Dad Borth from Red Fly Studio did an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on the Gaming Sub-Reddit over the weekend, and the interview was primarily focused on answering questions about the canceled Darth Maul game that was being developed before LucasArts cancelled it. The footage for Battle of the Sith Lords hit the webs last year, and had been in production since 2010, but was killed off after Disney purchased Lucasfilm --the same fate that happened to the lost Star Wars 1313 game.
Borth said that he and his team at Red Fly were working on an unofficial prototype to present it to EA Games, the video game publisher handling the Star Wars franchise for the next few years. He said, "We are currently working on a full next gen demo of all things Maul to show to the powers that be. It's been a lot of work on our off time."
"We have been burning a candle for this game since it was killed in hopes we can get it turned back on again," Borth added. "IF that is to happen we need to approach EA with a demo that will impress them. I think we have that or are close to it. Still, it is completely not up to us."
According to Borth, Star Wars creator George Lucas' involvement with the 2010 version of the game was both a blessing and a curse. "He was more involved than I ever expected him to be. We met with him which was amazing for us," revealed Borth. "Lucasarts used to be an amazing place for games but something happened when budgets kept rising and rising. He is a genius, so I think he gets [video games] but I don't think it's the most interesting thing for him."
Borth said the abandoned game would have followed "young Maul [from] age 9 or 11 to right before Episode I. We wanted to show what he went through to become a Sith. Showcase the torture the Emperor put him through. Show how you as the player would have made the same mistakes and ended up a Sith."
"We felt that Maul could be a character that you cheered for because he was so ferocious. Like a wild animal," he added. "We didn't want to humanize Maul like Dexter but we wanted to explain what happened to him and you could see why he turned out the way he did." Borth also said that parts of the game would follow Darth Krayt.
However, when a Redditor pointed out that all of the marketing surrounding Battlefront had been focused on the classic trilogy (A New Hope to Return of the Jedi) rather than the prequels, Borth said that Red Fly would be open to changing the game with a new character, or one more closely connected to the classics or upcoming The Force Awakens.
"Hopefully EA will see the value in us reskinning our combat mechanic to be more in line with what they are thinking for Star Wars if they are not interested in Maul," he said.
As for his plan, Borth said that to get Maul back in production, they would have to come up with something to show to EA Games.
"We would need to complete our vertical slice of the game -- a fully functioning complete portion of the game or as close to it as possible and put it in front of EA, and also talk with Disney. EA has the rights to Star Wars on console and PC so it would be up to them to greenlight it. For them, they would need to be convinced we could do the game and that it fit into their new vision."
Read: Ray Park Would Like Darth Maul To Get A Standalone Star Wars Film
You can read the whole AMA on Reddit here.
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