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Robert Frederick Ford is an American video game programmer. He is the son of mathematician L. R. Ford Jr. A co-founder of the video game studio Toys for Bob, he led the company from its inception until late 2020 with his co-founder Paul Reiche III. Ford is the co-creator, with Reiche III, of the Star Control universe. Ford did the programming, while Reiche was responsible for the game design and fiction. [1] Ford was also the lead programmer on The Horde and Pandemonium . [2]
Ford attended the University of California, Berkeley. [3] In the early 1980s, Ford began his game career while in college, creating games exclusively for the Japanese market. [4] Working for a company called Unison World (later Magicsoft), he worked on his first games for a Japanese monochrome handheld, including a bowling game, a bi-plane flight game, and a tank game. [5] Soon after, he moved onto developing for the NEC PC-6000 series, the MSX, and Fujitsu systems, with titles such as Pillbox, Sea Bomber, and Ground Support. [5]
Ford was working on an unreleased title, when Magicsoft ran out of money. [5] This led Ford to transition to more corporate employment. [6] He worked for graphics companies in Silicon Valley, until he realized he missed working in the game industry. [4] Ford told friends he was seeking a designer-artist to collaborate with, and his friends knew Paul Reiche III was seeking a programmer-engineer. [7] Ford and Reiche had actually attended college together, [3] and their friends arranged to re-introduce them at a game night hosted by game designer Greg Johnson. [8] One of the friends who encouraged the get-together was fantasy artist Erol Otus [9]
Reiche and Ford's first collaboration was Star Control , with Ford focused on programming, and Reiche focused on the game design and fiction. [7] Originally called Starcon, the game began as an evolution of the concepts that Reiche first created in Archon: The Light and the Dark. [6] Archon's strategic elements were adapted for Star Control into a space setting, with one-on-one ship combat inspired by the classic 1962 game Spacewar! . [10] As Ford and Reiche's workflow as a team was developing, the game took on a more limited scope compared to the sequel. [7] Upon its release in 1990, Star Control was voted the "Best Science Fiction Game" by Video Games and Computer Entertainment . [11] Decades later, it is remembered as one of the greatest games of all time. "[A]s a melee or strategic game, it helped define the idea that games can be malleable and dynamic and players can make an experience wholly their own." [12]
The success of their first game led to a more ambitious sequel in Star Control II . Reiche and Ford aimed to go beyond ship combat to develop a "science fiction adventure role-playing game". [6] Their goal of creating a dynamic space adventure was largely inspired by Starflight, created by Greg Johnson. [7] A few years earlier, Reiche had been friends with Johnson. During the game's creation, Reiche was inspired to offer creative input for Johnson's expansive science fiction game. [13] This friendship and mutual admiration led Reiche and Ford to hire Johnson for Star Control II. The duo later credited Johnson as one of the game's most significant contributors. [14] Star Control's story and characters were vastly expanded from the story and characters in the first game. [6] As Reiche and Ford worked on the first version of the game's dialog, [7] they recognized they needed help with the writing and art and were forced to enlist the help of friends and family. [14] In addition to Johnson, they recruited long-time friend Erol Otus, who contributed music, text, art, and illustrations for the game's manual, and (later) voice-acting. [7] Through mutual friends, they acquired the talents of famed fantasy artist George Barr. [15] [16] The project eventually ran over schedule, and the budget from publisher Accolade ran out. [7] During the final months of development, Fred Ford supported the team financially. [17]
Star Control II became one of the best games of all time, according to numerous publications in the 1990s, [18] 2000s, [19] and 2010s. [20] It is also ranked among the best games in several specific areas, including: writing, [21] world design, [22] character design, [23] and music. [24] The game also influenced other titles, most notably the open-ended gameplay of Tim Cain's Fallout, [25] [26] the world design of Mass Effect, [27] and the story events of Stellaris . [28]
Ford and Reiche began branding themselves as Toys for Bob, with The Horde as the studio's first official title. [29] By this point, Reiche and Ford were doing contract work for game publisher Crystal Dynamics, with their three-person studio recruiting Fred Ford's brother, Ken. [30] The Horde was a fantasy action-strategy hybrid game comparable to Star Control II, and was notable for including performances from actors Kirk Cameron and Michael Gregory. [31]
Toys for Bob secured Activision as their new publisher, thanks to an introduction from former Toys for Bob staff who had founded Shaba Games and been acquired by Activision. [32] The publisher offered Toys for Bob the Disney license for Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure, which led to a 2003 game release. [3] This successful relationship led to Toys for Bob being acquired by Activision in May 2005. The company became a wholly owned subsidiary, and the management team and employees signed long-term contracts under the new corporate structure. [33] [34] Working with Activision, Toys for Bob continued to focus on licensed video games, such as Madagascar. [3] However, the market for these types of games began to dry up, [35] in part due to the negative reputation created by other licensed games. [36]
