It’s a testament to the legacy of Rescue on Fractalus! that, 40 years after its release, I can still describe its trackless and turreted landscape of fractal mountains. Depending on when video games were most formative for you, it could bring to mind any number of other games. It might be Titania in Starfox, Beggar’s Canyon in Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, or maybe Roca Roja in Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown.
Together with Ballblazer, Rescue on Fractalus! formed the first pair of titles developed by Lucasfilm’s Games Group. Their reach has remained undimmed through the decades, and they’re foundational games for many developers and players alike. Yet through technical genius and a bit of George Lucas knowhow, the story of their development is a timely reminder that there may once have been some very real magic in the hills around Marin County, California.
“George Lucas had a sense that what he had done for films could be done for other things too,” says Peter Langston, who led the Lucasfilm Games Group through the development of Rescue on Fractalus! and Ballblazer. Propelled by the technological achievement of Star Wars, Lucas expanded the newly-minted Computer Division at Lucasfilm to explore video games. Then division head Ed Catmull lured Langston from a lucrative role in New York with the potential of leading the Games Group to new ways of developing games.
Atari XL/XE – Rescue on Fractalus [Lucasfilm Games] 1985 Watch on YouTube
“I was really committed to using computers in the arts,” Langston tells me. And besides, he jokes, “None of Ed’s friends would do it!”
Atari had an exclusive license to develop Star Wars arcade games already, and it became the first partner of the new Games Group. With Atari paying $1 million for first refusal rights on its games, and in the wake of the release of The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, Langston had no trouble attracting prospective employees. Though, experienced game developers weren’t necessarily a priority.