LucasArts adventure games - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

From the late 1980s to the early 2000s, LucasArts

LucasArts

LucasArts Entertainment Company, LLC is an American video game developer and publisher. The company was once famous for its innovative line of graphic adventure games, the critical and commercial success of which peaked in the mid 1990s...

was well known for their point-and-click graphic adventure games, nearly all of which received high scoring reviews at the time of their release. Their style tended towards the humorous, often irreverent or slapstick humour, with a few exceptions. Their game design philosophy was that the player should never die or reach a complete dead-end, although there were exceptions to the former.

Many of the games shared similar game interfaces and technology, powered by SCUMM

SCUMM

Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion is a scripting language developed at LucasArts to ease development of the graphical adventure game Maniac Mansion....

(Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion). After 1997, these games transitioned into 3D graphics with the GrimE

GrimE

GrimE is an adventure game engine, created by Bret Mogilefsky at LucasArts using the free software scripting language Lua. It was first used for Grim Fandango. Partly based on the Sith engine, GrimE was the successor to SCUMM, preserving some of that engine's features...

game engine. Common features between the games include in-joke

In-joke

An in-joke, also known as an inside joke or in joke, is a joke whose humour is clear only to people who are in a particular social group, occupation, or other community of common understanding...

references to both other LucasArts games and Lucasfilm

Lucasfilm

Lucasfilm Limited is an American film production company founded by George Lucas in 1971, based in San Francisco, California. Lucas is the company's current chairman and CEO, and Micheline Chau is the president and COO....

productions, as well as other running gags, such as Chuck the Plant and Sam & Max
Sam & Max
Sam & Max is a media franchise focusing on the fictional characters of Sam and Max, the Freelance Police. The characters, who occupy a universe that parodies American popular culture, were created by Steve Purcell in his youth, and later debuted in a 1987 comic book series...

cameo appearances, that spanned numerous games. Most of the games were designed by the people with experience from creating preceding adventure games for LucasArts, whilst the same composers were involved in the majority of productions.

In 2004, after a string of titles that never reached release, LucasArts ceased development on graphic adventure games. Many of the development staff involved in the making of these games moved on to form new companies, continuing to produce similar games at studios such as Telltale Games

Telltale Games

Telltale Games is a leading independent digital first publisher and game developer founded in June 2004 as Telltale, Incorporated. Based in San Rafael, California, the studio includes designers formerly employed by LucasArts...

and Double Fine Productions

Double Fine Productions

Double Fine Productions is an American video game developer founded in July 2000 by Tim Schafer after his departure from LucasArts. He started Double Fine with Programmers David Dixon and Jonathan Menzies in what was once a clog shop in San Francisco...

. In 2009, however, LucasArts announced collaboration with Telltale to revive Monkey Island series, one of the old LucasArts adventure franchises, as well as stating its intent to revisit its past portfolio. The Monkey Island game was later released in July of that year as Tales of Monkey Island

Tales of Monkey Island

Tales of Monkey Island is a 2009 graphic adventure video game developed by Telltale Games and LucasArts. It is the fifth game in the Monkey Island series, released nearly a decade after the previous installment, Escape from Monkey Island. Developed for Windows and the Wii console, the game was...

Initial titles (1986–1990)

LucasArts' first adventure game was the 1986 title Labyrinth. The game's development was led by David Fox, with contributions from Douglas Adams

Douglas Adams

Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...

, Christopher Cerf

Christopher Cerf

Christopher Cerf is a U.S. author, composer-lyricist, voice actor, and record and television producer. He is known for his musical contributions to Sesame Street, for co-creating and co-producing the award-winning PBS literacy education television program Between the Lions, and for his humorous...

, Noah Falstein

Noah Falstein

Noah Falstein is a freelance game designer and producer who has been in the video game industry since 1980. He was one of the first 10 employees at Lucasfilm Games , DreamWorks Interactive , and The 3DO Company...

and Brenda Laurel

Brenda Laurel

Brenda Laurel is a pioneering writer, researcher, designer and entrepreneur in the fields of human-computer interaction, interactive narrative and cultural aspects of technology ....

. Based on the film of the same name

Labyrinth (film)

Labyrinth is a 1986 British/American fantasy film directed by Jim Henson, produced by George Lucas, and designed by Brian Froud. Henson collaborated on the screenwriting with children's author Dennis Lee, Terry Jones from Monty Python, and Elaine May .The film stars David Bowie as Jareth the Goblin...

