[Stardock] Star Control

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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

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Glad it did well enough to warrant a season pass.
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

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$29.99 on Steam right now
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

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First part of Earth Rising is available this week. :)

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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by confab »

The game's getting taken down from Steam and GOG due to a DMCA notice from Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford: link to Steam announcement
Valve assures us that anyone who has already bought the game should be able to continue to play it.

Unfortunately, without the income from Star Control: Origins, Stardock will have to lay off some of the men and women who are assigned to the game.
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by jztemple2 »

confab wrote: Mon Dec 31, 2018 10:51 pm The game's getting taken down from Steam and GOG due to a DMCA notice from Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford: link to Steam announcement
Valve assures us that anyone who has already bought the game should be able to continue to play it.

Unfortunately, without the income from Star Control: Origins, Stardock will have to lay off some of the men and women who are assigned to the game.
Well, that's annoying for Stardock I'm sure. And to me it doesn't sound smart for Reiche and Ford either. If they really believe they are due some compensation then let the game continue to be sold and make more money, which they can get in a settlement if they prevail. What this does, according to the announcement, is put people out of work. I hope Stardock is successful in getting things back on track and getting those people back to work.
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by NickAragua »

Seriously? I was kind of neutral in this before, but now I'm firmly on Stardock's side. Way to "stick it to the man", asswipes. What was the last game those two chuckleheads made?
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by baelthazar »

NickAragua wrote: Tue Jan 01, 2019 10:51 am Seriously? I was kind of neutral in this before, but now I'm firmly on Stardock's side. Way to "stick it to the man", asswipes. What was the last game those two chuckleheads made?
Yeah, I am with you. I was sad that this was such a squabble before, but any good will I had for Reiche and Ford has evaporated. I was already trending against them when they used GoFundMe to raise legal defense money, but to DMCA a game like this with no clear claim seems ridiculous.
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by Ralph-Wiggum »

I don't know all the ins and outs of the lawsuit and claims, but from the bit I've read it seems pretty clear (from emails) that Stardock knew they didn't own the rights to using certain assets and/or ideas from the original Star Control games but went ahead and used them anyway. It sucks that the game is pulled, but it seems like Stardock brought this on themselves.
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by GreenGoo »

I now regret not buying this earlier. Chances are it will be back, but if it isn't I'll be pirating it. I don't give 2 shits about who owns what assets.

IP law is there to encourage creative works, not suppress them.

Bickering between IP owners is about as useful to the public as a kick in the nuts.

I'll also pirate the precursors game if it ever reaches publication, which I don't expect.
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by RMC »

GreenGoo wrote: Tue Jan 01, 2019 3:32 pm I now regret not buying this earlier. Chances are it will be back, but if it isn't I'll be pirating it. I don't give 2 shits about who owns what assets.

IP law is there to encourage creative works, not suppress them.

Bickering between IP owners is about as useful to the public as a kick in the nuts.

I'll also pirate the precursors game if it ever reaches publication, which I don't expect.
I am assuming that Stardock will have the game on alternate sources to purchase from eventually. So that shouldn't be an issue. But man, I thought this was all settled, or at least the major part of it was.. Guess not...
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by GreenGoo »

RMC wrote: Tue Jan 01, 2019 10:49 pm
I am assuming that Stardock will have the game on alternate sources to purchase from eventually. So that shouldn't be an issue. But man, I thought this was all settled, or at least the major part of it was.. Guess not...
I'm not sure what you mean by alternate sources, but it will either be back on Steam (and GOG) or it won't be back at all. I can't imagine a scenario where Steam says "no thanks" but someone else says "sure, why not". At least not legally. Although I guess if Stardock wants to deal with the DMCA crap while they work through the legal system for the rest, they could sell it through their website.
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by Max Peck »

GreenGoo wrote: Tue Jan 01, 2019 11:39 pm
RMC wrote: Tue Jan 01, 2019 10:49 pm
I am assuming that Stardock will have the game on alternate sources to purchase from eventually. So that shouldn't be an issue. But man, I thought this was all settled, or at least the major part of it was.. Guess not...
I'm not sure what you mean by alternate sources, but it will either be back on Steam (and GOG) or it won't be back at all.
If you really want the game, it appears that you can purchase it directly from Stardock.
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by MonkeyFinger »

And it's still available on GOG.
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by GreenGoo »

MonkeyFinger wrote: Tue Jan 01, 2019 11:47 pm And it's still available on GOG.
The article I read said it was being pulled from there too. I didn't bother to check their sources.
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by MonkeyFinger »

