Star Wars: 1313 was a video game that was in development at LucasArts. It was designed to follow bounty hunter Boba Fett as he navigates the level 1313, which is an underground metropolis on the world of Coruscant.
Gameplay
The player would take on the role as an unknown bounty hunter who was soon murdered by a mysterious character who was later identified as Boba Fett. The player then assumed the control of Boba Fett throughout the game, in Coruscant’s underground city of 1313 level. A variety of “exotic” weapons would have been employed in the course of exposing the criminal plot.
Development
Preview for Star Wars: 1313
Star Wars: 1313 had its official unveiling in the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in June 2012. The game was developed by several departments of LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic, Lucasfilm Animation, and Skywalker Sound. The game was created using the Unreal engine, and was scheduled to have full body performance capture. The game seemed to be focused on rapid-paced combat that was centered on human capabilities and physical weapons, not Force power. It was designed to incorporate a mix of combat based on cover platforms, combat gameplay, as well as “playable cinematic gameplay.” It was originally planned in the form of a direct connection with Star Wars: Underworld.
The game was first mentioned at on the site GameTrailers TV on March 31 2012 via a landing-page message which was later removed. Prior to being removed the message said that Star Wars 1313 was to be presented in 2012 at Electronic Entertainment Expo (commonly known as E3) that was held between June 5 and June 7. Star Wars 1313 was revealed at E3 which confirmed a number of facts and stating that there was no date for release as of yet. At Gamescon 2012 an trailer for gameplay was released that showed some new gameplay footage of the game.
Coruscant in Star Wars 1313
According to interviews in connection with Jason’s novel Blood, Sweat, and Pixels The game was first developed in the year 2009. The LucasArts team was influenced to develop the game by Grand Theft Auto, but this idea was soon discarded because of its complexity. Another concept was suggested was the use of an approach similar to Gears of War. The game’s theme evolved throughout the course of the year under the guidance of the company’s chief executive Paul Meegan, and the game’s name was decided upon as a reference to Coruscant’s underground levels. The game was to make usage of the Unreal Engine. While the game was in the process of development, Star Wars creator George Lucas suggested it be tied to the Star Wars: Underworld live-action TV series.
The LucasArts staff decided to unveil that game in E3 2012 during the pre-production phase. In the meantime they had several versions of the story written and the game’s levels laid out. They had also recruited Wilson Bethel to play the character. Two months prior to this convention George Lucas mandated that the game be played by an untried Boba Fett.
Boba Fett in Star Wars 1313
After a highly successful show at E3 The studio continued production over the following months. In September of the same year, the president Meegan left the company and was placed on a hiring freeze. After that, Lucas announced the sale of the company to Disney. The employees continued working on the game, even producing demonstrations of that game’s capabilities to the new investors, and then Electronic Arts. This continued to be the case until the final restructuring of LucasArts.
After a period of development in limbo after The Disney Company’s acquisition of the Disney Company’s purchase of the Star Wars franchise, production on Star Wars: 1313 was put on hold after Disney shut down LucasArts and cut its employees on April 3rd 2013. On the 18th of January 2014, a report surfaced informing us that Disney had withdrawn the trademark 1313. According to sources at gamespot.com The game encountered major issues with production, which placed it at “danger” of being released prior to it was acquired by Disney acquisition. In December 2015 Kathleen Kennedy told Slashfilm that Lucasfilm was looking at the content for 1313 and Underworld as well as Underworld. She also said that these projects are still being developed.
Jesse Harlin, former composer at LucasArts and LucasArts, was commissioned to compose the game’s soundtrack: “I was getting to do a lot of stuff with the music that I hadn’t had an opportunity to do before too–I was creating music for street performers who would play in back alleys, there were Star Wars dance clubs that you couldn’t even go into but I was having to think: what does an alien dance club sound like?” In the course of working on his game project, he talked to PC Gamer about writing a “Massive Attack-meets-Star Wars song.” Then, he posted via his personal Twitter account one of the character backgrounds which was being developed for the game. He wrote “At LucasArts working on Star Wars: 1313, I was writing hip-hop for a malfunctioning protocol droid named 80-HD. He probably looked like this.” The character’s name is derived in the form of the fictional rapper that was first introduced in LucasArts’ thematic park-themed simulation Thrillville.
Reception
While the game has not been produced, Geek.com named 1313 as the best game for 2016.
