Star Control

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Star Control
Screenshot of the strategic section of the PC version of Star Control.
Developer(s)	Toys for Bob
Publisher(s)	Accolade
Designer(s)	Fred Ford, Paul Reiche III
Series	Star Control series
Engine	Mêlée engine
Platform(s)	Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, DOS, Sega Genesis, ZX Spectrum
Release date	July 1990
Genre(s)	sci-fi competitive shooter
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer
Media	Floppy disks, Game cartridge
Input methods	Keyboard, Game controller

Star Control: Famous Battles of the Ur-Quan Conflict, Volume IV is a science fiction computer game that was developed by Toys for Bob and published by Accolade in the early 1990s. Star Control together with Star Control II and Star Control 3 form the Star Control trilogy that still enjoys a cult following. Modelled after Spacewar!, each of the three games adds to this a strategic or adventure portion. A new game in the series is being considered by Toys for Bob and Activision.^[1]

1 Gameplay
2 Development
3 Sequels and spin-offs
4 See also
5 Notes and references
6 External links

[edit] Gameplay

The game featured the basic Spacewar-style combat engine, Mêlée (as it was called due to the close combat involved, even though the ships actually fired projectile weapons at each other) as well as a strategic game engine with a three-dimensional cluster of stars as the terrain. There was no real story component to the game, aside from a cursory background story explaining the existence of two alliances of alien races at war, the Alliance of Free Stars and the Hierarchy of Battle Thralls. However, the main attraction to this game was the well thought-out ship design, resulting in a highly effective balance between the two sides. It could be played by one or two players as the complete game, or purely as either melee or strategy. Single player mode pitted the player against the computer AI, that featured a selectable ferocity.

As in the later games, the various races' ships have widely differing appearances and abilities. The ships' sizes, maneuverability, and speed vary; in addition, each ship has a distinct primary weapon and a secondary ability. For instance, the Ur-Quan Dreadnought has a powerful main gun and the ability to launch independent fighters; while the Mmrnmhrm Transformer has the ability to change between two forms, a slow but quickly-turning one with a short-range laser as its main weapon, and the other quick but slowly-turning with long-range guided missiles. Despite the mishmash of unique ships the designers were able to create a finely-tuned balance. For example, certain types of ship, like the mighty 'Ur-Quan Dreadnought' (Hierarchy ship), seemingly the ultimate choice, but could actually be taken out by a small 'Arilou Skiff' (Alliance ship) with ease if the Alliance player was skilled. Ironically, the Arilou Skiff was often one of the least valued Alliance ships to a novice player due to its poor weaponry.^{[citation needed]}

The ZX Spectrum version of Star Control, showing an Ur-Quan Dreadnought (red) and a Chenjesu Broodhome (magenta).

The Sega version was an unpolished, rushed release, and it showed.^{[citation needed]} Rampant slowdown marred much of the core gameplay and the creators admit and regret having released such a hasty conversion.^{[citation needed]} It was, however, notable in that it led to a lawsuit between Accolade and Sega of America. At the time, Sega regulated the release of third-party software through a licensing arrangement, which Accolade had bypassed. Although the lawsuit was settled in Accolade's favour, making an extremely important legal precedent in the matter, the company later became a licensed Sega developer. Star Control was touted as the first 12-megabit cartridge created for the system. Because it was a cartridge-based game with no battery backup, the Genesis port lacked the scenario-creator of its PC cousin, but it came pre-loaded with a few additional scenarios not originally in the game. Accolade published the game under a then-new company label, Ballistic.

[edit] Development

Star Control was released for DOS and Amiga in 1990, followed by a Mega Drive/Genesis port in 1991. Simple ported versions were also released for the Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum. The game came with a full-power scenario creator.

[edit] Sequels and spin-offs

[edit] Star Control II

Main article: Star Control II

Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters (officially "II", often written as "2") was written by Toys for Bob (Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III) and originally published by Accolade in 1992 for PC; it was later ported to the 3DO with an enhanced multimedia presentation, allowed by the CD technology.

When the original creators Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III released the source code of the 3DO version as open source under the GPL in 2002, an open-source project was created aiming to create an embellished remake called The Ur-Quan Masters.

[edit] Star Control 3

Main article: Star Control 3

Star Control 3 was developed by Legend Entertainment, hired by Accolade to create a sequel when the original creators expressed disinterest in creating a sequel for the same amount of money they were paid for Star Control 2 (which left them working for several months without pay). It was released for MS-DOS and the Macintosh in 1996. Toys For Bob was not involved in the development of this game in any way. SC3's story expanded on the mystery of the Precursors' disappearance, and introduced new enemies in the form of the Hegemonic Crux. Many fans—and even the Star Control I & II developers—consider Star Control 3 non-canon^[2].

[edit] StarCon

Star Control 4, or later StarCon, was Accolade's final attempt at profiting from the franchise. Few details are known, as Accolade reshaped and eventually cancelled it during the development stages; however, the Harika had been confirmed as a returning alien race. While originally touted as another space adventure, the idea quickly changed into an action-oriented combat title, to be viewed largely from behind the ship, with gameplay similar to Psygnosis' Colony Wars series, somewhat like a shooting-oriented X-Wing.

[edit] Star Control: Interbellum

Star Control: Interbellum is a novel written by William T. Quick set in the Star Control universe. It was first published in 1996, shortly after the release of Star Control 3. Many fans were disappointed upon reading the book, as several details in it were inconsistent with those of the games, especially those dealing with the depictions of some of the alien races featured in both.

[edit] Possibility of a new Star Control game

On April 11, 2006, Alex Ness (Producer of Toys for Bob) wrote an article on the Toys For Bob website, titled "Star Control Sequel - Get Out Of My Dreams". It stated that Toys For Bob had been working on a new, unnamed title for the previous year, and that it was scheduled to come out in early November. Near the end of the article, he hinted that "if enough of you people out there send me emails requesting that Toys For Bob do a legitimate sequel to Star Control 2, I'll be able to show them to Activision, along with a loaded handgun, and they will finally be convinced to roll the dice on this thing."(quote:Alex Ness) The article also mentions that Activision has apparently revealed their game (Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam) at the 2006 E3 convention.

On April 16 that same year, the Ur-Quan Masters website added an article to their page titled "Toys for Bob want another Star Control and need your help!" It gives a link to a petition page with a form that would e-mail a message to Alex Ness, so that users would not have to open any other third party clients. In addition to an e-mail form, the mailing address of Toys For Bob was also given on the website.

Since the mention of the possibility of a new Star Control game, the number of visits to the Ur-Quan Masters and Star Control Timewarp website has doubled.

On April 28, Ness wrote another article titled "Only 997,700 more emails to go!", stating that he has received around 2,300 e-mails on that day, with a long way to one million. With the time passed since April 28, 2006, the number has increased to almost 10,000. He then made joking references that both Jack Black and Steven Spielberg are fans of Star Control.

On October 18, Alex Ness wrote another article about finishing development of Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam. Regarding a new Star Control game, he mentioned that he does not have any news regarding the development of a new Star Control game with Activision, but he mentioned that Activision must realize that "this isn't just some flash-in-the-pan, support-of-reviving-an-old-franchise craze".