Star Trek Online

Star Trek Online New Screenshots!

DoranM — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:24:24 GMT

Star Trek Online has sent us some exclusive screenshots, and will be sending us more every week until launch, highlighting some of the different areas and characters in the game!

Here's a look at 5 never-before-seen screenshots from STO:

Star Trek Will Launch With Around 20 Bridge Options

DoranM — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:28:23 GMT

The following was posted to Yahoo News about the upcoming MMO Star Trek Online! As it turns out, the game almost launched without a bridge! All has calmed in the world of STO now; and the game will launch with around 20 different bridges.

Here's a look at the original story from Yahoo News:

The developers at Cryptic Studios were focusing on recreating the sci-fi franchise's universe for "Star Trek Online," the upcoming massively multiplayer online game that boldly casts players as captains of their own starship. Yet they were leaving out a crucial location: the bridge. Despite their initial hesitation, the game's masterminds decided to make it so.

"We didn't want to have interiors at launch," said "Star Trek Online" executive producer Craig Zinkievich. "We thought it was just a little bit too much. We really wanted to make sure we delivered a really deep experience, but your bridge not being in the game, it really felt like a hole in the game, and it was just something that we had to put in."

When players design their virtual vessels, they can choose from about 20 different bridges - like one resembling the command centers aboard the famed Enterprises or the brawny Defiant from "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." Zinkievich said the bridges will mostly function as social hubs where gamers can hangout with their bridge officers and other captains online.

The game is set 22 years after the supernova that destroyed the Romulan homeworld and transported an elder Spock and the villainous Nero into director J.J. Abrams' reimagined "Star Trek." Peace between the Federation and Klingons has since evaporated, meaning space combat will play a vital role in the game, though there are still strange new worlds to explore.

"It's familiar, but it's new," said Zinkievich. "We've changed a few things and added a few things to the universe. I think that's what keeps us from stepping on the hardcore Trekkies' toes. The team is made up of 'Star Trek' fans and avid MMO fans, so if we can make a game that doesn't churn our stomach, then I think we can definitely satisfy the fans."

"Star Trek Online" is scheduled for release Feb. 2.

Star Trek Online Exclusive New Screenshots!

DoranM — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:20:51 GMT

Star Trek Online has sent us some exclusive screenshots, and will be sending us more every week until launch, highlighting some of the different areas and characters in the game!

Here's a look at 5 never-before-seen screenshots from STO:

Curse Giving Out 5 Star Trek Online Beta Codes!

DoranM — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:54:14 GMT

This contest has ended, we will notify winners who have posted prior to 10 AM PST Oct. 23rd! Thank you for your submissions!

The Star Trek Online team has informed us that they will give us 5 beta codes to give out to our users! We're going to hand them out to anyone who replies to this news post citing their all-time favorite Star Trek character and a reason why!

Users will be chosen by Curse staff tomorrow evening and we'll be sending the code to your email on your Curse account! Remember there's only five so make the posts count!

Here's some recent screenshots to get you excited about a beta code:

Five New Screenshots from Star Trek Online!

DoranM — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:49:36 GMT

Star Trek Online Exclusive Curse.com Screenshots!

DoranM — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:03:21 GMT

New Screenshots From Star Trek Online - Curse Exclusive!

DoranM — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:06:04 GMT

Ask Cryptic (July 21, 2009)

Kody — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 01:50:39 GMT

Awen posted the latest Star Trek Online "Ask Cryptic" today over on the official site. The topics for this update are ship combat, Klingons, and high end game play!

Lt.Goranov: Can we target, different parts of the ship? Like the warp core or the impulse engines, or warp nacells?

You’ll be able to target subsystems and disable certain devices, and people will be able to repair them and get them back online. But right now we’ve just begun working on this system, so it’s still in the “making it fun” stage.

Certain weapons are better at taking out subsystems. For instance, phasers are very precise, so they will be able to hit subsystems rather easily. Disruptors aren’t precise; you can still take out a subsystem with a disruptor, but it won’t work as reliably as a high-accuracy weapon. And explosive devices, like photon torpedoes, have poor subsystem accuracy. They’re blunt instruments and are more effective at taking out large areas of a ship, like its hull.

Tamgros: How will partially damaged ships be handled in STO (ie: 1/2 hull dexterity)? Will it be like a typical MMO where everything works great until dexterity goes zero, or will you get debuffs/systems going off line?

Your ship and your items will not underperform as they get damaged. Your ship has hull integrity – or hull hit points – and your items, your subsystems, have durability. They’ll continue to work at full capacity until they’re destroyed. We don’t want to force people into a downward spiral in combat where you just keep getting worse and worse. Your shields get weaker, but performance doesn’t degrade until something goes offline.

