What kind of person does it take to create the Star Trek universe? How
does a person fill up "the final frontier" with content that players
can enjoy? Over the last few weeks, Cryptic Studios' community
management team has been attempting to answer those very questions by
delivering to the user a slew of
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/117">Star
Trek Online dev profile Q&As that give readers a
direct look into the lives of the STO developers. Although
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/41256" target="_blank">game
information has been sparse, it's easy to draw elements of
these
Q&As and place them into the frame of STO. Don't miss the most
recent interview with Matt Highison! (
href="http://www.startrekonline.com/articles/meet_matt_character_artist_for_star_trek_online"
target="_blank">Original Article)
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Matt Highison
Q: Explain what you do on Star Trek Online.
A:
Trek Online
characters, creatures, and ships. With the rest of the Character team,
I am building upon the amazingly robust costume creator in Champions
Online,
reworking it for the Star Trek universe, and adding in loads of new
customization options designed especially for STO. Any one day could
consist of modeling characters, painting textures, creating shaders,
and implementing new tech.
Q: How long have you worked in gaming, and what did you do before
working on Star Trek Online?
A: I started at Cryptic a bit over a year and a half
ago working on Champions Online
before moving over to STO. Before that I had various stints of contract
work while attending the Art Institute of California, San Francisco.
Q: What part of Star Trek Online are you the most excited about working
on?
A: The
alien creator! I think most game artists have a bit of a game designer
in them, and one of the most enjoyable parts for me has been designing
character creation systems. The TV show costumes and makeup of Michael
Westmore and crew are really inspiring and humbling. Under a tight
deadline and budget they were able to bring scores of interesting,
beautiful, and frightening creatures to life every week. With paint and
latex! Right now we are developing tools to allow players to do the
same in STO (with slightly less latex). My personal goal is to give the
player as much creative freedom as possible, while doing things behind
the scenes to make sure that every player creation comes out looking as
good as any of the classic Star Trek characters we are making. The
species you know and love should be there and looking great.
Q: What are your favorite Star Trek episodes?
A: TNG:
"Best of Both Worlds" was simply awesome the first time I saw it aired
and it's still great today. "I, Borg" showed there could be a great
Borg episode built on dialogue instead of action, a direction I wished
was taken more often.
DS9: I really liked the close-talking prey
Tosk from "Captive Pursuit". "Duet" was both chilling and
heartbreaking, one of my favorites of any TV shows. "The Sword of
Kahless" has a bad-ass bat'leth, Klingon drinking songs, Kor and Dax
battling through caves, with LeVar Burton directing. What more can you
ask for?
As for the films, my nod goes to Star Trek VI: The
Undiscovered Country.
Q: What would your dream starship be like?
A: I
would love to command a Klingon Bird-of-Prey, 800m long with the
ability to open trans-warp conduits at will, and fire quantum torpedoes
while cloaked. Too bad the only action it would be seeing is orbiting
around Risa while I’m off on a “ground
mission”.
Q: What do you like to do in your free time?
A: Play Castle Crashers
with my girlfriend, race through fields with my dog Daxter Tiberius,
and cook up delicious vegetarian feasts. I try to play games as much as
I can, and right now I’m re-watching every Trek series and
learning
acoustic guitar. I also plot new ways to disable the mouse pointers of
my colleagues.
Q: What is something about you that players would be surprised to know?
A: I attended my first Star Trek convention when I was
10 years old. And I was somehow convinced to bring in rel="lightbox[roadtrip]"
href="http://media3.startrekonline.com/img/misc/matt_highison_young.jpg"
title="Young Matt Highison">post-convention pictures
to prove it, complete with creepy cardboard standees.
Q: What’s on your iPod?
A: Aus Rotten, Deltron 3030, Greg Graffin, The Coup,
Subtitle, anything from the amazing Bay Area collective Anticon, and
the Halo 3 soundtrack (Marty McDonnell, one day
I'll hook you up with the pint of beer and a sweaty hug you so deserve).
Q: Pirates, ninjas or???
A: My bets are on the shifty looking ?’s.
Q: What advice do you have for someone who wants to break into gaming?
A: Be
passionate about what you do, whatever that may be. Play games! Think
about why you like certain things about a game, and are turned off by
others. Try to figure out how the game is manipulating you! If you are
an artist, look at other forms of art, and set your bar high. Stunning
art has been around a lot longer than "next-gen" games have, and
there's a lot to learn from other disciplines. Have a well presented
portfolio that only contains your best work. The studio's artists
examining your demo reel aren't just curious about your skills, but
your judgment on what is actually "demo reel worthy". If you want to
make characters, try to learn the whole pipeline. Take your creation
from concept, to model and texture, and then rig and skin it, and show
it off in an animation. Be prepared to work really, really hard.
Q: Is there anything you would like to add?
A: The
team working on STO is one of the most talented, intelligent, and
passionate groups of people I’ve ever met. We are all such
fans of the
series that we are taking the care needed to infuse every bit with Trek
lore. Star Trek Online is doing things
I’ve never seen before
in any game, and it should end up being a blast for hardcore Trek fans
and casual fans alike.
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Star Trek Online Game Page.
