Star Control: Origins

Star Control: Origins is an action-adventure game developed and published by Stardock Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, released September 20, 2018.

Star Control: Origins
Developer(s)Stardock Entertainment
Publisher(s)Stardock Entertainment
Producer(s)Brad Wardell
Designer(s)Brad Wardell
Artist(s)Akil Dawkins, Paul Boyer
Writer(s)Chris Bucholz
Composer(s)Riku Nuottajärvi, Dan Nicholson, Mason Fisher, Michael Curran
SeriesStar Control 
EngineNitrous
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
ReleaseSeptember 20, 2018
Genre(s)Adventure, Action
Mode(s)Single player, multiplayer

Gameplay

Star Control: Origins follows the template of previous Star Control games as an action-adventure game.[1][2] As with previous Star Control titles, Origins combines dialog, diplomacy with alien races, planetary exploration, and ship-to-ship space battles.[3] The one-on-one "Fleet Battles" take place in a 2D top-down arena, with each type of ship having two different abilities.[4] Through the game's story, characters provide quests that direct the player to explore different places in the galaxy.[1] Players can send a planetary lander to explore planets and gather resources, and the game adds a new planetary-landing minigame.[4] The game allows players to upgrade their ships, including abilities that automate combat, planetary resource-gathering, and piloting between destinations.[3] There is also a Fleet Battles multiplayer mode, which can be played against other people online, or against an AI opponent.[1]

Setting

Star Control: Origins is intended as a prequel to the previous Star Control games, taking place in the same multiverse, decades before the events of the original series.[5][6] The game begins in the year 2086, where the human space agency Star Control launches Earth's first interstellar-capable ship to investigate an alien distress signal. The player assumes the role of the captain of that ship.[7]

Development

In 2013, Atari filed for bankruptcy, and auctioned its assets in the dormant Star Control franchise.[8] That summer, Stardock became the highest bidder on the "Star Control" trademark and the copyright in the original material of Star Control 3, though Atari's assets did not include the copyright to other games in the franchise.[9][10]

In 2014, Stardock announced they would create Star Control: Origins as a prequel, taking place 43 years before the events of Star Control II.[11] CEO Brad Wardell sought to involve the series creators Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III, unsuccessfully.[12] Wardell reported that the original developers "cannot be officially involved" due to their contracts with Activision, but stated "we'll be talking to Paul and Fred as we go forward" so that the game can reflect their unofficial wishes.[11] Stardock announced its plans to build the game using the Nitrous Engine,[13] with the style of writing and visual art following the template of Star Control II.[11] The Nitrous engine supports multi-core processing.

In 2016, Stardock released a teaser for the new game, announcing the game's new starting date of 2086, with plans to mirror Star Control II's gameplay and hire one of the classic game's composers for the soundtrack.[7] By 2017, they announced delays and changes in plans, forcing them to cancel their planned Defense of the Ancients-style combat system, while still allowing players to play a public beta of their one-on-one Super Melee system in November.[6] They also announced ways that this game would be differentiated from Star Control II, abandoning any time limit while providing modding tools and a captain's log.[6]

The reported budget for Star Control: Origins was $10 million, with additional costs for marketing and promotion.[14]

Intellectual property

Ownership

Both Star Control and Star Control II were created by Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford with their Toys for Bob studio in 1990 and 1992, respectively, with Accolade publishing the titles. Star Control II was critically acclaimed among the best games of all time, with high demand for a sequel.[10]

In the mid-1990s, Reiche and Ford turned down Accolade's offer to develop Star Control 3, due to the difficult budget they had operated under with the first two games. Accolade instead hired Legend Entertainment to complete the title, released in 1996. Accolade was acquired by Infogrames Entertainment in 1999, and Infogrames rebranded as Atari SA soon after.[10]

Reiche retained copyrights in the first two games.[7] This gave them the right to release the source code for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer version of the game under an open source license, allowing the fan community to port the game to newer platforms. Since Accolade still owned the "Star Control" trademark, this open-source remake was released as The Ur-Quan Masters, the subtitle of Star Control II, to avoid a trademark dispute.[10]

Atari filed for bankruptcy in 2013, leading to a bankruptcy auction for all of their assets. Stardock purchased Atari's Star Control assets, listed as the "Star Control" trademark and copyright in any original material for Star Control 3.[15] Stardock CEO Brad Wardell stated their intent was to make another Star Control game with the purchase, but recognized the difficulties related to intellectual property (IP), as Atari did not own the copyright to the first two games, and that use of any such copyright would need Reiche and Ford's approval.[16]

Intellectual property dispute

In September 2015, Stardock announced that Star Control: Origins was a prequel to Star Control.[5] The game would be set in an alternative timeline of the same multiverse, with none of the original characters,[7] to avoid infringing on Reiche and Ford's copyrighted lore.[5] Private discussions to involve Reiche and Ford in Origins were unsuccessful, due to Reiche's plans for their own sequel, and their ongoing obligations to Activision.[7]

