You will never (again) find a more wretched hive of SCUMM and villainy

September 27, 2013 8:10 AM

"[Lucas] understood the nature of play—and games—but we didn't have the time with him that we needed," said one person familiar with high-level meetings at LucasArts. “It never felt like people at the top cared about making great games,” said another person connected to LucasArts. “A lot of awesome projects never went anywhere because, ‘it’s not gonna make enough money.’”

How LucasArts Fell Apart (SLKotaku article)

Previously: LucasArts RIP

posted by zombieflanders (53 comments total)

I started playing Monkey Island (deluxe) recently with my almost-5 year-old.

I don't know how many times he made me click on the sign so he could hear the phrase "rubber-chicken-with-a-pulley-in-the-middle" again, but he laughed uproariously every time.
posted by He Is Only The Imposter at 8:16 AM on September 27, 2013 [12 favorites]

.

I'm sad that we will never find out the true source of Guybrush's debilitating phobia of porcelain.
posted by fight or flight at 8:40 AM on September 27, 2013 [3 favorites]

Oh, George.
posted by cavalier at 8:42 AM on September 27, 2013

Dark Forces on my old Mac was pretty good.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:50 AM on September 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

Also, He Is Only The Imposter, I think it's awesome that you're playing Monkey Island with your son. I wasn't much older than that when my mum used to sit me on her lap in front of our giant Windows '95 machine and we'd solve puzzles together. One of my most cherished childhood memories is the feel of her laughing against my back as we played.
posted by fight or flight at 8:53 AM on September 27, 2013 [14 favorites]

Good read. Now do one about joysticks and flight sims <:(
posted by Z. Aurelius Fraught at 8:55 AM on September 27, 2013 [2 favorites]

Starzilla!
posted by srboisvert at 8:58 AM on September 27, 2013

Two words on the death of LucasArts:

George Lucas.

.
posted by Samizdata at 8:59 AM on September 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

I mean, how do you write games about a universe that even the creator can't keep track of without an aide despite his sticky-fingered fumbling about in it? A franchise where everyone pretty much can write whatever they want with no sort of rhyme or reason? A franchise whose creator is not only methodically draining each and every last ounce of blood from the corpse of, but will happy slap makeup and lipstick on to roll out before crowds while puppeting it's wired jaw and hoping no one notices the bad ventriloquism whilst touting it's health and vibrancy?

Yeah, I am pretty much of the belief that Lucas past a certain point is sort of an anti-Midas with anything. Or, more appropriately, he's that guy that (as the joke goes) fucks you with a 2 inch dick and kisses you goodbye with a 12 inch tongue (if you're a woman).
posted by Samizdata at 9:09 AM on September 27, 2013

The weirdness of fan ownership. As if they guy who paid for everything is mucking up something someone else owns. No, its going exactly how it is supposed to go. The funny thing is, the fandom created their own jail by waiting for one guy to continue to hand them things on a silver platter rather than make their own movie franchise or game company.
posted by Ironmouth at 9:13 AM on September 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

LucasArts was SO MUCH MORE than George Lucas or Star Wars, and not a single one of the games that cement their place in the history of the medium was a Star Wars title.
posted by radiosilents at 9:20 AM on September 27, 2013 [17 favorites]

LucasArts is really strange, as a developer. Some of the most artistic, original games to date were developed by what also always was the Star Wars Tie-In Game Factory. It's something that almost makes sense, but at the end of the day is just another facet of how weird and tangled the games industry is.
posted by byanyothername at 9:22 AM on September 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

Oh, look, a LucasArts FPP.

I DEMAND A GLADIUS SEQUEL.

There, I've made my obligatory useless demand for the thread.
posted by charred husk at 9:28 AM on September 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

radiosilents: "LucasArts was SO MUCH MORE than George Lucas or Star Wars, and not a single one of the games that cement their place in the history of the medium was a Star Wars title."

Seriously? X-Wing Vs. Tie Fighter did not cement their place in the history of the medium?
posted by Samizdata at 9:29 AM on September 27, 2013 [4 favorites]

And Dark Forces.
posted by eyeballkid at 9:32 AM on September 27, 2013

LucasArts is really weird, as a developer. Some of the most artistic, original games to date were developed by what also always was the Star Wars Tie-In Game Factory.

