Editing Star Control II (section)

==Development==
=== Concept ===
[[File:Classic Game Postmortem- Star Control (16552069930).jpg|thumb|left|Paul Reiche III, Fred Ford, and Rob Dubbin give a postmortem of the game's development at [[Game Developers Conference|GDC]] 2015.]]
''Star Control II'' began as a more ambitious project than the original ''Star Control'', with Reiche and Ford hoping to go beyond ship combat to develop a "science fiction adventure role-playing game".<ref name="Barton2016" /> The team credits the pre-existing combat from the original ''Star Control'' with giving them a strong core to build a larger game around.<ref name="GDC2015" /> The sequel would develop into a much more detailed adventure than the first edition.<ref name="HG101series2" /> Ford explains that the original ''Star Control'' had "some story there, but it was mostly in the manual. In ''Star Control II'', we made a conscious decision to tell more of a story".<ref name="Barton2016" /> The duo would downplay the scale of the game when pitching it to their publisher [[Accolade, Inc.|Accolade]], and the game's development would eventually go over schedule.<ref name="GDC2015" />

Reiche and Ford drew inspiration from many science-fiction authors, as well as peers in the game industry. A few years earlier, Reiche had been friends with [[Greg Johnson (game designer)|Greg Johnson]] during the creation of ''[[Starflight]]'', inspiring Reiche to offer creative input on Johnson's expansive science fiction game.<ref name="escapist-20102">{{cite web|last=Hoffman|first=Erin|date=January 19, 2010|title=When the Stars Align|url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_237/7041-When-the-Stars-Align|access-date=November 21, 2012|work=[[The Escapist (magazine)|The Escapist]]|archive-date=December 9, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131209022129/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_237/7041-When-the-Stars-Align}}</ref> Once Reiche and Ford conceived ''Star Control 2'', they would draw large inspiration from ''[[Starflight]]''.<ref name="GDC2015" /> This friendship and mutual admiration even led to hiring Greg Johnson, whom they credit as "one of the most significant contributors to ''Star Control II''".<ref name="gamespotinterview" /> Ford also cites their shared love of author [[Jack Vance]] from their childhood, and were intrigued by the idea of exaggerated societies taken to their extremes, and intelligent characters committed to an interesting agenda.<ref name="GDC2015" /> Reiche would cite the influence of numerous fiction authors over the ''Star Control'' series, including Jack Vance, [[Orson Scott Card]], [[Robert Heinlein]], [[David Brin]], and [[Andre Norton]].<ref name="gamespotinterview" /> [[David Brin]]'s [[Uplift Universe|''Uplift'' Universe]] and [[Larry Niven]]'s ''[[Known Space]]'' series are often mentioned as inspiration for ''Star Control II''.<ref name="Tringham2014" />

=== Technology ===
The creators started by asking "what people do when they go out and have an adventure in space", while keeping in mind what they could actually implement.<ref name="warstories">Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/ZgN4Mta86OE Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20181023141647/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgN4Mta86OE Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web|date=October 23, 2018|title=War Stories: How Star Control II Was Almost TOO Realistic (Video)|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgN4Mta86OE|access-date=October 22, 2020|publisher=Ars Technica}}{{cbignore}}</ref> This led them to create numerous stars and planets, through a combination of [[procedural generation]] and handcrafted assets.<ref name="Bycer20182" /> Despite the fact that [[exoplanets]] had yet to be fully discovered,<ref name = "warstories"/> Reiche initially took on the challenge of simulating [[planetary systems]] based on scientific principles.<ref>{{cite web|author=Hutchinson|first=Lee|date=December 27, 2018|title=How Star Control II was almost a much more boring game (Article)|url=https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/12/video-how-star-control-ii-was-almost-a-much-more-boring-game/|access-date=October 22, 2020|publisher=Ars Technica}}</ref> They ultimately decided to bypass some details of the simulation, due to its lack of distinct planets to explore.<ref name="DeMaria2018"/> Instead, they imagined cracked planets with magma chasms, ruby planets with precious [[zirconium]], and even rainbow colored planets.<ref name = "warstories"/> The planets were created with a procedurally generated height map, which required difficult programming solutions to simulate the appearance of a 3D sphere.<ref name = "GDC2015"/> They additionally simulated 3D asteroids by digitizing images of [[pumice]] they had taken from a parking lot.<ref name = "GDC2015"/>

