The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum

Yup. See the news page (http://sc2.sf.net/).

Considering that there will probably be more questions then they'll be able to answer, let's make this thread about what you'd like to ask Fred and Paul, and what makes a good question.

I'll start by stating that a good question is one to which the answer is interesting to all of us. So no "What do you think of my new SC remake.".

I have the following questions:

• Was the Ilwrath Avenger ever meant to be visible to the player controlling it while cloaked?
• How did you guys go about deciding the melee point values for each of the ships?
• Did either of you (Paul Reiche III, Fred Ford) ever meet the people that worked on Star Control 3?
• What's Activision's problem, seriously?

Also, you said they'd be willing to play UQM against a few of us. Exactly HOW good are these guys at their game?

I don't think they'll answer this one, but:

Are the mainstream gamers (or the publisher's perception of them) today different in regards to how much complexity they're willing to put up with, and if so, how will that affect a SC sequel?

Is there really a conflict between "pickupandplay"-ability and complexity (especially in regards to a SC sequel)? My personal experience is that (some) publishers today are very afraid of complexity, even if it's only emerging to advanced players (emerging complexity with an additional depth axis).

What do you guys think of Spore and the whole procedural thing it's doing?

If you could travel back in time and make StarControl but for a modern computer, what kind of gameplay features would we see that weren't possible at that time?

Wow, crazy! - I'm so excited I cant think of an intelligent question right now.


You know, I would think that they wouldn't be as good as some of the better players in the Kohr-ah Cup. I don't think they have the time to play it all the time and get real good. Being on the cutting edge of computer games , if they do play games, i'm sure its cutting edge computer games. If you see what i mean.

Someone will have to ask them the billion dollar question about a sequel

Meep-Eep, I am slow and stupid. Can you tell me, is PT Pacific Time?

I'd also like to know how they came up with the ship point values.

We know for a fact that's not true. Just read the log of the previous chat (http://uqm.stack.nl/files/chat/tfbchat-20030822-formatted).
In fact, I think everyone attending should read all the questions they answered before (http://starcontrol.classicgaming.gamespy.com/history/), so that the opportunity isn't wasted on asking things we already know (note that the "Fred Ford" page has several "next page" links).

You shouldn't say that around here, lest someone puts it in his/her signature. :P

Yes. It's the time zone TFB is in.

A couple of questions, are the Androsynth Orz? and is Orz a hive entity? That's at least the impression I'm getting with the Androsynth *displaced* and *replaced* by the Orz.

Would you have plans in a sequel on doing something on the sorts of like an evil 'mirror universe'  i.e. Mirror Mirror Star Trek but in Star Control? I.e. Earthlings into Terrans with big ships and reverse engineered alien weapons as opposed to dinky Cruisers, evil Zelnick (I'm guessing the canon universe is a 'nice' one but rather in an evil parallel reality, Zelnick who declares himself emperor, mortal enemies with Talana and alien races) and during the story you'll accidentally be forced to meet each other, with the evil one wanting to kill you, so to speak.

Did you know Jody Schaeffer, one of the makers of Megas XLR (a funny cartoon which is now cancelled sadly) plays Star Control 2 on his 3DO in his spare time? It parodies many animes, computer games, memes and such, if it had only gone on further and we might have saw Ur-Quan in there.. :P

In a sequel would we see a huge free for all in between the rest of the Hierarchy, Kohr-Ah and the New Alliance, with perhaps some strategical elements to it so a blend of Star Control RTS, RPG and so forth?

Knowing that the Earthlings made holos of the crashed Dreadnought at Alpha Pavonis, do you think they have the knowledge to fill in the rest of the pieces and develop their own Battleships?

Would the New Alliance fall apart from internal troubles, and fracture? e.g. the Orz plonks off and leaves the NA, the Chmmr and the Earthlings fall out with the Yehat and Shofixti, etc.

Will the Druuge put a few bounties on Zelnick and then all of a sudden you have several thousand bounty hunters killing Zelnick, and killing each other for trying to kill Zelnick?

Speaking of which, does the guy in the back of the ZFP have any future plans? We all know he doesn't say anything, but I like to think of him as some super genius who sadly doesn't have the ability to speak.

Thankfully April 1st is far gone, so I can't say anything but...
WOW! COOL!
Too bad the IRC meeting is at 24:00 for me, but I'll surely be there.
If I won't, you're free to ban me from this forum. Seriously. (I bet you pray that I won't come, do you?!)
I confirm that the above line has no actual value. So you can't ban me either. :P

PLEASE take the following as my questions: (sorry for engrish, im too excited to write correctly)
NOTE: Questions marked with "*" are thought as less important.

Questions I like amongst those that have already been requested:
-I'd also like to know how they came up with the ship point values.
-Is the Ilwrath Avenger meant to be somewhat visible to the enemy or this is just a technical limitation?
-How did you chose the Orz words? Is there a logic behind them? Did you just pick a word that means almost the same as what you wanted to say, but not quite? And analogies?
-The first question should be "What are you working on now?", though the answer can't be SC3. But, anyway, it's a polite way of beginning.
-Do you still play melee sometimes?
-How much of SC2's story did you have in mind when you made SC1?
-Is there anything you wish you could have could have changed or added with SC2? Maybe it will be implemented in UQM!!!

32) Do the Arilou originate from QuasiSpace, TrueSpace, HyperSpace or another dimension? How did Falayalaralfali end up in a TrueSpace nick in QuasiSpace? Also, it seems to have been somewhat "QuasiSpace"-ified - there are those strange phenomena, "the Tangible Wish", "the Mountain Clouds of Thought". Is that so?

