Sometimes lighting hits twice, and that’s just how I felt after I had just been asked to move teams while working at Krome Studios off of the Hellboy team (a personal dream project) to a new top-secret project at the time, which would later be known as Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. We were to spend a week making a pitch demo for Lucas Arts and to cut a long story short the rest, as they say, is history.
Above: Many years after working on the project I would finish off a sketch I started while joking with Krome Studios’ Art Director Steve Stamatiadis and fellow concept designers Mark and Rich, that Vader never jumps or lifts his arms… ever. So much that we even had a level in the game where you could not only not jump, but also not run. I guess nothing is worth rushing to Vader. What a gangsta.
Above: Production artwork created for one of the first levels produced for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. This level was later to be called the Tie Construction Facility (where tie fighters were manufactured). We had set out to explore how using the Force could cause damage to environments. Destructible environments and physics in games is a cornerstone of modern gaming however on the PS2 and Wii this was unheard of and along with God of War we were in many ways trend setters in this area.
Above: An abandoned concept design depicting a level idea the team was most excited about where you literally jump out of a space station and using the Force jump between spaceships and descend to the planets surface, like Anakin did in the Star Wars movies. Sadly this was later scapped but this concept shows an arena battle idea we explored during production.
Above: Tie Fighter Construction Facility - Bowels Concept Design.
Above: Tie Fighter Construction Facility - Wings Manufacturing Concept Design.
Above: Tie Fighter Construction Facility - Wings Manufacturing Concept Design.
Above: Tie Fighter Construction Facility - Control Room Concept Design.
Above: Tie Fighter Construction Facility - Control Room Concept Design.
Above: Tie Fighter Construction Facility - Control Room Concept Design.
Above: The Wookie planet Kashyyyk was the very first level in the game. We start of by playing Darth Vader as he tracks a young padawan force-using child which he later decides to train as Darth Vader’s secret apprentice, Starkiller. The images show some of the damage sustained trying to defend the full force of empire as it descends on the Wookie home planet.
Above: Kashyyyk - Under Attack Concept Design.
Above: Cloud City Under Construction Concept Design. Not many people know but before Cloud City was known as a sun-bleached beige beacon up among the cloud, it was a mining facility far from its clean and pristine appearance we all know in the movies. These concepts show how this transition between the dirty, dark and dingy original mining facilities are being transformed to the light panels we known from the original trilogy.
Above: Cloud City Under Construction Concept Design.
Above: Gungan Bounty Hunter Character Concept Design.
Above: A PvP Hoth level concept artwork which was designed specifically for the PSP version of the game as it featured quite a number of original levels and content from the other versions. This is one easter egg for all those fans of the original trilogy.
Felucia - Rancor Ruins Concept Design.
Felucia - Felucian Soliders Attack Concept Design.
Felucia - Felucian City Concept Design.
Felucia - Felucian City Concept Design.
Felucia - Sarlaac with Maris Brood and Shaak Ti Concept Design.
Felucia - Rancor Skull Concept Design.
Felucia Imperial Base in Rancor Graveyard Concept Design.
Felucia Giant Sarlacc Concept Design.
Felucia Giant Sarlacc Concept Design.
Felucia Giant Sarlacc Concept Design.
Tie Fighter Construction Yard - Assorted Crate Concept Designs.
Raxus Prime Smuggler's Spaceship Concept Design.
Clout City Freighter Ship Concept Design.
Jedi General Rahm Kota Character Concept Design.
Ghost Jedi and Zombie Jedi. Yes we tried. No it didn't happen.
Kleef Gungan Bounty Hunter Character Concept Design.
Raxus Prime - Smugglers Character Concept Designs.
Ugnaught Medic Pirate Character Concept Design.
NPC Star Wars Pilot - Duro Character Concept Design.
Cloud City - Wookie Police Character Concept Design.
Raxus Prime - Raiders Character Concept Designs.
IG-1 Droid Concept Design.
Copyright © 2005-2025 Adam Nichols. All Rights Reserved.