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Tune in to see Star Control: Origins at E3 and the PC Gaming Show next week!

Hey, everybody! Kristy here, and I’m going to be Stardock’s “feet on the ground” at E3 this year. We’re super excited to be participating in the PC Gaming Show on June 11th and can’t wait for you to see what we’ve got in store! At the show and on the livestream, we’ll debut our brand new trailer for Star Control: Origins and reveal some exciting news! Director of Game Production, Patrick Shaw, will take the stage to showcase our progress ... [read more]

6/5/2018 By Tatiora in Star Control News

Star Control: Origins - May 2018

Greetings! This is the LAST month for monthly Star Control updates before release....because now we're moving into weekly updates because things are moving so fast. The Menkmack arrive! FINISHING We will be announcing our official release date soon.  You may have heard that we will have a big E3 presence and we anticipate announcing the final release date then.  For those of you who are familiar with Stardock, you know we tend to run a bit "hot".  With Star Control: O... [read more]

5/25/2018 By Frogboy in Star Control Journals

Star Control: May 2018

Greetings! This is the LAST month for monthly Star Control updates before release....because we're now moving into weekly updates because things are moving so fast now. The Menkmack! FINISHING We will be announcing our official release date soon.  You may have heard that we will have a big E3 presence and we anticipate announcing the final release date then.  For those of you who are familiar with Stardock, you know we tend to run a bit "hot".  W... [read more]

5/19/2018 By Frogboy in Star Control Journals

NEW May 2018 Preview Trailer for Star Control: Origins is here!

Want to see what's going on with development for Star Control: Origins? Look no further - check out this preview video!   We may have primitive space ships, zero understanding of hyperspace, and only know half the digits of pi, but we're ready to fight to protect the Earth! Our friends the Tywom give us a look at some of the other alien species out in the universe! New Fleet Battles footage, glimpses of hyperspace travel, and planetary exploration highlight the vide... [read more]

5/18/2018 By Tatiora in Star Control News

3 Years of Galactic Civilizations III and we’re celebrating with a special sale!

Happy Anniversary, Galactic Civilizations III! The story of Galactic Civilizations has been around for 24 years - can you believe that? Yeah, neither can we. Let's reflect! 24 YEARS AGO GalCiv - the first commercial game for IBM's OS/2. Years ahead of its time, the game took full advantage of 32-bit memory addressing, multi-threading, and high-res graphics.   22 YEARS AGO GalCiv II released for OS/2 in 1996. Expanding on the success of ... [read more]

5/14/2018 By Island Dog in GalCiv III News

v2.75 for Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation is Now Available

This Update provides Substrate with more anti-air tools, features Substrate King of the Hill and launches ladder season 3  Update also includes new Retributor audio, improvements to  campaigns, balance, economy and movement speed For a detailed list of updates, view the changelog at the bottom of this post.   Update Highlights: Substrate Anti-air Substrate mobile anti-air is now more flexible with new late game options. The Overm... [read more]

5/14/2018 By GGTheMachine in Ashes of the Singularity News

Star Control: Origins - Screenshot Friday 2018.5.11

Star Control: Origins continues to head towards its September 2018 release date! Here's the week in screenshots! The galaxy is a busy place We will be keeping these journals spoiler free.  With that in mind, the year is 2088.  Earth exists in a part of the galaxy called Orion's Spur ("The Spur").  It has recently become a much busier part of the galaxy and you will be uncovering why that is. Star Control is a single player RPG where you command a single ship b... [read more]

5/11/2018 By Frogboy in Star Control Journals

FREE WEEKEND: Try Offworld Trading Company on Steam through 5/6!

Play through the single-player campaign or join us online all weekend long for exciting multiplayer games The free weekend runs from 1pm ET on 5/3 through 1pm ET on 5/6. Load up Steam and check it out for yourself! _______________________________________________________________________________________ You can also snag Offworld Trading Co. for 50% off or Complete your collection with the Gold Edition for up to 65% off Live streams will be running ... [read more]

5/3/2018 By Island Dog in Offworld News

Star Control: Universe

The yellow dwarf Around 8 kiloparsecs from the galactic core is a yellow dwarf star.  Its location is quite outside the the area of the galaxy that anyone would really care about. This is a map of the milky way galaxy.  It’s probably unlike any map you’ve seen before.  That’s because unlike most maps, this is a map designed to show you the geography of the milky way galaxy.  Our galaxy is made up of several different arms.  What matters to us... [read more]

4/27/2018 By Frogboy in Star Control Journals

Star Control: The Game

The Galaxy Awaits Take command of Earth’s first and only interstellar starship whose mission is to save the world…at any cost.  Travel to distance stars, investigate exotic new worlds, engage with alien civilizations and unravel the myriad of deep intrigue that saturates our little corner of the universe. Explore exotic new worlds We live in the Scryve sector of the Orion Spur which is part of Orion’s Arm which is part of the Milky Way galaxy which is part of Laniakea super-... [read more]

4/27/2018 By Frogboy in Star Control Journals

Fleet Battles Beta 2 is here - let’s get ready to rumble!

