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81-466: Star Control 3 is a 1996 action-adventure game developed by Legend Entertainment and published by Accolade . The third installment in the Star Control trilogy, the game was released for MS-DOS in 1996 and Mac OS in 1998. The story takes place after Star Control II , beginning with a disaster that disrupts superluminal travel through hyperspace . This leads the player to investigate

162-449: A cast different from that of Star Control II , which was previously performed by personal friends of Reiche and Ford. Audio producer Kathleen Bober auditioned talent from other games, as well as soap operas and documentaries, until they arrived at performances that felt accurate to the alien characters. They directed the actors to convey the feel of the characters based on inflection and tone, rather than accents or distortions. The result

243-627: A fantasy " setting. Tutankham , debuted by Konami in January 1982, was an action-adventure released for arcades . It combined maze, shoot 'em up, puzzle-solving and adventure elements, with a 1983 review by Computer and Video Games magazine calling it "the first game that effectively combined the elements of an adventure game with frenetic shoot 'em up gameplay." It inspired the similar Time Bandit (1983). Action Quest , released in May 1982, blended puzzle elements of adventure games into

324-651: A geometric progression . The first scale developed by Franz Joseph was simply a cubic progression with no limit. This leads to the use of ever growing warp factors in the Original Series and the Animated Series . For example, warp 14.1 in the TOS-episode " That Which Survives " or warp 36 in the TAS-episode " The Counter-Clock Incident ". In order to focus more on the story and away from

405-446: A joystick -controlled, arcade-style action game, which surprised reviewers at the time. While noting some similarities to Adventure , IGN argues that The Legend of Zelda (1986) by Nintendo "helped to establish a new subgenre of action-adventure", becoming a success due to how it combined elements from different genres to create a compelling hybrid, including exploration, adventure-style inventory puzzles , an action component,

486-571: A monetary system , and simplified RPG-style level building without the experience points . The Legend of Zelda series was the most prolific action-adventure game franchise through to the 2000s. Roe R. Adams also cited the arcade-style side-scrolling fantasy games Castlevania (1986), Trojan (1986) and Wizards & Warriors (1987) as early examples of action-adventure games. Games like Brain Breaker (1985), Xanadu (1985), Metroid (1986) and Vampire Killer (1986) combined

567-767: A subgenre of open world action-adventure video games in the third-person perspective . They are characterized by their likeness to the Grand Theft Auto series in either gameplay or overall design. In these types of open world games, players may find and use a variety of vehicles and weapons while roaming freely in an open world setting. Metroidvania is a portmanteau of Metroid and Castlevania ; such games are sometimes referred to as "search action", and are generally based on two-dimensional platformers. They emphasize both exploration and puzzle-solving with traditional platform gameplay. Survival horror games emphasize "inventory management" and making sure

648-545: A choice of what to say. The NPC gives a scripted response to the player, and the game offers the player several new ways to respond. Due to the action-adventure subgenre's broad and inclusive nature, it causes some players to have difficulty finishing a particular game. Companies have devised ways to give the player help, such as offering clues or allowing the player to skip puzzles to compensate for this lack of ability. Brett Weiss cites Atari 's Superman (1979) as an action-adventure game, with Retro Gamer crediting it as

729-531: A colonization system inspired by the first Star Control , with story, exploration, and dialogue similar to that of Star Control II . Star Control 3 features a 2D ship combat system, which the previous games in the series call the "melee" mode. Two starships face off in a space battle and attempt to outgun and outmaneuver each other. Every alien race has a unique ship, each with its own weapon and secondary ability. Action in Star Control 3 utilizes

810-448: A complex text parser and no free-moving character. While they share general gameplay dynamics, action-adventures vary widely in the design of their viewpoints, including bird's eye , side-scrolling, first-person, third-person , over-the-shoulder, or even a 3/4 isometric view . Many action-adventure games simulate a conversation through a conversation tree . When the player encounters a non-player character , they are allowed to select

891-402: A detailed binder of letters, faxes, and e-mails, with fan suggestions for the next Star Control game, which they incorporated into their plans. A major target of fan criticism was the tedium of the planetary resource gathering from Star Control II , as well as complaints about returning to Earth to refuel. The team decided to replace planet landing with a colony management system, an allusion to

