I love LucasArts adventure games despite coming to them years too late, but I never got the chance to check out Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, despite its excellent reputation as both a great adventure and probably the best Indy game. An in-depth article at Mixnmojo went up earlier this month detailing a lost sequel called the Iron Phoenix.
Following the cancellation of the Young Indiana Jones TV series and a tie-in edutainment title, LucasArts set to work on a brand-new Indy adventure in the SCUMM engine. The journey took many long, strange turns, but ended in eventual, unceremonious failure when the was cancelled after 15 months of planning and preproduction.
This Indy game didn’t pan out, but what about all those great indie games? When you’re done groaning over that pun, check out our list of the best indie games on PC!
The full article is available here, and it’s a terrific read full of interesting facts. The full design doc and lots of concept work are available at the website of LucasArts alum Aric Wilmunder, along with tons of similar artifacts from other Lucas titles.
There’s your weekend reading all sorted, then. It’s fascinating to take a look at these games that never saw the light of day and imagine what might have been while getting a little more familiar with the realities of game development. Yes, folks–it does indeed belong in a museum.
