Been so busy that I haven't had the opportunity to participate in the community, and am so glad to see this forum being established to allow the fans to talk directly to the developers. Brad, I know you understand what made Star Control 2 what it was, and I've been patiently waiting for years after hearing murmurs of Stardock's interest in acquiring the franchise. Like a number of other fans, I'm so anxious to see the project unfold and evolve.
Based on what was already said, I'm confident you already know what to take to heart with this title that the third chapter failed to carry forward: a sense of adventure. Piloting through space to the tune of epic and mesmerizing soundtracks. Narrowly dodging incoming enemies in Hyperspace or being slowly overrun as one catches up to you because your ship is not fast enough to outrun them. We all know that the taming of that sense of adventure into a mundane point-and-click adventure/strategy game was the major stumbling point of Star Control 3.
That being said, I would still love to also see some of the spirit of Star Control 1 injected into the gameplay to bring a strategic element to it. It was an element of SC1 that was lost in SC2, and one which was also poorly integrated into SC3. As good as SC2 was, one of the biggest gameplay hurdles was having to frequently navigate back to your home star system, and until you could travel through QuasiSpace, as well as understand the locations of all the QuasiSpace warp points, it was time consuming and confusing. Being able to establish outposts, colonies, and mines similar to SC1 would introduce a strategy element in the same vein as SC1 or 4X games like Master of Orion to allow players to refuel or pick up crew without having to return home would be a great dynamic. I don't think that colonies and outposts should have a micromanagement focus, but rather a macro element in the broader spectrum of the strategy like in SC1, allowing the player to expand spheres of influence and fight for control of territories, much like in Risk. It is, after all, called Star Control! The storyline of SC2 effectively prevented this from being a gameplay element, but I don't think the adventure should follow that same "single return point" format both in light of modern gaming conventions and the plot no longer limiting us to our own native star system as the only safe haven. I feel this strategy element of territory control should be integrated into the new title.
I think as far as the story goes, you would be remiss not to have Paul Reiche on board at least in a consulting capacity to honor the narrative. I know for a fact he's had ideas in mind over the years. One thing that SC3 did right was the voice talent. I think that's where most of the budget went! The performances were funny and the characters were all endearing in their own ways. I will certainly be echoing others in saying that SC3 answered too many questions (in questionable ways) without introducing any new ones though. Having old questions answered isn't a problem so long as there's still an air of mystery to something else. People like to be left wondering. It's why there are still fans excited after twenty years! Ever since playing SC2 and imagining all the Sentient Milieu races lost to the sands of time without so much as even a picture to know them by, I have wanted to see a followup that explored their natures either by discovery of old artifacts or possibly even time travel. Imagine getting to meet the Drall, Yuli, Yuptar, Gg, Burvixese, et al. and learn about their culture, biology and motivations!
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