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Priority One podcast interviews Daniel Stahl
Daniel Stahl, Executive Producer of Star Trek Online, sat down with the guys at Priority One podcast to answer some community-submitted questions and drop some exclusive news about upcoming content. While he also shares a little bit about his leadership style and some inner-workings of his team, he was unable to comment on anything about the Perfect World acquisition of Cryptic. But he answered plenty of other questions! Are you interested in finding out when the new Enterprise-F will be making it into game? Have you dreamed of learning more about what happens with the Q Continuum? Are you wondering when more minigames are coming? Still upset you have so many Trianium rare samples that are not used for anything? You will definitely want to tune in get answers to these questions and many more! Priority One is hosted by The Quantum Cafe, a "facebook-like" social network dedicated to STO players. The show comes out weekly, so make sure to tune in to listen to guest developers and to share community-submitted ideas and feedback.
Captain's Log: Missed dev transmissions
Captain's Log, Stardate 64940.2... Hello, computer (and players)! As we have explored in past logs, the developers working on Star Trek Online are extremely transparent with the community, and this, surprising to some, is actually by design. Since Dan Stahl took over as Executive Producer a year ago come July, he made it his personal mission to make sure that fans of the game knew where the game was heading at all times and what was currently being developed. Due to the success of this open communication, Cryptic as a whole has made a shift to this philosophy for its other announced projects. New details often emerge through several different official sources: the monthly Ask Cryptic and Engineering Report as well as a plethora of interviews. While the previously listed outlets are often marketed and widely known about, there are several channels that I would like to bring to light, ones that seem to fall under the radar. As Twitter is one of the biggest social media crazes, developers are using it to get information and work-in-progress screenshots out to the public. Also, some devs seem to be sacrificing sleep, as we will often wake up to posts in the STO forums that were posted near the midnight hour of Cryptic's time zone. Many feel that the most interesting and drool-worthy information is found in these "leaks," so I would like to share some of them with you. Ensign, warp 10! You might want to grab a towel to wipe up your mouth...
Captain's Log: To boldly go where... Perfect World has never gone before?
Captain's Log, Stardate 64918.1... Hello, computer (and players)! Isn't it amazing how the MMO gaming world works? One week you might be ecstatic about the planned updates for your favorite game, and the next week you are wondering if that same game is even going to last another day. Like many other Star Trek Online players, I was in this boat just last week. When Atari announced that it was going to be divesting interest in Cryptic, many players initially went into panic mode. But as I stated in my entry last week, I strongly felt that things were going to turn out just fine, possibly for the better -- and they definitely have. Earlier this week, Perfect World Entertainment announced that it would acquire a 100% equity stake from Atari, with Cryptic Studios remaining as the sole shareholder. Made famous for its free-to-play games, including Perfect World International, Pocketpet Journey West, and Forsaken World, Perfect World has the potential to help STO continue to grow. While the new owners are very excited at the opportunity to utilize the engine Cryptic is famous for, they are also excited at the fact that Champions Online uses the free-to-play business model. Oh dear -- here we go again. Ensign, warp 10! Everything is going to be OK and here's why...
Captain's Log: Back to the future
Captain's Log, Stardate 64884.1... Hello, computer (and players)! Guess what's back? That's right! Hailing frequencies are now reopened -- Captain's Log is no longer on hiatus. Over the past few weeks, there has been some great news released about the Star Trek Online universe: the winner of the Design the Next Enterprise Contest was announced, the May Ask Cryptic was released, the dev team revealed the 500-day veteran rewards, and the Featured Episode reruns began. While everyone has had his or her own opinions on these stories, there is one piece of news that everyone can agree on: the awesomesauceness of the latest Engineering Report. As first announced earlier this week, Executive Producer Dan Stahl dropped his latest report, which describes the updates to the game coming in Season Four. As usual, aside from the imminent new content, Dan foreshadows the future for us. Captain's Log is no stranger to talking about the future of the game, so I am excited to share some more details about the upcoming updates with you. Since Season Four is right around the corner and I believe it will be the "game changing update this game has needed since launch," let's get on to this week's Log entry. Ensign, warp 10! Let's talk about Season 4 and beyond...
STO celebrates six months of interstellar conflict in the latest State of the Game
While Captain Kirk and the original crew of the Enterprise had an initial five-year mission to explore the cosmos, Star Trek Online players have had a mere six months to do the same. In this span of time, a lot has happened for STO -- some good, some bad, some controversial, and some radically different. As the game heads into its second six-month tour of duty, executive producer Dan Stahl threw open the doors for STO's Season 2.0 update, entitled "Ancient Enemies." In the latest State of the Game report, Stahl looks back at the additions, changes and accomplishments of the STO team since launch. The bullet point list he lays out is impressive indeed, listing 32 big ticket items that have been implemented into the game. He then looks at the immediate present with the launch of Season 2.0, which Stahl sees as a direct response to player requests and demands. "Season Two is filled with additional features and updates that you asked for, and in some cases even helped us design, specifically minigames," Stahl writes. Finally, the State of the Game looks at the future of the title and the many improvements that are slated for delivery, including an upgrade to ground combat, more ship options for both factions and rethinking exploration. You can read Dan Stahl's full State of the Game report over at Star Trek Online's site.
