Star Control - this is a great time to be alive!

[RobertB]

Just a head's up that the best game ever is scheduled to get both a sequel and a prequel!

hmpph... looks like I haven't been posting enough here to post URLs.

The prequel is being done by Stardock and you can check it out by converting this to a proper link : www-starcontrol-com.
The sequel is being done by the original developers and you can check out their blog at : dogarandkazon-squarespace-com.

[Douglas]

Whoa. I knew about the prequel, but the sequel is news to me. Very very welcome news.

Star Control II is one of the first few computer games I ever played, it quickly became a favorite, and I think it still compares favorably to new games today. I still go back and play it again occasionally. A sequel by the original creators is in the works? Where's the pre-order page, I'm ready to pay now?

[danzibr]

:O :O :O

Awesome!

I'm in the same boat as Douglas. I heard about the prequel quite some time a go, but the sequel is new news. And man, I'm delighted.

'Bout time. I hope it doesn't stray too far from II. Plus, the full ending of II basically says, "Hey, there's going to be a sequel."

While the ship in the ending of II looks pretty sweet, personally I hoped for a double decker.

EDIT: Here's a link for the sequel. Boy oh boy, some of those lines are promising. The sequel "will include a host of familiar aliens, ships, and characters, as well as new alien races to discover, befriend, and even annihilate." :D

EDIT EDIT: Just watched the new video for the prequel. Looks very promising.

[Douglas]

'Bout time. I hope it doesn't stray too far from II. Plus, the full ending of II basically says, "Hey, there's going to be a sequel."

While the ship in the ending of II looks pretty sweet, personally I hoped for a double decker.

EDIT: Here's a link for the sequel. Boy oh boy, some of those lines are promising. The sequel "will include a host of familiar aliens, ships, and characters, as well as new alien races to discover, befriend, and even annihilate." :D

EDIT EDIT: Just watched the new video for the prequel. Looks very promising.

The direct announcement from the developers is here. They specifically mention the Mark II - that's the ship in SC2's ending cinematic - in the list of things the game will include. Looks like it's going to be a direct continuation, and the same type of game, and I expect the people who made SC2 should have a good idea of what made that game so good.

[Eldan]

The words "procedurally generated" made me wary at first, but then I remembered that there's hundreds of stars in the original and I probably never saw like 90% of them.

Truly, it is the will of Juffo-Wup.

[danzibr]

The direct announcement from the developers is here. They specifically mention the Mark II - that's the ship in SC2's ending cinematic - in the list of things the game will include. Looks like it's going to be a direct continuation, and the same type of game, and I expect the people who made SC2 should have a good idea of what made that game so good.

Nice find!

I'm hoping to see some Black Spathi Squadron.

The only one on the list which was unfamiliar was Keel-Verezy. Hmm.

[Douglas]

The words "procedurally generated" made me wary at first, but then I remembered that there's hundreds of stars in the original and I probably never saw like 90% of them.

Truly, it is the will of Juffo-Wup.

Yeah, almost all the planets were produced by a random number generator. They only bothered manually specifying the important places, like homeworlds, rainbow worlds, special artifacts, and of course the Sol system.

The only one on the list which was unfamiliar was Keel-Verezy. Hmm.

Their only appearance was in Melnorme dialogue. As I recall, there's one greeting sequence where the Melnorme captain says you almost crashed into a Keel-Verezy ship and expresses surprise that you didn't see it.

[danzibr]

Their only appearance was in Melnorme dialogue. As I recall, there's one greeting sequence where the Melnorme captain says you almost crashed into a Keel-Verezy ship and expresses surprise that you didn't see it.

Good memory! For me, I recall that intro, about almost running into something and the Melnorme captain being surprised, but I can't "picture" the Melnorme captain saying what it was.

I guess my brain never understood what the heck he was saying and thus didn't record it.

Anyway. On the planets being randomly generated, I wonder if this is per playthrough? I wouldn't be a fan of that. It wouldn't be a deal breaker, though.

Also... I kind of disapprove of that in general. I mean, it seems to me that having certain kinds of planets in a solar system makes having other planets more likely. Like an outer gas giant increasing the probability of an inner life-sustaining planet.

[RobertB]

Randomly generated almost certainly doesn't mean completely random.

It's much more likely that it simply means that each time you start the game, you get a different set of stars/planets.

For example, when you approach a star there's a 25% chance it will be main sequence.
If so, then you'll have 1d6+4 planets.
The first 1d6 planets will be rocky and the rest will be gas giants.
If more than 3 planets are gas giants then there's a 10% change of life in one of the rocky planets
and so on and so on.

[danzibr]

Randomly generated almost certainly doesn't mean completely random.

It's much more likely that it simply means that each time you start the game, you get a different set of stars/planets.

For example, when you approach a star there's a 25% chance it will be main sequence.
If so, then you'll have 1d6+4 planets.
The first 1d6 planets will be rocky and the rest will be gas giants.
If more than 3 planets are gas giants then there's a 10% change of life in one of the rocky planets
and so on and so on.

I was reading this and thought to myself, "This sounds more like procedural generation than random generation." Then I Google it and find they're synonyms. Mind = blown.

Yeah, that sounds pretty good, but... I'm hoping they did it once and every playthrough is the same. I mean, I like knowing where the good planets are.

[theMycon]

Truly, it is the will of Juffo-Wup.

I have been summoned!

And I am overjoyed at the news.