Free Stars: Children of Infinity explained

Free Stars: Children of Infinity
Developer:Fred Ford
Paul Reiche III
Dan Gerstein
Ken Ford
Publisher:Pistol Shrimp Games
Series:Star Control / Free Stars
Released:Planning August 2025
Genre:Adventure, shoot 'em up, action
Modes:Single player, multiplayer
Engine:Godot Engine, Simple
Platforms:Microsoft Windows, Linux, MAC OS, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PlayStation

Free Stars: Children of Infinity is an open world space game, and the upcoming sequel to The Ur-Quan Masters (also known as Star Control II or ).[1] The game began development in 2021 under Pistol Shrimp, a new studio co-founded by Star Control creators Fred Ford, Paul Reiche, Ken Ford and Dan Gerstein. As the copyright holders in the original story, Reiche and Ford intend to continue the saga from the previous games' events. It is planned for release in 2025.

Development

Intellectual property rights

Free Stars: Children of Infinity is a sequel to The Ur-Quan Masters (aka Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters), the open source remake of Star Control II.[2] Created by Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford at their studio Toys for Bob, the first Star Control was released in 1990, and its sequel followed in 1992.[3] Both games received numerous awards,[4] where Star Control was hailed as one of the best games of all time,[5] while Star Control II earned even more "best game" rankings through the 1990s,[6] 2000s,[7] and 2010s.[8]

In the early 2000s, the copyright to the first two Star Control games reverted to Reiche and Ford,[9] [10] but not the Trademark to the name Star Control.[2] [11] This led Reiche and Ford to remake Star Control II as The Ur-Quan Masters,[12] which they released in 2002 as a free download under an open source copyright license.[13] Meanwhile, the trademark in the Star Control name passed between a series of companies, after original publisher Accolade was in acquired by Infogrames Entertainment,[12] [14] which was re-structured and re-branded as Atari,[15] [16] who later sold the trademark to Stardock in a 2013 bankruptcy sale.[17] The respective parties agreed that Reiche and Ford owned the copyright in the games Star Control and Star Control II, while Stardock held the rights to the Star Control name through trademark.[18] [19] [15] After a lawsuit, the parties agreed on the same separation of rights, with Stardock using the Star Control name, while Reiche and Ford maintain the rights to continue the story under an alternate title.[20] As part of the lawsuit settlement, Reiche and Ford agreed to a mandated quiet period.

New studio and game

In 2021, Fred Ford, Paul Reiche III, Ken Ford and Dan Gerstein co-founded a new game studio called Pistol Shrimp Games, allowing them to begin development on a sequel to The Ur-Quan Masters.[21] [22] and continue the story from Star Control II.[23] In April 2024, they announced that this sequel would be called Free Stars: Children of Infinity, shortly after re-releasing The Ur-Quan Masters under the name Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters on February 19, 2024.[24] The debut trailer for Children of Infinity launched on April 4, 2024 on GameSpot, leading to a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter on April 16, 2024, which has ended on May 18, 2024, collecting more than 650 000$.[25] The game reached its crowdfunding target in less than four hours.[26] Since the game continues the story from Star Control II as envisioned by the original creators, some journalists have called the game "the real Star Control 3”.

During the course of development, Fred Ford created a game development tool called Simple, which was integrated into the open source game engine Godot.[27] In summer 2023, Paul Reiche and Ken Ford departed the project and ceased their involvement.[28] The release of the game is planned for August 2025.[29] [30]

