Star Control Founders: Winter 2019

What was all the DLC that was going to be free with a founder's purchase?

Lifetime Founders get the DLC for free.  That was the $99 package.

Can we get an update in light of the recent events?

Last I saw, Brad mentioned they'd make an announcement some time today (Monday)

Any updates on SCO and/or SCO2 developments? How is the TFB court battle going? (gag order)? I am a bit disappointed to see no modding activity for SCO (start some form of competition?). What about SCO for PS4 (my kids wanna play it on PS4). How are things with earth rising part 2? etc. etc. etc.

??

Right now we are focused on finishing part 2 of earth rising.

Brad, can we get a bit more than that? Anything behind the scenes? Future plans, current status?

Future plans are kind of in limbo while the lawsuit is going on. We have long term plans but we can’t really invest in them until the lawsuit is over.  Earth Rising is in schedule and will be completed. Beyond that just depends.

Damn, that might mean years of delay. So I guess one shall focus on small expansions for SCO to keep the interest in the franchise and keep the cash flow coming. Not a bad idea after all. Esp. if you can move to consoles and phones/ipads type of thing. Paid (even though I hate it) ship sets for melee to invest in story expansion to SCO.

Any ideas re Villans of SC for GalcivIII?

What about a port of SCO to other platforms? PS4? IOS?

Any updates on the court case that you can share?

And if you need a fundraising campaign for SCO expansions, addons etc. - don`t be shy to start it.

Court cases can take many, many years to sort out.

Right now, the case is in the "discovery" phase.  We haven't even finished depositions yet.

Then, the parties will file for summary judgments on various causes of action (these lawsuits are made up of many different elements).  Most of what people talk about online about the case actually is not part of the case.

The part that affects Star Control: Origins is that Paul and Fred are claiming to be co-creators (they think, for example, that they own our expression of Hyperspace).  We obviously think their claims are both ridiculous and malicious since, if they had any merit, you would see endless lawsuits in the game industry from companies who think they own game ideas (does your RPG have red and blue orbs to represent health and mana? That's a lot more of a copy than anything in SCO).

The actual trial date isn't until a year from now.  After that,  you might have appeals.

In our opinion, Paul and Fred's motive is that they never intended to make a new game and want to prevent anyone from making a new Star Control game. Which, by abusing the legal process, they are doing a good job.  They've sued both of our distribution partners (Steam and GOG -- you can partially thank those who contributed to the GoFundMe campaign for that) which sends a chilling signal to Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo about carrying a console version.

So overall, we've had to move onto other projects.  We're going to finish Earth Rising which we hope to use to flesh out our lore further and set things up for future sequels, but until the case is over, we can't really justify investing further into Star Control.

Damn, this is sad and infuriating. I still think that you shall try to move into IOS-Android market at least with melee. To make a stable revenue stream. I`ve been waiting for tens of years to have a sequel and now it is in not in development but legal limbo.

Anyways, as Sony etc. get a share of the sales revenue - why do they care that much? If it gets removed (I hope not), then it is not them who suffer.

Do you plans any games similar to SC? You have a gamer engine now, lots of experience so you can have something 100% your own (do not get me wrong with that remark) w/o any dicks trying to own you.

They don't want to be sued.

We already 100% own Star Control: Origins.  

I meant something else. I do not challenge the fact that SCO is 100% Stardock`s child. But it is challenged by other people. As now you have experience, game engine etc. why not try to create another universe, call the game differently, use other game universes (galciv or something) and create another SCO like game that won`t be challenged at all?

+ As for Sony and etc. they are too big to fail, so I doubt that they will have big issues in the end. They are not developers after all.

The issue isn’t the name (we own it) or our universe (which we created). Paul and Fred seem to think they own the idea of the gameplay.  So calling it something else and making a different universe wouldn’t prevent them from suing that game too. 

Damn, this is serious. I think that in such case you shall ask help of other developers (besides general public) and show them how destructive this path is. That besides Stardock they can be next. I do not think that this issue is obvious to them.

As for the general public - most people think (like I did) that this endangers only SCO and no other game. I think that you, lawyers and PR people shall really think about some form of campaign to EXPLAIN. There shall be a wide spread discussion on all levels. We, the consumers, underestimate the ramifications. 

I have no doubt that when it comes to trial, we will have no difficulty finding people to testify to how dangerous Paul and Fred's claims are to the industry.

For example, Paul and Fred have already posted publicly claiming they own the idea of hyperspace.  It's right on their page.