LucasArts
| LucasArts
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|---|---|
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| legal form | Limited Liability Company |
| founding | 1982 |
| Seat | Marin County , United States |
| management | Ada Duan |
| Number of employees | less than 10 |
| Branch | Computer games |
| Website | LucasArts.com |
LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC ( LEC or LucasArts for short , until 1991 Lucasfilm Games ) is the company name of the Lucasfilm Ltd subsidiary founded by George Lucas in 1982 . While LucasArts initially worked primarily as a developer of computer games , especially adventure games , from the end of the 1990s it was mainly the Star Wars video games that were published under this label. In 2012, LucasArts was bought by Disney . Since April 2013, after a restructuring measure by Disney, LucasArts has only been active as a licensor for games.
Company history
The company was founded in 1982 as a subsidiary of Lucasfilm under the name Lucasfilm Games . The first games were developed in collaboration with Atari and published by Epyx .
After Jim Ward took over the management of the company in May 2005, LucasArts was restructured. The number of in-house productions was greatly reduced and the development of new games was increasingly taken over by external development studios.
In February 2008, Ward's resignation was unexpectedly announced. Howard Roffman (President of Lucas Licensing) took over the management of the company temporarily before Darrell Rodriguez, previously CEO of Electronic Arts Los Angeles , became the company's new President in April 2008 . In May 2008, LucasArts announced that it would not renew its membership in the Entertainment Software Association . In May 2010 it was announced that Darrel Rodriguez had surprisingly resigned as President of LucasArts. Paul Meegan, who was previously CEO of the Epic Games subsidiary in China, was appointed as his successor . In October 2012, George Lucas sold Lucasfilm and its subsidiaries to the Walt Disney Company .
On April 3, 2013 it was announced that as part of a restructuring by Disney, all ongoing projects will be discontinued and almost all employees will be laid off. As part of the restructuring, Paul Meegan also left LucasArts to work for Epic Games again. In the future, LucasArts will only serve as a licensor for Star Wars games instead of developing them itself. In May 2013, LucasArts issued the license for Star Wars games on PC and consoles to Electronic Arts .
With the release of Disney Infinity 3.0 , Disney Interactive and Lucasfilm announced that LucasArts would act as a co-publisher. The LucasArts Story Group also ensures that the stories are interwoven for all Star Wars games that will appear in the future .
Published games
In 1984 LucasArts released the first two games: Ballblazer and Rescue on Fractalus .
LucasArts many games that are now considered classics come, especially from the 1980s and 1990s popular genre of Adventures . In addition to in-house productions such as Maniac Mansion or the Monkey Island series, LucasArts realized several games for the major feature film series Indiana Jones and Star Wars by George Lucas. Bizarre characters and actions were a trademark of LucasArts Adventures and made the company a major success.
LucasArts has developed for numerous gaming platforms, both for Windows and the Mac operating systems , as well as for game consoles . The game Star Wars: Rebel Assault from the series of Star Wars adaptations, released in 1993, contributed to the breakthrough of the CD-ROM as a storage medium for PC games.
Apart from these core areas, LucasArts was rarely able to score, excursions into the field of business simulation (Afterlife) or the action genre (Outlaws) without the typical LucasArts reference could not measure themselves against the success of the usual repertoire.
LucasArts developed a total of 42 in-house productions and 49 games from the Star Wars and Indiana Jones environment by 2012. The company was headquartered in San Rafael, California and employed more than 350 people.
Games chronology
The beginnings
| Publishing year | title | Platform (s) | Brief description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Ball blazer | Apple II , Atari 5200 , Atari 7800 , Atari home computers , C64 , MSX , NES , Schneider / Amstrad CPC , ZX Spectrum | Science fiction sport or skill game, played from the first person perspective. Simple simulation of the game physics. |
| Rescue on Fractalus | Apple II, Atari 5200, Atari home computer, C64, Schneider / Amstrad CPC, TRS-80 CoCo , ZX Spectrum | Flight action game. The player must rescue downed pilots on a planet surface generated from fractals and fend off enemy attacks. | |
| The eidolon | Apple II, Atari home computer, C64, MSX, Schneider / Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum | Labyrinth action game with a steampunk background story. | |
| 1985 | Koronis Rift | Apple II, Atari home computer, C64, MSX, Schneider / Amstrad CPC, TRS-80 CoCo, ZX Spectrum | Genre mix, the player has to explore a planet surface and collect items there that have to be sold afterwards for better equipment of the player's vehicle. |
| 1986 | labyrinth | Apple II, C64, MSX | The game begins as a text adventure , but changes to graphics mode in the labyrinth; it already contains a predecessor to the SCUMM control. |
| 1987 | PHM Pegasus | Apple II, C64, MS-DOS , Schneider / Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum | Action-heavy marine simulation , the player controls a single hydrofoil of the eponymous Pegasus class . |
| Strike Fleet | Amiga , Apple II, Atari ST , C64, MS-DOS | Marine simulation of tactical naval warfare using modern technologies such as anti-ship missiles and anti-submarine helicopters. Based on historical scenarios are available for replay. |
"SCUMM adventures", flight simulators etc.
