Lucasfilm Games facts for kids
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Formerly
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LucasArts Entertainment Company, LLC (1990–2021) |
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | May 1, 1982 |
| Founder | George Lucas |
| Headquarters |
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US
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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Douglas Reilly (vice president, games) |
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Number of employees
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10 (2013) |
| Parent | Lucasfilm |
Lucasfilm Games is a company that licenses video games. It used to develop and publish games itself. It is a part of Lucasfilm, which was started by George Lucas. The company was known as LucasArts from 1990 to 2021.
George Lucas, who created Star Wars, started the video game group in May 1982. In the 1990s, LucasArts became famous for its "adventure games." These games included Maniac Mansion, the Monkey Island series, and some Indiana Jones games. Many famous game creators worked there, like Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert. Later, LucasArts made many action games based on Star Wars. They stopped making adventure games because fewer people were interested in them.
In December 2012, The Walt Disney Company bought Lucasfilm. By April 2013, Disney decided to stop LucasArts from making its own games. Instead, LucasArts would only handle licensing. This meant they would let other companies, like Electronic Arts (EA), make games using Lucasfilm's stories and characters. Since 2021, the Lucasfilm Games brand has been brought back. It now handles all licensing for games based on Lucasfilm's properties.
Contents
History of Lucasfilm Games
How it all started
In 1979, George Lucas wanted to try new things in entertainment. He created the Lucasfilm Computer Division. This group had a part for computer games and another for computer graphics. The graphics part later became Pixar, a famous animation studio.
The Lucasfilm Games Group first worked with Atari, Inc. Atari helped fund the game group. At first, the game group could not make Star Wars games. This was because Atari held the rights to Star Wars games at the time. So, the group had to create new game ideas. One of the first employees, Ron Gilbert, believed this helped them create many original games.
The first games from the group were Ballblazer and Rescue on Fractalus!. These games came out in 1985. Lucasfilm Games developed these games, and other companies published them. Maniac Mansion was the first game Lucasfilm Games both developed and published.
The early goal of Lucasfilm Games was to make new and exciting video games. Habitat was one such game. It was an early online role-playing game with graphics. It was tested in 1986 but never fully released because the internet was not fast enough then. However, Lucasfilm Games made a smaller version called Club Caribe in 1988.
In 1990, Lucasfilm reorganized its companies. The Games Division became part of the new LucasArts Entertainment Company. This company also included Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and Skywalker Sound. Later, LucasArts became the official name for the game division.
LucasArts also started its own gaming magazine called The Adventurer in 1990. It shared news about upcoming games and interviews with developers. The last issue came out in 1996.
iMUSE: Music that changes with the game
iMUSE stands for Interactive MUsic Streaming Engine. It is a special system used in many LucasArts games. It makes the music in the game change to match what is happening on screen. It also helps music flow smoothly from one song to another.
Composers Michael Land and Peter McConnell created iMUSE in the early 1990s. It was added to the SCUMM game engine in 1991. The first game to use iMUSE was Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge. Many other LucasArts adventure games used it. Some Star Wars games like Star Wars: X-Wing also used this cool music system.
Action and adventure games
Lucasfilm Games also made many action games. These were often "run and gun" games where players moved sideways and shot enemies. The Super Star Wars trilogy for the SNES was very popular. Each game was based on one of the original Star Wars movies. They also made an Indiana Jones game called Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures.
They also created games not based on their movies. Zombies Ate My Neighbors (1993) was a fun game inspired by old horror movies. Its sequel was Ghoul Patrol. These games became "cult classics," meaning they were not huge hits at first but gained many fans later.
The first adventure game by Lucasfilm Games was Labyrinth in 1986. In 1987, Maniac Mansion introduced the SCUMM system. This system was used for most of their later adventure games. Games like The Secret of Monkey Island (1990) made Lucasfilm Games famous for adventure games.
In the early 1990s, LucasArts was one of the top adventure game makers. They competed with another company called Sierra On-line. Classic games like Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge (1991) and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (1992) came out during this time.
