Star Trek Online at Ten Ton Hammer

Ten Ton Hammer: I’d imagine there’s been a lot of positive buzz around the office since the film hit theaters. Has this had any direct impact on the development process? Any new gameplay ideas that might not have been previously considered being tossed around?

Craig: Don’t know if there are any mechanical changes that we’ve “discovered” after viewing the film. We’re looking at more ways to make nods to the film – gotta find a way to get Keenser (or at least his race) into the game!

Ten Ton Hammer: It’s been stated previously that the entirety of Star Trek’s cannon has been taken into account with STO; will there be any direct reference or influences from the film seen in STO that you may not have previously been able to discuss? Or perhaps even elements from the MMO that might influence future installments of the film series?

Craig: We were aware of the major influences on our timeline (Romulus being destroyed in our universe, no Spock, etc.) before the movie came out. We’ve been working with CBS and the other licensors since we started on the project to make sure that what happens in the Trek Universe is well represented.

Ten Ton Hammer: With all the renewed interest in the IP, there’s bound to be dozens if not hundreds of variants on prominent character names running around in STO come launch day – you know, Sporks and Quirks (I call dibs on Kirque de Soleil) – will there be any character naming policies in place to keep this kind of thing to a minimum?

Craig: Sure – we’ll have name filtering so you don’t see 120,000 U.S.S Enterprises around, and we’ll probably put in some variants as well (although Kirque de Soleil is awesome). But we don’t want to be overly draconian with name filtering.

To me, part of the excitement about building a roleplaying universe is giving players freedom to come up with things that we could never have imagined. It’s not about closing doors, limiting options and policing what people name their characters.