Back in 2016, writing over at the always busy Cinelinx, Jordan Maison delved into the history of LucasArts and the games that got away, many of which were touched upon in the excellent 2008 book Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts but now brought back into the spotlight after the announcement of Adam Christopher‘s forthcoming 2022 novel Shadow of the Sith.
Jordan discussed Shadows of the Sith with former LucasArts creative director Haden Blackman.
“In late 2004, we were focus testing/developing a ton of different concepts — over two dozen in all over about a 6 month period. To focus test, I basically just wrote up a ‘one-sheet’ — a brief description of the game, with a bit of concept art and a logo added.
“Episode VII: Shadows of the Sith would have put you in the role of an adult Ben Skywalker,” Haden explained, “who was walking the line between the light and dark sides of the Force, unleashing new Force powers never-before-seen in games or movies as he investigated a new threat to the galaxy (a Solo…).”
“Again, most of these were just short, on-paper pitches, which I wrote. The only one that had more traction — dozens of design documents, concept art, and even a few prototypes and pre-vis videos — was Scum and Villainy, a bounty hunter game.
“Eventually, I ended up pulling elements from several of the pitches to craft the pitch for The Force Unleashed. As we wrapped up TFU, I started working on some new concepts and revisited the far-future concept under the name “Shadow of the Sith.” The Darth Maul idea was also briefly resurrected after TFU2, and different versions of 1313 reused either the Underworld or Scum & Villainy codenames.”
For the full interview head on over to Cinelinx.
