Kevin Schmitt
@kevindschmitt
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Senior Designer, Special Projects @ Epic Games. Prev: Senior/Lead Designer, 343i(Halo), LucasArts(Rogue Squadron, RepComm), Rockstar(Bully), Zipper(SOCOM4)
Bothell, Washington
Joined February 2011
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Pinned Tweet
This is probably going to get lost in the middle of all that is going on right now, but I'm proud to say that today marks my 25th Anniversary in the
#VideoGames
Industry. Not a bad run so far...and here's to 25 more!
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@kolbepayne
@Arrrrash
We must have pitched 20-30 game ideas over the 12 years I was there that would have totally worked in the Halo universe. Many SP & MP ODST themed ones. Some galaxy-spanning, some more intimate…and one that was really dark. lol.
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Been a good run Chief, but now I am a proud member of the Banished.
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To date, my proudest achievement. Incredibly talented team under almost insurmountable odds. Would love to get the gang back and rescue Sev someday.
#SevLives
#Lucasarts
Star Wars: Republic Commando was released on this day 18 years ago
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My son just started a new game of
#HaloInfinite
. Not sure if he is going to like me giving him developer commentary or not, but I’m going to do it anyway.
#backseatplayer
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It’s surreal & I always get giddy seeing a game I worked on in the wild. Even ones I worked on 20+ years ago. My son’s eye roll game is on point though. “Yes dad. You told me you worked on that already.”
#HaloInfinite
might have finally impressed him. Lol.
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Been in gamedev for almost 30 years. Probably pitched well over a hundred games. There are thousands of reasons they don’t get made. It’s rarely corpo greed or some other nefarious reason. I find it’s a lot about timing.
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It probably did get some farfare...I posted this after playtesting
#HaloInfinite
one evening. I ran across this locker, but it had no set dressing. I went into the editor, dropped some crates, the MREs, a weapon, & grenades. It felt really good. I was telling a small story. 1/4
Hats off to those developers who spend all day tweaking/changing things that get 0 fanfare. That's been my day. I accomplished a lot of things, but 99% of people wont even know the difference. I guess that means we do those things right. :P
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Woke up to find a little "thank you" gift from my leads at the door. Spartan 1003 at the ready.
#HaloInfinite
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Happy Official 343/MSFT Termination Day to those who celebrate. I suspect there will be some pretty cool announcements coming from my fellow Banished in the next few weeks. Also time to retire this old hoodie.
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Would have loved to revisit SpOps as well & we had so many plans.
Ah well…
Glad to see the community has the tools now to experiment & can’t wait to check their creations out.
I miss Spartan Ops, so we're messing around with the idea of an insanely linear 4 player PvE experience.
We suck at scripting, are heavily relying on Community Prefabs, and have no artistic skill.
But we're having fun- and it feels fun!
That's what matters, right?
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Even after all these years, still cool to see stuff you helped create make it to toy form. Spotted at my local Target...spent far too much time with these 2 crazy knuckleheads.
#HaloInfinite
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I started looking at all the lockers, cores, datapads, etc to see if I could add more storytelling & after 5 months of afterhours work, I had a blast telling a ton of these little stories...like the 3 marines trying to fix their Warthog at this camp. 2/4
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Like much involving Halo: Infinite, the history of features like AI in Forge goes back a loooong way…probably around 2017. After we pitched it, I remember being told AI nodegraphs were on the wishiest of wishlists.
Glad to see the seeds bear fruit.
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@HaloGuyYoutube
Fun fact: there used to be a lot of stuff in the game that alluded to the Banished eating a lot more than the wildlife. lol
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After watching
@Sizukhan
grapple around Pelican Down ( & the Road), I started placing marine camps all over. This is part of a larger story I was telling. A network of marines communicating with each other on the island. Also practicing their marksmanship. Found it yet? 4/4
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Then I started adding stories to missions, like this one at the Tower. These marines used this broken wall to launch a grenade offensive. I also developed a pattern; anywhere you see that yellow crate, there should be a UNSC weapon nearby. There are 4 more around the Tower. 3/4
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“Could have used a few more grunts here.” Not sure if I am raising a critic or a designer. Heh. But he is having fun trying to break my encounters.
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I could have easily spent another 5 months doing more of this...it was so much fun & a good break from combat encounters.
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It is always so humbling to see somebody take seconds to break what you spent months on. Lol/cry. But he is appreciating my UNSC weapon stockpiles around the open world.
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TBT
7/11/2011 -Start of my career @ 343.