, it is LucasArts' first video game adaptation of a film. It is the only adventure game not published by LucasArts; Labyrinth was instead distributed by Activision

Activision

Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...

. Labyrinth differs significantly from later LucasArts adventure games as it uses text parser gameplay

Interactive fiction

Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, describes software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives and as video games. In common usage, the term refers to text...

as the main means of play.
Labyrinth was followed in 1987 by Maniac Mansion
Maniac Mansion
Maniac Mansion is a 1987 graphic adventure game developed and published by Lucasfilm Games. It was Lucasfilm's first published video game, and it was initially released for the Commodore 64 and Apple II. A comedy horror parody of B movies, it follows teenager Dave Miller as he ventures...

. Maniac Mansion was the creation of Ron Gilbert

Ron Gilbert

Ron Gilbert is an American computer game designer, programmer, and producer, best known for his work on several classic LucasArts adventure games, including Maniac Mansion and the first two Monkey Island games. Gilbert was also co-founder of Humongous Entertainment and its sister company Cavedog...

and Gary Winnick, and marked the debut of SCUMM

SCUMM

Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion is a scripting language developed at LucasArts to ease development of the graphical adventure game Maniac Mansion....

, the game engine

Game engine

A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...

that powered all but two of LucasArts later adventure games. The game was also the first LucasArts adventure game to be released for DOS

DOS

DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...

. Maniac Mansion was LucasArts' first full graphic adventure game

Graphic adventure game

A graphic adventure game is a form of adventure game. They are distinct from text adventures. Whereas a player must actively observe using commands such as "look" in a text-based adventure, graphic adventures revolutionized gameplay by making use of natural human perception...

, using a point-and-click

Point-and-click

Point-and-click is the action of a computer user moving a cursor to a certain location on a screen and then pressing a mouse button, usually the left button , or other pointing device...

interface rather than the text-based gameplay seen in Labyrinth. A menu of verbs allows the player to choose how to interact with the game's environment. Maniac Mansion aims to parody the horror

Horror fiction

Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...

genre. The game was subject to several enhancements and re-releases, and was included as a game within a game in its sequel, Day of the Tentacle.

The third LucasArts adventure game was Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders
Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders
Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders is a graphical adventure game, originally released in October 1988 , published by LucasArts . It was the second game to use the SCUMM engine, after Maniac Mansion...

, designed by David Fox, Matthew Kane, David Spangler and Ron Gilbert. Set within a science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

setting, the game was released in 1988. It used a slightly upgraded version of the SCUMM engine, but adopted the same control and gameplay methods of the earlier games. Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders introduced digital music to LucasArts adventure games in the form of MIDI

Musical Instrument Digital Interface

MIDI is an industry-standard protocol, first defined in 1982 by Gordon Hall, that enables electronic musical instruments , computers and other electronic equipment to communicate and synchronize with each other...

.

In 1989, LucasArts released their first adaptation of one of Lucasfilm's

Lucasfilm

major franchises: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure is a graphical adventure game, originally released in 1989 , published by Lucasfilm Games . It was the third game to use the SCUMM engine.-Plot:The plot closely follows, and expands upon, the film of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade...

, based on the film of the same name

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a 1989 American adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, from a story co-written by executive producer George Lucas. It is the third film in the Indiana Jones franchise. Harrison Ford reprises the title role and Sean Connery plays Indiana's father, Henry...

. The game again upgraded the SCUMM engine's capabilities, but kept similar gameplay. The project was led by Ron Gilbert, David Fox and Noah Falstein; it was Fox's last adventure game for the company. A quotient point system, referred to as "Indy Quotient", allowed the player to overcome puzzles in several different ways, such as fighting a guard, sneaking past the guard, or convincing the guard to allow the player to pass.

Loom was the fourth game to utilize the SCUMM engine and was released in 1990. Designed by Brian Moriarty

Brian Moriarty

Brian Moriarty is an American video game developer who authored three of the original Infocom interactive fiction titles, Wishbringer , Trinity and Beyond Zork: The Coconut of Quendor ....

