldier of Fortune). Even so, the saber combat and movement system put JO/JA over the top!
What a cool essay Saintmillion on such a nostalgic bomb of a game! I remember watching my brother play this more than 20 years ago and how it blew me away. Thanks for re-telling it's story :)
Kinda weird for George Lucas to say that at 11:05 considering in A New Hope, Luke, Han, and Chewbacca shoot the detention officers. They got helmets on but their face is pretty visible. It happens a few times in Return of the Jedi too, I think. Maybe I'm just misunderstanding what he meant, idk.
I know he had that mindset back during the films, but for games perhaps he was more uncomfortable with players actively attacking other human characters
i think maybe he didn't want a doom controversy? Like let's keep in mind video games were kinda just coming around to being more "realistic" back then and it took time to be like oh it's just entertainment and it's like an interactive movie. Like with GTA if it's okay to watch scarface and cheer for him it should be okay to just play a game shooting people doing at your mansion. But yeah ultimately its a good thing he came around.
I have so many fond memories of playing Dark Forces on my brother and sister's PC back in the day, and on my friend's PS1. It's such a fantastic, atmospheric game. Great video!
I bought the game yesterday on steam and I'm playing it
The level design was unmatched for ages. The ice planet with the elevator puzzle comes to mind, or the first time diving into a sewer and get attacked by the creature are unforgettable experiences.
Just replayed this a few months ago. This was really cool to see how the game was made. Dark Forces and Tie fighter were some of the first pc games I had as a kid
I played through DF and DF2 for the first time like 7 years ago or so when they had that big bundle of Star Wars games for like 15 bucks on Steam. I wanted to replay all my childhood favorites and while I loved JK2 and JA I never played the series roots. I only heard about them from my older cousin who did play them. I beat both games in one sitting in two days dedicating one day to each game. They were so good they made me want to spend the whole day playing, which was a feeling I only had back when I was a kid playing KOTOR, Republic Commando, and the later Jedi Knight games. Dark Forces was just that good. The 90s to the end of the 2000s truly was the golden age of Star Wars content. I like Dark Forces more than most modern games I've played because the presentation is just so on point. DF2 is the same deal. Old Star Wars games feel like less of a novelty and more of a genuine expansion to the story.
This was one of my favorite video games growing up. My dad had a 3 level demo disc at the time and I wanted to play the whole game itself after going through it numerous times. I first rented it on the PlayStation and then got the full PC game on Steam years later.
Oh sweet I wasn't expecting this to be your next video. A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one
My dude, you spoil us with your thematic editing. Giving 90s and early 2000s subjects their respective treatments, but still keeping that high editing quality. Well done. 👍
waking up in the the morning to a new star wars video really made my day
Cool to see that Dark Forces was not just a Doom clone.
6:02 interesting that you also use the picture of Kyle's graduation picture from the Novelette. I really hated the Novelette making his Death Star Plans mission the FIRST thing he did after defecting, and making him defect on his FIRST mission. He's not an Ex Stormtrooper, that's an ex stormtrooper Cadet. I always figured he went to the Academy around the same time as Han Solo and Baron Fel given his apparent age in the Dark Forces 1 cutscene. But I guess because Jason Court was so young in Dark Forces 2 Jedi Knight they chad to age him down. Or they didn't want Kyle to have too many evil deeds under his belt? Either way now he seems to have been in the academy around the same time as Biggs and Hobbie and Tycho.
The room at 12:13, the sky on Level 2, the entrance to Imperial Detention Facility (many more examples), they really did nail aesthetics and atmosphere even with low resolution
i've been binging your vids while sick and they've pulled me out of a short depression. thanks!
Absolutely hyped to see you making more of these kind of videos. Keep em up man.
Yeah! They are short and sweet, but there isn't any "filler". You get a good quality info to time ratio. 😀
Correction - music for Dark Forces was created by Clint Bajakian not Peter McConnell.
