The announced PlayStation version of the game was never released. Įpisode I: Racer was later ported and released for several other platforms: Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, and Game Boy Color. The multiplayer mode can support up to 8 players. The Windows version uses the deprecated IPX protocol to accomplish this, while the Macintosh version uses the TCP/IP stack. Ultimately internet play was not included. Byron was unsure, citing problems 'mostly because of latency issues.' Some multiplayer code from Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II was utilized for Episode I: Racer. The varied environments, Tosti said, were 'to add more depth to the gameplay.' During an IGN interview with LucasArts' Tom Byron at E3 1999 the question of online play was brought up. Several of the game's other locales had never appeared in a Star Wars game prior. The podracers were recreated using specifications from the film, and the Tatooine environment was also sourced from the film.
The theatrical score from Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace was reused for the game, and various sound effects from the film were also reused. Lloyd also provided voice over for his character in the game. Actor Jake Lloyd, who portrayed Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, promoted the game at E3 1999. The game was originally titled Star Wars: Podracer, however the subtitle was changed to Episode I Racer when LucasArts learned that another company owned the trademark for games with the name 'Pod' in the title. He stated they wanted to make it 'feel like an eyeball-peeling racing game, where you're going so fast, you're just nervous.' 'We really didn’t get to see how good our estimates were until the very end.' Project lead John Knoles emphasized that the team's goal was for a strong sense of speed. According to Tosti, their approximations ended up very close to the film. Ultimately the game shipped with only Direct3D support because according to Project Lead Brett Tosti when testing Glide and OpenGL the developers 'didn’t see any performance increases so didn’t add support.' The team had to develop their physics simulation in the game from only a few short clips of the film given to them. During development, multiple graphical Application programming interfaces (APIs) were tested, including 3dfx Glide, OpenGL, and Direct3D. Tools used during development included 3D Studio Max, Alias Wavefront and Autodesk Softimage. The game was developed in-house at LucasArts. Two project leads responsible for Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire began initial development once Shadows was completed.
Development took approximately two years. Star Wars Episode I: Racer was developed and published by LucasArts for WindowsPCs in April 1999.
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