4) Was the Ur-Quan homeworld relatively close to our region of space? Because the Sentient Milieu is described as being "near" our region of space and spanning only 500 light-years and 100 worlds, plus the Taalo lived here. So the Ur-Quan HW should be near too.
Also, about light-years: Fwiffo says that Spathiwa is 143 light-years from Sol, so he's either telling the truth (in which case a HyperSpace distance unit is 0.61 light years) or he's lying, making the distance shorter than it is really to convince Zelnick to take him there - in which case a HyperSpace distance unit is less than 0.61 light years.

10) The Tobermoon was attacked in the Vela Oort Cloud. The manual hints at the Ur-Quan who took them prisoner and that's why there are no bodies, but their weapons wouldn't have caused "deep burns" and minor damage to the vital systems, but much more. Plus, they would have probably discovered the Unzervalt colony also.

11) Later, the Tobermoon was attacked by a Slylandro Probe while en-route to Sol. Why did the Probe disengage? Its highest priority was replication, and a source of replication materials (i.e. the Tobermoon) was right nearby; even if its sensors were damaged, it still could detect the Vindicator and attack it, probably.

13) Did the Arilou give Zelnick his Precursor-tech "innate" talent?

32) Did the Ultron orchestrate Its own destruction?

14) Does Zelnick trade only with Greenish or with different Trade Masters every time (except the first two meetings)?

16) In the SC1 manual, the Arilou colonel Faffywaffy wishes the new recruits "Tishtushi's Blessing". Do the Arilou really have a deity named Tishtushi? How would that fit into their wise, IDF nature?

17) Do Star Control beings have souls, or at least some of them? Do they reincarnate? And why do non-Pkunk reincarnate too when Furies reincarnate?

18) How would you envision an ideal real life government?

19) Why does the furnace need living things as fuel? Or are they just an extra? If so, why do they yield so much energy? Psionic energy?

20) Who are the most traumatized, the Kzer-Za or the Kohr-Ah? Both passed through the same experiences (i.e. slavery in whatever form suited them more - the Black manual labor, the Green intellectual labor), but with different psychologies.

24) The Sa-Matra is always referred to as a Precursor "battleship". Against whom did they need battleships? Or did they fight amongst themselves?
24b) Were the Precursors the stereotype wise and ancient powerful beings, or rather a race of curious, eventually somewhat  naive, scientists, like the voice of certain Mycon lines - the ones attributed to The Creators - suggest?

28) Who were the Chimt?

30) I am led to believe that the Dramya are just made up by the Melnorme as a sort of self-defense via intimidation, since the Melnorme don't act like a militarily powerful civilization while fighting against Zelnick. Is that so?

LOW PRIORITY QUESTIONS (i.e. questions that will never be put, but I can't bring myself to remove them; or maybe they'll put them, who knows?):

25) Was Captain Rand's ship named "Miwok" (as the manual says) or "Far Voyager" (as Hayes says)?

22) Are the Piks (the rightmost springy aliens) the only ones interested in Frungy or are some Zoqs (or eventually Fots) interested too?

23) How come there is only one VUX Beast, apparently the same as the one referred to by ZEX's ancient handbook?

15) How can Fwiffo have a family of 18,487? He's not a Shofixti. Did he actually live at an orphanage?

29) Was the Final Defense at Raynet the final defense of the Syreen (since they're the only ones mentioning the incident) or of a larger part of the Alliance (in which case it was certainly before the Chenjesu&Mmrnmhrm's subjugation at Rigel)?
Or a combination? (i.e. before the Chenjesu&Mmrnmhrm's subjugation, but only the Syreen participated)

31) What FRIED variant do you prefer? The blue 3DO one or the yellow DOS one?

PS: Meep-eep, be sure to tell us what questions will be put and what won't be, we don't want to be waiting in vain.

I personally think the first question should be "What are you working on now?". If the answer is "SC3", I think no further questions about their future plans for elements of the SC universe should be asked, as it would be better to spend the limited time on questions that we wouldn't get an answer to eventually anyhow.

And not all questions have to be about SC. Last time there was a question "What games do you play yourselves nowadays", which produced an interesting answer as well.

I distinguish three categories for the questions I'd personally like to ask:

• Questions about the SC universe
• Technical/development questions
• Questions about TFB

In "Questions about the SC universe" I have:

• Does "The process is incomplete" mean that there is a next stage in the merger of the two species? Or does it mean that not all individuals have been merged? Or something else?
• What does the Kohr-Ah crew consist of?
• Is the Syreen psyonic amplifier comparable to the Dnyari's innate ability?
• A two-part question: 1) Would the Druuge throw Mycon in the furnace, and 2) would they burn?

Technical/development questions:

• Judging by defines like NUM_PLAYERS, NUM_SIDES, and MAX_PLAYERS, it looks like you at some point had kept in mind the possibility of having melee with more than 2 players at a time. Any insights on that?
• How did the threading system use to work? Was it part of the 3DO API? (I'm personally very interested in this one, but I don't think it qualifies as a good question, as the answer wouldn't be interesting to many people)
• How did you chose the Orz words? Is there a logic behind them? Did you just pick a word that means almost the same as what you wanted to say, but not quite? And analogies?
• The pieces of dialog missing from the 3DO version of SC2 consistently contained important gameplay hints. I know that you would never sabotage your own game to boost the Crystal Dynamics hints line, but did they get their hands on the source code before the game went gold?

TFB questions:

• THE question: what are you working on now / what are the plans for a SC sequel. Possible followup question (depending on the answer): Is it still useful to sign the petition?
• To Fred: what does Paul's polar bear theory entail? (Pretty much an obligatory question, after Paul said "Sometime ask Fred about my polar bear theory.")
• Do you still play melee sometimes?

