It's here. LucasGames can probably already boast to being the largest LEC gaming information site, and if isn't right now, it should certainly be so in the future. With sections devoted to all the latest LEC game, including unreleased ones, LucasGames is a giant. Each game has several pieces of information for it, including reviews, forums, links, etc. It's an excellent way to find the latest information on or get into the community of LucasArts games.
The potential for LucasGames is almost limitless. As more games are released, more games are covered. I would normally question such an ambitious project but the staff at LucasGames hes the experience to make it work. Headed up by Don "Aristotle" Crew (webmaster of JediKnight.net) with Biniam "Spart" Bekele of Jedi Nights and Matthew "Swoosh" Moore of Valley of the Jedi, this site includes some of the most respected webmasters from the Jedi Knight community. And the list goes on further, including such well-known names as Jeff Walters and Tola Dalton. They have a jaw-dropping staff loaded with the knowledge of maintaining a large site as well as getting some of the best news coverage on every LucasArts game.
Wanting to know a little more about some of the plans of and the status of LucasGames, I threw a few questions at Swoosh and he was kind enough to respond.
Why was LucasGames started?
LucasGames was started because of a desire that us creators had. We wanted a site that could help all of the LucasArts gaming communities continue to grow, by bringing a much larger spotlight on them. Also, it gives us webmasters a chance to do different things (or at least on different games). It does get boring doing news on the same game day in and day out. By covering all LucasArts games, we can change our sites focus as games come and go. Hopefully this will give the site security for the future.
How long was the site in the works before release?
We were actually in planning and designing of the site for many months. One thing that we have that other sites don't is a group of equal webmasters. We all make the tough decisions together, which translates into something taking a long time to develop. But during the process, we get a product that many more people enjoy. We probably went through 6 layouts before coming to the final one...which I'm very happy we spent time on because now that I look back on the previous layouts, I notice how horrible they are.
Who were the key staff members in putting it together?
We all had major roles, but here is how the assignments broke down. I was the site layout designer. Aristotle was the coordinator and he helped on just about everything. Tola worked on html and is now the editor (both html and grammar) for anything site-related. Dan did most of the scripting, which most of has yet to be implemented because of our servers. Chris did a lot of work on the game pages, as well as article writing. Bordok also did many of the game pages, he was a great help. The others still haven't done all that much, which we hope will be changing soon.
Are you guys content with the current staff? Might there be any changes?
We feel that our staff is satisfactory for our current needs. There isn't a lot of news right now, but as the upcoming batch of games are released, we may need a larger news staff. Until then, don't expect the number to grow, since we probably have enough people for awhile. Changes are always possible, we'd like to keep the same people as the core of the site, but who knows what could happen.
What are some of the staff's short term plans for the site?
What we would really like to do is to get our updating scripts and poll scripts properly functioning so we can all sleep at night. We have also been talking to LucasArts about some possible exclusive features, hopefully those will develop and we can bring some new information to our readers. Other than that, we just want to gear up for the surge of news that will be coming in the next few months.
What are some of the long term plans for the site?
We don't really have a lot of long-term plans at this time, we have our hands full as is. Hopefully when we are all less stressed we can think about the future. =)
What kind of reaction have you guys received? negative of positive?
We have received excellent reception from all the communities. Most people think that it's great to have a new site that covers all the games that they love. We have received some criticism from some parties, but the positive response has outweighed it significantly. We'd like to keep everyone happy, but of course that's not possible. Hopefully, everyone can see our good intentions, not the bad ones that people seem to dream up. I actually find some of the negative responses amusing...I never knew we were so cold-hearted and mean! =)
Anyways, thanks for the chance to let me voice my opinions about this site that we have all spent so much time on.
A big thanks to Swoosh for the interview.
Although Swoosh mentioned a great praise for this site, of course not all feedback has been positive (which doesn't seem to be bothering the staff). Negative comments are most evident in the Jedi Knight community. LucasArt's style has been to not reveal much information about their games. It certainly adds a suspense and mystery to the unreleased games. LucasArts seems to always be able to build up a lot of hype and anticipation to it's games prior to when they are put on the shelves. Swoosh mentioning about how they are talking to LucasArts about potential exclusive features is simply awesome. It would be great to get more information out of LucasArts and learn some more of their style and atmosphere.
The main worry throughout the Jedi Knight/Mysteries of the Sith community is that the updates from all the major sites will slow. After all, it seems all the webmasters from the best sites seem to be involved in LucasGames. With the likes of Brian Lozier, Osan`gar and Cali Girl at JK.net as well as Andrew Moeller and Chris Lu at Jedi Nights, however, there are more than enough newsmasters at these sites. There should continue to be a steady stream of news coming into the sites. I personally haven't noticed the news production really changing.
LucasGames is amazing, the size of the project would be too difficult for almost anyone else except for the team working there at this time. Even though in it's only in beginning, foreseeing the huge future of LucasGames is obvious. Its news coverage is increasing and informing us of all aspects of LEC. The forums are starting to stir up and there should be articles and features coming out of the place soon. Any site which has the possibility of working out some exclusive articles with LucasArts is good in my book. All in all, you should hear about LucasGames in the future a lot.
Adrian Burnett is co-project leader of Beyond the Vortex |