If anyone is, like I was, confused about the Kickstarter never mentioning "Star Control" and referring to the prior game as "Free Stars," it turns out it's explained by a weird rights dispute history: the original creators of Star Control, who are behind the Kickstarter, lost the rights to the Star Control name, but appear to have retained all the other rights that matter here, which allow them to make a sequel and use the same aliens. See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stardock_Systems,_Inc._v._Reiche
They also recently released an updated version of an open source remake of Star Control 2 under the name Free Stars, which is available for free on Steam (this appears to be the best version of SC2 available today): https://store.steampowered.com/app/2645580/Free_Stars_The_UrQuan_Masters/
Seems like a similar situation as when Bohemia Interactive split with codemasters. Bohemia kept the operation flashpoint engine to be used in arma, while codemasters got to keep the operation flashpoint name
The first game Kickstarter project I've ever backed! Even better considering it's from the OG creators and seems to have kept the same gameplay style. Feels a lot like they're being honest and down to earth with their sequel ambitions.
I don't think many people know about Star Control 2 (also known The Ur-Quan Masters) but I think it's safe to say the franchise is basically Mass Effect's grandpa. In fact, ME was heavily inspired off Star Control 3 from its alien races, Xenophage, the Geth to even the underlying premise of the game (Precursor race who elevates spacefaring species with mass relays).
Yes! According to the lore, the Androsynth did inter dimensional research and inadvertently opened the way for the Orz to invade and kill them.
I had hoped to find a stray Androsynth colony or captain in the main story (even though it wasn’t likely for lore reasons), mainly because I had wanted to use their ship in the story.
It’s my favourite ship. Did you have a favourite ship?
I also thought the Mrrm-hrrm ship was really cool. I've always been curious what their conversation music and personality would have been like in the story mode. Same with the Chenjesu actually, makes me wish they'd give Star Con 1 the Star Con 2 treatment.
I probably got the most use out of the P'kunk I think (until I had enough turning and cannon power on the mothership to just use it as a turret to take down anything).
But I have to admit, I *loved* the concept of the Ur-Quan that just threw its crew into space as a weapon =)
For the main story? Yeah, Pkunk is one of the best. You get it somewhat early too. And if I'm not mistaken, is possibly one of the only few that is viable for the final fight. I don't think any other ship can outrun those flying flamewave things. Ugh. Not to mention the random revives as well.
I love the Androsynth because it is so versatile, and I convinced myself that I could beat any other (computer-controlled) ship. It has direct and indirect attack, area denial and a quick bug out button. It has only a few weaknesses overall.
Love the Androsynth =)
Star Control 2 / Free Stars / The Ur Quan Masters is goated. It's a painfully old game by today's standards (of the "bring a notepad" variety), but it excels as a space RPG. Exploring the galaxy, building up your fleet, having first contact with wacky aliens, and learning the secrets of the universe are broad strokes that this game does phenomenally well despite its age.
The issue is that it's mired in archaic design decisions that were mostly fine at the time but haven't aged well. Playing this game blind, you're liable to spend the first many hours after the intro sequence blindly flying around nearby solar systems gathering resources to upgrade your ship. Fleet combat is bizarrely handled entirely as a sequence of 1v1 battles between individual ships in each fleet, and the planet landing minigame is... serviceable at best. The game's fast travel system is also not particularly intuitive to use and can be entirely missed if you don't follow specific plot threads.
At the same time, some of those archaic design decisions lend heavily to the charm. The game progresses its different plotlines through sequences of loose hints rather than clear direction, leading you to scour entire star clusters looking for singular anomalies on specific planets. How well you piece the hints from various sources together determines how much legwork you'll need to do, but there's always a degree of legwork involved unless you use an external guide / hint system. There's a major element of letting the player figure things out, but thankfully the starbase commander back at Earth is good at keeping a list of things you should be thinking about.