Especially the older games can be played again on the latest hardware thanks to the SPUTM emulator ScummVM .
| Publishing year | title | Platform (s) | Brief description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Maniac Mansion | Amiga , Apple II , Atari ST , C64 , MS-DOS , NES | First SCUMM adventure. The player (or the characters he controls) must be a girl from the house of the crazy Professor Dr. Free Fred who is possessed by a meteor. |
| 1988 | Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders | Amiga, Apple II, Atari ST, C64, FM Towns , MS-DOS | An adventure sensation reporter Zak is also supposed to write an article about a two-headed squirrel and stumbles over ancient ruins. Now he has to stop an alien conspiracy. |
| Battlehawks 1942 | Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS | First flight simulator from Lucasfilm Games - deals with the air-sea battles of 1942 ( Coral Sea , Midway , East Solomon Islands , Santa Cruz Islands ) between Japan and the USA during World War II . Both sides are playable, bitmap graphics . | |
| Life Story: The Race of the Double Helix | Learning program for school lessons | ||
| 1989 | Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure | Amiga, Atari ST, CDTV , FM Towns, Mac , MS-DOS | Adventure based on the film of the same name, Indiana Jones has to find the Holy Grail and his father. |
| Their Finest Hour: The Battle of Britain | Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS | Flight simulator - deals with the Battle of Britain in 1940. Polygonal landscape display , campaign mode with strategy part and operational planning. Both sides are playable. | |
| Pipe dream | Amiga, Apple II, NES | Strategy game , just a conversion of Pipe Mania for the NES | |
| Mac Magic | Educational program for schools only | ||
| 1990 | Loom | Amiga, Atari ST, CDTV, FM Towns, Mac, MS-DOS, PC Engine | Adventure - The player controls the main character Bobbin not with the usual verbs like “take” and “give”, but with the help of tones that are generated with the character's magic wand. Bobbin has to research his origin. |
| The Secret of Monkey Island | Amiga, Atari ST, FM Towns, Sega Mega-CD , Mac, MS-DOS | Adventure classic - the young Guybrush Threepwood wants to become a pirate and falls in love with the governor of the island on which he is stranded. But the evil spirit pirate LeChuck throws a spanner in the works of this love happiness. | |
| Night Shift | Amiga, Atari ST, C64, MS-DOS, Schneider / Amstrad CPC , ZX Spectrum | An action and tinkering game | |
| 1991 | Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe | MS-DOS | Flight simulator - the Allied air raid on German cities is in full swing and Germany is trying to turn the tide with super weapons. Technically based on Their Finest Hour and also includes a strategy mode. |
First LucasArts title
| Publishing year | title | Platform (s) | Brief description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge | PC ( floppy disk , CD-ROM ), Amiga, Mac | Adventure - Guybrush is looking for a change and wants to find the treasure Big Whoop. The zombie pirate LeChuck gets in his way again. |
| 1992 | Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis | PC (floppy disk, CD-ROM), Amiga, Mac | Adventure - In 1939 the Nazis tried to find the sunken continent of Atlantis in order to exploit the orichalkum there as a source of energy. Indiana Jones must prevent this. |
| The Empire Strikes Back | NES | Jump 'n' run with flight sequences to The Empire Strikes Back . For the first time, it contains the power or Jedi powers as a game element. | |
| Defender of Dynatron City | NES | ||
| Super Star Wars | SNES | Jump 'n' Run with 3D flight sequences to Star Wars . The 3D scenes were implemented using mode 7 of the SNES. | |
| 1993 | Star Wars: X-Wing | Mac, PC | Space simulator - first of its kind from LucasArts in Vector 3D . The player plays the Star Wars story from the takeover of the Death Star plans from the Empire to the final destruction of the super battle station. |
| Star Wars: Rebel Assault | Mac, PC, 3DO , Sega Mega-CD | Rail Shooter - Interactive feature film (completely from CD-ROM). As a player you join the rebellion and fight the empire. Uses digitized film scenes from Star Wars and is considered a killer application for the CD-ROM . | |
| Day of the Tentacle ( Maniac Mansion 2) | Mac, PC (floppy disk, CD-ROM) | Adventure - The purple tentacle wants to take over the world. Bernard and Co. (controlled by the player) try to prevent this, but by chance they are separated into past, present and future. | |
| Zombies Ate My Neighbors | Sega Mega-Drive, SNES | Published in Europe in 1994 under the title Zombies . Shoot 'em up distributed by Konami . | |
| 1994 | Sam & Max Hit the Road | Mac, PC | Adventure - for the first time after Loom, the verb bar was dispensed with here. You trigger all interactions with the right mouse button. Sam and Max (the main characters) have to find an escaped Yeti and go on a crazy hunt across America. |
