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Star Trek Online Dev Journals: Episode Missions Explained
The Star Trek Online development team has penned this developer journal looking at Episode Missions, quest chains meant to capture the feeling of one-off episodes within the Trek universe.
By Guest Writer on November 04, 2009
Episodes are the mission chains in Star Trek Online that feel even more like you're playing an episode of the show than normal. We looked at more than 700 Star Trek TV episodes and dissected them to determine how those writers told stories in Roddenberry's universe, then set about crafting our own for you to enjoy.
We actually have content writers on staff who approach the mission chains as though they were standalone TV episodes. Rather than thinking strictly in game terms, they design the chains from an entertainment prospective. This means Episodes have themes, interesting dialog and dramatic moments designed specifically to look, feel and play like Star Trek.
They're central to your progression, as well. While they're not the only handcrafted content in the game, the stories you unfold in each Episode reveal more of Star Trek Online's story. As you move through the game, you'll learn more about what's happening to the Romulan Empire, deal with the renewed war between the Federation and Klingons, and encounter some very interesting Borg.
;)
As the story develops, the stakes increase. While Episodes later in the game don't take longer in terms of time or the number of in-game objectives, plot itself accelerates to a dramatic pitch. The threats you'll face are as great as any you've seen in the Star Trek movies. That's not to say early missions are anything to scoff at, however; the early Episodes are designed to be intriguing and dangerous, too.
The Episodes are based on conflict, much like the main storylines in the Star Trek franchise. Conflict drives drama - will your negotiations with the captain of a Klingon Bird of Prey break down and come to blows? How far do you need to go to apprehend a spy on another vessel? 2409 is a time of war, which means even the most resolute captains will need to make tough choices and come to blows to ensure the survival of their faction.
We do, however, want to make the battles you fight believable. You can make diplomatic overtures toward characters in Episodes, but on the front lines it's very rare to avoid confrontation when dramatic forces have guided you into hostile territory with combat-ready antagonists nearby. While there are missions in Star Trek Online that don't feature combat at all, Episodes will by and large demand your abilities as a tactician be put into play.
The characters in Episodes periodically return throughout the meta-plot, just like any good ally or adversary in Star Trek. By the time you reach endgame content, many of the different plots will have folded into each other.
;)
At launch, the game will feature three "seasons" of content; each season will feature 14 Episodes, as well as other handcrafted and procedurally-generated content, meaning you'll have your hands - and your Captain's Log - full for quite some time after launch.
While the three seasons available at launch will have common themes, and many Episodes are related to one another, there are only a few Episodes with prerequisites to meet before you can play through them. Think of those Episodes as two-parters, whereas the majority can exist within their own right. They're complete stories that inform but don't lead directly to the others.
Episodes generally last between 45 and 90 minutes and are designed with transition in mind. In many classic Star Trek episodes, the characters were never on one set very long. In the game, you'll find yourself moving between different maps, both on the ground and in space, to blend literal movement with plot development.
The five-act stories are designed so you can pick them up and put them down. If you reach a point where you need to log out, you can leave the story where it is and resume within the same act, so you aren't forced to retread old ground.
Post-launch, we already have plans in place to continue Star Trek Online's story with even more Episodes. We just can't explain everything by the time we launch, so as you play through the game, chances are there will be even more great content waiting for you by the time you receive your Admiral commission.
Skill based system was a good move but this I am just not sure.
Is it Linear Progression?
and there we have it, the devs said it. their will be choices, diplomacy, not everything ends in a fist fight.
So there "STO is just combat" nay sayers
Sorry, but did you read the article at all?
...
You can make diplomatic overtures toward characters in Episodes, but on the front lines it's very rare to avoid confrontation when dramatic forces have guided you into hostile territory with combat-ready antagonists nearby.
...
Seems to me it IS very combat focused.
Sorry, but did you read the article at all?
...
