Lawrence Holland

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.

For the English cricketer, see Lawrence Holland (cricketer).
Lawrence Holland
OccupationVideo game designer
Known forStar Wars: X-Wing series

Early life

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

His first game was called Slime for the Commodore VIC-20. He went on to do the music for the Commodore 64 and Apple II versions of The Bard's Tale.[1]

Other early games include Spike's Peak, Super Zaxxon and Project Space Station.[2]

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
Name Year Credited with Publisher
Spike's Peak1984designerHesWare
Super Zaxxon (C64 port)1984programmerHesWare
Project Space Station1985designerHesWare
The Bard's Tale1985composerInterplay Productions
PHM Pegasus (Apple II version)1986programmerLucasfilm Games
Strike Fleet1988designer, programmerLucasfilm Games
Battlehawks 19421988director, designer, programmerLucasfilm Games
Their Finest Hour1989director, designer, programmerLucasfilm Games
Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe1991director, programmerLucasfilm Games
Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe: P-80 Shooting Star1991designer, programmerLucasfilm Games
Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe: P-38 Lightning1991designerLucasfilm Games
Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe: He 162 Volksjäger1992designer, programmerLucasfilm Games
Star Wars: X-Wing1993director, producer, designer, programmerLucasArts
Star Wars: X-Wing – Imperial Pursuit1993director, producer, designer, programmerLucasArts
Star Wars: X-Wing – B-Wing1993director, producer, designer, programmerLucasArts
Star Wars: X-Wing – Collector's CD-ROM1994director, producer, designer, programmerLucasArts
Star Wars: TIE Fighter1994director, designer, programmerLucasArts
Star Wars: TIE Fighter – Defender of the Empire1994director, designer, programmerLucasArts
Star Wars: TIE Fighter – Collector's CD-ROM1995director, designer, programmerLucasArts
Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter1997directorLucasArts
Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter – Balance of Power1997executive directorLucasArts
Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance1999director, programmerLucasArts
Star Trek: Bridge Commander2002creative directorActivision
Secret Weapons Over Normandy2003director, creative directorLucasArts
NBA2005audio programmerSony Computer Entertainment
Alien Syndrome2007creative directorSega
Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Mermaids2008creative director2K Play
PBR: Out of the Chute2008directorCrave Entertainment, D2C Games
Oceanis2010designer, programmerShockwave

References
  1. 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.
  2. DeMaria, Rusel (1993). Star Wars: X-Wing - The Official Strategy Guide. Prima. ISBN 1-55958-375-4.
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