The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum

Feel free to post your thoughts on SC's fate.

196 quintillion years, after which it will be eaten by Great Cthulhu.

I don't want to choose, in fear that I might jinx either way (if optimistic, I am proven wrong, pessimistic, I am proven right).

To back myself up, I know some geeks at my workplace that are gamers, and they don't know what Starcon or XCOM is. I am truly ashamed of them. I even had to resort to showing and telling how awesome the game is through my PSP; they were not convinced.

Sorry about that, but I had to explain why I don't vote on anything. Even politics.

By the fetid breath of the dark twins Doggar and Kazon, how dare you suggest the words of FF and PR3 is not already a religion!

'Live' is not a boolean? Can it even be quantified without being highly subjective anyways?

I think the question is better phrased like this:

How many roads must Star Control walk down?

it's very sad, but star control will be forgotten by next generation.
very sad because star control has the best story in sci-fi. better than star drek or star wars or stargate battlestar galactica babylon 5 etc. I think star control has a epic story, a mythos.
unfortunately, there are no films nor books so it will be forgotten.

however...I'm sure a new game could change things!

4eva!!

Even if there's not going to be any Sequel, I still think that Star Control will live on. It will live on as history, but, more important, it will forever be played by lovers of old games!
Yes, just like good old movies and books survive to this day, Star Control, a good old game, will live eternally!
(Though this is of little consequence to us, as we still wouldn't get a Sequel.)

I look for the resurrection of Star Control, and the Sequel to come. Amen.

The ancient Royal Game of Ur survived the fall of kings, the death of nations, and the rise of machines, and some people play it to this day.

What makes you think Star Control couldn't do the same?

If "Ur" does the thing, why not "Ur-Quan Masters"

but face the truth, even at  it's full glory it never had a lot of attention, most people today even do not know it by name!

On the other hand, however, we can try to show people the game, so it lives on... especially the Super Melee is a lot of fun for most people even today... But as today most people judge a game by it's looks, there should be some tweaks (anyone remember the Graphic Enhancement Thread?)

There are things out there that don't get much attention that still cling to existence thanks to a small group of almost zealot-like supporters.

Take for instance Dark Reign, a game which was blown from the market at the very beginning by Star Craft. Dark Reign had many errors in it's early versions, including a problem which prevented multi-player. The few people who bought it soon began to either get rid of it or shove it in a closet somewhere. It's expansion pack was almost entirely ignored.

And yet there were still those few who plodded along with it until the much-needed patches finally arrived. They eventually banded together and now the game still lives on. Sort of.

'Course there are only about a hundred or so of these Dark Reign fanatics in the world. And they only play it using the "rushing" tactic. The winner of the game now is not he who uses his brave pixelated troops the most wisely, but he who can heroically click the mouse the fastest. And did I mention that the game's surprisingly good storyline is now entirely ignored by the fan community? And also the game's map editor is used to make ugly and uninspired maps that are designed to make "rushing" easier.

But still, the game lives on. Let's hope however, that a better fate then that awaits Star Control.

Hmm, well, I needed somthing to define an "end" so that is why I suggested "(By live I mean played.)"
"Live" is indeed not a boolean. Anything that is documented lives forever in an historical sense. (or until that comet comes and cleans us off the earth ;) )

When I posted this, I was pondering wether anybody in a generation or two would play. Growing up in the era of PS3,Wii and beyond, it just seems SC and it's campy charm will be lost and not appreciated and enjoyed for what it is. The newest games coming out compared to even the 3DO version of SC2 are like comparing SC2 to an old school text adventure. How many people still play those? I'm guessing not many.


 

I couldn't have said it better myself.  If it wasn't for the joint efforts of the UQM team (with Chris Nelson  :)), the fan art, precursors, and thousands of fan mail, Star Control wouldn't be alive as it is now; Star Control is more than just a few pages in Abandonia; it's the ultimate blend of sci-fi/action/RPG/adventure, and it is a great example of unique games of the 1990s.

I can't think of another game developer who generously released their source code so that their loyal fans can continue the legacy.  I think the source for Quake II was released, but I haven't heard of anything from that other than Alien Arena.