The company searched for new opportunities. [3] One such idea came from Toys for Bob character designer I-Wei Huang, who had been creating toys and robots in his spare time. [37] The company saw the potential to adopt these toys and character designs into a game, with technical engineer Robert Leyland applying his hobby in building electronics. [3] [38] Coincidentally, Activision merged with Vivendi Games in 2008, and asked Toys for Bob to create a new game around Vivendi's Spyro franchise. [39] The team saw the potential for toy-game interaction and suggested to Activision that it would be ideal for Spyro's rich universe of characters. [39] Activision CEO Bobby Kotick responded well to the idea, and gave the team an additional year of development to better refine the technology, the manufacturing process, and the gameplay. [3] Ford credits Activision for funding the expensive and risky development, "we could have thought of this idea as independents and never got it made." [39] This culminated in the 2011 release of Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure , which became a breakthrough success for the developer, their most notable game since Star Control. [40] [41]
In October 2017 Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III announced they would be working on a direct sequel to Star Control II called Ghosts of the Precursors. [42]
In 2018, Stardock sued Paul Reiche III along with Fred Ford in Stardock Systems, Inc. v. Reiche , for trademark infringement of the "Star Control" trademark. [43] During the course of the lawsuit, Stardock trademarked numerous alien names from Star Control 1 and 2. Reiche and Ford asserted that Atari only owned the game name, marketing content and the new aliens in Star Control 3, [44] and that the in-game alien names to the first two games were never Atari's to sell. [44] Litigation ended at June 2019 when both sides reached a settlement that involved the parties exchanging honey for mead and the parties agreeing that Stardock has exclusive rights of the Star Control name with a list of alien names from the first two games being for the exclusive use for Reiche and Ford. [45]
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one of the largest third-party video game publishers in the world and was the top United States publisher in 2016.
Star Control: Famous Battles of the Ur-Quan Conflict, Volume IV is an action-strategy video game developed by Toys for Bob and published by Accolade. It was originally released for MS-DOS and Amiga in 1990, followed by ports for the Sega Genesis and additional platforms in 1991. The story is set during an interstellar war between two space alien factions, with humanity joining the Alliance of Free Stars to defeat the invading Ur-Quan Hierarchy. Players can choose to play as either faction, each with seven different alien starships which are used during the game's combat and strategy sections.
Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters is a 1992 video game, the sequel to Star Control. It was developed by Toys for Bob and originally published by Accolade in 1992 for MS-DOS. The game includes exoplanet-abundant star systems, hyperspace travel, extraterrestrial life, and interstellar diplomacy. There are 25 alien races with which communication is possible.
Starflight is a space exploration, combat, and trading role-playing video game created by Binary Systems and published by Electronic Arts in 1986. Originally developed for IBM PC compatibles, it was later ported to the Amiga, Atari ST, Macintosh, and Commodore 64. A fully revamped version of the game was released for the Sega Genesis in 1991.
The Ur-Quan Masters is a 2002 open-source fangame modification, based on the action-adventure science fiction game Star Control II. The original game was released for PCs in 1992 and ported to the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer in 1994. It has been frequently mentioned among the best games of all time, with additional praise for its writing, world design, character design, and music.
Accolade, Inc. was an American video game developer and publisher based in San Jose, California. The company was founded as Accolade in 1984 by Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead, who had previously co-founded Activision in 1979. The company became known for numerous sports game series, including HardBall!, Jack Nicklaus and Test Drive.
Paul Reiche III is an American game designer. His career started in the pen and paper RPG industry, where he collaborated with artist Erol Otus on games such as Dungeons & Dragons and Gamma World. He then transitioned into video games, working with Jon Freeman to establish Free Fall Associates and developed titles like Mail Order Monsters, World Tour Golf, and Archon. Later, he left Free Fall to establish Toys for Bob with Fred Ford. Their first collaboration resulted in Star Control. After a successful sequel, they declined to make a third installment, instead focusing on other projects including the successful Skylanders franchise.
Stardock Corporation is a software development company founded in 1991 and incorporated in 1993 as Stardock Systems. Stardock initially developed for the OS/2 platform, but was forced to switch to Microsoft Windows due to the collapse of the OS/2 software market between 1997 and 1998. The company is best known for computer programs that allow a user to modify or extend a graphical user interface as well as personal computer games, particularly strategy games such as the Galactic Civilizations series, Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, Elemental: Fallen Enchantress, and Ashes of the Singularity.
