Hal Barwood
Barwood in 2020
Born	(1940-04-16)16 April 1940 (age 84) Hanover, New Hampshire, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Novelist,video game developer, andscreenwriter

Hal Barwood (born April 16, 1940) is an Americanscreenwriter,film producer,^[1]film director,game designer,game producer, andnovelist.

Barwood was born inHanover, New Hampshire, where his father ran the local movie theater. Early on he was thrilled byThe Thing from Another World, and later in schoolIngmar Bergman'sThe Seventh Seal. Both films possessed unique authorial personality and were important inspirations pointing him toward afilmmaking career.^[2] He studied art atBrown University andThe Rhode Island School of Design;^[3] and later attended theUniversity of Southern California'sSchool of Cinema-Television, where he met and became friends withMatthew Robbins, along with other film students such asWalter Murch,Robert Dalva,George Lucas and others who came to be known by some asThe Dirty Dozen, and who went on to considerable success in the film industry.

In 1965, as a student, Barwood wrote, directed, and produced the short animated film,A Child's Introduction to the Cosmos, and in 1970,The Great Walled City of Xan. His first theatrical film work was briefly as an effects animator onGeorge Lucas' debut feature film, thesocial science fiction filmTHX 1138 starringDonald Pleasence andRobert Duvall.THX 1138 was released in 1971, but it received mixed reviews from critics and became abox office bomb, although after Lucas'Star Wars, released in 1977, it became acult classic.

Barwood's career path opened up when he andMatthew Robbins were hired to write the screenplay forSteven Spielberg's first theatrical feature film, thecrimedrama filmThe Sugarland Express starringGoldie Hawn, based on a real life incident about a married couple who are chased by police as the couple tries to regain custody of their baby.The Sugarland Express was released in 1974 but fared poorly at the box office (as it received a limited release), although it won the award forBest Screenplay at the1974 Cannes Film Festival.^[4][5] He and Robbins later wroteJohn Badham'scomedicsports filmThe Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings, which was released in 1976 and received mixed to good reviews and a nomination for theAmerican Film Institute's 2008AFI's 10 Top 10 in the sports film category.^[6]

AfterExpress, Robbins and Barwood wroteJoseph Sargent'sbiographicalwar filmMacArthur, starringGregory Peck and based on the life of theGeneral of the ArmyDouglas MacArthur. The film was released in 1977 with mixed reviews.^[7] The screenwriting pair's next work with Spielberg was on his script of thescience fiction filmClose Encounters of the Third Kind afterDavid Giler's rewrite didn't convince Spielberg. Barwood's and Robbins' major contribution to the script was to suggest a kidnapped child as the story'splot device. The two, under the orders of Spielberg, performed a convincing rewrite which impressed Spielberg. However, despite their contribution, neither Barwood nor Robbins were publicly credited for their work in the film, although they got a percentage andcameoed in the film itself as twoWorld War II pilots.^[8]Close Encounters of the Third Kind was released in 1977 and became a critical and financial success, eventually grossing over $337 million worldwide. The next year, 1978, Robbins and Barwood wrote theadventurecomedy filmCorvette Summer, starringMark Hamill. The film was released that year and received good reviews.^[9] In the 1970s, he also co-wrote an unproduced screenplay with Robbins calledHome Free, for whichRalph McQuarrie was contracted to do a series of conceptual paintings.^[10]

AfterClose Encounters, Barwood and Robbins collaborated again for thefantasy filmDragonslayer, starringPeter MacNicol, which Barwood co-wrote and produced.^[11]Dragonslayer was released in 1981 and received good reviews and despite its mediocre box office performance,^[12] it has since become acult classic.^[13]

Later, in 1984, Barwood made his theatrical feature film directorial debut with thescience fiction-horror filmWarning Sign, starringSam Waterston. The film was released in 1985 and received negative reviews although its box office performance was not so bad.^[14][15]

While working onDragonslayer, Barwood realized that he wanted to makevideo games in order to pursue his second childhood passion. Prior to becoming a professional video game designer, Barwood had previously created two video games for theApple II (which he wrote and designed), entitledBinary Gauge andSpace Snatchers. The first was self-published while the other was never published.^[16][17] Both of these titles are still available for PC play from his website,finitearts.com.^[18]

He was hired as a script writer, producer and director forLucasArts. Following the success ofIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure, LucasArts initially wanted him to make a video game adaptation ofIndiana Jones and the Monkey King, an unproduced script written byChris Columbus during the early development of the third film,^[19] but Barwood considered the idea "substandard",^[20] so he convinced the staff to make an original story. Along withNoah Falstein, Barwood and the LucasArts staff ended up creating the1992 adventure gameIndiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis,^[11] which was a success. In the game,Indiana Jones and his sidekick Sophia Hapgood travel around the world in order to find the legendary lost city ofAtlantis before theNazis can find it.