Games, especially during the classic LucasArts period, are much more about the specific development team that is producing the game rather than whatever company is hiring them to write it. I mean, it's not inherently weird that the same movie studio releases both Dark Knight films and the Hangover films or that the same TV network produces a sitcom and a news show, because the actual people who work on the projects are different. The company that was stuck in development hell for their in-house Star Wars games in the last few years is a completely different one than the company that produced the Monkey Island games, because none of the people actually producing games are the same.
posted by burnmp3s at 9:36 AM on September 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

Samizdata - i'd say pretty confidently that they'll be better remembered in the annals of gaming history for Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island, Loom, Grim Fandango, The Dig, etc, rather than Battlefront and X-Wing.
posted by radiosilents at 9:36 AM on September 27, 2013 [5 favorites]

rather than Battlefront and X-Wing

Like a lot of the recent Star Wars games, Battlefront was developed by an outside company (Pandemic) and was only published by LucasArts.
posted by burnmp3s at 9:39 AM on September 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

No mention of Full Throttle? THAT my friends, is a game.
posted by Twain Device at 9:47 AM on September 27, 2013 [6 favorites]

I recently attended a talk about the early days of LucasFilm Games LucasArts with a lot of the people who made their groundbreaking early games. An interesting thing I learned at the talk was at the beginning of LucasFilm Games, Star Wars was expressly off-limits! Apparently Lucas thought he'd make more money licensing other companies to make Star Wars games than having his own company do it. As a result, Lucas was rather hands-off with his little games division and things blossomed.
posted by zsazsa at 9:47 AM on September 27, 2013 [5 favorites]

I would pay good money for a Steam HD re-release of TIE Fighter. Sigh.
posted by Diskeater at 9:50 AM on September 27, 2013 [6 favorites]

Whenever I smell asphalt, I think of gravel. Ben's gravelly voice, that is.
posted by tigrrrlily at 9:51 AM on September 27, 2013 [2 favorites]

Now do one about joysticks and flight sims <:(

It's not in the mainstream like it used to be but trust me there's still plenty of flight sims out there, utilizing way more than just joysticks these days.

Rise of Flight/DCS/IL-2/etc, full HOTAS systems with TrackIR/Oculus, it's all out there.
posted by kmz at 9:53 AM on September 27, 2013

Rise of Flight/DCS/IL-2/etc, full HOTAS systems with TrackIR/Oculus, it's all out there.

Don't forget FSX/PMDG/VATSIM on the more peaceful civilian side of the flight sim world.

And a

.

For LucasArts
posted by smoothvirus at 9:56 AM on September 27, 2013

I grieve most about the lack of a Grim Fandango sequel, or at least a spiritual successor.
posted by SpacemanStix at 10:09 AM on September 27, 2013 [7 favorites]

Diskeater: "I would pay good money for a Steam HD re-release of TIE Fighter. Sigh."

I would steal your money and use it to add to all the money I would pay for modern HD re-releases of X-Wing, all its expansion packs, and SWOTL. I know Lucasarts made a lot of adventure games, but for a long while there they were to my teenage self the Alpha and Omega of flight sim creators.
posted by barnacles at 10:11 AM on September 27, 2013 [2 favorites]

a spiritual successor

Ha!
posted by Behemoth at 10:27 AM on September 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

And Dark Forces.

Dark Forces is a lot like the original Star Wars trilogy. It was so awesome and groundbreaking that it created an experience no Star Wars game since has been able to recapture, perhaps because it's just impossible. No matter how realistic the graphics are, no matter how orchestral the music sounds, nothing can top the thrill of blasting your way through that first level and coming across the free-floating animated Death Star schematic hologram.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 10:29 AM on September 27, 2013 [2 favorites]

Maniac Mansion + Day of the Tentacle, Loom, Sam and Max, Dark Forces, X-Wing v. TIE, Outlaws, Monkey Island, Last Crusade + Fate of Atlantis, Full Throttle, The Dig, Grim Fandango.

