The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum

Hey what do you guys want to see added to the game?
I want the cloaking device, and all the other stuff that was directers cutted from it.  and more alien sex scenes :) :o

I want the ability to use teh single player ship in super melee.

Pretty much universal in this - TCIP/IP play.

How hard would it be to design the game in an engine-based format so we could then write a campaign editor and make whole new games out of it?  Like, create a new starmap and new artifacts to collect, etc .. the entire original game plot could be written using a scripting language so that we could write new plots the same way.

In Computer Games magazine, it says they intend to convert all the data into well know formats, so the fanbase can modifiy almost everything! :)

So um, that's what I wanted, and it look like it will happen hopefully! But I am sure they will first work to get the game stable at 1.0 port ^_^

Pretty much everything content-wise has already been converted to well documented file formats.

I wouldn't mind seeing all the little things that Paul and Fred never had time to add, like the Cloaking Device Chax mentioned, something 'Weird' happening if you have Orz ships in Quasi-Space, and the convesation you can have with Paul and Fred on a certain planet.

And I really hope the Ur-Quan theme is extended. I love listening to it, but it's really short.

The single player game was pretty much perfect... I can't think of anything I wanted in that respect... apart from a true sequel by Fred and Paul of course.

Super Melee was a great multi-player game, but eventually we were so good at it that every battle was a stand-off, whoever committed to the attack first was pretty much going to die unless ships were seriously unmatched.  So.... I'd like to see Super Melee support 3 or 4 players.  I think an extra player or two would destabilize things and prevent stand-offs.  You could then have Team events and All Vs. One events... the possibilities are endless :)

-Fwiffo

A 320x240 mode for use on handhelds with either linux or Windows CE (I hear SDL works for winCE).

SC2 on an iPaq would rock!

Spurious random encounters, Fallout 2 style.

These would, perhaps,  show up as oddly-behaving radar contacts in Hyperspace-- zooming around in circles instead of chasing you, or maybe overtaking you at unescapable speed.

The contents of these encounters would be odd one-off encounters with odd characters in known (and perhaps a few unknown) races-- overpuffed VUX admirals, pacifist Yehat, Sketical Pkunk, etc.

Graphics smoothing. Fo' Sho'. I remember re-playing the game back in 1999 (I got it working - with some effort - on an old 486 running Win95) and thinking how well the graphics held up. Well... at that time I had a 4Mb Rendition V2200 video card so they were still pretty good. Seeing those screen shots... they don't hold up well anymore. Smoothing would help. There's one screenshot where they run the game in OpenGL with filtering and it doesn't look half bad!

Okay, here's the laundry list of improvements I (and maybe all of us) would like to see:

Ship Editor (point based for sake of balance with Super-Melee)
Campaign Editor (choice of event or time-based story, or both)
Super-Melee Internet play (Azarule is right, this is universal)
Super-Melee Internet ranking (Haven't you always wanted to know if you were the best Chmmr pilot out there?)
Additional quests of the rainbow-world variety (Such as "Find the Androsynth", Melnorme not necessarily being the race that rewards you.  Arilou would be a logical choice, or Pkunk maybe)
More modules for the Precursor ship
More Races/Ships (Taalo comes to mind, continuity notwithstanding)
Updated ship models (1992 was a while ago, I think we can touch up the old graphics a bit.  Hell, I'd do this myself.)
Cut events re-added (especially Fred/Paul conversation)
More "characters", as opposed to "generic" race members from each race.

Okay, I know, I ask a lot, but it would all be nice, wouldn't it?  Oddly enough, I'm sure I can think of more given enough time.

Can't wait for the alpha release.

To at least make the graphics look smooth, sort of like how it looked on the TV with a 3DO - not how it looks in DOS - blocky messy yucky =/

Oh and some kind of scanlines to emulate a TV screen would be awesome !:)

There's already optional OpenGL mode which supports bilinear filtering and scanline emulation :)

OH MY THIS IS GREAT! ^_^

THANK YOU THANK YOU! ( I was worried I would have to play in 'dossy' mode as I like to call it - you know, blocky LOL )

Whaat?! I don't care about extra poo, I want it to work perfectly before adding extra yays and stuffz0r. And full-screen, deifnately, full-screen mode. All those screenshots seem to be in window mode, but I really hope it can be played in full-screen mode.

