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128-530: Star Control: Famous Battles of the Ur-Quan Conflict, Volume IV is an action - strategy video game developed by Toys for Bob and published by Accolade . It was originally released for MS-DOS and Amiga in 1990, followed by ports for the Sega Genesis and additional platforms in 1991. The story is set during an interstellar war between two space alien factions, with humanity joining

256-841: A first-person shooter might secretly enjoy that their character gets killed in the game, although their expressions might show the contrary. The game used in the study was James Bond 007: Nightfire . Shooter games have been around since the beginning of the video game industry . Notable examples of shooting arcade video games during the early-to-mid-1970s include Syzygy Engineering 's Computer Space (1971), Galaxy Game (1971), Tank (1974) by Kee Games , Gun Fight (1975) by Taito and Midway Manufacturing , and Midway's Sea Wolf (1976). In turn, early arcade shooter video games were inspired by early mainframe games such as Spacewar! (1962) as well as arcade electro-mechanical games such as Periscope (1965) and gun games . A major turning point for action video games came with

384-487: A force field , sometimes known as an energy shield , force shield , energy bubble , or deflector shield , is a barrier produced by something like energy , negative energy , dark energy , electromagnetic fields , gravitational fields , electric fields , quantum fields , telekinetic fields , plasma , particles , radiation , solid light , magic , or pure force . It protects a person, area, or object from attacks or intrusions, or even deflects energy attacks back at

512-549: A forcefield , while the VUX Intruder can launch limpets that slow rival ships down. Using these weapons and abilities will consume the ship's battery, which recharges automatically (with few exceptions). Ships also have a limited amount of crew, representing the total damage a ship can take before being destroyed. This ties into the strategic meta-game between combat, where the crew can be replenished at colonies. The different starships are organized into two warring factions,

640-430: A "fantastic" personality, while Computer and Video Games praised the audio for drawing on popular science fiction. Several reviewers were more critical of the game's strategic mode. Computer Gaming World found that it lacked depth, and Joystick compared the strategy sections unfavorably to the game's combat. Entertainment Weekly criticized the star map as difficult to see, while Raze Magazine found it tedious to operate

768-548: A 2011 interview about their next game Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure , Reiche declared that they will one day make the real sequel. By the early 2000s, the Star Control trademark was held by Infogrames Entertainment . Star Control publisher Accolade had sold their company to Infogrames in 1999, who merged with Atari and re-branded under the Atari name in 2003. In September 2007, Atari released an online Flash game with

896-565: A Star Control History Compendium, to help them resolve storylines from the previous games. In a playable alpha version of the game, players could control a fleet carrier, with the ability to launch a fighter that could be controlled by either the same player or a second player. The game was later announced for the PlayStation home console with plans for release in 1999, featuring a 40-hour variable storyline, and both competitive and co-operative multiplayer. Electronic Arts and Accolade promoted

1024-408: A broad category of action games, referring to a variety of games that are driven by the physical actions of player characters . The term dates back to the golden age of arcade video games in the early 1980s, when the terms "action games" and "character games" began being used to distinguish a new emerging genre of character-driven action games from the space shoot 'em ups that had previously dominated

1152-513: A bubble of charged plasma , contained by a fine mesh of superconducting wire, to surround a spacecraft. This would protect the spacecraft from interstellar radiation and some particles without needing physical shielding . The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory was in 2007 attempting to design an actual test satellite, which would orbit Earth with a charged plasma field around it. In 2008, Cosmos Magazine reported on research into creating an artificial replica of Earth's magnetic field around

1280-436: A contractual clause when the games were no longer generating royalties. As the games were no longer available for sale, Reiche and Ford wanted to keep their work in the public eye, to maintain an audience for a potential sequel. Reiche and Ford still owned the copyrights in Star Control and its sequel Star Control II , but they could not successfully purchase the Star Control trademark from Accolade, leading them to consider

1408-698: A different approach to game design at the time. According to Eugene Jarvis, American arcade developers focused mainly on space shooters during the late 1970s to early 1980s, greatly influenced by Japanese space shooters but taking the genre in a different direction from the "more deterministic, scripted, pattern-type" gameplay of Japanese games, towards a more "programmer-centric design culture, emphasizing algorithmic generation of backgrounds and enemy dispatch" and "an emphasis on random-event generation, particle-effect explosions and physics" as seen in arcade games such as his own Defender (1981) and Robotron: 2084 (1982) as well as Atari 's Asteroids (1979). In

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1536-412: A dominant genre in video arcades and on game consoles through to the present day. Space Invaders set the template for later games in the shooter subgenre, and it is considered one of the most influential games of all time. During the arcade golden age, from the late 1970s to early 1980s, a wide variety of new subgenres were created. The success of Space Invaders led to space shooters becoming

1664-476: A faction of their choice. Each player has up to three ship actions per turn, which are used to explore new stars and colonize or fortify worlds. These colonies provide resources to the player's ships, such as currency and crew. The goal is to move one's ships across the galaxy, claim planets along the way, and destroy the player's opponent's star base . When two rival starships meet on the battlefield, an arcade-style combat sequence begins. Each battle takes place on

1792-614: A few characters have the explicit ability to create force fields (for example, the Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four and Violet Parr from The Incredibles ), it has been emulated via other powers, such as Green Lantern 's energy constructs, Jean Grey 's telekinesis, and Magneto's manipulation of electromagnetic fields. Apart from this, its importance is also highlighted in Dr. Michio Kaku 's books (such as Physics of

1920-489: A finely balanced and well-rounded game experience". The publication further highlighted the many "elements that gave Star Control 'soul'", describing it as "the seed from which the vastly expanded narrative found in Star Control II grew". IGN celebrated Star Control as a "special game" for "its colorful universe and superb combat system", which laid the foundation for its acclaimed sequel Star Control II . In

