Awkbird

Reply to The Music!!! in Founders Starbase StarControl Forums

I've had a cover of the Hyperspace theme on Youtube for nearly two years. The "2014 Update" which is now nearing 20,000 views. It is actually the top search result for Star Control Hyperspace videos in search engines. My only intention was to remaster Riku's original composition to give it a fresh sound, as though it were written today with modern technology, and with very few creative liberties taken. I don't consider it a "remix"; it is fundamentally the same song, but w

Reply to Crafting? in Founders Starbase StarControl Forums

A lot of this discussion of crafting reminds me of early imaginings that I had about the briefly-glimpsed Mark II flagship from the end of SC2. Since the SC2 flagship, despite its large size, was really just a small scout ship by Precursor standards, it stood to reason that a real Precursor frigate or cruiser designed for deep space exploration (like the various Enterprises on their multi-year missions!) would probably have a means of being more self-sustaining, and I thought about ho

Reply to Thoughts on Star Control II in Founders Starbase StarControl Forums

1) I don't have a problem with timed quests as a gameplay mechanism, but I feel there should be transparency about the fact. I've stated this in previous threads but I guess it bears repeating that you could effectively play through SC2 and not even know you were on a countdown timer to the Kohr-Ah "death march" before five years were up, had you not learned about it from the Melnorme. 2) I agree that early encounters are warranted, but always felt the probes were perhaps a bi

Reply to Achievements - Some old some new, some borrowed, some...blue? in Founders Starbase StarControl Forums

GalCiv 3 and Sorcerer King both have achievements incorporated in Steam. GalCiv 2 had achievements too, although they were more gameplay-oriented bonuses rather than what we think of them as today. It wouldn't be a dealbreaker if they weren't incorporated as they're really just glorified progress badges, but they are so common these days that I'd say they're almost a foregone conclusion. I'd be more surprised than not if Stardock wasn't incorporating them.<

Reply to The planet design in Founders Starbase StarControl Forums

I saw that concept layout earlier too. It wasn't in the November update but I commented previously about the use of color in part because I had seen this on the other news sites reporting on the story. I like how the bright rainbow color palette visually classifies resources and makes them easily identifiable, and at the same time it's also a callback to the classic rainbow worlds. Probably too early to know how many resource categories there will be, but I think five

Reply to What should we call this game? in Founders Starbase StarControl Forums

Well, this is a reboot. It should obviously be Star Ctrl-Alt-Delete [e digicons]:grin:[/e]

Reply to "Little things" that we expect in Founders Starbase StarControl Forums

Great point about ambiguity. I'm confident that's one of the reasons SC2 has stood the test of time too. Even if Legend Entertainment had done a better job of addressing unanswered questions (which weren't even theirs to resolve) in SC3, it would have stripped away the sense of wonder. To this day, there is still no canonical answer as to why the Klingons developed different facial features between 1970 and 1985! Worf once said it "wasn't something Klingons discuss

Reply to The planet design in Founders Starbase StarControl Forums

I appreciate Vaelzad clarifying the intentions of the concept art and making a case for why this is the design direction to portray planets. The planet concept art is adorable and a really great direction to go in, but I also feel it needs to be scaled back slightly. I like that it adds to the gameplay and gives planets distinct appearances, but I agree with several others that the geographic features should probably be dialed down at least when viewing from orbit. A point was made ab

Reply to Founder Program Emails are going out. in Star Control StarControl Forums

^ I would gladly pay more if Stardock would throw in a loot crate with posters, toys, a making-of book with concept art, production notes, etc. Might be out of their area of expertise as this is something usually done only by bigger companies, but I would buy it without any reservations.

Reply to "Little things" that we expect in Founders Starbase StarControl Forums

The developers have actually talked about this already; they stated their intentions to carry forward the motif of different typefaces for all the races. Brad also mentioned that they already have about twelve hours (!) of spoken dialog planned for voice actors. So many games taking place in space completely lack a sense of adventure and immersion. Space combat sims may be an exception in that you always have direct control over your ship, but they don't have a sense of adventure

Reply to Any Chance For A Physical Release Of Star Control In The Future? in Founders Starbase StarControl Forums

^ I know it's a complete pipe dream, but I once suggested the idea to Paul Reiche years ago of producing Skylanders style toys for Star Control that could perform a similar function of docking onto a little USB pad to link with the game. I'd be shocked if the idea hadn't crossed his mind. Imagine a whole collection of alien and ship toys. Perhaps for the price you'd pay for each one, it could unlock a new piece of DLC (e.g. limited edition ships to add to your fleet, o

Reply to The planet design in Founders Starbase StarControl Forums

^ I think this is a pretty cool idea I hadn't thought of, but as you acknowledge, some parts aren't realistic. The underwater exploration idea is freaking awesome and Stardock is not doing their job if they haven't already thought of it! I feel temperature should vary based on the proximity to the star, so that daylight on very hot planets will slowly burn away lander armor requiring you to either find shelter or take off (or install better armor) while at night yo

