#Cory Allemeier

[jadecrusades]

Concept art by Cory Allemeier, box design by LucasArts design team. “Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith.” February, 1998.

LucasArts Lead Designer, Ryan Kaufman, had these memories to share about the making of Mysteries of the Sith on the StarWars.com blog in 2005 (edited for brevity):

In 1997, I was part of a small team working on a mission pack for the PC game Outlaws. During that time, the marketing department looked at the sales for Outlaws and came to a disappointing conclusion. "We haven't done enough sales to make a mission pack profitable," they told us, "but how would you like to work on the mission pack to Jedi Knight?" Jedi Knight (aka JK) hadn't even been released yet at that point. The designers were still putting the final polish on what we all knew was going to be a GREAT game. It was a quantum leap forward for LucasArts and for Kyle Katarn himself-- our first foray into 3D FPS, and Kyle's "first step into a much larger world." Featuring Force powers, giant sprawling missions, branching storylines, full-motion cutscenes... this was the Star Wars experience we'd all been craving for years.

My friend and co-level designer Kevin Schmitt and I, along with artist Clint Young, were huge fans of the Thrawn trilogy, and especially of Mara Jade. I forget who suggested her first, but once we began talking about Mara, we knew we had to work her into the story.

We decided to make Kyle into a mentor and teacher, because it seemed like the next evolution of his character. Plus it would give him and Mara an instantly-understandable relationship. Why would Kyle take Mara as his apprentice? He's a loner, and a renegade. But in JK he took on the mantle of Jedi Knight. It was a tough choice for him, and I think that he saw something of himself in Mara. She too had to evolve from a violent loner into a Force-user and valuable member of the New Republic.

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