It's a big galaxy out there! Share your ideas for new alien species you'd like to see in a new Star Control game!
So I decided to roll my own roulette and see if I could make anything worthwhile out of it. Originally I wanted to roll three mercantile races that'd form a core for my idea of a trade circle but it turned out a bit different as the first one got totally malevolent.
Any names are basically just placeholders. I smashed my keyboard around and scrapped 75% of ultra crappy names and saved the least sucky. They're still sucky, though. If people at Stardock find anything worthwhile in this stuff, I bet they have their own good workers and writers that'll come up with decent things that'll fit the universe they're creating. The number in brackets means the roulette roll I did. Appearance and ship design is just something I came up on the fly. Nuff said, here's my first real take on a new SC race.
Enter the Roigon.
Core lore (4444321):
The Roigon are a race of mechanic beings who put their trust and focus in the logical, scientific way of life. They believe that mathematical calculations and analysis of observable phenomena are the key to success and advancement. Ultimately they strive to achieve a way to interconnect to each other and the whole of existence much in the same way the psychically advanced races do. Although as machines, they can send and receive information to each other, they cannot sense things in the way psychics do, nor feel any kind of deeper connection outside their brethren. They can only process given information. As tragic as it is, in the end their quest is futile, as their very nature denies the capability of psychic phenomena. This doesn’t stop the Roigon from trying, though, and it’s here where things get nasty.
In the ancient past, the Roigon assimilated their own masters, the Vespud. They did this for several logical reasons. First of all, the Vespudians were overly wasteful in their resource usage, they were clearly lesser beings due to their fragile biosystem and erratic behavior (from machine's point of view) and last but not the least – the Roigon seemed to grasp the necessity of organic components as a platform for psychic development. Solution was simple. Destroy 97.234769% of Vespudians and enslave the remaining 2.765231%. After establishing a.. stable co-existence, the bio-material was to be integrated into the Roigon core.
The plan was great on paper, yet didn’t work as intended. The bio-material didn’t work in harmony with the mechanic element and remained unconscious, unaware. However, the material did allow for electrical currents to develop, so the power requirements of the Roigon was substantially reduced, therefore the material was to be kept and preserved as a sort of biological battery (yeah yeah I've seen Matrix). No Roigon will ever mention this dark past of theirs. To outsiders, they’ll give the impression (in the rare case that the organic element is revealed or learned about) that they’re a hybrid creature, a willful creation of benevolent beings. It’s all horsesh*t, but works wonders when dealing with gullible starfarers. The Roigon are cold, analytical beings who care little for others. They’re mainly concerned with their own interests and see others as mere tools or obstacles in their way of advancement.
Appearance:
The Roigon are bulky mechanical beings with four lower limbs acting as legs. On top of this leg-pack, is their core system which is protected by a round outer plating that’s connected to the core by series of smallish poles. On top of the core unit is a Y-shaped limb that’ll act as hands and sensors. In several places around their main limbs, the Roigon has smallish ‘mini-hands’, little pipes with a few pincer-like fingers. Roigon use these mini-hands for maintenance purposes and usually keep them tucked inside the primary limbs. The organic part from their unfortunate creators is not visible in most cases.
Ship: Roigon Receder
Imagine a ball and a block overlapping each other. A ball with “corners” or a block with spherical sides. On the block corners the Receder harbors moderately powerful railguns as well as EMP launchers. The spherical elements are filled with smallish energy emitters that’ll work both as enhanced shield regenerators and point-defense system. In combat the Receder attempts to close in using it’s defensive capabilities and will attempt to nullify enemy ships with it’s EMP cannons. When facing organic ships or such like it'll attemp a burst shock with the energy emitters. After this it’ll wither away the hopefully helpless hostile with it’s railguns and emitters focusing the weapon and engine systems. The Receder is bulky and durable and focuses on keeping together while slowly disabling the threat it faces.