Attention, pilots - to your stations! Fleet Battles just received a massive update and we can't wait to see you online to try it out. We've added some new alien ships, a few devastating new weapons, and customization options for your matches. Buckle up - it’s time to fly! For full details on the updates, view the changelog at the bottom of the post! [  Download this for your desktop wallpaper  ]   TOP CHANGES IN BETA 2 New Ships ... [read more]

4/26/2018 By redskittlesonly in Star Control News

Star Control: Origins - April 2018 Screenshots

Greetings! As Star Control gets closer to release, we want to share with you some screenshots so that you can see how things are progressing. If you have any questions, let us know in the comments. Home solar system Returning home Strange new world In orbit   On surface   Hyperspace   New friends Star Control: Origins – Fleet Battles BETA 2 is available on www.starcontrol.com .  Star Control: Origins arrives later thi... [read more]

4/26/2018 By Frogboy in Star Control Journals

Star Control: Secret Briefing #2 - The Precursors

April 2086 Good afternoon.  Thank you for attending this meeting.  We have been taking your questions via the Google document .  If you will enable your FaceGoog implants to turn to the topic of Precursors from the 2085 lecture we can begin. We will assume you have gone over the classified materials from the recent Emdrive test . As a reminder, the general public has not been brought up to speed on everything that was found on Ceres.  The rumors of the so-called "A... [read more]

4/20/2018 By Frogboy in Star Control Journals

Star Control DEV DIARY #1: Our little corner of the universe

You know the phrase, “Space is big”.  Today, let’s walk through just how big space really is, and how its scale fits into the Star Control multiverse. Star Control: Origins takes place in a sector that is 120 by 120 light years.  This is a staggeringly big area, but it is nothing compared to even our local super-cluster. Let’s zoom out. Way… way out, and we get to Lanikea: Nature video has a fantastic segment outlining just how massi... [read more]

4/16/2018 By Frogboy in Star Control Journals

Ruling the Galaxy Takes a Massive Leap Forward with Galactic Civilizations III: Intrigue and New v3.0

Galactic Politics and Government Have Arrived in Galactic Civilizations III: Intrigue Galactic Civilizations III is one of the largest strategy sandboxes ever made. Start with a single world and expand across the galaxy through diplomacy, trade, cultural hegemony, or military conquest in this single-player or multiplayer 4X strategy game. Send spies to infiltrate enemy civilizations, encounter mysterious anomalies and events across space, let your citizens help lead your ci... [read more]

4/11/2018 By Island Dog in GalCiv III News

Galactic Civilizations III: Walkthrough 2018

Remember when you bought a game at the store, took it home, devoured the user manual the first evening, and then played a game that you would slowly master?  Those were the days. Today, games are much more sophisticated and today's gamers want to see their games evolve and improve based on their feedback.  That brings us to this walk-through of Galactic Civilizations III v3. For the purposes of this walk-through, I will be using v3.0 with all expansions installed.  Your expe... [read more]

4/10/2018 By Frogboy in GalCiv III Dev Journals

Intrigue Journal #5: Tapestry of the machine

The species that are - in essence, talking meat - receive a great deal of attention, despite being an objectively inferior form of life. Today I will attempt to communicate to you humans the advantages of synthetic life. The days of organic lifeforms are numbered. The wise and benevolent Yor Singularity will have it known that this is not a threat, it is simply a fact of the state of nature. The Yor, as depicted in the OS/2 version of Galactic Civilizations 20+ years ag... [read more]

4/6/2018 By Frogboy in GalCiv III Dev Journals

Star Control: April 2018

Check out a brand new Star Control preview trailer   We’ve got less than half a year left before Star Control: Origins is set to release.  So much is happening! Before I get into this month’s updates, here’s a bunch of answers to questions: What is Star Control? Star Control is a space adventure game where you are the captain of a starship exploring the cosmos, meeting aliens, landing on planets, engaging in battles in space and on land, a... [read more]

4/4/2018 By Frogboy in Star Control Journals

Now Announcing: Galactic Civilizations III: Intrigue Release Date!

