The player character was originally meant to be Luke Skywalker, and the events of the game were originally meant to follow the events of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977). The game designers instead decided to create a unique character and set the stage before the first film.
The sound effect of a hawk screeching was used for when the player hits a trandoshan.
Kyle's ship, the Moldy Crow, was originally a ship from the West End Games roleplaying game called the Baudo-class Star Yacht. It can be seen as a 2D sprite in some of the preview art in PC Gamer Magazine before the game was finalized. Eventually the ship was changed into a completely new design which was retroactively called a Corellian Engineering Corporation HWK-290 Light Freighter and which would go on to be featured in Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II as well as several cameo appearances in games and comics.
The game was designed using the "Jedi" game engine. The 1997 sequel, "Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight" however used the more powerful "Sith" engine, which could make use of 3d acceleration.
According to developer interviews, one of the weapons in the game, the Packered Mortar Cannon, got its name as an homage to the game designer Justin Fisher's devotion to the 1950s Packard automobile. The Bryar pistol was named after composer Gavin Bryars.