Here's another funky concept I put together using the same method as in previous. I don't use the core elements too rigidly but more like a guideline on the basic nature of the race in creation. In this example, honor-code kind of doesn't fit with double agent backstabbing behavior. It could've been workable by making the honor system so un-human like so the aliens would eventually do things that would hurt the player but I just scrapped it altogether. Honor code turned into a generic life philosophy as well. Random ramblings aside, I hereby present to you the
Salgian slimes
Core lore (2537424):
The Salgian slimes evolved on a lone, barren world of Salgia. This unfertile, hostile world hosted no life beside the slime creatures. Due to the hostile environment and little life to interact with, the Salgian evolution focused primarily on adaptability and resistance to outside elements.
As time passed, the Salgians slowly started to amass in a certain huge crater on the surface of Salgia. After countless aeons, this massive crater was filling up with the semi-sentient mucus. Slowly, the Salgians begun to show signs of intelligence as they amassed together in this massive crater. Eventually, a critical mass was breached and the Salgians gained a massive leap in awareness. The goo-filled crater became aware and so the Pool Father was born.
The Salgians were exhilarated by their new state and were beyond enthusiastic to learn more about the world around them. Praising the massive ‘birthpool’, they quickly created a code of conduct – the Way of the Pool Father.
The Pool Father thought of existence, examined its surroundings and finally stated: ‘drip, drop and ooze through the world’. This became the core of Salgian way of life. It’s hard to put into human terms but a rough translation would go something like this; drip refers to scouting, moving, that one must constantly keep searching for new experiences. It’s the element of activity. Drop is tied to drip, in Salgian society it refers to a larger part moving after the small, dripping one. In this context it means loyalty, strength of unity, courage and bravery. Finally, ooze refers to strength of will, character. It means that the Salgians will pass any obstacles, they go and seek what they wish no matter the difficulties. It also means to reproduce, to populate, in order to keep the Salgians strong and numerous.
Salgians are thrilled to encounter other life forms as they never had the possibility for meaningful interaction in their previous state of being. This causes them to be disturbingly keen to learn about any (relatively) intelligent being they meet, curious to learn about the various ways of life. They’re juvenile, energetic and rather gullible beings. Ultimately, they wish to uncover the secrets of life itself. It is the will of the Pool Father. Drip is the first of words.
The Salgian slimes are green-blueish in color. A single creature is hard to distinguish as they possess an interesting ability to either dissolve into smaller components of themselves or merge into larger ones. Usually they stay around a size of one cubic meter or so. Usually you’ll see Salgians as a pile of goo, which attempts to form itself upwards in either opening or closing spiral, like a sort of tornado or a cone shaped being. Then it stops and begins to ‘melt’ back to a puddle. The Salgians love to stay on the move and do not stay in static form for very long.
They possess an ability to make their bodies more flowing or thick dependent mostly on their mood. Positive atmosphere keeps them flowing, negative thickens them.
Interestingly, Salgians possess internal organs which are separated by surface tension but the same dissolvement/reforming affects them. When Salgians merge with each other, the organs do the same and vice versa. Bizarre beings indeed.
Ship: Salgian Suffocator
The Suffocator is a dreadful thing to face in the battlefield. It is essentially a massive Salgian creature collective that flies towards you like a gigantic ball of death. Due to the highly adaptive liquid form of the Salgian, the Suffocator can shift its form in practically any way in order to avoid beam attacks and such like – if it can react fast enough. Needless to say, projectiles aren’t exactly the most effective against this mucus monster. The Suffocator’s strategy is to splash right into the enemy vessel and then ooze through the hull, gruesomely drowning or burying any aliens within. As the Suffocator is in fact a multitude of Salgians, it can dissolve into a horde of smaller pieces and grow over the hostile bit by bit. In game terms, I think a damage-over-time effect would be fitting.
Star Control DLC Race and Ship Packs for GalCiv3!!!
I can dream...
Sometimes dreams come true. I know I dreamed for a new SC for twenty years or so and it's really going to happen!
