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| The Entertainment Review |
| By: Rob Smith Publisher: Chronicle Books |
The mere mention of LucasArts is sure to bring about an involuntary emotional response from a large number of
adventure gamers. With the exception of Sierra, no other company has come close to the kind of intense and
personal connection longtime genre fans have shared with LucasArts. However, almost a decade after their last
adventure, those feelings are not what they once were. Many who adored the developer as a champion in the glory
days of adventure games now feel like they have been betrayed. LucasArts broke player hearts in turning its back
on the genre and never looking back and some gamers have never forgiven them. However gamers feel, the
company who brought player such classics as “Secret of Monkey Island,” “Day of the Tentacle” and “Grim
Fandango” will always be synonymous with the genre’s prime, and many of their games remain benchmarks of
quality even years after their release.
The legacy of LucasArts is the focal point in “Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts.” Written by industry veteran
Rob Smith, the book sets out to explore the first 25 years of game production by the company once known as
Lucasfilm Games. It covers titles both internally and externally developed by LucasArts. Still, it’s an interesting, if
abbreviated, historical overview of one of gaming’s most prestigious and recognizable companies.
Few game companies have even lasted a quarter century, so it’s no surprise that the years have brought highs and
lows, innovation and stagnation, plus light and dark sides of the Force. There are more than a few pages devoted to
the most invasive of brands, such as “Star Wars.” However, while it’s true that LucasArts has increasingly favored its
space based cash cow in recent years, that wasn’t always the case, and fortunately the book devotes attention to the
full range of platforms, genres and individual titles that made the company what it is today.
There are some nice behind-the-scenes anecdotes offered to balance the factual details, if once again rather few
and far between. From Gilbert’s hiring as a summer temp, and simply never leaving, to Schafer and Grossman’s
friendly rivalry about who started first, arriving on the same day and mere minutes apart, there’s just enough
personal touch to make the read more accessible. One of the highlights is the story of Schafer’s failed phone
interview, in which he unwittingly confessed to pirating one of the company’s first games, only to cleverly recover by
submitting his resume in the form of a cartoon with a text adventure cover letter. It’s not only an amusing story in its
own right, but it’s a revealing glimpse into a different era of the industry, when image scanners still cost as much as
cars.
Sprinkled throughout “Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts” are interview quotes reportedly published for the first
time. Many are from corporate types detailing company perspectives over the years, but you’ll also hear from such
designers as Hal Barwood, Gary Winnick and David Fox, as well as those mentioned above. Never looking too
deeply, there are some great pieces of information to be found, such as Grossman comparing graphic adventures to
“puppet theater” rather than the “film-quality cinematic extravaganza” they’re often expected to be today, or an
explanation of the Gilbert-coined “funativity scale” by which early projects were internally measured.
adventure gamers. With the exception of Sierra, no other company has come close to the kind of intense and
personal connection longtime genre fans have shared with LucasArts. However, almost a decade after their last
adventure, those feelings are not what they once were. Many who adored the developer as a champion in the glory
days of adventure games now feel like they have been betrayed. LucasArts broke player hearts in turning its back
on the genre and never looking back and some gamers have never forgiven them. However gamers feel, the
company who brought player such classics as “Secret of Monkey Island,” “Day of the Tentacle” and “Grim
Fandango” will always be synonymous with the genre’s prime, and many of their games remain benchmarks of
quality even years after their release.
The legacy of LucasArts is the focal point in “Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts.” Written by industry veteran
Rob Smith, the book sets out to explore the first 25 years of game production by the company once known as
Lucasfilm Games. It covers titles both internally and externally developed by LucasArts. Still, it’s an interesting, if
abbreviated, historical overview of one of gaming’s most prestigious and recognizable companies.
Few game companies have even lasted a quarter century, so it’s no surprise that the years have brought highs and
lows, innovation and stagnation, plus light and dark sides of the Force. There are more than a few pages devoted to
the most invasive of brands, such as “Star Wars.” However, while it’s true that LucasArts has increasingly favored its
space based cash cow in recent years, that wasn’t always the case, and fortunately the book devotes attention to the
full range of platforms, genres and individual titles that made the company what it is today.
There are some nice behind-the-scenes anecdotes offered to balance the factual details, if once again rather few
and far between. From Gilbert’s hiring as a summer temp, and simply never leaving, to Schafer and Grossman’s
friendly rivalry about who started first, arriving on the same day and mere minutes apart, there’s just enough
personal touch to make the read more accessible. One of the highlights is the story of Schafer’s failed phone
interview, in which he unwittingly confessed to pirating one of the company’s first games, only to cleverly recover by
submitting his resume in the form of a cartoon with a text adventure cover letter. It’s not only an amusing story in its
own right, but it’s a revealing glimpse into a different era of the industry, when image scanners still cost as much as
cars.
Sprinkled throughout “Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts” are interview quotes reportedly published for the first
time. Many are from corporate types detailing company perspectives over the years, but you’ll also hear from such
designers as Hal Barwood, Gary Winnick and David Fox, as well as those mentioned above. Never looking too
deeply, there are some great pieces of information to be found, such as Grossman comparing graphic adventures to
“puppet theater” rather than the “film-quality cinematic extravaganza” they’re often expected to be today, or an
explanation of the Gilbert-coined “funativity scale” by which early projects were internally measured.