In October 2017, Stardock publicized the beta release of Origins with the 25th anniversary of Star Control II.[6] Reiche and Ford made their own anniversary announcement, revealing Ghosts of the Precursors as a direct sequel to Star Control II.[17] Shortly thereafter, Stardock echoed the announcement for Ghosts of the Precursors as a "true sequel to Star Control 2",[17][18] and began selling the first two Star Control games on the Steam digital distribution platform.[19]

Reiche and Ford contested Stardock's re-publishing of the original two Star Control games. Stardock asserted that they had purchased the publishing rights to these games from Atari at bankruptcy, while Reiche and Ford asserted that Atari's publishing rights had lapsed by Atari's own admission.[20] Privately, talks broke down over whether Stardock was the legal publisher of the games.[21][22] Reiche and Ford requested that digital distributors cease sales of the first three Star Control games via a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown request, but Stardock contested the requests, and the sales continued.[23]

By December 2017, Stardock filed a lawsuit against Reiche and Ford for infringing the "Star Control" trademark with their game announcement.[24][25] Soon after, the pair responded with a counter-suit against Stardock for copyright infringement, contesting the re-sale of the original games and the inclusion of the original characters and designs in marketing materials.[24] As the legal battle became increasingly public, Reiche and Ford published a statement related to an apparent settlement offer made by Stardock, which included a US$225,000 fine to be paid by the two, surrendering all rights to Star Control, and blocking the two from making any game in the same genre for five years; Reiche and Ford had rejected this settlement calling it "unfathomable".[26] Stardock responded that the two has mispresented the terms of the confidential settlement offer, leading Reiche and Ford to leak the settlement publicly.[27]

Stardock released Origins on September 20, 2018, while the lawsuits were ongoing. Prior to the release, Stardock requested an injunction from the court to prevent Reiche and Ford from issuing a copyright takedown against Origins.[28][29] The judge in the case denied the request on December 27, 2018, agreeing with Reiche and Ford that Stardock had been aware of the IP ownership issues at the time they purchased the right, but had started work on a potentially infringing product regardless, calling the situation one of Stardock's own making.[29] Reiche and Ford issued DMCA takedown requests and, without any counternotice from Stardock, the games were delisted from Steam and GOG.com, another distribution platform.[30] Reiche and Ford defended the DMCA takedown requests by pointing out that Origins has too many similarities in graphics, gameplay, and concept to Star Control II, rather than what they had purchased through the Atari sale with Star Control 3, and thus would be a copyright violation of the IP the pair possesses.[31] Stardock CEO Brad Wardell lamented that he would cut staff to accommodate the loss of sales.[29] On January 17 Star Control: Origins was made available again for sale on Steam and GOG; Wardell claimed that Valve and GOG opted to restore the game to their services after reviewing the DMCA takedown on request, however letters show that Stardock agreed to indemnify both Valve and GOG shortly before the game was made available again. [32]

By June 2019, Reiche and Ford had reached a settlement with Stardock, withdrawing their copyright objections and affirming Stardock's trademark ownership of Star Control.[33] Under the settlement, Stardock will be able to continue making Star Control games, while Reiche and Ford can continue with their open-source version, The Ur-Quan Masters, and will rename their planned project Ghosts of the Precursors to a new, less generic title.[34] One of the unusual agreements in the settlement was that Stardock's owner Brad Wardell would provide Paul Reiche with honey from his bee hives, in return for which Paul Reiche will provide Brad Wardell with mead.[35]

Reception
Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic74/100
Review scores
PublicationScore
Destructoid90/100
GameSpot6/10
IGN6.9/10
PC Gamer (US)60/100
USgamer

Star Control: Origins has a Metacritic score of 74, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[36] Yahtzee Croshaw of Zero Punctuation ranked it 4th on his list of the Top 5 Best Games of 2018.[37] IGN's Dan Stapleton gave Star Control: Origins a review score of 6.9/10 praising the game's combat system and humorous dialogue, but criticizing the repetitive gameplay of planetary resource gathering.[1] This was echoed by PC Gamer's Ian Birnbaum, who gave Star Control: Origins a review score of 60/100 criticizing the game's depth and the amount of grinding in gathering resources on planets, while still praising the humor in the dialog.[3] Richard Corbett of PC Gamer would later acknowledge issues with the game's mechanics, while still praising Origins as his favorite game story in 2018.[38] GameSpot's David Wildgoose rated the game at 6/10, stating "at its best, Star Control: Origins urges you to poke and prod into every corner of its intimidatingly vast galaxy, searching out ancient secrets and pun-filled absurdities. At its worst, it drags you through mediocre arcade sequences and generic grind."[4] Stardock reports that Star Control: Origins received 10,000 pre-orders,[14] leading to sales of 50,000 copies after one week of distribution.[39]


