Post by Kindreth Kin on Nov 23, 2007 15:32:48 GMT -5
The good folks over at MPOGD.com just published an interview with Daron Stinnett at the Austin Games Development Conference from a couple of weeks ago. Our thanks goes to Simeet Gandhi for finding the interview.
Quote:
Fast forward to the Austin Game Developer's Conference, where I had the opportunity to sit down with Daron Stinnett, Executive Producer of Star Trek Online. Where was the project now? "We are in pre-production, so we have our tools and technology in place." said Daron, "We have our ground game-play prototyped, our space game-play prototyped, we have our art style set, we have the design of the world well understood and mapped out. We know where our players will be visiting and the races they'll meet along the way. In 2008 we are heading into production to produce the massive volume of assets needed to create this universe."
Check out the full article! www.mpogd.com/news/?ID=3053
Quote:
Star Trek Online will have classes similar to existing MMOGs, although they are called "professions". I asked if they will be tightly focused and defined, or if they'll have overlapping skills, allowing development of the quintessential "mage-tank". Stinson responded, "We are going to make pretty well-defined categories for the professions." They will fall into the main categories such as science, tactical, engineering, security, and then branch out from there into more classes, and more options for customization.
I suppose that was expected already, but its nice to have this design confirmed. It will be interesting to see how well it supports the game play, or restricts it. This would have a bearing on the next reply that many people may be happy to hear.
Quote:
My next query was about group size; will three be as effective as eight? "It's not something we’ve finalized yet, but we're probably looking at a typical group size of five," said Stinnett, going on to say "We'll also have raids, called 'Armadas' and guilds, which we call 'Fleets'."
So based on the Class design and the group sizes, will this cause problems for one or two players? Also, at the higher Levels will this pressure players to join with larger groups in order to play? Of course as far as Armadas and Fleets go, you wont have much choice I suppose.
This takes us to another interesting bit of news, the options for player vs player gameplay.
Quote:
Will there be PvP in Star Trek Online? "Yes, we'll have consensual PvP in the regular game world and in the Holodeck, which we'll use for PvP matches," confirmed Daron. "We will also have large scale, free-for-all PvP servers."
"There are different factions within the Federation, and PvP will also incorporate the concept of 'war games' as a pretext. We realized that players are going to want to battle it out regardless of the setting, and we have some very interesting fiction in development which will make PvP make sense on a broader scale."
Up till recently I think they were restricting PvP gameplay to the holodeck, but this quote seems to indicate they now plan to set up PvP servers that wont be as restrictive. Perhaps they'll comment further on this when they have a chance.
That being said, it appears there will be more than enough opportunities for combat in Star Trek Online!
Sounding like i might have to try this, pvp, pve, holodecks, space battles, ground battles, armadas, fleets, hummmmm so far i am likeing what i am hearing.
Quote:
Fast forward to the Austin Game Developer's Conference, where I had the opportunity to sit down with Daron Stinnett, Executive Producer of Star Trek Online. Where was the project now? "We are in pre-production, so we have our tools and technology in place." said Daron, "We have our ground game-play prototyped, our space game-play prototyped, we have our art style set, we have the design of the world well understood and mapped out. We know where our players will be visiting and the races they'll meet along the way. In 2008 we are heading into production to produce the massive volume of assets needed to create this universe."
Check out the full article! www.mpogd.com/news/?ID=3053
Quote:
Star Trek Online will have classes similar to existing MMOGs, although they are called "professions". I asked if they will be tightly focused and defined, or if they'll have overlapping skills, allowing development of the quintessential "mage-tank". Stinson responded, "We are going to make pretty well-defined categories for the professions." They will fall into the main categories such as science, tactical, engineering, security, and then branch out from there into more classes, and more options for customization.
I suppose that was expected already, but its nice to have this design confirmed. It will be interesting to see how well it supports the game play, or restricts it. This would have a bearing on the next reply that many people may be happy to hear.
Quote:
My next query was about group size; will three be as effective as eight? "It's not something we’ve finalized yet, but we're probably looking at a typical group size of five," said Stinnett, going on to say "We'll also have raids, called 'Armadas' and guilds, which we call 'Fleets'."
So based on the Class design and the group sizes, will this cause problems for one or two players? Also, at the higher Levels will this pressure players to join with larger groups in order to play? Of course as far as Armadas and Fleets go, you wont have much choice I suppose.
This takes us to another interesting bit of news, the options for player vs player gameplay.
Quote:
Will there be PvP in Star Trek Online? "Yes, we'll have consensual PvP in the regular game world and in the Holodeck, which we'll use for PvP matches," confirmed Daron. "We will also have large scale, free-for-all PvP servers."
"There are different factions within the Federation, and PvP will also incorporate the concept of 'war games' as a pretext. We realized that players are going to want to battle it out regardless of the setting, and we have some very interesting fiction in development which will make PvP make sense on a broader scale."
Up till recently I think they were restricting PvP gameplay to the holodeck, but this quote seems to indicate they now plan to set up PvP servers that wont be as restrictive. Perhaps they'll comment further on this when they have a chance.
That being said, it appears there will be more than enough opportunities for combat in Star Trek Online!
Sounding like i might have to try this, pvp, pve, holodecks, space battles, ground battles, armadas, fleets, hummmmm so far i am likeing what i am hearing.