Note that with all the people that will attend, Fred and Paul wouldn't be able to answer all of the questions that everyone has, and I expect that the channel will even be so flooded with questions that we'd have to set the channel to moderated (which means that the questions are relayed through a few people).
Which brings me to another purpose of this thread: to see what questions are the most popular. So don't just post your questions here, tell us what you think of the ones other people suggest.

Im inclined to agree with you

You can be there yourself. If people don't all talk simultaneously, you can have a chat with them directly. But I give it at most 10 seconds before it becomes a shouting match, and we'll set the channel to moderated, so all questions go through the channel moderators, who pick the best/most popular ones to relay to TFB. You'll see what the moderators say and what the TFB people say in reply. (And afterwards, a log will be posted)

Some types of questions which I think should not be asked:

• Questions about the details that TFB probably never thought about. They would just make up an answer on the spot. There are much more interesting things to ask. Your questions 2, 5 and 6 fall into that category.
• Questions that only a few people will be interested in. (questions 1, 2, 5, 6)
• Rhetorical questions, unless they are really, really funny. (question 1)
• Suggestions for the sequel. Just send them directly if you insist. Or post them on the board if you're really only interested in letting the rest of the world know about your cool idea. (question 8, but a slightly different question would work ("SC1 tactics were rather popular; any chance of bringing something like that back?"))
• As long as a SC sequel is still a possibility for the near future, questions about details of that sequel. (question 9)

The ship point question and the tobermoon questions (they could be one question) are good ones imho. 3 and 4 slightly less (people haven't really been wondering about this), but still good if there is time to ask them.

I think my most important question is: How soon before we'll have a chat log posted? Because I, sadly, will probably not be able to attend.

Other stuff:

Exactly how does lander mineral extraction work? Most planets probably wouldn't have spherical blobs of iron just sitting around waiting to be collected on the surface.

Just what were we originally supposed to find at Groombridge? If it really was going to be a chat with the floating heads of Fred and Paul, what would they have talked about?

Was the intent to have the Ilwrath and Thraddash truly exterminate each other entirely, or are there just few enough survivors that they become irrelevant, but leave some hope for the races to recover?

How does the Chmmr/Chenjesu reproduce/replicate? The Mother Ark stopped churning out Mrns, so what is your thoughts on how the new hybrid replicates, or do they simply follow at how the Chenjesu replicates themselves? Could you enlighten us a bit how they do this?

What weapons do Orz Marines use, and how would most of the races combat these marines onboard? e.g. would a slave crew really be given guns? does a Spathi hold up in the roof and throw rocks on the Marines?

Was it intended for the Androsynth Guardian to trump the Orz Nemesis in combat (or at the very least very difficult)?

What is the new attitude of the Chmmr? Are they as caring as much like the Chenjesu?

(also Meep, would the battleship question be good to suggest?)

I like the super melee related questions mentioned above.

• On that same note, what are Paul and Fred’s favorite ships?
• A more general question: what do they think about the trend of contemporary games sacrificing good, solid gameplay for pretty graphics? Do they themselves feel pressure from the suits above to focus only on aesthetics and leave everything else until the end?

I find it a bit weak really, because the answer doesn't matter very much. If they want the humans to have that capability, they can write that in anyhow, crashed Dreadnought or not.

AngusThermopyle: Fred has already answered the question about his favorite ships:

That would reflect very badly on the community and it's almost guaranteed to happen. Consider not bringing anyone along except other core team members and Death999. I don't mind disqualifying myself from this event, I'd pretty much just perch myself in front of the screen and not blink until the chat ends anyhow. Which, of course, isn't healthy.

Could you ask them if they've heard of the Fjorn, and whether they like that fan-race or not? :) thanks.

When you say, set the channel to moderated, does this mean only moderators can talk? or only moderators can be in the channel?

Id like to be there, so I can read the chat first hand, but I don't plan on saying much except hello, and of course star control 2 is the greatest game ever.

You can be present in a moderated channel, but when you say something, the message only ends up with the moderators.

Suits me - I'll also just be sitting there listening.

As far as questions go, I still cant think of any good ones, but I'm keen on the ship point value. However I would hope that we dont get too carried away with irrelevent facts and speculation from SC2. A lot of the mystique of the game has already been hammered out by endless discussion - every possibility about every plot twist has been considered. I put my trust in SC3 providing some of the anwsers. However if they say "sorry, we changed our minds - no sequel" then go nuts.

Valaggar, I can answer your Mycon question for you. The rate a sphere of influence expands is determined not by how fast you want to expand, but by how fast you can expand. You need to have the military and technological means.

One other thing, what is the appropriateness/suitablility of running a melee tournament before/during/after/inconjunction with this IRC event?

A couple of things to bear in mind:

• They made this game over a decade and a half ago, and they've made a lot of games since then.  Time makes the details fade, and they've admittedly forgotten most everything they knew about this universe.  Asking them pedantic questions about inane details of a universe they haven't visited in fifteen years or so will not score you any points; they'll most likely make up a snarky non-answer on the spot and blow you off.
• Do NOT, under any circumstances, send them ideas for a sequel!  I can't stress this enough.  Due to the litigious nature of American society, any ideas they come across from third parties, solicited or not, must be rejected, lest they risk being sued.  So if you come up with a completely awesome idea for the sequel and tell them, and they already had the exact same idea six months ago on their own, and wrote 50,000 lines of code and several hundred megabytes of art assets to make it happen, they'll now have to junk the whole thing and start over out of fear that you'll drag them to court for "stealing" it, even though they came up with it first.  And if it was a really good, fun idea, no one will ever know because it'll have to be buried.  So seriously, shut the fuck up with the sequel ideas.

---

And now, my questions:

• Tell us your favourite story involving Star Control fandom.  (yeah, I know, technically not a question...)
  
