Star Trek Online

Star Trek Online
Developer(s)	Cryptic Studios
Publisher(s)	Atari
Designer(s)	Craig Zinkievich
Series	Star Trek
Engine	Cryptic Engine
Platform(s)	Windows
Genre(s)	Sci-Fi MMORPG
Mode(s)	Persistent world Multiplayer

Star Trek Online, often abbreviated as STO, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) 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. Star Trek Online is the first massively multiplayer online role-playing game within the Star Trek franchise, and was released on February 2, 2010.

Development

Initially, 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.

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. A letter was sent out from Jack Emmert, the game's online producer, detailing some aspects of Cryptic's approach.

Cryptic has announced that they will release a Windows version of STO, and possibly a console version. During the Las Vegas conference in August 2008, 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 port releases. Console versions were announced several months before the release, with no specific console platform specified, but Cryptic have yet to release any further information.

Cryptic announced that Star Trek Online will release in North America on February 2, 2010, and in Europe on February 5, 2010. Customers who ordered the game in advance would be able to gain access to the game on January 29, 2010, before its official release date.

Conference in Las Vegas

On August 10, 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. The release date was not publicly revealed except that it would be less than three years.

Beta releases

Closed beta for Star Trek Online officially began when it was announced on October 22, 2009. Cryptic Studios offered guaranteed beta access to users who bought 6-month and lifetime subscriptions to Champions Online. However, the offer did not explicitly state how early in the beta process the access will be granted.

On November 19, 2009 Cryptic announced that Star Trek Online would exit Closed Beta and begin Open Beta from January 12 to 26, 2010.

At 10:00 Am PST January 29 2010, the scheduled Head Start Program for individuals with pre-orders began.

Gameplay and dynamics

According to the official website, each player will be captain of his or her own ship, serving either the United Federation of Planets or the Klingon Empire (after you reach level 6 as a Federation player). 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 will, at launch, be limited to the bridge and certain episodes (missions); however, it has been stated by Cryptic that they will introduce fully explorable starship interiors not too long after launch.

The first announcement of the game structure took place at the official Star Trek convention 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. 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'. Their ships will have a number of crewmen who will all be NPCs.

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. One confirmed Star Trek film reference was revealed when Zachary Quinto announced, at the 2009 Spike TV Video Game Awards, that he will be "the voice of Atari's new ‘STAR TREK ONLINE' game". Despite this, Leonard Nimoy is heard for all of the gameplay and exploration voiceover samples with the exception of the LCARS Computer dialog (played by Majel Roddenberry).

A system called the "Genesis System" will allow Cryptic Studios to algorithmically create and add new star systems to the game. Players will be able to explore these 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.

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 between weapons and shields, and finding various weaknesses.

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. 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.

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.

Uniforms can either be created in the character creation phase or via the tailor found on various Starbases. New styles can be used, or, depending on which version of the game you purchase, can have access to more classic uniforms seen on the various TV shows. For example: The Original Series uniforms were available if the Deluxe Digital Edition (DDE) was chosen and can be given to your main character as well as your Bridge Officers. The Mirror Universe TOS uniforms were part of a Champions Online Lifetime subscription plan. The Next Generation and DS9 uniforms were part of the Collectors Edition. The Wrath of Khan "Admirals" Uniform was available with purchase of various Trek DVD's.

Pre-order & launch specials

Cryptic Studios partnered with several retailers for distribution of preorder copies. Each retailer had a version with unique and exclusive content, such as a Borg Bridge Officer (Amazon), a classic Constitution Class starship (Gamestop), Chromodynamic Armor (Steam), 500 bonus skill points (WalMart) or a Tribble/Targ pet (Bestbuy). All versions of the game came with access to the Open Beta and Head Start launch date. These are on a limited basis, but may still be found after launch, depending on stock.

In addition, the code for a "Wrath of Khan" Admiral's uniform is included in the DVD release of "The Best of Star Trek: The Next Generation Volume 2" and the Blu-ray release of "Star Trek: The Original Series -- Season 3."

Also, Cryptic partnered with Del Tlaco to offer codes with collectible cups (Macho size drinks) that come with a Type 8 Shuttlecraft non-combat "pet", as well as two days of trial time per code that allow a total of 10 days of trial play time when a player uses all four available codes.

Reception

So far, reviews have been mixed or average, with magazines such as GameSpot and IGN giving low to average scores, with comments such as "The space combat is short-lived fun, but everything else about this online role-playing game is bland and shallow." and "It’s quite a gorgeous game, but that novelty evaporates, and what’s left is repetitive, and simple in all the wrong parts.". IGN had this to say about the game, "A Star Trek MMORPG had a lot of potential to be great, but in the end it feels rushed and most of it could have been done on a PS1." Robert Townslend of Game Informer said, "Another online multiplayer RPG taking place in the Star Trek universe? Hasn't this already been done a thousand times?"

Community

Before Star Trek Online was even released, there was an active community forming on the developer's official website forum. The development team, including the Lead Online Community Representative and the Executive Producer, also post regularly on Twitter.

On Feb 25th, less than a month after the game's initial release, Cryptic announced that they would be reducing the cost of Star Trek Online by $10 and including a extra sixty days of free game time [33]. This outraged many people who adopted the game early on and viewed this as a "fire sale."

Due to outrage over the recent price drop / extra free game time. Some individuals felt cheated and were very vocal about it.

See also

• Star Trek games

External links

• Star Trek Online at Memory Alpha
• StarTrekOnline.com
• The Star Trek Online Wiki