Correct, I was banging my head internally after hearing Peter's name, being a super nerd about this and other LucasArts games in general. Clint's composition style is very recognizable and while I think Michael Land and Peter McConnell would have still created banger tracks (like with X-Wing), a slow, moody game like Dark Forces *really* benefited from Clint Bajakian's more somber approach.
It might be a nostalgia talking but this is my favorite Star Wars game and I'm really glad it's been getting more recognition of the past few years, people call it a doom clone but honestly doom never had that depth in storytelling or gameplay. The gameplay is really fun and the cut scenes are peak 90s Star Wars video game! People always praise its sequel but honestly it's the ugliest game that has ever existed. Well the maps may be bigger and more open that works against it because everything is ugly and you have no direction and controls are not that great. Dark forces was what every single first person shooter of that generation was building up to, it is the Apex, after that game came out everything started moving onto 3-D polygons, they basically had to start from the beginning and it shows!
Doom did have better enemy variety though.
Now everyone can enjoy the remaster. Now we just need the Outlaws remaster.
The SeeD theme that kicks in @3:55 is *chefskiss* well done.
The only thing more fun than shooting stormtroopers with a blaster: Slicing them apart with a lightsaber! Love this game, love this series! Really loved the "you only have 5 minutes to get out of this level".
I enjoyed your video and it was very nice to hear the old commentaries. I don't understand why you said, "it's a bitch to get running on modern PCs," though. Runs quite easily in DOSBox. By the way, there is a wonderful mouse look mod for this game that completely modernizes the controls for this game. I would definitely agree that without this mod, the control scheme may be frustrating for many.
Loved the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight games! They're my personal favorite series of Star Wars games! Do you plan on Reviewing Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy, and interviewing Mike Gummelt? That'd be amazing!
I kinda feel like an Indiana Jones mod for Wolfenstien would be pretty dope… they could make health look like fedoras and have the player model lose there’s if health dips below like 65%… but they really wouldn’t have to change much since you’re already fighting Nazis and recovering relics
The Force Engine breathed new life into this game for me! Being able to use mouse look was amazing, as was the ability to save games (though it makes the game infinitely easier).
1. It’s not as tricky to run on modern PCs: both steam and gog versions run in dosbox. I even replayed it recently on a mac! Then, there[s a source port engine (the force engine) that makes it run smoothly, with promise of many platforms coming.
2. Thank you very much for this vid!
3. Replayed it recently and had ton of fun - a great game that deserves official port to not only computers but consoles (imagine that thing on switch!)
4. One special extra thanks for ‘captures original star wars vibe ...’ part!
Another great entry of Making Of by you Saintmillion, I only wish it was as long as your Shadows Of The Empire video. Love your work, thank you!
this was amazing thankyou for making it! I've wanted a documentary for this game for so long.
No "The legend will never die" soundclip?!
Nobody else covers Star Wars vidya as well as you do Saint, thanks for the upload man I really enjoyed it
Weird timing I was just rewatching your Shadows of the Empire review and wondered if you'd cover Dark forces
This game made me a Star Wars fan back then because it showed me all the possibilities this universe had to offer.
It was brillant to have a first level more tied-in with the movies (stealing the Death Star plans) and then having an original plot with original characters.
I remember feeling very rewarded each time a cutscene appeared between level (well, when cutscenes were still a rarity), and very happy to see the story advance.
And also, old pixelated games have this imagination-inducing aspect to them, because of their technical limitations, that made me feel like I was in the Star Wars universe.
Replayed it not that long ago and it's still my favourite SW game.
Thank you for this cool video.
This is amazing you're the best, Saintmillion!!!! Thanks so much for the amazing Star Wars content!!!
Great video and research. I love this series so much. You did Kyle Katarn justice!
