Star Wars Outlaws is set to take us to five distinct planets and let us explore space in its handcrafted open-world in the Outer Rim. I learnt a lot about Massive's approach to world-building and how it draws from George Lucas' inspirations during my time at the developer's studio in Sweden - with the team delving into the making of the familiar desert planet of Tatooine from the original trilogy, to the frozen landscapes of Kijimi from Star Wars: Rise of the Skywalker, and more. But what's perhaps most intriguing of all is the prospect of visiting an entirely new location when we take on the role of Kay Vess.
For Star Wars Outlaws, Massive worked in collaboration with LucasFilm Games to create and introduce a new moon world to the Star Wars canon. Named Toshara, lead open-world artist Anton Sander spoke at length about the creation of Massive's signature world. With the ambition "to make sure every planet has something unique to offer", Sander reveals what sets this moon apart, the real-life location that influenced its design, and what we can expect to experience when we visit it during our adventures. Below are five of the most interesting facts I learned about the original new world of Toshara.
1. Tanzania inspired its design
Toshara is described as a "savanna moon", but its design and conception began with a hypothetical question, says Sander: "If we were to shoot a movie featuring Toshara, where would that be?". This led the team at Massive to draw inspiration from the savannas of Tanzania, which not only fit the kind of world they wanted to create, but also provided diverse environments that influenced Toshara's design.
"We needed some variety and progression to keep Toshara interesting throughout the player journey," Sander says. "And luckily for us, Tanzania has plenty of good references ranging from lush riverbeds, to seasonal shifts, and iconic grasslands."
While the design is grounded in real-world locations, the team also wanted to bring in an "unseen element" and "break away from reality" in order to capture the Star Wars feel by adding in a new natural element: "That ended up being amberine," Sander adds, "the solid rock amber-like material residing within Toshara's crust, revealing itself in places where the wind has eroded away the surface of the rock."
2. The moon is shaped by wind
One of Toshara's biggest features is its weather system. The savanna moon is shaped by the wind, which not only affects the environment, flora, and fauna of the world's landscapes, but it also factors into the way we experience and explore it, both on-foot and on our speeder.
"It actually has a directional set of consistent wind flow going from north to south", Sander says. "Defining this early on helped everyone keep to a visual consistency both across the world and [for] weather effects. But it also helps our game and level designers contextualize their gameplay ingredients used for the game."
Both wind and amberine are two natural elements that will give us different means of traversal in the world. "By leaning into these two, they allowed our design and art teams to come up with things like amberine ramps that you could use your speeder for," Sander says, "or fast paced wind tunnels that presented both a challenge but also fun opportunities for the player when they're cruising around the world."
3. Toshara is full of opportunity
Since the open-world is all about its sense of scale, Massive is also setting out to give us the incentive to jump off our speeders and explore locations "a little bit further" outside of cities. As such, there will be plenty of notable landmarks dotted around Toshara for us to explore.
"Toshara is full of opportunities, ranging from large Empire compounds to smaller Tosharam dwellings that you can find," says Sander. "all of this comes together in an open world. We realized that navigating this can be a bit tricky – So to allow the player to stay in the world, we designed Toshara to feature several clearly visible landmarks that you as a player can use to orient yourself, and also to plan your journey across the Savanna."
"Toshara is a true haven for the Outlaws and for the underworld," associate narrative director John Bjorling says, "it's riddled with Imperial corruption [and] crime syndicates that are competing over control of it. And our goal here was to make sure that this is a world that really puts Kay to the test, where she learns the hard lessons of the underworld. It's focused on reputation and credits, and also providing those opportunities and making a career in that underworld."
4. Toshara is home to a new city
One such landmark on the moon is Mirogana, a new city built upon the savanna. Since Toshara is a new creation, Sander says it presented the team as world-builders with a blank canvas, and they felt it was important to "seize this opportunity to lean into the fantasy of the underworld that sits at the center of Star Wars Outlaws". Described as the "urban beating heart" of the world, Mirogana is a diverse place with plenty to offer.
"We wanted to ensure there was a good level of visual diversity," Sander says. "So by designing thematic variation in different parts of the city, we visually distinguish a gambling street and market area and a food quarter from one another, helping to create a sense of progression as you make your way through the city. To further strengthen your ability to orient the city, we also created several key landmarks in the city, such as the main cantina, but also an imposing Empire checkpoint waiting for you when you get there, and a sprawling central market that all feel different from each other."
5. The moon is corrupt with a strong Pyke syndicate presence
Bjorling says the moon was "isolated and undiscovered from the republic for generations", and was shaped by human settlers who learned to harness the powerful winds to build their societies. These days, though, the Empire controls Toshara.
"Although they [the Empire] don't have proper support from Coruscant, and the Emperor and the core worlds, this detachment on this moon has fallen heavily into corruption," Bjorling says, "They're colluding with the crime syndicates, which means that the syndicates here can operate fully in the open; bribing the Empire using thieves and smugglers to carry out their shady business."
With corruption allowed to run rife, we can expect to encounter the Pyke syndicate in Mirogana, who are known spice traffickers in the Star Wars universe.
"[Mirogana is] a city with signs of civil unrest and a clear Pyke presence," Sander says. "And although the Empire has a strong presence overall on Toshara, we wanted it to be clear that the scales are tipped more in favor of the Pykes, showing them as the true masters of Mirogana."
As part of the scoundrel fantasy Massive is trying to deliver, the reputation system in the game is a big part of the experience that will determine whether we're viewed favorably by the various crime syndicate's or not. It'll be interesting to see what might happen if we're not in the Pykes' good books when we arrive on the moon.
