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gamedeveloper
@gamedeveloper

Former Totally Games game designer Dave Wessman has plenty to say about the many Star Wars: X-Wing games published by LucasArts in the 1990s. The series was greenlit after the success of Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe in an era where flight simulation games were at the peak of their commercial power. Wessman is so passionate about the project that, to this day, he's toiling away on a spiritual successor called In the Black, which he dubbed "the true spiritual successor" to the X-Wing series in a Classic Games Postmortem session at GDC 2024.

Wessman was at the conference to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Star Wars: TIE Fighter. Though the series began with 1993's Star Wars: X-Wing (the first Star Wars game on PC and an early adopter of polygonal 3D graphics), TIE Fighter is fondly remembered for building on the prior games' spaceflight simulation mechanics with improved combat, better visuals, and a first-of-its-kind story that cast the player as a villainous Imperial pilot.

It would set a high bar for the following games in the series: Star Wars: X-Wing Vs. TIE Fighter and Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance.

The stories and artifacts that Wessman has held on to capture a key moment in the history of game development. It was a time when computer graphics were rapidly improving, but developers were still learning the basic fundamentals of what games you could make with them.

The tales from that era are a delight for Star Wars fans and game developers alike (especially for those who fall into both categories). Here are some of the most memorable moments from Wessman's talk.

The full article is at Game Developer.


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