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Lawrence Holland

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Lawrence Holland
OccupationVideo game designer
Known forStar Wars: X-Wing series

Lawrence Holland is an American video game designer and founder of the now defunct Totally Games. He is best known for the Star Wars: X-Wing series published by LucasArts.

In 2009, he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game creators of all time.[1]

Early life

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His interest in computer programming started when his college roommate attempted to program a game onto his computer. After buying his own computer, Lawrence Holland studied to figure out how the computer worked and began his career in game design. In 1983, Holland was hired by Human Engineered Software (HESware) to program and convert arcade games to home computers. He started his own team, Micro Imagery, while working with HESware in 1984. During this time, he invented his own game and composed/programmed music for numerous video games.

Career

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His first game was called Slime for the VIC-20. He went on to do the music for the Commodore 64 and Apple II versions of The Bard's Tale.[2]

Other early games include Spike's Peak, Super Zaxxon and Project Space Station.[3]

He became an independent game developer, and achieved notability through a series of World War II flight simulators developed for LucasArts (then LucasFilm Games): Battlehawks 1942, Their Finest Hour and Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe.

The success of his World War II flight simulators lead to him being approached to develop a series of space flight simulators in the Star Wars franchise. The resulting game Star Wars: X-Wing, followed by Star Wars: TIE Fighter, Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter and Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance.

Holland took a break from LucasArts owned licenses in 2002 to work on a Star Trek licensed product Star Trek: Bridge Commander for Activision. His next release was a return to World War II flight simulators with Secret Weapons Over Normandy in 2003. The game was well received but sales were disappointing. His most recent release, 2007's Alien Syndrome, for the Sony PSP and the Nintendo Wii, was met with negative reception and sales.

Games

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Name Year Credited with Publisher
Spike's Peak 1984 designer HesWare
Super Zaxxon (C64 port) 1984 programmer HesWare
Project Space Station 1985 designer HesWare
The Bard's Tale 1985 composer Interplay Productions
PHM Pegasus (Apple II version) 1986 programmer Lucasfilm Games
Strike Fleet 1988 designer, programmer Lucasfilm Games
Battlehawks 1942 1988 director, designer, programmer Lucasfilm Games
Their Finest Hour 1989 director, designer, programmer Lucasfilm Games
Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe 1991 director, programmer Lucasfilm Games
Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe: P-80 Shooting Star 1991 designer, programmer Lucasfilm Games
Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe: P-38 Lightning 1991 designer Lucasfilm Games
Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe: He 162 Volksjäger 1992 designer, programmer Lucasfilm Games
Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe: Do 335 Pfeil 1992 designer, programmer Lucasfilm Games
Star Wars: X-Wing 1993 director, producer, designer, programmer LucasArts
Star Wars: X-Wing – Imperial Pursuit 1993 director, producer, designer, programmer LucasArts
Star Wars: X-Wing – B-Wing 1993 director, producer, designer, programmer LucasArts
Star Wars: X-Wing – Collector's CD-ROM 1994 director, producer, designer, programmer LucasArts
Star Wars: TIE Fighter 1994 director, designer, programmer LucasArts
Star Wars: TIE Fighter – Defender of the Empire 1994 director, designer, programmer LucasArts
Star Wars: TIE Fighter – Collector's CD-ROM 1995 director, designer, programmer LucasArts
Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter 1997 director LucasArts
Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter – Balance of Power 1997 executive director LucasArts
Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance 1999 director, programmer LucasArts
Star Trek: Bridge Commander 2002 creative director Activision
Secret Weapons Over Normandy 2003 director, creative director LucasArts
NBA 2005 audio programmer Sony Computer Entertainment
Alien Syndrome 2007 creative director Sega
Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Mermaids 2008 creative director 2K Play
PBR: Out of the Chute 2008 director Crave Entertainment, D2C Games
Oceanis 2010 designer, programmer Shockwave

References

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  1. ^ "IGN - 31. Larry Holland". IGN. Archived from the original on 2014-04-20. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
  2. ^ Bub, Andrew S. (2003-05-24). "Lawrence Holland on Secret Weapons Over Normandy". GameSpy. Archived from the original on 2012-03-31. Retrieved 2008-01-10.
  3. ^ DeMaria, Rusel (1993). Star Wars: X-Wing - The Official Strategy Guide. Prima. ISBN 1-55958-375-4.
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