There is another axis to this, though: You have crew on your ship. We lovingly refer to them as your redshirts. Different ships have different crew complements. The Defiant class staffs 50 people, and the Galaxy class staffs 1,000 people. Your crew help keep your ship running, and will do things like affect the repair rate of your ship and affect certain actions you perform, such as assembling boarding parties, repair teams or medical teams.

In combat, crew can die or get injured. As you lose crew from explosive devices like photon torpedoes, those abilities will weaken. So you may be less effective at repairing your hull, or launching boarding parties. You can revive some crew based on how good your medical skills and medical officers are, but inevitably, you will need to replace some of them.

marscentral: We know it's Science, Tactical and Engineer for Starfleet types, but what about the Klingons?

The simple answer is they’re exactly the same. No one ever said Klingons don’t have scientists or engineers; somebody built those ships. Klingons will probably have a few distinctions in skills and certain other areas, but the classes will be the same.

Manx: Will there be ways for solo players to get the high end ships, or will they be strictly for fleet members only?

Solo players will be able to access highest-end ships in the game. Everyone will be able to fly a Sovereign class ship or a Prometheus class ship once their skills and rank allow them to do so. That’s not to say there won’t be endgame rewards and things only guilds can do. But ships will remain available to everyone.

MagnusTyrel: We know the Klingons and Federation will be the Primary playable Factions and the Romulans will be one of the Main villans in the game, how exactly have you come about balancing the Federation ships with the Klingons giving that most Federation ships seem to be like flying Fortresses and are usualy seen disabling Klingon ships in a couple of easy shots, I know ofcourse that most of this is due to the Hero Ship/Crew factor but looking at online sources for ship specifications its seems the Federation has a large advantage... Any Information on this would be Appreciated.

First and foremost, we’re trying to build a balanced game. We are trying as hard as possible to remain accurate to the IP, but when it’s not fun and balanced, we take liberties. We have to. It’s the same as a question we had a couple weeks ago about Vulcans having what amounted to super powers in the series – we have to balance that, and we’ll do the same thing here.

Without going into too much detail, we know that Federation ships will be able to choose between escorts, science vessels and cruisers. Those three different paths represent the different shows. Escorts represent warships like the Defiant in DS9, science vessels will feel more like the science ships in Voyager, and the cruisers will represent the Enterprise-like ships from TOS and TNG. Klingon ships will be distinct and each will feel entirely different. You can expect to see your favorites like the Bird of Prey, Vor’cha, Negh’Var, and more, plus maybe a few surprises.

But the bottom line is there will be balance. There will be ships that are tougher than other ships. That will exist on both sides. Federation and Klingons will have different specialties that’ll counter each other.

Where Do Star Trek Online & The Movie Interact?

DoranM — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:02:20 GMT

Star Trek Online has posted a helpful chart to let players know how the game and the movie interact. The background story for the chart also talks about alternate reality created by Nero when he travels back in time and how that some of the events that take place in that reality have affected STO. To learn more about the aftermath of some of those events check out the Path to 2409 page on the STO site.

Here's the background story for the STO timelines and a link to the timeline chart:

How do Star Trek Online and the new movie interact, and where does the timeline diverge?

In the movie, two characters travel back in time from the year 2387. When Nero arrives in the year 2233, he disrupts the time continuum, creating an alternate reality from the point of his arrival. Star Trek (the new movie) takes place in this alternate reality. This is explained in the film in a conversation between Uhura and Spock on the bridge of the Enterprise.

Star Trek Online is set in the "prime" Star Trek reality. This is the timeline of the five television series and the first 10 movies. It is the world in which the Gorn attacked Cestus III, Kirk fought Khan in the Mutara Nebula, Picard explored the galaxy, the Federation fought the Dominion War, Voyager was stranded in the Delta Quadrant and Captain Archer and the crew of the NX-01 showed us how it all began.

Events in the movie that happened in the prime timeline (the destruction of Romulus, and the disappearance of Spock and Nero) have affected STO. You can learn more about the aftermath of these events in the Path to 2409 and in STO itself.

So how can the movie and STO be in different realities? When working on Star Trek, screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman referenced the theory of quantum mechanics, which allows for the simultaneous existence of parallel timelines and universes. Parallel universes are self-contained, separate realities that exist as a consequence of different choices and outcomes. This concept was explored in the TNG episode "Parallels," in which there were thousands of alternate timelines (and thousands of Enterprises!). It also is seen in the Mirror Universe, which is a darker take on the world of the Federation.

