Ever since its launch in February of 2010, Star Trek Online has been the go-to game of fans of the franchise who wants to relive the franchise's long history in an MMORPG setting. Star Trek Online's 11th anniversary also brought a huge event in the game that players can participate in until February 25th on the PC.
Of course, given Star Trek Online's anniversary milestone, players are probably wondering what's in store for the game in the future. Game Rant had the opportunity to speak with Star Trek Online's design director, Al Rivera, and senior environment artist, Nick Duguid, who shared what's in store for the game in the future, what Cryptic Studios has learned in the past decade, and what players can expect from the game in the next 11 years.
What Cryptic Studios Has Learned From Star Trek Online in the Past Decade
Sharing his experience working in Cryptic Studios, senior environment artist Nick Duguid revealed that he had spent most of his game dev life working on Star Trek Online than any other title. It is worth noting that Duguid joined Cryptic in 2005 and has been a developer at Star Trek Online since 2012. Duguid also shared how the lessons they've learned in the past 11 years helped inform every new content they put in the game. These lessons mainly revolve around three core concepts: "Quality over quantity, gameplay is number one, canon is a close second."
Although Star Trek Online strives to remain faithful to its source material, it is understandable that gameplay design precedes staying true to the canon, especially since Star Trek Online is first and foremost a video game. Duguid also discussed how Cryptic strives to showcase all eras of the shows from TOS to TNG, DS9, Voyager, and now Discovery. Of course, remaining faithful to the shows would be nothing without fun and solid gameplay. It is clear that Cryptic's dedication to bringing the best MMO RPG experience to gamers helped Star Trek Online remain successful for over a decade.
In the same bein, Star Trek Online's design director Al Rivera talked about the game's beginning from a subscription model to free-to-play. Rivera remarked that this transition was no easy task, especially since how to do it right is a tricky endeavor:
How to craft deep, meaningful stories that have an emotional impact on your player was something I did not know how to do 11 years ago, and now I think we are pretty good at it. How to get players to come to your game and stick around with things they want to earn - and how to do that efficiently.
Rivera also touched upon how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the operations of Cryptic Studios. One of the biggest challenges the developers had to face is working from home. However, Rivera said that this helped the company "adopt new tools, new practices, new forms of communications, and new processes." He remarked that this sudden transition has been stressful, but it has strengthened the company too.
What's In Store For Star Trek Online In The Next 11 Years
As for what players can expect from Star Trek Online in the next 11 years, Rivera talked about the forthcoming end of the Klingon Civil War Arc. Interestingly enough, Rivera teased that Cryptic is already hard at work on the next story arch, which will probably take players "through the next year and possibly beyond." Rivera shared that ViacomCBS is dropping a ton of new content, which is good for Star Trek Online, as that means fans should expect to see ships, weapons, gadgets, locations, characters, and stories from all those new shows. Rivera also reiterated that Cryptic would continue to honor the classics, especially since "Star Trek Online represents all Trek, so every fan can experience the fantasy that is important to them."
Of course, Cryptic Studios is still keeping specific details about Star Trek Online under wraps. However, what fans should take home from the insights shared by Duguid and Rivera is that Star Trek Online will continue to bring players the best Star Trek experience in a video game, and the upcoming years will be filled with new content both from the new Star Trek shows and the classic series that started everything. Rivera's final words pretty much sum up everything: "It is a great time to be a Trekkie."
Star Trek Online is available now on Mac, PC, PS4, and Xbox One.