The ''Star Control II'' team also invented their own fictional, flat version of space, so that the stars could be arranged in a more clear and interesting way.<ref name = "GDC2015"/> The algorithmically assisted generation of the star map helped to create a vast, mysterious setting for players to explore.<ref>{{cite web|author=John|first=Harris|date=January 1, 2008|title=Game Design Essentials: 20 Mysterious Games|url=https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/game-design-essentials-20-mysterious-games|access-date=October 22, 2020|publisher=Gamasutra}}</ref> The map also added circles of influence for the aliens, not just to describe their location, but to provide narrative hints about their changing power, relationships, and stories.<ref name = "GDC2015"/>

=== Fictional universe ===
Reiche and Ford wanted their new game to further investigate their self-described "superficial" stories and aliens from the original ''Star Control''.<ref name = "warstories"/> Thus, the story for ''Star Control II'' would greatly expand on those original characters, and add a few more.<ref name="Barton2016">{{cite book|author=Barton|first=Matt|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UV7OBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA203|title=Honoring the Code: Conversations with Great Game Designers|date=April 19, 2016|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-1-4665-6754-2|pages=203–|access-date=October 22, 2020}}</ref>

This was the last time that Reiche would design a game using [[Pen-and-paper role-playing game|pen and paper]], including dozens of flow charts for the major plot points, player choices, and [[Dialogue tree|dialog trees]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|last=Walker|first=Alex|date=July 14, 2020|title=Star Control 2 Was Designed And Built Entirely On Hand-Drawn Flowcharts|url=https://www.kotaku.com.au/2020/07/star-control-2-was-designed-and-built-entirely-on-hand-drawn-flowcharts/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200720181416/https://www.kotaku.com.au/2020/07/star-control-2-was-designed-and-built-entirely-on-hand-drawn-flowcharts/|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 20, 2020|access-date=July 20, 2020|website=Kotaku Australia|language=en-AU}}</ref> Paul Reiche III describes this creative process, "I know it probably sounds weird, but when I design a game like this, I make drawings of the characters and stare at them. I hold little conversations with them. '''What do you guys do''?' And they tell me."<ref name="DeMaria2018">{{cite book|author=DeMaria|first=Rusel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dAF-DwAAQBAJ|title=High Score! Expanded: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games 3rd Edition|date=December 7, 2018|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-0-429-77139-2|access-date=October 22, 2020}}</ref> Early in the process, they used the first game's character and ship images to create simple visual stories about the two main sides of the conflict.<ref name="Barton2016"/> The main antagonist the Ur-Quan were already understood as a race of slavers in ''Star Control'', so Reiche developed their motivation by writing their backstory as slaves themselves.<ref name="DeMaria2018"/> To justify the Mycon's organic structures and high energy plasma, they decided that the Mycon lived beneath the planet's crust, and must have been artificially created to survive there.<ref name="Barton2016"/> Fred Ford inspired the character design for the Earth [[Space station|starbase]] commander, as well as the Pkunk's insult ability, while the Spathi were inspired by a running joke about Paul Reiche's desire for self-preservation.<ref name="Barton2016"/> The rich storytelling was a contrast to the first game's emphasis on [[player versus player]] combat, but they realized that their combat [[Artificial intelligence in video games|artificial intelligence]] could give story-loving players an option to delegate battles.<ref name = "GDC2015"/>

