The upcoming space shooter Star Wars: Squadrons is said to provide a great “space battle” experience in the Star Wars universe, according to the gameplay trailer. A US site spoke with Creative Director Ian Frazier and uncovered more details about the 5vs5 spectacle.
It has been a long time since there has been a Star Wars game that focuses solely on space battles. Recently, Battlefront 2 catered to players’ needs for space battles in the Star Wars universe with the Starfighter Assault game mode.
Now, a full game is set to be released in 2020 with Squadrons, which according to Electronic Arts will offer a “definitive experience.”.
5vs5 Space Battles with Star Wars Feel
This is Star Wars: Squadrons: Star Wars: Squadrons is a space shooter with a single-player campaign and currently two known multiplayer modes. While you take on the roles of the Rebels or the Empire in the single-player campaign, you fight alongside your friends or NPCs in 5v5 battles in multiplayer. The entire game can also be played in VR.
In our post about 2 features you might particularly enjoy, you can learn more.
The US magazine Polygon managed to speak with Creative Director Ian Frazier. We learn more from the interview about the game’s inspiration, as well as the strong modification possibilities for your ships and the VR mode.
Aerial battles of World War II are an important inspiration for Star Wars: Squadrons
As Creative Director Ian Frazier says in the interview with Polygon, there are some sources of inspiration and influences for Squadrons.
The entire team consists of Star Wars fans from various generations. Therefore, it is no wonder that not only the films – mainly the classics, but also the old and new games of the franchise served as inspiration.
They also looked at other franchises and asked what makes Star Wars unique compared to Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica.
This is how Star Wars: Squadrons distinguishes itself: What sets Star Wars apart from other franchises is that Star Wars does not focus on lengthy large battles but rather on smaller, fast-paced dogfights. And here they take a significant cue from the aerial battles of World War II.
Primarily, Star Wars is inspired by aerial combat footage from World War II. You can see that in the original films, even to the fact that the TIEs have green lasers and the Rebels have red lasers. This is because those are the colors of the marking fires in World War II for the Axis powers and the Allies. Therefore, we try to maintain the same theme.
Creative Director Ian Frazier
The developers looked at aerial battles and mainly adapted the control of the ships in all of this. Thus, the ships are not sluggish but agile and can be maneuvered well in space.
Because the ships in Star Wars do not move like real ships in space, they never have.
We tried to start with something that felt like a simulation of World War II, in terms of how the ships are actually controlled and how they can be moved. When we started to deal with things like energy management, we said, “Okay, how do we use things like energy management to take this type of base from World War II but then amplify it? What does the accelerated version of that look like?”
Creative Director Ian Frazier
In the gameplay trailer, it is already apparent that they have managed to capture this Star Wars feeling. The ships are agile, fast, and can perform cool maneuvers.
Here Frazier gives an example of how they tried to elevate the core feeling of World War II aerial battles to a new level. You can completely turn off your boost while in flight to drift for a moment. During this time, you can perform a U-turn and shoot down your opponents or just steer sharply and ignite the boost again.
The maneuvers in Squadrons are something special. via GIPHY
The ships are highly customizable
Star Wars: Squadrons offers 8 ships at the beginning. From the fast and agile TIE Fighter to the bomber. Each of these ships can be controlled differently but each offers 3 main stats:
- Firepower
- Speed
- Toughness
Throughout the game, you will have the opportunity to optimize your ships. For example, you can channel all energy into the shields and generate a second shield. However, if all the energy goes into speed, you have an additional booster to maneuver out of tight situations. The firepower gives you extra energy for your laser weapons.
All of this can also be further expanded or altered with additional upgrades. For example, you can swap your weapons, bring droids on board, improve your hull, deploy shields and much more. In an initial screenshot, Electronic Arts shows us 60 different modifications.
… But the developers stick to the canon, somewhat
This is what the Star Wars canon means for the game: If you’re thinking about equipping a TIE Fighter with a strong shield, you will be disappointed. The developers stick to the canon; in Star Wars, TIE Fighters have never had energy shields.
Squadrons takes place after Episode 6 “Return of the Jedi”, more specifically after the battles around Endor. Technologies that did not exist at that point in history are not used in the game.
The loophole for a bit of creativity: If the lore allows some room and a detail is not described in detail, the developers keep the option open to allow players their freedom in modifying the ships.
A good example of this can be seen in the reveal trailer: a TIE Bomber with a channeled laser. Fans reacted to this and said, “TIE Bombers can’t do that!” and normally they would be right. But in the canon, it’s not 100% clear, so players have the freedom to equip their TIE Bomber with a laser.
This is meant to provide players with a lot of variety. The fights won’t become monotonous quickly, as you can always experiment with the ships and the perfect setup. Especially in multiplayer, players should adapt to one another to support each other. With a tractor beam, enemy ships can, for example, be briefly stopped and then shot down by teammates.
“We are doing VR because we think it’s cool”
Star Wars: Squadrons offers full VR support for PC and PS4. Polygon rightly raises the question of why they are doing this. Implementing virtual reality is time-consuming, costly, and there aren’t too many players who have the corresponding setup yet.
Ian Frazier basically agrees with Polygon’s statement, but they still wanted to do it because they think it will be cool. Additionally, the challenges weren’t that great since the entire game design is well-suited for VR.
In the single-player campaign as well as in multiplayer, you experience the battles always from the perspective of your cockpit. There is no third-person view. The first playable demo was already finished after a week, and the following week Squadrons was running in VR.
You sit in a cockpit, you have a fixed reference frame, and you are immersed in this role as a pilot on both sides, both factions. It’s a game that of course fits in VR. It doesn’t have to be ported to VR. It’s a game that is capable – and not every design is capable of that – but this design was capable of supporting both types from the beginning. And who wouldn’t want that?
Creative Director Ian Frazier
Therefore, it didn’t really take the developers much more work to prepare the title for VR. Anyone with the right setup at home can expect a high-quality experience, which is still rare in VR.
Space battles in VR are already possible in No Man’s Sky and create a stronger immersion in the game.
On October 2, Star Wars: Squadron is set to be released for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.
