We (VG-News, Gaming.hr) had a chance to chat with Star Trek Online producent Andy Velasquez about upcoming SF MMO title Star Trek Online that is shaping up to be certainly something special in today´s MMO world.

We also have a three exclusive sreens and picture of Velasquez him self so click the link and read all about it.

VG-News Interview – Star Trek Online – Producer – Andy Velasquez

Can you tell us where did the idea for the game came from and was it just because Star Trek has a large fan support in Star Trek movies.

The Star Trek universe is one of the premiere science fiction franchises of all time and has incredibly rich and unique worlds and cultures that offer us, as game developers, a wonderful setting to create a dynamic and interesting gameplay experience. The STO team at Cryptic Studios is full of Star Trek fans as well so you could also argue that making this game is a bit selfish as we are all excited to play around in this great IP too.

What is the story for the game and is it opened ended or story based gameplay?

One of the fun parts about MMO’s is that you can deliver many different gameplay types within a single game. STO is no exception as you can do both types of gameplay that you mentioned: story based and open ended.

Star Trek Online delivers a lot content chunks that we call “Episodes”. The player will be directed through different locations and situations and will follow interesting story lines that can be stand alone episodes or part of a larger story arc.

Players will also get to experience content as they want to through exploration and Player vs. Player content. At almost any time in the game the player can choose to just “explore”, visit a star cluster and get to see something new and exciting. Similarly if they don’t want to follow the main story of the game through the episodes they can progress by doing PvP.

People have been waiting for Star Trek Online for a very long time. Can you tell us when does it take place in the Star Trek Universe?

STO takes place in the year 2409 in the Prime Timeline, chronologically this is 30 years after Star Trek Nemesis. The STO Era is significantly less friendly than the movies and TV shows have left fans of the series. Romulus has been destroyed by the Hobus super nova and the Romulan Star Empire is scattered but still powerful. The Borg have returned and once again set their optics on the Alpha Quadrant species. Most importantly though the Khitomer Accord has broken down between the Federation and Klingon Empire and the two factions are on the fast track for all out war.

Which playable races will we see in the game and can we choose more races from the Star Trek Universe?
For example, when players start off, what race can they play as?

These are interesting questions to answer because there is no finite answer that I can give you. One of Star Trek Online’s most exciting features is the “Create your Own species” character creation and customization tool set that players will be able to enjoy. Start with a human head, add some antennae, color yourself green, scale your neck up and shrink your head, slide your eyes into an oval and then throw on some forehead ridges and you have something unique to you. Take that one step further and create a backstory for your newly made species and name them, then trade them with your friends and fleet mates and you can add to the Star Trek Universe.

On the Federation side players will of course also be able to pick between a good range of species that they know and love from the TV shows: Humans, Trill, Vulcan, Klingon, Bolian and more. For the Klingon Faction players will get to pick races such as Klingon, Gorn and the Orion. Once you consider all the IP races and the “create your own” species there is no list that can hold every race possible in STO.

What is the mix between planet, ship, and station missions, and will players have to be a certain level before they can board a ship?

Players will be able to captain a ship from the start of the game. Starships are so iconic to the Star Trek universe that we wanted players to experience the joy of cruising around in their ships from the beginning of the game.

Content in STO is a pretty even mix between Captain and Starship gameplay although it is skewed slightly towards the starship experience. In the shows, the crews are never really in any one place for that long and in STO we wanted to get the same feeling of variety across to the users. Players will constantly be exploring a system then need to beam into a station to get some data then follow a scientist down to the planet surface and then return to space for a climactic space battle, just like in their favourite episodes.

What weapons and ships will players be able to select from and how will players go about upgrading their weapons? Can they make their own weapons?

Ships in STO are divided into configurations that describe both the aesthetic of the player’s ship as well as a rough guide to their gameplay potential. Each configuration is based on a ship from the IP so players will be able to fly in all their favourites from the show: Galaxy class, Constitution class and the Intrepid class to name a few. As developers we are also excited to be able to flex our creativity and create some all new variants of these well known ship classes in addition to our own Federation ship designs.

Players will be able to upgrade their equipment, weapons included, by defeating enemies, completing episodes as well as through exploration and harvesting. Weapons are just one part of what makes your character in STO; new deflector dishes, shield arrays, personal armor and devices are all types of gear that players will be looking for.

