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==Development== === Conception === [[File:OC_03---3rd-Concept-image---late-spring-or-early-summer-1988.jpg|thumb|The mock-up image that Paul Reiche used to secure a publisher for the game. According to Reiche, "the idea was 3D space combat with the sort of [[Asymmetrical gameplay|asymmetrical]] match-ups we'd done with ''Archon."<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=203β |access-date=October 20, 2020}}</ref>'']] ''Star Control'' was created by [[Paul Reiche III]] and [[Fred Ford (programmer)|Fred Ford]],<ref name="Barton2016" /><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 20, 2020}}</ref> who both attended the [[University of California, Berkeley|University of California Berkeley]] around the same time, and both entered the [[video game industry]] in the early 1980s.<ref name="polygon">{{cite web |last1=Campbell |first1=Colin |date=April 16, 2014 |title=Toys for Bob and the story behind ''Skylanders'' |url=http://www.polygon.com/2014/4/16/5614716/skylanders-story-toys-for-bob-skylanders-swap-force |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140417013712/http://www.polygon.com/2014/4/16/5614716/skylanders-story-toys-for-bob-skylanders-swap-force |archive-date=April 17, 2014 |access-date=March 7, 2016 |website=[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]]}}</ref> Reiche had started his career working for ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' publisher [[TSR, Inc.|TSR]], before developing [[PC games]] for [[Free Fall Associates]].<ref name="GDC2015">{{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 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/Napx0MjivCM |archive-date=2021-12-11 |access-date=October 20, 2020 |website=YouTube |publisher=[[Game Developers Conference]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> After releasing ''[[World Tour Golf]]'', Reiche created an advertising mock-up for what would become ''Star Control'', showing a dreadnaught and some ships fighting. He pitched the game to [[Electronic Arts]], before instead securing an agreement with [[Accolade, Inc.|Accolade]] as a publisher, thanks to Reiche's former [[Video game producer|producer]] taking a job there.<ref name="youtubex">{{cite web|author=Hutchinson|first=Lee|date=July 7, 2020|editor-last=Dacanay|editor-first=Sean|editor2-last=Niehaus|editor2-first=Marcus|title=Star Control Creators Paul Reiche & Fred Ford: Extended Interview|url=https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/07/an-extended-interview-with-star-control-creators-fred-ford-paul-reiche-iii/|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200815144859/https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/07/an-extended-interview-with-star-control-creators-fred-ford-paul-reiche-iii/|archive-date=August 15, 2020|archive-format=Transcript|access-date=October 20, 2020|publisher=Ars Technica|quote=(2:00-16:04)}}</ref> Meanwhile, Ford had started his career creating games for Japanese personal computers before transitioning to more corporate software development.<ref name="Barton2016" /> After a few years working at graphics companies in [[Silicon Valley]], Ford realized he missed working in the game industry.<ref name="youtubex"/> At this point, Reiche needed a programmer-engineer and Ford was seeking a designer-artist, so their mutual friends set up a gaming night to re-introduce them.<ref name="GDC2015" /> The meeting was hosted at game designer [[Greg Johnson (game designer)|Greg Johnson]]'s house,<ref name="youtubex"/> and one of the friends who encouraged the meeting was fantasy artist [[Erol Otus]].<ref name="SC2team">{{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://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/10/video-the-people-who-helped-make-star-control-2-did-a-ton-of-other-stuff/|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109025445/https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/10/video-the-people-who-helped-make-star-control-2-did-a-ton-of-other-stuff/|archive-date=November 9, 2020|archive-format=Transcript|access-date=October 20, 2020|publisher=[[Ars Technica]]}}</ref> ''Star Control'' began as an evolution of concepts that Reiche created in ''[[Archon: The Light and the Dark]]'' and ''[[Mail Order Monsters]]''.<ref name="Barton2016"/> The project would adapt the action-strategy gameplay of ''Archon'' into a science fiction setting, where unique combatants fight space battles using distinct abilities.