You can make diplomatic overtures toward characters in Episodes, but on the front lines it's very rare to avoid confrontation when dramatic forces have guided you into hostile territory with combat-ready antagonists nearby.
...
Seems to me it IS very combat focused.
did you?
In the same area we have
"will your negotiations with the captain of a Klingon Bird of Prey break down and come to blows? How far do you need to go to apprehend a spy on another vessel?"
did you?
In the same area we have
"will your negotiations with the captain of a Klingon Bird of Prey break down and come to blows? How far do you need to go to apprehend a spy on another vessel?"
I don't think you get what they are expressing. He basically says that there is a bit of other things like diplomacy but it will eventually lead to combat no matter what you do....but on the other hand perhaps my english is just to broken to understand him correctly. Please enlighten me if I am wrong about this.
did you?
In the same area we have
"will your negotiations with the captain of a Klingon Bird of Prey break down and come to blows? How far do you need to go to apprehend a spy on another vessel?"
I don't think you get what they are expressing. He basically says that there is a bit of other things like diplomacy but it will eventually lead to combat no matter what you do....but on the other hand perhaps my english is just to broken to understand him correctly. Please enlighten me if I am wrong about this.
if combat was inevitible then the wording would be "Whenl your negotiations with the captain of a Klingon Bird of Prey break down how will you come to blows" instead we get a less definitive "will it" imprying it "may not" break down.
I don't think you get what they are expressing. He basically says that there is a bit of other things like diplomacy but it will eventually lead to combat no matter what you do....but on the other hand perhaps my english is just to broken to understand him correctly. Please enlighten me if I am wrong about this.
if combat was inevitible then the wording would be "Whenl your negotiations with the captain of a Klingon Bird of Prey break down how will you come to blows" instead we get a less definitive "will it" imprying it "may not" break down.
What ever. Its just symantics.
Whats going to fill your Combat XP pool?
This is the first sign that I have seen to show that the game will have some story line content.
Perhaps it is merely dev-speak designed to placate critics of the design, but it is something positive.
This is where I am. Yes, this sounds nice, but if you really look at and dissect the writing in this article....not much more than a whole lot of rhetoric that doesn't actually mean anything.
Am I counting it out? No, of course not. We just need to see more, because there's more martketing and hype-speak than actual information in this article.
Can Episodes be played out of order so your "sorta" making your own series? Do you have to play X ep to get to Y ep in a progression? I get that some stories require you to be a more advance ship over others but is it broken into Seasons of advancment?
Arranging the missions in the form of 'episodes' sounds like a fun idea to me.
I don't like the claims about how they know the source material so well, when the game is apparently designed to be very solo-oriented.
BTW, very cool avatar.
Sounds Star Trekkish to me!
(AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH dances with Janice Rand)
This is where I am. Yes, this sounds nice, but if you really look at and dissect the writing in this article....not much more than a whole lot of rhetoric that doesn't actually mean anything.
Am I counting it out? No, of course not. We just need to see more, because there's more martketing and hype-speak than actual information in this article.
And then there's the entire Story Arc issue. What happens if we get into a Story Arc and decide we don't like where its going? Are we forced to complete it?
I'm all for Story Arcs as an option ... they *can* be a lot of fun. But they can also be poorly written, even to the point of annoying. In other games, you can just bail on Story Arcs and move on ... but this doesn't seem to be the case with STO. ???
Sounds good. but who knows, theres so much hype,build up, rumors, and contreversy that surrounds games in development these days that its really hard to tell IF a product will be of good quality. thats why im reserving my self til it gets really close to beta/release to make a more informed speculation. I followed WAR for almost 2 years getting all excited and hyped up only to be let down (with my expiereince) in the end (for me at least). I just HOPE that cryptic puts together a GOOD and FUN game, honestly STO does not need to be the BESTEST game in the world, to many developers trying to make the Bestest game and just face plant them selves.
Sounds not too bad. I am curious how the game will actually play. Will it be a mere space pew pew or more? Guess we have to see.
