Well that was fun! I'm glad everyone is getting excited. I posted my introduction, and it turns out you all had a few questions I apologize that this is only a cursory sampling of them, but my intention is to try to give a feel for what we are up to, and to understand a little more of what you expect, now that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. quote:

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I was curious as to what level the user can alter graphical settings to improve performance.

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Making sure the game runs acceptably on a minimum spec card is important to us, so you'll have plenty of options to turn graphics way down, but you'll also be able to turn on options that would bring even the strongest cards on the market to their knees! This is because we hope the game is out there for a long time, and it is difficult to develop for a moving target, so our goal is to provide graphic options for any hardware or play style. quote:

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What can you tell us about the weather in SWG?

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I'm sure you'll see some screenshots of weather come out pretty soon. A sandstorm on Tatooine or a light rain interrupting a stroll in the Naboo countryside is just breathtaking. The wind will pick up and taper off at different times, making windmills turn faster, smoke move in different directions, and I hope that soon it will make flags flap vigorously, or lay lifeless against the pole. quote:

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I was curious as to whether the same models will be used for various animals that are similar but just repainted and renamed to look different.

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We're using different models on the same skeleton, not different textures on the same model. This makes for more variety- and at some point in the future we will probably make texture variants. We just finished up making the creatures hueable, making it so each creature can be one of over thirty colors. Multiply that times over 150 creatures, and.. wait… what were we thinking? quote:

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I would just want to know wheather or not 'POLISH' means the graphics could get better or worse, as usually to make things run better, graphics is the first feature to take a hit... Just curious. Thanks

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Heh, you are wise. Hopefully it means that things will start looking better, but as you point out, we often make sacrifices to get the game out the door. I’m sure once you take the game in as a whole, the experience will be more than what you expected. Our graphics options will allow the heavier graphics to stay in, and when people upgrade their hardware, they’ll be able to see how we meant for them to see the game. quote:

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Hrm, strange name. Can you explain the handle?

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I was hoping one of you would know it. Sounds like Quoth did the research for you. quote:

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What recent innovations in 3D engine technology has most improved what artists can do?

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We can now use pixel and vertex shaders. These allow us to perform lighting, texture, and geometry tricks that make our art look like it was pre-rendered. We have artists that specialize in making the shaders do really cool effects that you’ll see more of soon. Recently we started playing with specular values on hair and some wearables using an anisotropic shader that allows us to change the shape of the hilights. Getting a better video card is starting to really be worth it! quote:

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How helpful were the existing art assets from LucasFilm? Did they simplify the job, or did it hinder the artists by needing their work to be checked for continuity?

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We mostly started from scratch, believe it or not. You’d think if you have a Wookiee laying around, other teams can use it, but in fact we needed to create all the Star Wars fictional characters, creatures, vehicles, etc. from scratch to fit within our poly budgets, formats and look. I work closely with Haden (Shug_Ninx) to get the artwork approved. He is able to approve most of the art, but some needs to go to Skywalker Ranch for approval. Mostly this pertains to artwork seen in the movies. quote:

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Can you tell us about tight fitting helmets & the problem of mesh intersection? There was a magazine scan somewhere that showed a Rodian strangly wearing a Chitin helmet, but will Twi'leks & Zabraks be able to wear them (& without the intersecting problem)?

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Yes- the other species can wear them too, and do you know what magic we used to get them to fit? We created a version of each helmet for each species. Pretty high-tech, eh? quote:

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Yeah, i want to know which DirectX is supported. DirectX 7, 8, or maybe 9!

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This is really a question for Jeff Grills, but since he already answered it, we are going to be a DX9 game. quote:

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Art thou a follower of the ways of the Shrub? What hast the Shrub commandeth?

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You either underestimate the power of the shrub, or you give me much too much credit. Someone with such little importance as me can only suggest a path for the shrub, not speak directly to the shrub. The shrub will come back if it so chooses. That is all I can say at the moment. quote:

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I'm going to go out on a limb. I bet you like cashews. Thanks, thanks. You keep our school so cool. And welcome to the forums

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Hmm… creepily accurate. quote:

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The question is, is there an option to turn on real-time water reflections? If so, are there any current computers that can handle it, or will we have to wait for future hardware?

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We hope to have this for release. quote:

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Will all the "slots" in Quoth's post above be visable on the characters in-game?

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Yep. Hats, earrings, gloves, shirts, jackets, boots & shoes, rings, necklaces, robes, bracers, you name it, we made a whole bunch of ‘em. Barbie will be sooooo jealous. quote:

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I wanna know what hairstyles and how customizable they are going to be for humans mainly - the faq isnt all that clear.

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I think the human females have over 30 hairstyles now, each with a large palette of colors- and males a little less than that. quote:

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I make it a point to defend SWG to the masses of non-converted RPG gamers I meet in my daily meanderings, but recently I was comparing some of the upcoming MMORPG titles screenshots and although I like SWG's more realistic style I was forced to admit that with all the texture and bump mapping, the vertex and pixel shading, etc. that EQ2, for example demonstrates, or the weather effects of Dragon Empires that I am eager to see SWG live up to my expections and show them how it's really done. For example, the Krayt Dragon in some recent E3 footage. When it turned, it just rotated real quick, looked very unnatural and such. I know that was pre-beta, but I'm just hoping that will be fixed.

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These are all things we are working on now as the visual polish pass. Creatures now have a turning animation, weather is now incredible, and we are busily adding normal maps to almost all of the artwork. quote:

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Will the PC and NPC characters blink? Playing EQ for 3 years, not seeing a single person blink frightens me. Also will NPC's heads turn to look at you, like in Deus Ex? And will clothes be free flowing, like blow in the wind type thing? (If there is wind)

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Don’t be frightened, our characters blink friendly blinks, and they are randomly timed as well. A little while ago we had them in at regular intervals- very hypnotic, but wrong. We just put in a random interval to make them more natural. I’m glad other people care about that too! We may be alone About the free-flowing clothing- well… unfortunately we don’t have cloth dynamics, (running out of time, and they are pretty cpu intensive) but it is something we may get in a future patch or release. That's all for now, keep it up- you guys are an inspiration to the whole dev team. Talk to you soon, Jake Rodgers art director