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Large-scale open-world games give players options and the freedom to engage with the setting as they see fit. Mini-games are a common activity that helps players immerse themselves in the world and unwind. These types of activities offer some stand-alone fun, but for games like Star Wars Outlaws, they're aimed at feeding back into the tone of the game's space-traveling smuggler fantasy.At GDC 2025, Ubisoft Paris game designer Jean-Baptiste Siraudin took some time to detail the making of Sabacc, the Star Wars universe's take on poker. During the panel, Siraudin explained just what went into building the ruleset behind Outlaws' take on Sabacc, and how real-world playtesting and looking into Star Wars lore helped refine their spin on a mini-game aimed towards diegetic storytelling.Sleight of handAs one of the core mini-games found in Star Wars Outlaws, Sabacc gives players a chance to dive into the seedy, high-stakes experience of gambling with other scoundrels to score credits and fame. Sabacc has made notable appearances in live-action Star Wars media such as Solo: A Star Wars Story and The Mandalorian, but Star Wars Outlaws features the most fleshed and immersive opportunity to engage.According to the designer behind the Sabacc mini-game, Star Wars Outlaws presented a new version of the game called Kessel Sabacc, adding a unique ruleset and more approachable take on the Star Wars universe's most popular game.Related:"The particular thing [about Kessel Sabacc] is that we didn't have to start from scratch, the game had the long-standing legacy, existing in all sorts of media, and there's Pazaak in [Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic], which is somewhat related to it," said the game designer. "But we also had the visible references from movies and shows like in Solo: A Star Wars Story. We also had our own inspiration, of course, to create this new variant of Sabacc that's somewhat like Blackjack in terms of its simplicity and emergent choices. We also took some inspiration from dice games like 421 and Yahtzee. So basically, simple games of chance, where you still have to make micro strategic decisions."Prototyping this iteration of Sabacc before introducing it into Outlaws took some time, but they found that much of the design work came from outside the game: on a normal table. Siraudin mentioned that by building up Kessel Sabacc, the developers repurposed standard playing cards and modified their rules on the fly to narrow down their game version."So the good thing about designing a card game is that it's super easy to prototype, you can actually do it with just normal cards, and so all of those rules and decisions were made with that kind of setup, and It made our iteration really, really fast," he said. "We play-tested each version, and we would change the ruleset in real-time because it was like, 'Okay, this sucks now, let's change that.' We chose the version that we felt confident of this ruleset's inherent fun and simplicity, but it still lacked depth and strategy. We introduced shift tokens, which are action cards and a nod to the previous ruleset which included a similar shift mechanic."Related:Living that Scoundrel LifeOnce the core mechanics of Kessel Sabacc were complete, the developers began work on building up the other features and the experiencewhich was about getting players to feel like a proper scoundrel. The developers' approach to presenting Kessel Sabacc within the game world was to use diegetic storytelling and presentation to properly immerse players in the setting and get them in the mood.As the designer explained in the panel, "We want Sabacc to be part of the underworld, and especially have it fit that theme, which meant for us various degrees of discoverability."When playing Kessel Sabacc in Star Wars Outlaws, protagonist Kay and her tiny companion Nix join a table and face other playerswithin the game world rather than transporting players to a separate screen or isolated space. This adds a cinematic feeling to the mini-game and makes playerss aware of the other players and their cards, as cheating and bluffing is a major part of the game. Players can even call upon their companion to sneak around the table to peek at the cards of rival playersat the risk of being seen and subsequently placed under suspicion for the rest of the round.Related:Given the nature of Kessel Sabacc and the scoundrel fantasy, it was quite appropriate to learn that the developers also played a trick on players when presenting the game. According to Siraudin, Kessel Sabacc is a 2D game, with a UI placed over the animated visuals of the scoundrels sitting at their tableall with the goal of adding a heightened sense of clarity and immersion for the mini-game."We knew that in the long run, it would benefit us [to make the pace faster] because players would be willing to engage a bit more with this activity," said Siraudin. "We talked about the game, but it's time to reveal the truth because Sabacc is actually a 2D game. Why do I say that? Because all of the gameplay and interactions you see in the game are actually on the UI layer, on top of everything else. I often said that Sabacc is truly a 2D game, which is really cool. [...] I focused on two main ideas for the UI design: the idea of it being a toy and the importance of players feeling responsive and fidgeting with it. Also, focus on clarity to create context for every choice you make."Upon release, Star Wars Outlaws earned a lot of praise for its side activities, which included the Kessel Sabacc mini-game and its underworld experience. The developers felt proud of accomplishing that, which Siraudin said was worth the effort."It was extremely difficult to get there, but I think it really paid off for us, and especially when the game was released," he said. "We saw many people online were trying to recreate their own setup, printing tokens and stuff like that. So that's when we knew that we really succeeded."
