EN ROUTE TO THE CARIBBEAN · SINCE 1999
Before the islands, impossible mansions and verbal sword fights came people experimenting. Andrea Contato follows those people through the years when a Lucasfilm division became a laboratory for video games.
The book
The Story of LucasArts | 1982–1990
LucasArts was one of the most important and beloved computer game companies of the 1990s. In addition to revolutionizing the graphic adventure genre, it published some of the most acclaimed and influential combat and space simulators in history.
This book tells the remarkable story of LucasArts, from its origins through 1990, exploring the founding of the division, the development of its games and technologies, and the people behind its most celebrated titles.
Based on extensive documentary research and numerous previously unpublished interviews, the volume presents new information and an original historical account of the company’s formative years.
Games featured in the book include Ballblazer, Rescue on Fractalus!, Koronis Rift, The Eidolon, Habitat, Labyrinth: The Computer Game, Maniac Mansion, Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders, Battlehawks 1942, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure, Their Finest Hour: The Battle of Britain, Loom, and The Secret of Monkey Island.
The author
Andrea Contato is an Italian author and researcher specializing in the history of computing and video games. His books include the Video Games series, Through the Moongate: The Story of Richard Garriott, Origin Systems, and Ultima, The Sumerian Game: A Digital Resurrection, and Rebels, Pirates and Tentacles: The Story of LucasArts. He is deeply committed to computer archaeology: recovering and studying lost software, investigating historical sources, and uncovering forgotten stories.
Inside the volume
Four parts follow the studio’s formation, its experiments and the arrival of SCUMM. Open a part to explore its chapters.
Part one · Prologue
- The frontier
- Protecting innovation
- Genesis of the Games Group
Part two · Disposable games
- Assembling the team
- Don’t lose money
- Ballblazer
- Rescue on Fractalus!
- Atari Crash
Part three · Experimentation
- The Eidolon
- Koronis Rift
- Habitat
- Labyrinth: The Computer Game
- PHM Pegasus / Strike Force
Part four · The SCUMM era
- Maniac Mansion
- Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure
- Loom
- The Secret of Monkey Island
- Battlehawks 1942 / Their Finest Hour: The Battle of Britain
Read an excerpt
Three opening pages from the chapter on The Secret of Monkey Island, reproduced with the author’s permission. Select an image to enlarge it.
A rediscovered story
On 18 May 1966 at Reed College, an IBM 1620 computer accompanied violinist Joan Allen Smith. Peter Langston, later the leader of Lucasfilm’s Games Group, helped make the experiment happen. In his article Andrea traces this meeting of music and computing through documents, photographs and personal accounts: a glimpse of historical research at work.
Editions
The book has Italian and English editions. These details were supplied by the author; consult the stores for current availability, reprints and prices.
Information, editions and purchases on Andrea’s website ↗
Edizione italiana
Ebook, black-and-white paperback and limited colour edition. Black-and-white paperback ISBN: 978-8894767261.
English edition
Ebook available; print editions were in preparation when the author supplied these details.
Sources and thanks
Covers, photograph, presentation, biography, contents and edition information were supplied by Andrea Contato. Excerpts are reproduced with his permission. The Guybrush scene is an illustrated tribute by this website; the author’s photograph is kept separate and unaltered.