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The Ur-Quan Masters
Developer(s) The Ur-Quan Masters Team, Michael Martin,

Serge van den Boom
Series Star Control
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux
Release 2002
Genre(s) Adventure, shoot 'em up
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer
The Ur-Quan Masters is a 2002 open source fangame modification, based on

the action-adventure science fiction game Star Control II. The original Star Control
II was released for the PC in 1992, and ported to the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer in
1994. It has been frequently mentioned among the best games of all time, with
additional praise for its writing, world design, character design, and music.
After the Star Control II copyrights reverted to creators Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford,
they licensed their content to their fan community to keep their series in the public eye.
The open source development team was able to remake the 3DO version as a port to
modern operating systems. Released under the title The Ur-Quan Masters, the modified
remake has since been downloaded nearly two million times, earning critical reception
as one of the best free games available, with additional praise for its fan modifications.
Contents
 1Gameplay
 2Development
 3Modifications
 4Reception
o 4.1The Ur-Quan Masters HD
 5References
 6External links
Gameplay[edit]
See also: Star Control II § Gameplay, and Star Control II § Plot
The Ur-Quan Masters allows players to freely explore planets and moons.
The Ur-Quan Masters is a re-make of Star Control II, an action-adventure science

fiction game, set in an open universe.[1] The game features exploration, resource-
gathering, combat and diplomacy.[2] Much of the game is played from a top-down
perspective,[3] with real-time combat between alien ships with different abilities.[4] Players
are able to freely explore a galaxy featuring hundreds of stars, planets, and moons,
which contain resources for the player to scan and retrieve in a lander vehicle. [3] The
player also spends much of their time conversing with alien races in branching
dialog sequences, with the goal of rallying an alliance to defeat the titular Ur-Quan.[5]
The player plays the role of the captain of a lost research mission returning to Earth.
[3]
The player soon discovers that Earth has been conquered by the Ur-Quan, and begins
a quest to acquire the knowledge, resources, and allies that will help free humanity
from slavery.[3] During the story, the Ur-Quan are distracted by a civil war with their more
militant relatives the Kohr-Ah.[6] This gives the player enough time to make contact with
dozens of unique alien races, influencing the outcome of the conflict. [2] After rallying
humanity's former allies, the captain is able to overcome and defeat the Ur-Quan. [4]
Development[edit]
Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford licensed their copyrighted Star Control II assets for open source under a GNU
General Public License.
The Star Control series was created by Fred Ford and Paul Reiche,