| Star Wars: TIE Fighter | Mac, PC | Space simulator and successor to Star Wars: X-Wing . The player can compete against the rebels on the side of the evil Galactic Empire. The story begins with the evacuation of the ice planet Hoth shown in The Empire Strikes Back . | |
| 1995 | Full throttle | PC, Mac | Adventure - an interactive, post-apocalyptic road movie . As a player you have to save your motorcycle gang from nasty tie-wearers. |
| Star Wars: Dark Forces | PC, Mac, PlayStation | First first person shooter by LucasArts - the player's mission is to steal the Death Star plans. As the game progresses, the player in the role of ex-Imperial Kyle Katarn sabotages the development and production of a new Imperial weapon called the Dark Trooper. The first LucasArts game in Germany to be indexed by the BPjS . | |
| The Dig | PC, Mac | Adventure - When an asteroid is detonated, which threatens the earth, the characters are thrown into a strange world. Based on ideas from Steven Spielberg . | |
| 1996 | Rebel Assault 2 | PC, PlayStation | Rail Shooter - The Empire is building new super fighters that must be destroyed. |
Windows era
From 1996 the games for Windows 95 , Windows 98 or Windows XP and the game consoles that were current for their time were developed.
| Publishing year | title | Platform (s) | Brief description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Mortimer and the Riddles of the Medallion | PC , Mac | First-person puzzle game for children. The game follows an oversized, anthropomorphic snail named Mortimer, which tries to save the animal population of a fantasy world. |
| Afterlife | PC, Mac | Economic simulation about the structure of heaven and hell | |
| rebellion | Pc | Economy / strategy simulation in Star Wars style: You take over the leadership of the empire or the rebels and have to build spaceships, plan and win battles and thus free (maximum) 100 planets from the opposing side | |
| 1997 | Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE fighter | Pc | Multiplayer space simulator from the Star Wars universe |
| Outlaws | Pc | First person shooter in the Wild West with references to the classic film Play me a song of death : A sheriff avenges his family, who were abducted on behalf of a railway company. | |
| Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II | Pc | Star Wars first person shooter, sequel to Star Wars: Dark Forces | |
| Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire | PC, N64 | Action-adventure about the mercenary Dash Rendar , who fights an imperial conspiracy on foot and in vehicles. | |
| The Curse of Monkey Island | Pc | Adventure - Guybrush must rescue Elaine from a curse that has turned her into gold. | |
| 1998 | Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith | Pc | First person shooter - expansion for Jedi Knight |
| Grim Fandango | Pc | Adventure - Morbid adventure that takes place in the world of the dead. First game of its kind without mouse support. | |
| 1999 | Indiana Jones and the Tower of Babel | PC, N64 , GBC | Action-adventure that jumped playfully on the Tomb Raider train. |
| Star Wars Episode I: Racer | PC, Mac , N64 , GBC , Dreamcast | Pod racer game | |
| Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance | Pc | Multiplayer - space flight simulation from the Star Wars universe. Single player campaign that culminates in the destruction of the 2nd Death Star and ends at the same time. | |
| Star Wars: Rogue Squadron | PC, N64 | Action game. In contrast to the X-Wing games, instead of fighting in space, you fight on the surfaces of planets. | |
| Star Wars: Pod Racer | PC, N64 | The game content is the Pod Races from Episode I - The Phantom Menace . | |
| Star Wars: The Phantom Menace | Pc | Action-adventure, implementation of the film Episode I - The Phantom Menace . Different characters can be played. | |
| 2000 | Escape from Monkey Island | PC, Mac, PlayStation 2 | Adventure - The fourth part of the Monkey Island series. |
| Force Commander | Pc | Strategy game | |
| 2001 | Star Wars: Starfighter | PlayStation 2 , Xbox , PC | Action & space flight simulation , implementation of the film Episode I - The Phantom Menace . Several successive missions can be played with different characters and spaceships. |
| 2002 | Star Wars: Racer Revenge | PS2 | Pod racer game; Successor to the 1999 Episode I Racer for the PS2 |
| Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast | PC, Mac | First person / third person shooter | |
| Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter | PlayStation 2 , Xbox | Action & space flight simulation , sequel to the game Starfighter ; Realization of the film Episode I - The Phantom Menace . Several successive missions can be played with different characters and spaceships. | |
| 2003 | Gladius | PlayStation 2 , Xbox , Nintendo GameCube | LINEST & strategy game |
| Indiana Jones and the Legend of the Imperial Crypt | PC, Mac | Action adventure | |
| Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy | PC, Mac | First person / third person shooter | |
| Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic | PC, Mac | RPG , a Star Wars game, the story of which takes place in the distant past of the time known from the movies. | |
| 2004 | Star Wars: Battlefront | PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox , Mac | Third person / first person shooter |
| Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords | Pc | RPG, like the first part, takes place in the distant past of the time known from the films. | |
| 2005 | Star Wars: Battlefront II | Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox | Third person / first person shooter |
| Star Wars: Republic Commando | PC, Xbox | Ego shooter | |
| 2006 | Star Wars: Empire at War | PC, Mac | Strategy game |
| 2007 | Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron | PSP | Ego shooter |
| 2008 | Star Wars: The Force Unleashed | Xbox 360 , Playstation 2, PlayStation 3 , PC, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo Wii , Nintendo DS | Action adventure. Released in 2009 as Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Ultimate Sith Edition , u. a. also for Mac. |
| Fracture | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | Third-person shooter with virtual terraforming | |
| Lego Indiana Jones: The Legendary Adventure | PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, PSP | Action adventure | |
| 2009 | Tales of Monkey Island | PC, Wii , PlayStation 3 | Point & Click adventure in collaboration with Telltale Games |
| The Secret of Monkey Island - Special Edition | PC , Xbox 360 , PS3 , iPhone , iPod touch | Point & Click Adventure, remake of the first Monkey Island game with improved graphics, sound and English voice output throughout | |
| Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes | PC, Wii, PS3, Xbox 360 | ||
| Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings | PS2, Wii, PSP , Nintendo DS | ||
| Lucidity | PC, Xbox 360 | ||
| Star Wars: Battlefront: Elite Squadron | PSP , Nintendo DS | ||
| 2010 | Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II | PC, PS3, Xbox 360 | |
| Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge - Special Edition | PC, Xbox 360 , PS3, iPhone , iPod touch | Point & Click Adventure, remake of the second Monkey Island game with new graphics, sound and English language output throughout | |
| 2011 | Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars | PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo Wii, DS, 3DS | Continuation of the predecessors of Lego Star Wars: The Video Game , Lego Star Wars II: The Classic Trilogy and Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga |
literature
- Stefan Höltgen: LOAD "REALITY", 8.1 . In: Retro Magazin . No. 16 , 2010, p. 56-61 ( online ).
- Rob Smith: Rogue Leaders - The Story of LucasArts . Ed .: LucasArts. Chronicle Books, San Francisco 2008, ISBN 978-0-8118-6184-7 .
Web links
- LucasArts.com - Official LucasArts Website (English)
- LucasArts at MobyGames (English)
- The International House of Mojo - Fan website for LucasArts with current information
- Duke Gozers History Corner - History of Lucasfilm Games / LucasArts (German)
- Macross 6502 - Download and documentation of in-house developer tools from Lucasfilm Games
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento from March 9, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Disney to Shut LucasArts Videogame Unit . The Wall Street Journal . April 3, 2013. Retrieved April 18, 2013.
- ↑ Eddie Makuch: LucasArts closed. In: GameSpot . CBS Corporation , April 3, 2013, accessed December 13, 2015 .
- ^ Heinrich Lenhardt: News from the dream factory. Happy Computer, Feb 1986, p. 159.
- ^ Duke Gozer: Lucasfilm Games / LucasArts . www.historycorner.de. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
- ↑ a b Andrew Reiner: Fall Of The Empire: How Inner Turmoil Brought Down LucasArts ( English ) gameinformer.com. February 12, 2014. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
- ↑ Curt Feldman: LucasArts undergoing "major restructuring". In: GameSpot . CBS Corporation , August 13, 2004, accessed December 13, 2015 .
- ↑ GameDaily.com: LucasArts President Jim Ward Resigns . February 1, 2008
- ↑ Gamasutra: LucasArts Gets EA Exec Rodriguez As President . April 2, 2008.
- ↑ LucasArts exits ESA. In: GameSpot . CBS Corporation , May 16, 2008, accessed December 13, 2015 .
- ↑ IGN.com: LucasArts President Darrell Rodriguez Resigns . May 6, 2010.
- ↑ IGN.com: LucasArts Names New President . June 8, 2010.
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento from March 9, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Sebastian Jäger: Disney closes LucasArts. In: gamona. April 3, 2013, accessed April 3, 2013 .
- ↑ Konrad Lischka: Legendary game studio LucasArts: The downfall of the game comedian. Spiegel Online , April 4, 2013, accessed April 4, 2013 .
- ↑ heise.de: Star Wars: Electronic Arts inherits LucasArts , May 7, 2013