GreenGoo wrote: Tue Jan 01, 2019 11:48 pm
MonkeyFinger wrote: Tue Jan 01, 2019 11:47 pm And it's still available on GOG.
The article I read said it was being pulled from there too. I didn't bother to check their sources.
Interesting... going there now it seems a bit broken. Was working fine earlier but now it won't bring up my library, just spins.
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by GreenGoo »

MonkeyFinger wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 12:04 am
GreenGoo wrote: Tue Jan 01, 2019 11:48 pm The article I read said it was being pulled from there too. I didn't bother to check their sources.
Interesting... going there now it seems a bit broken. Was working fine earlier but now it won't bring up my library, just spins.
The article also said that you should be able to continue to play the game on Steam if you already own it. Sounds like the article (was some major game site, don't recall, Google news showed it to me) played a little loose with the facts, possibly.
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by Dave Allen »

GreenGoo wrote: Tue Jan 01, 2019 11:48 pm The article I read said it was being pulled from there too. I didn't bother to check their sources.
Still GOG purchasable [ would make great, free publicity for Epic to add the title right now :tjg: ]
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by Grifman »

RMC wrote: Tue Jan 01, 2019 10:49 pm
GreenGoo wrote: Tue Jan 01, 2019 3:32 pm I now regret not buying this earlier. Chances are it will be back, but if it isn't I'll be pirating it. I don't give 2 shits about who owns what assets.

IP law is there to encourage creative works, not suppress them.

Bickering between IP owners is about as useful to the public as a kick in the nuts.

I'll also pirate the precursors game if it ever reaches publication, which I don't expect.
I am assuming that Stardock will have the game on alternate sources to purchase from eventually. So that shouldn't be an issue. But man, I thought this was all settled, or at least the major part of it was.. Guess not...
I'm not certain how you thought this was settled. Both parties are suing each other and digging in. There's been no effort at compromise on either side.
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by GreenGoo »

Grifman wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 2:30 am I'm not certain how you thought this was settled. Both parties are suing each other and digging in. There's been no effort at compromise on either side.
The game exists. I think that's why he thought it was settled.

Again, the article I read said several attempts to reach an agreement had been made by both sides with no success. If this is wrong as well, then the only thing the article got right was the game title, and I'm not even sure about that.
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by RMC »

GreenGoo wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 3:40 am
Grifman wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 2:30 am I'm not certain how you thought this was settled. Both parties are suing each other and digging in. There's been no effort at compromise on either side.
The game exists. I think that's why he thought it was settled.

Again, the article I read said several attempts to reach an agreement had been made by both sides with no success. If this is wrong as well, then the only thing the article got right was the game title, and I'm not even sure about that.
Yeah, I figured it was all settled except for who pays whom what. Once the game was out in the wild, I figured each side was just letting the money to be paid to whom needs to be totalled. I am kind of shocked that you could buy something and then have someone come back and say, hey you bought only this portion of that, not this one. But heh, lawyers make lots of money for a reason I guess. :)
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

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Lawyers make money when their clients won't compromise. Sad.

Glad I purchased this -- it seemed to be a passion project for Stardock rather than a cash grab.
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by RMC »

Zarathud wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 10:12 am Lawyers make money when their clients won't compromise. Sad.

Glad I purchased this -- it seemed to be a passion project for Stardock rather than a cash grab.
Very true, and hopefully these two entities can work this out, but it seems both sides have positions where they feel that they are right and have no need to compromise.
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by Drazzil »

GreenGoo wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 12:23 am
MonkeyFinger wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 12:04 am
GreenGoo wrote: Tue Jan 01, 2019 11:48 pm The article I read said it was being pulled from there too. I didn't bother to check their sources.
Interesting... going there now it seems a bit broken. Was working fine earlier but now it won't bring up my library, just spins.
The article also said that you should be able to continue to play the game on Steam if you already own it. Sounds like the article (was some major game site, don't recall, Google news showed it to me) played a little loose with the facts, possibly.
My spit take on this is that Paul and Fred need to gtfo and leave Stardock alone. They had their chance to buy the rights and did nothing with it for years. Now they want to sue when Brad and Stardock esentially brought the franchise back from the dead? Weak sauce.
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by Max Peck »

Drazzil wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 12:13 pm
GreenGoo wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 12:23 am
MonkeyFinger wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 12:04 am
GreenGoo wrote: Tue Jan 01, 2019 11:48 pm The article I read said it was being pulled from there too. I didn't bother to check their sources.
Interesting... going there now it seems a bit broken. Was working fine earlier but now it won't bring up my library, just spins.
The article also said that you should be able to continue to play the game on Steam if you already own it. Sounds like the article (was some major game site, don't recall, Google news showed it to me) played a little loose with the facts, possibly.
My spit take on this is that Paul and Fred need to gtfo and leave Stardock alone. They had their chance to buy the rights and did nothing with it for years. Now they want to sue when Brad and Stardock esentially brought the franchise back from the dead? Weak sauce.
That doesn't really seem to be what went down.