We're really excited about the upcoming Intrigue expansion, and we know you are, too! Not only are we sharing the release date today, but we also have a special announcement regarding a stream, a CEO, and a certain  angry  YouTube show host...   - -> Find out the release date and stream details  here ! <- -   _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Intrigue De... [read more]

4/4/2018 By Island Dog in GalCiv III News

Intrigue Journal #4: So you say you want a revolution?

We have previously discussed the perils of running a galactic civilization.  People living hundreds of light years away from their home world will have relatively little interest in the political intrigues of the capital.  That’s where the government types come in. What is the best type of government for your civilization? There is no right answer. Let’s work through a scenario and how it might play out.  The star Procyon is 11 light years away from Earth.&nbsp... [read more]

4/3/2018 By Frogboy in GalCiv III Dev Journals

Intrigue Journal #3: The Galactic Market

The situation is desperate. The Terran Alliance is slowly losing the war to the Drengin Empire. Is Earth doomed? Your friends are doing their best to help, but they cannot directly involve themselves. Our friends, the Altarians, give us covert aid. The Drengin Empire's military might is vast. The Drengin have long prepared for this day.  We had hoped that trade and diplomacy would stay their hands.  But after having annihilated the Torians, their bord... [read more]

3/31/2018 By Frogboy in GalCiv III Dev Journals

Galactic Civilizations III: Intrigue - An Overview

Intrigue is the third expansion for Stardock's massive-scale space strategy game, Galactic Civilizations III. This expansion changes the game in significant ways to extend playability and introduce new dynamics, adding politics, governments, civilization crises, the GNN, elections, and the Galactic Market to the game.  We're also updating the base game to version 3.0 with the release of Intrigue; you'll see we've called out areas where changes are made in v3.0. This will walk you thro... [read more]

3/27/2018 By Frogboy in GalCiv III Dev Journals

Galactic Civilizations III v3 Preview: A great start!

Everyone loves a good start.   Every game of Galactic Civilizations is different.  The original tagline was: “Never the same game twice.”  It isn’t that the game is randomized as much as it is that each game is designed to be carefully imbalanced in a way that tries to push the player into avoiding well-worn strategies. Most of the benefits of version 3 will be coming to those who already have Crusade because it provides so much to build off on wit... [read more]

3/27/2018 By Frogboy in GalCiv III Dev Journals

Star Control: So you want to build a planet?

In preparation for the Game Developer's Conference we wanted to put a polish pass on the planets in Star Control: Origins. There are about 3,000 unique planets that are split into roughly 75 different classes.  Each class of planet has its own challenges, as well as its own mineral deposits that you might want to collect (along with ruins, cities, smugglers, creatures, etc.). Today, I'm going to walk you through how we create our planet classes. Unique, Procedural and Hand-Crafted... [read more]

3/20/2018 By Frogboy in Star Control Journals

Galactic Civilizations III v3 Preview: Strange new worlds

The premise of Galactic Civilizations is that you have united your homeworld and are now ready to send your first colony ship off into space.  What kind of alien worlds do you think we can settle? The reality is, many worlds are not going to be safe for us.  We'll have to live in environmentally sealed enclosures at first.  Not because they are too cold or lack the right atmospheric conditions (though that is an issue), but rather because many worlds will have microbes that... [read more]

3/20/2018 By Frogboy in GalCiv III Dev Journals

Offworld Trading Company Journal: Privatization of Space

  Greetings Offworld CEOs! Work continues on Offworld, but we don’t have anything to show off just yet. However, with the recent launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, this seemed a good time to touch on an idea that’s core to Offworld Trading Company: the privatization of space back here on Earth. It’d be pretty difficult to have an open, competitive market on Mars if we didn’t have companies there to do the competing. While we’re still... [read more]

3/15/2018 By Zultar327 in Offworld Dev Journals

How Good Streams Show Trust | Strategy Visions Episode 5

"You need to establish trust with gamers." Some of our community managers and devs discuss what makes a stream good, and then what streamers do to make a stream truly great. Check out Episode 5 of our "Strategy Visions" series here! [read more]

3/15/2018 By Island Dog in Stardock Dev Journals

Intrigue Journal #2 - Taxation without representation

People don't like to be taxed.  They really don't like to be taxed if they don't have a say in it. The principle cause of the American revolution was not taxation in itself, it was that the colonists didn't have a say in who and what was taxed. Now, let's imagine how this would be handled when you are talking light years. To understand how distances work in Galactic Civilizations, we need to understand Hyperspace Projection. I'm the map I'm the map I'm the map! Space..... [read more]