With the dedicated team that we have, and the fact that UQM downloads have reach past a million, I think I will last a very long time.  Activision will allow a new Star Control eventually; Duke Nukem forever is taking over 10 years, and if they make it, so can Star Control.

Interesting... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_free_first-person_shooters)

Either way, I guess that -sadly- UQM and SC2 will be mostly forgotten about in 10 - 15 years, unless a TFB sequel is made.

1 million DL's ? Nice. Too bad TFB couldn't get that many petition e-mails when they were pitching a new SC game here a while back.

I'd say SC is on life support right now. Look back ten years. There used to be a vast community, with mailing lists and projects galore. Star Control on the web used to be a jungle of sites, all pulsing with life, connected through PNF into a powerful, pulsating entity.

And now? Well, those sites are gone or drifting. The Black Spathi mailing list has pretty much perished. Most sub-projects have petered out, even the once gigantic TimeWarp. The few that still remain are on the back burners of their creators, and have slowed to a crawl. PNF is dried up, a shell of what it used to be. Now one writes for the SCWC any more. The jungle has turned to desert.

This is pretty much the only SC dedicated site left. UQM is an anomaly. It is the project that succeeded, and continues to succeed. It is a promise of the future. Had UQM not come into existence, I very much doubt that there'd be any non-derelict sites left in the SC Webring.  In the rustling empty desert, one oasis remains standing.  Of course the question is how long this one oasis can last in the desert.

If nothing comes from this project but  v 1.0 I give this place 5 years tops. People migrated here to talk, but once the technical side shuts down, the rest will go fairly quickly. The melee community will probably hold out a bit longer, dedicated warriors that they are. But without something to carry the torch (either through mods or new projects) after UQM is gone, we're pretty much toast.

I believe the game will live as long as there are people in the world that enjoys true "Content" and not eye candy.  I have done well in getting all my really young cousins addicted to SC2.  Mwahaha their parents hate me now LoL.

But in all seriousness Nothing is truly dead till the last person forgets about it completely, so unless there's a massive worldwide EM Pulse and magnetic storm that destroys all electronics & data storage devices a masterpiece will live on.  :)

Yup. That is not dead which can eternal lie. 8)

I'm fairly certain that I'm completely alone in thinking such things, but what the franchise desperately needs isn't a sequel, but a re-imagining.

Fan-boy Ramble Mode Enabled: Toys For Bob employees are encouraged to skip this section if there is any fear from your lawyers about litigious fans suing you over story ideas.  Not that I would...

The story of Star Control was cleverly, and quite creatively, constrained by the limits of the available technology of its day.

In the original Star Control, there were only seven ships per side, and fourteen alien races were allegedly represented.  14 ships is a lot of code and art assets for an old IBM XT, as I recall the game barely fit onto a single diskette.  From reading the manual, it was understood by me that the Alliance and Hierarchy fleets were amalgamated fleets from all the member races, in that each race provided a class of ship to the combined war effort that best utilized their unique abilities; the Chenjesu provided "heavy artillery", the Ur-Quan provided "carriers", the Arilou provided "skirmishers", the Ilwrath provided "submarines", etc. but it could easily be assumed that each race had all classes of warships back home for their own home defense.  So while the Earthlings could be assumed to have built and operated, say, battleships, Alliance High Command never commissioned any of them for the combined war effort, because the Broodhomes were superior in that role.

Then Star Control II comes along, and needs to "grow" the story, and have a galactic adventure mode, but they only expanded the ship roster to 25 ships from 14, because they did not have infinite time to complete the game.  No problem, each race is now only capable of making one type of starfaring vessel, and the story is adjusted accordingly, and nobody ever questions the logic in every spacefaring race you meet limiting themselves to one homogeneous class of vessel for exploration/defense, even though we don't do that kind of thing on Earth today.

(yes, I know, all the plans for all the ships besides the Cruiser were destroyed, and the Starbase can only fabricate ships they have plans for, but that certainly doesn't explain why the Druuge, the pre-eminent capitalists, wouldn't have a free market full-to-the-bursting with different types of starships)

The thing of it is, the back-story of Star Control is epic.  The fact that they combined it with a fun, fast-paced 2D arcade shooter is certainly a bonus, but in this day and age 2D space shooters are a relic.  And the story is so very much bigger than that.  Immersive 3D environments have come a long, long, long way since 1992, fleet battle mechanics have certainly improved since then, and in short, everything required to tell the story as the sweeping space opera it surely could be told as is available today.