There are many, many stories to tell in the prime universe. The fallout of the destruction of Romulus and the upheaval that causes in the Alpha and Beta quadrants creates storytelling opportunities that we at Cryptic didn't even imagine when we first began working on STO. We're excited by the possibilities, and fans should be as well. The best is yet to come.

Star Trek Online Character Creation Video

DoranM — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:10:20 GMT

Cryptic Studios has been hard at work on one of their future MMOs; Star Trek Online. If you haven't had a chance to see the vast number of characters types available in the game yet we've got a treat from you! Star Trek has released a video of the character creation process a few months back, and with the hype around the movie we figured it'd be good to show you the video in case you hadn't seen it! When it comes to the sheer number of races in MMOs, Star Trek Online will not be found wanting.

Here's a look at the Star Trek Character Creation Video:

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Star Trek Online Kobayashi Maru Scenario: Omega!

DoranM — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:36:09 GMT

Star Trek Online has posted the latest "what would you do?" scenario! The scenario asks what you would do if you encountered a source of Omega on an alien planet. There is, of course, a twist! The locals think it's a gift from the gods and will fight you if you try to take it!

Here's the Kobayashi Maru Scenario:

We're still running strong with our Kobayashi Maru scenarios! This week's scenario is brought to you by JPJappic. Good challenge sir!

Stardate 85138.7. Your ship is cruising at warp five in the final frontier when suddenly your computer screens go black and the Omega symbol appears on every display. Your scanners have detected the presence of an omega particle.

As per Starfleet regulations, the omega particle must be destroyed at all costs and all records of its existence erased from the ship's computers.

You find the particle on a planet in the midst of a heavily populated area. Upon further investigation you find that the pre-warp civilization on the planet below revere this particle as a gift from their gods.

As per your orders, do you destroy the particle at all costs risking the destruction of a species and all of subspace for lightyears or do you continue on your way, disobeying Federation orders and removing all known information about the discovery from your databanks?

Solve this scenario!

Star Trek Online: A Fans First Impressions

DoranM — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:34:11 GMT

Here's a first look at the new Star Trek Online MMORPG. This article is written by Troy Hammers and is a compilation of all known information about the game. Enjoy the read:

Just how innovative is STO? What will make STO better and different? Ship customizations, vivid character creation, intense PvP on the ground and in space, possible PC/Console hybrid, where console and PC units can connect to the same sever - and explore together sounds like a good start to me.

To me, STO is going to go where no MMO has truly gone before. The level of customization that Cryptic is said to offer is staggering,b ut wait, haven't we seen great customization before? Haven't we all played Spore? Or perhaps another Cryptic game known as City of Heroes? There's a difference here, and that is content. Yes, Spore isn't an MMO, but let's take a deeper look. The customization is down right innovative, if not the best there is on the game market. However, afterwards there isn't much to chew on to keep you hooked. That is where STO will hopefully not make that mistake.

When it comes to gaming, Star Trek fans have been frustrated, to say the least. Trek fans do not have a company like Lucasarts to find developers to churn out great games every year. We, the fans, have been screaming for a good Star Trek game for a very, very long time. The original STO was dropped by Perpetual and picked up by Cryptic last year, and in my opinion, this was the best thing to happen to the franchise.

Starting off as the Captain of your vessel for Starfleet or the Klingon Defense Force, players set out on journeys to explore strange new worlds, engage each other in PvP on the battlefront, take missions from your faction to further gain wealth and rank, create ship names and hull registries, and customize your bridge crew with different abilities. Crew members can be different races, genders, and have unique features to make your journey more interesting, and hopefully make it seem more real. What would a Captain do without his bridge crew anyway? The only con I can think of coming to us at launch with STO, is the inability to have ship interiors, which Cryptic has already stated this on their to-do list in a later updates such as an expansion or content patch. I guess we can't always get what we want, Jim.

This brings us to our next innovation, ship interiors. Personally, I was glad to hear Cryptic is going to delay player's ability to walk around freely on their ships (announced at the NYCC). First, hear me out! With how vast all the ships, space stations and facilities on both sides Starfleet and the Klingon Defense Force are, you’re talking about hundreds of hours of development time. I would rather wait to hopefully see great interior designs on my Bridge and Captain's Quarters rather than to see some rushed, buggy environment where I can lag through the halls and get stuck in a wall, you know what I mean? I wouldn't mind seeing something similar to what Star Wars Galaxies did with the expansion Jump to Lightspeed, but of course in a better fashion.

