The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum

So I'm listening to the latest GFW radio podcast (the one posted on 4-2):

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3148397

They had the CEO of Stardock, who makes strategy games for the PC like Galactic Civlizations and Sins of a Solar Empire.  An interesting throw-away comment, he said something aloing the lines of, "when we were in talks with Activision about doing a Star Control 4."  I gather from the context that the deal fell through, but even so, it's great that the publisher at least has some interest in the franchise.

For those who want to hear it for themselves, I'm not sure exactly what time it's at, but I know it's not too far before the 55 minute mark.

EDIT: it actually starts at the 48 minute mark.

Started listening at 49:00 until 55:00, didn't hear it. Not to say the podcast isn't intriguing, but I don't know what you're talking about.

My bad, it starts almost exactly at the 48 minute mark (48.09 to be precise), and it's Atari, not Activision.

Here's a transcript of what he said:

"a few years ago, when Atari came to us and they wanted us to do Master of Magic and Star Control 4 and a bunch of other things, they didn't want to be bothered with it because they didn't think it would sell a million units and they wanted only to focus on titles that could sell like a million units... I think you have to meet such a threshold of gross revenue, disregarding the net, I think they're more focused on gross than net"

It's in a general topic of conversation about how Sins of a Solar Empire is quite profitable in the net category, even if their gross revenues aren't as high as some other studios.

Well crap, there it is.Thanks for showing us this. I wonder how a Stardock Star Control would turn out... can't be as bad as Legend's thing.

It's a bit stupid IMO to approach Stardock to do SC4 rather than actually going back to TFB who own the rights to all the races and would make the game just as good as it was. You can't *replicate* a good novel, game or movie by giving it to another person just because they think it's more economical, give it to the guys who made it first. Brian Herbert's Dune continuations also get a load of flak, the reason why is because people agree that Frank Herbert's were top notch full stop. This is what we got with Legend, and undoubtedly Stardock. Nothing wrong with Stardock itself though, I love their games and the company itself but they should stick to their own IP licenses and explore them in their own vision, not one which was made by a team of other guys.

TFB should still develop the actual game, but I'd rather see Stardock publish it given how they like to support their games down the road and avoid the use of copy protection. (Admitted, I don't own any Stardock titles, but that's just because of the simple fact that I'm not into 4X games where I'm not in direct control of a spacecraft. Maybe that'll change if I get a game development studio up and running and get them to be my publisher.)

I guess on the one hand its good to see that interest in SC4 still exists (though if they fumble it...that would  be bad)

It's cool that someone mentioned Star Control 4.  If anyone's interested, here's some info I found related to this.  Unfortunately, the game got canceled in early development.

http://playstationmuseum.com/Games/GRAVEYARD/BTA058/default.htm
http://youtube.com/watch?v=dfgPhf9EcJE

By any chance, did one of you post here (http://assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17870)?

That's starlord. I don't know if he's here, but he's over at SCDB at least.

EDIT: Basically he's trying to hunt down a copy of the unfinished SC4, make an ISO and put it up for the world to see / download to ensure that it doesn't disappear for ever once the current discs fail. Unfortunately most collectors aren't really into devaluing or giving away their collectibles, so he's not having much success. His best bet is if Chad ever gets around to finding his copy,

If Star Control 4 is made, I will buy it.  Same would apply for SC5, SC6, etc.

I think that would go for anyone here.  :)

Not necessarily. If SC4 is more like SC3 than SC2 in terms of quality, I'm probably not going to buy it.

Maybe. Actually, if you are a member of an UQM message board, realistically you are going to buy it anyway, even if it is bad. "You" means people here in general, not you NamelessPlayer.

Sorry about the double post!

Here, maybe this (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=186918) will shed some light on what happened with Stardock and Atari. It's at the end of the article, but the rest is interesting too.

I'd have to agree with that - I loved the story in SC2 and really disliked the shift to the resource management in SC3 . If it shifts even more - into just 3D fighter ... I'd probably give it a go if it were free , but would definately not buy it .