For the last few months, Lauren Thorpe has been playing the new Indiana Jones game on her cell phone, the same one set for release to the general public this month. Such are the perks and job requirements of heading THQ Wireless, which moved its headquarters to San Diego earlier this year.

With 30 employees here and growing, the wireless division of the L.A.-based independent video game maker won the rights to create the first video game for “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal.” Doing so required reading the movie script more than a year ago and then regular collaboration with LucasFilm, which is very protective of how its action hero is digitally portrayed. “One time we put a whip in Indian’s left hand instead of his right, but they gave us an exception for it after we had to explain why it had to be there,” Thorpe says. “There is nothing that happens by accident.”

While production time for cell phone games is about a year, Thorpe says that is stretching to 14-plus months to take advantage of the increased graphics computing power of the devices. The best games, she says, can be played quickly. The field also is evolving to include more multiplayer offerings, including those where how one game finishes changes the way the next game plays.

— Tim McClain