David Fox on LucasArts’ Non-Adventure Roots
Long before Resident Evil coined the clunky term “survival horror,” Lucasfilm Games (now LucasArts) gave gamers of the ’80s the biggest jump-scare of their lives. Though it sold itself as a fairly straightforward (though visually amazing for the time) space shooter, 1984′s Rescue on Fractalus! features a deeply disturbing moment barely hinted at in the instruction manual: at random, some of the downed pilots the game tasks you with rescuing turn out to be grotesque aliens in disguise, who suddenly smash your cockpit’s windshield with their bare fists, letting the corrosive atmosphere leak inside. And if you can believe it, this concept came from the mind of one George Lucas, a non-gamer who’s not exactly known for good ideas these days.
David Fox, one of the brains behind Fractalus!, might not be as well-known as other LucasArts alumni, but he played a role just as vital as that of Tim Schafer or Ron Gilbert; as the second official employee at Lucasfilm Games, he was instrumental in building the early titles which would get the company’s foot in the door of the gaming industry, eventually leading to the legacy of point-and-click adventure games we know them best for today. Lucasfilm Games started as a bold experiment by Lucas himself, who knew that computers would eventually grow powerful enough to wow audiences just like Star Wars itself. And, operating under this rationale, Fox and his crew found themselves with a remarkable amount of freedom; their first two projects were allowed to be failures, as their wealthy bearded benefactor believed the experience gained could be just as valuable as the profits from a hit title. Thankfully, both Ballblazer and Fractalus! came into being as moderately successful technical achievements, with 3D graphics that bowled over gamers who assumed their humble little Ataris weren’t capable of such a feat.
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