The Visual Look of Star Trek Online

Gamasutra has a piece on the development of the visual look of Star Trek Online. From the article: "We set out to reproduce the interior of a starship from the television show, so we began by examining shots of the sets. Looking over the images, we made a few observations. There are many light sources. The lighting is diffuse. Shadows are soft. There are several types of material with different reflectivity and specularity. These were the features we wanted to reproduce in game. We thought they were the key to the look."

Comments

STNG Interactive Technical manual

[Grendel32]

They just need to take a look at that. I think I may even still have mine.

Why are they focused on the look?

[Random Utinni]

Forget replicating the look of the TV show... focus on building a decent game. It's not like if they get the lighting in the game world 'just so', they'll have a smash hit that people want to play... or these days, maybe they will.

Re:Why are they focused on the look?

[MrShaggy]

I am a lighting guy.. and it is important. It has to go with the feel of what is around you. The problem is that you need a hook for the fanbois, so you get a reasonably passing grade. But they have an uphil climb. SW:Galaxies bombed even though it looked good. However I still havent checkked the pictures.

Re:Why are they focused on the look?

[djSpinMonkey]

Forget replicating the look of the TV show... focus on building a decent game.

While I certainly agree with this sentiment when considering high-level game design decisions, TFA was specifically talking about the art department's initial set design process for a game that comes from a very specific, very recognizable pre-existing setting. Gameplay and overall experience are going to be the most important factors for me when the final product comes out, but from this department, at this stage, for this game, performance and "replicating the look of the TV show" are exactly what they should be focusing on.

Re:Why are they focused on the look?

[SpacePunk]

the Star Trek crowd would burn down the studios of even the slightest thing was off.

Re:Why are they focused on the look?

[tfinniga]

Meh. I'm sure the gameplay people are focused on gameplay. The developers are focused on development. But this article was written by the artists, which are focused on the art.

Re:Why are they focused on the look?

[badasscat]

I am a lighting guy.. and it is important. It has to go with the feel of what is around you. The problem is that you need a hook for the fanbois, so you get a reasonably passing grade.

The thing is, and I'm not sure if these guys realize it or not, the lighting schemes in ST:TNG (which they're using for reference) were changed in about season two or season three. It's obvious if you watch the shows - the first couple seasons had a much darker, hard-edged look. That worked well later in Enterprise and it works well for new series like Battlestar Galactica, but ST:TNG never had the dark content to go with the somewhat muddy visuals. So they ended up brightening up the lighting and softening the shadows; even the makeup seemed to change in order to reflect less of the lighting off characters' faces. The end result was that ultra-bright, ultra-low contrast look that the series is known for.

I bring this up because the observation lounge/conference room that they're using as a reference appears to be from the first or second season, before they brightened up the lighting. Later seasons had that room evenly lit. The hallway, on the other hand, is from the later seasons. So they are doing a bit of mix and match and not being as careful as they think they are. Which isn't going to please the fanbois.

Re:Why are they focused on the look?

[cpt kangarooski]

You have a funny way of spelling 'complain on the Internet.'

Re:Why are they focused on the look?

[vertinox]

Forget replicating the look of the TV show... focus on building a decent game.

That would be kind of like releasing an MMOG about Star Wars without the space battles... Oh wait...

Re:Why are they focused on the look?

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

I'll be happy no matter what it looks like as long as I don't have to grind for 3 days just to get Academy approval to set my phaser on "2 shots to kill a rat" from the original "5 shots to kill a rat".

Looks great.

[Nightspark]

While the two screenshots they showed might look relatively simple, they definitely look like the Enterprise D -- and that may be the most important thing.

Redundancy...

[softspokenrevolution]

I'm sorry, but after they work on the visual look are they going to fix the auditory sound?

ObNitpick

[Stephen Williams]

Those shots captioned "ready room" are actually of the observation lounge, not the ready room.

-Stephen (yes, I'm single; no, this doesn't surprise me)

Re:ObNitpick

[SpacePunk]

NERD!

Re:ObNitpick

[PhotoBoy]

LCARS = Library Computer Access and Retrieval System

It's the name of the OS (or possibly the UI) of the computer system you see on Federation starships during the TNG/DS9/VOY era.

Game Design

[cubicledrone]

1. There will be a massively powerful race/class combination (Borg Shadow Priest) that can do 350 dps perpetually at extreme ranges against which no other class will have any defense. When the other classes complain, they will be told that PvP isn't balanced for 1 vs 1 (unless you're a Borg Shadow Priest) and that it's Rock Paper Scissors (unless you're a Borg Shadow Priest, which is a block of solid iron)

2. The system of rank will be exactly like World of Queuecraft's pvp system, meaning there will be one Admiral and 175,934 Ensigns on every server.

3. Experience will be the most fun. Since there are no murlocs to fight, grinding will be retuning the deflector dish 150,000 times a day.

Sounds like fun!

Looking good!

[Rob T Firefly]

Star Trek is one property where the look and feel might possibly outshine the actual gameplay. There are many fans out there who would gladly subscribe to just hang out on a virtual Federation Starship, never mnd the actual play mechanics.

If they can put together even a mediocre playing experience, this will take off like, well, a starship.

Re:Startrek.com development

[msbsod]

As Star Trek fan you may want to read a bit about a Star Trek product at the official Star Trek web site startrek.com. That is what I tried. Now, if you do not enter startrek.com through the front door, you may find the FAQ for Star Trek Online at startrek.com.

http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/gaming/onlin e/article/6632.html

3rd demo shot

[Quell]

Change the URL to final_01.jpg and there is a shot of the turbo lift.

Crossover?

[Cyno01]

Could one go to the holodeck and play WoW?