Lucasfilm Games is an American video game licensor that is part of Lucasfilm. It was founded in May 1982 by George Lucas as a video game development group alongside his film company; as part of a larger 1990 reorganization of the Lucasfilm divisions, the video game development division was grouped and rebranded as part of LucasArts. LucasArts became known for its line of adventure games based on its SCUMM engine in the 1990s, including Maniac Mansion, the Monkey Island series, and several Indiana Jones titles. A number of influential game developers were alumni of LucasArts from this period, including Brian Moriarty, Tim Schafer, Ron Gilbert, and Dave Grossman. Later, as Lucasfilm regained control over its licensing over the Star Wars franchise, LucasArts produced numerous action-based Star Wars titles in the late 1990s and early 2000s, while dropped adventure game development due to waning interest in the genre.
Star Wars is an American epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various films and other media, including television series, video games, novels, comic books, theme park attractions, and themed areas, comprising an all-encompassing fictional universe. In 2020, its total value was estimated at US$70 billion, and it is currently the fifth-highest-grossing media franchise of all time.
Noah Falstein is a game designer and producer who has been in the video game industry since 1980, winning "Game of the Year" titles for multiple games such as Battlehawks 1942 and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. He has designed games for multiple platforms, including arcades, the Commodore 64 and PCs.
Origin Systems, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. It was founded on March 3, 1983, by Richard Garriott and his brother Robert. Origin is best known for their groundbreaking work in multiple genres of video games, such as the Ultima and Wing Commander series. The company was purchased by Electronic Arts in 1992.
Kyle Katarn is a fictional character in the Star Wars expanded universe, who appears in the five video games of the Jedi Knight series, the video game Star Wars: Lethal Alliance, and in several books and other material. In the Jedi Knight series, Katarn debuts in Star Wars: Dark Forces, appears in Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, is one of two playable characters in Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith, appears in Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast and is a major NPC in Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy.
Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds is a real-time strategy video game set in the Star Wars universe. It was developed by Ensemble Studios and LucasArts. It was released on November 11, 2001. An expansion pack, Clone Campaigns, was released on May 14, 2002, adding two new factions and campaigns. Later that year, both Galactic Battlegrounds and Clone Campaigns were released in a box set, Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds Saga.
Factor 5 GmbH is an independent software and video game developer. The company was co-founded by five former Rainbow Arts employees in 1987 in Cologne, Germany, which served as the inspiration behind the studio's name.
Star Wars: Empire at War is a 2006 real-time strategy video game developed by Petroglyph Games and published by LucasArts. Set between Episode III and Episode IV, it focuses on the fledgling struggle between the Empire and the Rebels. It uses Petroglyph's game engine Alamo. In October 2006, an expansion titled Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption was released. On May 31, 2014, online functionality, including network multiplayer and wireless chat, was discontinued after Glu Mobile's purchase of GameSpy and the subsequent shutdown of all game servers. As of September 1, 2017, the multiplayer has been re-enabled on the Steam version as well as workshop support being added.
Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader is an action game co-developed by Factor 5 and LucasArts and is the second of the Rogue Squadron series. It was published by LucasArts and released as a launch title for the GameCube in North America on November 18, 2001, and Europe on May 3, 2002. Set in the fictional Star Wars galaxy, the game spans all three original trilogy Star Wars films. The player controls either Luke Skywalker or Wedge Antilles. As the game progresses, Skywalker, Antilles and the Rebel Alliance fight the Galactic Empire in ten missions across various planets.
Over one hundred video games based on the Star Wars franchise have been released, dating back to some of the earliest home consoles. Some are based directly on films while others rely heavily on the Star Wars Expanded Universe.
Star Wars: Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire is a 1995 video game developed by LucasArts. It is the sequel to Star Wars: Rebel Assault, set in the Star Wars expanded universe. It is played as a rail shooter; the player proceeds down predetermined paths, but has the ability to control aiming, shooting, and dodging. The player character, Rookie One, pilots ships such as a YT-1300 Corellian Transport, a B-wing, and a Y-wing, and encounters new enemy ships, including TIE Interceptors. They uncover, and eventually disable production of, a new TIE variant known as the TIE Phantom, which has the ability to cloak.
Star Wars: Battlefront II is a 2005 first-person shooter and third-person shooter video game based on the Star Wars film franchise. Developed by Pandemic Studios and published by LucasArts, it is a sequel to 2004's Star Wars: Battlefront and the second game in the Star Wars: Battlefront series. The game was released in PAL regions on October 31, 2005, on the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable (PSP), Microsoft Windows, and Xbox platforms, and in North America on November 1 of the same year. It was released on the PlayStation Store on October 20, 2009, for download on the PSP. The PSP version was developed by Savage Entertainment.
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire is a video game developed and published by LucasArts. It is primarily a third-person shooter, with multiple types of vehicular combat sequences. It was released for the Nintendo 64 on December 3, 1996, and for Windows on September 17, 1997. Good Old Games re-released it on May 3, 2016, as a compatibility update for 64-bit Windows.
Michael J. Stemmle is a computer game writer, designer, and director who cocreated some of LucasArts' adventure games in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron is an arcade-style flight action game co-developed by Factor 5 and LucasArts. The first of three games in the Rogue Squadron series, it was published by LucasArts and Nintendo and released for Microsoft Windows and Nintendo 64 in December 1998. The game's story was influenced by the Star Wars: X-wing Rogue Squadron comics and is set in the fictional Star Wars galaxy, taking place primarily between events in the films Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. The player controls Luke Skywalker, commander of the elite X-wing pilots known as Rogue Squadron. As the game progresses, Skywalker and Rogue Squadron fight the Galactic Empire in 16 missions across various planets.
The Genie Engine is a game engine developed by Ensemble Studios and used in several computer games, such as Age of Empires, Age of Empires II and its expansions and Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds. Some of those games have been ported to the Apple Mac.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) is an RPG video game series, based on an earlier comic book series, and with a subsequent new comic book series, all based on the fictional universe of Star Wars by George Lucas. The first and third video game installments were developed by BioWare, while the second was done by Obsidian Entertainment per LucasArts' request. All were published by LucasArts. Both comic series were published by Dark Horse Comics. Both series act as prequels to the video games.
Bill Tiller is an American computer game designer, writer, and artist. At LucasArts, he was the lead artist and art director of The Dig, the lead background artist on The Curse of Monkey Island, and the lead artist on Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine. He created the games A Vampyre Story and Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island for Autumn Moon Entertainment, a studio he co-founded with Mike Kirchoff in 2002. He worked as a game designer on the iOS title Perils of Man.
Larry Ahern is an American computer game designer, writer, artist, and animator. He is best known for being the co-project leader on The Curse of Monkey Island, alongside Jonathan Ackley.
