LucasArts and Red Fly Studio apparently worked on a Star Wars game featuring Darth Maul for eight months before the now-defunct publisher canceled the title, according to a report in the latest issue of Game Informer.
Citing anonymous sources as well as Red Fly CEO Dan Borth, Game Informer reports that LucasArts gave the Austin, Texas-based indie developer a chance to make a Darth Maul game after the studio proved itself with the Wii version of 2010’s Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2. However, the publisher was initially given very little in the way of guidance except to say that Maul survived being cleaved in half. Red Fly was not directly informed of Lucasfilm’s plans for Maul’s return in The Clone Wars.
According to developers who had worked on the project, it was originally intended to be exclusive to Nintendo platforms before LucasArts shifted it to Playstation3, Wii U, PC and Xbox 360. Red Fly began creating prototypes in October 2010 based on the information it had, but during a meeting with Star Wars creator George Lucas, he presented a new vision for the Darth Maul title. According to Game Informer, Lucas wanted a “buddy cop-like experience” with Darth Maul and Darth Talon. The idea was to have the pair, separated by more than 170 years of Star Wars fiction, teaming up as friends.
Red Fly tried to make that new plan work, figuring out gameplay mechanics to satisfy LucasArts’ suggestions. LucasArts reportedly considered buying Red Fly outright. But according to an ex-developer, the publisher eventually cut off communication with the studio for two weeks before canceling the project in late June 2011.
Source: Polygon
Irwin Fletcher
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