, the game was set in a fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

setting. As well as updating the engine's graphics, Loom marked a major deviation with interacting with the game's world. Instead of using the standard point-and-click interface of previous games, Loom requires players to use four-note musical tunes to create spells on objects or other characters. Loom also introduced the game design philosophy that the player character cannot reach a dead-end or die; this design decision was applied to all later adventure games. A later added CD audio music featuring the compositions of Pyotr Tchaikovsky

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...

and a full voice soundtrack (although, as a consequence of using Red Book audio for the speech, the dialogue script had to be shortened considerably to fit on the CD-ROM).

The early Nineties (1990–1993)

The Secret of Monkey Island
The Secret of Monkey Island
The Secret of Monkey Island is a graphic adventure game developed by Lucasfilm Games and published by the same company after its name was changed to LucasArts. The game spawned a number of sequels, collectively known as the Monkey Island series...

is the first game in the Monkey Island series and was released in 1990. The game, noted for its greater use of witty humor over previous titles, was designed by Ron Gilbert, Dave Grossman and Tim Schafer

Tim Schafer

Timothy Schafer is an American computer game designer. He founded Double Fine Productions in January 2000, after having spent over a decade at LucasArts...

. The concept itself was pioneered by Gilbert. Following the deviation in gameplay in Loom, The Secret of Monkey Island returned to similar point-and click gameplay featured in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The SCUMM engine was again upgraded for the title. Set in the Caribbean in the Golden Age of Piracy

Golden Age of Piracy

The Golden Age of Piracy is a common designation given to one or more outbursts of piracy in maritime history of the early modern period. In its broadest accepted definition, the Golden Age of Piracy spans from the 1650s to the 1730s and covers three separate outbursts of piracy:the buccaneering...

, the game introduced Guybrush Threepwood

Guybrush Threepwood

Guybrush Ulysses Threepwood is the main character of the Monkey Island series of computer adventure games by LucasArts. The voice of Guybrush is actor Dominic Armato in the third, fourth and fifth games, as well as the enhanced remakes of The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's...

, a hapless amateur pirate. The game's MIDI music soundtrack was the first to feature work by Michael Land

Michael Land

Michael Z. Land is an American video game composer and musician best known for his scores for various games produced by LucasArts.-Early life and career:Michael Land was born in the North Shore area north of Boston, Massachusetts...

. The added a new CD-audio music soundtrack, and updated the game's graphical user interface.

A sequel to The Secret of Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge is an adventure game developed and published by LucasArts in 1991. It was the second game of the Monkey Island series, following The Secret of Monkey Island, and the sixth LucasArts game to use the SCUMM engine. It was the first game to use the iMUSE sound...

, followed in 1991. As with its predecessor, it was designed by Ron Gilbert, Dave Grossman and Tim Schafer, though it would be Gilbert's last work for LucasArts. The game once again placed the player in the position of Guybrush Threepwood, searching for a fabled treasure in the Caribbean. Gameplay remained mostly unchanged from The Secret of Monkey Island, though the game's user interface was simplified to be more user-friendly. LeChuck's Revenge again featured music by Michael Land, although Land was joined by Clint Bajakian

Clint Bajakian

Clint Bajakian is an American video game composer and musician.-Biography:Bajakian was born in Massachusetts, United States. He was linked with music since age of 8. In middle school Bajakian played in marching bands, and also played in range of rock bands...

and Peter McConnell

Peter McConnell

Peter N. McConnell , also known as Peter Mc, is an American video game music composer who worked for LucasArts for nearly ten years. He studied music as an undergraduate at Harvard University in 80s under Timothy Vincent Clarke, Curt Cacioppo and Ivan Tcherepnin...

. In addition, the game marked the debut of iMUSE (Interactive Music Streaming Engine), a system developed by Land and McConnell that allowed for the game's MIDI music to be synchronised with the visuals.
The 1992 title Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis is a point-and-click adventure game by LucasArts originally released in 1992. Almost a year later, it was reissued on CD-ROM as an enhanced "talkie" edition with full voice acting and digitized sound effects...

was the second LucasArts adventure game based on the Indiana Jones franchise. Unlike its predecessor, The Fate of Atlantis featured an entirely original storyline. The development was led by Hal Barwood

Hal Barwood

Hal Barwood is an American game designer and game producer best known for his work on games based on the Indiana Jones license.Born in Hanover, New Hampshire, he studied art at Brown University and later attended the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television, where he met and...

and Noah Falstein, the latter of whom was one of the co-designers of The Last Crusade. The Fate of Atlantis was Falstein's last LucasArts project. The game incorporated the "Indy Quotient" system from The Last Crusade to allow the game to be completed in several ways. A 1993 added a full voice soundtrack.

