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Elite's expansions to include planetary landing, ship interiors
Frontier's latest newsletter for Elite: Dangerous talks post-launch plans for the sci-fi space sim sandbox. Launch is currently scheduled for sometime in Q4 of 2014, after which Frontier will continue to expand the game. "Major new features will include planetary landings and even walking around inside ships, stations, and planet surfaces," the firm says. Elite users with a lifetime expansion pass will get "all such significant expansions" at no extra charge. The LEP is currently packaged with the game's premium beta access or available separately via the Frontier store. [Thanks Peteris!]
Cryptic discusses user-generated content and future improvements for STO
As Star Trek Online concludes its shakedown cruise of the recent Season 2.0 update, players have turned their eyes to the future and pondered, "What's next?" Coming to their aid is STO's executive producer Dan Stahl, who fields a large number of questions about upcoming features and works in progress in the latest Ask Cryptic article. One of the inquiries covered was user-generated content, which Stahl confirmed would be coming -- at least in beta form -- with Season 3. "We aren't discussing our specific plans just yet, but we do want the tools to be easy to use so that players can begin to create their own missions and episodes," he said. "This may or may not be the big secret project we are working on." Other questions into the future development of Star Trek Online included customizable ship interiors, the PvP system, bridge officer promotions, expanding the Sol System, the ability to play as a holographic character, and bridge officer voices. And for those standing at the edge of their captain's chairs, eager to sit down, don't fret: Cryptic is hard at work on the long-awaited "sit in chairs" feature. You can read the full Ask Cryptic over at STO's website.
Make love not war: STO's Craig Zinkievich shows off the Federation Diplomatic Corps
As everyone knows in the television business, the second season of a show is usually tons better than the first (unless it's Heroes, for some reason). Considering how well Star Trek Online's Season One update was received across the community, the STO team has a lot of work to do to meet and exceed that standard with the upcoming Season Two. Cryptic plans to roll out one of these bigger updates every three months, which puts Season Two smack in the middle of July. ZAM caught executive producer Craig Zinkievich on the way to his ready room for a chat about Season Two. The big discussion revolves around the launch of the Federation Diplomatic Corps, an effort to provide an additional emphasis on exploration, diplomacy and anthropology that STO's combat-centric gameplay has so far been lacking. Apparently, players will have to rise through the diplomatic ranks almost like a separate leveling system as they engage in first contacts and the like. We'll just have to wait and see if they introduce a "lengthy patronizing Picard-style speech" as one of the skills. Zinkievich also pontificated on ship interiors and the new Dabo minigame, both of which are much-requested features to help Star Trek Online feel more, well, Trekky. You can get your captain on by reading the full interview over at ZAM.
New Star Trek Online patch structure looks forward
While you can fault the team behind Star Trek Online for some things, failure to plan is certainly not one of them. The development team has been very public about their plans for testing and release, which made a few people rather curious when Season 1.2 launched in early June rather than late May. What would that mean for Season 1.3 and the following Season 2 patch? The most recent Engineering Report on the official forums tackles precisely that, explaining that the team has adjusted their schedule slightly and will roll 1.3 straight into the Season 2 patch. That leaves us with an enormous list of features for Season 2, which is aimed at July. Ship interiors and a raise in level cap to 51 are the two most obvious changes, with the former offering a choice from several layouts and the latter promoting a player to the rank of Vice Admiral or Lieutenant General. There's also the addition of minigames, weekly episodes, officer trading, new episodes for the high-level band, a new fleet action, and a general surfeit of improvements to the game. Star Trek Online players are encouraged to check out the official thread and offer any feedback to the proposed changes.
