A free re-release minus the trademark
Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masterswill make its way to Steam on February 19th. It’s a version of 1992 strategy classicStar Control2 that takes advantage of updates from its long-runningopen source project, and it’ll be completely free.
The Steam release is being orchestrated by Pistol Shrimp, a company founded by original Star Control creators Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford. Reiche and Ford have long been working towards a sequel, variously called Ur-Quan Masters 2 and Ghosts Of ThePrecursors.
Both sides were in a big grump with the other, leading toangry blog posts,spurious DMCAs,crowdfunded legal defences, and eventualamicable settlement due to intervention by bees.
Part of the settlement was that both parties would continue to make their games, with Reiche and Ford offering writing support to Stardock Star Control games, and Stardock offering technology support to Reiche and Ford. Reiche and Ford are seemingly unable to continue using the Star Control trademark, but can use everything else.
To coincide with the release, Pistol Shrimp are launching a podcast in which they’ll discuss The Ur-Quan Masters' legacy with other developers, with episodes announced which will featureFallout’s Tim Cain,BioShock’s Ken Levine, Firewatch’s Chris Remo, and more. There’ll be anaudio versionandYouTube uploads.
If all of this still seems faintly baffling to you, then as always Richard Cobbett hasthe goods on why The Ur-Quan Masters matters.