My take on the legal mess has been summed up nicely in an aptly hideous meme.
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by GreenGoo »

Do.
Not.
Care.

about the legal squabbling, and even less about the battle to win public opinion.

It's like watching game industry news as delivered by TMZ.

This sort of shit is why doors can be closed. So that it can go on behind them.

Edit:. Ok, that was in reference to the meme thread. The timeline thread was very interesting, thanks for posting it Max.
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by NickAragua »

Bought via Stardock site (at 50% off right now, apparently, $20 US) because a) I want to play it and b) out of spite
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

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You might be spiting the wrong people.
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by NickAragua »

It's possible.

Well, if and when Reiche and Ford release their Star Control game, I'll be probably be buying that as well.

My spite is mostly due to me being unable to play a game I want to play because of "copyright issues".
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by Drazzil »

Max Peck wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 4:57 pm
Drazzil wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 12:13 pm
GreenGoo wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 12:23 am
MonkeyFinger wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 12:04 am
GreenGoo wrote: Tue Jan 01, 2019 11:48 pm The article I read said it was being pulled from there too. I didn't bother to check their sources.
Interesting... going there now it seems a bit broken. Was working fine earlier but now it won't bring up my library, just spins.
The article also said that you should be able to continue to play the game on Steam if you already own it. Sounds like the article (was some major game site, don't recall, Google news showed it to me) played a little loose with the facts, possibly.
My spit take on this is that Paul and Fred need to gtfo and leave Stardock alone. They had their chance to buy the rights and did nothing with it for years. Now they want to sue when Brad and Stardock esentially brought the franchise back from the dead? Weak sauce.
That doesn't really seem to be what went down.

My take on the legal mess has been summed up nicely in an aptly hideous meme.
As a non consumer of any of the Star Control games, and again summing up what I just read, Paul and Fred had numerous opportunities to develop the license and passed em all up, to make things worse, now they post asking for cash for legal bills? Paul and Fred's time passed a long time ago. They needed to shit or get off the pot. They decided instead to shit in Stardock's pot, and now only the lawyers benefit.
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by GreenGoo »

Perhaps, but it's clear that Stardock knew what they were doing was wrong, and now they are clearly trying to reshape the discussion so that the behaviour somehow isn't any longer, when Paul and Fred refused to play ball. It's also clear that Stardock didn't enter into this with the intention of stealing IP, but when left with no alternative (except stopping, I guess) they went ahead anyway.

This isn't the first time I've read about Wardell pulling some pretty shady crap, so any goodwill I had for stardock, which admittedly isn't much, as I don't typically extend good will to companies, is gone.

Normally I would be supportive of ignoring copyright if you can get away with it, and it has been a quarter of a century, but at the same time these were 2 smart individuals that retained ownership of the game they wrote at time when the little guy was starting to be gobbled up. I'm apt to be sympathetic to the little guy, and in this case, if that timeline and details are correct, in a just world they would prevail.

In a time when Disney can keep Mickey going for over almost a century because of who they are, it's hard to fault 2 guys for holding out after just 26 years or whatever. Particularly when it's the work of their own two hands, rather than one of many commodities bought in bulk in the hopes that it would be worth something one day (this is not a reference to Stardock, just how copyright often seems to work).

To make matters worse, that the various assets of SC and SCII can be sliced and diced into separate copyrights to be sold off piecemeal is just complete bullshit, whoever is responsible. I don't see a lot of books or paintings being composed of 400 different and separately copyrighted works. Music is probably closer, but even then it's not so many. Maybe a few samples, at most.
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by NickAragua »

Based on what I've seen, it's pretty clear that SC:Origins uses entirely new art and code, writing, etc. The main gray area seems to be the "behind the scenes" interactions and the use of the term "Star Control" (and, also, who gets paid). Regardless of who's in the right re: copyright, a bunch of people put a lot of work into this game. So they should probably be paid, even if the bossman didn't own the creative rights. As to the rest: I'm probably not the best impartial judge of the situation. At the end of the day, I just want to play my damn Star Control game without having to jump through fifty hoops.
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by GreenGoo »