6:34 Fun fact the "There are lots of pieces of the Death Star Plans" came from another Star Wars videogame. Star Wars: Empire at War to explain all the contradictions. (I do wonder if they were all plans for different parts or if some were decryption keys for the others.) ALSO also a latter Nintendo DS game said there was a Twilek Cyborg doing a mission for ANOTHER part of the Death Star Plans on the very same planet as Kyle. He actually shows up to hire her in the first or second level of her game and has yeat ANOTHER voiceactor. (Actually WIkipedia says he didn't have a voice there or at least doesn't list a voice credit but I'm SURE he had one.)
Great video as always man!
What a great little doc. Well edited and narrated. And it's the perfect length for eating your dinner over :) Subbed.
I am so happy this game is getting remastered
It's been a very, very long time so my memory may be faulty, but I believe that if you crouch down, aim straight up, and punch something above you on stairs, assuming there is no ceiling, the enemy can get launched upwards a ridiculous ways. Possibly even resulting in fall damage. Discovered this on the 2nd level in the courtyard with wide stairs and some storm troopers.
Not really useful for much, but a curiosity for those who like to mess around.
Great video dude!
5:23 "dank" troopers lmao 🤣
When I started watching this, the last thing I expected to see was a clip from my outlaws multiplayer video! Awesome video man! Just subscribed!
I didn't know you made a making of for this game. Awesome.
I'm so happy this game is being remastered!
Great work! It's always cool to get some actual responses from people who worked on classics like this. A good journalistic or historical write-up should include as much primary source material as possible.
Great video. Just downloaded the game to show my son this weekend and was looking for the background. Thanks for pisting
Really love your making of videos. They’re so interesting and well done.
Would be great to see you do one for TIE Fighter!
Idk why, but I love the model for the E-11 blaster. I just love the cool little details on it. It looks like the actual movie prop.
Nightdive is bringing this one back!
good video, however... music was by clint bajakian i'm fairly sure. i don't know if that article was incorrect, or if the text simply says that he's composer, not specifically for dark forces
Funnily enough, I played Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2 onwards back in the day, but I missed out on the very first game, Dark Forces. I noticed Steam had them all from Dark Forces right up to Academy. Didn't think it would work, but seems to work just fine. Time to play them all through!
Great video! One of my favorite games at the time...
Unexpected, but another masterpiece indeed
Cant wait for the remaster to drop. Coming soon
Excellent video, grew up with the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series, this was a treat to watch. Also perfect voice and narration
Loved dark forces! Can’t wait for the remastered edition to play it again.
rewatchin this since the remaster was announced
incredible video. hope you eventually do ones for the other katarn games.
Going to a campus and recruiting architecture students to build a virtual world? This must've inspired Inception.
Great job! I so loved this game. This was a great trip done memory lane. If only they would make a modern version of this game in VR. It would be absolutely amazing.
He didn't recover part of the death star plans. He recovered the Death Star Plans.
Amazing video. DF and Outlaws are actually my top FPS games ever made. Yeah...I'm old, but the fun and atmosphere they were able to achieve on such a low tech (for today) technologies, is incredible. Also the gunplay was top! I remember to drool over 4 pages of 10/10 review for DF in a magazine for weeks, before I got my hands on it. I still have the original CD and CD case for DF. Outlaws was the same thing. I can't really compare it to modern titles...that feeling isn't there for some reason. New SW games are cool, but this will always be my Nr.1.
Awesome video, subbed.
Great video!!! Please do Republic Commando
There's not much to say about Republic Commando's development that isn't included in the game's extras. And most of it is fluff anyway. Dark Forces came at a different time, when you couldn't buy a game engine, when programmers would double as visual artists and designers, and when something as simple as having rooms above rooms seemed (and was) revolutionary.
The rejected DT concept I think inspired the Phase Zero DT in the original battlefront
Awesome video as always.
