The End of Lucasarts / Lucasfilm Games

And so on the 4th of April 2013 the people at Disney decided that it was time for the curtain to fall at Lucasarts. Thousands of people including Ron Gilbert the creator of Monkey Island (TM) expressed their sadness in losing a company that created some of the best, if not the best adventure games of the 80's and 90's. There is no doubt that over the last decade the adventure game genre has suffered a dramatic decrease in interest due to the rise of the console.

The adventure game genre has been around since the 1970's starting off as text adventures following a basic plot which consisted no graphics and depended solely on the users imagination to paint a picture so that the stories began to jump out at them. In the 1980's however the way in which these games were played changed, the use of impressive graphics alongside the integration of a mouse instead of typing actions into an interface gave the genre the classic storybook look. The player now didn't need to draw a map on paper and they could view the scenes as the producer would like them to see them. Anything was becoming possible plot lines that were once plain and very one dimensional became far more immersive. Characters started to have attitudes quirky animations and charming qualities and with that came the comedy. 

Insult sword fighting and one on one punch ups decided whether or not the player could continue with their quest and if that was not enough there were the puzzles. Some of these puzzles were unsolvable without hours and hours of head scratching and constantly wandering around looking for clues that had not been heard or in some cases seen.

Lucasarts formally known as Lucasfilm Games were one of the giants of this market and they created many treasured classics such as ;

• The Monkey Island games
• Sam and Max
• Maniac Mansion
• Day of the Tentacle
• The Dig
• Loom 
• Grim Fandango
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
• Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis 
• Labyrinth
• Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders
• Full Throttle

These games to me are timeless classics and I play them regularly to this day. I am sad to see Lucasarts go however it must be said that the classic point and click styled game has long left the public arena and is now very much in the underground.

But there is hope.. 

The genre is not dead..

There are still many many companies and studios .. albeit smaller which are creating these games and it is with these that I now spend infuriating hours pointing and clicking, roaming and talking, laughing and indeed shouting at the screen.

But how about you? 

Did you grow up with these titles like I did?

Were you one of the many people that held your breath as the plot lines unfolded and became more and more enjoyable by the second? 

How does it make you feel? 

Until next time 

Peace all over your faces

Ant (Sin)

Guybrush Threepwood no longer hanging around.