A FarmVille-style game set in the Star Wars universe seems like such a no-brainer that you’d have to have imagined somebody thought of it. As it turns out, LucasArts actually did, though it never came to be. Thanks to a tipster at Kotaku, concept art has surfaced for a nearly complete game called Star Wars Outpost, which was one of many casualties of the pre-Disney expanded universe. Naboo and Tatooine were definitely going to be included, and presumably other in-universe worlds as well… regardless of, say, the unlikelihood of a bustling city being buildable on Hoth.
Kotaku shares some information on the game:
…despite the game’s FarmVille-like appearance, Star Wars Outpost would have been heavy on strategy and inspired by the likes of Settlers of Catan and EVE Online…But our tipster insisted that Star Wars Outpost would have actually been more complex than people assumed, calling it a “very hardcore game.†Players would have been able to manage outposts, trade resources with other players, and choose whether to support the Rebels or the Empire while building a variety of settlements, the tipster said. Players would have also been able to betray one another for resources, which is a tad different than FarmVille.
It also would have apparently featured a Jedi avatar who resembles one of Jeff Dunham’s puppets.
I can’t be the only one who sees it, right? (Hey, you’ve all been saying that you like the Star Wars films’ practical puppets so much better than their CGI. Maybe Lucas was listening after all.)
And yes, of course, there would have been microtransactions, though LucasArts would likely have been less picky than Watto, and one imagines credits would be fine.
You’d think they had to at least have considered a Candy Crush-type game too, right? It’s probably too gruesome to imagine one that features matching cascades of all the severed hands and heads in the saga, but a guy can dream.
Are you glad you didn’t have to tell LucasArts to shut up and take more of your money? Or is this a missed opportunity you think Disney ought to revisit? Settle into comments below and let us know.
—
images: Star Wars Outpost via LucasArts/Anonymous tipster at Kotaku;Jeff Dunham’s “Walter” via YouTube/CBS/Jeff Dunham