God, I loved LucasArts games.
posted by linux at 10:49 AM on September 27, 2013 [2 favorites]

And the BF1942, BOB and SWOTL WWII combat sims!
posted by linux at 10:50 AM on September 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

No love for Zac McCracken ?
posted by k5.user at 11:00 AM on September 27, 2013 [2 favorites]

Seriously? X-Wing Vs. Tie Fighter did not cement their place in the history of the medium?

Backgrounds and perceptions differ of course, but for me and everyone I know, it was all about Monkey Island, Indiana Jones, Day of the Tentacle, Grim Fandango etc. Very good game though, indeed.

No love for Zac McCracken ?

And none at all, not even a shard of memory, for Battlehawks 1942.
posted by Pyrogenesis at 11:04 AM on September 27, 2013 [2 favorites]

I used to have an eBay business selling little pinback buttons of videogame art and characters. I attended a button fair once and this hipster girl came up to me and looked at my Yoshis and Yunas said in one of the snarkiest voices I've ever heard - "Do you have any Zac McCracken and the Alien Mindbenders buttons?" And I was like "No! I've got some Monkey Island ones! Zac McCracken was awesome though! That game was off the hook! Although I could never figure out what to do once I got to Mars!" And she made a sort of annoyed chuckling sound and slinked off.
posted by yellowbinder at 11:10 AM on September 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

McCracken was ohhhhh-kayyyyy i guess, but it's nowhere near the brilliance of Maniac Mansion in my eyes. They bit off more than they could chew and you could see the invisible limits too often.
posted by radiosilents at 11:10 AM on September 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

Not to totally derail, but what is this: <:(

Is it a frowny face wearing a party hat? Or a sharply smiling face with a unibrow? Is it a centipede? Because it looks kind of like the start of a centipede and now I'm wondering if it is a clever allusion to some lost LucasArt game.

)<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<:(
posted by Panjandrum at 11:20 AM on September 27, 2013

At least now I know the fate of 1313. Although its trailer seemed to promise more than I thought it could deliver.
posted by Panjandrum at 11:22 AM on September 27, 2013

At least now I know the fate of 1313. Although its trailer seemed to promise more than I thought it could deliver.

FWIW 1313 and Watch Dogs were apparently next-gen demos, which pissed off Sony and Microsoft, who hadn't made the PS4 and XBone official yet.
posted by zombieflanders at 11:25 AM on September 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

At least now I know the fate of 1313. Although its trailer seemed to promise more than I thought it could deliver.

FWIW 1313 and Watch Dogs were apparently next-gen demos, which pissed off Sony and Microsoft, who hadn't made the PS4 and XBone official yet.

If you're going to go out, fire till you're empty and throw the damn gun at them, then set your blind alight.
posted by tilde at 11:27 AM on September 27, 2013

"The weirdness of fan ownership. As if they guy who paid for everything is mucking up something someone else owns. No, its going exactly how it is supposed to go. The funny thing is, the fandom created their own jail by waiting for one guy to continue to hand them things on a silver platter rather than make their own movie franchise or game company."

That's such a weird perspective to take — stories rely on emotional engagement to work. You get people emotionally invested in the narratives that you create, of course people are going to be pissed off when you fuck with those narratives in a profoundly dumb way.

And the whole, Well, you should just make video games or movies then, is dumb too.
posted by klangklangston at 11:29 AM on September 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

In 2012, just eight weeks before E3, George Lucas dropped a bombshell: instead of starring a generic bounty hunter, 1313 would be helmed by the iconic mercenary Boba Fett.

I really love this failed pun attempt — clearly written by someone who knows that Variety-ese exists but doesn't actually understand it. AUDS LOVE BOUNTY HUNTER, BUT EXECS SKEPTICAL HE CAN DIRECT
posted by RogerB at 11:30 AM on September 27, 2013 [2 favorites]

Dive bombing in BH1942 in the full glory of CGA graphics (I couldn't afford an EGA card), the PC speaker trying it's hardest to juggle the buzz of engines, the chirp of bullets and the bewildering blurby noise of explosions, is one of my fondest gamer memories.