Just sent off my goodbye mail.
Spartans never die.
MC: Our duty as soldiers is to protect humanity, whatever the cost.
Lasky: You say that is if soldiers & humanity are 2 different things. Soldiers aren't machines. We're just people.
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Still bummed we never got to make the sequel to Republic Commando. It would have opened with Order 66. Kind of shocked it took so long to finally get in a game.
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This is one of the reasons we made Rogue Squadron N64 a planetary based flight game. The juxtaposition really helps convey a sense of speed & it is always fun flying through & around things.
Blows my mind just how dynamic and incredible the effects in the Battle of Endor's space sequences are. I don't think Star Wars has ever had a faster and better-looking individual space battle sequence since the dive into the Death Star 2.
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Keep going back to the Division2's PvE content (their enemy archetypes & gunplay is comfort food)...
Sadly realizing that all the systems & ideas we put in place for H:Infinite PvE content (think SpOps) would have totally worked.
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@MaceAhWindu
Lasky is one of my favorite characters & this scene is a big reason why. I really wanted to feature him in Infinite, had big plans for him.
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If you hear a funny line in
#HaloInfinite
, chances are it was written by
@aaronlinde
. You really need to stop & listen to the crazy things those Banished are broadcasting. Some of the funniest stuff in Halo history.
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Between H5 & Infinite, the old campaign design team toyed w/about a dozen PvE modes (including multiple KotH variants) on a handful of modifiable maps. Those were some of the most enjoyable & cooperative playtests we had.
Glad to see some form of KotH officially out!
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@Turbofurby
Early on in Infinite’s production, I started an internal campaign to hide Del Rio in a cave on the Ring…tattered clothes, long beard, all crazy. lol.
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@EckhartsLadder
Appreciate that, but it is not just me. The sheer amount of talent & skill that was let go today is staggering. There are a lot of studios out there that are about to get some major players.
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#HaloInfinite
. My 14th design credit & 2nd most challenging game of my career. It's been a tumultuous & illuminating 6 years. A heartfelt Congrats(!) to all my comrades in the trenches with me from the beginning & those who came & went. (1/4)
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@NobbieSlicks
This was a running joke in the studio dating back to H5 days. Think I proposed it every time we met a button. Tower was supposed to be full of marine prisoners & Chief would punch the control box a random % when you freed them. Lost the prisoners but kept the punch.
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Sure, some gamedevs make fancy frames to show off shipped titles, but wouldn’t you prefer dogtags? Lol. These span 14 years of gamedev. Seriously, why do we love these things so much?
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This bugs me about remasters. We talk about them like the people responsible are long gone. Ray Gresko, Winston Wolff, & Daron Stinnett did a ton of heavy lifting here. The OG creators will also never receive a share of these new profits. Our industry still has a long way to go.
About the Dark Forces remaster (2024)
Nightdive's project lead
@AltazimuthEE
: "Dark Forces has been difficult to change, from the technical end of things, because it is very heavily over-designed. There were a lot of small details in how LucasArts did things at the time that..."
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@CeliaHodent
Gets easier with time. :( Cant tell you how many awesome ideas never saw the light of day in my time there. Fett, Maul, Solo, you name it...Republic Commando 2...that one still hurts.
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#BookofBobaFett
has me wanting to get back into designing
#StarWars
video games again. Especially since Boba featured so prominently in my Republic Commando sequel idea, Imperial Commando. So, you know, hit me up
@Jon_Favreau
if you need a designer. ;)
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#4games
is hard to narrow down.
#Outlaws
- My 1st game. "Where are ya marshal!?"
#RogueSquadron
- Made this in 9 months!
#RepublicCommando
- Never forget you, Sev!
#Halo4
- SpartanOps 4life! My 1st foray into the Halo world. But not the last...
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When I was at
#Lucasarts
, in 1999, I wrote a pie-in-the-sky design doc about a seamless galaxy. Played a smuggler, took odd jobs, upgraded ship, then got caught up in the grey area between the Empire & RA. The tech wasn't there at the time. Excited & hoping this game delivers.
"The Ubisoft Star Wars game will boast a fully open, seamless universe, akin to that found in No Man’s Sky. In the game, players will be able to jump between systems, immersing themselves in a vast galaxy bursting at the seams with activities." -
@InsiderGamingIG
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Just got the service award crystal for my 10 year anniversary (July 2021) at MSFT/343i. Here's to another 10 more and, I guess a bigger desk...? lol.
