The gameplay loops that keep players chasing goals in Star Wars: The Old Republic is all powered by system design, which is the topic of a recent dev blog from systems designer Bryant Wood. In the post, Wood looks at how systems designers like him look at short, medium, and long-term goals, and then create paths to those goals or adjust those paths to prevent burnout or boredom.
Wood closes the post with a thanks to the players as a nod to the game’s 10th anniversary. “There’s no better feeling than seeing the amazing things players create using our designs. The excitement when we announce a new expansion. The effort you put in to clear new content or achieve new rewards. The expression on your faces when you can’t believe we did that,” he writes. “These reactions are my goals being achieved and make the work even better than I could imagine.”
Of course, if you’re the sort whose long-term goal is to experience SWTOR’s class stories since there’s no new KOTOR game coming out, then perhaps you’ll be salved by the reveal of the KOTOR remake for the PS5 last week. This remake is being done by Aspyr, the dev studio behind other Star Wars game remakes such as the Jedi Knight series and Republic Commando, and promises to be “[rebuilt] from the ground up with the latest tech to match the groundbreaking standard of innovation established by the original, all while staying true to its revered story.” This remake has no launch date yet, but there is a spine-tingling teaser trailer to watch below.