Reply to Associated Fleet in Founders Starbase StarControl Forums

I agree with the idea that the Precursor flagship became overpowered in SC2 in the late game, however that was only because the level of challenge basically hit a plateau once you had all of the Melnorme combat technology equipped. You could take out anything with little effort and the Kzer-Za and Kohr-Ah ships did not become more powerful or cunning in order to compensate and maintain their threat level against you. But what if the level of challenge continued to escalate as your shi

Reply to The planet design in Founders Starbase StarControl Forums

I feel you're both right and am reserving judgment, but I understand Tilt's reservations. Bear in mind this is only concept art and not a finalized appearance. Brad already compared the art style to the look of Pixar's Inside Out and I can see that coming through in these pieces of artwork. The use of a very vivid and bright color palette is a reminder of the more fantasy-based nature of this universe. Most sci-fi games have a lot of cold design motifs with metal and rugge

Reply to So........ About Combat... in Founders Starbase StarControl Forums

I like that the spirit of the "gravity whip" maneuver remains alive and well, but taken to a whole new level. Curious about scale ... back in the day, planets in the combat arena were very small, at about the same scale of the ships and by today's standards, that would be a huge disconnect. I always felt even back then that it would make a lot more sense for ships to be much smaller than the planets generating a strong a gravitational pull, because that's how gravity works.</p

Reply to Associated Fleet in Founders Starbase StarControl Forums

Yeah, I had a similar idea in a previous thread, although in reference to alternate play modes in a melee side-game. Basically treating your ship roster similarly to your inventory screen in something like Diablo 3, where not everything in your inventory is the same size and larger assets take up multiple slots. SC2 melee had only a very rudimentary system of point values for building teams, and you would have to try to match the point values manually yourself to create a fair balance

Reply to A Welcome to the Star Control Founder's Private Forums from Vaelzad! in Founders Starbase StarControl Forums

Happy days and jubilation! I discard all prejudice and hesitations and accept and celebrate your offer and your undying commitment to my well-being! [e digicons]\o/[/e]

[Official] Unofficial Founder Welcome Thread in Founders Starbase StarControl Forums

Wow. Flipping out. Just got my invite and am so honored and happy to be part of this. Looking forward to seeing and sharing more.

Reply to Map Size and The Kaufman Retrograde in Star Control Ideas/Wishes StarControl Forums

I tend to agree. It must be difficult to define the limits of the combat arena in a new and modern way. I have a feeling it made more sense to scale up the combat with the new engine so as to include multiple planets instead of just one. I wonder if the ships will still swap orientations once they reach the furthest distance from one another as we are traditionally used to, or if they'll use some other gameplay mechanic to keep combat from stalemating due to one ship simply outrun

Reply to What games are you playing now? in Star Control StarControl Forums

StarCraft and Hearthstone. Yeah, I'm a Blizzard fan, although in my defense both games have recently received big expansions and perhaps equally important is the fact that they are hardware-friendly for players running on older machines. I like that Blizzard is mindful about optimizing their games to run on a wide range of computers, and I'm sure I'm not alone. Not everyone has killer gaming rigs and I think that is also part of the reason for their popularity. Valve is al

Reply to Star Control: November Update! in Star Control StarControl Forums

This makes me a very *happy camper* Especially thrilled by the news that the authoring tools will allow us to design aliens, which was a question that's been on my mind all along. It's rather straightforward to design ships, but creature design is much more challenging and if players have an easy way to bring their own species to life in an even somewhat convincing way, it's going to be terrifically fun to see what people come up with. Also really digging the new l

Reply to My Star Control Music Tribute Page in Star Control StarControl Forums

Thanks Rafael. Been laying some groundwork for user-created content before the game even gets unveiled. I'm not the best at drawing aliens but I like to think I'm alright at coming up with interesting music. I'd like to say more is coming, just don't know when. It's hard to simultaneously have free time and be inspired enough to come up with new material but I intend on getting some music into the new game. Somehow. [e digicons]*_*[/e] (P.S. update

Reply to The "No Old Aliens" Situation and Ship Abilites in Star Control StarControl Forums

I wouldn't be surprised to see some clever nods to classic ship abilities. I feel they'd be limiting themselves if they couldn't borrow and adapt some of the elements from the original and reinterpret them in a modern context. I would be surprised if there weren't ships with automated attack drones and other homing weapons. Add to that warping abilities, different types of propulsion, stealing energy/crew, disabling an enemy's systems, etc. It would probably be harder to c

Music & Soundtrack Discussion in Star Control StarControl Forums

The subject of music has come up in other threads, but often gets lost in the midst of other gameplay topics, and I felt it would be worthwhile to have a topic where we can exclusively discuss music in Star Control. While it's official (and exciting!) that Riku Nuottojärvi has been brought on board to provide music, one of SC2's greatest assets were the various artists individuals involved in the development of its eclectic soundtrack. I know that there are others here wh

Reply to Star Control: October 2015 update in Star Control StarControl Forums

Wait, are you implying that Paul Reiche wasn't perfect and the original series is not some kind of canonically flawless creation? The end is nigh! [e digicons];P[/e]