Oh, I added some extra features to my original chart, the special element 6 means shapeshifters, but I scrapped it as well as I was happy with what I had written before I got to that part. Twist originally meant some dramatic plot element tied to the race but it's seemingly evolving into some kind of additional personality description. Doesn't bother me, so far they seem to fit surprisingly well the concepts I'm forging. Anyway, it's raining outside and I got myself an extra cup of coffee. The result? Warlords of Axol!
Axolio
Core lore (6262156):
The warlords of Axol, the Axolio are battle hungry beings of pure energy. They’re not evil per se, but rather find deep pleasure and enjoyment in waging war. They find the thrill and tension of battle amusing and revel in this glory of bloodshed (well they don’t bleed but yeah). Their history is not well known, likely any witnesses of their early days has met their untimely demise at the hands of these cunning warriors.
From human perspective the Axolio seem quite mad. As strange it might seem to outsiders, they’re not hostile nor aggressive socially. Instead, they are very pleasant beings to engage in conversation with. The Axolio are humorous, polite and intelligent creatures. They see war like a game of chess, good refreshing past-time. They speak in sophisticated manner and do seem friendly all the way till the inevitable end of blazing guns. When defeated, they usually attempt to congratulate the victor and when they crush their opposition, they don’t humiliate them but rather compliment them for a good fight.
In addition to this elegant way of war they’re constantly trying to plunder and devour raw physical matter. Even though they’re entities of energy, the Axolio are not completely beyond our world. They control matter by focused pressure and some sort of mild telekinesis. They need to consume physical matter in order to sustain themselves. This lust for matter causes them to steal any kind of objects whenever they’re feeling like a snack. Even though one could befriend an Axolionite, it’d be unwise to leave it alone among any items of value unguarded.
All in all, the Axolio seek to eventually do no less than conquer all of known existence. Not because they’re greedy for power or such like, but because they seek to win their ‘game’. They play by rules though, and therefore one can bargain with them. For a while.
The Axolio are oval-shaped energy creatures. At the center of their being is a black, round element around the size of a football from which (also black) spear-like rays are cast out. The oval form is created by eerie yellowish luminescence that surrounds the black essence. Usually several random pieces of matter swirl slowly around the Axolio – they like to keep their food close at hand. The being shifts and vibrates occasionally and the core element pulsates slowly.
Ship: Axolio Accelerator
Take two Kilrathi Dralthi fighters (from Wing Commander, google it) and put them together to form an + if viewed from the front and slap the frontal half of a Vux Interceptor on the thing and it’s the Accelerator we’re looking at. To double check, imagine a Vux Interceptor and put a cross-forming crescent moon shaped wings on the back. This small ship is armed with a multitude of energy weapons. On the tips of the disc wings a pair of graviton beams (yeah yeah so I played MOO as well) are installed and the cockpit is surrounded by a series of gatling lasers. At the junction point of the cockpit and disc wings, another set of gatling lasers are found.
When engaging in battle, the Accelerator begins to rotate in an ever increasing manner around its own axis. This spinning motion causes the energy weapons to charge up and in addition an artificial gravity field is created around the Accelerator, effectively causing a large amount of attacks to get off course as they close in towards the ship.
Shielded by both the gravity field and the usual force fields, the Accelerator is hard to cause any substantial damage upon under light fire. If left to spin freely, the damage and fire rate escalates quickly, making it a rather dangerous foe.
Man, I'm really feeling creative (and overhyped, it'll wear off I know). I decided to scrap the random number chart info as I'm getting more and more liberal in my interpretation of their actual meaning. It's still a handy tool, even though I say so myself and really gives some fun ideas to play around with. Though the original set is a bit too focused on hostile/grim/evil sort of elements. Everybody's spying or backstabbing or xenophobic or whatnot.
I wanted to create some mercantile races that'd work as traders (duh) in the game like Melnorme and Druuge back in the classic. I have this idea of three races all focusing on dealing with different types of resources. Divisions would be lore-information, bio-data & minerals. Beats me if this'll even work out in the reboot but it's fun to brainstorm around. I mean, the old games have tens of races. I'm really hoping the new one will have equally healthy amount of weird creatures to hang out with. Here's the first of three.
