Lucas Learning
American educational software company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lucas Learning is an initiative of the George Lucas Educational Foundation with a mission to work with partners to combine research-validated project-based learning principles with modern simulation technology for pre-K-12 schools.
Educational technology
2024 (current)
Susan Schilling
| Company type | Video game developer Educational technology |
|---|---|
| Industry | Educational software |
| Founded | February 1996 (original) 2024 (current) |
| Founder | George Lucas Susan Schilling |
| Defunct | June 2001 (original) |
| Headquarters | , |
| Parent | LucasArts (original) George Lucas Educational Foundation (current) |
| Website | lucaslearning.com (archived; original) lucaslearning.org (current) |
History
In its initial iteration, started in 1996,[1] the Lucas Learning company was founded by George Lucas as a spin-off to LucasArts in order to provide challenging, engaging and fun educational software for classrooms.[2] Many of their award-winning titles were based on the national curriculum.[3] The company was located in San Rafael, California,[4] and was headed by former MECC senior vice president of development and creative director Susan Schilling.[5] Shilling asserted that Lucas was personally involved with the products and that a company mantra was to stay away from violence.[6] They released games from 1998 until announcing their cancellation of a Mac version of Star Wars Super Bombad Racing in mid 2001, the year Lucas Learning decided to leave the market.[7]
Games
| Title | Platform | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| Star Wars: DroidWorks | PC/MAC | October 21, 1998 |
| Star Wars Episode I: The Gungan Frontier | PC/MAC | May 24, 1999 |
| Star Wars: Yoda's Challenge Activity Center | PC/MAC | August 17, 1999 |
| Star Wars: Pit Droids | PC/MAC | September 18, 1999 |
| Star Wars: Anakin's Speedway | PC/MAC | March 20, 2000 |
| Star Wars: Early Learning Activity Center | PC/MAC | August 15, 2000 |
| Star Wars Math: Jabba's Game Galaxy | PC/MAC | September 1, 2000 |
| Star Wars: Jar Jar's Journey | PC/MAC | November 15, 2000 |
| Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing (published by LucasArts) | PS2 | April 23, 2001 |
Critical reception
The Boston Herald wrote that the company was "setting a new standard in software development with a unique cooperative effort between Lucas' film and software sides".[8]