The Ur-Quan are a fictional race of predatory alien caterpillars in the Star Control series of video games, created by Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford. Introduced in 1990, the Ur-Quan are the primary antagonist of the first game, leading a galactic empire that seeks to enslave Earth. They reprise their role in Star Control II, which expands on their history as former slaves who since vowed to fiercely defend themselves. During the game, the Ur-Quan enter into a civil war over their ideology, giving Earth an opportunity to defeat them. In Star Control 3, which was developed by a different team, the Ur-Quan ally with Earth against a different antagonist and their role is scaled back. They appear once again in The Ur-Quan Masters, the 2002 open source remake of Star Control II.
Toys for Bob, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Novato, California. It was founded in 1989 by Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford and is best known for creating Star Control and the Skylanders franchise, as well as for working on the Crash Bandicoot and Spyro franchises.
Star Control 3 is a 1996 action-adventure game developed by Legend Entertainment and published by Accolade. The third installment in the Star Control trilogy, the game was released for MS-DOS in 1996 and Mac OS in 1998. The story takes place after Star Control II, beginning with a disaster that disrupts superluminal travel through hyperspace. This leads the player to investigate a new quadrant of space, joined by allied aliens from the previous games.
Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure is a 2003 skateboarding game published by Activision and developed by Toys for Bob for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox, and Vicarious Visions for the Game Boy Advance, and published by Activision. The game features characters and stages licensed from Disney's The Lion King and Tarzan, and Pixar's Toy Story.
Activision Blizzard, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California. Activision Blizzard currently includes five business units: Activision Publishing, Blizzard Entertainment, King, Major League Gaming, and Activision Blizzard Studios.
Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure is a 3D action-adventure platform game and the first video game in the Skylanders series. It is played using with toy figures that interact with it through a "Portal of Power" that reads their tag through NFC.
Skylanders: Trap Team is a 2014 3D platform game developed by Toys for Bob and Beenox and published by Activision. It is the fourth installment in the Skylanders video game franchise and was released on October 2, 2014, in Australasia, October 5, 2014 in North America, and October 10, 2014, in Europe, for release on Android and iOS mobile platforms, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Nintendo 3DS. It is the sequel to Skylanders: Swap Force, and features the voices of Fred Tatasciore, Billy West, John DiMaggio, Matthew Moy, Laura Bailey, Alex Ness, John Paul Karliak, Matthew Yang King, and Richard Horvitz.
Skylanders: Imaginators is a 2016 toys-to-life 3D platform game developed by Toys for Bob and published by Activision. It is the sixth installment of the Skylanders series, a successor to Skylanders: SuperChargers, and was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. It allows players to create their own characters, known as Imaginators. The game received generally positive reviews, but its sales were below Activision's expectations. It is the sixth and most recent Skylanders game released on consoles.
Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is a 2017 platform game compilation developed by Vicarious Visions and published by Activision. It includes remasters of the first three games in the Crash Bandicoot series: Crash Bandicoot (1996), Cortex Strikes Back (1997), and Warped (1998); which were originally developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation. Initially released for the PlayStation 4, it was later ported to Nintendo Switch, Windows, and Xbox One in 2018.
Star Control: Origins is an action-adventure game developed and published by Stardock Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, released September 20, 2018.
Stardock Systems, Inc. v. Paul Reiche III and Robert Frederick Ford, 2018 WL 7348858, is a case where the United States District Court for the Northern District of California applied American intellectual property law to the contents and sale of computer games. Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford are the makers of the critically acclaimed 1990 Star Control game series, and Stardock is the maker of the 2018 release Star Control: Origins. The lawsuit stems from a dispute over the ownership, licensing, and infringement of the Star Control intellectual property, including both trademarks and copyrights.
Ford: I went to the Silicon Valley and I worked for some graphics companies. I did that for a few years, I was in the wilderness and eventually I said, why am I not doing something I like versus something I think I should be doing? And so the company I worked that, there was a couple of mutual friends, two people who grew up with Paul, they knew I wanted to leave and they knew Paul needed a partner and so they introduced us to each other.Alt URL
Reiche: Yeah, we were going to a game night, board game night at Greg Johnson's house, and Greg's one of the designers of "Starflight" and "ToeJam & Earl" and "Orly Draw-Me-A-Story" and a ton of great games. Anyway, he had a regular game night at his house and so we sort of had a blind date there and decided, yeah, let's start working on this game.
Since its release in 1992, Star Control 2 has been considered one of the best computer game ever developed, and for me, it remains my favorite CRPG of all time. You can see its influence in the open-endedness of Fallout and Arcanum, and I will always remember this game fondly.Alt URL