Echos from the Past: Lucasfilm Games Alumni Restarting a Revolution.

It seems that we will have a banner year for game software in 2009. Three games, each designed by LucasFilm Games veterans, are at the forefront of a revolution. Double Fine Productions, Telltale Games, and Hothead Games are each going separate directions with the style of games their putting together. But one thing all 3 companies do share is a knack for infusing sharp wit and dialog, great characters, and fun puzzles to amazingly simple controls and game mechanics. The revolution, or what I like to call "The Second Coming of the Funny", will bring witty interactive storytelling to an eager public that is finally hungry for something different.


Brutal Legend is the 2nd game to come out of Double Fine Productions, and has already established a lot of good press and hype for designer Tim Schafer. This is a good thing for every gamer that enjoys sharp funny dialog and excellent storytelling. You can trace this keen wit and charm all the way back to 1990 when he co-wrote The Secret of Monkey Island with Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman. (Remember those two names because they have their own story to tell later.) After the first Monkey Island came a slew of great SCUMM adventure games that had Schafers name on it somewhere. Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, and Grim Fandango are all considered classics in the history of point and click adventures. But what set these games apart from the rest of the industry was its obsession with dialog. These games didn't just tell you any old story, they challenged the player with complex and engaging dialog that was funny and enjoyable to read. Schafer left LucasArts and founded Double Fine in 2000. His first game, Psychonauts, played to the strengths of the designer by incorporating and amazingly imaginative story, sly wit, and tried and true platforming gameplay. Hailed by critics, the game unfortunately was not a commercial success, received poorly at retail. I don't think Brutal Legend will share that fate, the game plays to the strength of Tim's storytelling, it looks amazing, and It has the virtue of having Jack Black voicing the main character. You can't ask for anything better than that.



Telltale Games, on the other hand, has kind of a long winning streak on their hands. Having been formed in 2004 by ex-LucasArts employees who were working on Sam & Max: Freelance Police (the canceled sequel to 1993s Sam & Max Hit the Road), they proved that a small company can make adventure games and make a profit on them. They set up their company with two things in mind. First was to go episodic with their content, secondly they digitally distribute said content. Their first adventure game based on the Bone comic book series showed everyone how great adventure games could be. Taking an already amazing story, turning it into an interactive experience with challenging puzzles and well "spoken" dialog, Telltale had their first hit that was closely followed by a sequel. Then they announced an episodic adventure game based on Sam & Max franchise, and the fanboys went wild. Pumping Sam & Max out at consistent intervals with deep, cheap content showed the gaming world how to do episodic content right. But they didn't stop there, Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People and Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures are the latest releases and follows the same game design as the previous Telltale adventures. This year Telltale Games will release the 3rd season to Sam & Max and will continue to forge new content as the adventure renaissance continues.

Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventure

It is interesting to note that Dave Grossman, who co-wrote The Secret of Monkey Island and co-designed Day of the Tentacle with Tim Schafer, works at Telltale Games. The best thing I can say about Telltale is that this company is carrying the torch of the old SCUMM adventures. A modern take on an old classic game design and it has a bright future in the future of our hobby.


In November of 1999 Computer Gaming World did an article about the "Next BIG Thing" 5 games that will change gaming. They were as follows:

1. Freespace (yep, killed off the space flight sim genre, good game but WAY over-hyped.)
2. HALO ( back then it was still a pc game. It was also a 3rd person action game.)
3. Black & White (oh Peter, when will you give us what you promised?)
4. The Sims (yep, changed gaming by making it almost impossible to get your little sister off the computer)
5. Good & Evil (?)

It is that last game that is relevant to this article. Good & Evil was going to be comedic RPG with a fantasy setting. The designer of this game was none other than Ron Gilbert. Gilbert is known by many as the father of the modern point and click adventure and has numerous games to his credit. Maniac Mansion, Secret of Monkey Island 1&2, Zak Mckracken and the Alien Mindbenders are all bona fide classics. While Sierra was still using text parser based commands for their adventure games, Gilbert's SCUMM interface made gameplay painless and ascetically pleasing. Gilbert left LucasArts in 1992 at the top of the adventure game craze. Good & Evil came out of his founding of Cavedog Entertainment in 1995.

The Only Known Online Good & Evil Screen courtesy of Gamespot

It was officially canned in 1999 when Cavedog closed its doors. Now fast forward to 2007. Hothead Games who were working on the Penny Arcade games began to collaborate with Ron Gilbert on design and story elements. From the moment you start playing the Penny Arcade games you can tell that he had a positive effect. So much so that in 2008 he joined Hothead as Creative Director. His first game for the company Deathspank is currently in development and has been billed as Monkey Island meets Diablo. Hopefully they will be showing at E3 next week so we can see it in action because I'm interested to see if any of the old Good & Evil is in there.

All of the companies and games that I've talked about begs the question, why should I care? Well, you should care becaues none of these develpoers have ever released a bad game. They each played to their strengths which in the case of all three companies, is storytelling. Storytelling is the legacy that they lay before you. From Maniac Mansion and Secret of Monkey Island to Brutal Legend and Deathspank, these former LucasArts employees are finishing the revolution they started nearly 20 years ago. And we get to come along for the ride.