I agree with all of the above. I'll add some bonus comments to the headers in the quotes, but one thing that really drew me in was that the map was a real map of space. As someone that really loves space and space-themed entertainment, this was a very cool thing along with that giant space map. Sure it was the copy protection, but it was really cool for a teenager to have!!

Here are a few things. 

• Compelling Story, 
• Open galaxy
• Freedom to go anywhere and die horribly at my own ignorance.
• And just to irritate Corebrave >> Save Scumming so I can repeatedly kill off races, reload and be friends again by changing my dialogue choices~! 

The problem with save scum is deep rooted in game's "screenplay". It's generally so poorly written (in regard of relaying outcome data onto player) that one has no fkn clue what outcome his choices lead to. RARELY your dialog answer informs you about potential outcome of your choice. Or even worse, just any non-dialog action. And I'm talking AAA games like Mass Effect and Fallout. I don't expect this problem to be solved in SCO.

Few games will get me to read the lore. Ill do it with ESO at times and the new Battletech, I read just to make sure they kept the story on track.

I fully intend on reading and absorbing the lore and nuances on the various races that SCO gives us. Its one reason why I have not delved too deeply in the lore/spoilers sections of our discord channel. I will read Frogs backstory to give me (an overall) frame of reference but each races story is to be savored.  

I've always been of the opinion (on save scumming) that it's none of anyone else's business how I play a game. I really hate when developers put in limitations on savegames because saving too often makes the game "too easy" in their opinion. My response to that is a hearty "fuck you" - let me play the game the way I want and others will play the game the way they want. If I want to save it every 30 seconds that's my business and none of anyone elses (and hey, maybe I have an awesome reason for saving a lot, perhaps I have periodic hand tremors which will cause me to spasm the keyboard and ruin the game when they happen at random intervals, and saving often is my only way to safeguard against losing tons of progress).

Anyone who personally hates savescumming - all power to them. Play the game how you want. But don't begrudge me the same courtesy.

Star Control:
-An evolved version of Spacewar! (I'd classify Spacewar! as one of the original game paradigms)
-It had a Sega Genesis version (A small VGA monitor and shared keyboard is NOT the same experience)
-The skill cap and time to lose was low enough that anyone could do well in an adhoc tournament.

A great way to spend a weekend hanging out with friends in somebody's living room.

Star Control 2:
-Main Story: An inovative version of Star Flight: It basically made the space exploration genre accessible to casual gamers. (See Star Flight entry)
Good story without too much reading (I am betting they probably read and understood "The Hero with 1000 faces")
Story can progress along multiple arcs, so there is no wrong choice.
Sub games are intuitive and quick to resolve with just the right amount of challenge. (a task can be impossible without preparation, a task can be failed with preparation, a task you prepare for rarely takes more than a couple of tries after failure)

-Super Melee: Was not very good.
No mainstream console version: There was a 3DO version, but nobody I knew had one. So you were stuck on PC sharing a keyboard with a tiny display.
Ship designs were highly imbalanced to match the progression of the main story.
The skill cap was very high on some of these imbalanced ship designs as to make it VERY unfun to fight them when utilized properly. The skillcap could also be very low on some high powered ships as to make them very effective with little effort, which is also unfun.
I've played a few rounds of SuperMelee only a few times with human players. This is the exact opposite of Star Control.

Star Control 2 is probably one of the best single player experiences even to this day, but undoubtely it is a product of learning from past mistakes made by others.

Star Flight:
An RPG Space Exploration / Management game.
Not very friendly to casuals. (seriously, try playing this game without internet access, and no pre-knowledge)
Although I found the story interesting, you need to work at it to unravel it. There is alot of text. There is alot of inconsistency. It basically the worst of both worlds. Not accessible to mainstream gamers, and kind of disapointing if you analyze it.
The game systems are very unforgiving. Mistakes are easy to make and can really mess up a game to the point of having to restart.
Takes notes, plan well, use a calculator, look things up in an encyclopedia, save enough in case you come back empty handed, be prepared to run if you explore the wrong area.
Play on a not too fast, not too slow computer. That way you can react to no win-scenarios in UI before they end you, but the UI is not so slow as to make in a pain to deal with.
The first time I finished this game, I was relying heavily on notes taken from previous playthroughs to avoid disaster.

