Star Trek Online: Developer Interview

Loadscreen.net was lucky enough to score an interview with Cryptic Studios, developer of the upcoming MMORPG: Star Trek Online.

Cryptic have been kind enough to take the time to answer a number of questions that I thought would be interesting, both to those who might not have played the recent beta, and to those who’ve been grabbing up our keys at warp speed over the last week or so (note: all 500 keys have now been handed out).

In choosing questions for the team, I tried to cover  information on the the game’s background, its development, its status as a brand new title in a massive worldwide franchise, and, of course, the technology and gameplay we can expect from the game.

I think we got some good answers.

Star Trek Online has been in development for a very long time (since 2004), and has seen a change in developer (from Perpetual Entertainment to Cryptic Studios).  Do you think this has made the development of the game more difficult, or has the extra time allowed you to go further with your ideas?

Actually, we didn’t use any code or design from the previous developer. We began from scratch, so there really wasn’t any additional development time for us. We got working on the game in 2008, and we’re very proud of the work we’ve done in such a brief period of time.

Star Trek is a worldwide phenomenon, with one of the largest fanbases of any science fiction franchise.  Do you see that as a guarantee of success?  Trek fans will play it no matter how good it is.  Or as a challenge?  Star Wars Galaxies had some problems establishing a core base of players; we have to do this right.

It’s nice to have that fan base to build up excitement for the game.  They’re excited, we’re excited but you can’t rely just on the name to sell the game.  It has to be something fun and something that is true to the Star Trek franchise. So what the Star Trek name guarantees us is exposure. There are a lot of eyeballs on us right now, and if the game is good, those people will play. We’re not counting on anyone to stick around just because it’s Star Trek; we want to make the best game we can.

You’ve stated that the STO is set 30 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis, the final film featuring the Next Generation cast.  However, last year saw the Star Trek reboot, by J.J. Abrams, which was wildly successful.  Did you ever consider switching to the alternate timeline introduced in that movie?

Well CBS was the licensor with us and not Paramount who did the recent J.J. Abrams movie so we stuck with the original timeline.  Plus we were already working on our story and when that movie came out so it would have been a huge undertaking to switch stories, plus getting the rights, etc. The good news is, since its Star Trek, visiting alternate universes is always a possibility.

In the official FAQ, you’ve stated that, in STO, ‘Technology has advanced and the galaxy is a much more volatile place.’  Can you elaborate on that?

Well it’s 30 years past any recent Star Trek movie or TV show, so there’s a lot of new gadgetry in the universe. Most notably, people can wear miniaturized versions of the shields ships use, so they have some additional protection from ground phaser fire. The galaxy is a much more volatile place because the Borg are back, Klingons are back to their warlike ways again the Federation are trying to hold it all together.

Let’s talk gameplay.  Combat in MMOs can be a deciding factor in the game’s success.  How does STO’s action differ from other MMOs, is it a more casual experience, stats-focused, or a balance of both?

Well there are two different kinds of combat in STO:  space and ground.  In space, it’s a very tactical experience. You’re constantly thinking about what weapons you want to fire, which skills and abilities you want to use, how you want to position yourself, and so on. It demands a lot of attention from the player, but in a good, visceral way. On the ground, combat is more action-oriented. You can play with friends or with four NPC Bridge Officers, who have their own unique skills and contribute to the fight along the way. But it’s tactical, too. You can actually pause the game on the ground and issue orders to your Bridge Officers before unpausing and letting the action play out.

Though it’s not in the beta, the ‘Genesis’, system for creating randomly-generated content for explorers sounds like an exciting idea.  How will it work?  And what kind of content can we expect?

Genesis is actually in-game right now, but it works a bit differently than a lot of people think. The Genesis system is an in house tool that allows us to create maps and systems at a really quick rate.  A designer can go in and say he wants a purple planet with asteroids, 3 moons, a space station and 5 birds of prey to defeat.  And then boom it’s done.  Then our artists can go in and make it pretty looking.  This allows us to create things really quickly and then put them in the game.  So when people explore a star cluster they may go into one of these maps that has been generated and since we have so many of them, they could potentially be the first to discover it.

Just a quickie.  How’s the reaction to the beta been so far?  Got any big improvements/fixes to come?

The reaction to the beta has been really positive so far.  We’ve actually had so many people playing it that we’ve had to get more servers.  None that I can spill the beans on just yet but there will always be big improvements/fixes to come J.

So, there you have it.  While I can’t claim to have coaxed any huge  spoilers, or any brand new features, out of the team, I think there are some scraps of detail that are potentially exciting for STO fans.

Here’s my picks:

The ‘Genesis’ system is not an in-game feature that randomly generates large amounts of gameworld for the player.  Rather, it is a development tool, allowing for the swift creation of new ‘encounters’ and areas for the player to explore.  Effectively, this means Cryptic can support the game very efficiently by releasing new content more often.

‘The good news is, since its Star Trek, visiting alternate universes is always a possibility.’ - Cryptic haven’t ruled out using alternative universes and timelines in future updates for the game.  Could we see a tie in with the new movies?  Maybe, if the game is popular.

‘We’re not counting on anyone to stick around just because it’s Star Trek; we want to make the best game we can.’ – Something I’m sure we’d like to hear all developers say.  Cryptic aren’t resting on their laurels, and they know that they have to keep people playing.  Expect a lot of support for the game post-release.

Thanks again to Cryptic for the interview, and to those of you who left a quote for a beta key.

Loadscreen.net wishes the team at Cryptic the very best of luck with the release of Star Trek Online.

Let’s hope it’s a case of set phasers to ’stunning’.

Ed: You can find our User Review and Discussions forum thread for Star Trek Online here.