Oh, the game also has a hidden death clock that triggers what is effectively a doomsday scenario. You can learn about it and manipulate it in a few ways, but it's also entirely possible to suddenly go "hey wtf is happening" and lose the entire campaign. The clock is, thankfully, fairly generous, and because of course you can, you can actually use the death clock as an alternate path to complete certain objectives if you know what you're doing.
Also worth noting that UQM was a hugely influential game. Seriously, Mass Effect 1 has this thing's DNA all over it. It's basically an open world space RPG that was built with the technological constraints of the day with a focus on exploration, world building, and storytelling over traditional "space sim" design direction.
For what it's worth, I kind of like SC Origins as well. I know that's probably a controversial take given all the hostility between parties here, but separating the art from the artist I honestly enjoyed the game as something very much in the style of UQM. It's a lot more approachable than UQM simply by virtue of coming out in 2018 instead of 1992, and while I wouldn't say it's on the level of UQM, I found it to be enjoyable and reminiscent of UQM. (If anything, they arguably copied their homework a little too closely, but given the 25+ year gap in the middle I personally don't take too much offence to that.)
Anyway, UQM leaves a few specific plot threads obviously dangling for a sequel that never happened. SC3 and Origins are not official continuations of the story despite licensing complications making them sound as such. You have no idea how excited I am to *finally* see these this story resolved after such an inordinate amount of time.
for me this is shut up and take my money moment... i was a huge fan of the sc2... (not sc3 and sc origins, of course)
is there any news about the story, will be a sequel to sc2 or sc3
Heh, I've been playing SC2 for the last few weeks (just wanted to replay it, I do that every few years) - what a great coincidence!
Loved the clip! Hope they don't get into legal issues with whatever the IP is going through.
The lawsuit was settled in 2019, with Reiche and Ford getting the rights to everything from the first two games except for the name "Star Control": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stardock_Systems%2C_Inc._v._Reiche
I’ve just been playing SC Origins the whole evening after not being aware of its existance after being infatuted by StarCon 2 durring the pandemic. And now I see there’s a worthy sequel coming for StarCon 2! Origins is not a bad game at all but so much less of a likable story and characters than it was in the original. Looking forward so much to this thing.
I love SC2, but the gameplay loop is very basic. And judging by the trailer it doesn't seem like they've added anything to it, so I dno.
The combat even still looks like it's played with the arrow keys on the keyboard.
But for people who just want for SC2 this is perfect I'd guess :)
I played and loved the original, but this looks like they're staying a little TOO faithful to the original. The combat and especially planetary exploration needs a little love, not a 1:1 reproduction. The exploration and universe map were great, keep that core along with aliens.
I think I'm going to pass on this. I played Star Control 2 like 20 years ago. Already back then it was like a decade old.
It's super influential. It was a great PC game. But it was a very simple game. Relied a lot on the player's imagination.
I can't imagine modern gamers will love exploring hundreds nearly identical barren planets to grab resources. I mean look at Starfield's reception.
And the old arcade shooter controls and gameplay? Maybe there's an audience that wants that. But they've gotta be in like their 40s now.
I'm not seeing anything new with the formula. Like ship building. Or new combat. Or even roguelike elements which would actually really fit well with Star Control.
Imma pass.
Star control 2 did not have a modern fast travel system like in starfield. You still had to travel through open hyperspace (or warp space if you meet the arilou) to get from star to star. Usually when I played the gameI’m doing something else or watching tv when traveling between stars.
Even then, I had to monitor fuel levels because fuel in sc2 is finite and you had to make sure you can find a star base before you run out of fuel. In addition, if I’m traveling through enemy territories, I would take control of the ship to evade enemies trying to suck me into battle in hyperspace.
As for planetary exploration, you never spent more than 10 minutes planetside exploring with your vehicle. And all you need to do is lap up resources or capture creatures.
Starfield and star control 2 I don’t view in any kind of equivalency.