#HaloInfinite
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Hats off to those developers who spend all day tweaking/changing things that get 0 fanfare. That's been my day. I accomplished a lot of things, but 99% of people wont even know the difference. I guess that means we do those things right. :P
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A few months away from shipping my 3rd Halo game…and this kid turns 18 today. True what they say, time does fly.
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Been in Gamedev 25+ years.
This is my 4th layoff experience.
The first 3, I was in the "AM/1st group."
This time, the "PM/2nd group" & was not affected.
Honestly, I dont know which one is worse...
My heart goes out to everyone involved.
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26 years! Yikes…lol
This was such a fun game to make.
Back then, the choice for Mara was extremely controversial, but we fought for her all the way to the top & am glad she was approved.
I also pushed to include her action figure with the game, but lost that fight.
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith (1998) was released 26 years ago today. This was Mara Jade's finest hour.
Art by Cory Allemeier:
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@pinecone_jeff
He is actually loving that kind of stuff I did. He’s a rare breed…stopping to look around at all that stuff. Warms my heart. :)
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So sorry, but, come on…that was pretty hilarious!
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1st week at Epic Games as a Senior Designer on the Special Projects team has been incredible. The amazingly talented people I work with have been so open & inviting. Been seeing a lot of familiar faces as well. Can’t wait to see what the future holds with this scrappy team!
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Scorch arrived today. Delta Squad is complete.
#RepublicCommando
. Appreciate the enviro concern, but unfortunate side effect of delayed release means he doesn’t match the rest. Might have to <gasp> take them out of their boxes. Lol.
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If I ever write a book about my time in gamedev, I will definitely write about the time the legendary BDW came in to Lucasarts to record lines for Jedi Outcast. Its worthy of at least a chapter...but not for the reasons you think. lol
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@HaloGuyYoutube
@DecepticonCobra
The Tower was originally 3-4 times as large. The player would learn more about him as they made their way up. But this scene was always in the plan. I remember pitching this idea in the original meeting about the Tower narrative & we all stopped & said, yeah, let’s do this.
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@LucasArtsMemory
Still hard to believe we shipped this in about 9 months. Pretty unheard of today.
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Celebrating my 50th trip around the sun. Taking some time in a galaxy far, far away to celebrate with family & old friends.
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@haruspis
Love to hear this. There were times when we were concepting & working on these features that I thought “Is anybody going to even notice this?” Lol.
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Quote Retweet with four projects you’ve worked on.
Been in this biz a long time...lots of shipped titles as well. lol
Quote Retweet with four projects you’ve worked on.
I’m incredibly fortunate to have worked on these and so many other projects in these universes (and other projects/universes to be discussed in the future!™️)
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@LateNightHalo
Yeah, shocking how good the people are that got let go. Would totally work with any of them again.
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@Witdarkstar
I understand both sides. Lots of emotions have blurred everything from the past 12 years, but one thing is for sure, the experience developing Infinite has made us better teammates, designers, & ultimately lead to a better product.
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Adam is not only one of the best TAs, he is a knowledgeable gamer, inquisitive tester, & all around great human. I mean it when I say any studio would be so very lucky to have him.
This kind of thing unfortunately isn't uncommon in the industry and is becoming even less so due to the economy, so while it's not terribly surprising, it still sucks :-/. So hit me up if your studio's looking for tech artists :D
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So proud that
@M1sterFox
& I fought hard for Mara Jade as the main. We took our case to
@stephenshaw
who then helped us convince
#Lucasarts
management. Was seen as a great risk then. but they believed in our vision. 1/3
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith (1998) was released 25 years ago today.
Cover art by Cory Allemeier:
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Found these while cleaning out my old Halo5 idea reference folder & it reminded me of all the story beats & levels we had to cut. I might be biased because they were mine, but I always felt they were super interesting lore/story building levels & I sooooo wanted to do them.
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Happy 25th to
#Lucasarts
#RogueSquadron
! One of my top 2 favorite dev experiences & a great crew of designers. Took us 9 months. Unimaginable now. Thanks again to the incredible
@MikeStackpole
for all the inspiration. May we one day get our film/TV show!
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1 down, 3 to go. I always get a kick out of seeing characters I helped create make it to toy form, but Delta Squad will always have an extra special place in my heart.
#StarWars
#RepublicCommando
#Boss
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My keyboard of 9 years, been with me since day 1 at 343, made many Halo 4 & 5 levels, and helped design the Infinite demo, has finally broke down. You had a good run buddy!
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This... 100%
The video game industry is incredibly bad at vetting for leadership roles.