A very postive direction in my opinion, just hope they have variable endings depending on how you complete them.
Wow, this sounds like a really cool single player game.
Where's MM part of this MMORPG?
It sounds like the entire game content of 42 episodes will take about 40 hours to complete. Depending on how compelling the random content is, it sounds a little light on content.
Fourty hours is plenty to warant a box purchase and a play through, but not a subscription. Either way I'll buy the game, but I am seeing no reason to believe that it will retain players at all.
Uh-huh. That's a big issue for me, as well.
You get XP from completing the episode, not from the fighting within it. Or you can go to the neutral zone and get XP from the PvP fighting.
Uh-huh. That's a big issue for me, as well.
Key Word: sounds like. The reason imo that it sounds like or seems like a single player game atm, is the fact they are focusing on aspects of the game that pertain to A player, and not the community. just like SWtor sure your main story line is focused on YOU but, as they have stated, there may be times when you have certain class(s) in your party that will open up new options with in quests. I think STO will have a similar mechanic in that sure you can do the episodes by your self, but there could be other events that happen when grouping with other players. again EVERY THING is speculation and just that. so far the space combat looks cool,and we all know ground combat LOOKS like it really needs some improvement.
Well three seasons, with 14 episodes, 90 mins each. That comes to 63 hours, or roughly two and a half days. Doesn't quite make an MMO does it. Of course I am sure there is the grind between episodes, but still, that isn't alot of content when you consider this is an MMO. Hopefully I am missing something. I would hate to get into this game only to find a month later I don't have anything left to do.
where are you getting 14 episodes at 90minutes each? just curious, as I have yet to see info about how many episodes there doing. not to mention im pretty sure if they have said amount of episodes there will be more down the line AND the episodes are the major story arc/quests, dont think there including all the possible side missions and such.
"At launch, the game will feature three "seasons" of content; each season will feature 14 Episodes, as well as other handcrafted and procedurally-generated content, meaning you'll have your hands - and your Captain's Log - full for quite some time after launch.
While the three seasons available at launch will have common themes, and many Episodes are related to one another, there are only a few Episodes with prerequisites to meet before you can play through them. Think of those Episodes as two-parters, whereas the majority can exist within their own right. They're complete stories that inform but don't lead directly to the others.
Episodes generally last between 45 and 90 minutes and are designed with transition in mind. In many classic Star Trek episodes, the characters were never on one set very long."
I read the article.
Sounds to me that episodes will be much like the chapter quest lines in Lotro. 3 seasons of 14 episodes each. Hopefully there will be other quests as well, and not just the episodes. plus you have the exploration stuff. Im just worried that with only 42 episodes at launch, there wont be enough content to keep us busy. Guess we will see.
This is one of the first positive things I've heard about STO since I found out that you couldn't walk around someone elses ship. But, if they can pull of the intermingling of the story AND the multiplayer parts, this has got potential. It sounds to me very similar to the AoC Tortage set up. Do your own thing with the story ... go do things with other players ...
That's also what I was thinking.
It seems to me they are focusing on combat and PvP for some reason. The only people left playing this game after a month will be PvPers and people who enjoy grinding mobs.
>.< doh! thats what i get for skimming, {facepalmx2}
Key Word: sounds like. The reason imo that it sounds like or seems like a single player game atm, is the fact they are focusing on aspects of the game that pertain to A player, and not the community. just like SWtor sure your main story line is focused on YOU but, as they have stated, there may be times when you have certain class(s) in your party that will open up new options with in quests. I think STO will have a similar mechanic in that sure you can do the episodes by your self, but there could be other events that happen when grouping with other players. again EVERY THING is speculation and just that. so far the space combat looks cool,and we all know ground combat LOOKS like it really needs some improvement.
Good group stuff is higher on my list than good solo stuff, so I'm really interested in how that works out. And as much as anything we're saying is speculation, the fact is that they're choosing to share this very single-player oriented portion and to highlight it. Solo play is what they're emphasizing, and I will not be particularly pleased if that's the focus of the game.