2048-468: A frequent superpower in superhero media . While sometimes an explicit power on their own, force fields have also been attributed to other fictional abilities. Marvel Comics' Jean Grey is able to use her telekinesis to create a barrier of telekinetic energy that acts as a force field by repelling objects. Similarly, Magneto is able to use his magnetism to manipulate magnetic fields into acting as shields. The most common superpower link seen with force fields

2176-550: A great interstellar prank. Two Hierarchy species hold a grudge against Earth , including the humanoid Androsynth who escaped Earth as renegade clones , and the one-eyed VUX, who were insulted by a human during their first contact. The Chenjesu are the most powerful members of the Alliance, a species of crystalline philosophers who consume electrical energy. Earth joined the Alliance as a multinational crew under their planetary defense organization, Star Control. The Alliance includes

2304-502: A large ship that launches fighters on command, Reiche and Ford decided this would be a dominating race. These antagonists would be called the Ur-Quan, with a motivation to dominate the galaxy to hunt for slaves, and an appearance based on a National Geographic image of a predatory caterpillar dangling over its prey. They decided to organize the characters into nominally "good" and "bad" factions, each with seven unique races and ships, with

2432-471: A legitimate sequel to Star Control 2 , I'll be able to show them to Activision , along with a loaded handgun, and they will finally be convinced to roll the dice on this thing". In the months that followed, Ness announced the petition's impact, reporting that "there did honestly seem to be some real live interest on [Activision's] part. At least on the prototype and concept-test level. This is something we may in fact get to do when we finish our current game". In

2560-529: A level after dying, although action games evolved to offer saved games and checkpoints to allow the player to restart partway through a level. The obstacles and enemies in a level do not usually vary between play sessions, allowing players to learn by trial and error. However, levels sometimes add an element of randomness, such as an enemy that randomly appears or that takes an unpredictable path. Levels in an action game may be linear or nonlinear , and sometimes include shortcuts. For levels that require exploration,

2688-417: A level or group of levels, the player must often defeat a boss enemy that is more challenging and often a major antagonist in the game's story. Enemy attacks and obstacles deplete the player character's health and lives , and the player receives a game over when they run out of lives. Alternatively, the player gets to the end of the game by finishing a sequence of levels to complete a final goal, and see

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2816-416: A limited range, but this attack is rare. Players may find a power-up within the game world that grants temporary or permanent improvements to their abilities. For example, the avatar may gain an increase in speed, more powerful attacks, or a temporary shield from attacks. Some action games even allow players to spend upgrade points on the power ups of their choice. In action games that involve navigating

2944-490: A lone Chenjesu Broodhome finds itself outnumbered by a Hierarchy force, while the Hierarchy tries to defend its colonies from an invading fleet of Syreen Penetrators. There are also scenarios that favor the Alliance, where they defend a stronghold against a VUX incursion, and also confront a Hierarchy fleet pressing deep into Alliance territory. Star Control was created by Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford , who both attended

3072-645: A modern re-invention of Spacewar!, recommending the combat mode for its range of options, its automatic camera zoom, and its implementation of physics. Entertainment Weekly also recommended the game for evolving the Spacewar! formula with a variety of unique ships. The arcade combat earned additional praise for its replayability from Computer Gaming World , Digital Press , Videogame & Computer World , and Raze Magazine . Several publications celebrated Star Control for its artistic details, including its character designs and animations. Digital Press praised

3200-406: A more deterministic, scripted, pattern-type" of play. Terms such as "action games" or "character games" began being used to distinguish these new character-driven action games from the space shooters that had previously dominated the video game industry. The emphasis on character-driven gameplay in turn enabled a wider variety of subgenres. Namco 's hit maze game Pac-Man (1980) popularized

3328-517: A multiplayer game, which required Ford to code a solution that would work across multiple different computer keyboards. Star Control was ported to the Sega Genesis , in a team led by Fred Ford. Because the Genesis port was a cartridge-based game with no battery backup, it lacked the scenario-creator of the PC version, but it came pre-loaded with a few additional scenarios not originally in the game. Where

3456-545: A new Star Control game well into the 2000s. Reiche and Ford expressed interest in creating either an updated Star Control II or an alternate Star Control 3 , particularly if they found the right publisher . During this time, thousands of fans started a petition in hopes of inspiring a sequel. Toys for Bob producer Alex Ness responded in April 2006 with an article on the company website, stating that "if enough of you people out there send me emails requesting that Toys For Bob do

3584-508: A new life, the player resumes the game either from the same location they died, a checkpoint, or the start of the level. Upon starting a new life, the avatar is typically invincible for a few seconds to allow the player to re-orient themselves. Players may earn extra lives by reaching a certain score or by finding an in-game object. Arcade games still limit the number of player lives, while home video games have shifted increasingly to unlimited lives. Action games take place in either 2D or 3D from

3712-411: A new title for a potential follow-up. This led them to remake Star Control II as The Ur-Quan Masters , which they released in 2002 as a free download under an open source copyright license. The official free release is maintained by an active fan community. On October 24, 2023, Pistol Shrimp Games developers, consisting of Fred Ford , Paul Reiche III , Ken Ford and Dan Gerstein , announced

3840-680: A plethora of shoot 'em up games taking place from a top-down or side-scrolling perspective. Space shooters were initially categorized as a separate genre from action games in the early 1980s, when the term was used to refer to character action games, up until character-driven shooters, particularly scrolling run-and-gun shooters, became popular by the late 1980s. The setting of shooter games often involves military conflicts, whether historical, such as World War II , contemporary, such as Middle East conflicts , or fictional, such as space warfare . Shooter games do not always involve military conflicts. Other settings include hunting games, or follow

3968-545: A retrospective, Hardcore Gaming 101 attributed the game's legacy to its combat system, and the story and characters that would be further developed in the sequel. Founder of BioWare , Ray Muzyka , has cited the original Star Control as an inspiration for the Mass Effect series of games, stating that "the uncharted worlds in Mass Effect comes from imagining what a freely explorable universe would be like inside