It never ceases to amaze me how bad disconnected leadership in an executive role can not only plunge team morale six feet underground, but after they leave the company, other execs will hire them because they associate the success OF THE TEAM with the success of the clown exec.
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More housecleaning discoveries. Employee invite to the
#StarWars
#AttackOfTheClones
screening.
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@NobbieSlicks
Forgot about that. lol
There is also a version of "you mad, bro" as well as something about dank trick shots, yolo, & nerds getting wrecked.
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State of Unreal demo done. Can breathe a little easier now. Also, llama!
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@Mooreshots1
Its funny, a lot of people on the project used to say "lets do this feature like Halo" & I always said, "lets do this feature like Republic Commando!" Doesn't make 100% sense, but I thought the same thing & pushed the level team to set a new bar.
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Always nice to see our game getting some love.
#RepublicCommando
Did you know? In The Bad Batch episode War-Mantle, Project War-Mantle shows clone commandos served as instructors for conscripted stormtroopers. One of these commandos is Scorch, a character who first appeared in the Republic Commando video game
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SW: Republic Commando appreciation thread 1/5:
Seeing Republic Commando released on Switch/PS brings up a lot of emotion. I am extremely happy that work I did some 17 years ago may bring joy to new players, but I also realized just how bad we are as an industry in... (1/8)
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Happy Star Wars Day from Theed Citizen
#06
& Theed Citizen
#07
!
@stephenshaw
& I in The Phantom Menace.
Dropping cameos before it was cool. ;)
#MayThe4th
#Lucasarts
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Just like to take a moment to recognize Ingar Shu (001), Matthew Tateish (002), & Jim Current (003). the OG level designers, masters of their craft, for their work, inspiration, & guidance. You made history & changed this industry.
- 004
The wait is finally over… Star Wars™: Dark Forces Remaster is out TODAY on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC! 💫✨
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@MikeStackpole
@PattyJenks
@MikeStackpole
Your books were my inspiration for
#lucasarts
#RogueSquadron
. I wanted to make and play what I saw in my mind. If
@PattyJenks
can bring that feeling to the screen, I feel like the circle would be complete. Thanks to both of you! So excited!!!
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First Person? As a designer, I would have loved to have been in the room for these discussions because I would have bet my house on 3rd with a character as dynamic & interesting as Indy.
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8 years ago today,
@missdoomcookie
helped me track down Nathan Fillion for a selfie while he was touring the old 343 offices before doing some Buck VO for Halo 5. I believe he was making fun of me because I couldn't work my phone. lol
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SW:
#RepublicCommando
appreciation thread 2/5:
RepCom was the most rewarding & most challenging game I have worked on in my 25+ year career. LEC was going through tough times and during production of RepCom, they laid off 1/3 of the staff. Our team was pulled into a... (1/8)
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@KenneyNL
@howieeday
The majority of ICs at 343 would have volunteered countless late-night hours to work on this thing. A few of us even wrote up a plan & literally begged to finish & ship it.
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I wish we had video game awards that actually took the time to celebrate devs & their awards. Maybe we need one like the tech Oscars done before the gala Oscars. Best System. Excellence in Level Design. Exciting Animation. Poly Pusher. Detailed stuff to award ICs.
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My son asked for Korean food for his B-Day dinner. My wife made him 3-hour pork belly ramen. It’s like it was my B-Day too! So yummy!
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Still crazy to think we made this game in @ 9 months. Pretty unheard of these days.
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More paper maps from
#Lucasarts
#GalacticBattlegrounds
. I did the Galactic Empire campaign.
4.1-Incursion on Yavin IV, which I curiously labeled "Jovan Station" in 2001 and now that’s a different thing.
4.4-An Empire’s Fury. My attempt at an AT-AT origin story + Veers!.
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I can’t stop thinking about the
#RogueSquadron
movie. It was 20+ years ago when I sat down in the Lucasarts design pit and laid out the story for the game. Technology and storytelling has changed so much since then and I would be a fool to think anything we did...1/5
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TBT. Looking through old files on my computer.
College graduation.
4 months later, I was hired at
#Lucasarts
.
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@Septic_Sauce
@HiddenXperia
To be fair, we didn’t have ZERO plans. A significant amount of off-the-books work was done upfront by a skunkwork group of designers in the trenches to create & implement a few GaaS features & systems suitable for campaign in anticipation of additional & dynamic content.
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@yakwaxlips
@lucasartsfans
A few from my time there. The Full Throttle box was basically an early version of a collector’s edition.
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