In a galaxy not far away, 'Star Wars: The Old Republic' online game was born

The droids, sure. The Force? Most certainly. Boba Fett's helmet, Princess Leia's metal bikini, lightsabers? Absolutely.

There are lots of things that made the "Star Wars" series cool, but not much is said about what really made it mindblowing: its sense of nearly infinite scale.

It happened a long time ago (How long? A while.) in a galaxy far, far away (How far? REALLY far), hyperspacing between planets like it was no big thing. Do you like Chewbacca? There's a whole planet of those Wookiees and it even has a name: Kashyyyk . Darth Vader cruelly obliterates Alderaan and in mere seconds, billions of fictional people are done away with for the sake of a plot point.

For "Star Wars" fans it will be hard not to feel that sense-of-scale brain tickle with "Star Wars: The Old Republic," an Austin-developed online game that goes live Tuesday.

Developed by hundreds of writers, digital artists, programmers, an army of IT and support staff and others, the massively multiplayer game for Windows PCs has been in development since 2006. Local developers say it's the largest video game made in Austin, both in terms of staff and budget.

BioWare Austin, the Electronic Arts-owned studio behind the game, won't release official employee or budget numbers, but analysts and game journalists have estimated it could cost anywhere from $80 million to north of $200 million to develop when marketing and ongoing costs are factored in. EA has said in past interviews that "The Old Republic" is the most expensive game the nearly 30-year-old company has ever made.

If all goes well, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of players, will gather online to rattle their lightsabers, test the light and dark sides of The Force and make their way through a practically endless amount of digital storytelling.

It's got scale, is all we're saying.

The galaxy builders

In a large Northwest Austin office building near the Domain shopping center, you might see stormtroopers and Darth Vader walking around the BioWare offices; this is typical. The walls are decorated with massive artwork both familiar (the Death Star) and not-yet-iconic (framed concept art from the new game). A lot of "Star Wars" toys, props and memorabilia adorn desks and shelves.

Game production increased so quickly this year that about 15,000 square feet of additional office space had to be set up to accommodate new staffers. There's an area for writers cranking out dialogue and storylines for game updates and future expansions, another for artists creating characters and environments and a separate soundproofed room just to create sound effects. A sealed strategy command room is where teams will meet to discuss any problems during launch. There's a live video link to a customer support team in Ireland and a TV set to CNN: If any events affect whether people are playing (say a blizzard in the Northeast keeps people staying home and playing), the team wants to know about it. The studio will be tracking huge amounts of data about the way people are playing the game, trouble spots that need fixing and anything that could affect the game's servers (housed in multiple locations outside Austin).

The studio's creative heads say they're constantly being asked about the pressure of such a massive project. The most successful game of this kind, "World of Warcraft" from competitor Activision Blizzard Inc., has attracted up to 12 million players and has made billions of dollars. There's been speculation as to whether "Old Republic" will be able to compete with "Warcraft" where other MMOs have failed. One of them was "Tabula Rasa," an ambitious space game released in late 2007 by NCSoft. That Austin-developed game lasted just over a year before it was shuttered.

James Olen, creative director for "Old Republic," said his even keel comes from experience. He says BioWare has previously bet the company on big titles like "Mass Effect" and "Knights of the Old Republic," a 2003 Xbox role-playing game that "Star Wars: The Old Republic" is partly based upon.

"I'm immune to that pressure now because I've been through it so many times," Olen said.