Q&A | Outpostgamez.com
Interview by: S.Murphy | M. Morales
Outpostgamez had the opportunity to sit down with Executive Producer Craig Zinkievich to discuss some of the finer points of Star Trek Online different areas that haven’t been talked about as of yet. Some of the things that we discuss is Clan Halls, what the purpose of the Bridges will be and will they be expanded to a certain degree and much more….
1) What can you tell us in regards to elements that we might see, from past Star Trek Gaming titles, while you have the inspiration of the entire ST Genre to draw from can you tell us any titles that you have put into STO from those past titles?
I don't think there's a specific component of Elite Force, Armada, Bridge Commander, 25th Anniversary, Command or Academy that you'll see in STO. There are shared similarities to those and other Star Trek games, of course. Sound libraries, music, computer VO... Things that are notably Star Trek will always be notably Star Trek.
Some aspects of our title will also inevitably be compared to those games, but when you play STO the ground combat really doesn't feel like Away Team or Hidden Evil. And the space combat really doesn't feel like Legacy or Shattered Universe or the Starfleet Command series.
Actually, now that I really think about it, Star Trek games (aside from those titles within a thematic series) have always been pretty distinct. For instance, it can't honestly be said that DS9: The Fallen feels just like Klingon Honor Guard. I think, happily, STO is another very distinct Star Trek game.
This isn't to say there's nothing to learn from the past, of course. Bridge Commander, for instance... Excellent game. But then Larry Holland and his Totally Games team made X-Wing and TIE Figther, so of course Bridge Commander was good. Many of the other Star Trek games were also terrific. And there's always something to learn from a good game.
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2) You have recently announced that you will be able to be on the bridge of your ship, in what capacity, will you be able to use the viewer, what other elements can we expect when you are on your bridge at launch? What other elements can you interact with, I.E, navigation consol, helm, science, tactic and so on?
At launch, the bridge will mainly serve as a social space. At launch being the operative words here. After we launch... Well, if users demand the bridge to evolve, we'll focus on evolving the bridge. For now, bridge stations and the main viewscreen are largely inoperable.
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3) I can’t recall ever seeing an MMO take on a task of having two different environments, ground combat, and space combat environments. Can you tell us how you have been able to balance the two as we haven’t seen such an environment in current MMO genre?
Developing both space and ground has been difficult, for sure. From a practical standpoint, we're essentially making two different games and sandwiching them together. But, we couldn’t have a proper Star Trek MMORPG without that space-ground sandwich... with mayo.
Balance itself wasn't quite as difficult as you might think since a precedent already exists for us to build off. In the television shows and films, the action often switches between space and ground. We just had to emulate that formula with our quest structure and then ensure the actions a player could take on space and ground were both compelling by themselves.
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4) What has been the most challenging in creating this MMO when you have so much to draw from in regards to the Star Trek Franchise, how have you made decisions when you have so much to draw from? What has been the most challenging area to create in Star Trek Online, Has it been space, missions, episodes, and character creation?
So much to draw from... Exactly. And that was one of our biggest challenges. With so much to draw from, how could we not put in this, that, the other, and those things lying over there?
Deciding when to stop drawing from the source was a challenge. It's critically important for a developer to retain focus. To do anything but remain focused leads to feature creep, which is not a good way to develop a compelling, cohesive game on any kind of schedule. And, with an IP as beloved and immense as Star Trek, it was extremely difficult to retain that necessary focus. People just have a tendency to be swept up by it all.
Also, no piece of development is ever truly easy. For us, character creation was difficult because we're traditionally enablers, but a license like Star Trek requires us to work hard at preserving brand integrity. Same goes with starship customization.
Space gameplay was naturally difficult fashion to because we had to create a compelling action-RPG out of three axes that people would still be comfortable with. We had to do that while ensuring the combat and flight mechanics felt like Star Trek, of course.
Ground gameplay? Well, that was difficult because we were compelled to include non-player controlled away teams... And on and on.
Nothing is easy in games development. But for us, creating every single piece has been good, honest, rewarding work.
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5) How is the Close Beta Coming along, what has been the most challenging or suggestions in which those within the studio didn’t see or find that you were like, oh my I overlooked that and has those within the Closed Beta have they provided constructive suggestions and good feedback?
Closed beta went great! We're in open beta right now, actually. The way our first attempt at ground combat was received by the testers was a real eye-opener. Compelled us to take a step back, scrutinize our own work, and really improve the entire effort.
6) What can you tell us about guild/fleet halls, will they be in the game at launch, if so will it be the bridge of a Ship or Space Station? What kind of Clan/Fleet support will be available at launch? Will Guilds/Clans/Fleets be able to operate their own Outpost or Station in Remote Space?
We’ve looked at adding the equivalent of guild housing into STO, but it's not something that will be available at launch.
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7) Is there an possibility of any future submissions of perhaps adding ships from fans to Cryptic that can be used, also will it be possible to submit scenario maps and such by the community for playable? Scenario stories?
Mmmm... User generated ships, maps, episodes and characters are very tricky, especially when dealing with a licensor. We have done some small one-offs (like our Name That Ship contest), but I don't believe this is something we'll see in the near future for Star Trek Online.
8) Will there be anything along the lines of an objective for every person or fleets to do in the game, which would give them bragging rights?
PvP certainly offers up an opportunity to brag. We also have difficult encounters and other things users can accomplishment and feel good about. There's not a single super quest, though. "Kill Q and become a superstar!" Nothing like that... yet.
9) What other factions, quadrants will we see coming up? Is their possibility of seeing the Dominion Jem-Hadar, Breen, Species 8472, The Founders or even the Dominion’s administrators, the Vortas, as a playable faction?
Playable factions will depend on what the community wants. At launch we'll have Federation and Klingon gameplay, of course. I think, in terms of NPCs and enemies, that we have everything you listed.
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10) What kind of STO Community wide events do you have planned for launch? Will Community Managers have control in scheduling monthly events and will they take input for event ideas from the community?
We will have in-game events. Usually we like to announce special events shortly before we run them, though.
On behalf of Outpostgamez, we want to thank Craig Zinkievich for taking time out of his busy schedule for the upcoming release of Startrek Online, Feb 5th 2010.
We want to thank Executive Producer Craig Zinkievich for taking the time out of their busy schedule to sit down with us and discuss a some aspects of Star Trek Online and the many things it will offer the player.
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Jan 21, 2010 14:47:19 (48 days ago )
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