Interview: Hall Hood on The Smuggler
We sat down with BioWare writer Hall Hood to get a behind-the-scenes look at the motivations behind the Smuggler class. Read on to get a peek at how factions are designed, and what goes into creating world stories arcs on the various planets.What is your involvement on the writing team?
Hall: I started writing out for the Smuggler class, and wrote about half of the content for that before I got to jump over to the Jedi Knight class and put quite a bit of work on that class. It was really fun, and sort of a dream come true because I got to fulfill two fantasies. I got to write for Han Solo, and I got to write for Luke Skywalker. The great thing too is that I wrote world-based content, group content, etc. and that is really fun because I did it for both factions. I get to write for all the different fantasies; I get to write for Darth Vader and Boba Fett, and Rex the Trooper from Clone Wars.
What are main influences for the Smuggler inside and outside of Star Wars?
Hall: Well, the first time I ever saw Star Wars when I was a kid, I was like, Luke? Whatever. I want to be the guy with the big giant dog that can tear people's arms off and the guy that has his own ship. I was like Han all the way-he was where I wanted to be. And, of course, that changed over time. I was like, Luke is pretty awesome, too. But back in the day, it was always the kind of sarcastic, wise-cracking character. That was, to me, was the thing that I appreciated about Han. He was funny, he never took anything too seriously, and he always kept the story exciting and he was just kind of this outrageous character. You have all these other characters who are being very serious about everything, and Han is the one who is making wise cracks while the trash compactor is about to crush them to death. Obviously, I'm a fan of Firefly. I once heard Firefly described as a television series starring Han Solo where he shot first in every episode.
Many would say that the voice of the Smuggler sounds a lot like Nathan Fillion or very close at least.
Hall: Well, obviously if you're going to create that Han Solo feel, then there is a certain way of delivering dialogue that you have to capture.
There are few people that do that very well, too.
Hall: Yes indeed. I'm very, very happy with the Smuggler voice actors. They're both terrific. It is really great to listen to these guys. Getting back to influences, I was also a big fan of the Kurt Russell character in Big Trouble in Little China, and that was always an influence. But I always had an appreciation for all of the sort of outlaw characters -- the ones who are on the fringes of the big battle. The neutral parties that get swept up in events and have to make a decision about going one way or the other with it like Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca. Things like that, and of course I love stories about criminals. I love Elmore Leonard stories. I love Pulp Fiction and things like that. And that is part of the fun of getting to write the Smuggler; it is drawing on all of those different influences ad then filtering them into Star Wars. It is a tremendous amount of fun.
We heard a lot about moral choice in SWTOR, especially during the panel. What goes into that as far as the Smuggler is concerned? We heard it implied that for the Imperial Agent that one side will basically be subservient to the Dark Council's wishes. And from Fatal Alliance, the other one thinks they're just a bunch of crazy freaks and they can run things better. Or some of the things Drew Karpyshyn told us about the Jedi Knight; he will still want to destroy the Empire if he goes down the Dark path, but more on his own way. Can you describe how that would be for the Smuggler, because there's no mirroring of these class choices or moral choices. How does the Smuggler approach his world?
Hall: The Smuggler's moral conundrum is always the conflict between selfish-self interest and being greedy, and doing the right thing. "Do you need those credits at any costs? Do you care who you hurt as long as you get paid?" And the reality is that the good Smugglers are the ones who are still in it to make some credits. They got to keep their freighter flying and all that. But the reality is they balance against the "well, I'm not going to hurt somebody. I'm not going to make sure that I profit and someone else suffers." And they can occasionally do the pure paladin thing of "alright, I'm going to give up my profit on this so that someone else doesn't suffer." That is the extreme example, but that is kind of where it is.
And also, in the greater conflict of the Sith versus the Republic, it is very much about how you can play a Smuggler who doesn't care about any of it. You can play that Smuggler who's like "I'm in business. I'm just going to continue to do my thing and let these other people fight it out. That is not my problem." Or you can go the very passionate privateer route, where you can decide "I'm going to lend my ship to the Republic."
Your use of name privateer... there was a game that came out in the 90s called Privateer that I was a huge fan of. The story line of a Smuggler was one of those key things that attracted me to that story. I'm glad that you use that context.
Hall: Absolutely. And also thinking back to other eras in our own history, there has always been the potential for the independents in times of crisis to jump in and lend a hand.
- Previous
- Next
- Page 1 of 2
- View User Profile
- View Posts
- Send Message
Posted 8/16/2010 4:22:29 PMAnd super-props to the DH team. You guys ask the questions no one else asks (probably because you are already well informed, so a question like "What is the space combat going to be like" doesn't do you much good.) These type of questions allow Bioware to share information that is more abstract, but just as interesting as game facts and stats.
Thanks Again.
- View User Profile
- View Posts
- Send Message
Posted 8/16/2010 3:05:43 PM- View User Profile
- View Posts
- Send Message
Posted 8/16/2010 12:49:30 PMBioware, go with that premise. ;)
Great article haters. Good read as always.
- View User Profile
- View Posts
- Send Message
Posted 8/16/2010 10:15:09 AM- View User Profile
- View Posts
- Send Message
Posted 8/16/2010 7:52:16 AM- View User Profile
- View Posts
- Send Message
Posted 8/16/2010 6:31:48 AM- View User Profile
- View Posts
- Send Message
Posted 8/16/2010 6:29:52 AM- View User Profile
- View Posts
- Send Message
Posted 8/16/2010 6:09:09 AMoh and hall: "drop the old man, the whiny kid and the droids off on Alderaan. Three movies later, look where he wound up."
Yeah he ended up freezing his butt off on Hoth, to being betrayed and frozen in carbonite while becoming the hood ornament for Jabba's Sail Barge, then he ended up catching fleas off of the Ewoks on Endor.
- View User Profile
- View Posts
- Send Message
Posted 8/16/2010 7:47:37 AM- View User Profile
- View Posts
- Send Message
Posted 8/16/2010 5:48:26 AM- View User Profile
- View Posts
- Send Message
Posted 8/16/2010 5:12:12 AMthe smuggler does seem funny like Han and is definitely unique in that aspect compared to the other classes. looking forward to playin one after a couple other classes tho
- View User Profile
- View Posts
- Send Message
Posted 8/16/2010 4:29:36 AMI swear if I hear a Jack Burton quote on my Smuggler I'll die of a nerd heart attack.
- View User Profile
- View Posts
- Send Message
Posted 8/16/2010 6:29:31 AMFirefly, Jack Burton & Han Solo = all win. SO going to have a Smuggler alt for these combined gems! Nice interview DH /cheers.
- View User Profile
- View Posts
- Send Message
Posted 8/16/2010 5:17:46 AM- View User Profile
- View Posts
- Send Message
Posted 8/16/2010 3:46:20 AMOne thing I noticed that stuck out with me was that when talking about the voice overs for the smuggler class he said "both" meaning only 2 actors (1 male 1 female I would presume) not sure if this has been confirmed before or not.