• Tell us your favourite story involving fandom from one of your non-Star Control related titles.
• This one is actually a simple question, but I'll take the long way around asking it so that my full meaning is understood: Star Control II was technically quite impressive in its time (you made my puny 286 play ProTracker .MOD music through the PC speaker! How cool was that?!), but it remains eminently playable even today, due to the quality of the story within the game.  One of the aspects of this that I find striking is how relatively straightforward the "contemporary" story is (i.e., finding the bits and pieces to power-up your super-ship so that it can destroy the other, bigger super-ship) and how amazingly detailed and immersive the "backstory" is, (i.e., multiple, variously intertwined sagas spanning tens of thousands of years)  I have seen this, erm, "literary device" used in other areas, sometimes well (Retro Studios' "Metroid Prime", Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings") and more often than not used not-so-well (Legend's "Star Control 3" comes immediately to mind) so I'm inclined to believe that there's a bit of a trick involved in pulling it off correctly.  Is there?  And would you care to share what it is?

Thanks Meep-Eep. I missed that part while I scanned the chat logs. I'd still like to know their thoughts on my other question, if there is time.

Off topic, but: I had forgotten about that little story attached to the Pkunk. Hahah so hilarious.

There's a bit of Ilwrath dialog in the content files that isn't referenced in ilwrathc.c:


So my question is, how were they going to find out?

How come the Syreen race is still mostly female, when it seems like gender balance should have returned to normal after a few generations?  Are they just very long-lived, or did the actual birth rate change after their world was shattered?  Did they do something to... keep it that way?



And, chiming in with the already-suggested ones I'm interested in:

I don't know how you can say the Kzer-Za and Kohr-Ah passed through the "same" experiences, though.  They were modified for very different things and made to do different things.

I completely agree 0xDECODE's statement about not sending them ideas about the sequel; they're a professional, incredible, and innovative video game makers, and they've been making games before I was even born!  They know what to do; they just waiting for Activision to give them the green light.  Whatever they make, I know that they have placed their heart and soul into it, and it will be great.

I've noticed some people asking questions about the aliens in the game, that may cross the line of criticism; please be careful when asking these questions; the voices and aliens were made not only by TFB, but also people who are friends of PR3 and FF, such as Greg Johnson.

As for questions, I may have a few:
- How does Activision feel towards the Star Control sequel?
- What's it like making video games now that there are more employees at TFB?
- In the new Star Control game, are there plans for unique fonts for each alien race?  I know font-making is tedious, and after all that work, it creates a nice effect when listening to them talk, and reading along with the subtitles.  It was awesome in Star Control II.
- When Activision gives the green light to make Star Control, can we expect a trailer on GameTrailers.com or a similar place?  That's an awesome video game site.
- Does Activision realize that Star Control rules, and that it cannot be ignored?
- I was reading Wikipedia about Toys for Bob, and it read:
Is this true?
- What are the things that you love most about Star Control, from a developer's point-of-view?

Nope. From Fred:

When you hypnotize Pkunks onboard your Penetrator, kill the Fury and it reincarnates, where exactly do these new clones come from? are they clones? If so, really dodgy occurrences happen in that you'll end up with the same looking Pkunk 10 or so times onboard your Penetrator.

Why was dialogue removed from the 3DO version?

How much of SC2's story did you have in mind when you made SC1?

Is there anything you wish you could have could have changed or added with SC2?

What are your favorite games ever, besides ones you've made?

Wow!  I can see that Paul and I are going to need some preparation.  I don't want to diminish the IRC event and I don't want people to feel left out, if moderation is necessary.  So if there are some points of discussion that make sense to get out of the way before the chat, I will do my best.  Otherwise Paul, and I and probably Chris Nelson will see you in June!

A God has posted in the forum!!!  ;D

Hi Fred!  ;D

We'd all love to hear your explanation of the polar bear theory.

Hi Fred,

Well... as long as you're here... I do have a question which wouldn't be suitable for the chat: How did the threading work on the 3DO and on the PC. Was there a standard API for threading? And did you use any form of threading at all in the PC version?

Also, we have a page in the Ultronomicon that lists references and influences (http://uqm.stack.nl/wiki/Influences_and_References) in SC2, which I thought you'd like. I suspect that a number are quite off-the-wall, so it should be good for a laugh to someone who knows the real history.

Hi!   :D

I have one--do you guys have pretty clear mental pictures of the various alien races, outside of what you can see in the in-game animations?

(Because if the answer's yes, then I would have *cough* a few followup questions and hopefully at least some of them would be interesting to other people here. :P)

I have one REALLY not suitable for the chat:
What do you think of Elvish Pillager's Crazy Mod (http://uqm.stack.nl/wiki/Elvish_Pillager%27s_Crazy_Mod)?

Here's one:

What is your favorite piece of music in SC2?

Well, we all know that there's only ONE suitable question:

WHAT ARE THOSE GLOWY BITS INSIDE YOU!?!?!

also:
If a Fwiffo plush doll were ever made, would Toys for Bob support world domination using said plush doll or not?

Har! Har! Har!

I wish I could lurk in that chat, but I have no chance. I'll just have to read the log like I have done before.

Well, being one of the oldest StarContollers out there I think I'll arrange my schedule so that I can participate. My question is for the community:

What IRC client do you recomend I use?

If you're using Linux, you can use XChat.  I don't know of any free clients for Windows, but if you're using Mozilla, you can install the IRCzilla plugin, and use that; it's a full featured IRC program.  There's XChat for windows, and mIRC, but those are both shareware, so you'd have a limited trial; but you could install it just before the chat starts, so you'd still have a usable IRC client.

I'm just going to use IRCzilla.

I don't know about XChat, but I'd just like to point out that mIRC is shareware, but it's not crippleware.  Pay $20 to register it, but if you don't register it, when the 30 days runs out, it just makes you wait two or three seconds on the splash screen before the program kicks in.

