How the Star Wars Outlaws™ Team Created Playable Arcade Games

news.ubisoft.com:

When Star Wars Outlaws™ launches on August 30, players will be able to explore a richly textured open-world galaxy - and when scoundrel Kay Vess isn't recruiting a heist crew or running jobs for underworld syndicates, she can relax by playing (or cheating at) a few hands of Sabacc or betting on Fathier races (protip: Look around for "intel" on these to guarantee a win). She can also indulge in a pastime has rarely been seen in the Star Wars galaxy: arcade games.

As they visit the cantinas and other businesses that dot Star Wars Outlaws' locations, players will discover two fully playable arcade games, both of which feature distinctive, colorful wireframe or vector graphics and minimal controls: Raven 6, a first-person space shooter on rails, and Rider, in which players pilot a speeder through a fast-moving obstacle course.

"The goal was to reference classic arcade games that are from the same era as the original Star Wars trilogy,” says Game Director Thibaut Machin, whose co-development team at Ubisoft Paris worked with Massive Entertainment to create the arcade games in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games, along with other minigames players will encounter throughout Star Wars Outlaws.

Visually, Machin says, the games take inspiration for their unique look from ship interfaces throughout the Star Wars galaxy, and particularly in the original trilogy. "For instance, when they are going to the Death Star, there is that vector display," says Machin. Another inspiration was the Vectrex - a game console released in 1982 that featured its own built-in display and used vector graphics to create early 3D games. Lucasfilm also "was very supportive" in providing guidance to help the team achieve the right look, says Machin, adding