Indiana Jones and The Staff of Kings - Development

Development

The game was announced in 2005 for release on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. During E3 2006, LucasArts heavily promoted the game by citing its use of the new simulation technology developed by NaturalMotion called Euphoria, which generates "on-the-fly" animations for 3D characters thus eliminating the need for canned animations and preventing repetition of animations. At the time that game was scheduled for a release sometime in 2007, but this did not occur. Later, when Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was finally green lit and entered production, many assumed that LucasArts would be timing the release of the game with the new film in the summer of 2008 (such was the case with Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures), but this did not happen either. These delays in development were caused by LucasArts prioritizing Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, which uses the same technology that was originally associated with the Indiana Jones game during 2006.

A trailer released at E3 2006 showcased the games' use of the Euphoria animation engine, created by NaturalMotion. Further explanation comes from David Collins, sound designer and voice director of the project. He explains that by using Euphoria no two reactions will ever be alike, objects will have their own unique textures, and enemies will be thinking on their own.

In a July 2008 interview with DailyGame, a LucasArts representative dismissed rumours of the game's cancellation, stating that the Indiana Jones PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 games were "very deep into development." The team was "working very actively" to bring the game up to form for public/media consumption, and said that "the game looks great." John Armstrong provided the voice of Indiana Jones.

GameTrailers hosts a publicity trailer for the game, featuring concept art of a train station and an African Queen-style river boat. It has also been revealed that Indy will recover many "ancient artifacts from around the globe", and the artifact central to the game's plot will become a major part of the gameplay after being recovered, also the locations will include San Francisco's Chinatown and "the most sacred ground in the world." His name being featured in the tech demo videos for the game have led some to speculate that Lao Che may be a villain, though his name is only seen he has no part in the game.

On January 23, 2009 an official trailer revealed that the game would come out in the Spring of 2009 for the Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable gaming platforms. It was eventually revealed that the original, internally developed PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions had been canceled after constant delays. The Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable versions had been concurrently developed by Artificial Mind and Movement (the exception being the PSP version, which was instead developed by Amaze Entertainment) and had not faced the same delays.

The game's story was inspired by Raiders of the Lost Ark and is a collaborative effort of the design and management teams at LucasArts, with one of the writers being Peter Hirschmann. It was created a few years before the release and received some input from George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.

A novel also titled Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings was going to be released as a tie in for the video game, but because of the numerous delays the book was never released. A finished version of the book does exist, however.