MMOHub's Cody Hargreaves gets some further information from Craig Zinkievich, Executive Producer for the game. This is part of our continued coverage of this popular space-themed MMO.
See links at the bottom for other exclusive STO articles. Also, 9 NEW Screenshots follow this article, check em out!
Cody: Craig, thanks for joining us. Could you tell us a little about your role as Executive Producer, and your effect on the development process of STO?
Craig: Sure! My role as the Executive Producer is to oversee the whole development process. I manage all the design, art, and production teams. Make sure we’re all working as one cohesive group and then make tough decisions about what we’re doing now and what’s on the list further down the road.
Cody: And were you always a Star Trek fan, or was this something you worked on purely in a game producer capacity?
Craig: I’ve always been a Star Trek fan. When we had the opportunity to get the license I immediately jumped and did a little dance. I think it would be impossible to work on this just purely as a game producer and not a fan as well.
Cody: Was the development focus for STO to provide current Star Trek fans with a familiar world they could immerse themselves in, or to offer players unfamiliar with the Star Trek universe a place they could enjoy without prior knowledge?
Craig: I think both. Our goal was to make a fun Star Trek game. Fun games tend to draw gamers, regardless of the source material, and doing our best to remain faithful to the Star Trek IP draws in fans of the universe. So by making it fun and making it Star Trek, we felt we could hit both groups.
Cody: What were some of the challenges creating a game based on a universe so rich in lore and history?
Craig: What was difficult was deciding what elements of Star Trek we wanted to put in the game. Many of the TV shows, movies and books are very different. Yes they are all Star Trek, but they all have different flavors. The Next Generation is much more dialogue-driven than the later seasons of DS9, the original series focused a lot on what it meant to be human, and Voyager was all about exploration and facing new threats. Instead we focused on creating our own flavor that was still Star Trek but didn’t just copy what was already there.
Cody: Many players have said that the launch for STO felt a little rough around the edges; what were some of the things that went wrong, and right, on launch-day, and what were the core changes made in the following weeks?
Craig: Launch compared to a lot of MMO’s was actually pretty smooth. We did have a few unexpected downtimes, but we quickly addressed those. It was probably the load that was put on the servers that made for some rubberbanding or players having trouble logging on, but we took immediate steps to improve our server performance and capacity by improving both our hardware and our software.
Cody: Could you tell us a little about the current state of the game? Have the issues reported by players from the launch been resolved?
Craig: Yes! The game is running pretty smooth right now. Any bugs or lag issues players reported we quickly addressed those. We’ve actually been able to let our NetOps employees out of their cages.
Cody: From the feedback received from players currently playing, what features are you focusing on improving most at the moment?
Craig: Right now it’s just focused on making sure current gameplay is working how it should, developing new content, and then implementing our endgame episodes that we’ll be releasing soon.
Cody: And what about you? What new feature/addition are you looking forward to seeing added to STO most?
Craig: I want it all in. As a developer you want to put so much into the game and especially something like Star Trek where there is so much history and lore. It can be difficult deciding what is going to go in now versus at a later time. Anything we can do to make the game even more dynamic and give it more things that make it feel like Star Trek is something that we want to do.
Cody: What other features can STO players look forward to seeing implemented in the coming months?
Craig: A lot! We’re adding all types of goodies. Much too long of a list that I could write in this answer so I’ll point your readers to a link that list out everything we’re working on short and long term.
http://www.startrekonline.com/upcoming_content
Cody: And finally, what would you say to our readers still wondering whether or not STO Is the right MMO for them?
Craig: Give it a shot, come check it out and see what it feels like to command your own starship!
Thanks for your time Craig!
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