Once Reiche and Ford imagined the different alien personalities, Reiche hand-drew a flow chart for each alien's dialog options, which Ford would implement into the game with placeholder tags.<ref name=":5" /> However, the sheer quantity of writing and art proved to be challenging for the game's epic scale.<ref name="gamespotinterview">{{cite web|last=Kasavin|first=Greg|date=June 27, 2003|title=Greatest Games of All Time - Star Control II (Interview Feature)|url=http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/all/greatestgames/starcon22.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050305195839/http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/all/greatestgames/starcon22.html|archive-date=March 5, 2005|access-date=October 22, 2020|website=GameSpot}}</ref> Fred Ford surprised the team with his prolific coding, and it was the rest of the team who needed to catch-up with art, writing, music, and other assets.<ref name = "GDC2015"/> They quickly enlisted the help of friends and family to create game content.<ref name=gamespotinterview/> One crucial friend was ''[[Starflight]]'' creator [[Greg Johnson (game designer)|Greg Johnson]], who Reiche had previously helped on ''Starflight'' while sharing office space.<ref name = "GDC2015"/> Johnson ended up writing dialog for several aliens, as well as creating most of the artwork for the alien spaceships.<ref>{{cite web|author=Horowitz|first=Ken|date=February 22, 2005|title=Interview: Greg Johnson|url=https://www.sega-16.com/Interview-%20Greg%20Johnson.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070317223632/https://www.sega-16.com/Interview-%20Greg%20Johnson.php|archive-date=March 17, 2007|access-date=October 22, 2020|publisher=Sega 16|quote='''Greg Johnson''': ''Star Control'' wasn't my game. I did help out on it, but that was really done by two good friends of mine Paul Reiche and Fred Ford. Paul and Fred run a game development studio called Toys For Bob. Back in the old days a bunch of us who developed games used to share a suite of offices, and basically just help each other out on our respective games. Paul let me write the dialogue for a number of the races in ''Star Control 2'' and I think I did the artwork for most of the spaceships, but that's it. It was Paul's design. To this day Star Control Melee continues to be one of the games I play the most. I think Paul is one of the most amazing game designers ever.}}</ref> They were also able to hire [[fantasy]] [[artist]] [[George Barr (artist)|George Barr]] through mutual friends,<ref>{{cite web|author=Hutchinson|first=Lee|date=October 26, 2018|title=Video: The people who helped make Star Control 2 did a ton of other stuff|url=https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/1e42a2c2-df36-44c3-8c94-b8c7994f7954mezzanine.txt|access-date=October 22, 2020|publisher=Ars Technica}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=GameSpy Staff|date=February 3, 2001|title=Interview with George Barr|url=http://starcontrol.classicgaming.gamespy.com/history/george_barr.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060313095138/http://starcontrol.classicgaming.gamespy.com/history/george_barr.shtml|archive-date=March 13, 2006|access-date=August 6, 2020|website=GameSpy}}</ref> who had inspired the game's "[[pulp magazine|pulp science-fiction]]" feel, and happened to be living nearby.<ref name = "GDC2015"/> Long-time friend [[Erol Otus]] was another collaborator,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.blackgate.com/2011/11/13/erol-otus-and-star-control-ii/ | title=Erol Otus and Star Control II – Black Gate | date=13 November 2011 }}</ref> who Reiche describes as contributing the widest range of content, including music, text, art, illustrations for the game manual, and (later) voice-acting.<ref name = "GDC2015"/>

The largest number of collaborators were needed for the game's numerous dialog options.<ref name = "GDC2015"/> The creators were admirers of the ''[[Monkey Island (series)|Monkey Island]]'' games, and aimed to achieve the same level of player choice and humor.<ref name="DeMaria2018"/> Reiche felt that each character needed their own [[font]] to match their distinct personality, and built a font-editing system to achieve this.<ref name = "GDC2015"/>

=== Deadline and budget ===
Reiche and Ford felt it was difficult to maintain Accolade's interest in the game.<ref name="gamespotinterview" /> In fact, Accolade had played a version of the game with placeholder dialog, and was content to ship the game with the "cryptic" text as-is.<ref name=":5" /> This led to an industry legend that the duo absconded to [[Alaska]] to finish the game without Accolade's interference.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/PCPowerplay-100-2004-06|title=Top 100 Moments|date=June 2004|publisher=PC Powerplay Issue 100|page=30|language=en|access-date=October 22, 2020}}</ref> The creators later clarified that Accolade did not interfere with development and was satisfied to publish the game in any form, and that this was important to their creative freedom and artistic success.<ref name="Barton2016" /> As the project went over schedule, their payment from Accolade came to an end.<ref name = "GDC2015"/> Fred Ford decided to financially support the team for the final months of development,<ref name="pelit">{{cite web|author=Nirvi|first=Niko|date=March 21, 2006|title=Star Control - Kontrollin aikakirjat|url=https://www.pelit.fi/artikkelit/star-controlbrkontrollin-aikakirjat/|access-date=October 22, 2020|publisher=[[Pelit]]}}</ref> and they were ultimately able to finish the project with the help of numerous family, friends, and other collaborators.<ref name=gamespotinterview/>