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4096-464: A rigid social order. As slavers, the Ur-Quan recruit other species into their Hierarchy as serfs , which includes their genetically engineered translators, the Talking Pets. The mollusk -like Spathi are cowardly by nature, and were easily coerced into the Hierarchy. The fungoid Mycon joined the Hierarchy freely and fanatically, while the blobbish Umgah joined out of boredom, amused by the war as

4224-407: A sequel to The Ur-Quan Masters after a mandated quiet period . Action game In an action game, the player typically controls a character often in the form of a protagonist or avatar . This player character must navigate a level , collecting objects, avoiding obstacles, and battling enemies with their natural skills as well as weapons and other tools at their disposal. At the end of

4352-483: A single screen with an overhead view, zooming in as the two ships approach each other. The battlefield includes a planet as a gravity well , which ships can either crash into, or glide nearby to gain momentum . There are 14 different ships to choose from, with unique abilities for each. Ships typically have a unique firing attack, as well as some kind of secondary ability. For example, the Yehat Terminator has

4480-437: A space, players will encounter obstacles, traps, and enemies. Enemies typically follow fixed patterns and attack the player, although newer action games may make use of more complex artificial intelligence to pursue the player. Enemies sometimes appear in groups or waves, with enemies increasing in strength and number until the end of the level. Enemies may also appear out of thin air. This can involve an invisible spawn point, or

4608-471: A spacecraft to protect astronauts from dangerous cosmic rays . British and Portuguese scientists used a mathematical simulation to prove that it would be possible to create a " mini-magnetosphere " bubble several hundred meters across, possibly generated by a small uncrewed vessel that could accompany a future crewed mission to Mars. In 2014, a group of students from the University of Leicester released

4736-464: A staple of many science-fiction works, so much so that authors frequently do not even bother to explain or justify them to their readers, treating them almost as established fact and attributing whatever capabilities the plot requires. The ability to create force fields has become a frequent superpower in superhero media . The concept of a force field goes back at least as far as early 20th century. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction suggests that

4864-405: A study describing functioning of spaceship plasma deflector shields. In 2015, Boeing was granted a patent on a force field system designed to protect against shock waves generated by explosions. It is not intended to protect against projectiles, radiation, or energy weapons such as lasers. The field purportedly works by using a combination of lasers, electricity and microwaves to rapidly heat

4992-478: A three-ply code wheel, called "Professor Zorq's Instant Etiquette Analyzer". Star Control reveals its plot through each scenario in the game's campaign, as well as the game's instruction manual. The story takes place during a war between two interstellar factions of alien species : the peaceful Alliance of Free Stars, and the invading Ur-Quan Hierarchy. The Ur-Quan is the oldest and most advanced species in known space, resembling giant predatory caterpillars with

5120-430: A variety of perspectives. 2D action games typically use a side view or top-down view. The screen frequently scrolls as the player explores the level, although many games scroll through the level automatically to push the player forward. In 3D action games, the perspective is usually tied to the avatar from a first-person perspective or third-person perspective. However, some 3D games offer a context-sensitive perspective that

5248-502: A very realistic next-gen game". Former BioWare writer Mike Laidlaw praised the creativity of the Star Control ship designs, and credited the game with laying the foundation for its sequel, which influenced him as a writer on Mass Effect . Creative producer Henrik Fahraeus has also cited the game's influence on Paradox Interactive's character designs in Stellaris , particularly the bird-like and mushroom-like aliens. Star Control II

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5376-451: A visible generator which can be destroyed by the player. These points may generate enemies indefinitely, or only up to a certain number. At the end of a level or group of themed levels, players often encounter a boss . This boss enemy will often resemble a larger or more difficult version of a regular enemy. A boss may require a special weapon or attack method, such as striking when the boss opens their mouth, or attacking particular part of

5504-463: Is Florence Carpenter Dieudonné 's 1887 novel Rondah, or Thirty-Three Years in a Star , where the far-off Sun Island is enclosed by a "wall in the air" that blocks access by land, sea and air, which is occasionally disabled. In Isaac Asimov 's Foundation universe, personal shields have been developed by scientists specializing in the miniaturization of planet-based shields. As they are primarily used by Foundation Traders, most other inhabitants of

5632-458: Is a combination of a strategy game and real-time one-on-one ship combat game. The ship combat is based on the game Spacewar! , while the turn-based strategy is inspired by Paul Reiche III 's 1983 game Archon: The Light and the Dark . Players have the option to play the full game with the turn-based campaign, or practice the one-on-one ship battles. The game can be played by one player against

5760-439: Is an action-adventure science fiction game, set in an open world . The game was originally published by Accolade in 1992 for MS-DOS , and was later ported to the 3DO with enhanced multimedia elements. Created by Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III, it vastly expands on the story and characters introduced in the first game. When the player discovers that Earth has been encased in a slave shield, they must recruit allies to liberate

5888-423: Is an adventure science fiction video game developed by Legend Entertainment , and published by Accolade in 1996. The story takes place after the events of Star Control II when the player must travel deeper into the galaxy to investigate the mysterious collapse of hyperspace. Several game systems from Star Control II are changed. Hyperspace navigation is replaced with instant fast travel, and planet landing

6016-443: Is controlled by an artificial intelligence camera. Most of what the player needs to know is contained within a single screen, although action games frequently make use of a heads-up display that display important information such as health or ammunition. Action games sometimes make use of maps which can be accessed during lulls in action, or a mini-map that is always visible. Action games tend to set simple goals, and reaching them

6144-528: Is obvious. A common goal is to defeat the end-of-game boss. This is often presented in the form of a structured story, with a happy ending upon winning the game. In some games, the goal changes as the player reveals more of the story. Many action games keep track of the player's score. Points are awarded for completing certain challenges, or defeating certain enemies. Skillful play is often rewarded with point multipliers, such as in Pac-Man where each ghost that