Elebriod
Core lore:
The Elebriod are not natives to our world. They’re dimensional travelers from another plane of being. They harness a curious mixture of physical elements, energy form and various vapors. This concoction of compounds is what we perceive as the Elebriod.
The Elebriod are friendly, though indifferent beings. They’re not particularly interested in the affairs of this world. There seems to be something wrong with them, as is quickly revealed when engaged in conversation. Elebriodians zone off occasionally, as if losing contact with this realm. It is as if they’d be talking through a cloud or dreaming, not clearly understanding what is happening around them, not fully rooted in this dimension. They seem lost somehow.
The Elebriod are mysterious seekers of knowledge, more accurately they’re passionate to trade information. They’re rich in their own field, and tremendously helpful in learning about different matters, should one harness information they’d deem valuable. Interestingly, they pay extremely well about any pieces of information concerning their own being.
It is hard to distinguish what the Elebriod are actually made of. At the core of their being is a slim, humanoid shaped upper torso which is surrounded by vibrating air and whirling, thick pale green, yellow and blue gases. The edge of the humanoid-like being is blurry and melds into the gaseous, wavering air around it. The image of their being fluctuates and shifts nearly out of sight at times, and is reinforced again. The torso has two long tentacle-like limbs as arms with three “fingers” in their tips. Their head has no visible eyes nor ears. The head's shape is similiar to H.R. Giger’s Alien but with reduced length and without the freaky tongue.
Ship: Elebriod Educator
The Educator is a beautiful crystalline star-shaped ship. Any would-be combatants shouldn’t be fooled by the harmonious, eye-pleasing design as the Educator is a sinister machine of war. Unlike most space vessels, it harbors no conventional beam guns, missiles or such like. Instead, the Educator is wielding massive transmission elements, cloaking device and a small scale dimensional teleporter.
The Educator sends out mind-penetrating information waves that overwhelm the attackers. Machinery short-circuits and organic beings are driven mad by the massive flow of raw data about existence. This confusing act then allows the Educator to fluctuate and teleport right next to the confused foe which blasts it with dimensional ripples that’ll shred the victim to pieces. If things look dire, the Educator cloaks out of sight and repeats the process until the juvenile aggressors learn their lesson.
I think my descriptions are getting better. If any of this stuff is usable anywhere, I guess it's better that there's no attempt to give too detailed lore about the aliens as it'd possibly 1) spoil any plot elements and 2) probably wouldn't fit the game lore anyway. Nuff said, here's the second traders in series.
Gimathios
The Gimathios are a race of superb crafters. They’re primarily focused on genetic reforging and engineering making them astonishingly good doctors among other things from human perspective. These snake-like hybrid creatures of crystal and organic matter are quite intelligent and very fond of research and experimental actions.
The Gimathian society is highly hierarchical and shows distinctive levels of importance among its members. Their social value seems to be based on the scientific actions, namely bio-engineering, they’ve managed to perform. It’s common practice for the Gimathios to partake in rather wild experimental projects in order to evaluate their position. They’re frantically looking for ways to surpass themselves and each other. Due of this high level of (friendly) competition among their own kin, the Gimathians are obsessed with acquiring bio-material and data that could possibly help them gain new revelations. Being naturally peaceful creatures, they don’t use the more violent ways in obtaining it, but can cause awkward moments when interacting with other life forms if let into close proximity before various racial social codes are explained.
As the Gimathios constantly seek additional information concerning any types of life forms and being fairly friendly and intelligent beings, they’re the perfect trading partners on this field. Resourceful explorers all around the world seek Gimathians to exchange information with them. This high level of bio-engineering expertise of theirs is very helpful in curing diseases, giving in-depth descriptions about the more rare life forms or even re-engineering the physical being of their trade partners, enhancing various capabilities.