Later in the 1990s, adventure games became less popular. Games with 3D graphics became more common. Even so, LucasArts kept making adventure games. Grim Fandango (1998) was their first 3D adventure game. It won many awards for its story, music, and voice acting. Escape from Monkey Island (2000) was the last original adventure game they released.
Some planned sequels, like Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels, were canceled. LucasArts stopped making adventure games for a while. But in 2009, they returned to the genre. They released The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition, a new version of the old game with updated graphics. They also announced Tales of Monkey Island, a new game in the series made by Telltale Games. Many of the people at Telltale Games used to work at LucasArts.
LucasArts also started rereleasing their classic games on platforms like Steam. This made it easier for new players to enjoy them.
Simulation games
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Lucasfilm Games also made military simulation games. These included naval games like PHM Pegasus (1986). They also made a trilogy of World War II air combat games. These games were praised for being historically accurate.
One designer, Lawrence Holland, led the team for these games. His company, Totally Games, later made many Star Wars flight games, like the X-Wing series.
In 1996, LucasArts released Afterlife. This was a unique simulation game where players built their own Heaven and Hell. It was full of jokes and puns.
First Star Wars games
LucasArts did not make Star Wars games until the early 1990s. The rights to Star Wars games were held by another company before 1992. The first Star Wars game made by LucasArts was X-Wing. This space combat game became a very successful series.
Another big success was Rebel Assault. This game was a "killer app" for CD-ROM drives. It showed how cool games could be with CD-ROMs.
First-person shooter games
After the huge success of Doom in 1993, many companies started making 3D first person shooter games. LucasArts joined this trend with Star Wars: Dark Forces in 1995. This game brought the fast-paced action of Doom to the Star Wars universe.
Dark Forces was very popular and started the Jedi Knight series. These games, like Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (1997), used new 3D graphics cards. The series continued with Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (2002) and Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (2003).
LucasArts also made other first-person shooters. These included the western-themed game Outlaws (1997) and Armed and Dangerous (2003).
LucasArts in the 2000s
In 2000, Simon Jeffery became the president of LucasArts. During his time, many successful Star Wars games were released. These included Star Wars Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast and Knights of the Old Republic.
In 2002, LucasArts realized they were making too many Star Wars games. They announced that at least half of their future games would not be Star Wars related. However, many of these new games were not successful or were canceled. So, LucasArts mostly went back to making Star Wars games.
In 2003, LucasArts worked with BioWare to create Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. This role-playing game was a big hit. It had great 3D graphics, a good story, and a fun game system. Its sequel, Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (2004), was also popular.
LucasArts also entered the world of MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) in 2003 with Star Wars Galaxies. This game let many players explore the Star Wars universe together online. It had expansions that added space combat and new planets.
Changes under new leadership
In 2004, Jim Ward became the president of LucasArts. He found that the company needed many changes. He focused on making LucasArts' own game development better. Some games were canceled, and the staff was reduced.
In 2004, LucasArts released Star Wars: Battlefront. This game was like the popular Battlefield series. It became the best-selling Star Wars game at that time. Its sequel, Star Wars: Battlefront II, came out in 2005.
In 2005, LucasArts published Lego Star Wars: The Video Game. This was the first game in the very popular Lego video game series. It was based on the Star Wars prequel movies. They also released Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Republic Commando.
In 2006, Star Wars: Empire at War, a real-time strategy game, was released. Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy also came out in 2006. This game covered the original Star Wars movies.
LucasArts also tried to make new game ideas. They released Fracture in 2008. Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction (2005) and Thrillville (2006) were also new games that did well.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was released in 2008. It quickly became the fastest-selling Star Wars game ever.
Final years before Disney
Jim Ward left LucasArts in 2008. Darrell Rodriguez took his place. Around the time Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II was released, LucasArts reduced its internal development team.
Star Wars: The Old Republic, a new MMORPG, was announced in 2008. It was released in December 2011. They also published Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Republic Heroes in 2009.
In 2009, LucasArts and Telltale Games announced new adventure games. This included Tales of Monkey Island and a new version of The Secret of Monkey Island. This showed LucasArts wanted to bring back its classic game series. A new version of Monkey Island 2 was released in 2010.
