NumberWan

@@Bek

Dantooine is mostly plains, but that's how we saw it in KOTOR 1 and 2. I decided to stay close to K1 in terms of yellow grass. Originally I used the old textures from the game, but made new version of most of them. In this screen the place is kept under the supervision of the authorities, even though it's quite old (it's actually the Matale estate, if you remember it). JA however has its limitations...

I also read the books, looked through Dantooine in SW Galaxies, as well as through various comics, encyclopedia, etc. The most interesting thing in my opinion is the Dantari, the local tribes. However they stay aside from our story The Eol Sha also don't appear, but these people were all killed by Daala years before DP.

It's somehow difficult to add something truly Dantooinish in this particular square, but other locations include certain design solutions, don't worry.

Updated Dantooine maps, which gained much both in terms of visual design and gameplay. The already mentioned and shown location of Dantooine fams is now larger than it originally was. The third map also offers sort of a small additional quest, which can be ignored by the Players.

We also made it so, that dantooine levels have their own enemy NPCs now, and even if you meet familiar bad guys, they now have a new look as well.

So, we now know, that "The Last Jedi" differs in one little way from Return of the Jedi title, for instance...

Here are two... pictures, which reveal almost nothing from Episode VIII, but yet the one is the box cover for toy products for Star Wars, coming in September, while the second one shows the First Order stormtroopers - a shot posted by Rian Johnson.

I actually believe that to be a temple. And it reminds me greatly of this one"

Strangely, that I missed this rumour on another location fro Episode VIII:

There is article, which summons up all the theories on Snoke. One is particularly interesting and is the closest thing, I believe to be a true story of Snoke. Here is the excerpt:

But of course Episode VIII might not include anything of it at all, even if something similar is implied. It is possible, that Snoke's backstory is irrelevant to be told in the film, but will focus on Rey instead (obviously).

While people ask Daisy Ridley about Rey and her parents, I am actually more interested:

The official encyclopedia for Episode VII says, that Snoke is about 1000 years old, who witnessed both the rise and fall of the Galactic Empire. It is also said, that he had at least one more apprentice aside from Kylo Ren, perhaps even before him.

I like none of the theories, which somehow try to explain his persona, because in most cases they either contradict the already known stories (the new Canon novels as well), or change the perception of certain events (birth of Anakin Skywalker, death of Mace Windu) or diminish the significance of all other episodes (all of I-VI). I stick to the idea, that Snoke is a completely new character, never seen or heard before. Lawrence Kzadan was once asked about Snoke being Plagueis, but the response was like "who?". It doesn't mean they might not try to rewrite the story after all, making Plagueis this kind of humanoid... But it diminishes the role of Palpatine then, who was undoubtedly the #1 villain Star Wars.

In any case I feel, that the authors of the new film will have an enormous task of explaining Snoke's existence, in order it to be quite reasonable and believable.

Well, they do tie in directly... *shrugs* But I get what you mean.

Well, we have to stay true to the topic. This is where I want to add from a quote by Mara Jade from Mysteries of the Sith "Being an honest Jedi". )))

As for Episode VIII, it's been confirmed, that some actors who played backstage characters, return for Episode VIII as well.

It is also interesting, that

Too bad J.J.Abrams said there won't be any director's cut for Episode VII. But yes, TFA had some curious concepts, showing various places and characters in a different style. Rey looked the same most of the time, though in some occasions she fought different kinds of Kylo Ren (or perhaps someone else?). I am of course talking about the concept from below. 

We might assume, some of these will land in Episode VIII eventually. Some of them are visually quite appealing, including architecture.

But let's not go away from Episode VIII, as the last comments stick too much to The Force Awakens, which has its own thread.

@

Oh, thanks! That's very nice of you and we really appreciate all the support from our friends and fans. I am glad, you enjoyed the Sith Lord. There are two stories about him, which make him stand out among the characters – one is undoubtedly is the already mentioned backstory about his persona and his name, while the other one – is how he was created for DP in the first place.

