A long time ago, in galaxy far, far away a game was released, not just any game, a game we've all come to love. We've shown our appreciation through numerous web sites, voting for it in numerous polls in which it came out on top, and built a community around. The game, Jedi Knight. OK, so maybe it was only a year ago, and it didn't happen in a galaxy far, far away, it just happened in your local software store, but I'm trying to be dramatic. After all, it's not every day Jedi Knight celebrates its first birthday! I'd like to take this opportunity to take a stroll down Memory Lane. Won't you join me?
My story probably would begin sometime around my sophomore year in high school. I'd been playing Dark Forces for about ten months, and thought it'd be time to try my hand at level authoring. I still remember how I was accepted into the Dark Forces community, by many of the people that are still respected members of Jedi Knight community. The eagerness everyone had to lend a helping hand drew me in. Unfortunately I entered the community at the wrong time. Things were starting to fall apart. My level was released the same week Ackbar's was taken down. This hindered my levels chances of being distributed along side every other authors work. Few people saw my level, and I faded form the community. I still regret doing that.
A few years later I was flipping through my PCGamer when a bright blue light saber caught my eye. Being and avid Star Wars fan, I needed to see what that was about. It is here that I first read of rumors of a sequel to Dark Forces. I almost wet myself. I didn't get my hopes up too high, because at that point, it was just a rumor. By this time I was on a crusade, to find as much info on this fabled sequel as I possible could. Every web site and every web site that had any information pertaining to the subject had my name written all over it. The more I learned about it, the more craved it. It got to a point where I almost shed a tear every time Lucas Arts pushed back the release date.
My story now brings us to the beginning of my senior year in high school. By this time I had gotten my best friend obsessed with the soon to be released Jedi Knight. Me and him were the captains of the Cross Country team, and we were enjoying a well-deserved winning streak. We trained so hard to keep up with the prior years record, we never missed a practice. We poured our hearts and souls into running. Until one day… A day that will forever live in infamy. The day Jedi Knight was released.
It was second period the first time I saw my pal. He had a glimmer in his eye, I knew it was anticipation. He was like a five-year-old on Christmas Eve. Can you blame him? I think the conversation he had went something like this.
Brian: "Dude, it comes out today! We're running over to the mall after school to pick it up right after school!"
Me: "Hell yea! The only thing is, we've got practice today, wanna do it after practice?"
Brian: "The mall will be closed by then."
Me: "Urg, and we have an important race tomorrow."
Brian: "Think of it this way, if we skip today, we'll be nice and rested for tomorrow."
Me: "You have a point."
Well, we got the game, and still, some how kept improving our times, but this holds no relevance to the story. I'm now going to skip ahead a few weeks. I'd beaten the game, and was looking for a new challenge. I had never played an Internet game, and thought that Jedi Knight would be the perfect game to try with. I went on a search for information on getting opponents. I started at Jediknight.net. Here I found many opponents that were willing to destroy me to my hearts content. After awhile, not really sure how long, I, like everyone else, got sick of the normal levels, and wanted more. Some wacky guys then decided to take it upon themselves to give the people what they wanted, and started converting SP levels to MP format.
This is where my story reaches a critical moment. This is where a fell into place in the community. I noticed a familiar name in one of the readme files on a conversion, a name I remembered from Dark Forces, none other then Jeff Walters. I started becoming a regular visitor to his message board, and chat room. Here, I met so many others like me. I stumbled upon a group of people that I came to know as my friends. I became obsessed with the little dramas that made the community so dynamic.
Since then, a lot has changed. Level construction has evolved from basic cubes, to complex structures. The time when only MP levels were being released is over. A lot of talk about the community dying has passed. Friendships have been made, and unfortunately so have rivalries. Virtual unknowns have created a name for themselves. The community has been in a state of flux for the past year. Sometimes it has been changing more rapidly then at other points. We are still evolving. Every new accomplishment, some one finds a way to improve. Everyday people join, and people leave. Every ying has its yang, but all in all I truly believe the Jedi Knight community is the best online gaming community in the world. We're here to stay!
Happy Birthday Jedi Knight!