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New Star Trek MMOG Announced
jabagi writes "Perpetual Entertainment and Viacom decided to produce a Star Trek MMOG. Not many details yet, but beta will be available in 2006, and the game will be launched in 2007. Here is
the discussion on gamespy."
You are on the bridge of the Enterprise. You can go North, South and DENNIS.
This is almost a given.
Also another given would be an all Star Trek cable channel.
Not that I'm a huge fan, but I'm just pointing out "givens" where Paramount could squeeze yet another dollar out of the Trek world.
"Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
It's due in 2007... Does that mean it will be compatible with longhorn?
Paramount hates Star Trek, and is obsessed with ruining the franchise. An MMORPG where everyone insists on being a captain or admiral, where no story can take place, and they can make up more "iso" words.
Aren't they being sued for a Star Trek related game contract gone awry already?
In the area if MMORPG development, where so many projects seem to get canned after months or even years of development, I really don't think "announced" is newsworthy any more.
How about not publishing MMORPG stories until they're "finished" - at least finished enough to alpha test.
As a side benefit, we'll not have to read any of the "cancelled" stories the following year...
erroneous: look me up in a dictionary
...is at startrek.com.
All I know is that when it does come out, I wanna be one of the nameless landing party guys in the red shirts.
BigBoI: "hAhAhHhAaaa"
/. 'til after my dinner.
DM0nz: "u r sposd 2b a vulcan u cnt laff"
BigBoI: "/me does vlcn nekk pnch"
Se7en_ov_n9ne: "hi I am female"
chaptin_pick_hard: "zomgzzcripes can I boldly go where no man, err, boy, errr, cripes my mum is calling me"
Yey, can you send me a copy please? Oopps, my mum is calling me, she said no
#hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
this isn't helping get my older brother out of my parent's basement anytime sooner... =(
e.
Build Your Own PVR/HTPC news, reviews, &
These are the requirements for a Game Systems Programmer posted on their website.
# BS in Computer Science or equivalent.
# Must have extensive experience working in a senior programming role on a commercial game development team.
# Strong familiarity with PC development using C++.
# Familiarity with Linux programming.
# Experience developing networked game applications, preferably client-server.
# Has developed and documented technical designs.
# Has a love of gaming.
"It seems like the game is about taking command of a starship in the 24th century."
Hmm, to me this doesn't sounds like a game well suited for being a MMORPG. A Lord of the Rings MMORPG does, but not one where you command a (note: a) ship in a vast galaxy. Galaxies are mostly empty. How much socialization will be going on then? How immersive will the atmosphere be?
Will it consist of OMGLOLBBQ we met a Bird of Prey, kill them! OK, done, let's move on, then OMGLOL we must go look at the Borg Cubes? Possibly -- which makes me wonder why this is a MMORPG. Maybe it's just me, but I have a hard time seeing how a game like this will make you go "WOW, what a vast cool world" if you'd be mostly just playing in a starship.
When even Star Wars Galaxies (which I think had better potential since SW is traditionally also a lot about the planets -- actual worlds) ended up pretty bad, I don't see how this game will not end up as just a cash cow attempt backed up by a powerful well-known label with no special spirit and immersiveness about it.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
- Galaxy Class Federation Starship or better
- Holodeck Mk 1
- Social skills not required
# Familiarity with Linux programming.
At a rough guess I would say that this translates into a Windows client front-end (perhaps linux as well but less likely) and a Linux server backend (more than likely) for its stability and reliability.
Name me one decent Star Trek game.
Elite Force I & II and Star Trek Armada I & II
There. You now have four.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
The MMORPG market is pretty heavily populated at the moment, but a title like this will obviously be able to break in on the strength of its franchise, if the game is good enough. I'm not actually much of a Trek fan; I find the series fun for a couple of episodes and then incredibly repetative after that. However, here are a few of the concepts that I think would work with the license and which could convince me to buy the game and pay the monthly subs:
1) Don't over-emphasise the combat on planet surfaces. Galaxies made this mistake big-time, to the extent that this was basically the only thing in the game on release. Traditional, Everquest-style MMORPG combat, be it PvE or PvP has been done to death by virtually every MMORPG around. I don't personally see anybody beating FFXI's system for this at any time in the immediate future; it's way ahead of the competition in terms of depth and polish. Better to play to the license's strengths and focus on other areas.
2) From what I've seen, the Universe lends itself pretty well towards a sensible PvP arrangement. The Trek universe always struck me as quite rigidly controlled and policed, albeit with darker fringes. Just make it so that the "core worlds" are non-PvP (or PvP harshly punished by NPCs) and the outer fringes are less restricted. I hear EVE Online already has a vaguely similar system.