<ref name="Barton2016" /><ref name="GDC2015" /> Also called ''StarCon'', the title was a play on words.<ref name="HG101SC" /><ref name="warstories" /> According to Ford, "''StarCon'' is really just ''Archon'' with an S-T in front of it", pointing to the one-on-one combat and strategic modes of both games.<ref name="youtubex"/> ''Star Control'' would base its combat sequences on the classic game ''[[Spacewar!]]'',<ref name="DeMaria2018"/> as well as the core experience of space combat game ''[[Star Raiders]]''.<ref>{{cite web|author=Aycock|first=Heidi E H|date=January 1992|title=Principles of Good Design - Fun Comes First|url=https://archive.org/details/1992-01-compute-magazine/|archive-url=https://archive.org/details/1992-01-compute-magazine/page/n95/mode/2up|archive-date=August 24, 2011|access-date=October 20, 2020|publisher=Compute|page=94}}</ref> This was the first collaboration between Ford and Reiche,<ref name="Barton2016" /><ref name="DeMaria2018" /> who decided to limit the game's scope to establish an effective workflow'''.'''<ref name="GDC2015" /> Releasing the game under their personal names, they also began referring to their partnership as [[Toys for Bob]].<ref name=":9" /><ref name="Barton2016" /> Programmer Robert Leyland and artist Erol Otus had both worked with Ford at his previous place of employment, and joined him as he began work on ''Star Control''.<ref name="Barton2016" /> === Design and production === Fred Ford's first prototype was a two-player action game where the VUX and Yehat ships blow up asteroids, which led them to build the entire universe around that simple play experience.<ref name="Barton2016"/> Ford designed the Yehat starship with a crescent-shape, and the ship's shield-generator led them to optimize the ship for close combat.<ref name="youtubex"/> They built on these two original ships with many additional ships and character concepts,<ref name="DeMaria2018"/> and play-tested them with friends such as Greg Johnson and Robert Leyland.<ref name="youtubex"/> The team preferred to iterate on ship designs rather than plan them, as they discovered different play-styles during testing.<ref name="youtubex"/> The asymmetry between the combatants became essential to the experience. Ford explained: "Our ships weren't balanced at all, one on one... but the idea was, your fleet of ships, your selection of ships in total was as strong as someone else's, and then, it came down to which matchup did you find".<ref name="warstories">{{cite web|last=Hutchinson|first=Lee|date=October 23, 2018|title=War Stories: How Star Control II Was Almost TOO Realistic|url=https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/12/video-how-star-control-ii-was-almost-a-much-more-boring-game/|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108095109/https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/12/video-how-star-control-ii-was-almost-a-much-more-boring-game/|archive-date=November 8, 2020|access-date=October 20, 2020|publisher=Ars Technica}}</ref> Still, the ships were still given some balance by having their energy recharge at different rates.<ref name="youtubex"/> Although the story does not factor heavily into the game,<ref name="HG101SC"/> the character concepts were created based on the ship designs.<ref name = "GDC2015"/> The team would begin with paper illustrations, followed by logical abilities for those ships, and a character concept that suited the ship's look-and-feel.<ref name="Barton2016"/> The first ship sketches were based on popular science fiction, such as ''SpaceWar!'' or ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'', and slowly evolved into original designs as they discussed why the ships were fighting each other.<ref name="youtubex"/> Reiche describes their character creation 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"/> By the end of this process, they wrote a short summary for each alien, describing their story and personality.<ref name="youtubex"/> After creating a large ship that launches fighters on command, Reiche and Ford decided this would be a dominating race.<ref name = "warstories"/> These antagonists would be called the Ur-Quan, with a motivation to dominate the galaxy to hunt for slaves, and an appearance based on a [[National Geographic]] image of a predatory caterpillar dangling over its prey.