6272-524: Is replaced with a colony system inspired by the original Star Control . Accolade hired Legend Entertainment to develop the game after original creators Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford decided to pursue other projects. Though the game was considered a critical and commercial success upon release, it would receive unfavourable comparisons to Star Control II, with some fans regarding it as non-canonical . In January 1998, Accolade announced that they were developing Star Control 4 . Also known as StarCon , it

6400-463: Is the power of invisibility . This is seen with Marvel Comics' Invisible Woman and Disney Pixar 's Violet Parr . Force fields often vary in what they are made of, though are commonly made of energy. The 2017 series The Gifted featured character Lauren Strucker who had the ability to create shields by pushing molecules together. This resulted in her being able to construct force fields out of air and water particles rather than energy. In 2005,

6528-455: The 1989 San Francisco Earthquake . The game's file size was largely devoted to sound effects, with audio sampled from famous science fiction media, as well as original sound designs for other alien ships. Each alien race also has a short victory theme song, composed by Reiche's friend Tommy Dunbar of The Rubinoos . The longer Ur-Quan theme played at the end of the game was composed by fantasy artist Erol Otus . The number of visible colors

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6656-498: The Galactic Empire do not know about this technology. In an unrelated short story Breeds There a Man...? by Asimov, scientists are working on a force field ("energy so channelled as to create a wall of matter-less inertia"), capable of protecting the population in case of a nuclear war. The force field demonstrated in the end is a solid hemisphere, apparently completely opaque and reflective from both sides. Asimov explores

6784-548: The NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts devised a way to protect from radiation by applying an electric field to spheres made of a thin, non-conductive material coated with a layer of gold with either positive or negative charges, which could be arranged to bend a stream of charged particles to protect from radiation. In 2006, a University of Washington group in Seattle , Washington, had been experimenting with using

6912-438: The University of California Berkeley around the same time, and both entered the video game industry in the early 1980s. Reiche had started his career working for Dungeons & Dragons publisher TSR , before developing PC games for Free Fall Associates . After releasing World Tour Golf , Reiche created an advertising mock-up for what would become Star Control , showing a dreadnaught and some ships fighting. He pitched

7040-428: The University of Rochester on college students showed that over a period of a month, performance in eye examinations improved by about 20% in those playing Unreal Tournament compared to those playing Tetris . Most arcade games are action games, because they can be difficult for unskilled players, and thus make more money quickly. Researchers from Helsinki School of Economics have shown that people playing

7168-459: The arcades in the late 1970s. Classic examples of character action games from the early 1980s include Frogger , maze games like Pac-Man , and platformers like Donkey Kong . Shooter games allow the player to take action at a distance using a ranged weapon, challenging them to aim with accuracy and speed. This subgenre includes first-person shooters , third-person shooters , light gun shooters , rail shooters , run and gun games and

7296-468: The credits . Some action games, such as early arcade games , are unbeatable and have an indefinite number of levels. The player's only goal is to get as far as they can, to maximize their score. The action genre includes any game where the player overcomes challenges by physical means such as precise aim and quick response times. Action games can sometimes incorporate other challenges such as races, puzzles, or collecting objects, but they are not central to

7424-527: The first-person shooter (FPS) genre was popularized by Doom ; it is also considered, despite not using 3D polygons, a major leap forward for three-dimensional environments in action games. 3D polygon texture mapping appeared in action games around the mid-1990s, introduced to fighting games by Sega AM2's Virtua Fighter 2 (1994), to light gun shooters by Sega AM2's Virtua Cop in 1994, and to FPS games by Parallax Software 's Descent (1995). Force field (technology) In speculative fiction ,

7552-443: The high score . It also had a basic story with animated characters along with a "crescendo of action and climax" which laid the groundwork for later video games, according to Eugene Jarvis , who said many games "still rely on the multiple life , progressively difficult level paradigm" of Space Invaders . Following the mainstream success of Space Invaders , the industry came to be dominated by action games, which have remained

7680-532: The marsupial Shofixti, a brave warrior species who were technologically uplifted by the Yehat, a militant species of avian dinosaurs. The allied Mmrnmhrm are robots with transforming ships, while the Syreen are female humanoids who use their psychic abilities to hypnotize enemy crew. The Arilou are a race of "space elves " with hyper-jump capable vessels, who also have a history of "tormenting" Earth. Throughout

7808-428: The shields function primarily as a defensive measure against weapons fired from other spacecraft. Force fields in these stories also generally prevent transporting . There are generally two kinds of force fields postulated: one in which energy is projected as a flat plane from emitters around the edges of a spacecraft and another where energy surrounds a ship like a bubble. The ability to create force fields has become

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7936-430: The 1978 release of Taito's shoot 'em up game Space Invaders , which marked the beginning of the golden age of arcade video games . The game was designed by Tomohiro Nishikado , who drew inspiration from Atari 's Breakout (1976) and the science fiction genre. Nishikado added several interactive elements to Space Invaders that he found lacking in earlier video games, such as the ability for enemies to react to

8064-470: The 90s with a touch of humor". In 2001, PC Gameplay ranked Star Control as the 45th most influential game of all time, based on a survey of dozens of game studios. In 2017, Polygon ranked it as number 253 in their top 500 games of all time, arguing that "as a melee or strategic game, it helped define the idea that games can be malleable and dynamic and players can make an experience wholly their own". Journalist Jamie Lendino also noted Star Control among

8192-471: The Alliance of Free Stars to defeat the invading Ur-Quan Hierarchy. Players can choose to play as either faction, each with seven different alien starships which are used during the game's combat and strategy sections. The game was created by designer-artist Paul Reiche III and programmer-engineer Fred Ford . Initially, the concept was based on the space combat seen in Spacewar! (1962), combined with

