Star Control: Origins is an action-adventure game developed and published by Stardock Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, released September 20, 2018.
Gameplay
Star Control: Origins 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. The game follows the template of original Star Control series as an action-adventure game, combining planetary exploration, diplomacy with alien races, and ship-to-ship space battles. The one-on-one "Fleet Battles" take place in a 2D top-down arena, with each type of ship having two different abilities. Through the game's story, characters provide quests that direct the player to explore different places in the galaxy. Players can send a planetary lander to explore planets and gather resources, and the game adds a new planetary-landing minigame. The game allows players to upgrade their ships, including abilities that automate combat, planetary resource-gathering, and piloting between destinations. There is also a Fleet Battles multiplayer mode, which can be played against other people online, or against an AI opponent.
Development
In 2013, Atari filed for bankruptcy, and auctioned its assets in the dormant Star Control franchise. 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.
Stardock built their game using the Nitrous Engine, with the style of writing and visual art inspired by Star Control II. 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. The reported budget for Star Control: Origins was $10 million, with additional costs for marketing and promotion.
In 2014, Stardock initially told Ars Technica that they would create Star Control: Origins as a prequel, taking place 43 years before the events of Star Control. Stardock CEO Brad Wardell sought to involve creators of the original Star Control series. When both Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III declined, Stardock reported that the original developers "cannot be officially involved" due to their contracts with Activision, and that the company would "be talking to Paul and Fred as we go forward". In 2015, Stardock announced that their new game would take place "before the events of the original series". By October 2017, Stardock represented that they were speaking frequently with the original Star Control creators, reiterating that Origins would take place in an alternate universe, branching from the original series' universe. Reiche and Ford said that their games had "absolutely no connection, hyper-dimensional or otherwise", and that Stardock had not negotiated their legal permissions. This became an issue in an ensuing lawsuit, Stardock Systems, Inc. v. Reiche, leading to Origins being set in a separate universe from the original series.
Intellectual property
Original ownership and split
Both Star Control and Star Control II were created by Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford under their Toys for Bob studio, with Accolade publishing the titles in the early 1990s. Star Control II is critically acclaimed among the best games of all time, with high demand for a sequel. By the early 2000s, the Accolade's publishing agreement with Reiche and Ford expired. Reiche and Ford still owned the copyrights in Star Control I and II, but they could not successfully purchase the Star Control trademark, leading them to consider a new title for a potential follow-up. This led them to remake Star Control II as The Ur-Quan Masters, which they released in 2002 as a free download under an open source copyright license.
Meanwhile, the Star Control trademark and copyright for III was transferred to Infogrames Entertainment. This happened when Star Control publisher Accolade sold their company to Infogrames in 1999, who merged with Atari and re-branded under the Atari name in 2003. In 2011, GOG.com began selling a Star Control re-release on their digital store. Ford contacted the sales platform, saying they could not sell the games without permission, leading GOG.com to separately license the Star Control trademark from Atari, and the games themselves from Reiche and Ford. Atari declared bankruptcy in 2013, and their assets were listed for auction.