<ref name="DeMaria2018"/> They decided to organize the characters into nominally "good" and "bad" factions, each with seven unique races and ships, with the humans on the good side.<ref name="youtubex"/> As they were creating the alien characters based on the ship abilities, the Spathi's cowardly personality was inspired by their backwards-shooting missiles.<ref name = "GDC2015"/> A more robotic ship inspired an alien race called the Androsynth, whose appearance was imagined as [[Devo]] flying a spaceship.<ref name="Barton2016"/> Reiche and Ford were also inspired by character concepts in [[David Brin]]'s ''[[The Uplift War]]''. The designers asked what kind of race would be uplifted by the fiercely heroic Yehat, and decided to create the Shofixti as a ferocious super rodent.<ref name="GDC2015" /> The team also decided that the game would need more humanoid characters, and created the Syreen as a powerful and attractive humanoid female race.<ref name="youtubex" /> When they saw that the Syreen ship resembled a cross between a [[rocket ship]] and a ribbed [[condom]], Fred Ford suggested calling it the Syreen Penetrator, which coincidentally happened moments before the [[1989 Loma Prieta earthquake|1989 San Francisco Earthquake]].<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Reiche III |first=Paul |date=December 1990 |title=Blasting VUXs, Etc. Part II |url=https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_77/page/n33/mode/2up |magazine=Computer Gaming World |issue=77 |page=34}}</ref> The game's [[file size]] was largely devoted to sound effects,<ref name="HG101SC" /> with audio [[Sampling (music)|sampled]] from famous science fiction media,<ref name="cvg3" /> as well as original sound designs for other alien ships.<ref name=":10" /> Each alien race also has a short victory theme song, composed by Reiche's friend Tommy Dunbar of [[The Rubinoos]]. The longer Ur-Quan theme played at the end of the game was composed by fantasy artist [[Erol Otus]].<ref name="youtubex" /> === Porting and compatibility === [[File:Classic Game Postmortem- Star Control (16552069930).jpg|thumb|Paul Reiche III, Fred Ford, and Rob Dubbin give a postmortem of the game's development at [[Game Developers Conference|GDC]] 2015.|left]] The number of visible colors was a major technological limitation at the time, and the team created different settings for [[Color Graphics Adapter|CGA]], [[Enhanced Graphics Adapter|EGA]], and [[VGA]] monitors.<ref name="GDC2015" /> A separate team ported a stripped down version of the game to the [[Commodore 64]], [[Amstrad]], and [[ZX Spectrum]], which meant reducing the number of ships to eight, as well introducing new bugs and balance issues.<ref name="retrogamer14">{{cite web |author=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 |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 |archive-date=July 6, 2019 |access-date=October 20, 2020 |publisher=Retro Gamer Volume 2 Issue 2 |pages=85β87}}</ref> Additional problems were caused by the number of simultaneous key-presses required for a multiplayer game, which required Ford to code a solution that would work across multiple different computer keyboards.<ref name="GDC2015" /> ''Star Control'' was ported to the [[Sega Genesis]],<ref name="sega16"/> in a team led by Fred Ford.<ref name="youtubex"/> Because the Genesis port was a cartridge-based game with no battery backup, it lacked the scenario-creator of the PC version, but it came pre-loaded with a few additional scenarios not originally in the game.<ref name="EGM22">{{cite web|author=Staff|date=May 1991|title=Behind the Screens at Accolade Software|url=https://archive.org/details/Electronic_Gaming_Monthly_Issue_022_May_1991/page/n35/mode/2up?q=star+control|access-date=October 20, 2020|publisher=Electronic Gaming Monthly|page=36}}</ref> Where the PC version featured synthesized audio, the team discovered the digital [[MOD (file format)|MOD]] file format to help port the music to console, which would become the core music format for the sequel.<ref name = "GDC2015"/> It took nearly five months to convert the code and color palettes,<ref name = "EGM22"/> leaving little time to optimize the game under Accolade's tight schedule, leading to slowdown issues.<ref>{{Cite web|date=May 15, 2001|title=Emails from Fred Ford|url=http://www.classicgaming.com/starcontrol/history/fford4.