LucasArts had more changes in leadership and layoffs in 2010. In 2011, they published Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars. Star Wars Galaxies shut down its services in December 2011.
A game called Star Wars 1313 was being developed. It was an action-adventure game about Boba Fett. However, this game was canceled when LucasArts' development team closed down.
In April 2012, LucasArts published Kinect Star Wars for the Xbox 360. It did not get good reviews.
The last game released by LucasArts before Disney bought Lucasfilm was Angry Birds Star Wars. This game combined Angry Birds characters with the original Star Wars story. It came out in November 2012.
Disney takes over
The Walt Disney Company bought Lucasfilm and its companies, including LucasArts, on December 21, 2012. The deal was for over $4 billion. At first, LucasArts said it was "business as usual." They were thought to be working on three new games. However, Disney decided to cancel these games, including Star Wars 1313. They wanted to focus more on the new Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens movie.
On April 3, 2013, Lucasfilm announced that it was closing its video game development part. Most of the LucasArts staff lost their jobs. Any new game development would be handled by Disney Interactive Studios or licensed to other companies. A small team of fewer than ten people stayed at LucasArts. Their job was to license Lucasfilm's video game properties. Electronic Arts became a main company for making Star Wars games.
Lucasfilm Games since 2021
On January 11, 2021, Lucasfilm announced that it was bringing back the Lucasfilm Games brand. This brand would now handle all future game titles from Lucasfilm. It would only license games, not develop them.
Soon after, it was announced that MachineGames was making a new Indiana Jones game. Ubisoft was also making an open world Star Wars game. EA continued to develop several Star Wars games.
In September 2021, a new version of Knights of the Old Republic was announced. It is being made by Aspyr for Windows and PlayStation 5. In December 2021, Star Wars Eclipse was announced. It is an action-adventure game set 200 years before the original Star Wars movies.
In January 2022, Respawn Entertainment announced they would make multiple Star Wars games. This includes a sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order called Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. They are also making a first-person shooter and a strategy game.
In April 2022, it was announced that Lucasfilm Games would help publish Return to Monkey Island. This is a new game in the Monkey Island series. The original creator, Ron Gilbert, is working on it. Also in April 2022, Skydance New Media announced they would make a new Star Wars game.
In June 2023, it was shared that the Indiana Jones game from MachineGames would be released for Windows and Xbox Series X/S. In August 2024, the new open-world action-adventure game Star Wars Outlaws was released. It was made with Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft.
Logo of Lucasfilm Games
The first Lucasfilm Games logo looked like the Lucasfilm movie logo. This logo was brought back when the Lucasfilm Games brand returned in 2021.
The famous LucasArts logo was called the "Gold Guy." It was introduced in 1990. This logo showed a gold-colored figure standing on a purple letter "L." The figure looked like it had its hands up, with a sun rising behind it. Some people thought it looked like an eye with eyelashes.
The logo was updated in 2005. The "L" disappeared, and the gold figure became more rounded. In games, the Gold Guy sometimes did actions, like throwing a lightsaber.
Technology
The LucasArts Archives: Classic Game Collections
The LucasArts Archives were collections of older games released on CD-ROM for computers. These collections helped players get many classic games together. For example, The LucasArts Archives Vol. I (1995) included games like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle.
Later, some of these games were re-released individually at lower prices. Many of the games from these collections can still be played today using special software like ScummVM. This software helps old games run on modern computers and even phones.
Legacy of LucasArts
Many game developers who worked at LucasArts later started their own successful game studios. These include Double Fine Productions (2000) and Telltale Games (2004). These studios have continued to make great computer games.
Some classic LucasArts games have also been updated for new players. For example, Grim Fandango Remastered was released in 2015. Day of the Tentacle Remastered came out in 2016, and Full Throttle Remastered in 2017. These new versions let more people enjoy these beloved old games.
See also
In Spanish: Lucasfilm Games para niños
- List of LucasArts games
- List of Star Wars games