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972-464: A different alien race. These colonies offer the player a convenient way to resupply without returning to a central star base . In Star Control 3, the player takes the role of "the Captain", the central protagonist from the previous game. Shortly after the events of Star Control II , hyperspace mysteriously collapses throughout the galaxy, stranding most spacefaring races. For the next several years,

1053-502: A fixed definition. It is effectively a catch-all phrase for any and all technologies and natural phenomena that enable speeds above Warp 9.99. Rick Sternbach described the basic idea in the Technical Manual: "Finally, we had to provide some loophole for various powerful aliens like Q, who have a knack for tossing the ship million of light years in the time of a commercial break. [...] This lets Q and his friends have fun in

1134-404: A new quadrant of space, joined by allied aliens from the previous games. The game features a single-player campaign that is similar to the previous installment, combining space exploration, alien dialogue , and ship-to-ship combat . As a mainstay of the series, the player engages in top-down battles between starships with unique abilities. In contrast to Star Control II , hyperspace flight

1215-509: A nomination for a Spotlight Award at the 1996 Computer Game Developers Conference , for "Best Script, Story or Interactive Writing". Chris Buxton from PC Review praised the game for its combat mode and called it "one of the best games on the PC", with the magazine highlighting it as a " PC Review Essential". Tim Soete of GameSpot celebrated Star Control 3 for its integration of action, adventure, strategy, and exploration, calling it one of

1296-656: A non-zero rest mass. The problem of a material object exceeding light speed is that an infinite amount of kinetic energy would be required to travel at exactly the speed of light. Warp drives are one of the science-fiction tropes that serve to circumvent this limitation in fiction to facilitate stories set at galactic scales. However, the concept of space warp has been criticized as "illogical", and has been connected to several other rubber science ideas that do not fit into our current understanding of physics, such as antigravity or negative mass . Some argue that these effects mean that although it's not possible to travel faster than

1377-497: A real and manufacturable nano/microstructure that is predicted to generate a negative vacuum energy density such that it would manifest a real nanoscale warp bubble, not an analog, but the real thing." Warp drive is one of the fundamental features of the Star Trek franchise and one of the best-known examples of space warp (warp drive) in fiction. In the first pilot episode of Star Trek: The Original Series , " The Cage ", it

1458-711: A side-scrolling platformer format with adventure exploration, creating the Metroidvania platform-adventure subgenre. Similarly, games like 005 (1981), Castle Wolfenstein and Metal Gear (1987) combined action-adventure exploration with stealth mechanics, laying the foundations for the stealth game subgenre, which would later be popularized in 1998 with the releases of Metal Gear Solid , Tenchu: Stealth Assassins , and Thief: The Dark Project . The cinematic platformer Prince of Persia (1989) featured action-adventure elements, inspiring games such as Another World (1991) and Flashback (1992). Alone in

1539-400: A single avatar as the protagonist . This type of game is often quite similar to role-playing video games . They are distinct from graphic adventures , which sometimes have free-moving central characters, but also a wider variety of commands and fewer or no action game elements and are distinct too from text adventures , characterized by many different commands introduced by the user via

1620-406: A successor to Star Control II and an official addition to the series was killed off by the lacklustre Star Control 3 ." Initially, series creators Ford and Reiche had promoted Star Control 3 as a "visually rich" and "captivating sequel". Years later, the duo cautioned against focusing too much on questions from the previous games, concluding that a "smattering of that is fun, but the whole point

1701-422: Is a device that distorts the shape of the space-time continuum . A spacecraft equipped with a warp drive may travel at speeds greater than that of light by many orders of magnitude. In contrast to some other fictitious faster-than-light technologies such as a jump drive , the warp drive does not permit instantaneous travel and transfers between two points, but rather involves a measurable passage of time which

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1782-557: Is a game that has enough action in it not to be called an adventure game, but not enough action to be called an action game." In some cases an action game with puzzles will be classified as an action-adventure game, but if these puzzles are quite simple they might be classified as an action game. Others see action games as a pure genre, while an action-adventure is an action game that includes situational problem-solving. Adventure gamers may also be purists, rejecting any game that makes use of physical challenges or time pressure. Regardless,

