Quick Beta Q&A

MMORPG.com:

The start of Beta is always tough. Can you tell us what elements you are testing first?

Craig Zinkievich:

We're really focused on the initial gameplay experience for the first few weeks; making sure that the tutorial resonates with new players.

MMORPG.com:

Will you be testing the away team and ship combat segments of the game separately at this point, or are both elements in one build?

Craig Zinkievich:

We'll be testing both. Moving back and forth between space and ground segments of the game is integral to the design and vision of Star Trek Online. We couldn't just put out one element and call it a beta test.

MMORPG.com:

What type of feed back have you gotten so far? What tools are you using to capture that feedback?

Craig Zinkievich:

What type of feedback are we getting? Useful. : )

Finally being able to let players into our game and see how they react to it is something that we've been looking forward to for a long time. We gather all the information we can and then discuss and analyze it.

There are a lot different routes from which we get our information. We have a huge amount of logging in the game so we can watch what people do, how they do it - how fast different builds advance, what choices are made. The best feedback comes straight from the players, though - it's their impressions that matter the most. We have Beta forums, organized chats after each playtest and surveys to fill out about the particular focus of a night's playtest.

MMORPG.com:

At this stage of the game can players voices be heard? How will they impact the changes?

Craig Zinkievich:

Definitely. MMOs are as much about the players playing them as the company making them. What the players say after a Beta test directly impacts what the dev team is working on next week.

MMORPG.com:

Tell us where you are with Star Trek Online as a whole game. Are you on schedule for the project?

Craig Zinkievich:

Yes. On schedule. We've finished the core of the game and now we're balancing and iterating quickly on the UI and the features and systems in the game. It's an exciting time on the project - letting people in to play - the game is changing and improving noticeably on a week to week basis. Everything is coming together really quickly now.