I am still thinking, which method is better to make short news, because they just keep coming, and I make updates at least once per day in the new channel. Not everyone can read them though, as it requires an app to get information from us.

@@DrXann

As I said, he isn't the main antagonist. And he is not related to the Galactic Empire, but you do encounter him, yes. I would say the rest depends upon you.

I thought of using something else, like maybe making a webpage-like hub or maybe a twitter, but I saw how telegram channels work, so it was the primary reason, why I decided to rely on it. At least for now I would like to give it a try. It's very easy to use as well.

Discord sounds familiar. I might use it concurrently with the telegram channel, sending small infos and pics there, if it won't require too much from us.

The casino is actually from the old Expanded Universe. I am glad to see so many elements sticking together in one story. This is what they've started in The Clone Wars, but the show was cancelled, so TFTCW continue the tradition.

And this issue boasts quite a lot of interesting characters in the background, which are yet to be named. Who is that Jawa in the hat??? I love it!

After some consideration and a few comments from people, I decided that we might need a small news hub for the project.

Thus we opened a channel for the DP in telegram, which you can enjoy right here or below.

It includes the latest short news, small messages, comments, stories and screenshots, regarding the mod development. You'll be able to check it only, if you have the messenger though.

General large announcements will still be posted here and on moddb.

I think her ponytail was a bit lower. I mean, the hair was put into a ponytail lower on the head. As for goggles - I agree, I would like to see the good old goggles from the original

Well, Daisy Ridley hinted, her parents are in Episode VII, though "you have to look carefully". She didn't say they do appear physically, it's simply that there was something, which will become much clearer when we watch Episode VIII. Personally they all play jokes and trickes with us Before Episode VII, when someone edited the TFA page on IMDB, that Daisy Ridley is playing Jaina Solo, she made some kind of tweet, that you shouldn't believe all the things in Internet, just as shouldn't trust the Wiki Lady (can't remember the exact quote).

As for Han Solo - I don't believe Rey is his daughter. His reaction is that of a mentor, rather than of her father. I can also say, that this move was quite nostalgic - looking on Finn and Rey, Han probably is thinking, that he's already been through all this some 34 years before, when and old hermit named Kenobi boarded his ship with a farm boy and two droids. This is where I see the similarity - that even without mentioning Luke Skywalker, Han feels, there is much in common between the two situations.

And Rey is probably reminding him of his younger self, which will be revealed in the new spinoff movie about Han Solo, I assume.

There is been a huge rumour, that Rey

The most foolish idea was that Rey is the daughter of Luke and Jyn Erso from Rogue One. Now that the movie is out, this idea was dropped out (at last). Some believe Rey is the gran-grandaughter of Bastila Shan (quite silly), just like during Episode III production people believed Anakin was the descendant of Revan. I don't believe everyone should be connected.

The family idea however was always one of the primary ideas in Star Wars, even if we remember other storis, be it Kyle Katarn (his father killed by the Empire), Dash Rendar (his family killed by Black Sun I think), Mission Vao (her brother), and the recent Ezra bridger from Rebels TV series.

Aside from all this I am wondering about two other new characters in Star Wars, and new planets.

As I said earlier – we are most likely missing something here.

For instance, there was an article, that one of the shots with Rey in Rebel helmet might mean more than just a nod to classic Rebellion and her fondness of the Galactic Civil War stories.

Can you see it? If no, there is a hint below (it might lead to spoilers)

@@Cerez

Not sure here either. Perhaps the Jedi IS there, we just don't see him in TFA until very last moment.

My opinion is that Episode VII will get the new meaning/understanding when Episode VIII gets out. I mean, that the story is deliberately incomplete, as I stated above – we know Vader betrayed and murdered Anakin Skywalker. But with new story we get, that it was quite a different kind of betrayal and murder.

The Force Awakens --> The Last Jedi --> ??? [Return of the Jedi Order?]

