Hello folks,

Once again, it's time to add to our skeleton site. This time we have a slightly different set of pages for you. There's been some discussion in the community about the scarcity of art resources. I mean, there are a lot of clever programmers out there trying to do their own fan games and mods. But one of the largest challenges is to find some art, be it sprites or models to use in your game. So what we're making here is a set of resources for wannabe modders and cloners. We've swept the far reaches of the internet to come up with interesting stuff that might be of use to you.

The Resource page consists of 2D and 3D resources. We've got sprites for those of you working to recreate a top-down melee. But we've also got 3D models of varying complexity for those of you who want that. The page itself is alive as well. Among others, the erstwhile Tsing has agreed to go through his archives and update/recreate a lot of the great stuff he currently displays on sa-matra.net. He's given us a Scout so far, but more is rolling of the production line as we speak. there are also a few modellers out there who have been interested, but much too busy to participate in this. When they find some time, we'll hopefully be able to include their stuff as well.

But for now, enjoy the page!. As always, feedback, improvement suggestions and the likes are very welcome

Lukipela

After a nice long vacation and a couple of weeks of another project, and a week of really slow work, That Ur-Quan Master is rolling along again.  Enjoy.

Hey folks,

So it's 2010. 2009 is old news and we're standing here awaiting the brave new future. I'm sure you're all dying to know, what will the future bring for the Pages of Now and Forever? Or better yet, what will the future bring for Star Control? Let's have a look shall we?

First off, PNF will continue on the new course. We've relaunched a skeleton site, and we're working hard on putting in content, both new and old. Last year saw the Music pages, the mods pages and many other interesting things here. This year, we will hopefully be able to bring back even more old content and intersperse it with new and exciting stuff. For instance, this year we hope to get both a page of simple resources for potential game-makers and the art pages up. The SCDB will feel the wind of change as well, as no place can hide from the ravages of time. Above everything, we will continue on the course we've set. 2009 saw more news posts, more content, definitely more comics and more active users than the SCDB and PNF has seen in a long time. We're still rolling and hope that the changes we are bringing will do even more to make the SC community flourish.

But enough about us What about Star Control in general? One of the big things going on right now is the Campaign for a new Star Control. This initiative was launched by meep-eep over at UQM.  To shamelessly steal his words:

"It's been about a year now since Toys For Bob started working on their current game. As I understand it, this project is to be finished in the summer of 2010. This means that we should be starting to think about what we can do to convince Activision to let TFB create a new Star Control as their next project."

In addition to the thread over at UQM, a page has been opened over at the Ultronomicon as well. If you think you can help here, then you should. This may well be our last, best chnce for a sequel by TFB. Sound the trumpets and ready yourselves, it's time to give it your best.

But there's other Star Control stuff going on as well. The mod 7 deadly sins for  the game Sins of a Solar empire will doubtless continue to add SC races to it's already impressive roster. Cedric6014 will continue working on his grand mod for UQM, which seems to be going well. He is still looking for artists though, so if you can help out he'll be glad to have you. That Ur-Quan Master will hopefully return from hiatus in just a little while. And of course, Groombridge Log is still on track and will hopefully grace us with a second issue during the first or second quarter of this year.

And there's more. I keep my ear to the ground, and I hear that there are at least a couple of other interesting projects out there that hope to release some material this year. Until there's something to show these folks have opted to stay quiet, but it seems this year might be the year they show us some neat stuff.

So 2010 does look set to be a really good year. Let's all keep our thumbs crossed and hope for the best. In the meantime, let's keep our communities active. the more people talking about SC there is, the better our chances of getting something done.

Lukipela

EDIT: Fixed a failed link, thanks to Zeracles for pointing it out!

PC GAMER is making a list of TOP 100 Games of All Time I'll let Anthony @ Star Controller Blog give you the details.

"PC Gamer magazine wants to list the top 100 PC games of all time chosen by readers in their March issue.  Their website for voting lists the Editorial Top 100, which lists Star Control II at #54.

The great thing is that you can select your top 5 games to vote for.  For example, you can choose Star Control at #1 and select 4 other games for the remaining 4 positions.  With the campaign for a new Star Control in progress, it would be great to say that Star Control II is one of the top 100 PC games of all time according to the March 2009 issue of PC Gamer.

The website is at http://www.pcgamertop100.com/"

So what are you waiting for? Go Vote of Star Control of course! Go now the clock is ticking!

See Anthony's original post on SCDB here @ http://www.star-control.com/forum/index.php/topic,2124.0.html

So here we are at Christmas Eve. I bet you’ve been wondering all year what Santa is going to bring you. Well, in the SC world that isn’t a problem. Everyone knows that good little Battle Thralls and Fallow Slaves get peace, joy and merriment built upon a proper social framework imposed upon them. And isn’t that the best of presents?


And that’s it for our little parade of Christmas cards. Be sure to check them out in our temporary Christmas gallery. If you really like them, print them out and send them next year! A merry Christmas from the PNF team, and may your holidays be joyous.

A final Christmas command human, but it is more of a plea. Let Zarla from frungylovers know if you’ve appreciated her cards. She’s toiled hard for us, with no other reward than the fleeting glory of being news page material.