That's a way too old question. They already answered it.
well like most of the questions. this game is old. ha

Xchat for Windows isn't shareware.. Well, only the 'official' windows build is, because of its toughness to compile for Windows, or something, so the original author sharewaredified the Windows build... or something..

Luckily, 'Xchat 2' (http://www.silverex.org/news/) is freeware, and is most likely the best IRC client for Windows out there. I used to use mIRC for years, but when I started to be a part of idle on more channels and servers, I hated the few minutes it took to connect to all the servers... and started using Xchat 2.

There's probably a more tactful way to say this, but I'd really like to know how you went from making brilliant original games like Archon and Star Control to licensed kid's games like 102 dalmatians. What happened?

Anyone can answer that: sometimes you have to sing for your supper.

I'm sure the idea is that once they have enough money in the bank, they'll go back to working purely on labours of love, but that always takes longer than you think it will...

We'd all love to hear your explanation of the polar bear theory.

Paul's reality is often indistinguishable (to him) from his dream states and one day he actually tried to convince me that polar bears are close relatives of weasels.  And of course everybody but me has heard of the dreaded polar weasel.

How did the threading work on the 3DO and on the PC.

The 3DO had a threading library.  I wrote my own for the PC, because none such existed.

What is your favorite piece of music in SC2?

Probably the Yehat.

I have one--do you guys have pretty clear mental pictures of the various alien races, outside of what you can see in the in-game animations?

Clear enough.  Why do you ask?

There's probably a more tactful way to say this, but I'd really like to know how you went from making brilliant original games like Archon and Star Control to licensed kid's games like 102 dalmatians. What happened?

0xDECODE is pretty much right on.  We have chosen this as our career and we prefer to have food on the table.  Games cost so much to make these days that originality was one of the first casualties.  Paul and I are still biding our time.

Well, now I know I should start compiling my list of vaguely anatomy-related questions (such as what Spathi shells look like) to suggest.  Wheehee!

You know, I was going to make a statement, after Fred's previous post, about the fact that Fred probably wasn't soliciting for questions in this thread.

And then he goes and answers the questions in this thread. Glad edited before posting.

My only question is this: How likely is another Star Control game by TFB? Actually, I'd be happy with anything non-liscenced. Unholy Wars 2, the Horde 2 (how old is that guy who acted in that now?) or something new.

Anatomical questions:
How do the Zoq-Fot-Pik move?
I think that the Zoq eats rocky fungal clingers, the Fot feeds on solar and ambient energies, and the Pik on airborne zooplankton. Is that so?
In your view, do the Zoq resemble more a plant or a frog?
Aren't the Druuge captains' arms painful from so much clinging in chains?
Is Yehat-Pkunk crossbreeding possible?
I suppose that some of the Umgahs' tentacles, mouths and eyes are artificially added. If so, then how should they naturally look like?

Do we even know, which creature really is the Fot?

Yep! (http://sc2.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/sc2/branches/tfb/sc2/src/sc2code/comm/zoqfot/zoqfotc.c?view=markup)  It's the one in the middle, says the code.  I think the Zoq's on the left and the Pik's on the right.

I hope you do realise, though, that the code is non-canon in this case?

There are, in life, various things that make coding, and especially coding with multiple people on one project, difficult. One of them is not having a proper wording for variables and such. OFCOURSE, the code could say ZFP_guyinthemiddle instead of Fot, but we all know that once they decide that to the code, Fot equals ZFP_guyinthemiddle, using Fot is a lot easier. :)

So, to the code, the Fot is the guy in the middle, yet to game canon or game story, we simply don't know who is the Fot. Giving that the other two guys are constantly arguing about who is the Fot, it's probably the guy in the middle, since he can't say he's the Fot! :P

Meep-eep's opinion is that they did make a conscious decision here (see here (http://uqm.stack.nl/wiki/Talk:Zoq-Fot-Pik#Whoa, whoa, whoa)), and anyway it's simpler for me to name the guy on the left "Zoq", especially since Fred knows how he named it in the code, no matter that this is the canon name or not.

And yet, how much can you separate the code from the experience of the game?  Is it not similar to separating math from physics?  Or the stream from the water?

If you squint just right it's like a koan of some sort. ;)

But I concede that it's a valid point.

And yet, there remains a deeper and more worrying question about this issue:  How, and why did they lose track?  Or did they at all?  Was there ever a fixed Zoq, Fot, and Pik, or have they argued about this for as long as they've been together?


ETA: And since Valaggar opened the floodgates, my anatomical questions so far, minus the ones he already brought up:
Ilwrath: How big are they?
Melnorme: Is what we see just the head, or the entire body? How do they move? Are they gelatinous?
Orz: What is an Orz/the Orz shaped like in its home dimension, if shape is a meaningful concept there?
Pkunk and Yehat: How did the Pkunk become so (physically) different from the Yehat? Just normal evolutionary divergence? How similar are the Pkunk to the Yehat?  Can either of the two races fly/glide, or are the wings vestigal? Do they have legs? How are the wings really connected--or are both portrayals accurate?
Spathi: What do they look like below the eyestalk? Where are their mouths?
Umgah: Do they all look more or less like that? With their skill at genetic manipulation, I'd expect a pretty wide, weird variety of shapes, unless they just all really liked that one--or unless they just become that after enough manipulations.  Does that happen?  Are they amorphs, possibly?  Because that would be really cool.
Supox: How do they get around? Are they naturally mobile, or do they have to transplant themselves to their ships (or to mobile flowerpots)?
Utwig: Do they have legs, or what? What about hands?  Is there more below the view field, or are they just that short?
VUX: Are they amphibious? It seems like a lot of their cities are in the oceans, and they look amphibious. If they are, how do they swim--do they have flippers, tails, more tentacles? What? What are those wiggly things on their heads?
Zoq-Fot-Pik: They look like they're on hover-platforms; does that mean movement is slow/laborious for them? How do they hold/manipulate stuff?  And of course, what did a Zebranky look like?


