Lucasfilm Games' Craig Derrick on Crafting The Great Circle's Globe-Trotting Mystery

Executive producer Craig Derrick reveals how the team at MachineGames and Lucasfilm Games discovered the real-world mystery of the Great Circle — ancient sites aligned on a perfect, unbroken circle around the globe.

The best Indiana Jones adventures start with a real mystery. For The Great Circle, the team found one that "blew their minds."

A Real-World Mystery

Lucasfilm Games executive producer Craig Derrick explains how the storytellers at MachineGames researched history and legends to find the game's central concept: a number of ancient sites around the world align on a perfect, unbroken circle — and no one knows why. "For an Indiana Jones adventure to truly shine," Derrick says, "it needs a globe-trotting journey with a strong historical element — something grounded in reality yet wrapped in mystique."

Striking Gold

The concept was discovered by Todd Howard and the MachineGames team, and it provided the perfect foundation for an Indy story. Real history, genuine mystery, and a globe-spanning adventure — all the ingredients that make Indiana Jones stories unforgettable.

The Great Circle proves that when you start with a mystery worthy of Indy, everything else falls into place.