Editing Star Control II (section)

=== 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" />