After it is stable, or at least very stable, you can add those ship editors. And yes, I find internet play excellent, though it should be made last, because internet play usually makes a lot of problems and bugs.

Ofcourse it works also fullscreen, we developers just are often used to windowed mode as it makes debugging kinda easier ;)

edit: Also comment to additional features, we aren't going to add anything gameplay-affecting or otherwise major features to our stable release, it will be more or less straight port. After it's done and if there's enough interested developers for modding the game (many of us core team wants it just to work as it was in 3DO/PC originally), all that kind of stuff can begin.

I'm prolly in the minority here, but I want to see the game played EXACTLY the way it was played on the 3DO.  Improvements shmovements, they should definately be optional and you should have the option of playing the original game (minus improvements).

Aside from that, I'd like to see, Ur-Quan Masters II(or III) or whatever - a "real" sequel to Star Control II.  More planets to explore, more races to conquer - er... convince to join your cause, more YEHAT!  I can't say this enough, for those of you who have never ever played Star Control II on 3DO, you need to find the speech files and listen to them.  Star Control II - PC, was a great game, but those speech files put it over the top.  They destroyed EVERY single race in Star Control III with that lame speech they used.  The only two that sounded remotely "cool" were the Ur-quan (not as good as the original) and the Doogs which were just funny.

Ah well, make the game, I'll play it anyway.  Thanks

I'd like to just play regular SC2 with the 3DO enhancements (although an option to turn off the voices would be good)

Voices are optional in The Ur-Quan Masters.

Though option to turn them off isn't implemented yet, but it will be there eventually.

What do you guys think of implementing 2xSaI technique instead of bilinear filtering? It would be cool to see non-pixelated and crisp graphics at the same time.

Okay, since the game is going to be open sourced, it will be easy to make your own campaigns, as well as new models for the ships

Also the boys at TFB will be adding in little things they want to once the game is stabilized.  they said it themselfs :)

I did a quick google about 2xSaI and indeed, it might be possible we used it. One problem with it is that its not hardware accelerated like bilinear filtering with OpenGL. We'll see, if it could be made one optional rendering mode, so thanks for the tip.

Nobody mentioned it but a better AI would be a good addition for the original release.

No more cheap tricks!

I incorporated 2xSaI from snes9x to our code yesterday, and it looks very nice (though needs some more work to make it work >16bpp modes and under OpenGL too). But basic version should be there for the alpha release.

320x240 mode is also already supported (it *is* the 'native' resolution after all), and, while it's a bit pixelated if you run it full-screen, that's your fault for getting spoiled by modern resolutions.   If you're running it on a machine more than two or three years old, 320x240 mode is currently still more or less mandatory for decent performance on the planet surface.  (I'm running a Celeron 500 here, and I can only barely play in 640x480.)

With OpenGL, 640x480 or even bigger works nicely with my lil brother's p2-300mhz (though he has gf2mx graphics card).

All the add on suggestions sound cool.  Though I would also love to see you guys make a NEW Star Control in that quardrant.  Maybe even give the option to be a bad guy, enslaving races!   8)

And finding some surviving Androsynth would be awesome!  I hated the Orz for getting rid of them...

Would it be possible if you guys added a 'power user' mode or something? I mean like a mode where every trick possible could be used at the same time to make the graphics look as nice as possible?
I run a P4 2.5ghz, 1024mb ram and a geforce 4600ti and I would love to see settings that could punish this computer.
   How about in addition to the 2xSai mode, the 2xSai 'Super Eagle' blitter, and other advanced video enhancment modes, ( found in such emulators as http://nebula.emulatronia.com/ .
  That emu has many, many, modes that i *think* could really enhance the graphics in SC2.
But I am not a programmer, so I have no idea how/if/possible at all converting these modes to SC2 would be. I am just presenting more ideas to build on the brilliant suggestion of putting 2xSai into the new remake.
So um there we go. :)

Wow, I'm amazed, to say the least. To implement the new technique on the next day after getting the sources... you must be genius, Mika. I really admire your talent and wish to thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you're doing for all us, SC2 fans (still having trouble believing this is actually happening... somebody pinch me)

I really want a journal of some kind.

