Star Wars Galaxies
Star Wars Galaxies was a Star Wars-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game for Microsoft Windows, developed by Sony Online Entertainment and published by LucasArts. The game was released in stores on June 26, 2003, and spawned several expansions and updates through 2005.
The servers shut down on December 15, 2011 due to contract expiration. There are several private emulator projects in various stages of development that intend to allow users to experience Galaxies in different incarnations of the game's existence.
Gameplay
Races and Character Creation
The ten species that were available to players included: Human, Twi'lek, Zabrak, Wookiee, Trandoshan, Rodian, Mon Calamari, Bothan, Sullustan and Ithorian.Players could hire Entertainers to change their appearance in-game, with even more options than those available at creation. Many visual aspects of a character were changeable after character creation except species and gender.
In-Game Professions
Before the New Game Enhancements, players had access to 34 professions, with six basic professions: Artisan, Brawler, Entertainer, Marksman, Medic, and Scout. There were a total of 24 advanced professions.Each profession had advanced tier options, including hybrids that combined traits of two professions. Each profession consisted of a tree-like structure of skills, with a single Novice level, four independent branches with four levels, and a Master level which required completion of all four branches. Characters purchased these skills with experience points gained through a related activity. After the NGE, the developers added nine new professions: Jedi, Bounty Hunter, Smuggler, Commando, Spy, Officer, Medic, Entertainer, and Trader. Progress in these professions was divided into three separate experience source groups: combat, crafting, and entertaining. In addition to these professions, a character could also pursue three optional side professions: Pilot, Chronicler, and Politician.
Players could specialize in three different areas of their primary professions by selecting "expertise" options, including Beast Mastery. The Trader profession shared not only BM expertise but also general expertise. All professions could specialize through expertise and items. The only role requiring a single profession was healer.
Spacecraft
The Jump to Lightspeed expansion made individual ships attainable by players for the first time. This allowed players to acquire and pilot ships of various sizes. Ships ranged in size from fighter crafts to gunships with up to three decks. This gave players the option between space-based or planet-based gameplay.Combat
Each character and creature possessed three "pools" that represented their physical and mental reserves. When any one of those pools was fully depleted, the character would faint. Combat required the player to carefully manage his or her actions to avoid depleting a pool.With the NGE, ground combat was changed to real-time and similar to a first-person shooter. The player would aim a targeting reticule and left-click the mouse to fire. Auto-aim and auto-fire features were available, but players who eschewed those options were rewarded with an increased chance of maximum damage. As characters' levels increased, they gained access to additional combat abilities called "specials" which were activated by the right mouse button or by accessing the ability on a toolbar. In addition to providing high-damage attacks, specials were also used to heal, buff, debuff, and crowd control enemies. Players gained the ability to use more powerful weapons as they advanced in level. Players also earned "Expertise Points" as they leveled up, which were used to advance their professions. The player could allot 45 points to various abilities and attributes, from weapons specialties to healing and armor proficiency. Once a character reached level 90, they would gain access to collaborative "Heroic" missions. The five heroic missions were: Tusken Invasion, IG88, Axkva Min, Imperial Star Destroyer, and Exar Kun.
In-Game Economy, Infrastructure, and Political Structure
Characters could erect, own, and decorate a variety of communal, personal, and governmental buildings. These buildings, when grouped, could be organized into cities. Players held elections via ballot box for Mayor. Elected mayors granted city members permission to place structures within the city. Elections were held every three weeks. If another player wished to run for mayor, they would add their name to the ballot box to run against the incumbent. As cities grew in population, they became eligible to add services and facilities such as vehicle repair garages, shuttle ports, cloning facilities, hospitals, cantinas, and garden displays. They could show up on planet maps alongside canonical cities such as Theed and Mos Eisley.The gameplay design aimed towards realistic social institutions like a dynamic virtual economy and other real-life social phenomena like a complicated division of labor. In this virtual economy, players were responsible for creating many in-game items including blasters, starships, clothing, armor, food, housing, furniture and even a wide variety of droids. According to Star Wars Galaxies and the Division of Labor, the division of labor in Star Wars Galaxies produced in-game results similar to those in real life.
Setting
The game events were set following the destruction of the Death Star in Episode IV: A New Hope, but before the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back.The game launched with 10 planets: Tatooine, Naboo, Corellia, Talus, Rori, Dantooine, Lok, Yavin 4, the Forest Moon of Endor, and Dathomir. The paid expansions added Kashyyyk and Mustafar. There were 12 space zones, encompassing approximately 3400 cubic kilometers of navigable space. Nine space zones were associated with one or more of the playable planets, but Kessel, Ord Mantell, and Deep Space were solely used for space gameplay and player-versus-player combat. The planet Hoth was added in November 2008, but could only be explored during the events of the Battle of Echo Base.
Notable Characters and Locations
Players could meet many characters from the main and expanded universe of Star Wars.The main characters include: Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia Organa, Darth Vader, Chewbacca, Emperor Palpatine, Admiral Ackbar, Jan Dodonna, Boba Fett, Jabba, Borvo the Hutt, Bib Fortuna, Salacious Crumb, General Otto, Captain Panaka, Max Rebo, Wedge Antilles, Gavyn Sykes, Watto, Boss Nass, Grand Inquisitor Ja'ce Yiaso, the "reincarnation" of General Grievous as NK-Necrosis, Taga Olak, Jefa Bowa, and the Force ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Other characters and locations that players could visit within the game include: R2-D2, C-3PO, their escape pod on Tatooine, the Naboo Royal Palace, the abandoned Rebel bases on Dantooine and Yavin 4, Ewoks, and Rancors.
Production
The game was announced in 2000, when LucasArts Entertainment began a partnership with EverQuest creators Verant Interactive Inc. and Sony Online Entertainment to create a massively multiplayer Star Wars online role-playing game. The announcement included an expected release date of 2001 and that the game would take place during the original trilogy era.On May 17, 2001, before the game went into public beta testing, the first expansion's development was announced. The release date of the base game was delayed to the second half of 2002. The creators announced a staggered released schedule for the space-based gameplay A new official website was also released on the same day. It included screenshots, movies, an updated frequently-asked questions section, concept art, development team member's profiles, features about the game, and a forum. The site reached 100,001 users by December 2001. Throughout the next year, new content would be posted on the website. This content included information on species and locations, new images and movies of game elements, and 360-degree QuickTime VR panoramas of different in-game locations.
The closed beta test began in July 2002. SOE shared information about the game on the website as the beta progressed. LucasArts also stated in 2002 that both the Xbox and PlayStation 2 would get a version of the game; however, both versions were cancelled.
The game was intended to be released on April 15, 2003. On December 20, 2002, the creators announced that the base game of Galaxies would be called An Empire Divided, and that the game's online community had grown to over 400,000 users since its inception in November 2000. At the time, this represented one of the largest ever fan communities amassed for any game prior to retail availability.