Great use of the FF8 music ;)
Also...really craving that next stream rn
As somebody who only played the PlayStation version and didn't get to play the PC version until he was an adult, it's perfectly fine and on par with most Star Wars games for the PlayStation one, when you're used to it being kind of jankey, you get over it. The only thing that bugged me about the game was not being able to look up and down on the fly like you can with modern games. I have to press a combination of buttons, even on the PC you have to use the keyboard to look up and down.
And now we can continue the legacy with the new Force Engine, which lets us play this game in its full, modern gfx glory. It looks so good in 3440x1440.
Ahhhh…Dark Forces. One of my early Star Wars games when I was a kid. I always wanted to play this game again after all these years. 🥲
This is good. Thank you.
Great game, really nails the star wars atmosphere with all these varied locations - especially the first/demo level. Wish they had done more with the story though, been more creative. Like the new movies, its just fanfiction. Stuff from the originals remixed a little. Thats a bit of a shame, and Im a little surprised George didnt complain about it
Hah, I also always thought this game came from Doom. Learn something new every day, or at least every saintmillion video. :P
Welp they announced a remaster, so this video has aged spectacularly
I loved the Dark Forces game. I had a mod that let you play as Boba Fett. I cant seem to find the mod anywhere these days.
Ah, so this is why you were streaming this game.
This is one of my early PC games along with Doom
Classic game that still holds up! Damn that sewer level tho!
They got Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy on Switch. I don't understand why this and Dark Forces 2 aren't on there.
Because they are old PC games that require a specific combination of antique hardware or imitation thereof to run properly, DF2 in particular. Unlike Outcast and Academy, which used the great Quake III engine and were co-developed for consoles to begin with.
LOVE THIS GAME!!!! NightDive is doing a remaster and I could not be more excited. Great video.
Subbed. Keep doing the damn thing.
The game was so revolutionizing for its time and it's still fun to play today. I hope someone will manage to create something as creative as Dark Forces to shake the game up
If I'm not wrong, someone is trying to remaster it
@@davethewastelander8326 I know some guys was working on a remaster mod which is playable until Gromas mines but they've stopped working on it unfortunatly. They even got a remastered soundtrack with it.
Also a game designer did create the first level in unreal engine just for fun. Don't remember what studio he was from but that looks real sick!
Other than that I don't think it's been worked on :)
@@Zefa2213 ah, that's a pity, I thought the they were going to fully remaster it, btw I'm playing the original one right now
@@davethewastelander8326 Same, would love to see it reborn even though the game is still fun today :D
@@Zefa2213 indeed it's fun, I bought all Jedi knight games, I'm going to play them all
Awesome! I loved this game!
played the shit out of Dark Forces 2 but I can't wait for the remaster for Dark forces 1
Subscribed! Haven't played Dark Forces, but will be buying the remaster next month.
Got through a lot of it but ended up quitting because of one of the levels getting too annoying, can't remember if it was the prison or the town though, not sure what order it was.
Good video, I love that game.
I love Dark Forces, but hearing that an Indiana Jones theme was considered made me wish it had happened.
those "Architects" who created the levels are some of the most sadistic, cruel and insane motherfuckers on earth!!! Getting through those levels in many cases was downright FRUSTRATING! O__o
Excellent video!
I dont normally comment, but i know every comment counts, and this video deserves more exposure.
I wish they could make Star Wars Battlefront 3 with the Sewers level included in Frosbite 4 engine.
I miss the days of the Expanded Universe. All the books, comics, games were to be tied in with each another, keeping a continuous storyline going. I'm happy at least that Disney has kept some aspects of the EU, with characters like Thrawn and of course, the Dark Trooper.
Thoroughly agreed on the first part, not so much on the second. Name-only fakes devoid of the context and rich history that made them great in the first place just feels cheap and lazy.
God, getting Dark Forces running is hard. DOSbox hardly does you any favours when it comes to running it on modern OS’s.
"Then George played it and was like "ok, it's fun"" lol
Though to be fair, killing officers I think helps establish Kyle is a little darker than the A team heroes.