I'm really really lazy, so I don't write down homeworld locations etc, and end up having to spend ages hunting around in the vague location instead of going right to the place.

Something that just allows viewing of past conversations would work pretty much just as well, if that'd be any easier.

Oh!

And I want the PC Quasi-space music back. The 3do version is ok, but just not as good . . .

Why did they change that, anyway?

the ability to set up mining colonies mabe starbases or refuling bases for each of the races and doing a planet overhaul when the lander is on it collecting minerals mabe do something in 2d or 3d  to better repersent the different charastics of the planets (these next ones might be pushing it)and a expanded starmap so there is no half-spheres of influence like the Ilwrath also i would like to see more artifacts more races and more ships that would fit into the story

So what you're saying, is in effect you'd like them to write an entire new game, in their own time, of similar quality to starcontrol II, and release it as freeware? Er, yeah,I'd like that too ::)

For my mind, TCP/IP, internet play & rankings, maybe a slightly sharpened graphics engine, and the original FF PR at Groombridge conversation, and I'd be stoked beyond belief.

Beyond that, the campaign editor idea rocks, but I really have no idea how feasible it is. If it could be implemented, with so many avid fans going nuts, no doubt there'd be so many new campaigns designed that it would tide us all over until TFB get around to making a sequel proper.

Speaking of which, I've asked this before, but can we get an update about when we can expect to see the alpha release? November, I know, but are we talking days or weeks from now?

I just remembered what I wished was in the original game:

A FAST-FORWARD CONTROL FOR HYPERSPACE

Does anyone remember exploring QuasiSpace, and there's the one portal that drops you off in, for all practical purposes, the middle of nowhere?  If you don't have a portal spawner (which, for posterity, I didn't) it was a very, very, very long trip home through HyperSpace, another month of game time waiting for the portal to open, and alot of cursing :P

Auto-pilot pretty much mitigated the need for this (i.e., set your destination and go make a sandwich) but for those...really long trips, even a 2x game clock multiplier toggle would be really handy..

Just a thought.  Please ignore as appropriate.

I think that first of all, there should be a version where nothing is changed. Same blocky graphics, original mods, everything identical. Many people including myself think that blocky pixelated graphics look far better than smeared higher resolution graphics. Maybe additional items that could be turned on would be nice like the 3do music and perhaps the additional artifacts and the cloaking device. Maybe a harder difficulty option where the enemies are more plentiful and you have a far more difficult time limit to add a sense of urgency to even the most veteran player. I would enjoy these options, but the most important thing is for a carbon copy of probably the best game ever to be released so that current gamers can live or relive the experience of a lifetime.
-Jim

That's interesting, because I want that too. Carbon copy of the original PC game. I love it because that's the one that bit me first (though who knows? I've never played the 3DO version and maybe I'll like it better). I wouldn't want to change the blocky graphics, nor enhance (smooth out/add interpolation(?)) the original "scratchy" MOD music. Heck, if you guys can get this port to play through the PC speaker (grins) ;D ;D ...

...

I'm just wondering though how the 3DO version (the one which the re-release is based on) differs from the PC version. Is the manner in which the music is generated different (ie MOD vs MP3)? Is the resolution of the 3DO version different because it was made for TV (I've seen the screen shots and some of the graphics are different)? Will any of these or other differences make it difficult for the re-release to be like the original PC version?

Apart from that, I'm flabergasted that this re-release is happening at all. It'll be an awesome opportunity for SC2 virgins to see what they've been missing for 10 long years :) Hopefully Toys for Bob will get the recognition they deserve.

