The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

by W. Haden Blackman, Brett Rector, Hayden Christensen (Foreword)

The Star Wars saga continues! The Force Art of the Game chronicles the four-year development of the anxiously awaited, action-packed video game (releasing April 2008) developed by LucasArts from conception to completion. The book reveals innovative game design concept and images, three-dimensional renders, and behind-the-scenes photos. The Force Unleashed game casts players as Darth Vader's "Secret Apprentice" and promises to unveil new revelations about the Star Wars galaxy. The expansive story, created under direction from George Lucas, is set during the unexplored era between Star Wars Episode Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars Episode A New Hope . The game re-imagines the scope and scale of the Force by taking full advantage of new technologies that will be seen and experienced for the first time, such as Digital Molecular Matter (DMM) by Pixelux Entertainment and euphoria by NaturalMotion Ltd., paired with the powerful Havok Physics (TM) system. These new technologies create gameplay only possible on the new generation of consiles. DMM incorporates the physical properties of objects in the environment so that every element reacts exactly as it should--wood breaks like wood, glass shatters like glass, Felucian plants bend in their unique way, and more. Meanwhile, as a revolutionary behavioral-simulation engine, euphoria enables interactive characters to move, act, and even think like actual human beings, adapting their behavior and resulting in a different response every single time. Well before its release, The Force Unleashed game is already buzzing on blogs and gamer websites, at gamer conferences, and among Star Wars fans. LucasArts is fully backing the promotion of the game to the tens of millions of Star Wars fans around the world.

Genres: Star Wars, Art, Science Fiction, Reference

160 pages, Paperback

First published August 19, 2008

About the author

W. Haden Blackman is a writer who has long worked in the Star Wars universe. He is also the project lead on the MMO Star Wars: Galaxies and the video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

Reviews

[Jose F. Martin del Pozo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Art of... books, because of the art in itself used to design the look of a movie (a game in this case) and because they usually tell us about the creative process involved. Only one but to this book: I found the last chapter pretty boring, what with all the details about the different engines used to create the game. Even if I were a programmer, all of that information is now obsolete, whereas the first few chapters, dealing with how they came up with the game idea and how they tried to impress George Lucas so that he would authorize the game, are fascinating.

[Reggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found on the internet archive: https://archive.org/details/artbook-T...

Really fun to revisit one of my favorite Star Wars games and see the process behind it. The art is great but the story of how the idea was developed and pitched to George Lucas was surprisingly interesting. Near the latter half the book delves into the technology of the game which wasn’t as interesting but it was a groundbreaking title when it released (and perhaps still is for Star Wars titles). Give us another physics based force game!

[fenrir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mettere Hayden Christensen tra gli autori è una trovata commerciale immagino (ma per chi poi?) dato che la prefazione dura una pagina scarsa ed è l'unica parte noiosa del libro.
Coooomunque, questo volume è davvero fatto bene. Interessanti le descrizioni, le immagini sono davvero splendide. Lo consiglio ai fan della serie soprattutto ha chi ha apprezzato il videogioco.

[Parka · Rating 5 out of 5]

(More pictures at parkablogs.com)

The Art and Making of Star Wars Force Unleashed brings you behind the scenes into the game development process, while staying close to artists' drawing boards.

This book is choked full with breathtaking concept art, character designs, diary entries and screenshots from the game. It features over 300 pieces of art work in 168 pages. On two pages are pasted paper pockets, with each containing 5 character cards.

If you've owned the "art of" series for the Star Wars movies, expect the same high quality environment paintings. But this one goes up one notch with beautiful page layouts. It's the art magazine type of layout, so the every page design is essentially art in itself. Great effort from the book designers.

The 6 chapters in the book explains the game creation process in depth. That's from the development of a concept, to the pitch and approval stage, next to character studies, then environment and finally the technology behind.

There are lots of nitty gritty details that you won't read on Internet interviews. The authors bring you to the cutting floor and let you read all about the discarded ideas.

After reading the book, you'll literally feel like you've worked with these people (most probably as an intern).

For Star Wars fans, you have no reasons not to get this book. For people interested in concept design and animation, this book has lots of insight for you. This book is a great source of inspiration.

Be careful of the binding though. The part where the cover meets page 1 seems like they will come apart in the future. Easily fixed by pasting some clear tape to fix the problem before it develops.

This review was first published on parkablogs.com. There are more pictures and videos on my blog.

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a fairly informative book, more art than making of, but entertaining anyway. It is laid out like a magazine, with blocks of text aligned on angles and backed by plenty of colorful pictures. I enjoyed the descriptions of the story sessions with George Lucas, and the history of the Force Unleashed game engines, but there wasn't really depth to either. I suppose a redeeming factor could be the amazing pre-production paintings displayed throughout, but if that isn't your thing, this book will probably bore you.