1863-550: Is generally confined to isolated instances. Classical action games, on the other hand, have gameplay based on real-time interactions that challenges the player's reflexes and eye-hand coordination . Action-adventure games combine these genres by engaging both eye-hand coordination and problem-solving skills. An action adventure game can be defined as a game with a mix of elements from an action game and an adventure game , especially crucial elements like puzzles inspired by older adventure games. Action-adventures require many of

1944-424: Is heavily reliant upon the player character's movement, which triggers story events and thus affects the flow of the game. Popular examples of action-adventure games include The Legend of Zelda , God of War , and Tomb Raider series. There is a good deal of controversy over what actually constitutes an action-adventure game. One definition of the term "action-adventure" may be '"An action/adventure game

2025-465: Is made possible in the general theory of relativity . The basic functional principle of the warp drive in Star Trek is the same for all spaceships. A strong energy source, usually a so-called warp core or sometimes called intermix chamber , generates a high-energy plasma . This plasma is transported to the so-called warp field generators via lines that are reminiscent of pipes. These generators are basically coils in warp nacelles protruding from

2106-401: Is much faster than the original, but without changing the warp factor numbers. Between Warp 9 and Warp 10, the new scale grows exponentially . Only in a single episode of Star Trek Voyager there was a specific numerical speed value given for a warp factor. In the episode " The 37's ", Tom Paris tells Amelia Earhart that Warp 9.9 is about 4 billion miles per second (using customary units for

2187-465: Is pertinent to the concept. In contrast to hyperspace, spacecraft at warp velocity would continue to interact with objects in "normal space". The general concept of warp drive was introduced by John W. Campbell in his 1957 novel Islands of Space . Brave New Words gave the earliest example of the term "space-warp drive" as Fredric Brown 's Gateway to Darkness (1949), and also cited an unnamed story from Cosmic Stories (May 1941) as using

2268-511: Is referred to as a "hyperdrive", with Captain Pike stating the speed to reach planet Talos   IV as "time warp, factor 7". The warp drive in Star Trek is one of the most detailed fictional technologies. Compared to the hyperspace drives of other fictional universes, it differs in that a spaceship does not leave the normal space-time continuum and instead the space-time itself is distorted, as

2349-429: Is replaced with instantaneous fast travel . Planetary exploration is replaced with a colony management system, inspired by the original Star Control . Combat offers more detailed steering and aiming, as well as additional player-versus-player multiplayer options. Accolade hired Legend Entertainment to create this sequel after the series creators Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford decided to pursue other projects. Legend

2430-410: Is to extend the mystery". Reiche also felt that the new character design lost the charm of the previous game's digital paintings . Kurt Kalata of Hardcore Gaming 101 described the efforts of Legend Entertainment, that "[i]t's obvious the designers of Star Control III had great reverence for the older games, it still can't help but feel like fan fiction. That feeling, that everything is slightly off,

2511-593: Is what harms Star Control 3 the most." Still, the publication also noted that the antagonist's goal of harvesting sentience was an influence on the Mass Effect series and their antagonist, the Reapers . In 1998, a follow-up game titled StarCon was planned, featuring the Crux as a major faction, but Accolade suspended the project to re-evaluate their plans for the Star Control license. Star Control 3 thus marked

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2592-512: The Uncharted franchise, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Ark: Survival Evolved . Warp drive A warp drive or a drive enabling space warp is a fictional superluminal (faster than the speed of light) spacecraft propulsion system in many science fiction works, most notably Star Trek , and a subject of ongoing physics research. The general concept of "warp drive"

2673-658: The Alcubierre drive . Alcubierre stated in an email to William Shatner that his theory was directly inspired by the term used in the TV series Star Trek and cites the "'warp drive' of science fiction" in his 1994 article. In 2021, DARPA -funded researcher Harold White , of the Limitless Space Institute, claimed that he had succeeded in creating a real warp bubble, saying "our detailed numerical analysis of our custom Casimir cavities helped us identify

2754-404: The galactic core , where they encounter new alien friends and foes. Much of the game involves dialog with alien races, each with unique personalities. The player can select from different dialog options, leading to different reactions and story events. The dialog screens feature digitized full-motion video of mechanical puppets, instead of the 2D animated pixel art of the previous games. While