That you could record your actions and replay them, that was unbelievable to me in 1988.

And the manuals for those sims were fantastic.

I never got into McCracken. Not sure why.
posted by linux at 11:33 AM on September 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

As someone who doesn't game, but loves the spirit and energy created by thoughtful game developers, this article makes me sad.

We live in a world where people who want to monetize everything...think in a predictable way...a non-creative way...and are able to ruin many, many good endeavors.

.
posted by zerobyproxy at 11:41 AM on September 27, 2013

Looking at their contemporaries at Rockstar and Ubisoft, LucasArts staffers plotted out how many people it would take to build a game like that—hundreds—and how much money it’d cost—millions. That was too much of a risk for the executives at LucasFilm, sources say.

GTA-V made a billion dollars in a weekend. They made profits by an order of magnitude in four days. Nothing makes money like successful video games. Meanwhile, Lucas has to drop his own money to pay for movies about African-American fighter pilots and then pretty much lose all of it, because nobody - not the producers, not the moviegoers - trust him to make movies any more.

I'm thinking that maybe if he wants to make money, he should stay away from the storytelling part of the job, and also focus his energies on video games rather than movies.
posted by nushustu at 11:48 AM on September 27, 2013

Did they not all end up working at Telltale Games?
posted by LogicalDash at 11:50 AM on September 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

And the manuals for those sims were fantastic.

Three cheers for the oft-overlooked technical writers!
posted by tilde at 12:04 PM on September 27, 2013 [3 favorites]

GTA-V made a billion dollars in a weekend. They made profits by an order of magnitude in four days. Nothing makes money like successful video games. Meanwhile, Lucas has to drop his own money to pay for movies about African-American fighter pilots and then pretty much lose all of it, because nobody - not the producers, not the moviegoers - trust him to make movies any more.

It's not like you can just magically make every game a hit like GTA. For better or worse, GTA and Rockstar have the history and hype.

Plenty of games, big budget or small, still crash and burn.
posted by kmz at 12:07 PM on September 27, 2013

Nor can you magically make every movie a hit. For better or worse, Star Wars also had the history and hype. Yes, making Star Wars games was probably riskier for Lucas than making another GTA game was for Rockstar, but it's not like Lucas is some greenhorn producer and Star Wars some unknown property.

My point is that if Lucas wants to make big profits, nothing makes profits like successful video games. Yes, there's risk involved. He's already into that game anyway, as Red Tails proves. I find it hard to believe that he could lose more money off of a new Star Wars game than he did off of Red Tails.
posted by nushustu at 12:16 PM on September 27, 2013

Kickstarter will save us all.
posted by Apocryphon at 2:08 PM on September 27, 2013

radiosilents: "Samizdata - i'd say pretty confidently that they'll be better remembered in the annals of gaming history for Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island, Loom, Grim Fandango, The Dig, etc, rather than Battlefront and X-Wing."

Just a note - I still have an original Loom disc with the soundtrack here somewhere.
posted by Samizdata at 4:35 PM on September 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

I still have an original Loom disc with the soundtrack here somewhere.

Loom was so much better with the CD install.
posted by linux at 8:16 PM on September 27, 2013 [2 favorites]

If anyone wants to scratch that itch, The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's revenge are both available for iPad at $5 each.
posted by nathan_teske at 9:52 PM on September 27, 2013

linux: "I still have an original Loom disc with the soundtrack here somewhere.

Loom was so much better with the CD install. "

Hells YES it was. Didn't even compare. I remember starting out with a lady friend on the floppy version, then getting the CD version.

Her (in a somewhat nonplussed tone of voice) - "Oh. That's what Bobbin sounds like."
posted by Samizdata at 9:57 PM on September 27, 2013

nushustu: "Nor can you magically make every movie a hit. For better or worse, Star Wars also had the history and hype."

Yeah, but you CAN stop making and remaking them, adding an extra dose of shit each evolution.
posted by Samizdata at 10:00 PM on September 27, 2013