So I would say, the best way to keep it alive wouldn't be to continue the story, but to tell it again, using all of the abilities modern gaming platforms provide you.  Imagine an Ur-Quan "Planetary Siege Unit" not as a funny-looking flat green ship that is under-powered in PvP melee, but as a something akin to a floating city, the size of a large asteroid, and bristling with enough firepower to literally place an entire planet under siege.  And then imagine finding a ship powerful enough to completely spank something like that.  :)  Or running up against a planet's orbital defenses, and rather than fighting an infinite number of ships until you get bored and figure out that the battle is unwinnable, knowing immediately that should negotiations go sour, you'll need to run for your life as dozens upon dozens of ships swarm on you.

I've always been of the opinion that in a lot of ways, Star Control was ahead of its time.  But the times have caught up, and it's entirely possible to tell the story these days with all of the grandeur and scope that such a story requires.

But again, I'm fairly certain that's just me...

Its certainly an awesome idea, but as all of SC,  its plagued by needing funds.

Agreed. Great idea; but there could be issues regarding funding (and long-time fans) that can prevent this from happening.

However, to bring intelligent games (and storylines) back into the media is what the current generation is in dire need of. I mean, I hate doing this again, but have you seen the trailers; or bit the bullet, and actually seen "Meet the Spartans"?

I think the re-telling thing could work too, considering re-tellings have been made like mad anyway. Transformers, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Speed Racer. The list goes on. I say, let's try to jump on the bandwagon while it's still mobile.

Plus, I would like to see how the other stuff and battle/melee modes would be. Hell, even toss in classic melee with the refined designs (like SC3 but, good, and not 2.5D). 3D melee with full 3D control (Spathi Eluders sound like fun in full 3D, and would be disorienting to see moving. Hard lock on or track due to the many pods hiding "front"; B.U.T.T. missiles remain, and the person flying the Eluder can have rear-view to target auto-locking B.U.T.T.s), and classic 2D melee with classic "tiny" planets and no 3D control (to keep the classic feel of combat) as well as classic rules (1 primary and 1 secondary (special) firing mode, with "keep forward" no-brakes physics).

There's a concept.

OOH!! We should start a new topic regarding this kinda stuff. But let's not give it a lame topic name like "What stuff do you want to see in a re-telling of Starcon 2?"

Oh, and remember, it'll most likely be in full 3D, but 'classic mode' ideas are also open. You know, just to serve as a starter line for it.

Oh, screw it... I'll start it, and see if I can find a good topic name.

No, not just you. I've been saying the same thing for a long time. A re-make on today's hardware would be fantastic. I also love the idea of home worlds having different classes of ships btw.

I believe many people clamouring for a new Star Control in which the story remains canon and becomes the new SC3, fail to realize just how hard it would be to please the fanbase. I for one am a bit jaded in my expectations and I suspect I'm not alone here. I can not help but wonder if SC3 was doomed to fail anyway and that making a "good" sequel may be near the realm of impossibility.

Hello ...

This idea for exploration of the universe to meet new alien races will live forever ...
The exact idea of Star Control

This is inside every dreamer every boy that watch the stars ...

Unfortunately on game market this is possible after some  one or two generations becouse there is no other games or new versions of SC2 to remember us...

But WE can change this now!!!
And then we can show to OUR young friends or childrens this OUR dream realized again now!!!

I make a poste here with one my idea... bottom of page 8
Take a look and DO NOT PASS!!! leave your comment or suggestion there is VERY VERY important!!!
http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=2959.msg51805#msg51805 (http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=2959.msg51805#msg51805)

I DON'T WANT TO FORGOT Star Control!!!

Together WE can make the dreams come trough!!!

At the current state, I'm making the best effort to make Star Control 2 and UQM as known as possible, whether it was irritating or not. I'm actually partly organizing small meeting and gatherings about twice a year, and I attempt to hold UQM tournaments. At least it gives it publicity.