3/13/2018 By Frogboy in GalCiv III Dev Journals

The Power of Video Game Narrative: Lohse “Sing For Me” Analysis

Video games are the ultimate form of entertainment media, encapsulating all other media forms and adding interactivity on top of it. In a video game, you can read lore and dialogue, watch cutscenes, listen to music, have a shared experience, among many other unique ways you can be engaged. In essence, there’s nothing that a book or a movie can do that a video game can’t, and the ability to combine all of these with an interactive narrative can create incredibly powerful experiences. ... [read more]

3/7/2018 By GGTheMachine in Star Control Journals

Intrigue Journal #1: Space-Time is unforgiving

13 minutes, 48 seconds.  That’s how long it took the Curiosity rover’s signal to reach Earth from Mars - and Mars is in our own solar system. Intrigue is the name of the upcoming expansion pack to our best-selling space strategy game, Galactic Civilizations III.  It’s not called “Government” or “Politics”. It’s Intrigue.  13 minutes, 48 seconds between responses for radio signals in our own solar system leaves a lot of time for... [read more]

3/6/2018 By Frogboy in GalCiv III Dev Journals

Star Control: Secret Briefing #1 - The Jupiter Trip

Good afternoon.  Below is the captain's log from the recent Jupiter test of the prototype Emdrive MK I.  As a reminder, all information concerning the Emdrive remains classified.  Please return your Aug glasses to the front counter when you have finished this briefing. Captain's Log: March 2, 2086… There are 69 known moons of Jupiter.  Jupiter is the first planet we’re sending Star Control’s prototype ship to visit. Powered by the Darius Robotics... [read more]

3/2/2018 By Frogboy in Star Control Journals

Star Control - The Art of Storytelling

We live in an age where developers actually brag about creating random quests as if that’s a good thing. In an age of gigabytes of memory the challenge isn’t in how many worlds you have, it is how to make those worlds compelling. In Star Control: Origins, there are no random missions.  No episode of Star Trek ever ended with Captain Kirk receiving 14 Dilithium crystals for his troubles.  Star Control is about telling stories in which you are the central character. ... [read more]

2/27/2018 By Frogboy in Star Control Journals

Q+A regarding Star Control and Paul and Fred

Given the ongoing discussion of the legal dispute between Stardock and Paul Reiche and Fred Ford, designers of Star Control I and II, I wanted to take time to make Stardock's position clear and address inaccuracies that have been promoted. As the need arises, I’ll continue to update this post with additional questions and answers. Q: What are the issues in dispute? A:  On the eve of launch of the beta of Star Control: Origins in October 2017, a game Stardock has spen... [read more]

2/22/2018 By DeepSpaceNine in Star Control Journals

Star Control: February 2018 - Of the Lexites

The new Star Control is moving swiftly!  We expect to release Fleet Battles Beta 2 within the next several weeks as most of our work is focused on the adventure game. We have been listening to feedback from the fans and incorporated that feedback into the project. For example, below is a screenshot which shows the updated home solar system: Our home solar system Similarly, the ships themselves have gotten the material system in early.  Originally, this was going to ... [read more]

2/21/2018 By Frogboy in Star Control Journals

Galactic Civilizations III v3 Preview: Farming

How will we feed our billions? In Galactic Civilizations III, we presume that by the time we are colonizing planets, our home world has reached an equilibrium between food production and population.  But let's face it: when we colonize other planets, it'll take many years for those planets to build up sufficient farming infrastructure to produce for the kinds of populations you have on your home world.   Surplus Food Galactic Civilizations III will be treating food ... [read more]

2/20/2018 By Frogboy in GalCiv III Dev Journals

Galactic Civilizations III: Map Sizes and Memory

One of the biggest challenges we have faced in developing Galactic Civilizations III has been map sizes and the memory they require. On a number of occasions, we have tried to reduce the the largest map sizes down to improve performance and shrink memory requirements.  And each time we have attempted to do that, we have ended up with a very vocal outcry of anger. But large map sizes come with a significant memory cost to be aware of. Galactic Civilizations, like its inspirati... [read more]

2/14/2018 By Frogboy in GalCiv III Dev Journals

Galactic Civilizations III: Let's talk food.

Farming I'm not liking the farming mechanic.  It seemed like a good idea on paper but in practice, it's just tedious and exploitive.  Here's how I'd like to see it work: Some planets would have a Arable land tile including all starting planets.  Building on these tiles produces food. The tech tree would have a path for players who want to get the most out of those resources to get a lot of food.  The arable land resource be destructable -- you can destroy i... [read more]

2/13/2018 By Frogboy in GalCiv III Dev Journals

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