A while back, EA confirmed that the Star Wars game in development by Visceral Studios, known as Project Ragtag, ceased development. While many thought that the game was going through some development issues, it seems like things were farther along than what has been shown.
Speaking with US Gamer, Amy Henning talked about the canceled game, saying that while Project Ragtag could be considered as a sort of Uncharted Star Wars, this is a bit reductive. She also talked about having to work with the Frostbite Engine and the challenges that came with it.
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So I think Visceral was sort of beset with a lot of challenges. Even so, we were making a game; people have said it was an Uncharted Star Wars. That’s sort of reductive, but it’s useful because people can kind of visualize something in their head. But what that meant is we obviously had to take the Frostbite Engine, because there was the internal initiative to make sure that everybody was on the same technology, but it was an engine that was made to do first-person shooters not third-person traversal cinematic games. So building all of that third-person platforming and climbing and cover taking and all that stuff into an engine that wasn’t made to do that. We did a lot of foundational work that I think the teams are still benefiting from because it’s a shared engine, but it’s tough when you spend a lot of time doing foundational stuff but then don’t get to go ta-da!
Ultimately, Project Ragtag was “good”, according to Amy Henning, but the game no longer made sense in EA’s business plan. Despite the development issues, however, the game was farther along in development than shown, and Henning wishes that people could have seen more of it.
I wish people could have seen more of it because it was a lot farther along than people ever got a glimpse of. And it was good, you know? But it just didn’t make sense in EA’s business plan, ultimately. Things changed over the course of that time I was there. So you know, what can you do.