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Bailey . Dustin . After 32 years, the 1992 open-world space game that helped inspire Mass Effect is getting a proper sequel . . April 16, 2024.
  2. Web site: Cunningham . James . 2024-02-19 . Star Control II Lands on Steam (Again) as Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters . 2024-04-30 . Hardcore Gamer . en.
  3. Web site: Hutchinson . Lee . February 22, 2018 . Star Control countersuit aims to invalidate Stardock's trademarks . January 2, 2019 . Ars Technica.
  4. Web site: Staff . 2005 . Control & Conquer . https://web.archive.org/web/20190706201713/http://publicaciones.retromuseo.com:8123/Revistasv1/Retro%20Gamer%20%5Ben-UK%5D/retro%20gamer%20%5Ben-uk%5D%20014.pdf . 2019-07-06 . Retro Gamer . 85–87.
  5. Web site: Polygon Staff . 2017-11-29 . 500 Best Games of All Time . Polygon.
    • Web site: Chris "shaithis" Buecheler. September 2000. The Gamespy Hall of Fame - Star Control 2. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20010430133458/http://www.gamespy.com/legacy/halloffame/sc2_a.shtm. 2001-04-30. August 6, 2020. GameSpy.
    • Web site: Greg Kasavin. June 27, 2003. The Greatest Games of All Time - Star Control 2. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20050814235252/http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/all/greatestgames/p-7.html. 2005-08-14. August 6, 2020. Gamespot.
    • Web site: November 23, 2005. IGN's Top 100 Games of All Time (2003). https://web.archive.org/web/20051123024006/http://top100.ign.com/2003/51-60.html. 2005-11-23. August 6, 2020. IGN.
    • Web site: August 2, 2005. IGN's Top 100 Games (2005). https://web.archive.org/web/20050802002523/http://top100.ign.com/2005/011-020.html. 2005-08-02. August 6, 2020. IGN.
  9. Web site: Ahmad . Syed . Perez . Adriana A. . September 26, 2019 . When communications with public relations firms are privileged . December 13, 2020 . Westlaw / Thomson Reuters.
  10. Web site: Pelit . March 21, 2006 . Star Control - Kontrollin aikakirjat . August 6, 2020 . Pelit.
  11. Web site: Dustin Bailey . April 16, 2024 . After 32 years, the 1992 open-world space game that helped inspire Mass Effect is getting a proper sequel . GamesRadar.
  12. Web site: Trey Walker . 2002-06-26 . Star Control II remake in the works . GameSpot.
  13. Web site: Wen . Howard . 11 August 2005 . The Ur-Quan Masters . https://web.archive.org/web/20160316091529/http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2005/08/11/ur-quan.html . 2016-03-16 . linuxdevcenter.com . . When the original developers of Star Control 2 contacted the online Star Control fan community, they presented an enticing question: if they released the source to the 3DO version of Star Control 2 under GPL, would anybody be interested in porting it to modern-day computers? Michael Martin, a 26-year-old Ph.D. student at Stanford University, answered the call. After removing proprietary 3DO-specific components from the code, the developers released the source for Star Control 2 to the public..
  14. News: April 20, 1999 . Company News; Accolade is Bought by Infogrames Entertainment . October 21, 2020 . The New York Times . 0362-4331.
  15. Web site: Hutchinson . Lee . July 24, 2013 . Stardock acquires Star Control rights in fire sale, plans reboot . January 2, 2019 . Ars Technica.
  16. Web site: Haywald . Justin . May 29, 2009 . Atari Sheds Infogrames Branding: News from 1UP.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20160608160103/http://www.1up.com/news/atari-sheds-infogrames-branding . June 8, 2016 . October 21, 2020 . 1up.
  17. Hilliard . Kyle . Wargaming And Stardock Entertainment Obtain Atari Franchises At Bankruptcy Auction . https://web.archive.org/web/20130724031200/http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/07/21/atari-auctioning-off-assets-to-wargaming-and-stardock-entertainment.aspx . dead . July 24, 2013 . 2020-11-15 . Game Informer . en.
  18. Web site: 2013-07-23 . Open source Star Control 2 team express doubts over Atari IP sale . 2020-11-15 . PC Invasion.
  19. Web site: 24 July 2013 . There's a new Star Control coming! . 2020-11-16 . Critical Hit . en-GB.
  20. Web site: Hutchinson . Lee . 2019-06-11 . Stardock and Star Control creators settle lawsuits—with mead and honey . 2021-03-08 . Ars Technica . en-us.
  21. Web site: Oxford . Nadia . October 24, 2022 . Parish . Jeremy . Retronauts Episode 489: Inside Star Control with Pistol Shrimp . Retronauts.
  22. News: Makuch . Eddie . April 4, 2024 . Free Stars: Children Of Infinity Trailer Debuts, Kickstarter Coming Soon . GameSpot.
  23. Web site: June 12, 2019 . Stardock and Star Control creators settle lawsuits—with mead and honey [Updated] .
  24. News: McWhertor . Michael . February 12, 2024 . PC sci-fi classic Star Control returns as Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters . Polygon.
  25. Web site: Acevedo . Paul . May 15, 2024 . There's Still Time to Support the Free Stars: Children of Infinity Kickstarter .
  26. News: Andy ChalkContributions from Wes Fenlon . 2024-04-19 . The long-awaited sequel to The Ur-Quan Masters hits its crowdfunding target in less than four hours, and they're not kidding about that $4.4 million stretch goal . 2024-04-30 . PC Gamer . en.
  27. Web site: Gerstein . Dan . No Longer Waiting for Godot . April 17, 2024 . Pistol Shrimp Games.
  28. Web site: Gerstein . Dan . Bidding Adieu to Paul and Ken . Pistol Shrimp Games . September 12, 2023.
  29. Web site: Chalk . Andy . April 20, 2024 . The long-awaited sequel to The Ur-Quan Masters hits its crowdfunding target in less than four hours, and they're not kidding about that $4.4 million stretch goal . PC Gamer.
  30. Web site: Peter . Bathge . April 18, 2024 . Entwickler eines SciFi-Spiels werden mit Geld beworfen, weil der Gratis-Vorgänger so gut war . GameStar.

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