There's a long history of canceled games that almost made it into player's hands. As the years have gone on the wounds have started to heal, but it still stings for many Star Wars fans who lost the highly anticipated Star Wars 1313. As outlined in Jason Schreier's book, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, its cancellation was even more painful for the people making it.
The game has ties to nearly every aspect of Lucasfilm's history in the twilight of the company being sold to Disney. What remains of the project is a strange time capsule of a mature Star Wars project that could never have been made today. Behind the production of the game many would have liked to play were many developers, writers, and others who were passionate about the project and fought for it until its last breath.
10 1. The History of LucasArts
The project started production at LucasArts who saw 1313 as something that could revitalize the studio. LucasArts began life in 1982 when George Lucas took an interest in the rising field of video games (though for a few years earlier it had been part of the Computer Divison that would also give birth to Pixar).
LucasArts would go on to make popular titles like The Secret of Monkey Island and Habitat, as well as Star Wars games like X-Wing and Dark Forces. However, during the 2000s their primary function began to be licensing Star Wars out to other companies. Management changed so often that layoffs were nearly constant. At one point the building was so empty an employee would rollerskate around in it during his off time. Around the end of the 2000s, some employees started talking about making something new themselves.
9 2. Beginning At The Bottom
Presidents moved in and out of LucasArts like it was a revolving door. But when Darrell Rodriguez arrived in 2009 he wanted the team to start on an ambitious new Star Wars project. It was decided early on that it would focus on the lower depths of the planet Coruscant. While the top of the city was a utopia, the underbelly would be one of the most dangerous places in the galaxy. They choose the code name Underworld to tie it into another Lucasfilm project.
8 3. Relationship To Live-Action Show
There was a live-action Star Wars show that George Lucas was developing at the time called Underworld. The people at LucasArts wanted their game to be a tie-in for the show.
Taking to heart the criticism that the prequels were too child-friendly, the show was meant to be dark and for adults. It was to be set between the prequels and the original trilogy and focus on the mafia families (or whatever the Star Wars equivalent of that is) that warred and ruled beneath the lavish exterior of the planet Coruscant. Lucas Arts were intrigued by this concept and campaigned for their video game to be connected to this project.
7 4. Pre-Production
When Steve Chen was brought in as the lead designer he noticed right away the team was floundering creatively. All of their ideas were spectacular. There just wasn't any solid ground they were building from. He spent a massive amount of time with the team narrowing down what they loved about the Star Wars movies and what they wanted to accomplish with 1313.
Another man, Fred Markus, was hired to be the studio manager. Markus had spent years setting the foundations for the Assasin's Creed and Far Cry franchises. His experience let him know that the team needed to spend ample time in pre-production to iron all the bugs out. Taking inspiration from how Nintendo designed games he wanted the team to nail the gameplay before they figured out the story. Also, Markus wanted the team to make various prototypes of what the game would be like before setting anything in stone past the pre-production phase.
6 5. Games It Would Have Played Like
Before Chen and Markus were brought in LucasArts thought the game could open-world like the Game Theft Auto games. However, this was quickly abandoned when they realized the amount of money and people it would take to accomplish it.
At the end of 2009, the game resembled Gears of War. There would have been a lot of running behind cover while shooting and collaborating with other players. However, the team wasn't too fond of the gameplay on its own and derisively called it Gears of Star Wars.
Uncharted, a series also inspired by Gears of War, became the final point of comparison for the team. This would have made the game more cinematic and make players feel like they were part of their own Star Wars movie.
5 6. George Lucas and Boba Fett
While George Lucas wasn't a gamer he still took an active interest in the project. At this point, his live-action show wasn't likely to become a reality. So he encouraged the team to reuse the show's ideas. This excited them but it soon became a problem.
Every time a suggestion was made they had to erase their previous work and start again. However, the worst was yet to come. Two months before the demo would be shown to the world Lucas would tell the team that the game would now be about Boba Fett. The game had already been designed around a whole other main protagonist. They tried to get him to reconsider but Lucas was adamant the team would have to change course.
4 7. The Demo
With a demo already finished, and an odd order not to tell the public Fett was the new protagonist, the team showed off their project to the world at E3 2012. It featured a pair of bounty hunters quibbling over the quality of their ship as it descended into the depths of Coruscant. Suddenly it's attacked by another vessel with a rival gang and players are locked into a violent shootout.
Critics were blown away and considered one of the most amazing things they had ever seen. It was lavished with awards by nearly every outlet that witnessed it. To the team, it was a massive encouragement. No matter how many problems they were facing now, there was no way their project was going to go off track.
3 8. Gameplay
While the team had a firm idea of what the shooting would be like there was one more thing that caused problems. 1313 wasn't like other video game cities. Instead of moving around on a flat surface, the depths would have to be going up and down.
Multiple solutions to this were prototyped. There were ideas that players could use grappling hooks or developers could sidestep the problem using high-speed elevators. Ironically, the one element causing them the most trouble saved them. One of Boba Fett's most iconic tools was a jetpack.
2 9. Last Chance
After the E3 demo released and the team was ramping up production LucasFilm suddenly halted their hiring process. It was odd that their superiors wanted to halt their momentum but it soon became clear why.
At the end of 2012, Disney had bought Star Wars. LucasArts' future seemed rocky. While Disney did allow them to develop the game a little longer, it became clear Disney had no interest in making Star Wars game internally and wanted to license them to another big company. EA.
1 10. One Final Note
LucasArts made one last-ditch effort to continue working on the game at EA, but the company wasn't interested. Instead, they offered to hire employees to join them in making a new Star Wars game. That project would later become Project Ragtag which was also canceled.
With no hope left, a lead on the game sent out an emotional email to the team thanking them for their work. Even though 1313 never saw the light of day those that worked on it still remember the passion they had while working on it. Many consider it one of the happiest periods of their life.