Star Trek Online warps to the next frontier in the latest State of the Game
Like dogged engineers in Jefferies tubes, Cryptic's crew have been working feverishly to tune up Star Trek Online to optimal performance. They haven't been quiet about communicating their accomplishments and intentions, either. As part of their ongoing efforts to keep players in the loop regarding STO improvements, a new State of the Game announcement was released yesterday to look at the past, present and future of the title. After listing their accomplishments so far, Executive Producer Craig Zinkievich runs down a bullet point list of imminent additions to the game. Season 2 is almost here, and with it new minigames (such as Dabo), the Federation Diplomatic Corps (non-combat missions), weekly episodes, a level cap increase to Vice Admiral 1 and ship interiors. Many other features that are "coming soon" include the Accolade feature and the Squad system -- the latter giving players of different levels the ability to temporarily adjust levels to facilitate grouping. Perhaps the most intriguing part of this already-packed State of the Game is a look at the not-so-distant future of STO, as Zinkievich teases a new faction (although no decisions have been made) and "user-generated content" of an unspecified nature. Read the full report and let Starfleet know how they're doing!
Ship interiors planned in the near future for Star Trek Online
It's been an interesting process to watch the growth of Star Trek Online over the past few months, with Cryptic clearly making a concerted effort to pack a great deal more content into the game as fast as possible. They've stated prior that they would like to go no more than three months between major content updates, with smaller updates happening on a monthly basis. In the most recent Engineering Report on the official site, we get more details about what's being planned and worked on for the near future -- and the many players eagerly awaiting ship interiors don't have to wait that much longer. The report outlines the rough plan for the next three months, for the Season 1.2 patch, the followup 1.3 patch, and the Season 2 update planned in July. 1.2 is aiming at adding a "sidekick" system a la City of Heroes, new playable races, and social improvements. 1.3, targeted for June, is adding Dabo, the option to trade bridge officers, and weekly episodes. And as could be expected, Season 2 is packed to the gills with new features -- including Klingon episodes, "neutral" episodes for all factions, and ship interiors. Take a look at the full report for more looks at what's on the table and being tested for Star Trek Online.
Star Trek Online and the breadth of content
If you're a fan of the franchise, there are things that you likely want to be in Star Trek Online that aren't there yet. Ship interiors, missions taking place on board the ship, improved ground combat, diplomatic missions... it's not a difficult list to fill out. Executive producer Craig Zinkievich conducted a recent interview in which he was taken to task on several of these points, which he responded to in a fairly straightforward fashion. The short answer is that it's not a lack of want from the team, just a matter of time and resources to be invested. For example, as he points out, ship interiors (a much called-for feature) can post a slight problem due to the nature of the ships. Galaxy-class starships are the size of a small city, so they want to incorporate the feature in a way that makes it a meaningful use of a player's time. The interview covers a range of topics from exploration and diplomacy to shoring up the weaker points of combat (mostly ground combat, as players would expect). Take a look for a few more ideas about the future direction of Star Trek Online, up to and beyond the upcoming "Common Ground" content patch.
Star Trek Online locks phasers on Season One: Common Ground
On March 18, it's do or die for the Federation, as Cryptic's first major content patch -- Season One: Common Ground -- promises to hit Star Trek Online's live servers. Love 'em or hate 'em, the STO dev team looks to live up to their word on "walking the talk" by pumping out more content that players crave. We didn't think there could be any news more exciting than a brand-new faction coming to STO, but Season One might just top it with a heap of new goodies. In addition, Cryptic's Craig Zinkievich released a new State of the Game report to address player concerns and the course STO is heading for over the next few months. There's even a new video entitled "Expanding Universe, Part I" that gives players a sneak peek into this brave new patch. Engage thrusters, mister, and we'll break it down for you after the jump.
Boldly going where you can't currently go: Star Trek team interested in expanding ship interiors
You can visit the furthest reaches of space, but you can't actually visit your own engine room. You can travel great distances across the universe, but you can't walk that 20 feet outside of your bridge. Restrictive, no? Well, Trek fans should be interested to hear that Craig Zinkievich, Star Trek Online's executive producer, has recently mentioned to IncGamers that he is interested in fleshing out more of the interior of the player's starship, giving them more room to walk around and get a feel for their ship. Plus, you know, it's only been requested by the players at least 40 billion times. "Anything we can do to make the game feel even more like Star Trek is something we want to do. So, definitely, we want to give people more of their ship," Zinkievich told IncGamers. "This is one of those things we want to get perfect before introducing it to players, though it's going to be an undertaking." [Via The Escapist]