NickAragua wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 10:26 pm Based on what I've seen, it's pretty clear that SC:Origins uses entirely new art and code, writing, etc. The main gray area seems to be the "behind the scenes" interactions and the use of the term "Star Control" (and, also, who gets paid). Regardless of who's in the right re: copyright, a bunch of people put a lot of work into this game. So they should probably be paid, even if the bossman didn't own the creative rights. As to the rest: I'm probably not the best impartial judge of the situation. At the end of the day, I just want to play my damn Star Control game without having to jump through fifty hoops.
They were paid. I know I don't wait months or years to get paid for the work I do, and neither did they. If they lose their jobs today, they have only their employer to blame. I don't let other companies get away with illegal shit just to keep their employees employed either.

And read the thread Max linked to, it's pretty clear there's more to it than you imply, as pretty much ALL content besides the name is owned by Fred and Paul (god I hope that's their names, I'm too lazy to actually check). I mean nearly everything. All the races, their appearances, their ships , the lore, the map, the subtitle. I'm unsure about the music. Pretty much the only license that didn't revert to them was the name, and even then it's only half of the name of Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters. Possibly as important, anything that F&P don't own is owned by someone else, not Stardock. They paid around $400k for the name and little else. There is an "else" but what that "else" contains is not clear to me.

My initial comments still stand, and I do hope something can be worked out and I do want to play the game at some point, and I don't want to hear the spins from both parties, but if the timeline details are factual, then Stardock is going to be paying royalties as long as the game is for sale, assuming P & F refuse royalties and shut it down altogether out of spite. That's my prediction anyway.
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by Drazzil »

Mark me down for never buying any games from either parties ever. Mission accomplished!
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by NickAragua »

GreenGoo wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 10:35 pm
NickAragua wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 10:26 pm Based on what I've seen, it's pretty clear that SC:Origins uses entirely new art and code, writing, etc. The main gray area seems to be the "behind the scenes" interactions and the use of the term "Star Control" (and, also, who gets paid). Regardless of who's in the right re: copyright, a bunch of people put a lot of work into this game. So they should probably be paid, even if the bossman didn't own the creative rights. As to the rest: I'm probably not the best impartial judge of the situation. At the end of the day, I just want to play my damn Star Control game without having to jump through fifty hoops.
They were paid. I know I don't wait months or years to get paid for the work I do, and neither did they. If they lose their jobs today, they have only their employer to blame. I don't let other companies get away with illegal shit just to keep their employees employed either.

And read the thread Max linked to, it's pretty clear there's more to it than you imply, as pretty much ALL content besides the name is owned by Fred and Paul (god I hope that's their names, I'm too lazy to actually check). I mean nearly everything. All the races, their appearances, their ships , the lore, the map, the subtitle. I'm unsure about the music. Pretty much the only license that didn't revert to them was the name, and even then it's only half of the name of Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters. Possibly as important, anything that F&P don't own is owned by someone else, not Stardock. They paid around $400k for the name and little else. There is an "else" but what that "else" contains is not clear to me.

My initial comments still stand, and I do hope something can be worked out and I do want to play the game at some point, and I don't want to hear the spins from both parties, but if the timeline details are factual, then Stardock is going to be paying royalties as long as the game is for sale, assuming P & F refuse royalties and shut it down altogether out of spite. That's my prediction anyway.
Having played through some part of the game, yeah, there's some IP reuse. Not very much, but it's there. Not of the original art assets or anything, but species names and lore patterns.

Stardock should have probably just called it "Space Explorer: An homage to Star Control" and called it a day.
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by Moat_Man »


It's back on Steam.
End of line
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by GreenGoo »

Neat. So everything was worked out and now everyone is happy and there are no issues, I assume.

*cough*
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by astyanax »

Interesting. I happened to find F&P's post on their site as I was doing some reading: https://dogarandkazon.squarespace.com/b ... nstruction (dated 1/3/19)

It seems the drama is still unfolding...
So what now? As you might guess, we are going to continue defending our copyrights against what we feel and contend in the lawsuit is infringement by Stardock, so we served new DMCA notices late last week.
Then again, the game is now on sale... so maybe it got all resolved?
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by GreenGoo »

Moat_Man wrote: Sat Jan 19, 2019 2:09 am
It's back on Steam.
On sale.
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Re: [Stardock] Star Control

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Earth Rising - Part 2: Return of the Lexites for Star Control: Origins released today!