The team stretched their music budget by holding a contest to create the game's soundtrack.<ref name="Barton2016"/> Reiche and Ford had previously discovered the sample-based [[MOD (file format)|MOD]] file format while porting the first ''Star Control'''s music to consoles.<ref name = "GDC2015"/> They posted the music contest to a [[newsgroup]] for [[Amiga]] users, despite the fact that the game was for [[Personal computer|PC]], because Amiga hobbyists were the main community of MOD-[[tracker music|tracker]] users in that time.<ref>{{cite web|author=Sihvola|first=Jari|date=March 2014|title=Trackerien tarina – modit soivat yhä|url=http://skrolli.fi/2014.3.boing.pdf|access-date=October 22, 2020|publisher=Skrolli magazine|page=37}}</ref> The contest attracted people from around the world, due to the popularity of the MOD format in the largely European [[demoscene]].<ref name = "GDC2015"/> The contest also led them to discover a teenager named Dan Nicholson, who they hired to create additional music as needed.<ref name="Barton2016"/> Further music came from existing team member [[Erol Otus]], who first composed the [[Ur-Quan]] theme on a synthesizer before it was re-sampled and exported to the MOD file format.<ref name = "GDC2015"/> The critically acclaimed soundtrack would include music from Aaron Grier, Erol Otus, Eric Berge, Riku Nuottajärvi, and Dan Nicholson.<ref name="FACTmag">{{cite web|author=Brad Stabler |author2=John Twells |author3=Miles Bowe |author4=Scott Wilson |author5=Tom Lea |date=April 18, 2015|title=The 100 best video game soundtracks of all time|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fact_(UK_magazine)|access-date=October 22, 2020|publisher=[[Fact (UK magazine)|FACT]]}}</ref>

Months after its release, the team would create hours of voice dialog for the [[3DO Interactive Multiplayer|3DO]] version of the game, taking advantage of space afforded by [[CD-ROM]] technology, while bucking the trend of CD-based games with [[full motion video]].<ref name="retrogamer14">{{cite magazine|last=Szczepaniak|first=John|date=2005|title=Control & Conquer|url=http://publicaciones.retromuseo.com:8123/Revistasv1/Retro%20Gamer%20%5Ben-UK%5D/retro%20gamer%20%5Ben-uk%5D%20014.pdf|magazine=Retro Gamer|pages=85–87|access-date=October 22, 2020|archive-date=July 6, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706201713/http://publicaciones.retromuseo.com:8123/Revistasv1/Retro%20Gamer%20%5Ben-UK%5D/retro%20gamer%20%5Ben-uk%5D%20014.pdf}}</ref> [[Game Developer (magazine)|Game Developer Magazine]] featured the game in its list of open source space games, praising its scale and charm, as well as its new features.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Staff|url=http://archive.org/details/GDM_January_2010|title=Space is the Place|date=2010|publisher=Game Developer Magazine - January 2010|page=4|language=en|access-date=October 22, 2020}}</ref> In the end, the 3DO version would feature 11 hours of voice audio, including performances from Reiche, as well as friends Greg Johnson and Erol Otus.<ref name="GDC2015">Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/Napx0MjivCM Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20161122210232/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Napx0MjivCM Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web|author=Fred Ford & Paul Reiche III|date=June 30, 2015|title=Classic Game Postmortem: Star Control|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Napx0MjivCM|access-date=October 22, 2020|website=YouTube|publisher=[[Game Developers Conference]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref>