GregJohnson1

Reply to Stardock response to Paul and Fred [UPDATE] in Star Control Stardock.net Forums

Thanks for the nice thoughts and appreciation expressed about Starflight. :) I am still friends with Rod and I'm hoping to find a way to get something off the ground, but this crazy game dev biz is always a juggling act, and I need to get clear of my current TJ&E project first. We'll see... still, knowing there are old skool gamers who remember it and would want it makes a difference, so thanks - you just pushed the probability needle a bit. ;) And thanks t

Reply to Stardock response to Paul and Fred [UPDATE] in Star Control Stardock.net Forums

Hi there... this is Greg Johnson again. I shared an office with Paul up until the time they started on Star Control and then was across the hall from Paul and Fred as they built both games - helping out from time to time, just as Paul assisted me on my Starflight games. I've known those guys for 35 years now - ever since I started in the games industry, and I still run a games studio as an independent game developer so I know how all of this stuff works. I don't really want

Reply to Stardock response to Paul and Fred [UPDATE] in Star Control Stardock.net Forums

I'm Greg Johnson. I was there through the entire development of StarControl 1 and 2. I don't want to comment on ownership or trademarks. I've been a game developer for 34 years and questions of ownership and legalities of rights are not always clear, or for that matter fair. Disputes like this are really best settled in friendly ways where everyone can win, since legal battles just suck money and time and create stress and bad feelings. Life is too short for that

Reply to Star Control II: 25th Anniversary - On the Shoulders of Giants in Star Control Journals StarControl Forums

Hi Bleyborne, Thanks for the enthusiasm and sharing good memories. Starflight was my very first game and way back then none of us on the team had ever made a game before. As I mentioned above Paul Reiche sort of took me under his wing and mentored me through the process of building a game, so a lot of what works works in that game was due to his good advice. And maybe luck to some extent that it all just worked. As to being a spiritual successo

Reply to Star Control II: 25th Anniversary - On the Shoulders of Giants in Star Control Journals StarControl Forums

Hi Frogboy! I'm always happy to chime in, and thanks again for this retrospective. Yes, indeed, Paul and Fred found some talented people to help out for sure, but don't forget this was 30 years ago when it all started, so pretty much all of us were just starting our careers and hadn't done much yet. Maybe with the exception of Iain, who I think was simply born doing amazing artwork. But I remember Kyle Balda, just some art student who borrowed my car because he couldn'

Reply to Star Control II: 25th Anniversary - On the Shoulders of Giants in Star Control Journals StarControl Forums

This is Greg Johnson, thanks for the nice article! I did indeed help out on Star Control II (And the original Star Control One Melee), and was the designer of StarFlight. It's great to see Star Control II getting appreciated. It was quite an achievement for it's day. One comment I'd like to make is that this is a fine article but it leaves out a couple important things, first is that the genius of the engineering of this game was all Fred Ford, a one-man engineering ma