[Clearly titled from the perspective of the Force/Jedi, but it doesn't seem to abide by the same relationship/formula. Who/What are we fighting here, exactly? Luke's decision to end the Jedi tradition? The Jedi are fighting against being forgotten? The Force is fighting to exist? >.<']

Not sure. But I think of J.J.Abrams, that he, when he was a child – well, his generation thought, that being a Jedi is some sort of magic, available to everyone. And that this very idea was very important for the fans, thus it's present in TFA – that the Force applies to everyone in one way or another. My opinion is that this notion isn't that important: Star Wars has a lot of characters not related to the Force, yet affected by it.

So they wanted to start from this idea, given the fact, that, well, this is perhaps the first film in entire Star Wars Saga where we see no Jedi at all for the first 100+ minutes? For comparison – we see Obi Wan Kenobi in the first act of ANH, and Luke is almost a Jedi in Episode V (while Yoda appears in Act II I guess). The same is with Episode VI, with Luke being a Jedi in the film, almost.

Episodes I-III need no special comment in this regard: the Jedi are there indeed.

TFA shows a member of the Church of the Force instead, only mentioning the Jedi. Later we see Kylo Ren and Rey, both of which are not Jedi in current state. Maz Kanata says herself she isn't a Jedi, but understands the Force – this the leitmotif of the current trilogy it seems.

I am not very keen on the new title, but I wasn't quite satisfied with Attack of the Clones at the time either. I believe A New Hope and The Phantom Menace sound probably the best, setting in both cases a mystery and making us wonder what do they actually mean. In TPM you understand, the Empire is ahead, and believe Darth Maul to be the harbinger of the Dark Times, though in reality it's Anakin himself. Even though you do understand and see what they mean, you don't actually believe it at once.

In case of ANH it works the same way - there is hope, which we believe is the last known Jedi Obi Wan Kenobi. Even though we might think that is it, and even others believe that (like Leia), in reality it's Luke Skywalker. And through him it's again Anakin Skywalker.

TFA tried to use the same approach, but the the final result is disputable indeed. I do believe, that the Episodes come in pairs in terms of meaning. ANH+TPM, AOTC+TESB, while Revenge of the Sith makes a reverence to Return of the Jedi.

Attack of the Clones and The Empire Strikes back are probably the least mysterious and least philosophical titles in Star Wars (plot doesn't count). So perhaps Episode VIII follows this pattern, even though it does include the "Jedi" in it. 

For now I am not supporting Episode VIII in any way. I know a few interesting things, which might indicate it would be far better than TFA. However before its premiere I also believed in many very cool things to appear in Episode VII, which I longed for. The rumours suggested, the story would be fantastic (and having put all the things I knew - it was actually like that - great). However the film omitted just so much! But I was on the right track, given the fact how much was removed from the final cut (you can see for yourself - there are already several deleted scenes, which imho were essential to the atmosphere of the film at least!).

So I must say, for Episode VIII I have this feeling right now: they've had a good start in production and they've chosen good places to shoot and interesting actors, and some plot moments (if they are true) are quite captivating, yet the final cut might be different (!), and thus the expectations might fail you here.

@@Cerez

I do believe this is a rare case (among the fan-made films), when I enjoyed the story and actors more than the environment. Despite the latter, I like, when people pay attention to details, and here they tried to do that (respect for this). Actually for a fan-made movie, it's very well done. I didn't read the description at first, and thought, that we would see Caedus. The girl revealed herself as Jaina quite quickly even before the plot put this fact before us directly.

This reminded how I looked for all of the fan-made movies on Star Wars, made back in 2000s. The first being Troopers, sure. It was quite funny. There were a few others, which draw my attention at the time, like Sins of the Jedi, it captured more of a feel about the Dark Times, when a Weequay Jedi master and his apprentice hide on a planet with Medieval architecture, occupied by the Empire. It even included a cantina. The most impressive about it is probably the Weequay Jedi Master himself, but the dialogues are a bit artificial, I think. The adventure includes a bunch of stomtroopers. It was never finished, as I recall.

