World Design Exercise: Game #9 (Star Control 2: The Ur-Quan Masters)

The Ur-Quan Masters is a remaster and port of Toys for Bob’s Star Control 2 (Accolade, 1992), which was developed for Windows DOS. While many cited Star Control 2’s complex combat system as one of the highlights of the title (improving upon Starflight’s already impressive combat mechanics), many have also agreed that it is the rich narrative world of Star Control 2 that really pushed the title as one of the most critically acclaimed PC games ever released, owing much to the amount of detail and work that went into crafting the numerous races and worlds in Star Control 2.

In the context of worldbuilding and creating sprawling fictional worlds such as those found in Star Control 2, one can assume that the developers have taken what Dungeons & Dragons have defined as a “top down” approach. As opposed to its “inside out” counterpart (which has the designer initially focusing on a particular smaller aspect of the game world needed for the narrative), the top down method is approached by the designer creating a broad generalized overview of the entire game world first. By creating foundations for all of the many planets, cities and races simultaneously, the entirety of the game world and its consequent narrative can come together in a harmonious manner. In a sense, it is like as if the designer was piecing the world together like a jigsaw puzzle.

Fig 1. Just a partial view of the huge star map of the available worlds the player can interact with.

One could argue that because the player begins their adventure in Star Control 2 within our known Sol System, it is considered the inside out approach as the kick-off of the story (with the Ur-Quan’s subjugation of the human race) is introduced by the player then by Commander Hayes at the Earth starbase. That and many of the alien races that the player will meet are designed with preconceived Earthling life forms that players could recognize, despite being supposedly completely ‘alien’ beings (such as humanoid Syreens, the feral Shofixti and even the Pterodactyl-like Yehat).

However due to the well-constructed nature of Star Control 2 and well integrated each race are in terms of their role towards the overall narrative of the story, it is fairly hard to imagine the designers taking a more tunnel-vision approach. It is in the same way that it is fairly difficult to imagine the sprawling world of Star Wars focused primarily on the desert planet of Tatooine, with a world as well thought out and as rich as Star Control 2, it certainly seems like the aforementioned top down approach being key to its conception into the game world.


REFERENCES:

Exonauts, J. Star Control 2: The Ur-Quan Masters Star Map. Retrieved from https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTdlftHn5nHEFJXVdUeiBgBfnNdHD2hzpyrC4d8kaoe0jxaalUya2j2OFl9bFcO42ott43AdMaKcaRyGCC_9p9avIAcgW1qJjK0Zt4BRJsgECt1OgqZR3pTSw2eeKDRGyzLAvqldo_71g/w1200-h630-p-nu/Star+Control+2+Ur+Quan+Masters+star+map.png