+1 for classic SC aliens, please! If I had to vote for one, the Supox were always a favorite, with or without cheese sauce. Meeting some friendly, altruistic Ilwrath would be pretty cool, too.

If this is a separate universe from the original StarCon series then i don't see why any of the original aliens would be included, unless they have inter-dimensional capabilities (Arilou, Orz?).

I’d have to go digging around to find it, but if I remember correctly, at the earliest stages of the Founders program, founders were explicitly told that while they could (in the affirmative) use the original aliens they wouldn’t in the hopes that Paul & Fred would still do an official sequel to SC2 (which I always just assumed would be with StarDock given they were the new owners of the IP).

If P&F still hold copyrights, that means StarDock would have a very hard time creating a sequel that builds on the previous game’s narrative since copyright includes written material like dialogue... though everything else in the IP (like aliens or gameplay mechanics) are available.

We'll just have to wait and see.  But I think we can guess the ramifications of the Zoq and Pik splitting up.

Come to think of it, Mmrnmhrm would be actually cool to have and finally talk to, just before they even met Chenjesu and before their Mother Ark broke.

If Daks were also in this region of space, it could be cool to see the interactions between those two Precursor-made mech races in one quadrant. Could make for a nice story.

Why do people keep saying the Mmrnhrm are Precursor-made?  Everything in SC2 (and I believe 3) said the Mother Ark was sent by an unknown culture/race and it was theorized that they were the vanguard of that race's colonization efforts.

The Daktaklakpaks state they were made by the Precursors. Though I don't consider them to be a trustworthy source.

Quoting Ashog, reply 86

Quoting SWVRoma,

reply 84

Why do people keep saying the Mmrnhrm are Precursor-made?  Everything in SC2 (and I believe 3) said the Mother Ark was sent by an unknown culture/race and it was theorized that they were the vanguard of that race's colonization efforts.

Reduced 29%

Original 842 x 628

Just a reminder that for the purposes of SC:O, those theories are not canon in the main universe.

1) Utwig

2) Ilwrath

3) Orz

4) Thraddash

5) Ur-Quan Kzer-Za

6) Arilou (provided they tend to be more grey aliens type of thing )

7) Vux

That's a great idea about the Mmrnmhrm Mother Ark!  I vote for that!

I suppose you call the "main universe" the SCO universe? Well, if the Kessari theory by Chmmr is right, then it would make absolutely no sense that in the Origins universe Mmrnmhrm were created by someone else than Precursors, canon or not. The probability of that would be close to infinitely low.

I unfortunately haven't been able to participate on the forums or in Discord nearly as much as I'd hoped. I've been stuck mostly working double/triple projects at work, and that's left me wanting to pour lemon juice in my eyes. I'm a business and systems analyst, so process/design/feedback is my job, and this came into my life just when I took on more work.

I like the idea of introducing the original species from SCI/II, but only sparingly. I would fear the game would end up being an easter egg hunt, or a where's waldo of the old game. Nostalgia is great, but I want to see you guys make your own thing and bring that to life. Maybe toss a couple that fit really well into the mix, but be as cautious of over saturation of the old compared to the new, as Whitney Houston should have been of bath tubs.

That being said, it is a new universe. Technically, "anything" is "possible". Taking the numerous comic book series out there, starting a story over with different flavors isn't necessarily a bad thing. Maybe the Ur-Quan never picked up that Dnyarri and are still untouched in a sense. Maybe there's a rogue group of Spathi out there that found some inter-dimensional tech and made their way here, and they're like a late 1980's punk gang version of the Spathi (think Johnny #5 in anger mode.) The Utwig could be super fabulous fashionistas that host cosmic mardi gras parties (Just, careful on how you earn your beads.) ShIt could get weird fun. 

One thing that drew me into Star Control II (I played that one well before I played the first one, because I played it on a 3DO), was the lore and the ancient stuff, and the weird af stuff. Arilou doing weird stuff to change our scent, etc. Much like how the movies Arrival and Annihiliation caught my attention, as they were movies that explored and delved into things that unabashedly are, but should not be. The whole "I don't know what's going on, shit just gets super weird out in space" is a great theme in my eyes.

