Star Trek Online

[Chrystabel]

I did the lifetime membership for LOTR, because I really only have to play for under two years to have it pay for itself.  It also allows me to take long breaks when I need it without worrying about canceling. 

Darkmolerman, you could always tell your family that you want gift subscription cards for STO when it comes out.  The other option is to have them get you the gift credit cards that could be used for your online purchase if you really want to play.

Frankly, I want to be a voice actor for STO!  I need to start researching how I would audition for that.

[Jen]

Frankly, I want to be a voice actor for STO!  I need to start researching how I would audition for that.

Ooh...If you find out how, let me know too. Angela and I'd love to try out for that.

[Darkmolerman]

lol that would rock!

[Jen]

News:
AGDC 07: Star Trek Online Interview with Daron Stinnett
by Dana Massey

The lure of a good recruiting event - AGDC - brought Daron Stinnett, the Executive Producer of Star Trek Online, out of hiding long enough for us to pin him down and get a progress report on Perpetual Entertainment's eagerly anticipated MMO.

Despite the fact that Perpetual announced STO before their upcoming debut title Gods and Heroes, the game has been shrouded in mystery for quite some time. With a license as popular as Star Trek, Stinnett told us that he does not want to deliver false promises or burn people out with too much information too early.

"We'll start talking about it when we're ready to show it," said Stinnett simply. That said, they cannot disappear entirely and with that in mind, he took some time to bring us up to date on the game's development.

For the first six months of 2007, the team has focused primarily on space gameplay. Then, this summer, they transitioned over to ground. The plan is to split this calendar year and as they hit the home stretch, Stinnett told us that both halves of the game are functional.

While technically, they're not in full scale development, they are getting closer. Last time we spoke, the team's goal was to create functional areas that act as prototypes for both land and space. Now, the team's goal is to create many small areas that prototype the look and feel of each environment.

Once they polish off the second half of their plan, the real trick for the development team is to make sure both halves of the game work and play as one. While both have obvious differences and a unique feel, he does not want it to feel like two entirely different games.

The ground gameplay experience should be relatively familiar to fans of the MMO genre, at least in terms of base mechanics. They're not going to reinvent the wheel and that means ability-driven combat.

Once off the planets, things spice up a bit.

"[Star Trek Online has a] unique and interesting combat model for space that people have not experienced before," he told us. The Star Trek intellectual property treats space differently than the majority of other science-fiction properties. Ships are usually larger and more deliberate - unlike Star Wars, for example. In many properties, space combat owes its inspiration to fighter jets, while Star Trek's lineage has more in common with large naval battles. This difference is part of their vision for a slower, more tactical experience in space combat.

At launch, STO will have 25 sectors (space zones) for players to explore. Each one has its own themes and storyline. Like the series, the game doesn't want to send people mindlessly into firefights. Instead, there are larger issues to explore, usually related to real-world issues. One example of this is a sector that focuses in on the environment.

Like Tabula Rasa, this kind of real-world issue exploration runs the risk of being preachy, but Stinnett does not believe that will be a problem. Each theme acts as a jumping off point for their designers, some common theme to link things together. They have no urge to grind axes and will make sure that kind of thing is not in the final product.

After a few false starts where they released information way too early, Stinnett has become a cagey veteran at not saying too much. One example of this is the list of playable races. They had previously released a list and revised it a few times, now he has no comment on who to expect, save that they'll unveil each one as it gets created, 3D model and all.

As Star Trek has recently been a dormant license for owner CBS, the timing of STO has enabled them to have a bit of fun and expand on cannon. Stinnett gave us the example of the Tribble. In the original series, Tribbles were cute balls of fur that reproduced rapidly. The result was James T. Kirk neck-deep in fur.

At Perpetual, they had an idea for a twist on it: the Killer Tribble. As the name implies, it's a mean, evil version of the cute balls of yore. Well, CBS likely wouldn't let them do it just for kicks, but in this case they had a plan. Star Trek lore also has the concept of a mirror universe where good is bad and so on. It seems a few Tribbles from the other side might have made it into this dimension.

Once Perpetual launches Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising and Star Trek looks to be roughly a year from launch, fans of the game can expect to hear a lot more from Stinnett and friends. Until then, back to development they go.

[billybob476]

I just really looked into ST:Online today. If this works out, it is the game that will cause me to leave WoW.

[Jobydrone]

I heard some rumors that the company that is developing this game is having serious financial problems and is looking for someone to take over the development for STO.  Gods and Heroes, the game mentioned a couple of times in Jen's article above has been cancelled completely, and STO is in jeopardy.  This is not good news.

[Jen]

I heard some rumors that the company that is developing this game is having serious financial problems and is looking for someone to take over the development for STO.  Gods and Heroes, the game mentioned a couple of times in Jen's article above has been cancelled completely, and STO is in jeopardy.  This is not good news.

