History Trivia / StarControl

* GodDoesNotOwnThisWorld: Though in a somewhat unusual way. Toys For Bob does have the rights to the setting and the games themselves[[note]]except apparently ''3'' -- that seem to go with the Star Control branding, meaning that as of 2014 Stardock holds that right. [[CanonDiscontinuity They seem to agree with fanon and Toys For Bob on the matter of its canonicity]].[[/note]]; they just don't own the "Star Control" branding itself. Hence why they could make a freeware version of [=SC2=] with no legal problems, but had to call it "The Ur-Quan Masters".

** Originally, Paul Reiche did a huge amount of research into what kinds of planets would logically form around various types of stars according to astronomy, and intended for ''[=SC2=]'''s map to be randomly populated "realistically" with stars and planets. Ultimately it was decided this was WAY too complex for the technical limitations of the era, especially for a detail the vast majority of players would never appreciate. It does, however, explain a few things, like the extremely low number of life-bearing planets in the game and the various planet classifications (Cyanic, Alkaline, Telluric, etc.) that have no bearing on gameplay[[note]]Plus that no giant (save Epsilon Gruis) or supergiant star has an Earth-like (as in, with Earth-like temperature) planet orbiting it and how, as noted in the main page, the relative abundances of the different types of stars matches more or less the ones thought to exist in RealLife in our galaxy[[/note]].

** Originally, Paul Reiche did a huge amount of research into what kinds of planets would logically form around various types of stars according to astronomy, and intended for ''[=SC2=]'''s map to be randomly populated "realistically" with stars and planets. Ultimately it was decided this was WAY too complex for the technical limitations of the era, especially for a detail the vast majority of players would never appreciate. It does, however, explain a few things, like the extremely low number of life-bearing planets in the game and the various planet classifications (Cyanic, Alkaline, Telluric, etc.) that have no bearing on gameplay.

* {{Vaporware}}: ''[=StarCon=]'', a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3NKQKreOMI fully 3D sequel]] for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation vaguely similar to ''VideoGame/ColonyWars''. The Harika were one of the confirmed races.

** Originally, Paul Reiche did a huge amount of research into what kinds of planets would logically form around various types of stars according to astronomy, and intended for ''[=SC2=]'''s map to be randomly populated "realistically" with stars and planets. Ultimately it was decided this was WAY too complex for the technical limitations of the era, especially for a detail the vast majority of players would never appreciate.

* OrphanedReference: The Rainbow worlds form an arrow [[MissingSecret pointing to nothing]] (actually points to the Galactic core, and [[spoiler: them actually being Precursor dump sites suggests some relationship with the fate of such race]]). WordOfGod is that there was going to be a DevelopersRoom there, but they never came up with enough jokes to finish it.

* TropeNamer: The Ur-Quan Hierarchy of Battle Thralls is the source of the name of the trope BattleThralls.

** During the [=30th=] anniversary celebration stream, it was revealed that the original plan for the Captain was for them to be completely off-camera, with things like their gender identity left ambiguous so that ''any'' player could insert themselves into the role of the Captain. Accolade, however, wrote all the ad copy as if the Captain was a man (and then "lightly" encouraged [=TfB=] to follow along), and as a result Reiche and Ford made slight edits to the final version and manual of ''[=SC2=]'' (particularly in the ending) to accommodate that interpretation. An attentive reader can note many places where the more indentity-agnostic writing still survives in full (and the fairly last-minute nature of the change caused a few unfortunate characterization issues).

** How ''Star Control 3'' to be in the first place. The publisher wanted to get a third game out, but only held the rights to the name, and not the content. The creators who held the rights to everything else finally gave in, reasoning that it was better than having a new game under the same name with nothing carried over from previous titles.

** During the [=30th=] anniversary celebration stream, it was revealed that the original plan for the Captain was for them to be completely off-camera, with things like their gender identity left ambiguous so that ''any'' player could insert themselves into the role of the Captain. Accolade, however, wrote all the ad copy as if the Captain was a man (and then "lightly" encouraged [=TfB=] to follow along), and as a result Reiche and Ford made slight edits to the final version and manual of ''[=SC2=]'' (particularly in the ending) to accommodate that interpretation.

** During the [=30th=] anniversary celebration stream, it was revealed that the original plan for the Captain was for them to be completely off-camera, with things like their gender identity left ambiguous so that ''any'' player could insert themselves into the role of the Captain. Accolade, however, wrote all the ad copy as if the Captain was a man (and then "lightly" encouraged [=TfB=] to follow along), and as a result Reiche and Ford made slight edits to the final version of ''[=SC2=]'' to accommodate that interpretation.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Ports of ''Star Control III'' were planned for the Sony [=PlayStation=] and Sega Saturn, but were cancelled during development. The game's soundtrack used the Midi format to make it easier to port to these systems.

-->'''Erol Otus''': "It seemed like... I don't know if it was, he didn't seem to be able to speak very well? Or maybe he was channeling a completely different universe."

** Many years later, during the ''[=SC2's=]'' [=30th=] anniversary celebrations, [[https://twitter.com/pistolshrimpers/status/1598723904255668225 it was revealed]] that the (in)famous non-sequitors of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Quayle James Danforth "Dan" Quayle]] (who was a very contemporary politician at the time of development) played a huge role in both the overall vibe of the Orz and at least one of their phrases [[https://twitter.com/christinelove/status/1598086025032630272 is a direct Quayle quote]].

** Many years later, during the ''[=SC2's=]'' [=30th=] anniversary celebrations, [[https://twitter.com/pistolshrimpers/status/1598723904255668225 it was revealed]] that the non-sequitors of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Quayle Dan Quayle]] (who was a very contemporary politician at the time of development) played a huge role in both the overall vibe of the Orz and at least one of their phrases [[https://twitter.com/christinelove/status/1598086025032630272 is a direct Quayle quote]].

* ThrowItIn: Paul Reiche III said [[http://uqm.stack.nl/files/chat/tfbchat-20030822-formatted in an IRC chat]] that the Orz language evolved from some of Erol Otus' randomly scrawled notes (which included the first appearance of *happy campers* and *Jumping Peppers*).

* ScienceMarchesOn: The game was made long before Pluto [[PlutoIsExpendable was demoted]] to dwarf planet and those outer Solar System bodies as large as it like Eris were discovered. Something similar can be said of other kinds of planets (Super-Earths, close-in orbiting giant planets, etc) known to exist orbiting other stars but not present in the game.

* ScienceMarchesOn: The game was made long before Pluto [[PlutoIsExpendable was demoted]] to dwarf planet and those outer Solar System bodies as large as it like Eris were discovered. Something similar can be said of other kinds of planets (Super-Earths, close-in orbiting giant planets, etc) known to exist orbiting other stars.

* OrphanedReference: The Rainbow worlds form an arrow [[MissingSecret pointing to nothing (actually the Galactic core)]]. WordOfGod is that there was going to be a DevelopersRoom there, but they never came up with enough jokes to finish it.

* OrphanedReference: The Rainbow worlds form an arrow [[MissingSecret pointing to nothing]]. WordOfGod is that there was going to be a DevelopersRoom there, but they never came up with enough jokes to finish it.

** Greg Johnson, in some real MoodWhiplash, voices the Orz, Pkunk and Utwig.

** The Kzanti have a [=3D=] ship battle model and animations unlike every other minor race in the game, implying they were going to be a major race at one point.