Day of the Tentacle is the sequel to the 1987 title Maniac Mansion. Released in 1993, it was designed by Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman and focused on saving humanity from a megalomanic mutant tentacle by using time travel

Time travel

Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...

. It was Grossman's last project for LucasArts before leaving in 1994. The game featured a further upgrade in the SCUMM engine to enhance the graphics capabilities. Day of the Tentacles music was composed by Michael Land, Clint Bajakian and Peter McConnell, who composed the themes for the future, past and present settings of the game respectively. Day of the Tentacle was the first game to drop support for older, less successful platforms, instead initially releasing only for DOS

DOS

and Mac OS

Mac OS

Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...

. The game was one of the first video games to feature a full voice soundtrack upon its release.

Following the focus on the Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island and Indiana Jones franchises, LucasArts entered a new franchise in 1993 with Sam & Max Hit the Road
Sam & Max Hit the Road
Sam & Max Hit the Road is a graphic adventure computer game released by LucasArts during the company's adventure games era. The game was originally released for DOS in 1993 and for Mac OS in 1995. A 2002 re-release included compatibility with Windows and Amiga...

. Designed by Sean Clark

Sean Clark

Sean P. Clark is a game designer, director and programmer who worked on a number of notable LucasArts adventure games from early 1990 through to 2002.- Game development history :* Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure...

, Michael Stemmle

Michael Stemmle

Michael J. Stemmle is a computer game writer, designer, and director who cocreated some of LucasArts' adventure games in the 1990s and early 2000s...

, Steve Purcell

Steve Purcell

Steve Ross Purcell is an American cartoonist, animator and game designer. He is most widely known as the creator of Sam & Max, an independent comic book series about a pair of anthropomorphic animal vigilantes and private investigators, for which Purcell received an Eisner Award in 2007...

and Collette Michaud, the game was based on comic book characters Sam and Max

Sam & Max

Sam & Max is a media franchise focusing on the fictional characters of Sam and Max, the Freelance Police. The characters, who occupy a universe that parodies American popular culture, were created by Steve Purcell in his youth, and later debuted in a 1987 comic book series...

, which were created by Purcell. As with Day of the Tentacle, the game featured a full voice soundtrack upon release. The players' interaction with the game's environment was redesigned. Command functions were compressed into a number of cursor modes instead of having a list of verb actions to choose from on screen, and the inventory system was moved to an off-screen menu. The more streamlined interface allowed for more of the screen to be dedicated to gameplay. Land, Bajakian and McConnell returned to score the game's music. While Bajakian did not compose any further LucasArts adventure games, he was still involved with sound production in later titles.

Later SCUMM games (1995–1997)

In 1995, after a year-long hiatus from adventure games, LucasArts released Full Throttle. Full Throttle was designed by Tim Schafer, and follows the story of a biker

Outlaw motorcycle club

An outlaw motorcycle club is a type of motorcycle club that is part of a subculture with roots in the post-World War II USA, centered on cruiser motorcycles, particularly Harley-Davidsons and choppers, and a set of ideals celebrating freedom, nonconformity to mainstream culture, and loyalty to the...

in a dystopia

Dystopia

A dystopia is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian, as characterized in books like Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four...

n future who has been framed for murder. It was the first LucasArts adventure game to be released for Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

, although support for DOS was still retained. The game was the tenth to use the SCUMM engine, which had undergone further enhancements. The game kept a modified version of the streamlined interface used in Sam & Max Hit the Road, but introduced a contextual pie menu

Pie menu

In computer interface design, a pie menu is a circular context menu where selection depends on direction. A pie menu is made of several "pie slices" around an inactive center and works best with stylus input, and well with a mouse...

that dictated how players interacted with the game. Full Throttle featured technology called INSANE

INSANE (engine)

INSANE is a proprietary INteractive Streaming ANimation Engine developed at LucasArts, primarily by programmer/game designer Vincent Lee...