2835-818: The "first to utilize multiple screens as playing area". Mark J.P. Wolf credits Adventure (1980) for the Atari VCS as the earliest-known action-adventure game. The game involves exploring a 2D environment, finding and using items which each have prescribed abilities, and fighting dragons in real-time like in an action game . Muse Software 's Castle Wolfenstein (1981) was another early action-adventure game, merging exploration, combat, stealth, and maze game elements, drawing inspiration from arcade shoot 'em ups and maze games (such as maze-shooter Berzerk ) and war films (such as The Guns of Navarone ). According to Wizardry developer Roe R. Adams, early action-adventure games "were basically arcade games done in

2916-542: The 2D graphics created in the early 1990s were already obsolete. Finding a third way forward, they designed the characters by filming live animatronic puppets, designed to take advantage of the storage potential of the CD-ROM . MacDonald wanted the new game "to bring the visuals and multimedia elements as far forward as we could". Working with special effects company SOTAFX, they developed their character concepts into fully-automated animatronic puppets. The registration points on

2997-584: The Captain about an unfinished Precursor project, which could harvest sentient energy for the Eternal Ones in a non-lethal way. The Captain encounters other urgent threats in the Kessari Quadrant. They persuade the Owa race to stop dumping their antimatter waste on Rainbow Worlds, which was preventing them from performing their function of mitigating interdimensional fatigue. The Captain also breaks

3078-502: The Captain experiments with ancient Precursor artifacts and creates a new ship that can instantly warp between stars, without hyperspace. The Captain eventually traces the origins of the hyperspace collapse to the galactic core and assembles an alliance of ten alien races to investigate the unexplored quadrant. In the distant Kessari Quadrant, the Captain clashes with the Hegemonic Crux, a power bloc of several alien races led by

3159-581: The Daktaklakpak, to reverse this process after the Eternal Ones left. However, the Daktaklakpak malfunctioned, leaving the Precursors stranded at an animal intelligence level. The Captain temporarily restores a single Precursor to their full intelligence, who explains that the hyperspace collapse is connected to interdimensional fatigue caused by the Eternal Ones. Before the Precursor dies, they tell

3240-490: The Dark (1992) used 3D graphics , which would later be popularized by Resident Evil (1996) and Tomb Raider (1996). Resident Evil in particular created the survival horror subgenre, inspiring titles such as Silent Hill (1999) and Fatal Frame (2001). Action-adventure games have gone on to become more popular than the pure adventure games and pure platform games that inspired them. Recent examples include

3321-400: The Eternal Ones, saving all sentient life from destruction. Star Control was created by Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III and published by Accolade . After the success of Star Control II , Accolade offered Ford and Reiche the same budget to produce a third game, which they turned down to pursue other projects. As Ford and Reiche had retained the rights to their characters and stories from

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3402-494: The Mac OS version received more mixed reviews. Macworld ' s Michael Gowan wrote that Star Control 3 was lacking a modern feel, particularly in its action and dialog. Next Generation criticized the port as "obsolete" and rated it lower than the original release, saying that Star Control 3 falls short of other space simulation games on Mac OS. MacAddict still praised the game for its plot and character interaction, despite

3483-518: The Ploxis Plutocrats. The Captain's investigation also reveals an apocalyptic threat, the imminent return of interdimensional beings called the Eternal Ones, who appear once an eon to consume all sentient energy. The Captain eventually discovers that the ancient Precursors disappeared on purpose, devolving themselves into a non-sentient species that the Eternal Ones would not consume. The Precursors also created semi-sentient robots ,

3564-546: The action-adventure label is prominent in articles over the internet and media. The term "action-adventure" is usually substituted for a particular subgenre due to its wide scope. Although action-adventure games are diverse and difficult to classify, there are some distinct subgenres. Many games with gameplay similar to those in The Legend of Zelda series are called Zelda clones or Zelda -like games. Popular subgenres include: A Grand Theft Auto clone belongs to

3645-400: The best games of 1996. Computer Games Magazine also called it one of the best games of the year, applauding its characters and story, as well as its improved graphics and animations compared to Star Control II . Writing for PC Gamer , Michael Wolf felt that Star Control 3 blended elements from previous games "with mixed results". While he praised the evolution of combat and story within