Like everyone, I'd love to be able to play melee online.  And that hyperspace fast forward idea sounds nice.

One idea I haven't seen mentioned, tho:  the ability to alter general melee settings.  I'd like to be able to mess around with planet size/gravity, change the number/frequency of asteroids, maybe make asteroids do damage just to spice things up.  And, most importantly, impose a time limit on individual battles to prevent stalemates.  

Once online play is eventually implemented, I'd also like to see some sort of strategy mode to give the multiplayer game more depth.  It wouldn't necessarily have to be similar to the original Star Control's rotating starfield thing or anything - even just a boardgame-based game like the Unholy War or the Archon series would be a lot of fun, I think.  


-dio

It won't be exact carbon copy, neither from 3DO or PC version, but we'll try to keep it as close to original as possible (atleast for 3DO). For what comes to PC version, we'll try to add options to 'simulate it' where it's appropriate, but for some things it can be too hard or time-consuming to do that (menus, some graphics, etc). If we want to get this ever released, some compromises must be made, atleast for the initial stable version.

StarFlight I had an odd alien race that communicated in binary and if you knew how to convert binary to decimal it would give you the phone number to Binary Systems (the people that made it).

That game was so cool.  SC2 took a lot from it.

And that's related to the topic because?

Anyway, I'd like to see a journal (as was suggested), and the ability to place markers on the map (Like in Neverwinter Nights).

Well, this is probably a little off topic, but what I'd really like to see is Hypermeele, with ALL the ships from SC, SC2 and from SC3.

[puts up anti-flame shield] SC3 had no plot, but the new races and most of the ships were IMO well done.

Give me a Ploxis Plunderer any day, I'll take down almost anything but an Avatar with it!

Read what I replied to and maybe you will understand.

Ah, I thought of something I'd like to see and that is the game not needing to be installed (on Windows), making it possible to burn it onto and run from CD.

I would really love to have network melee play!

That was really the best part of the game after beating it a couple times :)

First of all, these improvements should be split into single player and multiplayer categories. Also, this switch needs to be incorporated:
--emulate=[PC/3DO]
This switch would be a quick way to set the options just like a certain version - PC (MOD music, no speech, perhaps some other changes to make it more like the PC version) or 3DO (OGG music, speech). The rest of the switches would add to and/or override that switch. At the very least, this will quiet down all of the don't-change-a-thing advocates. Every other change to the game should be disabled by default but accessable through the commandline switches and, eventually, a config file (and an editor for it).
On to my suggestions:

In single player:
Hyperspace time compression, as mentioned, is important.
A twist on the journal idea: Have stars that were specified in conversations blink on the starmap, perhaps with some floating text to let you know their significance.
A conversation backlog, IRC style, would be nice.

In multiplayer:
Network play over TCP/IP, complete with a tournament mode, fraglimits, timelimits, and chat. If more than 2-player combat turns out to be feasible - Team Deathmatch and CTF. Hey, if it works in THPS, why not Star Control? ;D
Smooth turning radius - optional, of course, as the lack of this provides a good defense mechanism. In network play, the server should obviously have control over this.
Extreme tweakability - Scorched Earth style. Gravity should be modifiable, for instance. Simple tweaking of ships - recharge rate (in all of its forms), crew complement, speed and maneuverability - should also be possible. All of these should be modifiable in-game, especially when creating a server.
Handicap system - if a newbie is playing against a veteran, the veteran should have less crew, energy, speed and maneuverability (or only part of those, selectable before the match) than the newbie. This can be done by boosting the newbie's stats, lowering the veteran's, or both.

Those are my ideas for now. It would be nice to see some of those make it in after the stable release.

Some sort of journal/notes system similar to what baldurs gate II has, etc... Or mayhbe something to look through past conversations you had with various entities?

A sort of in-game journal or log that the player can use in the full game. Preferably, different journals for the different aspects of the game.