The Gimathios resemble large snakes with a multitude of tentacles in the upper part of their bodies. Lower part of their body is used for moving and the upper half rises upwards (similar to Snakemen from UFO1 or Salamanders from D&D). They harness a skeletal structure which is made out of odd, crystalline yet elastic material and parts of their skin is covered in crystalline plating. They’re three-eyed and each of the individual eyes are different colored. For unkown reasons, the color of the eyes change as the Gimathians attain higher ranks among their kin. The Gimathios seem oddly attractive to human senses.
Ship: Gimathios Grinder
The Grinder is one of the more classic style of combat vessels. No fancy teleporters, no gravity fields. The Grinder fields a massive amount of miniature, highly volatile little biochemical capsules. These biomissiles are a testimony of the capabilities of Gimathios engineering. The strategy of the Grinder is to simply open its missile silos and rain a massive barrage of these micro-missiles on its enemy. The sheer firepower of this deadly rain is usually enough to take care of any problems.
In the rare case where it isn’t, the Grinder attempts to keep its distance and begins to fill the gap between it and the aggressor with substantially larger capsules formed seemingly out of crystal. These crystalline bombs shatter when gotten close enough, effectively acting like frag mines. Should the enemy close in, the crystal bombs will take care of it. If it keeps afar, the hail of missiles finishes it. Either way, the Grinder chews it’s opponent to death with ease, at least in theory.
Oh, the Grinder looks like three oval disks put together forming an triangle. It rotates slowly and the missile silos and mine launchers open up from the bottom of the craft.
As most race examples I’ve made rely on the more serious tone, I figured that something a bit more lightweight and comical could be refreshing. These guys were inspired by Stan from Monkey Island series (1, 2 & especially 3 – never played the rest) and I imagine them acting in quite similar manner, just add some speed to the speech. To seal the deal, here’s the last of my trader trio.
Xa’Nuth
Most races excel on some field of life and when it comes to trade, the Xa’Nuth are unparalleled. They are the archetypal salesmen. They got quality goods, the best of deals and the broadest smile you’ve ever seen. They got what you need. If they don’t got it, they’ll get it. If they can’t get it, you don’t really need it. If you really need it, they’ll give you something better.
The Xa’Nuth are extraordinary on this field of expertise due to both their cultural affinity to commerce and their rather unique physiology which allows them to sense their surroundings, the mood and feelings in the air. They believe firmly that cooperation and mutual effort between the diverse life forms of the galaxy is the key to survival. There’s strength in numbers and it’s better to negotiate and compromise rather than wage war guns blazing. Their society is based on this belief and basically every Xa’Nuthian follows the same code of conduct.
In addition, they’ve peculiar sensory organs that covers their whole body. The Xa’Nuth master traders look furry from afar, but the “fur” is in fact a multitude of miniature sensory tentacles that cause the Xa’Nuth to be absolutely hypersensitive to their surroundings. They sense the slightest shift in mood or atmosphere. This allows them to react fast to any problems they’d come across and, of course, helps them to sweeten up deals at the right times.
Highly charismatic and slightly on the psychic side, the Xa’Nuth are good at what they do. One can amuse himself by trying to intentionally argue with a Xa’Nuthian trader. A difficult task indeed, as the master traders are incredibly slick and somehow always find a way to flip the discussion to the positive and find some way to make profit out of it. Customer is always right.
Make no mistake though, the master traders are not exactly benevolent beings at heart. They do what they do because it’s profitable and you’ll pay a price for their goods just like everybody else. Sure, they give the impression that you’re their very best friend but that’s just to make you trust that their price is fair (though it often is) and buy more and more. It’s business as usual.
The Xa’Nuth deal in a number of articles but through time, they’ve come to focus mostly on the more concrete goods. We’re talking about minerals, big guns, rare technological advancements, strange tools and unique artifacts.
The Xa’Nuth master traders look like a blue furry ball with four hands and no legs. They’ve one eye and a wide mouth below it. The fur isn’t actually fur, but rather a field of miniature sensory tentacles which the Xa’Nuth use to sense the atmosphere. These “furry” little fellows use their four thin arms for walking though usually the Xa’Nuth prefer to move more like monkeys, grabbing objects above ground and swing to the next destination. If asked, they tell that they’re comfortable on ground as well but after a while it’ll become clear that the Xa’Nuth prefer to stay above ground level. They like to lay on high ledges and such like when not hanging on to something.
