There was a battle in the heavens, the foundations of space quaked. At the end of the day there was silence, but no winner. The space gods were gone.

They have been replaced.

Yes, you have read that right dear SQO-inhabitant, StarQuest Online is now under a new banner. Nexeon has agreed to stay the course and continue to run the servers and billing while aT Games takes over development of StarQuest Online.

Many things will be different, but in the end the core of StarQuest will stay the same. Let me explain. StarQuest Online is one of the most in-depth sandbox sci-fi MMO's ever.
"In StarQuest Online, players can assume the persona of a character living, exploring, fighting, and possibly dying in the 23rd Century. As an intrepid Starfleet officer, swashbuckling pirate, devious smuggler, deadly bounty hunter, wealthy merchant, or ordinary civilian, players shape this world and its history into whatever they wish."
-This is StarQuest. After we have finished this will be truer than ever.

We will be doing many things:
1. Fixing bugs
2. Fleshing out gameplay systems that already exist such as colony building, bounty hunting and faction building
3. Replacing mechanics that are not up to par with the quality we want in StarQuest Online such as the UI, windowed client, factions and player economy
4. Bringing in new technologies such as a modern graphics engine (DX11 capable or equivalent), a brand new fullscreen client, and improved engine code for smoother gameplay.
5. Building a new in-game tutorial
6. Fully fleshing out all the non-Alliance factions; Klinshayans, Therataan and Tikopaika
7. Redoing every piece of artwork in-game. We will be going from DX7 quality graphics to DX11 quality, the new graphics technology mentioned above actually decreasing lag!
8. Bringing in a new payment model. StarQuest is going to have a free-to-play (F2P) mode. All players can play Fleet for free, indefinitely. Going into the civilian side of the game or into other factions, will cost a premium subscription of $10 a month. The premium subscription plan will not be implemented until we have enough content and quality to justify for it.
9. Bringing a new development model into StarQuest. We are a different development team than CTS was, we do things differently. There will be a clear timeline for big additions to the game, these will be well documented expansions. The first expansion will include many of the things above. Bug-fixing patches will continue to be released "when we get them done", as they have always been. It is critical to get bug fixes out as fast as possible.

In conclusion:
StarQuest Online has long been a game with huge potential. We intend to bring StarQuest Online to its full potential with a complete package of development. Our artists are artists, not programmers in disguise. Working on things like eye candy will not at all slow down the development of the game, as no programming capable people were transferred to work on art in the first place. Great game design is a balanced trinity of elements:
1. Great Gameplay Mechanics
2. Great Community
3. Great Graphics
All three can and will exist together from now on. But first we have several things we need to do. Our programmers need to learn StarQuest Online's programming inside and out so we can intelligently decide our path into the future. This will take some time. In short, bug fix patches will not begin until January. Our first expansion will be within the next 6 months, and it will be big. You will know what is in it, and exactly when it is coming when we know ourselves.

Lastly, when the payment plan is changed StarQuest Online is going to be reset. Everyone will be starting from the beginning, everyone will be playing equal. What you make of the universe is for you to decided. This your game, we will take care of our community. All we ask is that you stand by us while we learn the engine, and begin the development in earnest. Thank you for being a great community, we will build you your great game.

SOURCE: http://forum.starquestonline.net/showthread.php?14880-StarQuest-Online-has-new-developers.

If this is true, expect to see me back.

Originally posted by boonaki

If this is true, expect to see me back.

Unless we all have the wool pulled over our eyes, it is very true.

This might be very interesting news for people who have played SQO before but have left. Can't hurt to try it out again when parts of it are F2P.

F2P sounds fun, but all i hope taht the new developers make some more PvE events live! I was bored last time... If its happen i come back, even if i must pay the 10 bucks!

Count me in. This is what STO should have been and I love SQO it just didnt have good devs before.

Anything new?  Or did these developers vanish?

Best I can tell it was all a scam. First they promised EvE online quality graphics, and then they said they were going to make it into an android app, and now the project is just basically dead. No Dev support, no in game admin, and no bug fixes on the horizon. The new develpoer claimed that because he didn't have an XP computer he coudln't log in to the admin slot, but if a company can't afford to buy XP to make it's game work then is there even a company at all to begin with?

Nexeon, the company that basically owns the game now is keeping the servers running, but the game is dead. I had a lot of hope fo rthis one. It really is the sandbox ot end all sandboxes, but shitty developers, greed, extortion, and a venemous community proved to be the games final undoing.

I'm not just here to bash. I have supported this game for years, but I'm not the captain and I see no reason to go down with this ship. I hope that someday another developer looks at SQO and says hey that's a good idea... Let's do it right.

I suggest that mmorpg.com just remove this game from it's list. It was a good idea, but it fell short. There is no reason to bait anyone else into playing this game with false promises of a involved development team. It's over, and it just needs to shut down.

Well TruethXhurts, that sucks. 

Has anyone considered going and trying to create an emulator of this game like UO or SWG?  I think it would probably do better in that environment than in the hands of a developer who sits on it, or one who doesnt know how to get a XP machine to work on.

I like everything that SQ does apart from the interface and graphics... so i could never really get into it..

If they do really update this to a modern engine thne i believe all my dreams in life would have come true... haha ok maybe not but ill be playing this LOL

Originally posted by Caldrin

I like everything that SQ does apart from the interface and graphics... so i could never really get into it..

 

If they do really update this to a modern engine thne i believe all my dreams in life would have come true... haha ok maybe not but ill be playing this LOL

You know this is often the problem a great many gamers run into.   They dont like the interface and the graphics.   I guess if its not the standards WASD movement then its alien and bad.   I can remember when the arrow keys used to be the only way to move around, and there was no mouse.   The movement system in the game isnt bad, it actually isnt far off from the UO system that so many of us "oldskool" players remember.  It does take some getting used to but actually I enjoy it more than the WASD movement.   It keeps me from wearing out 4 keys on my keyboard, and actually use it for what its used for, typeing. 

Would it hurt for them to optimize the system and improve the graphics, certainly not.  But is it the biggest flaw in the game no.   There is to much emphasis on graphics now days, and not enough on content, and playability.   Hell in the past 6 months we have seen what 6 MMOs release, and out of those how many of them are really worth the 15USD a month for?  None.  They are all the same pretty pretty, graphics with the same gameplay features, with the same gameplay style, with the same cookie cutter cliches, and the only thing they do differently is call them different things and say "NEW AND ORIGINAL!"   If that were the case then flavored water is a "NEW AND ORIGINAL" concept.