8320-515: The Amiga version of Star Control to the "aging co-op Spacewar! ". While reviewing the Sega Genesis version, Computer and Video Games described the graphics as inferior to other titles on the console. Raze Magazine felt that it lacked the polish and depth of the original PC version, criticizing the sprites and environments, while still offering praise for the detailed portraits. The year of

8448-547: The Androsynth from redeploying. The first full battle breaks out where both spheres of influence meet with a mix of combatants, followed by a single Ur-Quan dreadnaught trying to stamp out a fleet of Shofixti scouts. The next encounter takes place in an uncolonized sector between Hierarchy and Alliance starbases. By the fifth and sixth scenarios, the war has escalated to multi-ship battles, including an Ur-Quan armada rampaging towards an Alliance stronghold. The final encounters of

8576-462: The Dark and Mail Order Monsters . The project would adapt the action-strategy gameplay of Archon into a science fiction setting, where unique combatants fight space battles using distinct abilities. Also called StarCon , the title was a play on words. According to Ford, " StarCon is really just Archon with an S-T in front of it", pointing to the one-on-one combat and strategic modes of both games. Star Control would base its combat sequences on

8704-411: The Genesis from their previous list of releases, including Star Control . Sega responded by suing Accolade for copyright infringement , but the appeal court found that reverse engineering was a fair use exception to copying the code without Sega's authorization. The ruling set an influential precedent , allowing other instances of reverse engineering to continue without penalty. Sega eventually settled

8832-532: The Impossible ). Science fiction and fantasy avenues suggest a number of potential uses of force fields: The capabilities and functionality of force fields vary; in some works of fiction (such as in the Star Trek universe), energy shields can nullify or mitigate the effects of both energy and particle (e.g., phasers ) and conventional weapons, as well as supernatural forces. In many fictional scenarios,

8960-608: The North American home video game market (after it had crashed in 1983 ). Alongside side-scrollers, rail shooters and light gun shooters also became popular during the mid-to-late 1980s. Popular examples include first-person light gun shooting gallery games such as Nintendo 's Duck Hunt (1984), pseudo-3D third-person rail shooters such as Sega's Space Harrier (1985) and After Burner (1987), and Taito's Operation Wolf (1987) which popularized military-themed first-person light gun rail shooters. A trend that

9088-425: The PC version featured synthesized audio, the team discovered the digital MOD file format to help port the music to console, which would become the core music format for the sequel. It took nearly five months to convert the code and color palettes, leaving little time to optimize the game under Accolade's tight schedule, leading to slowdown issues. Released under Accolade's new "Ballistic" label for high quality games,

9216-476: The Ur-Quan Hierarchy, and the Alliance of Free Stars. Each ship has different strengths and weaknesses, determined by their unique weapons and abilities, as well as their speed, battery, crew (health), and cost. Ship selection has a major influence over combat, and players can discover matchups that give them an advantage. While expensive ships are usually more powerful, the weaker ships can still win in

9344-517: The action-strategy gameplay seen in Archon: The Light and the Dark (1983). The alternate title, StarCon , was a play on words referring to Reiche's prior work on Archon, adapted into a science fiction setting. After developing the core space combat system, Reiche and Ford created an assortment of ships, abilities, and character designs. The project was completed with additional artwork from Greg Johnson and Erol Otus . Star Control

9472-453: The attacker. This fictional technology is created as a field of energy without matter that acts as a wall, so that objects affected by the particular force relating to the field are unable to pass through the field and reach the other side, instead being deflected or destroyed. Actual research in the 21st century has looked into the potential to deflect radiation or cosmic rays , as well as more extensive shielding. This concept has become

9600-474: The avatar eats will generate twice as many points as the last. Sometimes action games will offer bonus objects that increase the player's score. There is no penalty for failing to collect them, although these bonus objects may unlock hidden levels or special events. In many action games, achieving a high score is the only goal, and levels increase in difficulty until the player loses. Arcade games are more likely to be unbeatable, as they make their money by forcing

9728-448: The best player, paving the way for the competitive multiplayer and deathmatch modes found in modern action games. Inspired by Street Fighter II , along with the SNK fighting games Fatal Fury (1991) and Art of Fighting (1992), John Romero created the deathmatch mode in id Software 's Doom (1993), which popularized competitive multiplayer online games . In the 1990s, there

9856-401: The boss. In many action games, the avatar has a certain number of hit-markers or health, which are depleted by enemy attacks and other hazards. Sometimes health can be replenished by collecting an in-game object. When the player runs out of health, the player dies. The player's avatar is often given a small number of chances to retry after death, typically referred to as lives . Upon beginning

9984-409: The campaign feature a Spathi assault on a Mmrnmhrm mining cluster, and two battles between all members of each faction, with and without starbase support. The Sega Genesis version features additional scenarios. In neutral space, an Alliance task force attempts to stop the spread of Mycon colonies. Where the Hierarchy has the advantage, they attempt to conquer Earth's surrounding solar system. Meanwhile,

10112-564: The campaign, each side discovers powerful relics belonging to the Precursors, an unknown lost species who once inhabited nearby space, hundreds of thousands of years ago. Humanity encounters a first alien contact near their Ceres outpost, where they receive an urgent warning from the Chenjesu. The crystalline aliens explain that the Ur-Quan Hierarchy is annihilating them and their allies. The Alliance council previously decided that Earth

10240-421: The choice of playing as "one of two alliances (Hyperium or Crux)", with the option of operating a fighter, carrier, or turrets. Another publication described the ability to select from three different alien factions, with different missions that impact the storyline, and the ability to destroy entire planets. Development on the game was halted at the end of 1998. Not satisfied with the game's progress, Accolade put