Ship: Xa’Nuth Xenogunner
The Xenogunner is a respectable collection of diverse weaponry. It’s not uncommon to encounter differently built Xenogunners, as the Xa’Nuth typically arm them keeping the current market values in mind, weighting price and efficiency in these devious creations.
Their trademark would be the Discount Disrupter, a powerful beam cannon that’ll make short work out of most foes. In addition, Xenogunners often wield premium space mines, rebate rockets, sample sale sonic cannons, cut-rate corona grenades and more, depending on season.
The master traders prefer to stay afar from the enemy and use the whole of their arsenal in an all-out fashion. More often than not they attempt to catch the hopefully short but spectacular show of destruction on tape which they’ll use in new sales of their quality guns.
It resembles a tesla coil from old Red Alert, with the bridge being at the top and various weaponry on the rings below it.
An hipster race is a must! Their deal is that they are old spacefaring race that already did all this cosmic conquering thing eons ago, actually they are so old the did everything at some part of their history, been both evil warlords and heroic saviors. If you ask them about the precursors they roll their eyes and sigh before saying they were too mainstream and not interesting enough for talking about right now. I am a fan of starfish aliens trope so it would be great if they were non humanoid. But with hipster glasses. They take the role of information brokers in the game, the know everything but at the same time the dont like to talk about mainstream stuff like the current galactic war so they only give you bits of information. You can pay them in news and classic arts (which they will always find out is nothing new and they already had their starfish version of it, but will pay you for the innovation of copying them with humanoids instead of starfishes).
their story ends when you bring them domething truly new and they will flip out and commit mass suicide or civil war. They destroy themselves and never appear in sc2.
Overall, make non humanoid races.
Second, a "vegan" nomadic race. They should look as predatory as possible in appearance but refuse to eat "animals" but in space there are strange life forms that show that one"s perceptions are irrelevant in the larger frame of things. This why they are on the run from either the mycon or suppox or even a whole new race that look like tofu cubes. The vegan race would trade while in your space for food but while they only buy veggies and fruits they do drool around you and make you uncomfortable with their hungry stares and constant insults for you dietary life choices while ignoring their tendency to slaughter non animal sapient races. Game role of trade partner and possible short time ally since they had this tackle with the androsynth because, you know, cloned meat...technically its in vitro so there was this mistake at the first contact and well...they are kinda at war now...
eventually the aliens figure they should take some chenjasu as spirit crystals and the alliance decide they are too much and order them to go away.
The Ahorans
Time flows backwards for the Ahorans. Each conversation begins with parting words, and you are expected to question their answers in an appropriate manner, else they get very upset as their timeline is violently disturbed. They refrain from telling you of the future, as it is considered very impolite, but are keenly interested in history, and ancient artifacts, as it is their future.
Their ship is fairly standard, except that it boasts the anti-aging gun, which transforms crewmen into babes. They can also revive after one detonation by rerversing the time flow of their killing blow.
First, I'm excited to even have the possibility of a new SC game, with some added reservations about reboots and remakes aside a moment.
Secondly, to respond to the original thread's question:
I'd like to see a few new races however, in my mind its very difficult to set aside what is familiar and more importantly fun, in order to craft an idea that doesn't break with what already exists. In the interest of not including spoilers even via tag, I will simply state that, it would be interesting to learn that not "everything" was 100% that some alternative history is not disregarded. As the open ended resolutions were not necessarily required to complete the game. I'd personally like to see that explored, and technically if enough time has passed, it is not impossible to have repercussions from the conflict in cultures.