Return of the Lexites presents the player with its most dangerous challenge yet – a post-singularity species whose motives are a mystery.
  • Lexites - The Post-Humans who left Earth decades ago are back!
  • New Missions
  • New Ships
  • New Weapons
More info: https://www.stardock.com/games/starcont ... cle/494527

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Max Peck
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Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2005 8:09 pm
Location: Down the Rabbit-Hole

Re: [Stardock] Star Control

Post by Max Peck »

The war is over.
Stardock® and Frungy Games™ (Fred and Paul) are happy and relieved to announce that all parties have settled their disputes amicably and in a way where the fans of Star Control® and The Ur-Quan Masters™ are the biggest winners. Stay tuned to Channel 44 for more details next week from the E3 floor!
I (Paul) have a life-long dream of learning every Medieval villager skill. Raising bees has always been on my list, so that I could make mead (wine) from honey. I decided to cut out the middle-man (middle bug?) and just buy honey, but my desire to raise bees remained. So when we called Brad Wardell my first sentence was something like, "Before I start talking about settling our legal conflict, I'd like to talk about bees." The conversation about bees, honey, mead, and bee stings went on for quite a while before we moved on to the talking about the case. Our perspective was this: we don't like fighting, but we love creating, so can we step waaay outside the box and settle our dispute through positive, creative actions rather than continuing to beat each other up? Brad listened and agreed, and this became the basis for settlement. Our lawyers are all smart, professionals with their client's best interest in mind, but it's worth considering that it was only when we communicated directly with each other that we made progress.

Details
  • The terms are not confidential. We won't be publishing the text of the agreement, but we are free to describe all of its contents.
  • This is honestly and truly an amicable settlement. Not only are we settling the lawsuit, but we’ve decided to support each other’s development so that the fan community gets two great games.
  • There is no 'loser'. All sides win, because we are no longer burning money, creative energy and the goodwill of our fans.
  • No money changed hands. We’re not only halting the lawsuit, but we’re committed to supporting each other’s projects and working together to rebuild the cracks in the fan community.
  • There is a weird paragraph in the agreement that involves bees. Seriously — no kidding. Brad Wardell is giving Fred and Paul honey from his hives and Paul is giving Brad some bottles of his homemade mead. Brad will also be giving Paul advice in how not to be stung. The lawyers thought this was pretty dang crazy. This goes to show you can find common ground in the strangest (and most delicious) of places.
  • Stardock will create new games in the Star Control franchise. Paul & Fred will create new games in the Ur-Quan Masters franchise.
  • To help differentiate the two franchises Paul volunteered to create a few new alien races for Origins.
  • Brad offered to help Fred and Paul with technology.
  • Stardock dropped all its alien name and character trademarks and all parties have dropped their oppositions to each other’s trademarks.
  • Both sides recognize each other’s copyrights and will not challenge them in the future.
  • We were able to come to a very specific understanding on the alien characters and races — how they look and act. Stardock is dropping all trademark registration of the alien names and won't use the described aliens without permission from Paul & Fred.
  • Star Control, Star Control II, and Star Control III will be coming back for sale by Stardock so that fans of all ages can enjoy the classic games in their original form. Paul and Fred will split royalties equally with Stardock.
  • Stardock, and Brad in particular, is supportive of Paul and Fred owning the Ur-Quan Masters trademark. All of us are committed to support the current UQM team and project, including their having a free, perpetual right to use the Ur-Quan Masters trademark for their amazing fan-powered recreation of the original game.
  • Stardock accepts that Paul & Fred are the creators of Star Control and Star Control II. Both parties agree that many other skilled people also contributed their talent and creativity to help make the games so great.
  • Paul and Fred will be changing the name "Ghosts of the Precursors" to something a little less generic -- (come on, you know we can do better!). The precise ‘when’ is unclear, but it is still several years off.
  • The settlement resolved all issues with all the parties, including Valve and GOG.
  • Paul enjoyed Origins enough to spend over 50 intense hours playing the game. He thought the jokes in the alien dialog were genuinely very funny and he was blown away by how beautifully interplanetary travel was rendered. Paul was especially delighted that he could remap the control keys to his beloved SpaceWar! configuration.
  • We are honestly very, very happy with the way everything has settled. No Dnyarri mental compulsion was needed.
"What? What? What?" -- The 14th Doctor

It's not enough to be a good player... you also have to play well. -- Siegbert Tarrasch
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