It was just shy of two years ago that Stardock announced it had acquired the rights to the 1990 sci-fi strategy game Star Control and would soon begin work on a new game in the series. Stardock CEO Brad Wardell said in January 2014 that it would be a prequel, and we really haven't heard much else since. But yesterday, Wardell revealed more about what's coming with a Star Control FAQ posted on his personal blog.
Some of the information in the FAQ has already been revealed: The game will take place in the year 2112 following humanity's first contact with an alien species, it will establish a separate continuity from that of the "Ur-Quan timeline" of the first two games, and original creators Paul Reiche and Fred Ford of Toys for Bob probably won't be involved because they're now tied up with Activision. But there are some new details too, particularly with regard to the makeup of the galaxy.
The new Star Control universe will be divided into "star clusters" comparable to the roughly 500-planet galaxy in Star Control 2. Players will explore their home cluster over the course of the game, encountering the dozen or so new alien species who live in it, equipping and customizing their ship and assembling a fleet of allies who will help fight the bad guys. But after the game is over, they'll also be able to explore other star clusters, created and shared by other players using the "Prescursor workshop."
"If you've played GalCiv III or seen what we're doing with Ashes of the Singularity, you will have an idea of how powerful these [tools] can be," the FAQ states. "At the time of this writing, much of these tools have been created since we'll be using them to create the game assets with them."
It's not likely that Star Control will get a Homeworld-style HD remaster, since The Ur-Quan Masters is already freely available, but "fans will certainly be welcome to use the Precursors tools to recreate their own vision of alternative Star Control continuities and share them with other players." And while we're still a long way from a release date, the FAQ did point out that 2017 is the 25th anniversary of the release of the original Star Control. A hint? I think it just might be.