Here's one article on a Blog I read...They included Perpetual's announcement. I think it was a smart move to put Gods and Heroes on hold, cancel it or what ever they did. From an investor's standpoint, I would tend to believe that STO would earn me the most money and would insist that they put all their effort into making it the best game and launch sometime this century.  I hope that's all that's going on here.
------
Article found at
http://dungeonrun.com/2007/10/

October 9th, 2007
Gods & Heroes Canceled

Earlier today we heard Perpetual Entertainment was being liquidated and aquired by a major indy game developer, only to later learn new investors were coming on board instead. As of about 8PM CST Chris McKibbin, Co-Founder of Perpetual released a statement and updated the official Gods & Heroes website with the following announcement.

Loyal and faithful community members and Beta testers, thank you for your support, help, and understanding during the Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising development process.

The development team established some very lofty and ambitious goals when the initial work was started on Gods & Heroes. Recently, we took a step back to evaluate the competitive landscape, the game's current state, and the overall goals for our organization. And while we are truly proud of and pleased with what we have created in Gods & Heroes, we also realize that achieving the level of quality and polish that we are committed to will take a significant investment.

The Perpetual team is faced with a unique challenge of simultaneously developing both Gods & Heroes and Star Trek Online in addition to growing our Online Game Platform business. After assessing all of Perpetual's opportunities, we have made the decision to put the development of Gods & Heroes on indefinite hold.

I want to express my overwhelming gratitude to the community, engineers, designers, artists, animators, and the game services team for the support and effort that has gone into Gods & Heroes.

Moving forward, we're shifting our collective focus, resources and development efforts to Perpetual's Platform Services division and Star Trek Online, thereby ensuring that the game lives up to the high level of expectation set by the dedicated Star Trek fan base.

Again, I would personally like to thank all of the Gods & Heroes supporters who have been with us from the beginning. Hopefully, your continued support will be as valuable to our future endeavors as it was with Gods & Heroes..

    Vade in pace,
    Chris McKibbin

In non-PR speak "indefinite hold" means CANCELLED, and never to see the light of day again. Frankly after seeing and playing the latest build of Gods & Heroes I can't fault them or their investors for writing the game off, at worst they'll have a nice tax deduction.

What does this mean for Perpetual Entertainment and Star Trek Online? Well the company will continue to exist with its current executive management and they'll continue developing the Star Trek Online IP. What remains to be seen is whether the Star Trek Curse will rear its head and claim yet another game title or if they'll pull off a miracle and be the 2nd Star Trek game title that didn't suck.

If they weren't already under enough pressure before to do STO justice with a very skeptical gaming community, the cancellation of their debut MMO and company reshuffling only casts even more doubt on their ability to pull Star Trek Online off as a company.

[KingIsaacLinksr]

Wow, thats not good.  This will make STO much more unstable *in being released*.  NOOOOOOOOOO I WANT MY STAR TREK!!!!

King Linksr

[Jen]

I don't know...they ditched the Gods and Heroes game to devote more developers and time to STO. Might mean it's going to be better. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a "glass is half full" gal.

[KingIsaacLinksr]

lol.  I'm not giving up on the game, but usually its a bad thing if they drop a game in development.  I'll just keep hoping.

King Linksr

[Jen]

Yeah, but this was their reasoning...whether it's fact or not I'm not sure:

Moving forward, we're shifting our collective focus, resources and development efforts to Perpetual's Platform Services division and Star Trek Online, thereby ensuring that the game lives up to the high level of expectation set by the dedicated Star Trek fan base.

[PepperDude]

Wow they dropped the game in beta.

Supposedly investors came onboard to rescue Perpetual so they probably believe that STO can make them some money. They also probably pushed the developers to drop Gods and Heroes and focus solely on STO. I hope the game ships and turns out to be great. . .

[KingIsaacLinksr]

As I read more and more about Star Trek Online, I get more and more excited.  This game, if they do it right, will be soooo awsome.  I honestly think that it will compete with World of Warcraft as hard as that is to believe for some.  Wow is fun, but I think it lacks the community feel that ST Online will bring.  Again, this is all on the fact of whether or not they pull this off right.  It will be difficult, but I think they can do it.  Lets see some action here!!!  Woot!

King Linksr

[Jen]

 :D agreed.

[Jen]

The internet is a buz with this rumor and I'm not sure if it's true or not. I don't know what "more casual" means. For me, a non-MMO gammer, it may be a good thing. Maybe it's asier to keep up with...I don't know. Here's one of many articles out there:

Update: Star Trek Online to Become "More Casual," Developer Perpetual Acquired by New Ownership
by Chris Remo Nov 26, 2007 6:03pm CST

Update: Shacknews has received a considerable amount of new information regarding today's Perpetual news from a source close to the company, who requested to remain anonymous. Some information was gleaned from a letter detailing various changes to the company and Star Trek Online, which was recently distributed to all Perpetual employees.

Perpetual has been acquired by new ownership, reportedly a media company looking to use Star Trek Online to make its first major inroads into the video game market. Along with the acquisition comes a partial retargeting of Star Trek Online to what our source describes as a "more casual" experience, one which may potentially eschew subscription fees in favor of the practice of charging real money for optional in-game items, a practice popularized by various Korean MMOs.