So, until they release some pretty cool data on the heavy group content (such as people working together to... I dunno... CREW A STARSHIP), I'm going to continue to assume, based on the available information, that this is not going to be a very team-oriented game. I ask again, where's the MM?
This sounds like a lot of instancing to me.
I just hope that i dont have to do all the missions if i dont want to.
I absolutely hate that every player have to do the same thing.
Hm, that seems like the same kind of wrong thinking they made with CO: too less content because the expect very very casual gamers who take months for this content, whereas in reality most will have done it in 2 weeks and THEN WHAT? *sigh*
Read my lips, Cryptic: FOCUS ON ONE MMO AT A TIME. And make one great instead of two mediocre ones.
I can't wait for it to release!
Here , Here, There are alternatives to fighting and Its is great news that the Devs of STO realize this.
Key Word: sounds like. The reason imo that it sounds like or seems like a single player game atm, is the fact they are focusing on aspects of the game that pertain to A player, and not the community. just like SWtor sure your main story line is focused on YOU but, as they have stated, there may be times when you have certain class(s) in your party that will open up new options with in quests. I think STO will have a similar mechanic in that sure you can do the episodes by your self, but there could be other events that happen when grouping with other players. again EVERY THING is speculation and just that. so far the space combat looks cool,and we all know ground combat LOOKS like it really needs some improvement.
Good group stuff is higher on my list than good solo stuff, so I'm really interested in how that works out. And as much as anything we're saying is speculation, the fact is that they're choosing to share this very single-player oriented portion and to highlight it. Solo play is what they're emphasizing, and I will not be particularly pleased if that's the focus of the game.
So, until they release some pretty cool data on the heavy group content (such as people working together to... I dunno... CREW A STARSHIP), I'm going to continue to assume, based on the available information, that this is not going to be a very team-oriented game. I ask again, where's the MM?
Ya I do hope they start to highlight more TEAM/group content as well.
I don't like MMOs that you can fully solo,but I also don't like MMOs that are TO group oreintated as well, a good balance of both would be good. A good example (IMO) is DDO, I started the F2P,went vip because it was a lot of fun with my friends...but when you hit around level 10 there aint much you can do at all solo wise, yes you can solo some stuff at an WAY increased time and effort. I'm a family man so grouping ALL the time or A LOT is a tad hard. now I'M NOT asking or demanding a game have this just because of ME {grins}, just saying it would be nice :). anywho a bit of subject, sorry. lets just hope it does NOT get released in February like the RUMORs are suggesting.
3 seasons, at 14 episodes each, up to 90 minutes each. Yep. By my math that's (at most) 63 hours.
If we take out the time spent working on the game engine, we can assume that it took somewhere around three years to come up with 63 hours of game content. If it then it takes another three years to produce the second 63 hours of episodic content. That obviously won't be enough to keep an MMORPG audience paying monthly fees the whole time.
Is anybody here old enough to have played the "Star Trek 25th Anniversary" game? Ridiculously primitive by today's computer game standards, but I really liked it. When I was done, I felt like I enjoyed not just a game, but a whole new season of The Original Series. But I'm not completely sure how that could make an MMORPG. There has to be a lot more to this that somehow didn't come through in the interview.
Maybe he means 63 hours of "cutscenes." But who really knows how much filler there could be in there? I mean, Star Trek wasn't like the TV show "24." It didn't play out in real time. A space battle in the show usually only took a few minutes - why couldn't that be hours? And, of course, they just sort of showed the actual discoveries, not the painstaking exploration it took to find them. I guess this might make sense if we think of the TV show as being "edited" versions of real life. Maybe the MMORPG would expand each episode out into a couple of days of actual play time.
Can't agree more Jestor and Neko. I have been very vocal in my critisism of STO, and there's nothing I'd like more than to be proven wrong here. This article is a hint at a much deeper game imo. Look forward to seeing more.