3) I want to be able to buy, crew and run a ship with my friends. I'm not saying "I want to be Captain of the Enterprise", but rather that I want to be able to be a crew-member on an independently operating ship, with "real people" as my crew-mates. Maybe they could let people progress through skill-trees in... say... navigation, gunnery, sensor use etc and make it so that you need a balance of skills to run a ship. Obviously, as you make more cash, you should be able to get better ships, as well as bigger ships, which might require a larger crew. There should be the option for very high level players of being able to develop your character and your crew towards running either a battlecruiser or a supertanker. I don't want the game to be dominated by people running around in 1-player fighters or, worse still, 1 player battlecruisers. Boarding operations during ship-to-ship combat could be a fun alternative to planet-side combat.
4) Please, for the love of god, take a fairly distant approach to the license. Put the usual planets and races in there, by all means. Tie it generally to a point in the time-line. But don't get into a situation where you're saying "we can't do this because it doesn't fit wit this stage of the timeline". Galaxies has suffered because of the inevitable tensions created by making the Jedi the most desired class during a time-span where there are only supposed to be a couple of Jedi.
Ensign 1: Captain, there's another ship approaching. They are hailing us.
Captain: Main screen turn on.
Ship: This is Captain Duder of the spaceship Leet, we're taking this camp site, bugger off.
Captain: WTF? We've been here all day!
Ship: Too bad dude, we want the loot from this easy romulan spawn, and we got 3 photon torpedo banks saying its ours, move to another sector, or we'll KS you biatches.
Captain: WTF!! What about the prime directive!
Ship: LOLz. You RPers crack me up.
They can make every player a mercenary taking missions from either major races (humans, klingons...). Land on this rebel planet, kill boatload of rebels or borg, gain xp, loot, fame, women, whatever ...
Crafting would allow the construction of weapons, ship gear, maybe even androids. Lot of possibilites.
There could be trading between different civilizations, exploration missions given to the public (that will turn bad of course with baddies to kill). Ownership could be in the form of space ships. One could trade legally or illegaly. Plenty of choices.
Not to mention, the countless spying agencies could be used as an excuse for PvP. Or archeological dig races or whatnot.
They have lot of good material from wich a good MMOG could be made. Let's hope they avoid the pitfalls of SWG: the total lack of Star Wars feel. They already have the templates for the classes, no need to re-invent the wheel:
Tank - Security guys (Worf).
Ranger - User of phasers (Picard).
Cleric - Medics (Crusher).
Wizard/Mage - Betazoids or other telepaths (Troy).
Some other class - The techie people (Laforge)
They got a very rich universe.
One thing that stands out about this type of game would be the cooperative play needed to run a starship. This could be very interesting if most/all the crew were PCs as opposed to NPCs.
Seems it would require much more cooperation than is normally required by the typical clan on other games.
It would also be interesting aboard Klingon ships if one could advance in rank simply by beating one's superior officer. Hopefully they will allow this sort of flexibility.
I think this one has potential.
This is not fair!!
I just got a girlfriend!!!
Just as irrigation is the lifeblood of the Southwest, lifeblood is the soup of cannibals. -- Jack Handy
It's clear from the press release and FAQ that it's not going to happen, but I always thought that Star Trek, with its multi-century future history, was perfectly placed to create a MMORPG gaming experience like no other.
... yes, aging could play a part in this game unlike most MMORPGs, or by playing long-lived races like Vulcans).
... the possibilities are virtually endless.
Imagine a game where everyone started out as characters in the ENT (or even ST:FC) era. Imagine them having adventures that took them into the 23rd, then 24th centuries (changing characters as necessary
Imagine players having the opportunity to shape history by partaking in or deciding the outcomes of, key events like the Federation/Klingon wars, Wolf 359, first contact with Cardassians, discovery of the transporter or deflector etc.
Imagine playing the character responsible for introducing TOS-style uniforms into the game, or the character who discovered transwarp, or the character who introduced the Akira-class ship into the fleet, or the character who was responsible for holding AR-558 before Sisko's arrival or
Eventually, sure, the future history would outstrip the "documented" canon but that wouldn't happen for a few years and the servers could either be re-set or the history extended. (Server launches could be staggered so that there would be a choice of eras for people to play in, for those who were determined to stick to one timeline.)
But given that MMORPG game design is based on the principle of maintaining the status quo while only giving the illusion of advancement and change, this isn't going to happen.
a world in progress...
Kirk: Alright men, this is a dangerous mission. And its likely one us will be killed. The landing party will consist of myself, Mr Spock, Doctor McCoy, and Ensign Ricky.
Ensign Ricky: Ahh crap
It would be cool if it didn't suck.
You play as Worf. Son of MMOG.
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