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Okuda and Sternbach -- Star Trek Online

Instead of reading what some other website posts, I consider what's on the website of the makers of the game to be the closest to accurate information that we can possibly have right now.

http://www.startrekonline.com/

http://www.perpetual.com/star_trek_online/

Note the quote from the second page:
Stardate 77021.1: As the 25th century approaches, the military conflicts that have plagued the galaxy for untold generations appear to be coming to an end. The prime architect of this unprecedented era of peace, the United Federation of Planets, has begun beating its phasers into plowshares, and has set its gaze on the new frontiers first discovered by adventurous voyagers with names like Picard, Sisko, Janeway, and Kirk.

Years later, Andorian poets will describe this time as the "En'ock tu Ch'enock," roughly translated as "The Calm before the Inferno."

Star Trek Online is the first massively multiplayer online game to be set in the awe-inspiring Star Trek universe. An expansive experience of exploration, combat, and personal advancement, STO propels players across intergalactic space in all-new spaceships and uniforms designed especially for the game by veteran Star Trek artists and game developers. As they press deeper and deeper into the final frontier, players will discover strange new worlds, encounter alien starships, and even beam down to investigate extraterrestrial civilizations. With this thrilling title, Perpetual Entertainment is truly sending game players where none have gone before.

* Infinite diversity awaits players as they create a personalized character from one of nine popular Star Trek races.
* Customizable starships, drawn from every era of Star Trek, let players engage Warp Factor Nine and speed off to the farthest corners of the galaxy.
* A variety of mission types are available for players to choose from, including missions that can be completed alone, in groups, or as members of ultra-efficient bridge crews defending the Federation.
* Enemies both familiar and exotic must be dealt with as the Star Trek universe teeters on the brink of all-out war. Phasers, photon torpedoes, and many other weapons make up the impressive arsenal at the player's command.
* Hundreds of strange new worlds hold adventure and danger for the intrepid explorer. Players can beam down to the surface and investigate alien civilizations drawn from the rich Star Trek universe.
* Players have the opportunity to live long and prosper as they advance their characters through an ever-expanding universe.
Nope, nothin' there about "you are a starship." ;)
 
Tau Ceti, can you provide a link or quote to what you are referring to?

What MMOs have both spaceship and ground combat?
 
Virogen said:
Tau Ceti, can you provide a link or quote to what you are referring to?

What MMOs have both spaceship and ground combat?

Star Wars Galaxies does; but that said, I still have never care for the game as implemented.
 
StarQuest Online, which is still in open beta for about another week

Graphics aren't the greatest, but it's very immersive, has a good community and is a lot of fun

Hope it's OK to name it here??? If not please don't shoot me
 
Rick Sternbach said:
Aaron said:
Yeah I second that, I cant beleive Rick was not approached. Very odd.

I was contacted by Perpetual back in June 2005, had some very confusing and unclear conversations with them (email and horribly staticky voip-like phone calls) about possible involvement, and then absolutely nothing came of it. No big deal to me; I just think they're not terribly professional.

Rick
www.spacemodelsystems.com

I had a very similar experience with perpetual around the same time, though my contact didn't go further than a few e-mails. To be honest I was surprised they even bothered with an unknown like myself, I just assumed they were canvassing the various trek art sites & forums looking to pick up cheep labour. Wouldn't surprise me if they did the same with other fan artists like myself, Masao, Bernd, etc. I'm just surprised they did it to a pro Like Rick Sternbach.
As Rick said they were vague about what they were after and the whole thing felt a little unprofessional, so I'm sort of glad I didn't get commissioned - I'd hate to see what one of their a design briefs would look like, if their e-mails are any judge.
 
Cary L. Brown said:
I can't imagine any MMORPG having a STORYLINE or a PLOT... and as such, it really doesn't intrigue me all that much.

Actually, many MMO's have storylines and plots ranging from completely structured (Matrix Online) to completely freeform (Eve). And everything else in between.
 
Arrghman said:
Actually, many MMO's have storylines and plots ranging from completely structured (Matrix Online)...

Can you describe how the story structure in Matrix Online worked? I noticed in the commercials that it had cutscenes with the major characters, but couldn't wrap my mind around how that would work in an MMO. I'd like to hear how they did it, in the hope that STO might possibly do it in a similar fashion.
 
RookieBatman said:
Arrghman said:
Actually, many MMO's have storylines and plots ranging from completely structured (Matrix Online)...

Can you describe how the story structure in Matrix Online worked? I noticed in the commercials that it had cutscenes with the major characters, but couldn't wrap my mind around how that would work in an MMO. I'd like to hear how they did it, in the hope that STO might possibly do it in a similar fashion.

I didn't play the game myself, so someone else could probably answer it better, but they essentially had story events where people who worked for the gamedev logged in to the servers as the important characters including ones from the movies and some new ones created for the game. This actually caused the story to unfold slightly differently on each server because it was essentially carried out by live actors interacting with the players instead of prewriten NPC action.
 
to the OP, in a recent inerview they said they'd have practically every ship from the canon in some form or another appear in the game, with around 50 being playable- if their reference request section is anything to go by we'll be seeing ships that might have only had one episodic appearance, etc.

They had Mike Okuda, Andrew Probert and John Eaves working with them so far, which is a nice selection imho. John Eaves participated in a fansite podcast recently and he certainly sounded enthused about what PE were doing.

As for Tau Ceti's comment, well the exec producer Stinnett has clarified this time and again in the forums at sto.net, a recent interview stated that during combat you'll likely control your ship from an exterior point of view, but otherwise you'll still be beaming down to planets, exploring the large hero ships like the galaxy class, wandering around and interacting with other players on space stations and boarding enemy ships.

Seems some people here had strange encounters with them, but considering some of the veterans they have on board from trek and the game industry itself seems to me they can handle themselves. There're few things coming out of PE ive not liked the sound of but generally its still looking good, I think.
 
Well, I've had some interaction with Darren Stinnett in the past, and personally I LIKE the guy. Look at some of his past credits and you'll find some of the better "interplay-era" Trek stuff involved him. And I think Andy Probert is great. I'm not a huge fan of John Eaves, mainly because I see his design style as ... well... "style over substance." But even with my major technical issues with the 1701-E design, I think that it LOOKS great. And I definitely like the improvement to the "Okudagram" style which turns something that's "pretty but useless" into something that actually seems to WORK.

If I were the sort of guy who could make myself live in a virtual world (I'm NOT)... I'd have a lot more appreciation for this. But as far as MMORPGs go, I'm finding it... intriguing.
 
Rick Sternbach said:
Tau Ceti III said:
If only SQ Online could afford someone like Mr. Sternbach :(


Oh, for the work I would have done for them, they could have afforded me. I suspect that they'll ultimately end up paying for a lot of wheel reinventing, but we won't really know for a few years.

Rick
www.spacemodelsystems.com

I meant StarQuest Online Mr. Sternbach, not Star Trek Online, sorry about that :)
 
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