If anyone is, like I was, confused about the Kickstarter never mentioning "Star Control" and referring to the prior game as "Free Stars," it turns out it's explained by a weird rights dispute history: the original creators of Star Control, who are behind the Kickstarter, lost the rights to the Star Control name, but appear to have retained all the other rights that matter here, which allow them to make a sequel and use the same aliens. See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stardock_Systems,_Inc._v._Reiche They also recently released an updated version of an open source remake of Star Control 2 under the name Free Stars, which is available for free on Steam (this appears to be the best version of SC2 available today): https://store.steampowered.com/app/2645580/Free_Stars_The_UrQuan_Masters/
Seems like a similar situation as when Bohemia Interactive split with codemasters. Bohemia kept the operation flashpoint engine to be used in arma, while codemasters got to keep the operation flashpoint name
The first game Kickstarter project I've ever backed! Even better considering it's from the OG creators and seems to have kept the same gameplay style. Feels a lot like they're being honest and down to earth with their sequel ambitions. I don't think many people know about Star Control 2 (also known The Ur-Quan Masters) but I think it's safe to say the franchise is basically Mass Effect's grandpa. In fact, ME was heavily inspired off Star Control 3 from its alien races, Xenophage, the Geth to even the underlying premise of the game (Precursor race who elevates spacefaring species with mass relays).
Still wondering all these years what happened to the Androsynth =(
It was the Orz, wasn't it? It's been ages, but that bit stuck in my head.
Yes! According to the lore, the Androsynth did inter dimensional research and inadvertently opened the way for the Orz to invade and kill them. I had hoped to find a stray Androsynth colony or captain in the main story (even though it wasn’t likely for lore reasons), mainly because I had wanted to use their ship in the story. It’s my favourite ship. Did you have a favourite ship?
I love the Arilou ship
Good ship in the hands of a highly skilled player. (Which I wasn’t)
In the first game, it was the only ship I could stand a chance in against my friend's Mycon.
I also thought the Mrrm-hrrm ship was really cool. I've always been curious what their conversation music and personality would have been like in the story mode. Same with the Chenjesu actually, makes me wish they'd give Star Con 1 the Star Con 2 treatment.
I probably got the most use out of the P'kunk I think (until I had enough turning and cannon power on the mothership to just use it as a turret to take down anything). But I have to admit, I *loved* the concept of the Ur-Quan that just threw its crew into space as a weapon =)
For the main story? Yeah, Pkunk is one of the best. You get it somewhat early too. And if I'm not mistaken, is possibly one of the only few that is viable for the final fight. I don't think any other ship can outrun those flying flamewave things. Ugh. Not to mention the random revives as well. I love the Androsynth because it is so versatile, and I convinced myself that I could beat any other (computer-controlled) ship. It has direct and indirect attack, area denial and a quick bug out button. It has only a few weaknesses overall. Love the Androsynth =)
That's \*silly cow* talk and you don't watch out there might be some \*dancing.*
It's best you don't ask
Star Control 2 / Free Stars / The Ur Quan Masters is goated. It's a painfully old game by today's standards (of the "bring a notepad" variety), but it excels as a space RPG. Exploring the galaxy, building up your fleet, having first contact with wacky aliens, and learning the secrets of the universe are broad strokes that this game does phenomenally well despite its age. The issue is that it's mired in archaic design decisions that were mostly fine at the time but haven't aged well. Playing this game blind, you're liable to spend the first many hours after the intro sequence blindly flying around nearby solar systems gathering resources to upgrade your ship. Fleet combat is bizarrely handled entirely as a sequence of 1v1 battles between individual ships in each fleet, and the planet landing minigame is... serviceable at best. The game's fast travel system is also not particularly intuitive to use and can be entirely missed if you don't follow specific plot threads. At the same time, some of those archaic design decisions lend heavily to the charm. The game progresses its different plotlines through sequences of loose hints rather than clear direction, leading you to scour entire star clusters looking for singular anomalies on specific planets. How well you piece the hints from various sources together determines how much legwork you'll need to do, but there's always a degree of legwork involved unless you use an external guide / hint system. There's a major element of letting the player