10368-541: The classic game Spacewar! , as well as the core experience of space combat game Star Raiders . This was the first collaboration between Ford and Reiche, who decided to limit the game's scope to establish an effective workflow . Releasing the game under their personal names, they also began referring to their partnership as Toys for Bob . Programmer Robert Leyland and artist Erol Otus had both worked with Ford at his previous place of employment, and joined him as he began work on Star Control . Fred Ford's first prototype

10496-425: The combatants became essential to the experience. Ford explained: "Our ships weren't balanced at all, one on one... but the idea was, your fleet of ships, your selection of ships in total was as strong as someone else's, and then, it came down to which matchup did you find". Still, the ships were still given some balance by having their energy recharge at different rates. Although the story does not factor heavily into

10624-432: The computer, or two players head to head. The player can also assign the game's artificial intelligence to take over the strategy gameplay, the combat gameplay, or both. The strategy campaign consists of several selectable scenarios, with nine missions on home computers, and fifteen on the Sega Genesis . Each turn-based strategy mission begins with opposing fleets arranged on a rotating star map, with each player controlling

10752-440: The copyright to the first two games, and that they would need a license from Reiche and Ford to use their content and lore. Reiche and Ford echoed this understanding in their 2015 Game Developers Conference interview, stating that Stardock's game would use the Star Control trademark only. After a lawsuit, the parties agreed on the same separation of rights, with Stardock using the Star Control name, and Reiche and Ford announcing

10880-431: The different starships, earning the game an editorial Hyper Game Award as "one of the best two-player Mega Drive games ever". Similarly, Computer and Video Games chose Star Control for their editorial "CVG Hit" award, highlighting the variety of weapons, the fun of learning favorable matchups, and the overall playability of the game's two-player mode. Italian publication The Games Machine celebrated Star Control as

11008-500: The dominant genre in arcades for a few years, before a new genre of character-driven action games emerged in the early 1980s. The term "action games" began being used in the early 1980s, in reference to a new genre of character action games that emerged from Japanese arcade developers, drawing inspiration from manga and anime culture. According to Eugene Jarvis , these new character-driven Japanese action games emphasized "character development, hand-drawn animation and backgrounds, and

11136-560: The fiercely heroic Yehat, and decided to create the Shofixti as a ferocious super rodent. The team also decided that the game would need more humanoid characters, and created the Syreen as a powerful and attractive humanoid female race. When they saw that the Syreen ship resembled a cross between a rocket ship and a ribbed condom , Fred Ford suggested calling it the Syreen Penetrator, which coincidentally happened moments before

11264-602: The first use of the term in science fiction was in 1931, in Spacehounds of IPC by E.E. 'Doc' Smith . An early precursor of what is now called "force field" may be found in William Hope Hodgson 's The Night Land (1912), where the Last Redoubt, the fortress of the remnants of a far-future humanity, is kept safe by "The Air Clog" generated by the burning "Earth-Current". An even earlier precursor

11392-530: The force field concept again in the short story Not Final! . The concept of force fields as a defensive measure from enemy attack or as a form of attack can be regularly found in modern video games as well as in film, such as in The War of the Worlds (1953, George Pál) and Independence Day . The ability to create a force field has been a common superpower in comic books and associated media. While only

11520-447: The galaxy. The game features ship-to-ship combat based on the original Star Control , but removes the first game's strategy elements to focus on story and dialog. Star Control II has earned critical acclaim and is considered one of the best games of all time through the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. It is also ranked among the best games in several creative areas, including writing, world design, character design, and music. Star Control 3

11648-421: The game industry. At this point, Reiche needed a programmer-engineer and Ford was seeking a designer-artist, so their mutual friends set up a gaming night to re-introduce them. The meeting was hosted at game designer Greg Johnson 's house, and one of the friends who encouraged the meeting was fantasy artist Erol Otus . Star Control began as an evolution of concepts that Reiche created in Archon: The Light and

11776-470: The game to Electronic Arts , before instead securing an agreement with Accolade as a publisher, thanks to Reiche's former producer taking a job there. Meanwhile, Ford had started his career creating games for Japanese personal computers before transitioning to more corporate software development. After a few years working at graphics companies in Silicon Valley , Ford realized he missed working in

11904-501: The game was touted as the first 12-megabit cartridge created for the system. The box art for the Sega version was adapted from the original PC version, this time re-painted by artist Boris Vallejo . The Genesis port was not authorized by Sega . Frustrated with Sega's licensing requirements, Accolade decided to reverse engineer the console to disable the code that locked out unlicensed games. This allowed Accolade to port several games to

12032-414: The game's graphics as "truly spectacular in 256 color VGA ". The Games Machine celebrated the game's many graphical details, particularly the alien pilots. French publication Joystick offered its strongest praise for the game's art and environment. The game's audio design was also highlighted by several publications. Digital Press felt that the sound effects for the Ur-Quan and Chenjesu gave their ships

12160-404: The game's release, Video Games & Computer Entertainment gave Star Control an award for "Best Computer Science Fiction Game", noting that "the two creators have put together a game that is great either as a full simulation or an action-combat contest". They later highlighted the game in a list of science fiction releases, proclaiming "Reiche and Ford's action-strategy tour de force is one of

12288-403: The game, the character concepts were created based on the ship designs. The team would begin with paper illustrations, followed by logical abilities for those ships, and a character concept that suited the ship's look-and-feel. The first ship sketches were based on popular science fiction, such as SpaceWar! or Battlestar Galactica , and slowly evolved into original designs as they discussed why

12416-459: The genre of "character-led" action games. It was one of the first popular non-shooting action games, defining key elements of the genre such as "parallel visual processing" which requires simultaneously keeping track of multiple entities, including the player character, the character's location, the enemies, and the energizers. Other classic examples of character action games that followed include Nintendo 's Donkey Kong (1981), which established

