Star Wars: Rebel Assault

For other uses, see Rebel Assault (disambiguation).

Star Wars: Rebel Assault is the first CD-ROM-only game published by LucasArts, set in the Star Wars universe during the early Galactic Civil War. The game was followed by Star Wars: Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire.

Plot summary[]

The game follows the adventures of an unnamed young person known under the handle of Rookie One. Like Luke Skywalker, Rookie is a farmboy or farmgirl from Tatooine (the player can choose the gender) who decides to join the Rebel Alliance. The whole game happens during the events of A New Hope and begins with their flight training in the Beggar's Canyon, some hours before the Devastator captures Tantive IV above Tatooine.

RookieOne1 — Rookie One undergoes training.

Rookie then joins a squadron to intercept the Devastator and after the mission is over they descend back to the planet in order to stop an Imperial assault on Tatooine. The Rebel base is destroyed and Mos Eisley receives an attack with AT-ST's which the player has to wipe out.

The story then leads the player to the ice planet Hoth,^[3] where Rookie will have to stop the AT-AT walkers with a snowspeeder and then escape the Gamma Base (which resembles Echo Base) firing their way through the Stormtroopers in a sequence that reminds of the Battle of Hoth.

The player eventually guides Rookie through the training on Yavin 4 preparing the attack on the trench run prior to the Battle of Yavin. The final missions follow the actions of the Blue Squadron (Ironically Blue Squadron was the original script Red Squadron of ANH fame), simultaneously to the Red Squadron shown in the movie. They take place near and on the Death Star where the player has to destroy turrets, stop a gigantic laser gun and finally destroy it in place of Luke Skywalker.

Chapters[]

Flight Training
Asteroid Field Training
Planet Kolaador
Star Destroyer Attack
Tatooine Attack
Asteroid Field Chase
Imperial Probe Droids
Imperial Walkers
Stormtroopers
Protect Rebel Transport
Yavin Training
TIE Attack
Death Star Surface
Surface Cannon
Death Star Trench

Gameplay[]

RookieOne3 — A screenshot from the game's Battle of Hoth.

Although the scenario, the plot and the variety of missions were neither original or rich, the game's value consisted mainly on the technical part, since it featured digitized footage and music from the original movies, full speech and high quality 3D-rendered graphics. The "chapters" of the game were meant to be reminiscent of events and battles of the movies.

In fact, the game's plot creates an alternative storyline of the Original trilogy by recreating famous scenes, rather than being accurate to Star Wars canon: it follows the events of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, but it erroneously contains elements from the Battle of Hoth. The Battle of Yavin is significantly different while the Death Star is destroyed by a character other than Luke Skywalker.

The gameplay consists of various spaceflight missions, mainly confined in a certain video looping. The course of the ship is predetermined and the player has to hit the targets (usually TIE Fighters) that show up and partially control and steer the ship so that it won't collide to some obstacles and lose hit points.

Development[]

In the early 1990s LucasArts had developed Star Wars: X-wing. Around the same time the company took advantage of the emerging CD-ROM and multimedia technology, re-releasing some of its former titles into CD-ROM versions. Eventually it was decided to follow the trend and create an exclusive CD-ROM multimedia title that would take advantage of that media, and that it would be a Star Wars title; the deviation of the former concept would be that the new game would include flying over planetary terrain. Portability into platforms and existence of development systems were some of the initial questions. Six months into the decision, Vincent Lee was hired into the project, as his multimedia knowledge would allow for versatility, and adaptation of the design and eventual redesign.^[4]

Lee's first test was a hand-drawn X-wing flying through a prerendered fractal landscape. After several improvements, the concept became the final version of the first training mission, "Flight Training". First game tests happened on hard drives, before eventually filling up space and had to employ a CD-ROM burner.^[4]

An early challenge was the speed of CD drive hardware, as the game utilized more data than what single-speed CD drives could handle. Furthermore, they wanted to avoid the effect of contemporary sluggish multimedia titles. Lee developed SMUSH, a custom data compression and streaming technology. According to Lee, SMUSH provided a compromise between high resolution/performance in a practical size. SMUSH eventually evolved to an interactive game design program, handling animation blocks (including pre-rendered scenery, 2D cutscenes, effects, music etc) as entities along a timeline. Having resulted to a satisfactory performance of 15fps, Lee became the leader of the project, responsible for making the game complete and available for shipment in Christmas 1993, two years after inception.^[4]