There were a few others, including the Italian film, which tells the story of the Jedi Order in the distant future, with only a cameo from R2-D2 and a surname of Organa for one of the very old Jedi members. I do believe it takes place in some 150+ ABY. It's quite easy to find it on youtube.

A Light in the Darkness had some interesting ideas in the story, which is shown from the perspective of a dweller of the planet, first occupied by the CIS droids and later – by the Empire. It shows, that for ordinary people the aftermath of the Clone Wars wasn't clear at all, because no one could understand why and how the Clones would attack their fellow masters. The main character is actually young and is quite impressed with the Jedi he remembers from his childhood.

The most peculiar of all was, perhaps the Revelations, which had quite the beginning, and brings in the familiar elements from the Expanded Universe, such as the Emperor's hand (hinting, there were more than one). In this one I like mostly the locations and the Galactic Senate dissolution scene.

I tried the emulator last year. It misses some aspects of the original though, but nevertheless is quite enjoyable. There were two servers as far as I remember, one being a test platform, where you can try all the game mechanics, develop your character (quickly), explore the skills, objects, trade and NPCs, as well as travel to various peculiar locations, such as Tatooine, Yavin IV, Corellia, Kashyyk and Naboo. Actually there were many!

I didn't play the game at the time of it's active life though, only tried the demo, by creating an explorer and participating in a few quests aboard the space station. So the emulator was a lot of fun for me only for some time, it was a bit difficult for me to enjoy some things there.

People often compare it to Star Wars The Old Republic. The two games are actually quite different, although in SWTOR I like more the level design and dialogues, while Galaxies seem to be far superior in terms of individualism of the Players and a very personal approach for fans. From the early days of the SWG, the online MMORPG allowed characters to play the game on different sides, but it wasn't that important to follow a strict plot line, you could make Star Wars adventure very special for you and your friends. With the introduction of Houses, you could make not just your personal apartments, but start a small town on Tatooine, with mayor and shops. This one is perhaps among my favourite, even though I am not much into houses.

I guess, there is no need to explain, that Jedi Knight Galaxies was in many ways inspired by the Galaxies, especially when you walk through the streets of Mos Kreetle. Really good things die hard

I won't hide, that Galaxies affected me in many ways too, when I work on my own projects.

P.S. Anchorhead is probably the only original location in both The Old Republic and Star Wars Galaxies to be explorable by Players. You also visit it in KOTOR. All three are seen on screenshots below.

I must say, that Tarkin is probably the only thing, that both Rebels and The Clone Wars did remarkably. In both cases they are voiced by the same actor (who is an active participant in both shows and voiced multiple characters by now). In TCW era Tarkin was suppressed by many things: rank, Republic rules, the Jedi and public opinion – all of this was no longer during the Empire, where Tarkin had to rely only on one thing (perhaps) - Emperor's approval. Nothing else matters to him, when it comes to dealing with upcoming issues, etc.

Season 1 of Rebels was far better. Some parts of Season 2 too, but Season 3 was a disappointment for the most part – well, that's what I could say about the majority of episodes in the first half of the season. Maul is again overused, while Thrawn doesn't show his coolness in any way.

Now that the film premiere is in the past, new and new info on the film production pops up. One of the latest is about the Deleted scenes for Rogue One, which caused a discussion in the community, whether it's a completely new scene, cut from the film, or the original story, that was ultimately cut from the movie.

It's funny, that one fan from the reddit pointed out, how they used of the older pictures to create a familiar location (picture inside):

With the quantity (and quality) of the models made for Jedi Academy, I wonder if there is any other game, which received so many modifications from fans? I guess, there are. But the speed and quantity of models per year surpasses the number of the early JK projects. 

We've got just so many, that I feel, there might be not a single character in Star Wars not to appear in Jedi Academy, be it Beru Lars, Salacious Crumb, Nuvo Vindi, general Riiken or Jira.