(Interactive Streaming Animation Engine) to assist with cut scene animation and the game's action sequences. The game's musical score was produced by Peter McConnell, and incorporated a title theme by The Gone Jackals

The Gone Jackals

The Gone Jackals was an American rock band formed by frontman Keith Karloff in 1984 and based in San Francisco, California. Originally named "Keith Gale's Parallel Universe", the original lineup consisted of Charlie Hunter, Rudy Maynard and Mark Berdon and played in the local San Francisco club scene...

. Full Throttle was the first LucasArts adventure game to be distributed only on CD-ROM.
Later in 1995, The Dig
The Dig
The Dig is a graphical adventure game developed by LucasArts and released in 1995, and a game based on an idea for an Amazing Stories episode by Steven Spielberg...

was published. The Dig was plagued by development problems; production had started in 1989. The end version of the game was overseen by Sean Clark, although two previous versions had involved Noah Falstein, Brian Moriarty and Dave Grossman. The game's story itself was pioneered by Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg

Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...

, who had concluded that a film version would be prohibitively expensive. Spielberg's story focused on a group of astronauts becoming stranded on an alien world while on a mission to stop an asteroid hitting Earth. The Dig used the SCUMM engine and the INSANE technology. In addition, fellow Lucasfilm company Industrial Light & Magic was involved in the game's special effects. Michael Land composed the game's music, which included excerpts from Richard Wagner's

Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...

work.

The twelfth and final game to utilize SCUMM technology was the 1997 title The Curse of Monkey Island
The Curse of Monkey Island
The Curse of Monkey Island is an adventure game developed and published by LucasArts, and the third game in the Monkey Island series. It was released in and followed the successful games The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge...

. The game was the third entry in the Monkey Island series, and the first not to involve series creator Ron Gilbert. Development was instead led by Jonathan Ackley and Larry Ahern. For its final outing, the SCUMM engine was completely overhauled to produce significantly more advanced graphics than any previous LucasArts adventure game. The resulting distinct cartoon

Cartoon

A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...

style was created by artist Bill Tiller. The Curse of Monkey Island featured slightly refined gameplay based on the pie menu interface used in Full Throttle. The character of Guybrush Threepwood returns, with a voice actor for the first time in the series, in an effort to save his girlfriend from a voodoo curse. Michael Land once again composed the game's score. The Curse of Monkey Island would mark the end of support for DOS; the game was released on CD-ROM solely for Windows.

Move to 3D graphics (1998–2000)

For the 1998 title Grim Fandango
Grim Fandango
Grim Fandango is a personal computer game in the graphic adventure genre released by LucasArts in 1998 and primarily written by Tim Schafer. It is the first adventure game by LucasArts to use 3D computer graphics overlaid on pre-rendered, static backgrounds...

, LucasArts retired the SCUMM engine in favor of a new 3D engine. The GrimE

GrimE

(Grim Engine) technology was created, using the Sith

Sith (engine)

The Sith engine is a game engine developed by LucasArts.The game Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II is based on this engine, and its expansion, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith, is based on a slightly updated version....

engine as a base and coded using Lua. The new engine resulted in a redesign in control and gameplay: instead of using point-and-click mechanics, the player uses the keyboard or a gamepad

Gamepad

A gamepad , is a type of game controller held in two hands, where the digits are used to provide input. Gamepads generally feature a set of action buttons handled with the right thumb and a direction controller handled with the left...

to interact with the game. Full-motion video cut scenes are used to advanced the plot, stylized to be nearly indistinguishable from the in-game backgrounds. Grim Fandango was created by Tim Schafer, his final work for LucasArts. The game follows the tale of Manny Calavera, a travel agent in the Land of the Dead, as he becomes embroiled in a web of crime and corruption. As well as drawing inspiration from Aztec

Aztec

The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...

concepts of the afterlife

Afterlife

The afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...

, Grim Fandango is strongly rooted in film noir

Film noir

Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...

tradition. Peter McConnell composed the musical score; as with Schafer, this was McConnell's last LucasArts project. As with The Curse of Monkey Island, the game was only released for Windows.

The second title to use GrimE and the final LucasArts adventure game to be released was Escape from Monkey Island
Escape from Monkey Island
Escape from Monkey Island is a computer adventure game developed and released by LucasArts in 2000. It is the fourth game in the Monkey Island series....

