It was amazing, exciting, and fun.

And then he founded LucasArts a studio responsible for some of the best games of the 80s and 90s.

So join me on this mini tour of some of the finest LucasArts games ever created.

It is a simple, yet magical opening to a game which is indelibly etched on my memory.

Even the sound effects are fantastic.

I can hum many of the tunes now, having not played the game for 20 years.

LeChucks theme, the circus music, the intro music.

All of it was magic, and brilliantly conceived.

The Secret Of Monkey Islandis a master class in design.

Unfortunately, these didnt combat photocopiers.

Fate of Atlantishad a brilliant code breaker that was themed to fit with the Indiana Jones world.

So it had a disc youd have to rotate to find a code from the phases of the moon.

It was less complicated than that sounds though, and a lovely touch.

The code breaking aside, this game was pureIndiana Jones.

By which I mean it absolutely encapsulated the essence of Indy and put him into an adventure game.

All the trademark LucasArts wit mixed delightfully with the Indy legend to create one of his best adventures.

Not quite the diversity we see in some of todays titles, but still worthy of a mention.

Its difficult to describe just how witty, creative and well animated this game is.

The puzzles are excellent, and the sound effects and voiceovers are brilliant.

Also, no other game will ever show you what a beard looks like on a tentacle.

They were the circuss two top attractions.

What follows is a hilarious story, with weird and wonderful characters and colourful locations in abundance.

There was something almost Python-esque, or even Pratchett-like, about their approach to storytelling and jokes.

I loved the Man or chicken dumpling?

carnival attraction almost as much as the whack-a-rat.

Both games were released in the same year, which is pretty good going.

X-Wingcame first, out of nowhere seemingly, and it was brilliant and ruddy hard.

There were dogfights to be had in abundance, escort missions, convoy attacks it was wonderful.

We spoke about it a lot at the time, and our minds almost imploded whenTIE Fightercame out.

One thing is true, though: this was an absurdly tough game.

It was more fun being with the Empire, I am not sorry to say.

A joystick would have made these games a lot easier for me as I only had a mouse.

It was glorious insanity.

You took on the role of Kyle Katarn, a Hans Solo-esque mercenary with a very Luke Skywalker background.

The deployment and animation of the character models was very pleasingly realised.

Back then, you didnt have full 3D models as you do today, but flat, 2D sprites.

Done badly, this could be awfully clunky, but LucasArts pulled its sprite animation off with real style.

As the years went on, LucasArts talent and creativity seemed to sputter like a dying candle.

It was a much later creation though, so its not for this list maybe thats for another time.

Monkey Island 2: LeChucks Revengeis also brilliant and from the early 90s well worth a play.

Pipe Dream(Pipe Mania) developed by The Assembly Line, and published by LucasArts.

A devastatingly simple windows game that sucked more hours off your life than Solitaire and Minefield combined.

So, I salute George Lucas.

To him I am indebted a charmed and magical youth, and to him I would say thank you.