As to more specific new races: One idea I had many years ago was another "elevated" race, one that perhaps does not necessarily agree with others versions of things, perhaps seeking to bridge the knowledge gap (I mean, who wouldn't want to be able to know more). Said race would not as tangible as the Orz, perhaps fading in and out, and being difficult to determine actual appearances. While they do appear extremely knowledgeable the same cannot be said for their actual ships, which would be akin to space wrecks held together (mental *ducktape* its magical), no clear reasoning is given, except that (perhaps) they do not quite possess the same manufacturing capabilities in this.. space. Offers to give them said manufacturing technology are met with mocking, as clearly they do not need such primitive tools, they will continue with what they have, they need nothing more. In combat, it would be effectively a slow drain on the other ship, draining crew, all the while attempting to direct itself away in a similar method to the Arilou, with seemingly less control, more rough. Perhaps because they are new to this space, they could be found somewhere that was already explored. Perhaps following one of the "others".
I don't know if this constitutes a "race", but I swear to everything holy, unholy, and in-between; if we see that stupid League Ethics Complaint Management System/Hint Generator computer from SC3, I will be very, very *Frumple*!
I wonder if some of the Sentient Milieu could appear. Drall, Taalo, Mael Num (or Melnorme?) etc.
Some race concepts I'd like to see.1) Race does not have long term memory (or concept of time for that matter). They are instinct based creatures (so individuals can learn different emotional responses to you you based on encounters) and then they pass on instinctual behavior through genetics.Consequence: You would have some really weird encounters with these guys that change depending when and where you meet (they could eve have different behaviors if say you meet them near Ur-Quan thrall borders or their "safer" central domain of space. You would also change their behavior based on interactions, and not see any consequence until a few generations down the road. (when they reproduce and pass on their instinctual behavior towards you)2) Nomadic world devourers- They pretty much core the resources out of a planet and leave behind the crusts... although they are a serious threat (but perhaps can be bargained with) they move on before the SC2 timeline arrives, which is why they are not around as a permanent influence in this part of the galaxy.3) Space Monsters! The Sa-Matra was an interesting fight.... now make a few other boss fights like this, except with giant space lifeforms. They don't exist further in the timeline because the Ur-Quan systematically wipe them out if they are non-sentient (I guess what also could be an idea to develop... what do the Ur-quan do with Sentient Space Based lifeforms when conquered) 4) Star Trek Borg like assimilator race (big identity/culture/individuality crushing threat to be dealt with)- the twist being that refugee races from the Ur-Quan and Khor-Ah doctrinal campagins are entering the area, intentionally seeking this assimilator race out to be assimilated, because being assimilated seems to beat being a galactic refugee.5) Sentient starship race- They are AI ships that rebelled and fled from their manufacturers.6) Pre-hyperspace civilizations (to help or exploit mwhahah)7) Extra Galactic invaders- Hey, if there's only one thing that brings the Ur-Quan and Khor-Ah together, it's thwarting the Andromedan menance. All right, I got lazy after point 1. Maybe Ill come back and develop these race concepts some more.
I know there may be some issues in continuity and creative rights, but I woold really like to see the original races return. They were such fun and enjoyable races and interactions, they made up at least 30% of the games' appeal for me. Whilst most other games featured stale, cardboard cut out, character templates SC2 had living, breathing, characters. It almost felt like you really were having a conversation with another being (even when/especially when it degenerated into name calling)
What really ruined the 'sequel-we-do-speak-of, was not only the woeful representation of original races, but the cast of new equally woeful races.
Where the original SC2 had distinctive character, mannerisms, and style; the races featured in the 'game-that-dissapointed-me-beyond-what-I-can-articulate-into-words' were just flat, over-sterotypified, and just plain irritating. When going to the aid of the Zoq-Fot-Pik in SC2, these were likeable, funny, characters that you wanted to help. I felt no such desire to help the overwhelmingly annoying characters in the alleged sequel, and almost aided them against my will, simply for game progression.
Please take these points into consideration when designing new character races
I also like what has been said earlier about featuring the Taalo and other races of the Sentient Milieu. Breifly mentioned races such as the Gg (the desolates planet where one if the Hyperwave Broadcasters is found) would still connect to the original, but essential be a whole new character race.