PvP is also going to where no other MMO has gone before. Ground combat is said to be a lot of run and gun, duck and hide, fast paced action. Whether or not to set your phasers to stun is completely optional! Hand to hand combat has been talked about, the most promising looking thing that I’ve seen is the ability to beam aboard an enemy vessel and take on your foes, face to face. Instead of a fast paced, Star Wars style space battles, STO will feature a more strategy involved combat system. I've seen a few notes from STO's developers stating that it will be more of a normal Star Trek fight: powering shields, moving power around the ship to compensate for damage or diverting more power to your phasers and photon torpedoes. PvP is said to include maneuvering around an enemy vessel to further damage its exposed side, or to pummel its engines - so that the enemy's vessel is a sitting duck… classic naval engagement. Early stages of PvP seem to be happening on the ground and in space, although Cryptic hasn't released much information about PvP. I'm going to bet a lot of players will be especially interested in this aspect, meeting their foes with rapid phaser fire or pulling a Worf maneuver, RAMMING SPEED!

Last but not least, community. I have been following STO since Perpetual had the IP, and really started catching on with Cryptic. The community, put simply, is fantastic. The boards are filled with great conversation and debate, and the flaming is kept at a minimum. I'm very pleased to see the good natured individuals and the fleet’s already forming in the Star Trek Online community. I know the talks will change dramatically with release, I only hope they will actually be a part of the solution and not the problem. The bottom line is that the community will support the game. If the players are not behind the game, especially with an IP like STO, things can get ugly. Luckily, Cryptic seems to be avidly listening and giving feedback to what the future players have to say.

There are many reasons why STO will go where no MMO has gone before, many of which will show up in the near future. And if STO is going to play as good as it's looking, then beam me up.

Here's the original article: Source

Star Trek Online Meet the Dev and Character Customization Video

DoranM — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 03:44:27 GMT

Star Trek Online is due to be released in 2010. Cryptic is now in charge of creating the game and they have posted several screen shots aswell as an intriguing look at their alien creation software (video below); both which look like the game will hold some real potential for one of the first games that allows for massive

customization for race in a vast galaxy. They have also posted a recent dev update on Star Trek Online producer daniel Stahl. We've got the dev question and answer set below the video of character creation. Enjoy!

Video of character creation on Star Trek Online:

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Here's the original story about producer Daniel Stahl:

Posted by Awen

I don't believe that it's possible to out Trek Daniel Stahl, this week's Meet the Team candidate. He's even created a Star Trek Song! Want to no more about this producer? Well then you're going to have to continue reading!

What do you do on Star Trek Online?

I'm a producer on STO responsible for ensuring that the content we make for the game is fun to play, meets our expectations for quality, and can be made with the software tools that we have developed. This also includes ensuring that the game is available on a stable build internally and that the team gets a chance to play and provide feedback as new game features and content become playable.

How long have you worked in gaming, and what did you do before Star Trek Online?

I've been working in the gaming industry for 12 years including 6 years at Wizards of the Coast working on Magic: The Gathering and 4 years at Microsoft working on the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live. I also developed a board game, Pirate's Cove, which uniquely qualifies me as the team member most likely to actually be a pirate.

Who is your favorite Star Trek character and why?

Kirk and I are cut from the same cloth, although I find myself relating to Spock frequently. There is something about Kirk from the first two movies that I strongly relate to. I admire his struggle with the career mid-point when he's being asked to take on more responsibility and yet all he really wants to do is go out there and shoot some more Klingons.

What is an interesting fact about you that players would be surprised to know?

Many might be surprised to know that I've been an active performing musician for many years and was approached a few years back and asked if I'd be willing to front a William Shatner "Transformed Man" impersonation band. I spent hours trying to get the vocals down, but in the end, no one... can perfectly... impersonate the Shatner. Especially not his singing chops.

If you could choose to be an alien on Star Trek, which species would you want to be?

Not Trill. Not Klingon. Nope. I'm all Gorn. All the time. I will throw a rock at you. And my big green sparkly eyes will see you sneaking up on me.

If you were faced with the Kobayashi Maru, what would be your solution?

I'd perform the dStahl Maneuver™. This is something you might be lucky enough to see once, if you ever face me in ship to ship combat. I hear it cursed out loud by others during internal playtests. Let's just say there's Fed vs Klingon PVP and then there's All vs. dStahl PVP. Like Bones said... "Lights Out. Kobayashi Maru!"

Which is cooler: monkeys, robots, pirates, or ninjas?

