Love ‘em or hate ‘em – and chances are most adventure gamers have done a fair bit of both – there’s no denying the impact of LucasArts on the genre. Many words have been written over the years singing the praises of the company that produced the likes of Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, and Grim Fandango, and many more invective-laced tirades have been written about the same company who cancelled sequels for Sam & Max and Full Throttle, callously spurning the genre it helped popularize in the golden era of adventures.

A great many more words were written recently, and this time they’ve been bound in a new 256-page hardcover to be published by Chronicle Books. Authored by Rob Smith, the current editor-in-chief of PlayStation: The Official Magazine, the book is entitled Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts, and is headed for stores in mid-December.

The book was written with full support and cooperation from LucasArts and includes a foreword written by George Lucas himself, so put dreams of a shocking tell-all exposé out of your mind. Still, it promises “the first substantive survey of a videogame company” that contains previously unreleased interviews and reproductions of over 300 pieces of concept art, character development sketches, and storyboards. Naturally, the book doesn’t focus exclusively on the adventure game years, as it also details the company’s move from initial reluctance to increasing reliance on its movie-based Indiana Jones and Star Wars franchises.

Rogue Leaders is already available for pre-order from both Amazon US and Amazon UK. (Note that these links are Adventure Gamers affiliate links.)

For more about Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts, stay tuned for a book review right here at Adventure Gamers. (After, you know, we get it and read it, of course, but that will definitely be happening.)

Alternatively, if you’re in the San Francisco area, you can attend a book party in person! On December 4th, from 6:00 - 8:00 pm, Chronicle Books is hosting a party for people to meet the author and “swap hardcore gaming stories with several of the personalities behind the games.” (No specific names dropped in the invitation, unfortunately.)

The address of the party is:

Chronicle Books
680 Second Street
San Francisco, CA 94107

Attendees are encouraged to come early for light refreshments, and will receive a 20% discount on the book before it reaches store shelves. The party is open to the public, but only in limited numbers, so those who wish to attend must RSVP as soon as possible to rogueleaders@chroniclebooks.com.