Maya Powers Star Wars Bounty Hunter

May 22, 2002 - Alias|Wavefront, an SGI (NYSE: SGI) company, today announced that its Maya software was the exclusive 3D software package used in the development of the digital artwork for Star Wars Bounty Hunter. The game, published and developed by LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC was announced last month and is set to come to market in North America in fall 2002 for Nintendo Gamecube and Sony PlayStation 2. About the Game
Star Wars Bounty Hunter draws players into the seedy and sinister underworld of the Star Wars universe. Using an all-new 3rd person game engine, players will take on the role of Jango Fett, the most dangerous bounty hunter in the galaxy, in his quest to hunt down the mysterious leader of a twisted and powerful cult - dead or alive. Gameplay emphasizes intense combat and physical action in the relentless pursuit of an elusive bounty across six fantastic worlds and 18 levels. "Because of Boba Fett's amazing legacy Star Wars fans have been requesting a bounty hunter game from LucasArts for years," says Tom Byron, director of product marketing for LucasArts. "Star Wars Bounty Hunter will make their wait well worth it, delivering the intense, suspense-filled experience players want and expect. As seen in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Jango Fett is mysterious and powerful. He's the ultimate anti-hero who defines much of what's cool about Star Wars."

The Role of Maya
When it came to creating Star Wars Bounty Hunter, LucasArts was facing two considerable hurdles: a short production cycle and their own high standards for artwork. All of the game's animations, level design and character creation were built exclusively in Maya. This was the first time LucasArts had used Maya to accomplish all these tasks.

One of the keys to the team's success was being able to reuse Maya tools that had been built for earlier games. "Maya's extensibility is one of the main reasons we have chosen to use it as our sole 3D software package," states Mike Swanson, manager of technical art, LucasArts. "In the past we have customized features within Maya that allow us to streamline our game art pipeline. Being able to reuse these features allows us to save time without compromising on quality."

Much of the software's extensibility comes from its API and MEL (Maya Embedded Language) scripting capabilities. "We needed to develop a suite of tools for level production including object placement, texture/shader assignment, scene management/version control, and lighting. This level of heavy development required the power, stability, and flexibility of C++ and Maya's API," explains Swanson.

Swanson's team also wrote over 125 MEL scripts as part of the Star Wars Bounty Hunter toolkit. "Supporting a large development team of artists and level designers on a tight development schedule absolutely requires quick tool prototyping, scene debugging, and easy automation of asset processing," states Swanson. "MEL greatly facilitated our ability to quickly develop and deploy new tools to the game artists without a lot of programming time. Also, MEL's simplicity and reliability allowed for a much larger range of individuals to develop simple scripts than is possible with some other packages."

LucasArts has also recently announced another game to be created exclusively with Maya: RTX Red Rock, an epic third-person action-adventure expected to release spring 2003 on PlayStation 2 and Gamecube.

Please visit the Alias|Wavefront website at www.aliaswavefront.com or call 1-800-447-2542 in North America.