LucasArts

Overview

LucasArts started developing adventure games in the late 1980-ies, and very soon became one of the leading adventure game developers in the world, and the only company that was able to compete in this field with Sierra. In the eyes of many adventure game fans, LucasArts is the greatest adventure game developer ever. In Maniac Mansion they introduced for the first time their famous SCUMM interface system, and in the famous Secret of Monkey Island created their own type of adventure game, which included "death-free" gameplay, interaction with highlighted objects, and branching dialogue system. Holding the Star Wars license, LucasArts also developed many Star Wars games in various genres, but their most influential games have always been adventures.

The adventure legacy ended with the release of Grim Fandango in 1998. It received raving press reviews, but turned out to be the first game the company did not make a profit on. From then on, almost all attention was diverted towards the Star Wars license. A lot of development was also outsourced, especially to the British development studio Traveller's Tales Ltd.

A large amount of staff was laid off in June 2008, although the company still has projects in development at its internal development studio.


Contributed by JazzOleg (53182) on Nov 01, 2005. [revised by : Sciere (96378)].