And unrelated to anatomy, but thought of at the same time:
What is the Orz's home dimension like?  Is there more than one Orz?  Do we meet more than one Orz?
What are *Nnngn*?

Ah, and...
The Spathi name their youngsters "encrustlings". Does this mean that they encrust them into something for extra safety?
Also...
The Slylandro in the middle is fatter than the other two. Is this similar to what happens to humans or, for example, a sign of old age?
(and, by the way, who is Sullen Plummet, who is Content to Hover, and who is Joyous Lifting?)

AH! AND, HOW COULD I FORGET?!
Is the length of the Drahn as 6480 Earth years, as it can be calculated from Source's rotation period, canon? (http://uqm.stack.nl/wiki/Slylandro_Timekeeping)

Also...
Are the ships at scale with each other in Super Melee? A calculation (http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=3177.msg40383#msg40383) based on the size of a MX missile (using the SC1 Databank pictures) and on the intro slide showing the Vindicator has yielded size of about 223.5 metres for the Cruiser and about 270 for the Vindicator, yielding, at a resolution of 320x240, an approximate 5.8 metres as the side length of a pixel. The results fit into the scaling of the two ships in Melee.

(Also, the Mark II is supposed to be much bigger than the Vindicator, but in the ending slide it looks smaller. I suppose this was necessary for Zelnick and his nephews to be seen in the picture)

Also... In what degree do the ancestral Mycon personalities such as Dugee take hold of a Mycon? Can they "mind-control" them fully?

FUNNY RHETORICAL QUESTION:
Did Mahir Çağrı (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahir_Çağrı) draw his inspiration from the Orz language?

I just wanted to say (assuming Fred checks the thread again) that the effort put forth to answer all these questions, and to remain active in the community, is awesome.  That a game that is as old as SC2 is (to say nothing of SC1) has continued to receive your attention is amazing and it goes to show how much you and Paul must care about the universe you created.

Hope the IRC session brings even more answers!

-Kwamp

Fred has cited that current games cost too much to develop to make it profitable as a career.  My question would be if they have considered using Xbox Live Arcade or Wii Virtual Console as a potential platform for a future release, as I have seen many games grow into cult status on XBL. 

A question that doesn't fit the chat:

Was there ever a planned "final form" for the Chmmr? I mean, you interrupted the process by speeding it up, and the end result was not what they had planned. Did you ever plan how this "complete" Chmmr form would look?

Here’s another one:

Who crews Orz Nemesis built at the Starbase? Orz or humans/Shofixti?

I dispute that. Code isnt canon. I thinj they just labelled the creatures the names in the code for conveniences sake. In the game itself they do not even know which is which themselves.

EDIT: Woops! I see Megagun has already said exactly this. I'm glad someone agrees!
DOUBLE EDIT: Okay, so I see that there's been some discussion on this already. I am still not sure about Meep-Eep's reasonaing in this case. I am certain that convenience was the one and only reason for labelling.

Worthy of a question I think!

I've got anotehr question: Who do the Druuge get most of their slaves from?

Hey clowns, they said they were going to answer questions in the chat session. Learn a little restraint.

Learn a little respect.

A very good question, since Xbox live, Wii virtual console, and now even Playstation store are very convenient 'places'.

Here's a question for you Meep-Eep:
Do you have any idea or estimation of how long TFB will be with us? Is it likely to be 15 min? 1 hour? 3 hours?

I've just found this question: Why do non-Pkunk reincarnate too when Furies reincarnate?

Cedric: However long they like to stay. Last time it was 75 minutes.

Here's the another question for ye, meep-eep:
Will we be able to say 'Goodbye!' to them? (i.e. will you disable the "moderated" status for the channel at the end of the chat?)

Don't forget to say "live long and prosper" and "STAR CONTROL RULES".  ;D

Er... trust me batman, I have an idea... a really good idea! But for now it must remain a secret.

Meep-eep:
Are the moderators going to put the questions in this thread along with the questions that will be proposed in the chat itself? Do questions (also) proposed during the chat receive a higher priority?
Also, what are the highest priority questions in this thread?

I intended to use the questions put forth in this thread to determine which questions people want an answer to most, when deciding which of the deluge of questions that will be asked in the chat to pass along.
In the unlikely situation that we run out of decent-quality questions, we have this thread to fall back on for other questions, but the event is the IRC chat.

I have only two questions that immediately come to mind:

1 - Who owns the copyrights for the material (text, images) in the manuals and RPRG? (can we use anything from them like the pictures in a new manual/ultronomicon without getting into trouble)

2 - Which of our guesses in the "Influences and References" are totally off? (I think my ego can handle the response)

Honestly, I'm horrible at coming up with interesting questions, so...meh.

I just realized I don't know what time the chat is in EST, anyone have any idea?

 Linking Extravaganza (http://starcontrol.classicgaming.gamespy.com/forum/index.php?topic=1391.msg19855#msg19855)

So EST would be 21 - five rightt? Therefore 16 right?

A quick google would seem to confirm that yes. So probably, unless I'm miscalculating.

Just use http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock (http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock).

Handy, although unless I'm missing something it only allows you to convert between countries and GMT. Doesn't help much if you don't know the American time zones and want to convert.

Lesse...16 that means 4pm, sweet! Just enough time before my exam at 6 :P

Countchocula: I suspect the lastest guess doesnt account for daylight saving.

it is defnitely 14.00 PT (according to the news item). Presuming that's Pacific time (where TFB are). That means:
15.00 MT (Denver)
16.00 CT (Chicago)
17.00 EST (New York)

http://www.timezoneconverter.com/cgi-bin/tzc.tzc

I'd like TFB to answer the question Zelnick asked Talana:

"Hmm... What happens if I do this?"