The project early on rejected the option of using Silicon Graphics workstations as those used in ILM, and preferred to work with PC hardware and software, such as Autodesk 3D Studio. Within six months Collette Michaud hired three versatile 3D artists, with Ron Lussier in the lead.^[4]

By six months into the project the storyline was established, with Lee thinking something parallel to the original story of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, starting from Tatooine and ending up destroying the Death Star; for this the team had rewatched many times the Original Trilogy films, to acquaint themselves with the look and feel and mechanics of the vehicles, and get inspiration for storyline events and cutscenes. For the creation of the 3D models Lussier and other artists studied commercial model kits, artbooks, production notes and studio miniatures from the filming of the Trilogy, found in the archives of the Lucasfilm headquarters. Daniel Colon also is credited for designing the Star Destroyer and the AT-AT Walker and the levels they appear,^[5] before leaving the project. He and another artist had to be replaced by Richard Green and David Vallone.^[4]

The levels were generally designed in storyline order, each one requiring about 2 months to be completed. Initially the scenario included 20 shorter levels, but as animating them required more work, they ended up with fewer longer levels. Landscapes such as Beggar's Canyon were made with the use of greyscale heightmap. As for the branching ice caverns of Hoth, they are paths drawn on 3D Studio's Shaper tool, with two halves of virtual bowls built around them. During the action, a camera ran through a course path, and a vehicle sprite, or cockpit, were added to the foreground.^[4]

Vince Lee had made storyboards with instructions for the cinematic cutscenes. With time, these cutscenes became increasingly more elaborate. Artists Bill Tiller and Leonard Robel worked for the 2D character animations during cutscenes. The explosions were based on the same animation effect, changed in orientation and size to avoid repetition. Characters were mostly based on LucasArts employees; animated facial and mouth movements were stored in a "digital-clip library" that were later used to animate a character's dialogues. Collette Michaud's face was used for Ru Murleen; the faces of Associate Producer Wayne Cline and artist Steve Purcell were edited into a screenshot of Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back to stand as a commander and a comm officer of a Rebel base.^[4]

In some cases, original footage from the Original Trilogy were converted and adapted into the game's storyline; as a notable example, for the Royal Award Ceremony, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Peter Mayhew/Chewbacca were cut out of the video; the latter two were erased, and Hamill's parts that were behind the other characters were reconstructed, leaving only him as "Rookie One" marching to the aisle.^[4]

In a case, a Star Destroyer model was digitized (a mini camera "flew" around it) for the needs of a certain mission. The X-wing cockpit was borrowed from the earlier Star Wars: X-Wing.

In the first stage of the production most work involved art and programming. Playtesting started as early as some first levels were playable so that there would be some window of opportunity for documenting bug reports and suggestions, and their improvement; lead tester Brett Tosti thought that at an early stage the game seemed too difficult and gave the sense of a visual demo, with no sense of flight. Tosti was also largely responsible for the difficulty elements for each difficulty level. Because of the multimedia nature of the game, a new Q/A department of technical specialists tested the game in various setups of CD-ROM drives and sound cards; the game was too fast in some machines, requiring an adjustment option (suggested by Tosti).^[4]

After the summer of '93, more tasks had to be completed, like voice recording, sound, authoring the manual, creating a data card and quality assurance process. In later time Rebel Assault became a "high profile" production of the company and management invested extra resources for its completion. Faster machines were provided to the artists, which compensated to the more demanding rendering times. Death scenes (animations that show Rookie One's deaths or the destruction of his vehicle) were the last cutscenes to be completed, within one-and-half week, using preexisting scenery.^[4]

Sound and music consisted largely of the licensed musical score by John Williams as originally recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra, and sound effects from the Skywalker Sound library. Vince Lee had chosen portions of the soundtrack which he had associated with sections of the game and recorded them on a boom box. The sound specialists, Sound Manager Michael Land, Sound Editing and Processing Engineer Clint Bajakian and Peter McConnell came in relatively late, made suggestions and refined Lee's ideas; they found that Lee's initial "crude" recording was more "punchy, present and visceral", and to achieve this accidental effect, they distorted their final work on purpose. Lee edited some music on software runing on an Amiga computer.^[4]