So, there aren't necessarily races I'd like to see, so much as roles:

• Vux (Cmon. Those conversations were beautiful. Very "The Eye of the Beholder" from Twilight Zone) While Vux wouldn't necessarily need to be in the game, this juxtaposition is never not fun.
• Melnorme (They had that sort of really dark undertone to them, and I liked that.)
• Spathi (Black Spathi Squad on bath salts would get my undying love. And I mean undying. I'll find loathesome rituals.)
• Mycon (Their zealot style of existence mixed with their genetic memory and it causing them to be 'strange' yet functioning, was one of the best pieces of lore in my opinion.)
• Ur-Quan (These guys were walking PTSD machines, and I absolutely loved it. Their story was sad, and easily a path people take when in situations like that.)

With that, regardless of how you move forward with it, its your game. I think as a player, while our voice is definitely something worth looking into, we are also only a portion of the audience. Taking myself as the standard unit of "Founder" group, you're looking at a lot of people who thought throwing back some jolt and humming the Doug theme song while luring unsuspecting VUX into hilarious B.U.T.T. missiles for early game RU farming runs, was a splendid way to spend a weekend. The creative process is super tough. I've run D&D games since around 2002, and Wizards of the Coast have their lexicons for a reason. Whipping up brand new things that are hefty and durable enough to work solidly, is incredibly tough. This is why (I theorized) the original SCII map/races were all suspiciously placed to reflect cultural references. (I'm looking at you Arilou.) Sometimes grabbing something that works, works. It is a difficult balance, and some people will be upset and disappointed (as we've seen) regardless of the decision you make. To put it into perspective, try telling a fantasy story without using elves, dwarves, or dragons. 

So, the TL;DR - Frogboy & co. - You do you. If you think the game could use one of the old races without compromising the integrity of the game, I'd trust your opinion on it. I think what you and your team has done with the game so far has been far beyond what I've hoped for. I was in a meeting with a coworker who said some beautiful words of wisdom to me. We were with a stakeholder on redesigning their department, and they kept telling us how to do it. Finally, he said: "Do you do your own f*ing dentistry too? No? Ok then, let me do my job." And, to that, I say you're the experts in the story and game design, not me. I'd probably be all: "And then the Zebranky was Arya Stark the whole time!" and leave it at that. I can provide feedback to my heart's content, but in the end I trust you'll do what you think is best for the game. Your team has taken very obviously painstaking steps in trying to get this game as near perfect as possible for us, that hasn't gone unnoticed.

I was just trying to get that nostalgic kick and do my nihilistic stare as the Kor-Ah slowly made the quadrant quiet, and stumbled across Origins, and was ecstatic. I just recently got home from vacation, saw the beta was up, and came to terms with not sleeping tonight. In reviving Star Control in any format or medium that isn't just a re-release, is so far more than enough for me.

I think you should proceed with caution. I've seen your rationale and I accept it, but my guess is it's a sore spot for one segment of the fanbase. My initial reaction was similar (less anger, more surprise) to those who were opposed to including SC1/2 aliens - I was much more comfortable with taking the high road, launching without original aliens, and then bringing them back in later updates. But if your hands are being forced then what can I say but that it is unfortunate. You're almost certainly going to open up a mine field of people who don't accept your reasons and that's not good for the game's community.

Given the sensitivity of the issue, I recommend that anything you include be a precursor (not THE Precursors) to what appeared in SC1/2. I think that would help smooth things over, and add some depth to the story connection. I like the idea of the Zebranky rather than the Zot-Fot-Pik, for example. My vote would be for a more primitive version of the Mmrnmhrm. Maybe they could fly the W-form?   

I like the idea of some of the ancient SC123 races appearing / cameo in SC:O and then some / all of the remainder appearing in a DLC some "years" later.
For example: You finally cleaned up the universe, stop for a well earned break and then <<Insert New Herald of Universal Catastrophe Here>>

I vote for no aliens from all previous Star Control games.

