LucasArts Adventure Games - Descendent Companies and Titles

Descendent Companies and Titles

As various designers left LucasArts, new companies were created to produce adventure games in similar styles to those created by LucasArts. Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert, who left LucasArts after the completion of LeChuck's Revenge, went on to found Humongous Entertainment in 1992. Humongous created several series of point-and-click adventure games aimed at children, some of which used SCUMM. Gilbert also co-founded Cavedog Entertainment in 1996 to produce more mature games; the company is known for the 1997 title Total Annihilation. In 2008, Gilbert became the creative director at Hothead Games, where he is driving the development of the adventure game DeathSpank.

Tim Schafer, the creator of Full Throttle and Grim Fandango, left LucasArts at the beginning of 2000 to found Double Fine Productions. In 2005, Schafer's company released Psychonauts, an action-adventure following a secret training facility for psychics. The title is known for its critical praise and awards, but became notorious for its commercial failure. In 2009, Double Fine released Brütal Legend, a heavy metal themed game incorporating aspects of action-adventure and real-time strategy. While critically successful, Brütal Legend failed to make any sales breakthrough. Schafer, however, was not concerned about the commercial success of Brütal Legend or Psychonauts, as despite poor sales, "as long as you make a cool game, publishers want to talk to you".

After departing LucasArts in 2001, Larry Ahern, the co-designer for The Curse of Monkey Island and Full Throttle: Payback, founded Crackpot Entertainment along with members from several additional LucasArts adventure development teams. Their first product, released in 2008, was the action-adventure Insecticide. Bill Tiller, the art director for The Curse of Monkey Island and Full Throttle: Payback, founded Autumn Moon Entertainment in 2004 with another group of former LucasArts alumni. Autumn Moon went on to create A Vampyre Story, which was released in late 2008, and the 2010 title Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island.

In the aftermath of Freelance Police's cancellation in 2004, LucasArts dismissed many of their designers who worked on adventure games. Most of the Freelance Police development team, including Brendan Ferguson, Dave Grossman and Chuck Jordan, formed Telltale Games in 2005, to continue the development of graphic adventures. Michael Stemmle, the lead designer of Freelance Police, joined the company in 2008. The company released their first adventure game, Bone: Out from Boneville, in late 2005. A sequel, Bone: The Great Cow Race, followed in early 2006. In 2005, LucasArts' license with Steve Purcell concerning the Sam & Max franchise expired. Purcell, who had left LucasArts in 1997, moved the franchise to Telltale Games. The company subsequently released Sam & Max Save the World in episodic fashion from late 2006 to early 2007. A second run of Sam & Max games, Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space, was released across late 2007 and early 2008. 2008 also saw the release of an episodic series based on the characters of Homestar Runner, Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People. Telltale Games adapted Wallace & Gromit into a further episodic series, Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures in 2009. The third Sam & Max season The Devil's Playhouse was released in 2010.

At the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2009, LucasArts announced a collaboration with Telltale Games to create a new series of episodic adventure games, Tales of Monkey Island. Development of this project was led by Dave Grossman, with Michael Stemmle assisting with design and story production. The development team also included members with past experience from both The Curse of Monkey Island and Escape from Monkey Island. In addition, series creator Ron Gilbert was involved in the early design of the project. In a joint press release, LucasArts also announced an enhanced remake of the 1990 title The Secret of Monkey Island, with the intent of bringing the old game to a new audience. According to LucasArts, this announcement was "just the start of LucasArts’ new mission to revitalize its deep portfolio of beloved gaming franchises". Following the success of this, LucasArts released the sequel, Monkey Island 2 Special Edition in the summer of 2010. Described by British journalist John Walker as a "cautious toe in the water" for LucasArts, the move was prompted by LucasArts president Darrell Rodriguez, who had assumed the post only two months prior. According to Walker, many LucasArts employees had grown up playing the games from the 1990s, suggesting that should the renewed endeavour be successful, the developers will be keen to continue with further adventure titles.