3726-440: The character's benefit). That is more than 14 times the value of Warp 9 and equal to around 21,400 times speed of light. However, this statement contradicts the technical manuals and encyclopedias written by Rick Sternbach and Michael Okuda, where a speed of 3053 times the speed of light was established for a warp factor of 9.9 and a speed of 7912 times the speed of light for a warp factor of 9.99. Both numerical values are well below

3807-427: The combat screen. This led to aiming challenges that required more dynamic camera-movement. They also rendered more ship angles than previous games to support more granular aiming and steering. This array of camera angles and lighting effects proved to be a challenge but ultimately ran smoothly on an i486 processor, as found in personal computers of the day. Star Control 3 features professionally voiced dialog with

3888-619: The complexities of all the interactions between the different aliens. The game was finally published on September 24, 1996. A version was planned for the PlayStation , as well as bringing the series back to Sega consoles on the Sega Saturn , but both ports were ultimately canceled. In late 1997, MacSoft announced that they would re-publish several Accolade games for Mac OS , leading to the re-release of Star Control 3 in April 1998. By

3969-868: The early 2000s, the Star Control series was no longer available at retail. Star Control 3 was later re-released in 2011, allowing the game to be played on contemporary operating systems . Star Control 3 was considered a commercial success. It debuted on PC Data ' s computer game sales charts in the eleventh place in September 1996, and climbed to tenth position the following month. The game exited PC Data ' s top 20 in November. In its initial two months, Star Control 3 surpassed 100,000 units in sales. The PC version received positive reviews from critics. According to review aggregator website Metacritic , Star Control 3 received an average score of 89%, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. The game earned

4050-399: The effect has since been measured and confirmed many times. In the limit, at light speed time stops completely (relative to a certain reference frame) and it is possible to travel infinite distances across space with no passage of time. Although the concept of warp drive has originated in fiction, it has received some scientific consideration, most notably related to the 1990s concept of

4131-401: The first two games, they licensed their content to Accolade so that the publisher could create Star Control 3 without their involvement. Producer George MacDonald from Accolade decided to work with Michael Lindner and Daniel Greenberg of Legend Entertainment , after hearing about their love of Star Control from Legend president Bob Bates . MacDonald and Lindner led the game design, and

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4212-413: The form of the Hegemonic Crux, as well as expanding on the mystery of the Precursors' disappearance. MacDonald described the game's relationship between gameplay and narrative, explaining that " Star Control is at its core a giant story, and you have to find this story and explore it." Early in development, a concept document was created by Legend Entertainment co-founder Mike Verdu . Legend also compiled

4293-423: The game later suffered from comparisons to the award-winning Star Control II , with a mixed legacy among both fans and critics. Star Control 3 is a space action-adventure game with strategic elements. The gameplay is distinct from the rest of the series, combining elements from the first two games with new systems. Star Control 3 features ship-to-ship combat , as seen in the previous games. It also includes

4374-463: The game's "outdated" graphics. The game also received four out of five stars in MacHome Journal , who felt that the depth of the single-player game was complemented by an additional multiplayer mode. Ultimately, Star Control 3 is not remembered as fondly as its predecessor. Despite earning critical praise on release, the fanbase never warmed up to it and some fans do not consider it part of

4455-467: The game's fusion of ship combat, story-based adventure, and character interaction. According to Jeff Lundrigan of Next Generation , both the strategy elements and graphics fell short of expectations, although the narrative and overall variety "more than make up for it". Comparing the game to Star Control II , Barry Brenesal from PC Games praised the addition of the colony system. While Brenesal noted that Star Control 3 had lost some humor and color from

4536-470: The game's plot. The player can use warp technology to instantaneously travel to any star in the sector by clicking on a star map with a mouse, in contrast to the slower hyperspace voyages in Star Control II . The change is explained in-game as a mysterious hyperspace collapse, which becomes the central question driving the player's action. The player must follow the origins of this collapse to

4617-427: The game, despite its excellent reviews. Game developer and historian Neal Tringham suggested that Star Control 3 was not successful at reproducing the successful design of the second game. Historian Rusel DeMaria also explained that fans did not consider Star Control 3 as good as its predecessor, noting that they were developed by different teams. Writing for Kotaku , Logan Booker stated that "no one's really nailed