References
  1. Dan Stapleton (September 20, 2018). "Star Control: Origins Review". IGN. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  2. Peter Parrish (October 18, 2016). "Star Control: Origins announced by Stardock". PC Invasion. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
  3. Ian Birnbaum (September 28, 2018). "Star Control: Origins Review". PC Gamer. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  4. David Wildgoose (September 20, 2018). "Star Control: Origins Review - Space Oddity". GameSpot. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  5. Bradley Wardell (September 3, 2015). "Star Control: September 2015 update". Stardock. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  6. Axon, Samuel (October 19, 2017). "Stardock CEO talks Star Control: Origins' player crafting and upcoming beta". Ars Technica. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  7. Hutchinson, Lee (October 18, 2016). "A first look at Star Control: Origins gameplay—prequel due for release in 2H17". Ars Technica. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  8. Kyle Hilliard (July 21, 2013). "Wargaming And Stardock Entertainment Obtain Atari Franchises At Bankruptcy Auction". Game Informer.
  9. Hutchinson, Lee (July 24, 2013). "Stardock acquires Star Control rights in fire sale, plans reboot". Ars Technica. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  10. Hutchinson, Lee (February 22, 2018). "Star Control countersuit aims to invalidate Stardock's trademarks". Ars Technica. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  11. Lee Hutchinson (January 3, 2014). "Stardock CEO reveals details about new Star Control title in development". Ars Technica.
  12. Emanuel Maiberg (January 4, 2019). "Stardock CEO confirms Star Control reboot is a prequel, will include multiplayer". PC Gamer.
  13. Julian Benson. "Kevin Unangst has left Microsoft's gaming on Windows 10 project to join Stardock". PC Games N. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
  14. James Batchelor (January 2, 2019). "Star Control creators block Origins release". GamesIndustry.biz.
  15. Megan Farokhmanesh (July 21, 2013). "Wargaming, Stardock System vying for Atari assets". Polygon. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
  16. Hutchinson, Lee (July 24, 2013). "Stardock acquires Star Control rights in fire sale, plans reboot". Ars Technica. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  17. O'Conner, Alice (October 11, 2017). "Star Control 2 creators finally making sequel". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  18. Austin Wood (October 10, 2017). "25 years later, Star Control 2 is getting a direct sequel". PC Gamer.
  19. Horti, Samuel (October 21, 2017). "Classic '90s space strategy games Star Control 1 & 2 land on Steam". PC Gamer. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  20. Parfitt, Ben (December 6, 2017). "Star Control devs and Stardock locked in dispute". MCV. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  21. Bradley Wardell (October 6, 2017). "Stardock self-published email to Fred Ford". Stardock. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  22. Fred Ford and Paul Reiche (October 7, 2017). "Stardock published email from Fred Ford and Paul Reiche". Stardock. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  23. Hall, Charlie (February 23, 2018). "Star Control's original creators and new owners are in a legal war". Polygon. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  24. Lee Hutchinson (February 22, 2018). "Star Control Countersuit Aims to Invalidate Stardock's Trademarks". Ars Technica. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
  25. James Cunningham (December 2, 2017). "Bad Blood, IP Issues Have Stardock, Toys for Bob Squabbling for Star Control". Hardcore Gamer.
  26. "Battle over Star Control franchise escalates, settlement offer leaked online". Polygon. March 21, 2018. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  27. Batchelor, James (March 22, 2018). "Star Control legal battle intensifies as alleged settlement offer surfaces". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  28. "Star Control: Origins removed from Steam by DMCA". Rock Paper Shotgun. January 2, 2018. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  29. Hall, Charlie (January 2, 2018). "Star Control: Origins removed from Steam, GOG following DMCA claim". Polygon. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  30. Lee Hutchinson (January 2, 2019). "Original Star Control Creators Deploy Nuclear Option Against Stardock". Ars Technica. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  31. Hall, Charlie (January 3, 2019). "Star Control creators defend their DMCA claim against Star Control: Origins". Polygon. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  32. Hall, Charlie (January 30, 2019). "Stardock says it's the victim of DMCA abuse as Star Control: Origins returns to Steam, GOG". Polygon. Retrieved January 30, 2019.
  33. McAloon, Alissa (June 10, 2019). "Star Control creators no longer opposing Stardock's Star Control trademark". Gamasutra. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
  34. Chalk, Andy (June 11, 2019). "Star Control lawsuit settled, both sides will cooperate on current and future games". PC Gamer. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  35. "The Only Way to Win is..." Dogar And Kazon. Retrieved 2020-03-30.
  36. "Star Control Origins of PC Reviews - Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  37. Yahtzee Croshaw (January 2, 2019). "2018's Best Worst and Blandest". The Escapist. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  38. Richard Cobbett; Wes Fenlon (September 30, 2018). "The best writing in games in 2018". PC Gamer. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  39. Bradley Wardell (September 28, 2018). "Star Control: Origins - Expansion plans". Stardock.
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