Lucasfilm Games (1982-1993)

Credits

Captures by
SubparMario63 and Camenati

Editions by
Michael Kenchington

Background

Lucasfilm Games was founded in May 1982 as the game development division of George Lucas' Lucasfilm. The division was originally created in an agreement between Lucasfilm and Atari, who along with Activision and Electronic Arts would publish their early games. It was later renamed to LucasArts in 1993.

1st Logo (1985-1988)

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Visuals: There is a re-creation of the Lucasfilm logo, except "Ltd." is replaced with "GAMES". The top-right of the logo shines with a visible gleam.

Variants:

• The coloring and general look of the logo would vary from platform to platform, even over the same games.
  • Earlier Commodore 64 games have the logo in brown with greenish drop-shadow.
  • Later Commodore 64 games have the logo in gold with a black drop-shadow on a brown background.
  • Earlier Apple II games have the logo in white with orange drop-shadow, or orange with a blue drop-shadow.
  • Later Apple II games have the logo in white with black drop-shadow on an orange background.
  • Atari computer games have the logo in a yellow-to-green gradient.
• Early on, the logo lacked the bolt symbols beside 'GAMES'. They were added starting with the Apple II release of Rescue On Fractalus!.
• On the Apple II release of Labyrinth, the logo is shifted up to make way for the game's logo and a Henson Associates copyright notice. "presents" is seen below.
• On Atari 8-Bit versions of Lucasfilm Games' releases, the word "GAMES" appears some time after "LUCASFILM".

Technique: 8-bit graphics.

Audio: There is a droning noise that somewhat resembles a spaceship taking off (or the THX “Deep Note”), followed by a ding when the logo shines.

Audio Variant: Sometimes, the logo is silent.

Availability: Seen on early releases from the company across MS-DOS, Commodore 64, Amstrad, Atari, NEC and Apple computers, including Koronis Rift, Ballblazer, Rescue on Fractalus!, Eidolon, and the video game adaptation of the 1986 movie Labyrinth.

2nd Logo (1988-1993)

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Visuals: On a black background, there is a chrome version of the logo from before, except the "LUCASFILM" text is in a more blocky font, and "GAMES" is contained within a rectangle shape. The logo glimmers several times.

Variants:

• Sometimes, the logo is still.
• Once again, the color and design varied across platforms and games.
  • Strike Fleet displays the logo in a blue-gray gradient.
  • The MS-DOS version of Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders has the logo in a solid blue.
  • Games such as Their Finest Hour: The Battle Of Britain has the logo with a different blue-gray gradient with brownish-orange edges.
  • The ZX Spectrum version of Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade: The Action Game has the logo in light blue due to the platform's limited color range.
  • On The Secret Of Monkey Island, the logo has a granite-like texture and purple glimmers. On the Sega CD version, the logo is made out of wood, with several nail holes visible. The Sega byline appears below.
  • On the floppy disk release of Loom, the logo is formed in white on a night sky, with a copyright notice below.
  • On Night Shift is the logo made out of steel with several bolts visible, "PRESENTS" in pink below. The two playable characters, Fred & Fiona Fixit, each run from either side of the screen, and face the camera waving. They stop, and the game's interface appears below. A still version without Fred, Fiona or the PRESENTS text is seen on the games DOS version.
  • On Secret Weapons Of The Luftwaffe, there is a 3D version of the logo with a green stone texture from a side angle.
  • On Masterblazer, the logo is golden, with slight shading on the bottom. The top-right of the logo glimmers once.
  • On the NES version of Star Wars, the logo has a blue and green tint, with "JVC PRESENTS A" above and "PRODUCTION" below in green. On the Sega Master System and Game Gear versions, the logo has a blue tint. Defenders Of Dynatron City has a similar variant, except the text is white and the logo has a blue tint.
  • On the ZX Spectrum version of Indiana Jones and The Fate of Atlantis: The Action Game, the logo is white, blue and green.

Technique: Sprite-based animation.

Audio: None or the opening theme of the game. The animated version has several twinkle sounds or silence.

Availability:

• Seen on Lucasfilm Games titles from the era, including Strike Fleet, Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders, and Battlehawks 1942.
• The animated version can be seen on games like the American NES version of Maniac Mansion, The Secret Of Monkey Island, and Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade: The Action Game.
• This was used in tandem with the first LucasArts logo into 1993, primarily on games for older hardware like the NES and some personal computers.

Lucasfilm Games (1982-1993)

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