with Accolade publishing the games.[7] The first release in 1990 was a space strategy
and action game, inspired by the 1961 space combat game Spacewar! from
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[8] The 1992 sequel Star Control II abandoned
the first game's strategic elements and greatly expanded the story, [9] instead wrapping
their combat system into an adventure-based narrative.[8] The sequel was ported to
the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer console in 1994, adding fully-voiced dialog and several
other updates to the sound and graphics.[9] Star Control received awards upon release,
with even more awards for Star Control II.[8] Journalists have listed Star Control among
their best games of all time,[10] with Star Control II earning even more "best game"
rankings through the 1990s,[11] 2000s,[12] and 2010s.[13] Star Control II is also ranked
among the best games in several creative areas, including writing, [14] world design,
[15]
character design,[16] and music.[17]
By the early 2000s, the Star Control II copyrights reverted to Ford and Reiche, triggered
by a contractual clause where the game was no longer generating royalties. [18][19] With the
game no longer available in stores, Ford and Reiche wanted to keep the game in the
public eye, so that they could one day make another game in the series. [18] Ford and
Reiche still owned the rights to Star Control I and II, but they could not successfully
purchase the Star Control trademark from publisher Accolade, leading them to consider
a new title for a potential follow-up.[20] This led them to remake Star Control II as The Ur-
Quan Masters.[21] Their independent studio Toys for Bob hired Chris Nelson as their first
summer intern, and his enthusiasm for open source software led him to work with Fred
Ford to port the game to modern operating systems. [18] Ford recalled that "we haven't
made a sequel yet, so we thought the least we could do is release the source code and
let the fans revive it on modern computers." [22]
The open source project officially launched in 2002, when Ford and Reiche licensed
the source code from the 3DO version of Star Control II as open source under the GNU
General Public License.[23] Ford and Reiche own all the copyrighted content in the first
two Star Control games,[24] and granted the fan-operated project a free, perpetual license
to the Star Control II content and the Ur-Quan Masters trademark.[25] The first version
of The Ur-Quan Masters was inefficient by Ford and Reiche's standards, but Nelson
knew skilled contacts in the open source community who could keep progressing with
the project.[18] The fan community continued the project with further support,
enhancements, and modifications.[9] Ford and Reiche personally credit the open
source Ur-Quan Masters for making their creation available from 2001 to 2011,
before Star Control became available for sale digitally through GOG.com.[18] In an
interview with O'Reilly Media, the fans-turned-developers stated that a for-profit
company would not be able to justify the port and remake, and that "without the open
source philosophy, The Ur-Quan Masters would never have existed."[23]
Modifications[edit]
The HD modification has earned a reputation of its own.
The Ur-Quan Masters has an active fanbase, maintaining both the open source project
and an extensive wiki.[22] The most essential modifications extended the original code to
operate on newer operating systems, in order to resolve compatibility issues that arose
from the transition away from the original DOS platform.[9] Fans have since modified and
extended the project several times. Reiche has responded that "our policy has been to
let people do whatever they want, as long as they don't turn our characters into mass
murderers or make money with it. If you're making money with our stuff, we'd like a
pizza."[22]
The Ur-Quan Masters also introduced features from the 3DO version that were
previously unavailable on other platforms, including improved scaling in combat,
improved planetary graphics, and full voice acting. [9] The extensions further added mod
support and online multiplayer combat, neither of which were supported in the classic
games.[4] The most notable fan modification is the high-definition version of the
game, The Ur-Quan Masters HD, released in 2013.[26] The HD version was created by
re-painting every frame of animation by hand.[27]
Reception[edit]
Since its 2002 release, The Ur-Quan Masters has been downloaded nearly two million
times.[28] Soon after its debut, the game was featured in PC PowerPlay in its compilation
of free games, celebrating it as a "timeless classic" from the "golden age of gaming".
[29]
Finnish magazine Pelit reviewed The Ur-Quan Masters in 2004, rating it two stars for
its timeless appeal, as well as new features and remixed music. [30] Retro
Gamer featured The Ur-Quan Masters on the cover of their June 2005 edition. They
further praised Ford and Reiche for making such a quality game available as an open
source project, stating that "this small Californian group has seen fit to grace the gaming
world with one of its finest achievements, and at no cost." [8] In a 2011 feature about open
source games, Michael Blake of IGN celebrated The Ur-Quan Masters as one of the
greatest games, and a "pitch-perfect port to modern operating systems." He lauded the
game experience, describing how "UQM completely hooked me, with the genius single-
player storyline and the hectic multiplayer of Super Melee mode both good enough to
warrant the download on their own".[2]
The Ur-Quan Masters has been included on several best games lists since its release.
In 2008, PC Gamer named The Ur-Quan Masters as one of the best free games.
[31]
Game Developer Magazine featured the game in their 2010 list of open source space
games, praising its scale and charm, as well as its new features. [32] The game was also
listed in Maximum PC's 2015 "best free games" feature.[33] Tom's Guide included The
Ur-Quan Masters in their list of top classic games re-released for free, praising its
staying power as "few games today feature the same mix of narrative depth, sandbox
exploration and enjoyable space combat that have won the game a cult following to this
day."[34] In 2019, PCGamesN ranked The Ur-Quan Masters as one of the top 15 space
games ever made, celebrating its characters, dialog and sense of discovery. They
additionally praised it as "one of the best free PC games you'll ever find". [3]
The Ur-Quan Masters HD[edit]
The HD fan-remake The Ur-Quan Masters HD has received praise of its own. Rock,
Paper, Shotgun celebrated it as an "ambitious and well-received fan-made (and free)
remake", praising it for "retain[ing] a certain 1990s vibe despite being made more
appropriate to modern machines. It lends it a certain psychedelic silliness that today's
more self-regarding space games seem to lack." [35] Kotaku likewise praised the HD
updates to the visuals and sound,[26] with Hardcore Gaming 101 also calling it "a brilliant
port and a fantastic initiative to keep old games relevant". [9] The HD version was also
praised by Dominic Tarason of PCGamesN, who describes the detailed hand-painted
modification as "a genuinely impressive piece of work." [27] Since its release in 2012, The
Ur-Quan Masters HD has been downloaded over 200,000 times. [36]

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The Ur-Quan Masters

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Ur-Quan Masters

Developer(s) The Ur-Quan Masters Team, Michael Martin,

Series Star Control

Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux

Genre(s) Adventure, shoot 'em up

The Ur-Quan Masters is a 2002 open source fangame modification, based on

The Ur-Quan Masters allows players to freely explore planets and moons.

The Ur-Quan Masters is a re-make of Star Control II, an action-adventure science

The Star Control series was created by Fred Ford and Paul Reiche,

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