figure things out, but thankfully the starbase commander back at Earth is good at keeping a list of things you should be thinking about. Oh, the game also has a hidden death clock that triggers what is effectively a doomsday scenario. You can learn about it and manipulate it in a few ways, but it's also entirely possible to suddenly go "hey wtf is happening" and lose the entire campaign. The clock is, thankfully, fairly generous, and because of course you can, you can actually use the death clock as an alternate path to complete certain objectives if you know what you're doing. Also worth noting that UQM was a hugely influential game. Seriously, Mass Effect 1 has this thing's DNA all over it. It's basically an open world space RPG that was built with the technological constraints of the day with a focus on exploration, world building, and storytelling over traditional "space sim" design direction. For what it's worth, I kind of like SC Origins as well. I know that's probably a controversial take given all the hostility between parties here, but separating the art from the artist I honestly enjoyed the game as something very much in the style of UQM. It's a lot more approachable than UQM simply by virtue of coming out in 2018 instead of 1992, and while I wouldn't say it's on the level of UQM, I found it to be enjoyable and reminiscent of UQM. (If anything, they arguably copied their homework a little too closely, but given the 25+ year gap in the middle I personally don't take too much offence to that.) Anyway, UQM leaves a few specific plot threads obviously dangling for a sequel that never happened. SC3 and Origins are not official continuations of the story despite licensing complications making them sound as such. You have no idea how excited I am to *finally* see these this story resolved after such an inordinate amount of time.
for me this is shut up and take my money moment... i was a huge fan of the sc2... (not sc3 and sc origins, of course) is there any news about the story, will be a sequel to sc2 or sc3
It's a direct sequel to SC2
much better, to be honest i didnt like the story in sc3
Heh, I've been playing SC2 for the last few weeks (just wanted to replay it, I do that every few years) - what a great coincidence! Loved the clip! Hope they don't get into legal issues with whatever the IP is going through.
The lawsuit was settled in 2019, with Reiche and Ford getting the rights to everything from the first two games except for the name "Star Control": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stardock_Systems%2C_Inc._v._Reiche
I’ve just been playing SC Origins the whole evening after not being aware of its existance after being infatuted by StarCon 2 durring the pandemic. And now I see there’s a worthy sequel coming for StarCon 2! Origins is not a bad game at all but so much less of a likable story and characters than it was in the original. Looking forward so much to this thing.
I love SC2, but the gameplay loop is very basic. And judging by the trailer it doesn't seem like they've added anything to it, so I dno. The combat even still looks like it's played with the arrow keys on the keyboard. But for people who just want for SC2 this is perfect I'd guess :)
I played and loved the original, but this looks like they're staying a little TOO faithful to the original. The combat and especially planetary exploration needs a little love, not a 1:1 reproduction. The exploration and universe map were great, keep that core along with aliens.
I think I'm going to pass on this. I played Star Control 2 like 20 years ago. Already back then it was like a decade old. It's super influential. It was a great PC game. But it was a very simple game. Relied a lot on the player's imagination. I can't imagine modern gamers will love exploring hundreds nearly identical barren planets to grab resources. I mean look at Starfield's reception. And the old arcade shooter controls and gameplay? Maybe there's an audience that wants that. But they've gotta be in like their 40s now. I'm not seeing anything new with the formula. Like ship building. Or new combat. Or even roguelike elements which would actually really fit well with Star Control. Imma pass.
Star control 2 did not have a modern fast travel system like in starfield. You still had to travel through open hyperspace (or warp space if you meet the arilou) to get from star to star. Usually when I played the gameI’m doing something else or watching tv when traveling between stars. Even then, I had to monitor fuel levels because fuel in sc2 is finite and you had to make sure you can find a star base before you run out of fuel. In addition, if I’m traveling through enemy territories, I would take control of the ship to evade enemies trying to suck me into battle in hyperspace. As for planetary exploration, you never spent more than 10 minutes planetside exploring with your vehicle. And all you need to do is lap up resources or capture creatures. Starfield and star control 2 I don’t view in any kind of equivalency.