Star Trek Online producer blog explains early choices made in development

One of the massively multiplayer online titles eagerly awaited by sci-fi fans is Star Trek Online, currently in development at Cryptic Studios. Star Trek Online's executive producer Craig Zinkievich has written a dev blog for MMORPG.com titled "Focusing the Experience." Zinkievich discusses that initial excitement the Cryptic Studios team had when they obtained the license to create Star Trek Online, and the process of deciding what the IP's MMO universe should encompass.

This was no small task. The Star Trek universe spans decades across multiple television incarnations and film, so the challenge wasn't so much about what to include, but what not to include while making sure that the setting is fleshed out. The developers asked themselves how they could make the MMO universe of Star Trek Online a place where there's more to being part of the setting than energizing transporters all day. And how to incorporate the roles of characters seen in Star Trek television and film into the MMO?

Zinkievich writes, "The hardest and most controversial decision we had to make was where to stop. Everyone in the room had an interest in pursuing a design where multiple players could work on a ship together. Some could be captain, another navigator, a third person engineer... We thought about what that gameplay could be and what it would feel like. Someone pilots, someone works the weapons, someone is busy with the shields... Could we make each of those experiences special and different from each other?"

Have a look at the rest of Zinkievich's producer blog at MMORPG.com which explains the design decision to make you, the player, the center of the action as captain when the game launches, without eliminating the possibility of bringing player crew members on board over time.