12544-413: The genre. Players may encounter tactical and exploration challenges, but these games first-and-foremost require high reaction speed and good hand–eye coordination. The player is often under time pressure, and there is not enough time for complex strategic planning. In general, faster action games are more challenging. Action games may sometimes involve puzzle solving, but they are usually quite simple because

12672-505: The hands of a skilled player. The screen also displays a cockpit animation for each player, with unique character design for each alien and ship. The ships also have distinct sound deign, such as the barking Chenjesu drones, or the Ur-Quan Dreadnaught bellowing "launch fighters" when it initiates a strike. As was typical of copy protection at the time, Star Control requested a special pass phrase that players found by using

12800-576: The humans on the good side. As they were creating the alien characters based on the ship abilities, the Spathi's cowardly personality was inspired by their backwards-shooting missiles. A more robotic ship inspired an alien race called the Androsynth, whose appearance was imagined as Devo flying a spaceship. Reiche and Ford were also inspired by character concepts in David Brin 's The Uplift War . The designers asked what kind of race would be uplifted by

12928-570: The lawsuit in Accolade's favor, making them a licensed Sega developer. Star Control was a commercial success at the time, reaching the top 5 on the PC sales charts by September 1990. According to a retrospective by Finnish gaming magazine Pelit , the game would go on to sell 120,000 copies, leading Accolade to request a sequel from creators Reiche and Ford. The game earned wide acclaim for its arcade-style combat, including its tactical depth and player-vs-player mode. MegaTech enjoyed mastering

13056-420: The level is completed with time remaining, this usually adds to the player's score. In most action games, the player controls a single avatar as the protagonist . The avatar has the ability to navigate and maneuver, and often collects or manipulates objects. They have a range of defenses and attacks, such as shooting or punching. Many action games make use of a powerful attack that destroys all enemies within

13184-547: The mid-1980s, side-scrolling character action games emerged, combining elements from earlier side-view, single-screen character action games, such as single-screen platformers, with the side-scrolling of space shooters. These new side-scrolling character-driven action games featured large character sprites in colorful, side-scrolling environments, with the core gameplay consisting of fighting large groups of weaker enemies using attacks/weapons such as punches, kicks, guns, swords, ninjutsu or magic. The most notable early example

13312-507: The most absorbing and challenging science fiction games of all-time". The game was additionally nominated for Best Action/Arcade Program at the 1991 Spring Symposium of the Software Publishers Association. Star Control has been received several retrospective awards from gaming publications. In 1996, Video Games & Computer Entertainment ranked it as the 127th best game, describing it as " Space War enters

13440-619: The most significant PC games of the early 1990s, for successfully combining an action game with science fiction strategy. The game is also celebrated for the debut of the Ur-Quan , as "one of the all-time villainous races in the history of computer games". Years after its release, Pelit recalled the original Star Control for its polished combat system, as well as the creativity of its character designs. In 2005, Retro Gamer described Star Control as "a textbook example of good game design", where "two genres were brilliantly combined, making for

13568-627: The name Star Control , created by independent game developer Iocaine Studios. Atari ordered the game to be delivered in just four days, which Iocaine produced in two days. Also in September, Atari applied to renew the Star Control trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office , citing images of Iocaine's flash game to demonstrate their declaration of use in commerce . Atari declared bankruptcy in 2013, and their assets were listed for auction . When Stardock became

13696-452: The new name of the sequel, Free Stars: Children of Infinity , and launched its corresponding website . A Kickstarter campaign was launched on April 16, 2024 to further the game development of the sequel. Within 3 hours, they met their initial $ 100 000 USD goal. The planned data for the release of the game is August 2025. The fans started to call the game "the real Star Control 3" due to its creation by Reiche and Ford. Fans continued to demand

13824-402: The personality of the alien ships for their portraits, and the lore behind each species. Strategy Plus appreciated the unique humor and personality of the aliens, highlighting the design of the Syreen and their Penetrator ship, as well as "silly" names like Chenjesu commander Bzrrak Ktazzz. Videogame & Computer World praised the unique animations of the aliens, while Strategy Plus declared

13952-503: The platforming of Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. (1983) with side-scrolling elements from racing game Excitebike (1984) and beat 'em up Kung-Fu Master to create Super Mario Bros. (1985) for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It went on to have a significant impact on the video game industry , establishing the conventions of the side-scrolling platformer sub-genre and helping to reinvigorate

14080-400: The player is under immense time pressure. Players advance through an action game by completing a series of levels . Levels are often grouped by theme, with similar graphics and enemies called a world. Each level involves a variety of challenges, whether dancing in a dance game or shooting things in a shooter, which the player must overcome to win the game. Older games force players to restart

14208-437: The player may need to search for a level exit that is hidden or guarded by enemies. Such levels can also contain secrets—hidden or hard-to-reach objects or places that contain something valuable. The prize can be a bonus (see below) or a non-standard exit that allows a player to access a hidden level, or jump ahead several levels. Action games sometimes offer a teleporter that will cause the player's avatar to re-appear elsewhere in

14336-523: The player to lose the game. Games sold at home are more likely to have discrete victory conditions, since a publisher wants the player to purchase another game when they are done. Action games contain several major subgenres. However, there are a number of action games that do not fit any particular subgenres, as well as other types of genres like adventure or strategy games that have action elements. Character action games , also called "character-driven" games, "character games" or just "action games", are

14464-407: The player's movement and fire back and a game over triggered by enemies killing the player, either by getting hit or enemies reaching the bottom of the screen, rather than a timer running out. In contrast to earlier arcade games which often had a timer, Space Invaders introduced the "concept of going round after round." It also gave the player multiple lives before the game ends, and saved

14592-461: The project on hold with intentions to re-evaluate their plans for the Star Control license. In 1999, Accolade was acquired by Infogrames SA for $ 50 million, as one of many corporate restructurings that eventually led to Infogrames merging with Atari and re-branding under a revived Atari brand. Star Control 3 became the last official instalment of the series. By the early 2000s, Accolade's copyright license for Star Control expired, triggered by