Star Flight: Genesis
Tried to make the game accessible to mainstream.
The ruthlessness of the universe was toned way down.
Space combat was more action / arcadey.
Quote for truth: "What do you mean I shouldn't bring a Plant crew member into Dinosaur space? What is dinosaur space? Oh, I don't read the text. I just fly around and blow up ships. It's faster and easier to get more upgrades that way. Nope, never had to pay a towing fine. Oh, so that is what happens if you run out of gas? Anways, I am getting kind of tired of this game, I have all upgrades and don't think there is anything else to do" *Facepalm*

Conclusion

What makes Star Control Star Control? 2 very different things. But...
Still waiting for a game that is as good as Star Control Genesis for PvP and Star Control 2 for story.

1 - Star Control 2. I mean, 1 was great when it was new, but it was kind of primitive, and difficult to play after 2 came out. And 3 was garbage.

Any Star Control game built to feel like a sequel to 2 will already be on the right track. And so far, that describes this one; everything I've seen makes me think it was built by fans of SC2.

2 - If what we're hearing in fleet battles is any indication, you guys already have the music down; what we've seen of the game so far feels like Star Control, and the music is a huge part of that.

3 - The aliens. Their unique cultures, their unique looks. Talking to them, interacting with them. It's like Star Trek or Babylon 5. Or Farscape.

4 - Exploration. The rather gigantic universe. The unique planets. I'm not sure whether I went to every planet in SC2, but I went to a lot; the fact that I probably haven't been to them all says a lot about a game and its replay value. I know a lot of games these days have the whole procedurally-generated-universe thing going on, like Spore, Elite:Dangerous, No Man's Sky, etc...I don't know what the plan is for this game, but if it boasts that whole billions-of-unique-worlds thing--and does it well--then this game's gonna be a classic.

And no. damn. star-lanes!!! The Master of Orion reboot made the rather unfortunate mistake of making planets connected by specific warp corridors (or whatever they were called; wormholes, maybe), so even worlds right next to each other might take several jumps for the trip. SC2 didn't do that, and this game better not either.

5 - The story. SC2's story was pretty epic, with a huge backstory that led to present-day legends that led the player down the path to the game's conclusion. Most of the alien races were involved on each side of the conflict, and the player got to help it all unfold. It was very similar to Babylon 5 in that way, and I hope this game has something similar. (It'd also be great if there was no single ending, that the player could affect events such that one side might win, but starting over from the beginning, another side might. Or something like that. Make the game even more replayable.)

I agree, sounds like your team is going in the right direction !

You say this, and it makes me very eager to play the game...yet I find I'd like a bit more of a nuanced description, if only to keep my expectations realistic. (I mean, we all remember the anticipation of how frickin' awesome No Man's Sky was supposed to be...and then...)

So what makes it so alive? I mean, do we get to influence factions and alliances in ways that aren't necessarily pre-programmed? Do we conquer and fortify star systems as our own? Do we establish relations with other alien nations, creating alliances and making enemies, affecting the attitude of each race toward us and changing our dialogue options, thus shaping the entire direction of the game as we work toward victory in a larger story?

...am I just picturing Star Control somehow merging with Master of Orion 2?

I'm very, very much looking forward to this game, but I'd hate to get it and realize I was expecting too much or the wrong thing. How is the universe "alive"?

If I'm reading between the lines correctly, it sounds as if, while there are definite plot points, there is also a lot of available improv because the AI is trained to handle it.

...or should be, anyway. Hence the play-testing.

I...don't suppose you have independent playtesters? You know...folks who haven't been working on the game for ages and can evaluate it without bias? *hint hint*   

Drat.

I only even found out this game was happening about a week ago...

This is Star Control.

A game that revolutionized into a Brilliant unique Genre.

It does not need to be influenced nor work towards another type of game that was created or that will be created, it is a Master Genre,complete with excellent story, characters,planets,ships,lore filled with excitement and exploration unique to it's own, in fact games out there needs to follow Star Control.

I have never played masters of orion, it just never made any satisfactory sense and to me felt like a board game. totally the opposite of what Star Control feels like.

Whether or not digging deeper into master of orion i would've found at least one thing that is kind of catching, who know's i never felt the need to stay long enough to find out as i did not enjoy the game, but if there is any interesting and really catchy aspect about the game that i have not experience by all means, it could perhaps be considered to be partially implemented i suppose.

However, Star Control is Star Control because of the way it is period.

Changing things to take away the focus of what makes it so exciting will kill the excitement and with it all the players desperately eager (including myself) to play a next generation Star Control.