David Fox on forming LucasArts with George, writing with Douglas Adams and more

Get to know the people who make great videogames

_{[Sup Holmes is a weekly talk show for people that make great videogames. It airs live every Sunday at 4pm EST on YouTube, and can be found in Podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.]}

Last Sunday’s Sup Holmes is required listening/viewing for anyone interested in the history of videogames and/or interesting people. David Fox spent an hour and a half with us and we still barely scratched the surface of his amazing career. From starting a non-profit agency in the 1970s that aimed to make computers accessible to everyone, to becoming the third ever employee of LucasFilm Games (later to become LucasArts), to creating the first flight sim to use procedurally generated fractal landscapes, to working with Douglas Adams on the official Labyrinth game, to writing with Orson Scott Card for an AR adventure experience that was way ahead of its time, the stories just kept getting more and more unbelievable as we went on. 

As it turns out, David Fox is also the man who gave Tim Schafer his first job in the industry. The farther you go back, the more clear it is that every point and click adventure game you’ve ever played was probably influenced in some way by decisions made by Mr. Fox. His games have also done well at maintaining a continued presence in people’s lives. Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders is just as beloved as Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island to many point and click fans, having inspired multiple fan sequels and even an impressive live action film.

David’s current projects include Rube Works, the first official game based on the cartoons and contraptions of legendary cartoonist Rube Goldberg, and Thimbleweed Park, the next game from fellow LucasArts veterans Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick. If Thimbleweed Park does well, we may even get a spiritual successor to Zak someday. If I could cross my fingers any harder, I’d probably break them. 

Thanks again to David for being on the show, and tune in today at 4pm EST when we welcome David Oshry (Rise of the Triad, Super Galaxy Squadron) to the program. He’s a very different kind of David, but I think you’re going to love him.