» LucasArts

Looking back…

staci baird — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:52:22 +0000

I remember the day I interviewed at Lucas. I spent almost an entire day in a conference room with various folks from the online and marketing teams coming in and out… I distinctly remember Pablo, Pete and Dennis sitting across from me and drilling me about Star Wars. Okay, not exactly drilling, but more than one person asked me what I knew about Star Wars, and I felt woefully inadequate.

Eighteen months later I know more about Star Wars than I ever dreamed possible and I have a new found respect for the men and women who dedicate their work lives to keeping the story alive.

Together, Web Producer, Brooks, and I brought social media and two-way communication into the marketing mix for LucasArts. We launched LucasArts’ Twitter, several Facebook fan pages, a Wiki, several social media widgets and more than seven Web sites.

In my position as Internet Marketing Manager at LucasArts I learned a lot about people, process and video game marketing. I will never regret adding Lucas to my resume. But I’m leaving to pursue a career in journalism and to dedicate more time to teaching digital media skills to future journalists.

I admit, it’s going to feel a bit strange come Monday morning when I don’t get up, login to Webmail and then rush to catch the 43 to the Presidio. But new adventures await me…

There are so many things I could write about, but I think the story of my career at Lucas is best summarized in pictures. Some of which, I can’t show you.

1. The view from the cafeteria.

2. Dancing with the snow beast at the Lucas Holiday Party.

3. Game launches.

4. The dry erase art wars. And the promos for HezChorba.com.

5. Comic-Con. Just look at the power in that little guy’s Force choke.

6. Comic-Con parties.

7. The ILM Halloween party.

8. Starbucks in the Presidio.

9. The toys. Many of which I have brought home. Guests can catch glimpses of Darth Vader, Yoda and Chewie tucked into bookshelves all over our apartment.

10. My crazy co-workers. An eclectic group of folks who work their butts off.

Fracture website: Adobe Max 2008 finalist

staci baird — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:03:35 +0000

One of my very first assignments at LucasArts was launching the Fracture videogame website.

We (Shane, Eric, Elijah and the guys at 2Advanced, and Nicole from Lucas Online) spent many late nights working on the site… so I was really excited when I learned that the site was an Adobe Max 2008 finalist.

I’m especially proud of the TD Playground, a section on the site where you can see a few of the weapons in action, it really does feel like you’re in the game. The Vortex is particularly fun!

Congrats to the team at 2Advanced! Shane was an absolute dream to work with. And a special thanks to Nicole for all her help – from design input, production, integration and QA – she is a one woman wonder.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars video game

staci baird — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:34:52 +0000

LucasArts reveals more info on Star Wars: The Clone Wars video game for Wii and Nintendo DS.

LucasArts Star Wars: The Clone Wars video game for Wii and Nintendo DS, originally uploaded by Girl Journalist.

Breaking new ground

staci baird — Sat, 31 May 2008 05:51:54 +0000

Terrain Deformation is cool, but we’re really breaking new ground on the web!

Today, we really did break new ground here at LucasArts.

We launched a Wiki for our Fracture game. This community site is aimed at providing fans weekly updates and a forum for conversing with us about the game. We’ve already put up dev profiles and starting next week we’ll be posting “meet the team videos.”

The masterminds behind this initiative are Michael Webster, Fracture product manager and Chris Norris, Fracture PR manager. Mike and Chris wanted to build community. They wanted a way to post behind-the-scenes content and invite fans to talk about it. We started out wanting just a blog, but we ended up with a Wiki.

We worked with WetPaint to provide the Wiki app to run our community site. Shout-outs to Steven Sather, Chris Kollas, Patty Lindley and Chako Suzuki and I’m sure many other WetPaint employees who helped us behind the scenes.

This is an experiment and we’re taking it one day at a time. But I’m just excited we got this far!

LEGO Indiana Jones – The Original Adventures

staci baird — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 18:04:36 +0000

We launched my second major project at LucasArts today. LEGO Indiana Jones The Original Adventures went live at 10:50 am.

I think we’re all pretty darn happy with the site. The game is a lot of fun and we hope the web site reflects that. See if you can find the hidden treasures on the site and earn points to download wallpaper, avatars, coloring pages and more.

The agency, Summit Projects was a dream to work with. Shoutouts to Jodi, Dave, Eddy and Lucas. Great work all! Also, once again I must give props to my colleague Nicole Love. Without Nicole this site wouldn’t be live today. Her patience and support keeps me sane. I know she smiles when I rant, but she also listens and sometimes that’s all I need (That and a little robot dancing.) I think we’ve both heard enough of the Indy theme song to last us a lifetime.

There will be some small updates in the next couple weeks, new trailer, maybe some more coloring pages (Hez, you got some time, right?) so be sure to go back to the site and download the PC Demo on May 12.