Interview with Star Trek Online's Design Director 35
eldavojohn writes "In a brief QJ article about STO, the Glen Dahlgren (Design Director of Star Trek Online) mentions a few details about STO:
What makes this interesting is that there have been a lot of indicators that STO will be aiming to achieve 'high-end content' and not just combat content. It's becoming obvious that MMO's new to the scene need to offer consumers more than just combat content. Will STO be able to coax both the Sims Online and World of Warcraft crowds?"Dahlgren insists that it's still too early to reveal the game's specifics and in-depth details, but tells that players will be able to choose whether to group in space or join a crewed ship. Gamers will also be able to fly more powerful ships and vessels and the captain will have some incredible abilities that players will surely look forward to. He also reveals that they are currently working on ensuring that new players will get the help they need when faced with unfamiliar terrain. There won't be auto-leveling of characters but they will provide tools to make off-line time valuable to the online experience.
PVP and other MMOs (Score:1)
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only on pvp servers. on others, the scope of pvp is greatly reduced. players basically have the ability to pick whether they want to have world pvp.
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The way that you describe it, STO will be an single-player game with other people. You'll be able to adventure and have fun, but only WITH friends. Not against them. While this appeals to, the market has shown that it alone will not attract most people. There needs to be head-to-head competition. Unless of course they never want to reach WoW's marketshare.
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At EQ's peak, with almost 50 servers, only 4 servers were PvP, and those 4 servers were consistanly in the bottom 5-8 servers for players online (prior to Sony eliminating the ability to see that distinction). Admittedly, EQ was designed to be Pv
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From the Gameplay FAQ [perpetual.com]:
Will there be player vs. player combat?
Yes. Although PvP is not the primary means of advancement, we are considering several different PvP opportunities. The holodeck will offer a large array of configurable dueling and arena scenarios, and though we're committed to providing PvP gameplay outside the holodeck, we are not yet ready to share specific plans.
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The PvP in Eve is about as far away from the holodeck you could possibly get. You have the chance to lose your ship, some/all of the modules install on the ship (the surviving ones will be dropped in a 'jetcan' next to your ship, so will probably be taken by the person who just killed you). Also if your clone isn't up-to-date you have a chance to lose skill points when/if your capsule (escape pod) gets blown up, which take real time to aquire.
The only thing you get if your killed, is the insurance for your
Attracting the WOW and SIMS crowd (Score:3, Insightful)
If you play a borg does one of the other borgs make all the gameplay decisions for you?
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Welcome to Slashdot, where The Collective won't let you live down a mistake, even in a joke.
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Klingon Faction (Score:5, Funny)
[ERROR - Connection err.. Timeout--]
Coax the Majhong/Solitaire crowd instead (Score:1, Flamebait)
Given that Star Trek is 40 years old, that there hasn't been a decent series on the air in 10 years, that the movies have sucked since ST6 (15 years ago?) and that a lot of young geeks are jerking off to Star Wars instead of Star Trek these days, I'd say the target audience for Star Trek in 2006 is pretty grey. So, why not try
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Fembots, bring me some Romulan ale. Kirk, get the FU** OFF MY PLANET and leave me in peace. Beer! Now. And some of them little cheesy horse duvers with the bar-b-que coctail weenies on top, that'd be real nice.
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Restil (Score:2)
Doubtful. (Score:1)
For one thing, there's a large number of WoW gamers that aren't traditional geeks, and wouldn't be interested in something as "nerdy" as a Star Trek MMO (I know, I know, but they insist that WoW isn't geeky), and a great percentage that are dorks, but are fantasy dorks.
Then there's people like me, who just think that the design decisions they've made sound boring.
flexiblity (Score:1)
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Saw this problem before (Score:5, Interesting)
FASA also had a Star Trek RPG that tied into the wargame, so I picked it up to see what it was like. We tried playing it a few times, using mostly FASA's own modules.
For those used to D&D style hack'n'slash, it was a real adjustment adapting to the Star Trek universe. Combat encounters were invariably quick and *lethal* - a phaser (or similar weapon) set to kill - well, it KILLS. Zap, dead, done. Getting into firefights with the bad guys was a sure road to terminal casulties.
The FASA module designers were cognisant of this, and their modules tried very hard to provide a myriad of non-combat resoulutions to problems and puzzles. But that placed demands on players to do a lot more thinking, follow the story with much more attention to detail, and role-play very intensely.
In the end, it was just too much of a commitment to be successful, and we reverted back to pure starship combat.
While well done and well thought out, it just didn't support casual gameplay very well. Anybody can join in on a dungeon crawl at a moment's notice and with little preparation. Attempting to solve a murder mystery wrapped in a diplomatic puzzle takes a whole lot more work.
I'm curious to see how the game designers intend to handle this problem - and I sure hope it isn't via "5 shots to kill a tribble".
DG
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Small teams so no need to work your way up from assistant transporter washer.
Lots of races as options.
Very open ended.
Would make a good WOW sci-fi competitor.
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Only federation means its a dead duck (Score:4, Insightful)
federation only.
They offer up excuses, but basically its so they can cash in with race-specific expansion packs.
I'd love to be a Jem hadar,Ferengi or a klinogn, but federation? yawnsville.
LucasArts have the right idea, their new lego game covers all 3 original movies in one game, plus its actuaklly fun.
I cant see trek online lasting long.
LEGO Star Wars Online!!! (Score:1)
Feature idea: On a crewed ship? Play a 'shift'. (Score:2, Interesting)
Will it attract only fans? (Score:1)
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Ensign down! (Score:3, Funny)
I always thought Star Trek would make a great MMO - why? When the ensign dies, he can respawn and nobody will question it, because nobody cares about poor little ensign Ricky.
... KHAAAAAAAN!
Oh the HORROR!!! (Score:3, Funny)
You have contracted Wesley Crusher.
You: Ah crap, evasive action!!!
[Computer]
Wesley has screwed up your ship. Please wait one episode for the problem to rectify itself.
You: Well, needed a bathroom break anyway.
Still too early? its been 2 years! (Score:3, Insightful)
Far too late (Score:2)
An old school pre-B&B game with a lot of exploration options, and some "cold war" level conflict would be excellent. A DS9 style game with lots of interaction in the alpha quadrant and conflict in the gamma quadrant woul
The Dahlgren's the Man (Score:1)
Okuda working on TOS "remastering" (Score:2)