14720-426: The same level. Levels often make use of locked doors that can only be opened with a specific key found elsewhere in the level. Action games sometimes make use of time restrictions to increase the challenge. However, game levels typically do not react to time passing, and day/night cycles are rare. When the timer expires, the player typically loses a life, although some games generate a difficult enemy or challenge. If

14848-418: The ships were fighting each other. Reiche describes their character creation process: "I know it probably sounds weird, but when I design a game like this, I make drawings of the characters and stare at them. I hold little conversations with them. 'What do you guys do?' And they tell me". By the end of this process, they wrote a short summary for each alien, describing their story and personality. After creating

14976-539: The story of a criminal, as seen in the popular Grand Theft Auto franchise. Although shooting is almost always a form of violence, non-violent shooters exist as well, such as Splatoon which focuses on claiming more territory than the opposing team, by covering the playable environment with colored paint or ink. Hybrid action games are games that combine elements of action games with elements from other genres. Studies have shown that people can improve their eyesight by playing action video games. Tests by scientists at

15104-468: The strategy game menus on the Sega Genesis. Originally released for the PC, Star Control received criticism for its porting to other platforms. Advanced Computer Entertainment called the Amiga version "disappointing", denouncing the load times and "tacky two-dimensional combat sequences that look as if they've been borrowed from an early Eighties coin-op". Computer and Video Games similarly compared

15232-441: The template for the platform game subgenre, as well as Konami 's Frogger (1981) and Universal Entertainment 's Lady Bug (1981). Martial arts action games eventually emerged in the mid-1980s, with Data East 's Karate Champ (1984) establishing the one-on-one fighting game subgenre. While Japanese developers were creating a character-driven action game genre in the early 1980s, American developers largely adopted

15360-470: The top bidder for Atari's Star Control assets, Paul Reiche indicated that he still owned the copyrighted materials from the first two Star Control games, which implied that Stardock must have purchased the Star Control trademark and the copyright in any original elements of Star Control 3 . Stardock confirmed this intellectual property split soon after. As Stardock began developing their new Star Control game , they re-iterated that they did not acquire

15488-681: Was Irem 's Kung-Fu Master (1984), the first beat 'em up and the most influential side-scrolling martial arts action game. It was based upon two Hong Kong martial arts films, Bruce Lee 's Game of Death (1973) and Jackie Chan 's Wheels on Meals (1984), This side-scrolling arcade action format became popular during the mid-to-late 1980s, with examples including ninja action games such as Taito's The Legend of Kage (1985) and Sega 's Shinobi (1987), run and gun video games such as Namco 's Rolling Thunder (1986), and beat 'em ups such as Technōs Japan 's Renegade (1986) and Double Dragon (1987). Shigeru Miyamoto combined

15616-766: Was a "3D Revolution" where action games made the transition from 2D and pseudo-3D graphics to real-time 3D polygon graphics . 3D arcade system boards that were originally designed for 3D racing games during the late 1980s to early 1990s, such as the Namco System 21 , Sega Model 1 and Sega Model 2 , were used to produce 3D arcade action games in the early 1990s, including 3D rail shooters such as Namco 's Galaxian 3 (1990) and Solvalou (1991), 3D fighting games such as Sega AM2 's Virtua Fighter (1993) and Namco's Tekken (1994), and 3D light gun shooters such as Sega AM2's Virtua Cop (1994) and Namco's Time Crisis (1995). On personal computers ,

15744-644: Was a critical and commercial success upon its release, leading to two sequels, Star Control II in 1992 (and the free open-source remake The Ur-Quan Masters in 2002), and Star Control 3 in 1996. It has since been ranked among the best games of all time by Polygon and VideoGames & Computer Entertainment , remembered for the replay value of its combat, as well as the colorful worldbuilding that gave rise to its acclaimed sequel. Years after its release, game designers have continued to cite Star Control as an influence on their work, including Mass Effect (2007), and Stellaris (2016). Star Control

15872-482: Was a major technological limitation at the time, and the team created different settings for CGA , EGA , and VGA monitors. A separate team ported a stripped down version of the game to the Commodore 64 , Amstrad , and ZX Spectrum , which meant reducing the number of ships to eight, as well introducing new bugs and balance issues. Additional problems were caused by the number of simultaneous key-presses required for

16000-655: Was a two-player action game where the VUX and Yehat ships blow up asteroids, which led them to build the entire universe around that simple play experience. Ford designed the Yehat starship with a crescent-shape, and the ship's shield-generator led them to optimize the ship for close combat. They built on these two original ships with many additional ships and character concepts, and play-tested them with friends such as Greg Johnson and Robert Leyland. The team preferred to iterate on ship designs rather than plan them, as they discovered different play-styles during testing. The asymmetry between

16128-477: Was designed as a 3D space combat game. By this time, Electronic Arts had agreed to become the distributor for all games developed by Accolade. Accolade producer George MacDonald announced that "we want to move away from the adventure element and concentrate on what it seems the players really want – action!" Though heavier on combat than previous titles, players would still have the opportunity to fly to planets and communicate with different aliens. The team also created

16256-466: Was not strong enough to make a difference, but now the Ur-Quan slavers and their minions have broken through the Alliance defenses, and are approaching the Solar System . The diplomats of Earth agree to join the Alliance, earning a position on the Alliance council, and an Alliance pact to defend Earth and its space colonies. The campaign begins with a lone Syreen Penetrator vessel attempting to stop

16384-517: Was popularized for action games in the early 1990s was competitive multiplayer , including what would later be known as esports tournaments. The arcade fighting game Street Fighter II (1991) by Capcom popularized the concept of direct, tournament-level competition between two players. Previously, action games most often relied on high scores to determine the best player, but this changed with Street Fighter II , where players would instead challenge each other directly, "face-to-face," to determine

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