Hi Brad and everyone,
My name is Greg Williams, and since first playing Star Control 2 when I was 12, it still one all my all time favorite games. One that I still reload every few years, and enjoy just as much as I did the first time. I struggle to find a game of the same caliber in the modern age.
As others have said, it has a perfect blend of arcade action, adventure, light resource management, exploration, ship customisation, quirky characters, and interwoven story arcs.
On a side note, I don't know if achieving this perfect blend is possible now with so many gamers with different gaming preferences. Perhaps the game mechanics could include 'Playstyle Sliders'? The same game, but those who like more resource management and ship design can move the corresponding slider up. Those who don't, can move the slider down and have these processes automated, with more focus on adventure and arcade action.
While the arcade action is excellent fun (particularly the Pkunk with the insults as away to recharge the battery, and the random 'resurrection'), brilliant sound track, addictive resource gathering, and ship customising, for me the thing that makes SC2 such an enjoyable game, and one with massive replay value, is the terrific character designs and storyline.
Most other games had abyssmally dry dialouge trees. The same Questions A-D to initiate Response A-D. In SC2, the interactions with different races almost felt real. Here was someone actually responding to me, replying with witty banter. These were characters I liked and wanted to help, and not just for game progression.
Similarly, SC2 was the first game I played that had 3 dimensional villains, with justifications for their actions. This game had a huge influence on me in many areas, but particularly as a budding writer.
I would like to volunteer my services to help writing dialouge trees, story arcs, creative content, even technical documentation if required. I am really excited about the Star Control reboot and would like to assist if I can