Editing Star Control (section)

{{Short description|1990 video game}}
{{good article}}
{{Infobox video game
| title = Star Control
| image = Star Control cover.jpg
| caption = Sega Genesis cover art by [[Boris Vallejo]]
| developer = [[Toys for Bob]]<ref name="HG101SC"/>
| publisher = [[Accolade, Inc.|Accolade]]<ref name="HG101SC"/>
| designer = [[Fred Ford (programmer)|Fred Ford]]<br />[[Paul Reiche III]]
| programmer = Fred Ford<br />Robert Leyland
| artist = [[Greg Johnson (game designer)|Greg Johnson]]<br />Paul Reiche III<br />[[Erol Otus]]
| composer = Kyle Freeman<br />[[The Rubinoos|Tommy V. Dunbar]]
| producer = Pam Levins
| series = 
| engine = 
| released = July 1990 (Amiga, DOS)<br />1991 (ports)
| genre = [[Action game|Action]], [[strategy video game|strategy]]
| modes = [[Single player]], [[Multiplayer video game|multiplayer]]
| platforms = [[Amiga]], [[MS-DOS]], [[Sega Genesis|Sega Mega Drive/Genesis]], [[Amstrad CPC]], [[Commodore 64]], [[ZX Spectrum]]
}}
'''''Star Control: Famous Battles of the Ur-Quan Conflict, Volume IV''''' is an [[Action game|action]]-[[strategy video game]] developed by [[Toys for Bob]] and published by [[Accolade, Inc.|Accolade]]. It was originally released for [[MS-DOS]] and [[Amiga]] in 1990, followed by [[Porting|ports]] for the [[Sega Genesis]] and additional [[Computing platform|platforms]] in 1991. The story is set during an [[Space warfare|interstellar war]] between two space alien factions, with [[Earth in science fiction|humanity]] joining the Alliance of Free Stars to defeat the invading [[Ur-Quan]] Hierarchy. Players can choose to play as either faction, each with seven different alien [[starship]]s which are used during the game's combat and strategy sections.

The game was created by designer-artist [[Paul Reiche III]] and programmer-engineer [[Fred Ford (programmer)|Fred Ford]]. Initially, the concept was based on the space combat seen in ''[[Spacewar!]]'' (1962), combined with the action-strategy gameplay seen in ''[[Archon: The Light and the Dark]]'' (1983). The alternate title, ''StarCon'', was a play on words referring to Reiche's prior work on ''Archon,'' adapted into a [[science fiction]] setting. After developing the core space combat system, Reiche and Ford created an assortment of ships, abilities, and character designs. The project was completed with additional artwork from [[Greg Johnson (game designer)|Greg Johnson]] and [[Erol Otus]].

''Star Control'' was a critical and commercial success upon its release, leading to two sequels, ''[[Star Control II]]'' in 1992 (and the free open-source remake ''[[The Ur-Quan Masters]]'' in 2002), and ''[[Star Control 3]]'' in 1996. It has since been ranked among the best games of all time by ''[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]]'' and ''[[VideoGames & Computer Entertainment]],'' remembered for the [[replay value]] of its combat, as well as the colorful [[worldbuilding]] that gave rise to its [[List of video games considered the best|acclaimed]] sequel. Years after its release, game designers have continued to cite ''Star Control'' as an influence on their work, including ''[[Mass Effect]]'' (2007), and [[Stellaris (video game)|''Stellaris'']] (2016).