Regarding the Melee with Fred and Paul... those of you who will play them, would you post some replays too?

I know what to ask!

Ask them if they have thought about or if they have been approached by anyone about doing a port to Xbox Live Arcade!     :O : O:O :

Then if it does well (which it would), they can use that as reason for uh..   that company to let them make a sequel like they want!

To put the date-time question to rest, it is:

14:00 PDT (Pacific Daylight-savings Time) = 21:00 UTC = 17:00 EDT (Eastern Daylight-savings Time)

If you really want to know what time it is in EST, that would be 16:00 EST  ;)

Here's something I've been wondering about:

Judging by screenshots of early versions such as this (http://web.archive.org/web/20031221220734/home.att.ne.jp/wave/rainbow/Toys_for_Bob/Nwstatus.GIF) (with a cloaked flagship, which IIRC was scrapped for not being cool enough) or this (http://koti.mbnet.fi/lonnberg/Old/SC2Early.jpg) (which looks like a completely different plot!), SC2 went through quite a few major changes during its development. How would SC2 have differed from the game we know and love if you'd decided to go through with your earlier ideas?

I completely and utterly agree with this question!!!

By the way, I though you would like to know - only 12 hours to go till the chat!

Less then 12 hours now!  I can't wait; I'm so excited.  I think that popcorn and beer will make a nice combination for this event... ;D  Sit back, relax, and watch the Star Control Gods send messages to us fans, and we will learn something, and leave with a sense of enlightenment.  I'm so grateful and pleased that they were able to take time from their busy schedule to do this.

FYI: You can now also use the web IRC client at http://uqm.stack.nl/irc/ (http://uqm.stack.nl/irc/) to login in #uqm-tfb.
Note that not all browsers work well with it; some disconnect after 10 to 15 minutes. So I suggest that you test in advance whether it works for you, or use a local IRC client.

Edit: typo fix

I actually suspect the dialog options in the second screenshot are placeholders.

Plausible, although I hope you're wrong. ;)

IRC chat concluded!

What a day.

I joined the channel about 24 hours ahead of time for express purpose of idling straight through till chat time, only to have to cut my computer off 2 hours prior due to a massive thunderstorm.  By the time the storm had passed, the chat was already 20 minutes in, but I couldn't get in thanks to Freenode trying to shooting errors at me repeatedly as if I was having connection troubles (meanwhile, I'm chatting in three other IRC servers simultaneously without issue).

By the time I finally got back in, the chat was already over.  ;_;

Comparing my personal log to the one posted, I'm a little shocked at how many comments I missed, even when I was apparently connected. :O  I didn't get any error messages, though.

Still.  Very cool!

Where can we see the posted log?

There was a link to it in the chat... Here. (http://m8y.org/uqm/chat.txt)  It's since been trimmed down to the more relevant bits, though.

Logs are at:
- tfbchat-20070613 (http://uqm.stack.nl/files/chat/tfbchat-20070613): original, except for the removal of IP addresses and host names, and the mangling of an email address.
- tfbchat-20070613-clean (http://uqm.stack.nl/files/chat/tfbchat-20070613-clean), as above, but with unrelated remarks and channel status messages removed.



Edit: changed the link to use '-clean' instead of '.clean'.

Thank you Meep-Eep, fOSSiL and McMartin for organising and moderating that wonderful event with TFB. Scholars and gentlemen all.

There were, what, around 50 people in that chatroom? Hopefully that means we'll being seeing some new faces in #UQM-Arena soon.

meep-eep, don't you think that it would be better to rename "http://uqm.stack.nl/files/chat/tfbchat-20070613.clean" to "http://uqm.stack.nl/files/chat/tfbchat-20070613-clean"? You know, many/most/all browsers don't open files with extensions, instead requesting a third party program to open them.


Ah, and know what? Look what they've said about the voices:
23:04 <+PR3> The sc2 3do voices... hmm... some were good, some were not perfect.  My son Devin (now 24) played UQM last week and said that the ONLY voice he liked was the Talking Pet.

I bet the imperfect ones include the Utwig voice.

Alternatively, set the MIME type to something a bit more descriptive than "application/octet-stream". Slapping a ".txt" extension on it would be a good idea.

I bet that wasn't an entirely objective evaluation (hint: who made the comment about whose voice?).

I think the same. :P

More seriously though, I wonder what Paul thinks about the Yehat voice. Was it his idea to make a race of mighty and proud warriors sound like whining brainless wimps? I personally don't find it particularly funny. Too bad I never got the opportunity to ask that question...

Well, all the qualms about the voices originate from the fact that they often emphasize the comic/parody part rather than the serious part: they emphasize the emo-ness of the Utwig instead of their other characteristics; they emphasize Orz's wackiness instead of his Lovecraftian interdimensional Parasite nature; they emphasize the Yehats' birdiness instead of their noble warrior nature.

And now, what voice exactly (among these) you don't like, depends on your favourite race: Orz lovers generally hate the Orz voice, Yehat lovers generally hate the Yehat voice, Utwig fans hate the Utwig voice.


Ah, and PRH made the comment with the voices:
23:03 < PRH_> My question actually, Paul... What is your opinion of the SC2 3DO voices? Do you think they fit the races' characters as you designed them?

Plus, I want to stress again that the only problem I have with the voice acting is the Utwig (especially!!!) and the VUX (which is not bad, just that they could be much more disgusting... though it's not something which can be fixed, it's next to impossible to make them more disgusting).

Well, the Talking Pet WAS the best voice... :P

The Kzer-Za was the best voice. Then come (all on the second place) Mycon, Talking Pet, Yehat and Kohr-Ah.

