During the 1990s, LucasArts was synonymous with innovation and originality, defining many of the adventure genre conventions we take for granted today. So when former LucasArts designers get back together, people really take notice.

You probably know Telltale Games and Autumn Moon Productions, but there is another group of LucasArts veterans working on an adventure game. Led by Mike Levine, the people at Crackpot Entertainment have worked on such classics as Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max Hit the Road and The Curse of Monkey Island. Now they are ready to unveil their new game Insecticide, a stylish noir detective title set in a world populated entirely by humanoid bugs.

Insecticide is in development for PC and handhelds, though Crackpot Entertainment isn't yet saying which handheld platform(s). The PC version will initially be a downloadable game released in two separate parts, the first of which will be ready around the end of the year. A combined package will be released through retail channels afterwards.

In this exclusive interview, we ask Mike Levine what the game is about, who is working on it and what kind of gameplay we can expect.

First of all, tell us what kind of game Insecticide is and who the main characters are.

Let me give you the official line first: "Insecticide is a hard-boiled, fast-shooting detective game set in a festering future city where bugs have evolved as the planet's dominant race. A murder at the powerful Nectarola soft drink company leads police from the Insecticide Squad on a bug hunt through the city's seedy underbelly, and into a mystery of epic proportions.

Join Detective Chrys Liszt and partner Roachy Caruthers on the case as they become entangled in a web of crime. It's an action-adventure in the truest sense of the word, immersing players in cinematic combat levels, as well as a story-based detective investigation.

Use Chrys' unique insect abilities, a range of creative bug weaponry, and old-fashioned street smarts to solve the case and uncover a shocking secret, ultimately bringing the mighty boot of justice down hard on the city's infestation of crime."

So at its heart, it's a detective-buddy story ­— it just so happens one of the detectives is a young, female insect hybrid (Chrys), and her partner Roachy is an aging, on the cusp of retirement/seen it all, grizzled veteran. Chrys is the lead character, but Roachy will be omnipresent for most of the game.

Your press release says it is an action/adventure. Since that label is used for different types of games, how would you characterize Insecticide's gameplay? How is it an action/adventure "in the truest sense of the word"?

Our main goal was to create something fun and compelling. Somehow that simple fact gets lost on too many titles. At Crackpot, we really let the specific IP drive us. Insecticide is inspired by many things, but at its heart it's a detective thriller, with a healthy dose of sarcasm and comedy mixed in. It's like Dirty Harry or The French Connection directed by Tim Burton. Television shows like Homicide or The Wire were also a big influence.

Even though it's a total fantasy, it's grounded in these reality-based stories. We wanted it to feel real, and one of the keys to that is pacing ­— another thing we don't see in many games. At LucasArts, and in general in life, we were weened on things like great characters, stories, worlds, etc. With Insecticide, we are attempting to create something very cinematic and story-based.

What that means is we needed an experience with ups and downs ­— like any of those films or shows I mentioned. Too many games today run on "11" the entire game. Like any great film, we wanted our game to have highs and lows that were equally compelling. This is where the adventure comes into it. Investigating crime scenes, talking to NPCs, finding clues ­— these are critical elements to any detective thriller and you really can't do that effectively running around and shooting at things. There is a time for that ­— what great detective story didn't have chases, shootouts, etc.? Insecticide is all about mixing those two together to create an overall compelling piece of entertainment.

Please tell us about your background. You used to work for LucasArts, didn't you?

Yes, I worked at LucasArts from 1990-97. Mainly in the art department. I was learning Photoshop on the outside, and things like After Effects and Premiere, and all these digital tools that were emerging.

LucasFilm Games (as it was known when I began) was a small crew ­— 60 or so total — but they were so busy just doing what they were doing, they just didn't know about all these new tools emerging. I was kind of like, "Um, you know that thing you are doing frame by frame taking you a week? I think I can do it in under a day —­ can I try?" Well, that kind of got their attention as you can imagine. I was definitely in the right place at the right time, and to this day feel honored to have had the experience. Not to be corny, but it was a magical time there for a while. Though I like to say, when they took the free candy away, it went right downhill.

By the time I left in 1997 the company had grown to 350 people, and I was "Senior Digital Media Specialist", which meant I was involved on a high level on most projects, helping set up the art path and techniques at the beginning of games. Before that, though, I worked in the art department on Sam & Max Hit the Road, Full Throttle, The Dig, The Curse of Monkey Island, Grim Fandango (but only a little), Dark Forces 1 & 2, Rebel Assault 1 & 2 .... And too many others to remember!

I took a sabbatical after Jedi Knights 2, and on my first day off got a job offer from my friends from ILM who were starting a software company to make art tools for special effects. This company was called Puffin Designs and was an independent company not owned by Lucas. They asked me to come on board and be the product manager, so I jumped at the chance to help craft our own art tools and work at a small company again. Puffin was more about feature film special effects, and the experience taught me a lot, including how to run a business.

After a couple years of being burned out on trade shows, I wanted to get back to games and animation. I had that creative itch and I couldn't escape it. I moved back to the east coast, where I was originally from, and started Pileated Pictures in late 1999. While Pileated began to create original material for the Internet, when that market didn't take off, we shifted plans and became a service company. Pileated has grown steadily and became a leading service provider to the entertainment and toy industries, making online games, animation, websites and all kinds of things. We also do animation for television, and work on many other game systems for kids, through companies like Hasbro.

The continued success of Pileated really is what led to us being able to start Crackpot, and lets Crackpot be a very unique company in the game space who is not subject to the whims and demands of the bigger publishers as we don't have to live in fear of keeping 30+ employees under one roof constantly employed. To most game studios it's all about getting that next job. To Crackpot, it's all about the IP.

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