LucasArts
More info
- Creator
- George Lucas (as Lucasfilm Games)
- Released
- 1982–2013
- Type
- Game company
- Owner
- Disney (from 2012)
Lucasfilm's games division, best remembered for point-and-click adventures and the engine underneath them.
It began in 1982 as Lucasfilm Games. For Maniac Mansion (1987), Ron Gilbert and Aric Wilmunder built SCUMM, a scripting language and engine that went on to power The Secret of Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle and most of the catalogue. The iMUSE music system let the soundtrack change themes on the beat rather than cutting abruptly. Copy protection came on a cardboard code wheel.
The 2000s were mostly Star Wars licences and outsourcing. Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012 and shut down in-house development in 2013. The games survived anyway, largely thanks to ScummVM — an open-source reimplementation of the engine that keeps the original data files playable on everything from phones to fridges.