I want to want this game...
May not be an ONGOING subscription. However, it certainly merits subscribing till i can finish all the episodes, if indeed they are star trek like.
And at this point, do we really care whether it will retain players? I am planning only to finish all the content, if they are good.
One of those "other games" where you can bail out of story arcs is City of Heroes, Cryptic's first game. Another is Champions Online, Cryptic's second game. I'd say their track record bodes well on this.
Cryptic started on this game in February of 2008. By my count, that's 21 months, not three years; and that includes the time to adapt the engine.
If cryptic was smart they would have included ship interiors in this game. If you think about star trek, they made alot of episodes that took place entirly on the ship. They did this because it saves money. An episode that takes place 100% abord the ship costs way less than an episode where they have to build a set. Cryptic should take this same logic, apply it to this game and save themselves some money. Trekers wouldnt notice, because that is how the show is sometimes, The epidose happening on the ship every once in awhile is star trek. Cryptic creates that one enviroment, and they could spread out a dozen on board ship episodes across there current episodes, and now you have four seasons not three.
Loving this game more and more, still a lot to be known but the direction it is going makes me feel really good about what the overall project will bring... hoping to get into BETA
From the screenshots we learn target nearest doesn't work quite right. Something that poor red shirt gets to learn as he joins the collective, where his last thought of frantically trying to cancel phaserball 3 is disseminated.
Cryptic doesn't know a damned thing about Trek, other than the names and how the ships look.
This is a quick score, and then they move on to the next scam.
Cryptic doesn't know a damned thing about Trek, other than the names and how the ships look.
This is a quick score, and then they move on to the next scam.
Hmmm, sounds to me like Cryptic pee'd on your cornflakes somewhere down the line. I personaly have enjoyed there games and hope this one will be better than I hope for... erm if that makes any sense.
Hmmm, sounds to me like Cryptic pee'd on your cornflakes somewhere down the line. I personaly have enjoyed there games and hope this one will be better than I hope for... erm if that makes any sense.
not to mention they got a bunch of peeps that WANted to be on board the project real bad because they were trek fans as well. So hope that carries over to the game attention/detail too.
A lot of people working on Warhammer Online claimed to be big fans of the miniatures game. See how that turned out?
Any actual proof that Trek fans were instrumental in making STO? I ask because statements like "Trek fans want to be the captain" imply otherwise.
Maybe the other year was spent watching, and dissecting, the "700 episodes" of the shows? I'd happily get paid to watch TV, though after the first week of OG Trek i'd probably stab my eyes out with a plastic phaser.
I heard it was 21 weeks.
Whichever, though, if anything even remotely like what you're saying is anywhere near true, then of course there would be no point in discussing any of this.
I sure hope its not like the repetitive missions in CoH and CO.
Does sound like they're starting out like LoTRO; release a set amount of content at start, then follow up with more 'seasons' as the game goes on. I do agree that the amount at the start sounds a bit on the weak side and weither or not it's 63 hours of game time or not, I think a major problem game dev's have is understanding how fast players can burn through content.
Money-wise it may make sense to limit your cash involvement until the revenue starts coming in, but retention-wise it's a killer. Investing in atleast 3/4th of the game's content should buy you enough time to put out regular publishes without the all critical 'toss something out the door quick, they're getting ready to burn the house down' killer raising it's ugly head.
I like the fact that it stated most episodes won't have pre-req's which will allow us to play in what order we want. Nothing worse than having a line at a spawn point 'kill 3, NEXT!'.
Other good points:
- Not all episodes have to do with combat
- What sounds like an auto-save feature while doing the mission (stop where you want and start back up in that same spot). I always hated the times in SWG when I'd plow through 99% of the mission and have to log right before the end to pick up the kids or eat dinner and then have to start back over from the start point when I got back to it.
I plan on playing, but I'll let everyone clear out of the starter area's and the inital bug fixes before starting my sub.