While there won’t be a “gun-smithing” profession for players to make their own weapons one of the biggest pieces of loot that users will be able to customize is their Bridge Officers. Beyond cosmetic changes you can train them in different abilities and choose to make them explosive specialists, genius fabrications engineers or even martial arts and close quarters experts where their hands are their most potent weapons.

How are commerce and combat set up in the game? And how will players gain experience and level?

One of the things that Cryptic Studios is known for is delivering incredible amounts of customization options to users and with Star Trek Online we wanted to allow players choice in their gameplay experience on a nightly basis. To that end there are a few ways that players can choose to progress to the rank of Admiral.

One of the ways Players can progress is by completing episodes and following the main story arcs for each major area in the game. These episodes will have players engaged in a wide array of tasks such as escorting ambassadors across the galaxy, saving friendly vessels that are in distress to providing much needed medical supplies to a growing colony. In 2409 there is open conflict between the Federation and the Klingon Empire and as such players will also be able to fully progress their character via PvP as well. If you would rather “boldly go where no man has gone before” you can progress by visiting unmapped star clusters and getting brand new exploration content. All of these gameplay types are valid avenues for a player to advance their character.

Can you tell us something about ships and crew? How big do these ships get and can you pick your own crew and setup ship as you want?

Players will absolutely be able to pick their own crew and setup their bridge crew as befits their rank as captain. Higher level ships will offer more and varied configurations of bridge stations and players will need to decide which bridge officers to take with them on any given encounter. So if a captain knows they are going into hostile territory and they are expecting a fight they can choose to bring a bunch of tactical officers to resolve the situation with force. On the next episode the same captain could be teamed with their friend who is flying an escort type ship and she could decide to bring out a mix of science and engineering bridge officers to offer a lot of support. As a player, you will quickly get more bridge officers than can be active on your bridge at any one time so picking your crew and setting up your bridge are very important decisions every player will have to make.

Since starships are comprised of a variety of different characters, ranks, and positions, how do you plan for the player to be engaged with other facets of their ship when you limit their position to only being the Captain?

In STO limiting direct control to the captain doesn’t mean that players will be unable to interact with many aspects of their ship. In fact being a captain allows players to experience more facets of their ship than if you were restricted to a single role. For example, need to get somewhere quickly? Order power to be diverted from your weapons to your engines and see how much faster you go. If a Klingon Bird of Prey de-cloaks behind you? Transfer your shield strength to your aft shield to mitigate as much damage as possible.

Bridge Officers also play an incredibly important part of the player’s identity in space and on ground. So much so that I’ve found that I don’t ever feel that I am “limited to being only a captain”. It’s more like I am a collection of different specialists and I get to interact with as many or as few systems on my ship as I want to. If I need a quick boost to my shields I can ask Slan (that’s my engineering officer) and he can give me that quick La Forge like charge that I needed.

Certainly, we going to se some combat in the game. Is there more than one combat type and what goes on when your not in combat at all?

The two main combat gameplay types are obviously Ground and Space and the two offer very different systems for players to explore. Space is a paced and tactical experience where ground is quicker and has players reacting and capitalizing on openings.

When I’m not in combat my personal favourite thing to do is to cruise over to Earth Space Dock. I often visit the tailor to see if I want to update my uniform or even take a trip down to the lounge to meet up with my friend who likes to stare at earth from orbit in her down time. One of the dev team’s artists can also always be found poking around the promenade on DS9 just taking in the sights. That’s actually one of the greatest things about working with such a fantastic IP. There are so many places and environments that we can call upon as developers and create these locations that people will want to go and hang out in when they are not necessarily trying to engage in combat.

What other systems can we expect in game? Will there be an economic sistem, trading, spying and things like that?

There will be many other systems available as you would expect out of any fully featured MMO. Trading goods between players, offering your training services to other player’s officers for free or for a price, harvesting and diplomacy are all things that players will be able to do in Star Trek Online.

And last one, will we see Star Trek Online on consoles and can you tell us something about episodic content after the game is released.

For launch STO will be PC only but throughout the entire development process we have been developing with consoles in mind, as a matter of fact I used to play regularly with a controller. There are still some steps that need to be taken before STO is seen on consoles so keep your ears open for more news on this issue.

The Star Trek universe is so rich and grand in scope that no one game could hope to capture EVERYTHING that any fan could want; which is very exciting for the dev team as we have been kicking around expansion ideas since almost the first day we started work on the project. Do we want to explore the Romulan Star Empire more in depth or do we send players deeper beyond the edges of the alpha quadrant? The universe is our sandbox and we are excited to start building new experiences post STO launch.