I've changed the file to tfbchat-20070613-clean. It's more consistent with the logs of the previous chat too.

Shiver: at one point when I happened to look, there were over 80 people present. I'm not sure what the peak was.

Valaggar: Get over the Utwig voice already. I think this fragment was specifically shameful:
What were you thinking? What was the purpose of this remark? You just wanted to let TFB know that you disliked their choice for the Utwig voice, using even harsher tones than before? What did you think would happen? Did you expect TFB to reply "You are right, we were wrong. We're going to do it over right after the chat?"

Wow, whoever made the comment about high-res posters of the alien races, what a comment!

Someone on good terms with TFB needs to push this idea.  I can imagine there are plenty of people who would buy multiple (one having all the races would also be pretty neat) posters.

-kwamp

Valaggar: Get over the Utwig voice already. I think this fragment was specifically shameful:
What were you thinking? What was the purpose of this remark? You just wanted to let TFB know that you disliked their choice for the Utwig voice, using even harsher tones than before? What did you think would happen? Did you expect TFB to reply "You are right, we were wrong. We're going to do it over right after the chat?"

[/quote]
OK, OK. I just got overly excited with that voice before the chat, you know. I actually regretted that remark immediately after I made it (in fact, I had also confused <+PR3> with another name, so I didn't know that I was replying to Paul).
I don't have any problem with Johnson, in fact - not even in terms of voice acting (except the Utwig voice, of course).

Thanks for the logs Meep-eep. I was able to log in, but work kept me from catching most of it - I caught only glimpses of the chat. And in true neophyte fashion, I didn't figure out the log feature of the chat program until later. So thanks again, and thanks especially to the guys over at TFB! ;D

Post chat reflections follow:
Well, no Star Control sequel. I think that maybe the chat re-focused them on the possibility, but it's no sure thing...yet.

I was disapointed to find out that TFB is so behind on their videogame consumption. I mean, I understand liking Super Bomberman still (who doesnt) but to never have heard of Starscape. I almost want to e-mail them a list of suggestions to check out: Starscape, wierd worlds, Timewarp, the new wing commander on XBL. You'd think for someone who made a living making videogames they'd know what the competition was up to a bit more. They're up on their sci-fi tho, and that's good.

I was pleased that they considered the Star Control posters (my idea). Seriously, this franchise is so merchandisable.

It was awesome to participate in this one.

If I may say something... (read:
============If I may say something============)

I think it's good that they don't play (too many?  :-\) newer games, since these are very (stereo)typical and bound to a certain formula (such as RTS, RPG, 4X, FPS) so they would negatively influence the originality of the sequel.
However, they DO need to play some more serious games (besides Bomberman) or the sequel will end up like a sort of Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure in space.
(No, don't worry, it won't; they seem to have come to hate that game:
23:36 <+PR3> No sequel to Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure? ;)
23:37 <@Meep-Eep> Is that the sequel you are working on now?
23:37 <+PR3> NO! What about the balance of story vs. melee?  Which fires you up more?)
- emphasis added

I should have asked more about what they were working on. At least whether the sequel is to one of those licensed games, or to one of their original games.

I'm sure floored they wished me good luck on my exam. I know its so dorky, but I got so excited when I read the chat logs after haha.

Many thanks to all those who made this possible! I don't think I've been so giddy to get a chance to talk to people I admire in years.


...And apparently I started a Mycon Holy War against me. Oops. :-[

Toys for Bob's site has been updated! Go and see!

I always thought that Starscape worked pretty well (ish) as a game, but the gathering of minerals became tedious (more tedious than that of Star Control 2, even! :O) and that the in-game text was horribly written,  unlike that of Space Rangers 2, which actually was written in Engrish instead of English, but which ingame texts were so extremely funny and descriptive, that it made it all a whole lot of fun.

Seconded! Paul and Fred still have a lot of humour left in them for the SC2 sequel! :D

Oh, yeah, thanks for the posters comment! :D  I want some posters SO BAD now.  Especially an Orz one.  I know just where I'd put it up.

(I mean, I guess I could always paint one myself, but... official merch!  Official merch!!!!)

Someone misappropriated my question. :( Still it appears that they never really considered it, it'll be interesting how they deal with it in any evntual sequel. Other than that, interesting chat, though the IRX format always seems really cluttered to me.

The important thing is the question, not who asked it. Besides, I (http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=3672.msg47213#msg47213) asked it before you (http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=3672.msg47401#msg47401) :P.

Valaggar was the one who sent me this question during the chat.

I agree, I should have said "<Lukipela> <<question>>", not just "<<question>>".

Did you now? (http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=1264.0)

Just to make it clear though, it really is immaterial where the question came from, I was just playing silly buggers. The answer si the important part.


Don't be silly, you actually participated in the chat.

Yes, I agree that story wise Starscape is not a reference... :)... indeed it's pretty cheesy.

What I think would be important for TFB to notice in Starscape is how it's combat looks like an update SC2 engine. I still think that SC2 gameplay is superior but Starscape has some nice battles (i liked the bosses).

And yes... mining got boring very quickly! :)

Anyway, thank you guys for organizing this chat with so many people from TFB, and hopefully we have been able to fuel their desire to make a new Star Control (or at least port SC2 to Xbox Live!, which I am sure would be very helpful in getting the needed attention to the franchise).

Exactly. My interest in mentioning starscape, as well as the rest of the games that I'd like to pass on (http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=3717.msg47963#msg47963) for them to try is that if you're making video games for a living it, and others are refining a genre you may some day revisit, it seems to me a good idea to what others are doing with the genre so that you don't re-invent the wheel.

Besides, if they were playing some fo these games perhaps they'd be more inclined to make the sequel.