Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed Interview
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In essence, Jump to Lightspeed isn't that different from An Empire Divided. The graphics are the same, many of the controls are the same, and the general feel of the game isn't too different. On a basic level, all that was done over a nine-month period was replacing the combat system used in the ground game with a twitch-based system familiar to players of older Star Wars games like X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, which served as the model for JTL.
"That was an intentional design," Torres said. "Combat is really quick and fast-based. We tried a turn-based system but it was too slow. We had to change the engine to be more real-time."
Along the way, they stumbled into the next generation of computer game design modular engines that allow developers to plug in new functionality without having to rewrite massive amounts of code.
"The key thing that SOE is good at, they managed to get really good programmers who are able to see the big picture," Torres said. "We wanted to go in that direction to take MMOs to the next level."