. Released in 2000, the game is the fourth installment in the Monkey Island series. The game's development was led by Sean Clark and Michael Stemmle. The GrimE technology was slightly modified for the game, although Escape from Monkey Island was in most respects similar to Grim Fandango in both graphics and gameplay. Escape from Monkey again follows Guybrush Threepwood, this time attempting to deal with an Australian land developer attempting to eradicate piracy through a voodoo talisman. The game's music was written by Michael Land. In addition to the Windows version, support was added for Mac OS 9

Mac OS 9

Mac OS 9 is the final major release of Apple's Mac OS before the launch of Mac OS X. Introduced on October 23, 1999, Apple positioned it as "The Best Internet Operating System Ever," highlighting Sherlock 2's Internet search capabilities, integration with Apple's free online services known as...

and a PlayStation 2

PlayStation 2

The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...

version was released in 2001.

Canceled projects

Following the release of Escape from Monkey Island in 2000, LucasArts put three further adventure games into development. However, all three were later canceled. The first of these was Full Throttle: Payback, a sequel to Full Throttle that began production in early 2000. Tim Schafer, the original creator of Full Throttle, was not involved in the project. Instead, development was led by Larry Ahern and Bill Tiller, who had both worked on The Curse of Monkey Island. In the early stages, the project received positive feedback from other LucasArts employees. According to Tiller, however, Payback eventually fell apart because of disagreements over the game's style between the development team and "a particularly influential person" within the management division. Production ceased in November 2000, when a quarter of the levels and about 40 percent of the preproduction art were complete. Ahern and Tiller both left LucasArts in 2001.

A second attempt at a Full Throttle sequel began production in 2002. Entitled Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels, the game was to be for the PlayStation 2

PlayStation 2

and Xbox

Xbox

The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...

consoles. In contrast to the original Full Throttle, Hell on Wheels was to be an action-adventure game

Action-adventure game

An action-adventure game is a video game that combines elements of the adventure game genre with various action game elements. It is perhaps the broadest and most diverse genre in gaming, and can include many games which might better be categorized under narrow genres...

. Development was headed by Sean Clark, his last work for the company. Hell on Wheels was showcased at the 2003 Electronic Entertainment Expo, where a playable demonstration and a teaser trailer

Teaser trailer

A teaser campaign is an advertising campaign which typically consists of a series of small, cryptic, challenging advertisements that anticipate a larger, full-blown campaign for a product launch or otherwise important event. These advertisements are called "teasers" or "teaser ads"...

were displayed. Despite this, LucasArts halted production in late 2003. Commentators cited poor graphics compared to other action-adventures of the time and Schafer's lack of involvement in the project as possible reasons for the decision. Additionally, Roy Conrad

Roy Conrad

Roy Conrad was an actor and voice actor, most commonly known as the voice of Ben in the LucasArts computer game Full Throttle.-Career:...

, the voice actor for the series' protagonist, had died in 2002.

LucasArts' final adventure game was Sam & Max: Freelance Police, a sequel to the 1993 title Sam & Max Hit the Road. The game was announced for Windows in 2002 as a counterpart to Hell on Wheels. Michael Stemmle, one of the co-designers for Sam & Max Hit the Road, was the lead designer for the project. Series creator Steve Purcell, who had left LucasArts in 1997, worked as an advisor for the development team. Freelance Police was displayed alongside Hell on Wheels at the 2003 E3 convention, where the game's trailer was revealed. Although development appeared to be proceeding smoothly, Freelance Police was abruptly canceled in early 2004, just a few weeks before the game's marketing campaign was about to begin. LucasArts cited "current market place realities and underlying economic considerations" as the reasons for their decision. Commentators, however, felt that the move was representative of a perceived decline in the adventure game genre, and that LucasArts was moving to maintain its position with low business risk Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...

-themed titles instead of the high risk graphic adventure games that had brought success in earlier years. LucasArts subsequently dismissed many of the designers involved with developing their adventure games, and in 2006 LucasArts president Jim Ward stated that the company may return to developing adventure games in 2015, effectively ending their adventure game era.