4698-406: The gameplay still follows a number of adventure game genre tropes (gathering items , exploration of and interaction with one's environment, often including an overworld connecting areas of importance, and puzzle-solving). While the controls are arcade-style (character movement, few action commands) there is an ultimate goal beyond a high score. In most action-adventure games, the player controls

4779-403: The last official installment to the series. Action-adventure game An action-adventure game is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, classical adventure games have situational problems for the player to explore and solve to complete a storyline, involving little to no action . If there is action, it

4860-489: The player has enough ammunition and recovery items to " survive " the horror setting. This is a thematic genre with diverse gameplay, so not all survival horror games share all the features. The Resident Evil franchise popularized this subgenre. Action-adventure games are faster-paced than pure adventure games, and include physical as well as conceptual challenges where the story is enacted rather than narrated. While motion-based, often reflexive, actions are required,

4941-477: The power of the Hegemonic Crux, culminating in the defeat of a Crux Precursor battleship at the galactic core. The Captain finally confronts the Heralds of the Eternal Ones at the galactic core. After defeating them, the Captain finds a way to combine the Eternal Ones' technology with the unfinished technology from the Precursors. The Captain uses the new device to peacefully gather enough sentient energy to satisfy

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5022-402: The previous game had the player gather resources by landing on planets, Star Control 3 has the player earn resources through a colony management system. This approach builds on the colonization system of the first Star Control . Eventually, a planetary colony will provide resources such as fuel, ships, crew, and artifacts. The player manages each planet's priorities, and each planet is suited to

5103-465: The previous game, he felt this was outweighed by the game's broader changes, including its improved game engine and game balance . Italian publication PC Game Parade ' s Davide Mascaretti also felt that the game had lost some of the novelty of Star Control II , but he still recommended the game overall, especially its combat. Star Control 3 was consistently praised for its combat, as well as its writing and character interaction. Two years later,

5184-408: The programming team was led by Mark Poesch. Legend's writers included veterans from acclaimed adventure game developer Infocom , with Lindner and Greenberg leading the writing team for Star Control 3 . To guide the project, the staff at Legend assembled a " bible " about Star Control based on the series' manuals and scripts, with the fan community providing corrections and additions. Fan feedback

5265-533: The robotic puppets were integrated with software that could control their movements. While a few aliens would be created digitally , most of them were constructed in person, filmed against a blue screen , and then composited with background footage of hand-crafted miniature film sets . The team eventually completed animations for 24 alien characters (12 new and 12 returning), which required extensive personnel to engineer, program, film, and convert to digital video. The developers also added an isometric view option to

5346-424: The same top-down perspective from the previous games, as well as offering a new perspective from behind the ship. The ship controls allow more degrees of rotation, with more detailed aiming, steering, and scaling. This combat can be played as a stand-alone game mode, offering competition against an artificial intelligence opponent or against other players . Where the first two games allowed two players to play at

5427-421: The same keyboard, Star Control 3 includes multiplayer modes for network , modem , and serial connections . However, several of the ships from previous games are removed, as the game only includes ships that are featured in its story. The combat system is integrated into a single-player story mode, where the player explores planetary systems to meet alien races, colonize worlds, collect items, and advance

5508-439: The same physical skills as action games, but may also offer a storyline, numerous characters, an inventory system, dialogue, and other features of adventure games. They are typically faster-paced than pure adventure games, because they include both physical and conceptual challenges. Action-adventure games normally include a combination of complex story elements, which are often displayed for players using audio and video. The story

5589-455: The series canon . In 2000, GameSpot listed Star Control 3 ' s ending on its list of the ten most disappointing game endings, calling it "the final nail in the coffin for a game that could have continued a much-loved legacy". When IGN compiled their 2003 list of greatest games, they celebrated Star Control II while noting that Star Control 3 "paled in comparison". Upon its re-release in 2011, GOG.com noted that fans were critical of

