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Stardock CEO Wants to Update Classic PC Games, Dislikes 'Artistic Vision' for Sequels

by Blake Ellison, Nov 17, 2008 11:08am PST
Related Topics – Stardock, PC

Stardock CEO Brad Wardell has his eye on a few classic gaming franchises and wants to bring them back--and he wants to do it right, if the rights holders will allow him the chance.

"I actually pitched [rights holder] Atari on a whole idea for a true successor to Star Control," said Wardell, referring to succeeding Toys for Bob's Star Control II. The PC space strategy game from 1990 is said to have influenced Stardock's Galactic Civilizations (PC) and Ironclad's Sins of a Solar Empire (PC), which Stardock also published.

As for 1996's Star Control 3, developed by Legend, "We just pretend that never happened," quipped Wardell to Gamasutra.

Wardell had a similar idea for the Master of Orion turn-based strategy series, another 90s cult classic owned by Atari. "We'd like to do a Master of Orion 4," he explained. "It would be an updated Master of Orion 2."

The CEO appears to have an aversion to the number 3, but more accurately he fears sequels developed by studios that didn't make the original. "If you're making a game that ends with '3,' ... it should be similar to the original game," he asserted.

"Don't go off and say, 'I have my own artistic vision,'" continued Wardell. "Okay, good--so call it something else. Don't ride the coattails of the people who came before you to launch your own artistic vision."

Stardock is currently assembling a second internal development studio and is reportedly working on some ideas, and Wardell is enthusiastic about the prospect of an isometric RPG in the spirit of BioWare's Baldur's Gate II. Such a game would have "the same style of isometric gameplay--not first person--where I have a party that I'm interacting with." He concluded, "I think there are a lot of people who want that."


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Comments

26 Threads | 60 Comments
  • #15
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    By: Skyburst101 x
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    One if the BIG factors that made Master of Orion 3 worse,than Master of Orion 2 was how it did away with the Hotseat multiplayer, and that for me and my friends was a pretty big fun factor. Sure, there were perhaps a problem or two with turn based combat, but if the realtime combat isn't fun, then stick to the tried and true, and perhaps try to improve it. Just look at the Heroes of Might and Magic series! They're on game number 5, and still going might I add, with turn based combat. Stay true to the overall gameplay, and you'll keep the people who enjoyed it. Manage to improve that gameplay without removing any features and you've hit gold. That is where Master of Orion 3 failed, besides the very confusing micromanagement of both planets, ship configuration/creation, and a number of other things. Master of Orion 2 was much more streamlined with its UI. There is nothing quite like the first time you play Master of Orion 2, and unleash your first stellar converter onto an unsuspecting enemy planet, and watching the planet being torn apart by an enormous energy beam, ripping through the planet, meeting some resistance, then coming out the other end. That was hands down one of my favorite moments of that game, besides the enemy taking orion first, and me blowing it up so nobody could colonize it. I think I've played that game for at least 2-300 hours, and have come back to it for years, thanks to Dosbox.

    If Stardock was to make the sequel to Master of Orion 2, I would have no objections, as they seem to have their heads straight, and have not let me down with any of my purchases so far.
    Nov 17, 2008 12:18pm PST

    Thread Truncated. Click to see all 4 replies.

  • #8
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    By: evilbabygenius x
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    I'd love to see the Medal of Honor series updated with a better engine and widescreen support. It had a great multiplayer setup, and the single player felt less "on rails" than CoD did...for the most part (Spearhead had its downsides). Id make it one game (MoH, Spearhead, and Breakthrough), spanning all of those missions with an updated engine on one DVD. Not too hard considering the amount of content in CoD4. I'd make sure to update each of the MP levels from the series as well and release them on the DVD too.

    God I miss that game.
    Nov 17, 2008 11:44am PST