Descendent companies and titles

As various designers left LucasArts, new companies were created to produce adventure games in similar styles to those created by LucasArts. Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert, who left LucasArts after the completion of LeChuck's Revenge, went on to found Humongous Entertainment

Humongous (game developer)

Humongous Inc. is an American video game developer. The company is known for its line of educational games for children. Atari now owns Humongous Inc.-History:...

in 1992. Humongous created several series of point-and-click adventure games aimed at children, some of which used SCUMM. Gilbert also co-founded Cavedog Entertainment

Cavedog Entertainment

Cavedog Entertainment, or Cavedog, was a video game developer based in Bothell, Washington. Cavedog gained the attention of gamers and the gaming press alike with the 1997 release of Total Annihilation , winning many accolades such as multiple Game of the Year honors or being one of The Greatest...

in 1996 to produce more mature games; the company is known for the 1997 title Total Annihilation
Total Annihilation
Total Annihilation is a real-time strategy video game created by Cavedog Entertainment, a sub-division of Humongous Entertainment, and released on September 30, 1997 by GT Interactive for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. It was the first RTS game to feature 3D units and terrain...

. In 2008, Gilbert became the creative director at Hothead Games

Hothead Games

Hothead Games is an independent video game developer and publisher based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Hothead is best known for its role-playing/adventure video game series, On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, based on the Penny Arcade webcomic...

, where he is driving the development of the adventure game DeathSpank
DeathSpank
DeathSpank, , is a comedy action role-playing game by game designer Ron Gilbert. It was developed by Hothead Games and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released on July 13, 2010 on the PlayStation 3 via the PlayStation Network and on July 14, 2010 on the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade...

.

Tim Schafer, the creator of Full Throttle and Grim Fandango, left LucasArts at the beginning of 2000 to found Double Fine Productions

Double Fine Productions

. In 2005, Schafer's company released Psychonauts
Psychonauts
Psychonauts is a platform video game created by Tim Schafer, developed by Double Fine Productions and published by Majesco. The game was released on April 19, 2005, for the Xbox, April 26 for Microsoft Windows and June 21 for PlayStation 2. It was released on Steam on Oct 11, 2006, as an "Xbox...

, an action-adventure following a secret training facility for psychics. The title is known for its critical praise and awards, but became notorious for its commercial failure. In 2009, Double Fine released Brütal Legend
Brütal Legend
Brütal Legend is an action-adventure/real-time strategy game created by Double Fine Productions and published by Electronic Arts for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game was released during October 2009 in North America and Europe...

, a heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

themed game incorporating aspects of action-adventure and real-time strategy

Real-time strategy

Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....

. While critically successful, Brütal Legend failed to make any sales breakthrough. Schafer, however, was not concerned about the commercial success of Brütal Legend or Psychonauts, as despite poor sales, "as long as you make a cool game, publishers want to talk to you".

After departing LucasArts in 2001, Larry Ahern, the co-designer for The Curse of Monkey Island and Full Throttle: Payback, founded Crackpot Entertainment along with members from several additional LucasArts adventure development teams. Their first product, released in 2008, was the action-adventure Insecticide
Insecticide (video game)
Insecticide is a story-driven action-adventure game by Crackpot Entertainment and published by Gamecock Media Group for Nintendo DS, and Windows...

. Bill Tiller, the art director for The Curse of Monkey Island and Full Throttle: Payback, founded Autumn Moon Entertainment in 2004 with another group of former LucasArts alumni. Autumn Moon went on to create A Vampyre Story
A Vampyre Story
A Vampyre Story is a 2008 point-and-click adventure game developed by Autumn Moon Entertainment for Windows, published by Crimson Cow. The game is set in Europe during the 1890s, and follows a young female opera singer turned vampire as she attempts to make the journey back home to Paris in search...

, which was released in late 2008, and the 2010 title Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island
Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island
Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island is an adventure game about pirates for PC by video game developer Autumn Moon Entertainment. Original concept and design was written by William 'Bill' Tiller, who was also responsible for the visual look of the Monkey Island game, The Curse of Monkey Island.The game...

.

In the aftermath of Freelance Polices cancellation in 2004, LucasArts dismissed many of their designers who worked on adventure games. Most of the Freelance Police development team, including Brendan Ferguson, Dave Grossman and Chuck Jordan, formed Telltale Games

Telltale Games

in 2005, to continue the development of graphic adventures. Michael Stemmle, the lead designer of Freelance Police, joined the company in 2008. The company released their first adventure game, Bone: Out from Boneville
Bone: Out from Boneville
Bone: Out from Boneville is the second video game endeavor by Telltale Games, and the first episode of the Bone adventure game series. It was released in September 2005 after around seven months in production...

, in late 2005. A sequel, Bone: The Great Cow Race
Bone: The Great Cow Race
Bone: The Great Cow Race is the third video game endeavor by Telltale Games, and the second episode of the Bone adventure game series. It was released in April 2006 after approximately seven months of production...

, followed in early 2006. In 2005, LucasArts' license with Steve Purcell concerning the Sam & Max franchise expired. Purcell, who had left LucasArts in 1997, moved the franchise to Telltale Games. The company subsequently released Sam & Max Save the World
Sam & Max Save the World
Sam & Max Save the World is a graphic adventure video game developed by Telltale Games. The game was originally released as Sam & Max: Season One before being renamed in early 2009. Save the World was developed in episodic fashion, comprising six episodes that were released for Microsoft Windows...

in episodic fashion from late 2006 to early 2007. A second run of Sam & Max games, Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space, was released across late 2007 and early 2008. 2008 also saw the release of an episodic series based on the characters of Homestar Runner
Homestar Runner
Homestar Runner is a Flash animated Internet cartoon. It mixes surreal humor with references to retro pop culture, notably video games, classic television, and popular music.The cartoons are nominally centered on the title character, Homestar Runner...

, Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People
Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People
Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People is an episodic point-and-click adventure game developed by Telltale Games based on the Homestar Runner web cartoon, with Strong Bad as the lead character. A total of five episodes were released for WiiWare and Windows between August 11, 2008 and...

. Telltale Games adapted Wallace & Gromit into a further episodic series, Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures
Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures
Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures is an episodic series of adventure games by Telltale Games based around the characters of Wallace and Gromit created by Nick Park and Aardman Animations. The first episode was released on March 24, 2009 for the PC...

in 2009. The third Sam & Max season The Devil's Playhouse
Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse
Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse is a graphic adventure video game developed by Telltale Games. It is the third "season" of the Sam & Max episodic series created by Telltale Games, following Sam & Max Save the World and Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space...

was released in 2010.

At the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2009, LucasArts announced a collaboration with Telltale Games to create a new series of episodic adventure games, Tales of Monkey Island
Tales of Monkey Island
Tales of Monkey Island is a 2009 graphic adventure video game developed by Telltale Games and LucasArts. It is the fifth game in the Monkey Island series, released nearly a decade after the previous installment, Escape from Monkey Island. Developed for Windows and the Wii console, the game was...

. Development of this project is led by Dave Grossman, with Michael Stemmle

Michael Stemmle

Michael J. Stemmle is a computer game writer, designer, and director who cocreated some of LucasArts' adventure games in the 1990s and early 2000s...

assisting with design and story production. The development team also includes members with past experience from both The Curse of Monkey Island and Escape from Monkey Island. In addition, series creator Ron Gilbert

Ron Gilbert

was involved in the early design of the project. In a joint press release, LucasArts also announced an enhanced remake

Enhanced remake

A video game remake is a game closely adapted from an earlier title, usually for the purpose of modernizing a game for newer hardware and contemporary audiences. Typically, a remake shares essentially the same title, fundamental gameplay concepts, and story elements of the original game...

of the 1990 title The Secret of Monkey Island, with the intent of bringing the old game to a new audience. According to LucasArts, this announcement is "just the start of LucasArts’ new mission to revitalize its deep portfolio of beloved gaming franchises". Following the success of this, LucasArts released the sequel, Monkey Island 2 Special Edition in the summer of 2010. Described by British journalist John Walker

John Walker (journalist)

John Walker is a British computer games journalist, as well as a cartoonist and TV critic.-Journalism:Walker has contributed to a range of print publications, including PC Gamer , Total Film, Linux Format, Cult TV, Edge, NGamer, Windows XP, PC Plus, Official Xbox Magazine, Gamesmaster and PC...

as a "cautious toe in the water" for LucasArts, the move was prompted by LucasArts president Darrell Rodriguez, who had assumed the post only two months prior. According to Walker, many LucasArts employees had grown up playing the games from the 1990s, suggesting that should the renewed endeavour be successful, the developers will be keen to continue with further adventure titles.

External links

LucasArts Entertainment Company official website
ScummVM official website
LucasArts Museum
Graphic Adventures, a book about the history of LucasArts and Sierra games
The International House of Mojo
1UP Specials: LucasArts Reunion

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