One journal would keep a log of all the conversations the player has had up to the point he/she is playing in the game. Alternatively, to make it more simple, just keep a record of the clues that were thrown the player's way during the conversations (coordinates, vague descriptions/directions, etc).

Another log would keep a record of the planets the player has visited and scanned. This would allow the player to keep track of what resource-rich planets he/she skipped because it was beyond the current capabilities of the lander, and allow him/her to return and reap the goods later on after upgrading the lander.

Finally, how about a log to record how the player played a certain game? Record the order of events he/she took part in. A game summary. Players could trade and compare how they played a game. Maybe we could hold competitions based on this...

... I have this notebook that I dedicated to Star Control II. In it I recorded clues the aliens gave me, coordinates, and the resource planets I skipped. Currently, there are two game sessions recorded there.. but it'd be convenient if I didn't have to use it.. and I'm sure this will help attract newbies to the game, instead of discouraging them by the frustration of not knowing what to do next. I mean what "normal" person would want to have to take notes while playing a computer game?... The easier we can make the playing experience be, the more likely the genius that is Star Control II would be experienced on a wide scale. Consider this: if UQM became insanely popular, surely Toys for Bob would make a sequel. THE sequel we've always wanted :)

Tactless made an interesting suggestion: "Smooth turning radius".

I think he means that instead of 12 quantized directions ships can face, have infinate resolution.  One effect of this would be, that in the Ur-Quaan-Human matchup, the earthling would come under fire sooner, since he can't hide in the dead zone between UQ turning angles.  Obviously all the ships would need rebalancing, and their relative strengths would change a lot.  

This "infinate angle resolution" can be implemented by making the ship spirte into a texture map and rotating it.

I actually did a similar thing with my personal re-implementation of Armor Alley.  The results were ... pleasurable.   ;)

About that smooth turning radius - I was at first under the impression that it was already there in the 3DO version... looks like it wasn't. I actually played SC3 before SC2 (never finished SC2, at that), and I thought the smooth turning radius was pretty cool. Again, I must stress that this should be there as an option. Implementing it using a texture would be a good idea, but does this work in unaccelerated SDL mode?

I would like to make another addition to multiplayer: An SC1ish strategy game would be cool. Including all of the specified improvements to multiplayer combat, and as many ships as can be cranked in there.

An option to disable the time limit somehow would be awesome...

without the time limit, you no longer have starcon2.

Personally, I'm against a smooth turning radius.  Not that my opinion has any real sway, but I think it just messes up ship balance too bad.  In particular, it makes much harder to fight a big, slow ship with a small, quick ship.

And hi Zileas. ;)


-dio

Quick save and load buttons  :)

Perhaps this has been mentioned earlier, but if so please take this as increasing demand, but I would like to reassign the keys for gameplay.  Pressing ESC to fire and left CTRL for special in super melee is annoying.  Likewise, spacebar to shoot and right ctrl for special in the game is also annoying and I frequently confuse the two.  Lastly, ESC should be the emergency warp, the "+ & space" is ludicrous and forces you to shoot everytime you want to warp, possibly making you kill that shofixti.  

Just to add to my previous post, ctrl + esc in super melee = minimizing window in win2k.  Not pleasant.

Right Shift and control work too..

Oops, well, scratch that criticism then...

Yeah, but pressing the shift button 5 times in a row turns on my stickkeys, so I end up having this little box come up everytime I try to play melee with a Supox (that's the only ship that I have problems with esc and control). And I hate to turn it off for just a few minutes of melee.  :-/ Oh well, it's not like I can't wait for the next version (can't use the mycon podship and some others have problems, so I don't really want to bother with melee as is).

Localisation and Internationalisation will attract more players to the game.

I want a web/java map that we can use at the same time to look around universe and see where to get resources, where to avoid, rainbow planets etc...

if I remember right the game came with a map. (or was that sc3?) and it was usefull. even just a scaned and multi page printable copy would be nice.

At star-control.com, they have a PDF (Adobe Acrobat) of the original map, as well as some web-based maps. A project to unify these as an application would be a good idea.