Star Control
The Star Control series is a trilogy of science fiction - computer games . The gameplay is based on spacewar! built up. The second part of the series in particular achieved cult status among many players.
Star Control
| Star Control: Famous Battles of the Ur-Quan Conflict, Volume IV | |
|---|---|
| Studio |
 Toys for Bob
|
| Publisher |
Accolade
|
| Senior Developer | Fred Ford , Paul Reiche III |
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
July 1990 |
| platform | PC ( DOS ), Amiga , C64 , Mega Drive , Amstrad CPC , Sinclair ZX Spectrum |
| genre | Shoot 'em up |
| Game mode | Single player , multiplayer |
| medium | Floppy disk , download ( GOG ) |
Star Control: Famous Battles of the Ur-Quan Conflict, Volume IV is the first part of the series. The game was developed by Toys for Bob in 1990 and marketed by Accolade . The publication on MS-DOS and Amiga followed in 1991 ports to C64 , Mega Drive , Amstrad CPC and Sinclair ZX Spectrum .
The game consists of a direct to Spacewar! a similar combat system called Mêlée and a strategic part in which a three-dimensional group of stars represents the terrain. Apart from the framework plot, which describes a war between two alliances ( Alliance of Free Stars and Hierarchy of Battle Thralls ) of different alien races, no story is told in the game. The focus of the game is on the technical design of the various spaceships in order to represent the most balanced and action-packed combat sequences.
The game can be played in a single player mode as well as in pairs.
As in the later games, the individual spaceships have a fundamentally different appearance and various skills. The size, mobility and speed of the ships differ, and each has a different weapon and a special function. For example, the Ur-Quan Dreadnought is a large, slow, but fairly agile ship with a very powerful primary weapon. As a special function, it acts as a kind of aircraft carrier that can deploy its crew, which then independently attacks the enemy. In contrast, the Mmrnmhrm Transformer has the special function of switching between two types of ship: In the first form, this ship is slow but very agile and equipped with a powerful short-range laser. The second form is the opposite; fast, immobile, and armed with long-range, homing missiles.
Star Control II
| Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters | |
|---|---|
| Studio |
Toys for Bob
|
| Publisher |
Accolade
|
| Senior Developer | Fred Ford , Paul Reiche III |
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
November 1992 |
| platform | PC ( DOS ), Amiga , 3DO |
| genre | Adventure , shoot 'em up |
| Game mode | Single player , multiplayer |
| medium | Floppy disk , CD-ROM , download ( GOG ) |
Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters was also developed by Toys for Bob in 1992 and marketed by Accolade. The release for MS-DOS was later followed by ports to Macintosh and 3DO .
The game brought a large number of new alien races and ships to the series. In addition, the strategy part of the predecessor was replaced by an adventure game . As a result, the game now has a backstory. The new game mode mainly consisted of diplomacy, collecting resources, exploring space and the "Mêlée" combat system known from the first part.
As in the first part, a two-player mode was implemented again, which only consists of duels between the various ships. This Super Mêlée mode also includes all spaceships from the first part, even if some of them no longer appear in the adventure part.
A large part of the game is made up of the interactions with the different alien races: Each has its own background story, characteristics of the different forms of life and language, as well as background music and representation in the game.
The PC soundtrack was remarkable at the time of release. In the pro tracker format, it is a compilation of entries that were created as a result of an open competition.
The extent of the cult around this game is proven by the website IGN.com. Star Control II ranks 17th in an article about the "100 best games of all time". The game is featured in a similar article on Gamespot.com.
Star Control 3
| Star Control 3 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio |
Legend Entertainment
|
||
| Publisher |
Accolade
|
||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
1996 | ||
| platform | PC ( DOS , Windows , Mac OS ) | ||
| genre | Real time strategy game | ||
| Game mode | Single player , multiplayer | ||
| medium | CD-ROM | ||
| Age rating |
|
||
Star Control 3 was developed in 1996 by Legend Entertainment . Marketing was again taken over by Accolade. Versions for Windows and Macintosh computers appeared.
The Ur-Quan Masters
The Ur-Quan Masters is a project that aims to port Star Control II to modern operating systems. The project began in 2002 when the developers of the original game, Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III , released the source code of the 3DO version under the GPL . The game content, on the other hand, was released under the cc-by-nc-sa license, which makes it freeware .
The game had to be renamed The Ur-Quan Masters because the Star Control brand was registered by Accolade in 1997, which in turn was acquired by Atari SA in 1999 (still as Infogrames ), with the rest of Accolade.
In May 2005, complete ports for Windows, Mac OS X , Linux and BSD were published. Playable ports for the Wii , GP2X , the Pandora handheld, and the Maemo- 5-based N900 smartphone were added later. Further adaptations for the PlayStation Portable and the Xbox are in the works.
Web links
- Star Control series at MobyGames (English)
- Website of the developers of parts 1 and 2
- A wiki about the series
- Open source port "The Ur-Quan Masters" (English)
- German translation for "The Ur-Quan Masters" (German)
- The Pages of Now and Forever , fan site
Individual evidence
- ↑ Howard Wen: The Ur-Quan Masters . In: linuxdevcenter.com . O'Reilly Publishing House . August 11, 2005. Retrieved on January 19, 2016: “ When the original developers of Star Control 2 contacted the online Star Control fan community, they presented an enticing question: if they released the source to the 3DO version of Star Control 2 under GPL , would anybody be interested in porting it to modern-day computers? Michael Martin, a 26-year-old Ph.D. student at Stanford University, answered the call. After removing proprietary 3DO-specific components from the code, the developers released the source for Star Control 2 to the public. "
- ↑ a b The Ur-Quan Masters licensing
- ↑ Star Control Trademark at UQM wiki ( Memento of the original from January 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ A GP2X port of The Ur-Quan Masters ( Memento of the original from February 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at the GP2X file repository
- ↑ Open-Pandora.org: Ur-Quan Masters ( Memento from July 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ The Maemo 5 The Ur-Quan Masters port page at Maemo.org
- ↑ Ur-Quan Masters 0.5.0 - PSP Port
- ↑ Starcontrol 2 Port Source Code Release ( Memento of the original from May 14, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The UQM Xbox port files ( Memento of the original from May 14, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