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010515133200/http://www.classicgaming.com/starcontrol/history/fford4.shtml|archive-date=May 15, 2001|access-date=October 20, 2020|website=IGN - Classic Gaming}}</ref><ref>[http://uqm.stack.nl/files/chat/tfbchat-20070613-clean Log of the 2007-06-13 IRC session with Toys for Bob]: "The same goes for the Genesis version of SC1 where we did a quick port with the intention of optimizing it for speed, but they though (sic) having a 12megabit cartridge was a much better selling point".</ref> Released under Accolade's new "Ballistic" label for high quality games, the game was touted as the first 12-megabit cartridge created for the system.<ref name="sega16">{{cite web|author=Galway|first=Benjamin|date=August 14, 2006|title=Genesis Review - Star Control|url=https://www.sega-16.com/2006/08/star-control/|access-date=October 20, 2020|publisher=Sega 16}}</ref> The box art for the Sega version was adapted from the original PC version, this time re-painted by artist [[Boris Vallejo]].<ref name="retrogamer14" /> The Genesis port was not authorized by [[Sega]].<ref name="GDC2015" /> Frustrated with Sega's licensing requirements, Accolade decided to [[Reverse engineering|reverse engineer]] the console to disable the code that locked out [[License|unlicensed]] games.<ref name="legal_book">{{cite book |last=Graham |first=Lawrence D. |url=https://archive.org/details/legalbattlesthat0000grah/page/112 |title=Legal Battles That Shaped the Computer Industry |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=1999 |isbn=1-56720-178-4 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/legalbattlesthat0000grah/page/112 112β118]}}</ref><ref name="Georgetown">{{cite journal |last=Cohen |first=Julie E. |author-link=Julie E. Cohen |year=1995 |title=Reverse Engineering and the Rise of Electronic Vigilantism: Intellectual Property Implications of "Lock-Out" Programs |url=http://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1814&context=facpub |url-status=live |journal=Southern California Law Review |volume=68 |pages=1091β1202 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102203014/http://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1814&context=facpub |archive-date=2013-11-02}}</ref> This allowed Accolade to port several games to the Genesis from their previous list of releases, including ''Star Control''.<ref name="977 F.2d 1510: opinion">{{cite court|litigants=Sega Enterprises Ltd. v. Accolade, Inc.|court=977 F.2d 1510 (9th Cir. 1992)|url=http://openjurist.org/977/f2d/1510|archive-date=September 21, 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921172514/http://openjurist.org/977/f2d/1510}}</ref> Sega responded by suing Accolade for [[copyright infringement]], but the appeal court found that reverse engineering was a [[fair use]] exception to copying the code without Sega's authorization.<ref name="Reverse Engineering: An Industrial Perspective">{{cite book |last1=Raja |first1=Vinesh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K4sXDWGuatcC&pg=PA199 |title=Reverse Engineering: An Industrial Perspective |last2=Fernandes |first2=Kiran J. |date=2007 |publisher=[[Springer Publishing|Springer Science & Business Media]] |isbn=978-1-84628-856-2 |series=Springer Series in Advanced Manufacturing |pages=199β201 |issn=1860-5168 |access-date=October 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180304151008/https://books.google.com/books?id=K4sXDWGuatcC&pg=PA199 |archive-date=March 4, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="977 F.2d 1510: opinion" /> The ruling set an influential [[precedent]], allowing other instances of reverse engineering to continue without penalty.<ref name="book">{{cite book |last=Stuckey |first=Kent D. |title=Internet and Online Law |publisher=Law Journal Press |year=1996 |isbn=1-58852-074-9 |pages=6.37 |ref=CITEREFKent2001}}</ref> Sega eventually settled the lawsuit in Accolade's favor, making them a licensed Sega developer.<ref name="Ultimate History of Video Games">{{cite book|last=Kent|first=Steven L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PTrcTeAqeaEC|title=The Ultimate History of Video Games: The Story Behind the Craze that Touched our Lives and Changed the World|date=2010|publisher=Three Rivers Press|isbn=978-0-307-56087-2|location=New York|oclc=842903312|ref=CITEREFKent2002|author-link=Steven L. Kent|access-date=October 20, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624183529/https://books.google.com/books?id=PTrcTeAqeaEC&printsec=frontcover|archive-date=June 24, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
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