LucasArts adventure games
From the late 1980s to the early 2000s, LucasArts was well known for their point-and-click graphic adventure games, nearly all of which got high scoring reviews at the time of their release.
The game's development was led by David Fox, with contributions from Douglas Adams, Christopher Cerf, Noah Falstein and Brenda Laurel.
Maniac Mansion was LucasArts' first full graphic adventure game, using a point-and-click interface rather than the text-based gameplay seen in Labyrinth.
Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders introduced digital music to LucasArts adventure games in the form of MIDI.
In 1989, LucasArts released their first adaptation of one of Lucasfilm's major franchises: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, based on the film of the same name.
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.
The game, noted for its greater use of witty humor over previous titles, was designed by Ron Gilbert, Dave Grossman and Tim Schafer.
Set in the Caribbean in the Golden Age of Piracy, the game introduced Guybrush Threepwood, a hapless amateur pirate.
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.
Day of the Tentacle was the first game to drop support for older, less successful platforms, instead initially releasing only for DOS and Mac OS.
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.
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.
[3][unreliable source] The twelfth and final game to utilize SCUMM technology was the 1997 title The Curse of Monkey Island.
For its final outing, the SCUMM engine was completely overhauled to produce significantly more advanced graphics than any previous LucasArts adventure game.
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 fiancée from a voodoo curse.
The Curse of Monkey Island would mark the end of support for DOS; the game was released on CD-ROM solely for Windows.
[5] 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 to interact with the game.
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.
In July 2009, LucasArts released an enhanced remake of the 1990 title The Secret of Monkey Island, with the intent of bringing the old game to a new audience.
[11] 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 would be keen to continue with further adventure titles.
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.
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.
[17] 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.
[21] According to LucasArts' game design philosophy, the player should be entertained, focusing on story and exploration, instead of being excessively punished for mistakes or frustrated by trial and error.
[25] After Loom the sole exception was Fate of Atlantis, as the designers felt that player death was necessary to create tension, which was required for an Indiana Jones story.
Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert, who left LucasArts after the completion of LeChuck's Revenge, went on to found Humongous Entertainment, in 1992.
Tim Schafer, the creator of Full Throttle and Grim Fandango, left LucasArts at the beginning of 2000 to find Double Fine Productions.
The game, also funded through Kickstarter, was designed as an homage to the early LucasArts adventures mimicking the original 8-bit style interface.
Aric Wilmunder, one of the co-creators of the SCUMM engine, had taken some of the original design documents for the LucasArts games when he left the company.
