Star Trek Online

This article contains information about an unreleased video game, and may change substantially as more information becomes available. Please do not add speculation to this article, and remember to cite a published source when adding information.

Star Trek Online
Developer(s)	Cryptic Studios
Publisher(s)	Atari
Engine	Cryptic engine[1]
Platform(s)	Windows
Release date(s)	TBA
Genre(s)	MMORPG
Mode(s)	Persistent world

Star Trek Online, commonly referred to as STO, is the title of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) being developed by Cryptic Studios based on the popular Star Trek series created by Gene Roddenberry. The game is set in the 25th century, 30 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis.^[2] After its completion, Star Trek Online will become the first massively multiplayer online role-playing game within the Star Trek franchise.

Previously, Perpetual Entertainment developed the game from 2004 to 2008 until its bankruptcy in January 2008. The license to develop the game and art assets were transferred to Cryptic Studios; however, the code remained with Perpetual Entertainment and its Perpetual Game Engine.

Atari, Cryptic Studio's parent company, noted in its annual earnings report an expected release date of the game by March 31, 2010, the end of Atari's current fiscal year.^[3]

Contents 1 Current development 1.1 Conference in Las Vegas 1.2 Platforms 2 Gameplay and dynamics 3 Community 4 Previous development 5 References 5.1 Footnotes 5.2 Notations 6 See also 7 External links

Current development

Cryptic Studios officially announced its development of Star Trek Online on July 28, 2008, as a countdown timer on Cryptic's web site reached zero and the new official site was launched. ^[4] A letter was sent out from Jack Emmert, the game's online producer, detailing some aspects of Cryptic's approach.^[5]

Previously, on January 15, 2008, Warcry Network reported that Perpetual Entertainment, the game's earlier developer, had ceased work on the title. The license and other assets were transferred to another San Francisco Bay Area development studio.^[6] The new developer was unnamed at first, but several clues pointed toward Cryptic Studios, original developers of the superhero MMORPG City of Heroes.

Conference in Las Vegas

On August 10th, 2008, a conference was held in the Hilton hotel in Las Vegas. Leonard Nimoy and the leader of Cryptic studios revealed the first gameplay trailer, featuring various Federation and Klingon starships in combat with each other and Borg vessels, as well as footage of a Klingon squad boarding a Federation ship's bridge.^[7] The release date was not publicly revealed except that it would be less than three years.

Platforms

Cryptic has announced that they will release a Windows version of STO, and a possible console version also. During the August 10 Las Vegas conference, Cryptic announced that there would be neither Linux nor Mac versions for the original launch, though they did not rule out the possibility of later releases.^[8]

Gameplay and dynamics

According to the official website,^[1] each player will be captain of his or her own ship, with explicit mention of a "Federation Captain" and a "Klingon Warrior" as possibilities. It also stated that players will be able to beam down onto the surfaces of different planets "for face-to-face confrontations". Exploration of the inside of starships is also implied.

The first announcement of the game structure took place at a media event in Las Vegas in August 2008. It was announced that players could play as a Starfleet or Klingon officer, or can create entirely new races. Adventures will be possible in space, on planets, or aboard ships.^{[9][10][11][12]} Every player will be captain of their own individual ship; in keeping with naval tradition, anyone who commands a ship, regardless of his or her 'actual' rank, is considered a 'captain'.^[13] Their ships will have a number of crewmen who will all be NPCs.^[14]

According to an interview by Gamespot with Cryptic Studios' executive producer Craig Zinkievich, there will be references to several famous storylines, ships, and characters from various Star Trek shows. Players will be able to explore uncharted star systems, and might find content which opens up new resources and technologies. Players may find races with various special abilities who can be recruited to the players' crew.^[15]

The game will feature two very different combat systems. Away-team missions will feature fast paced "run and gun" combat. Space combat will stress the long-term tactical aspect of combat between capital ships, in concert with the Star Trek storyline, and will entail positioning, shifting power from weapons to shields, and finding various weaknesses.^[15]

There might be a Galactic Economy, which would be based on trade, and might fluctuate like a stock market. It will be possible for players to pool resources to form fleets or guilds. Fleets will be able to build space stations, mining platforms, satellites, shipyards, and more. Quests will be issued from Central Command, and players can join together on the ground. Gameplay will be fully co-operative, and dynamic events will be one part of the game. A "system of infinite exploration" will enable players to find and explore random, uncharted planets.^[16]

There will be a variety of ship classes which can be used by all players. Playable ship classes will not be restricted based on a player's specialty.^[17]

Community

Even though Star Trek Online has not yet been released, there is already an active community forming on the developer's official website. The development team, including the Lead Online Community Representative and the Executive Producer, also post regularly on Twitter.^{[18] [19]}

Previous development

Until January 2008, Perpetual Entertainment was the developer for Star Trek Online. The studio first acknowledged working on Star Trek Online on September 7, 2004, when Perpetual and Viacom issued a press release.^[20] Information from Perpetual was scant, although a few in-engine screenshots were released and Perpetual interacted with potential customers via fan-created message boards.

In late 2007, several rounds of negative news hit in quick succession. In October, Perpetual placed development of its other MMORPG, Gods and Heroes, on hold, despite already being in beta test, to focus resources on Star Trek Online, which was believed to have more revenue potential. Soon after, it was announced that Star Trek Online would have a more "casual" approach, and was considering alternative payment strategies, such as allowing players to spend money on in-game items, instead of paying subscription fees.

In December, Perpetual released Star Trek Online's first two in-game screenshots, one of the space/shipboard environment and one of a planetary combat encounter. In an interview with WarCry Network released with the second screenshot, executive producer Daron Stinnett said that Perpetual had decided to "keep the stylized avatars in a stylized world." Their aim was to "take the look of Star Trek in a new direction whilst staying true to its core values." Stinnett, responding to previous allegations about the team and project shakeup, confirmed that while they were indeed exploring alternate payment methods, no decision had been made in that regard, and nobody had left the team as had been reported.^[21]

On January 14, 2008, Perpetual announced that it was no longer developing Star Trek Online. The license for the game and all of its assets except for the code were transferred to another developer, now known to be Cryptic Studios.^[22][23]

References

Footnotes

Notations

See also

• Star Trek games

External links

• StarTrekOnline.com
• Star Trek Online at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)

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