Voice acting was directed by Tamlynn Barra, who casted talents such as Bill Farmer and Nick Jameson; the 16-bit recordings were stored on a DAT, edited and processed by Barra, before being delivered to the sound department. Bajakian equalized them and added effects such as "radio chatter". Lee, who incorporated the dialogues in SMUSH, edited the portrait's animations from the existing "digital-clip library", for lip manual synching.^[4]

Lots of art and sound came during the last three and two months. Final art arrived a month before post-production. All post-production of the final levels was completed in a month and a half. Associate producer Casey Donahue Ackley oversaw and managed the crisis and alleviated Lee's obligations with art and marketing, facilitating communication between Lee and the art department, rearranging and re-prioritizing the art list. Ackley and Lee authored the manual.^[4]

Release[]

During production, rumors about the new CD-ROM game circulated, considering it a CD-version of Star Wars: X-wing. The Public Relations and Marketing department made sure to clarify any misconceptions. PR managed to get out the message that it was the company's first exlucive CD-ROM game, unrelated to the previous ones. The title, logo and layout of the package were designed having in mind a departure from those of Star Wars: X-wing and the contemporary Super Empire Strikes Back, communicating its nature as a purely action-arcade game. Game designer and programmer Vincent Lee worked closely with PR Manager Sue Seserman for authoring the press release, with story and technical details.^[4]

Rebel Assault was announced at the summer '93 CES. The demo met with enthusiastic reviews about the full screen 3d realistic graphics, speech and digital authentic soundtrack. Casey Donahue Ackley presented a demo of to the Mill Valley Film Festival in October 1993.^[4]

A demo disk containing Chapter #9: "Stormtroopers" came with Mega Power. Another demo disk with Chapter #11: "TIE Attack" came with Sega Pro.

The game was released mid-November with good sales. Orders and calls for help placed demand on the four people of the Product Support Department stessing out the employees. The busiest times were during Thanksgiving and before Christmas. Fax papers were depleting every half hour. LucasArts receptionist Amanda Haverlock was reassigned to the phone lines for support. She claimed that she received a call from actor Robin Williams, who was enjoying the game with his son, and wished to ask Vince Lee for some hints. Some users reported that Rebel Assault was their first CD-ROM game, or even the first game they purchased.^[4]

A frequent complaint was the third-party DOS extended manager that was crashing on some systems; LucasArts responded by created a patch, which they uploaded to the company's BBS and other online services, as well as sending in floppy disks over post. As other contemporary games, the game documentation included instructions for making a boot disk to solve some problems, but some users required a walkthrough over the phone, or even returned the game to the stores, making losses for the company. The developers programmed an automatic boot disk maker to remedy this problem, which was included in next releases of Rebel Assault, and the latest online patches.^[4]

Rebel Assault was released for Sega Mega-CD. JVC Musical Industries published it in the United States in March 1994, and in Europe the following September. That same month, it was localized and published in Japan by Victor Entertainment, and later in Brazil by Tec Toy.

According to the survey conducted by a collaborating firm among the registered users, it was determined that the gamers of Rebel Assault were predominantly male, more than any other LucasArts product, belonged to all age groups. It was the 3D graphics that excited the games more than anything else, and the game was rated better than other popular CD-ROM titles.^[4]

Continuity[]

Star Wars: Rebel Assault was produced at a time when there was less strict attention paid to ensuring games were in continuity with the rest of canon. This has led to confusion for some over its canonicity; for instance, with regard to Rookie One making a trench run against the Death Star, or a battle occurring on Hoth prior to the Death Star Assault. However, the only portion of the game that has been declared non-canon is the trench run by Rookie One.^[6] Indeed, many elements from Star Wars: Rebel Assault have been involved in later continuity, such as Anchorhead Base in Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided and Jake Farrell in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, as well as many elements were also used in the sequel to Rebel Assault, Star Wars: Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire.

In reference to certain other LucasArts video games, Leland Chee, known as the Keeper of the Holocron, has stated that the "Story is S [canon], but locations, characters, and technology are C [canon]."^[7] This policy has never been stated to apply to Rebel Assault.

Concerning level #5. "Tatooine Attack", Chip Hinnenberg wondered whether it would be possible that TIEs can have atmospheric flight,^[4] something which however was confirmed in other games and sources.