Snake Eyes judo chops Jack Sparrow. King Kong smashes Snake Eyes. V'Ger disintegrates King Kong and makes a giant replica of him in his floaty 3D holographic memory banks. Definitely Robots. Even more so if they travel through space in a magnetic cloud the size of 4 AUs.

What advice do you have for someone who wants to break into the gaming industry?

There are a lot of different avenues into the gaming industry and they all start with pursuing a hobbyist's dream. Find something that you have a passion for, and develop that passion. Find time in your week to pursue your hobby and share it with others. Build relationships with the people you play games with and pour your heart into gaming with others. Never be afraid to put together a prototype and share it with your friends. Fun things will happen when you do.

What was your first favorite video game?

The first game I was deeply enthralled with was the text based Colossal Cave Adventure. The game inspired me to learn computers and programming in a day when owning a personal computer was rare. By the time I finished the 5th grade I had written my own version of Adventure set in the world of TRON. To work on STO these many years later is a childhood dream realized.

Is there anything you would like to add?

I'm the Ultimate Klingon!

First "Ask Cryptic" for STO

Zyuu — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:17:45 GMT

In the very first "Ask Cryptic" for Star Trek Online they are answering different type of community submitted questions about canon, customization, music, exploration and a lot more.

Al "Captain Geko" Rivera and Craig "Zinc" Zinkievich are the two developers giving the answers.

Will Star Trek Online be considered canon in any respect? How much of the game will stick to the canon?

Al "Captain Geko" Rivera (lead designer): Every series and movie is considered canon, and we are staying very true to this in our development. Star Trek is rich with lore and history, and there is a great deal of material to build upon as we move into the 25th century with Star Trek Online. We are working with CBS to ensure that everything we create is true to Trek and makes sense.

We know that fans want to play Star Trek Online because they want to explore the Star Trek universe, and we are striving to deliver as authentic an experience as possible. Our team has seen all the shows and movies and we're watching them again every single day. We are also studying other soft canon resources such as novels and comics. From those, we are looking for inspiration and references to further enhance our game. Where it makes sense, we will include some soft canon elements in Star Trek Online as well.

Will I be able to trick out my Bird of Prey with green flame decals to show off when I decloak to "pwn Federation nubs"?

Captain Geko: One of Cryptic Studios' hallmark features in all of its games is giving players ultimate customizability when it comes to their characters. We are fully utilizing our character creation technology in Star Trek Online to include customizing both characters and starships. You will be able to customize your ship's geometry, as well as its color, decals and fleet insignia.

Star Trek has had some of the best scores and soundtracks ever made associated with it in the past. Can we expect just as much attention to go into the sound effects, music and ambience as we would hopefully see in the graphics area?

Captain Geko: Luckily, Michael Henry, our director of audio, is a longtime Star Trek fan and an accomplished musician and composer. Trust us when we say that Michael will be creating authentic Star Trek music scores and ambience – and not even a Gorn attack can stop him! We are also working closely with CBS, and its team has provided us with access to a massive library of sound effects from all of the series and movies. So phasers will sound exactly like phasers should.

Check out all the questions and answers

Official FAQ Available

Zyuu — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:22:54 GMT

Cryptic Studios has published an FAQ on the official Star Trek Online website.

What is Star Trek Online?

Star Trek® Online is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game set in the Star Trek universe. Star Trek Online will be developed for both console and PC formats. Game features will include customizable ships and characters from the Klingon Empire and United Federation of Planets, ground, space and shipboard gameplay and unique options for player-generated content.

What is Cryptic using from the previous development?

Star Trek Online is entirely based on Cryptic's design and built entirely using Cryptic Studios' technology and assets. The former studio that we acquired the Star Trek game rights from had a huge amount of concept art created for their game – much of that is applicable, and we are taking advantage of it. But Cryptic's engine, technology platform and content pipelines have become so mature that with a small team we can quickly ramp up a project.

Will there be PvP?

Yes. We plan for a faction vs. faction PvP ruleset, but there are also plans for a competitive PvE mechanic.

Will there be PvP, PvE and RP rule set servers?

There will not be separate servers. Open PvP will be restricted to designated sectors of space (far-off reaches of unclaimed territory). Consensual PvP and competitive PvE will occur between the realm borders (the Neutral Zone), where players will be competing over territory and resources with the option to PvP.

Will there be an economy?

Many of the details are still in the works, but yes, there will be an economy that makes sense in the Star Trek universe. Since the Federation has explicitly done away with money, expect bartering and trading of goods to be an important part of the economy. Less tangible forms of economics such as Reputation are also not out of the question.

Full FAQ.

Three new screenshots can be seen here as well.