Let me see if I can elaborate why.

Star Control II is my favorite game of all time and I was very hopeful that Star Control 3 was going to be able to live up to the level of game that Star Control II set. Unfortunately, this did not happen for myriad reasons, but the fact that the two games were linked is what resulted in my disappointment of 3.

Now with Star Control: Origins, there is an opportunity for a completely unique playing experience with no linkage at all to its predecessors from a story perspective.

This separation from the previous games gives Stardock an opportunity to not be held down by what others have done previously.

I find this interesting and exciting!

I think not using any aliens from previous games gives me the opportunity to explore a new universe without having to worry about my SC2 / SC3 experience altering my SC:O experience. As soon as you add any of the original aliens into the game, now the linkage to its predecessors has the opportunity to change my enjoyment of SC:O.

Including the SC2 aliens provides a link from SC:O to SC2 and would cause me to constantly evaluate the implementation of the SC2 aliens in SC:O against how they were implemented in SC2. Any deviation from what I perceive as the proper implementation is going to detract from my enjoyment of SC:O. Including any of the SC3 aliens provides a link me from SC:O to SC3 that would constantly remind me of that bad gaming experience.

I liked the movie Alien, loved Aliens, but did not like Alien 3. Alien 3 took the characters that I fell in love with and killed Hicks and Newt (sp?) and turned Bishop into a bad guy. Alien 3 tainted my Aliens experience such that I pretend that it was never made and I will never watch Alien 3 ever again and hope as time goes by that I continue to forget about it. This is exactly what I do with SC3 - and I never, ever want to play that game again, either.

There is no need for any of the previous Star Control aliens in SC:O. If you want to have an alien race trade with you like the Melnorme then call then something different (like the Emronlem - okay that's Melnorme backwards, but at least it's not obvious at first). By calling them different, it allows you to create new, unique art for this race and to not be bound by what the Melnorme did in previous games. The same goes for the Arilou. There are plenty of aliens out there in sci-fi franchises that are similar to the Arilou, there is no reason why SC:O can't make their own Arilou-like race if they so choose.

Stardock really has an awesome opportunity here - to create their *own* unique story.

Please don't squander this opportunity with the inclusion of any of the previous Star Control aliens.

Matt

Just a thought on expanding cross-over content:

Instead of just looking at what SC1/2 aliens can appear; consider that it's possible to find just a remnant of those aliens.

For example, instead of meeting shofixti - maybe the player can find a crashed shofixti scout (ship). No survivors, but it's possible to harvest a new ship component. A mysterious box with a big red button...

I don't have any specific favorites but considering the multi-dimensional nature of the metaverse I would only want to see the races who have that capability like the Orz or races who vanished under mysterious circumstances like the Androsynth

I want to see the Lexites more than the Androsynth.  Love the Androsynth spacecraft but I never liked their lore (cheap blade runner knockoff).

I don't think we will see the Androsynth any time soon.

Fwiffo will likely make an appearance or I should say, a Fwiffo as there are many Fwiffos (Fwiffo has a very large family, of 18,000+).

1) Androsynth and ORZ (very interested what happen which them)

2) Burvixese (very interest how they planet was destroy)

3) Also very interested in story what was on planet where something happen when people find portal in another dimension and it was destroyed by some unknown forces

4) And i very like a most ancient race of space a Chenjesu

5) Of course very interested in story about Sentient Milieu how it was founded what it was been and how Ur-Quan was slaved and abut destroying of it...

it all and i want to say to what i NOT very like a precursor story and all about ultimate evil from SC3, of course its "most ancient and powerful race" but it something what we hear a 1000 times before form almost all movies and games about space...

+1 Chenjesu

It would also be interesting in having an Androsynth encounter, this being a multiverse and them vanishing from the SC2 universe.
Love the Arilou addition, it makes sense.

In any case, as long as it fits in with the story I am fine with it but the story has to come first that's the most critical part.