Xenesis GROUP: Members POSTS: 1448  |
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Nov. 29 2005, 1:09 am
If I remember right... EDIT found the interview.. http://www.startrek-online.net/news....rs.html| Quote | Designs do change, especially during preproductionso its even possible that our expectations now may be very different than what we end up with. For example, a major recent design change definitely affects the player progression, and its different from what people currently expect. Ill try to explain it here.
Taking a hard look at what players would actually be doing on both ground and in space led us down a character path that is more flexible, more approachable, and allows for more distinction.
Previously, the design insisted that a player would lock in his department or "class" at the beginning of the game from the choices of Tactical/Security, Engineering, Science, Medical, and Flight Control. His progression path would be defined early on and limited to the options contained within that single department.
That felt a little limiting, especially because it locked together abilities in both ground and space scenarios. In Star Trek, crewmen frequently grow into their roles and are pretty versatile, and this is a dynamic we wanted to capture. We moved our emphasis of what defines a character from departments to specialties. Department still exists, but it is only what you choose to define the start of your development path. As you explore that path, your skill choices (from a broader selection than before) indicate what specialty your character might fall under. Choose enough skills in a particular specialty, and the game will recognize your character with a title.
So, in a slight nod to canon, weve decided to start with three major departments instead of five minor ones. These initial departments are Science, Security/Tactical, and Engineering. The abilities and distinguishing characteristics of the other departments we previously included (Medical and Flight Control) become specialties that you may or may not pursue.
A major bonus of this system is that you can pursue multiple specialties, notably different ones for away and space combat missions. For instance, in this new system, someone could train as a Medic for ground missions, but evolve his space-combat specialty into a different branch of the Science department. The medical officer traditionally has a rather minor role to play in a space battle; healing the NPC crew members who were hurt in an explosion on deck 6 might be fun for a few battles, but a lot of the action is happening on the bridge and outside the ship. We wanted everyone to be able to participate in ship combat, so while this medic can still focus on developing his healing skills, he also has another science specialty to pursue that allows him to be extremely effective on the bridge. He gets the best of both worlds.
Another benefit of narrowing the base departments is that we can attach a single color to each. As you would expect, Science gets blue, Engineering gets gold and Security finally gets red back!
So, specialties effectively provide for more classes; they allow the player to make important choices gradually and informed by what these choices actually mean in the game; and they decouple space and ground choices so that the player can do what he wants where he wants.
Whew! Beyond that, I can give you a very broad description of our current expectations of the players path.
Brief stint at the academy. This is an opportunity to immerse the new player in our world, set up our premise, and potentially teach a little before launching the new recruit off into the galaxy. Note that the player will likely only choose his race at this time.
Assignment to a training vessel. The player will use this time to test department content and then lock into his chosen department. This gives him the chance to see what those departments are actually like before having to choose.
Entry into the larger hub network. This phase has the player adventuring within Federation space. The missions in this area of the galaxy capture the traditional one-shot episode-like content you know and love.
Commission. While he has already gone out on training missions with small, temporary ships, or as crew members of other players ships, this is his first real permanent commission.
Exploration into disputed territory. The conflict weve hinted at is a major factor within this phase of the game. The stakes will be higher, but so will the rewards.
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VulcanInfiltrator GROUP: Members POSTS: 314 |
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Nov. 29 2005, 2:58 am
Excellent  It actually sounds better now that I've read it again. But since Security is red now, will Command get an entirely new uniform? |
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Xenesis GROUP: Members POSTS: 1448 |
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Nov. 29 2005, 10:16 am
Think command will be red, the concept conn uniform was red, but who knows, they could decide to go back to tos time and go gold. They also mentioned something interesting in there that no one has discussed yet.. | Quote | So, specialties effectively provide for more classes; they allow the player to make important choices gradually and informed by what these choices actually mean in the game; and they decouple space and ground choices so that the player can do what he wants where he wants.
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Multiple specialties to develop for both ground and space combat missions. It sounds like they will possibly have a few branches in each profession to grow into, not just medical and flight. It'd be interesting to see what else they come up with for those branches. |