5670-497: The series, he also criticized the strategic elements that were inspired by the first Star Control . Overall, PC Gamer awarded the game an "Editor's Choice" with a 90% rating, stating that it "has some pretty big shoes to fill, and it does so beautifully". A few publications were critical of the game's strategy-based colony system, while still recommending the game overall. Although Computer Gaming World felt that "the strategy module isn't much fun", they were "totally engrossed" by

5751-687: The spaceship. These generate a subspace field, the so-called warp field or a warp bubble , which distort space-time and propels the bubble and spaceship in the bubble forward. The warp core can be designed in various forms. Humans and most of the other fictional races use a moderated reaction of antideuterium and deuterium . The energy produced passes through a matrix, which is made of a fictional chemical element, called dilithium . However, other species are shown to use different methods for faster-than-light propulsion. The Romulans , for example, use artificial micro-black holes called quantum singularities . The speeds are given in warp factors and follow

5832-467: The speed of light, both space and time "warp" to allow travelling the distance of one light year, in less than a year. Although it is not possible to travel faster than the speed of light, the effective speed is faster than light. This warping of space and time is precisely mathematically specified by the Lorentz factor , which depends on velocity. Although only theoretical when published over 100 years ago,

5913-520: The strategy elements from the first Star Control game. The colony feature was designed to provide a convenient place for players to refuel, as well as a logical location to recruit crew and ships. MacDonald explained that "we wanted a big universe to explore, but we wanted to make it easier to actually get places". The developers were fans of the original 2D art of the Star Control II aliens and were hesitant to utilize 3D graphics that were too mathematical or robotic. However, they were also concerned that

5994-463: The technobabble, Gene Roddenberry commissioned Michael Okuda to invent a revised warp scale. Warp 10 should be the absolute limit and stand for infinite speed. In homage to Gene Roddenberry, this limit was also called "Eugene's Limit". Okuda explains this in an author's comment in his technical manual for the USS Enterprise -D. Between Warp 1 (the speed of light ) and Warp 9, the increase

6075-474: The value given by Tom Paris. In the episode " Vis à Vis ", a coaxial warp drive is mentioned. The working principle is explained in more detail in the Star Trek Encyclopedia . This variant of a warp drive uses spatial folding instead of a warp field and allows an instant movement with nearly infinite velocity. Star Trek has also introduced a so-called Transwarp concept, but without

6156-401: The word "warp" in the context of space travel, although the usage of this term as a "bend or curvature" in space which facilitates travel can be traced to several works as far back as the mid-1930s, for example Jack Williamson 's The Cometeers (1936). Einstein's theory of special relativity states that speed of light travel is impossible for material objects that, unlike photons , have

6237-408: Was a unique voice and lingual pattern for each alien, with over 11 hours of audio created from 18 voice actors. The designers also chose a MIDI soundtrack instead of the previous sample-based module format, as this would make it easier to port the game to consoles (which ultimately never happened). Star Control 3 had been scheduled for release by the end of 1995, but the game was delayed due to

6318-491: Was actively solicited through magazines and the bourgeoning internet. Legend also consulted with Ford and Reiche to answer open questions from Star Control II , such as the true fate of the Precursors and the relationship between Earth and the Arilou. Legend wanted to continue the previous story while adding new characters and plots, so they set the game in a new quadrant of space. This allowed them to introduce new alien enemies in

6399-528: Was introduced by John W. Campbell in his 1957 novel Islands of Space and was popularized by the Star Trek series. Its closest real-life equivalent is the Alcubierre drive , a theoretical solution of the field equations of general relativity . Warp drive, or a drive enabling space warp, is one of several ways of travelling through space found in science fiction . It has been often discussed as being conceptually similar to hyperspace . A warp drive

6480-441: Was selected due to their passion for the previous Star Control games, as well as their experience as veteran game writers from the acclaimed adventure game studio Infocom . They designed the game in consultation with fans, replacing features from Star Control II that received negative feedback. Star Control 3 was considered a critical and commercial success upon release, with praise for its story and varied gameplay. However,

6561-402: Was still roughly geometric, but the exponent was adjusted so that the speeds were higher compared to the old scale. For instance, Warp 9 is more than 1500 times faster than Warp 1 in comparison to the 729 times (nine to the power of 3) calculated using the original cubic formula. In the same author's comment, Okuda explains that the motivation was to fulfill fan expectations that the new Enterprise

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