Reach for the Stars was credited for being one of the first and possibly the launcher of 4-X space games (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) that began its humble beginnings on Apple II’s, Commodore 64s and PCs.

SSG titles were well-known for their challenging artificial intelligence that went up against the player. SSG didn’t scrimp on giving players tools to create their own scenarios, as many of the SSG titles came with scenario editors. SSG had also published a magazine called Run 5, which provided information on the historical aspects of their titles as well as game designs and upcoming new scenarios. With the magazine also came a disk that had scenario files pre-loaded and ready to play. Run 5 was published quarterly and ran for 25 issues.

SSG won the 2003 Wargamer of the Year from PC Gamer and many others for their Korsun Pocket game.  Even in 2003 we know how hard it was for a Wargame to receive such honors.  The most recent release was Across the Dnepr: Second Edition.

Ian Trout described himself on the SSG staff page as “I'm a sometime bug-hunter turned chalky turned bookseller before stumbling into computer game design and publishing. Twenty years and twenty-odd games on, and nothwithstanding the industry's peculiar volatility, I'm still at it... older, greyer, fatter... but not much wiser. I love it.”

Ian Trout will be sorely missed and we here at Wargamer offer our prayers to friends and family of a great man and a great developer.

From left to right: Taubman, Ian Trout, Roger Keating, Gregor Whiley, Power