David Maxwell David " Max " Maxwell is a , who was one of the mission builders of the LucasArts Entertainment Company video game s " " and " " . A of , he initially joined Lucasfilm Games as a tester , before joining Lawrence Holland ' s Peregrine Software . He has since taught game design courses at the and . Biography . David Maxwell was born in and spent his early years in . He did his at in and with a in . Maxwell began working with Lucasfilm Games in 1991 as a technician in the department . His early work with the company involved testing video game s , including " " , " Star Wars " , " The Empire Strikes Back " , " " and " " , along with its . Maxwell did not work exclusively for Lucasfilm , working also as a tester for around this time , where he was involved with " National Lampoon ' s Chess Maniac 5 Billion and 1 " . When fellow Lucasfilm developers Lawrence Holland and Edward Kilham began working on the " Star Wars " " " early in the 1990 s , Maxwell joined their team as a mission builder . Around this time he acquired the nickname " Max . " Working with his longtime friend David Wessman , Maxwell was responsible for designing the missions in the game , and the two also served as the lead testers . Maxwell and Wessman attempted to make the missions progress differently based on what the player did . To this end , certain events were triggered specifically by players attacking certain targets . Some missions also featured multiple endings . For example , failing in the mission " Protect a Disabled X - wing " resulted in the arrival of the " Imperial I " - class Star Destroyer " Intrepid " to capture a T - 65 X - wing starfighter , while winning saw the starfighter rescued by Rebel CR90 corvettes . However , it was possible to do the mission in such a way that both would arrive simultaneously , resulting in a battle between the capital ships . As an avid simulator pilot , Maxwell tended to make difficult missions and had to learn to make them more approachable for less experienced players — this led him to be concerned that the game would prove too easy . One of his favorite missions , " Guard Vital Supply Depot , " saw the player using Maxwell ' s starfighter of choice , the A - wing interceptor , to defend a Rebel weapons cache from attack by the Imperial EF76 Nebulon - B escort frigate " Retsub " . When the mission proved too difficult , Maxwell implemented three versions of it , varying the difficulty by having the frigate start in different locations . The original version remained and , though many players considered it impossible , Maxwell maintained that drawing the frigate ' s fire to the player would allow the weapons cache to survive . Following the release of " X - wing " in February 1993 , Maxwell worked with Wessman and Rusel DeMaria to write " " . The book featured the story of the player character , Keyan Farlander , as written by DeMaria . Maxwell and Wessman contributed mission strategies and general tactics , along with most of the in the book . He continued his involvement with " X - wing " , designing levels for the game ' s two expansion packs , " " and " " . After Holland formed Peregrine Software in 1994 , Maxwell joined him there in working on the sequel to " X - wing " , " " . On " TIE Fighter " , Maxwell once more worked on designing the missions — which he still found too easy — with David Wessman , and also joined Wessman , Holland and Kilham in developing the overall story for the game . He later contributed missions to the game ' s expansion packs , " Defender of the Empire " and " Enemies of the Empire " , the latter only included on the " Collector ' s CD - ROM " edition of the game . Maxwell also worked with Wessman once more in submitting strategies and screenshots for the subsequent " " , which also featured the story of Maarek Stele by DeMaria . Following his work on " TIE Fighter " , Maxwell took some time off from the to become a full time single parent , before returning to education to refresh his skills . He studied digital , animation and authorization courses at the in and was asked to teach a class on game design . Since 2006 , Maxwell has worked as an Instructor in Game Design at the College of Marin and has also taught at . Maxwell also returned to the games industry , working as a designer for from 2007 to 2008 , and starting a new company , Level 13 Studio .