Due to the successful reception ofFate of Atlantis, Barwood helped Joe Pinney, Bill Stoneham, and Aric Wilmunder conceive a sequel toFate entitledIndiana Jones and the Iron Phoenix, in which afterWorld War II, Indiana Jones would need to defeatNeo-Nazis in order to preventAdolf Hitler's resurrection inBolivia with thePhilosopher's Stone. However, the title was cancelled after LucasArts became aware that with how the story dealt withNeo-Nazism would affect the game's sales inGermany, which was an important overseas market for adventure games at that time. Still wanting to do one more Indiana Jones graphic adventure, Wilmunder wanted to do one entitledIndiana Jones and the Spear of Destiny, but it was also scrapped.^[21] Despite this, both theIron Phoenix and theSpear of Destiny stories were later adapted into four-part comic books byDark Horse Comics.

In 1995, Barwood worked onBig Sky Trooper and directed the live-action sequences ofStar Wars: Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire, both released that same year and receiving mixed reviews. He later went to work in desktops games,Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures andStar Wars: Yoda Stories, released in 1996 and 1997 respectively. Both, casual games before there was such a category, were successful.^[22] AfterYoda Stories, Barwood returned to make anotherIndiana Jones game. His original idea was to use theRoswell UFO incident as the story'splot device, but George Lucas prevented him from doing this, so he opted to make a new story.^[23] The game becameIndiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, in which Indiana Jones, along with Sophia Hapgood, want to find the Infernal Machine, a mythologicalBabylonian power source, before theSoviets could do it.Infernal Machine, as being the series' first3D installment video game, was released in 1999 and became a success likeFate of Atlantis.^[24] That same year, in August,PC Gamer magazine designated Barwood as one of the top 25 game designers in the United States.^[25]

Following the release ofInfernal Machine, Barwood designed and presided over the development ofRTX Red Rock and helped revise the story ofIndiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb, anotherIndiana Jones video game; it involves Indiana Jones searching the tomb of the Chinese emperorQin Shi Huang before the Nazis and a Chinese Triad can find it. BothRed Rock andEmperor's Tomb were released in 2003, the former with negative reviews and the latter to critical acclaim.^[20][26] After the release ofEmperor's Tomb, Barwood retired from making video games for LucasArts, although eight years later, he briefly returned in 2011 to work in cooperation withZynga in theFacebook online video gameIndiana Jones Adventure World,^[27] which was discontinued in 2012.

Following his departure from LucasArts in 2003, Barwood repurposed his former movie company, Finite Arts, to service his freelance projects. Among these were the PC gamesPhlinx to go andZengems, released in 2005 and 2007. Both were well received.

In 2008–2009, Barwood served as the lead designer and writer onMata Hari,^[28] aWorld War I spy action adventure game developed by German studioCranberry Production. It received positive reviews.^[29] Also, in 2009, Barwood wrote parts ofMobster 2: Vendetta, the second installment of theMobsters video game franchise which was released that same year.^[17]

On April 3, 2017, during an interview with Arcade Attack, Barwood stated that although he liked very much working onIndiana Jones video games, he had no desire to make any new titles. However, he stated that he had finished his fourth novel and is currently writing his fifth novel, entitledHappenstance.^[30]

Barwood lives and works in Portland, Oregon. He was married to his childhood sweetheart, Barbara Ward, a teacher and literacy program director, until she died in 2023.

• Dragonslayer: The Screenplay (2002) co-author (withMatthew Robbins)
• Shadowcop: a paranormal adventure (2013)
• Broomhandle: a paranormal adventure (2014)
• Whiskeyjack: a paranormal adventure (2015)
• Glitterbush: an astrobotanical adventure (2016)ISBN 9780998191409,099819140X
• Happenstance: gambling on democracy (2017)
• Fulfillment: an aspirational adventure (2018)
• Sandpeople: an astromechanical adventure (2020)
• Answering The Emperor's Prayer (2020)
• Tinwoman: a biomechanical adventure (2021)
• Cratertown: a criminological adventure (2022)
• Why The Moon Makes Men Mad (2023)
• A Child' Introduction to the Cosmos (2024)

• Hal Barwood atIMDb
• Hal Barwood's homepage
• 2007 Interview with Paradigm (Under Stage & Screen)^{[usurped][permanent dead link‍]}

• 1940 births
• Living people
• American video game designers
• USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni
• Brown University alumni
• Lucasfilm people
• Writers from Hanover, New Hampshire
• Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay winners

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