Legacy[]

"Dear Vince [Lee] and the Rebel Assault Crew, I am extremely excited and proud of the great work you've done on Rebel Assault and the great sales success and acclaim that it has received. By taking "Star Wars" into the CD-ROM platform you've extended my original story ideas into a new and different form of entertainment. You seem to have met the standard for what this new medium can accomplish for interactive entertainment. It's great that we can also set the standard for what sales can be, so well. It's a job well done. Congratulations."

―Congratulatory letter from George Lucas, dated March 3, 1994^[4]

Rebel Assault was the first CD-ROM-only game published by LucasArts.^[4]

Concerning the exclusive use of digital musical score and digitized sound effects straight out from the movies, Michael Land considered it a significant breakthrough for the company; he credited Vince Lee for taking a giant step, and the next would be taken by the sound department in future LucasArts products, which will involve digital mixing and streamed digital music.^[4]

The popularity of the game, and the demand put on the Product Support group resulted to some changes within LucasArts. It moved to a new building (across the company's headquarters) and the staff was upgraded from four to sixteen. A new phone system directed calls to certain topic. Each expert got his own PC workstation logging and timing calls, and providing a database of problems and solutions. The department was equipped with Mac computers to troubleshoot problems related to that version. The group also started to get involved in the Q/A process of the development of future products, testing them in things they expect future customers will need help about, compiling a list of product support concerns; furthermore, the company decided to develop an improved and simpler configuration utility, starting with Star Wars: TIE Fighter.^[4]

Credits[]

By type

Cast

Uncredited cast

Crew

Uncredited crew

Special thanks

Cast

Nick Jameson—Additional voices^[8]
Bill Farmer—Additional voices^[8]
Denny Delk—Additional voices^[8]
Tony Pope—Additional voices^[8]
Ru Murleen—"Ru Murleen" ("herself"; voice)^[8]
Collette Michaud—"Ru Murleen" (portrait)^[4]
Jack Sorensen—"Turland Hack" (portrait)^[4]
Jon Knoles—"Thurlow Harris" (portrait)^[4]
Peter Chan—"Merrick Simms" (portrait)^[4]
Sean Turner—"Imperial officer" (portrait)^[4]
Steve Purcell—"Gamma Base commander" (portrait)^[4]
Wayne Cline—"Gamma Base communications officer" (portrait)^[4]

Crew

Designer, programmer, project ;eader—Vince Lee^[8]
Lead 3D artist, animator—Ron Lussier^[8]
Voice producer and director—Tamlynn Barra^[8]
Associate game producer—Casey Donahue Ackley^[8]
3D Artists-animators—David Vallone, Richard Green^[8]
- Additonal 3-D Art by—Ralph Gerth, Dan Colon Jr., Steven Sherer^[8]
- 3-D modelers—Martin Cameron, Jon Bell^[8]
Artists-animators—Leonard Robel, Bill Tiller^[8]
- Additional art—Larry Ahern, Jon Knoles, John Knoll^[8]
Lead art technician—Aaron Muszalski^[8]
- Art technicians—Chris Ross, Leyton Crew, Gwen Musengwa^[8]
Quality Assurance supervisor—Mark Cartwright^[8]
- Quality Assurance and compatibility testing—Chip Hinnenberg, Brett Tosti, Dana Fong^[8]
- Additional testing—Matthew Forbush, William Burns, Chris Purvis^[8]
Macintosh programmer—Eric Johnson^[8]
FM Towns programmer—Paul LeFevre^[8]
Programming assistance—Justin Graham, Toshi Morita, Mark Haigh-Hutchinson, Edward Kilham, Aric Wilmunder, Gary Brubaker^[8]
Sound editing and Pprocessing—Clint Bajakian^[8]
- Sound advice—Michael Z. Land, Peter McConnell^[8]
Art department Director—Collette Michaud^[8]
Public relations manager—Sue Seserman^[8]
Distribution manager—Meredith Cahill^[8]
Product support supervisor—Mara Kaehn^[8]
International coordinator—Lisa Star^[8]
Director of marketing—Mary Bihr^[8]
Director of production—Steve Dauterman^[8]
Director of business operations—Jack Sorensen^[8]
Special thanks—Collette Michaud, Tamlynn Barra, Steve Purcell, Justin Graham, Hal Barwood, Wayne Cline, Jon Knoles, Peter Chan, Mike Levine, Jack Sorensen, Jon Levinson, Mary Fitzgerald, Jonathan Ackley, Casey Donahue Ackley^[8]