I also like the idea of tech level with ships, like a tech IIl Mycon Seed Carrier. This would also give the sense if the galaxy being in at the height of civilization, before being ravaged by the Ur-quan.
We agree. We'd love to reintroduce players to the races from Star Control 1/2.
And I suspect it'll be very controversial if they're not in the new Star Control. But I also think it's important that we respect the wishes of Paul and Fred, the creators of Star Control 1/2. As their publisher, we have both a moral and legal responsibility to protect their work and not use it in any way they don't approve of.
One of the reasons doing the new Star Control as a reboot is that it allows fans to be reintroduced to an entire galaxy of new races that are totally unknown. This opens up a lot of plot points we wouldn't really be able to do.
One of the advantages of the new tech available is that when the game is released, we can have a much much MUCH larger galaxy and open it up with expansions to keep adding more and more aliens. Thus, if Paul and Fred are allowed by Activision to participate (or someday leave Activision) there is still opportunity to bring those aliens into the game.
I love where this is going. The idea of this franchise entering the era of DLC expansions is amazing. It's going to be so hard to dial back my patience. As much as I love the old lore and would love to see it incorporated, I trust those responsible to be competent enough to readapt it in a whole new direction.
And yet I feel like I'm in the minority to be excited by the idea that this will be a new experience with unknown things to discover. It's more interesting (at least to me) to be going into it with a fresh perspective and no idea what to expect. I'm confident that Stardock is going to find creative ways to incorporate subtle nods to the old lore in a new narrative without copying it verbatim.
I tried reaching out to Paul months ago to get his take on the situation. We had previously chit-chatted informally about Star Control a handful of times in the last twenty (!) years via e-mail and once over the phone. I actually sent him a letter once with hand-drawn Star Control artwork on the envelope and he said he liked it so much he keeps it in a display collection somewhere in his office, which genuinely surprised and delighted me in the nerdiest way possible.
I have been unable to hail him recently, though. I figured it was because he's so caught up in the success of Skylanders, or maybe a bit depressed about losing touch with the Star Control property and didn't want to talk with me about it. Perhaps it's a bit of both combined with the fact that he just never got around to getting back to me.
Nevertheless, the idea of keeping the franchise open enough that it will allow expandability with the involvement of other third parties in the future is really promising and intriguing. Any word on when we can expect those previously mentioned Skype developer live chats? I want to know how soon I can become a Elite Edition Founder and get my own star name!
haven't read previous posts, but anyway, just my opinion as old timer.
please just make the game as good as SC2 was. What was good for me:
some ideas:
I'd like to see and interact with non-star-faring races. For example: a planet covered by a single sentient organism. A hive-minded asteroid dwellers etc.
Galactic Sea Pigs....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y4DbZivHCY
And yes...you should watch the video. Its hilarious.... "A HOLE IS A HOLE"....
also...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5FEj9U-CJM
Actually, there's a TON of these videos. Funny...
I always liked the idea of the Pakleds in Star Trek, and something like them would fit well into SC with the comedy aspect of a race of retarded people operating space ships... but I'm guessing something like the Pakleds are too politically incorrect for 2015:-(
"We look for things. Things that make us go."
Would have been just fine 10 years ago.
Star Control and political correctness don't exactly get along.
Oh god. Please don't get sued or lynched by the Tumblr mobs.
I always had this idea about a race where they were nomads, living on a single asteroid or cobbled-together mass of space-junk, that migrated around the galaxy. And if you so CHOSE, in the spirit of Star Controls' game-changers, you acquired some way to destroy said asteroid, obliterating every member of that race, taking them out of the game completely. Or conversely, you had to stop someone from doing the same. I think it would be a way to have a completely game-altering choice - kind of like the Shofixti being in or out of the game based on your decision to kill Captain Tanaka (or not)!
It's be nice to have a literally DISGUSTING looking alien race. Druuge were pretty repulsive with the warts all over their body and face, malformed toes, leaking boogers outta their noses, hanging without pants (probably just to crap and piss under themselves)....
Also, need some space babes replacement to romance real hard:
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