The following questions were answered by Tim Temmerman, aka Neif, associate producer at Lucas Arts.

Paaar: What would you consider your team's greatest strength- in terms of creativity, dedication- etc?

Neif: Our teams greatest strength is easily our commitment to Star Wars Galaxies and delivering the ultimate Star Wars experience to our players. Each bit of content we develop is another step towards giving players complete immersion in Galaxies, and thats what we pride ourselves on. Its why youll see a range of content, from spy additions to further customization of entertainer instruments.

Paaar: Would your team place Profession changes or Bug fixes higher on your priority list?

Neif: Everything from new content to bug fixes makes the game a better place to play, which is why were focused on two development tracks this year Updates and Chapters to address everything. The updates will cover balance changes, bug fixes, and small day-to-day features, while the Chapters will bring us big new content new heroics, new collections, and new weapons and armor.

Paaar: How many combined hours does your department work every day?

Neif: Too many? Not enough? It really varies, depending on the part of the Update and Chapter cycles were on.

Paaar: When considering changes for SWG, do you listen more to Senators or the community majority?

Neif: We consider the Senators the voice of the community majority, but we definitely note any inconsistencies between the two. If you look at the SWG forums, youll see that we quite frequently poll the community majority on a variety of topics. Our community group does a great job of assembling data from all over the forums, giving us a macro view of the playerbase opinion.

Paaar: Does everyone on your team have player characters in SWG?

Neif: Of course! But we dont reveal where we play. I do, however, have a fondness for Starsider.

Paaar: Would your team undo any past changes if given the opportunity?

Neif: Well, we definitely could have communicated changes better in the past, but weve always done what we thought was best in terms of development for the game. Weve enhanced our communication between the dev team and the community, and we really feel like were on the same wavelength as the players.

Paaar: How often does your team search the forums for community and Senator responses?

Neif: Weekly, and on special requests for example if were discussing a particular issue as a team and have trouble agreeing on a solution, well often turn to the community team to gain insight on the players suggested solutions.

Paaar: What's your team's goal for SWG in the next year or two?

Neif: Were continuing to listen to the community and want to develop content they want to see. We want to further flesh out the Star Wars universe in Galaxies, and really give players the tools and content that allow them to make the game their own.

Paaar: How would you gauge the response for Game Update 1, to the Spies and Smugglers?

Neif: While the reaction was generally positive, this definitely falls into the "couldve communicated better" category. We didnt properly explain what was coming down the pipeline for smugglers, so naturally there was some disappointment when we didnt deliver a full smuggler system, which is what the players were envisioning.

Paaar: Even though their update has passed, are the profs still undergoing changes and balances after the community response was taken?

Neif: Yes, we are always adjusting the professions beyond the release of the update. Our team is still looking at the spy cloak breaking too easily, for example, and hope to hotfix that issue.

Paaar: What do you consider to be the greatest quality of Star Wars Galaxies itself- player kindness, interactivity, craft, etc?

Neif: The game really allows players to connect with the Star Wars saga the way they want community, role-playing, storyteller system, everything. Its a full-immersion Star Wars experience, and I think thats something only our game can provide. Weve got years of content built up, and from it, a game so deep that players and designers alike can get lost in the intricacies each system.

Paaar: In terms of the SWG's status right now, is the glass half empty or half full?

Neif: Definitely half full. Weve added a lot of great content over the past two years, and were continuing strong in 2008 with a ton of new features, content, updates, etc.

Paaar: Why are the restrictions on the Ewok Flower Bouquet set so players cannot drop it in their house?

Neif: Well look into that. As it is, the flowers were simply meant to be a celebratory piece to carry around for the holidays, but we can check into making them a droppable decoration.

Paaar: I'd like to thank Lucas Arts for taking the time for this interview!