An Exclusive Interview with Star Trek Online associate producer Andy Velasquez

Alltern8: What were your primary concerns when adapting the virtually sacrosanct Star Trek franchise into an MMO?

Andy Velasquez: As you mention the Star Trek IP carries so many expectations with it and fans of the series are some of the most devoted and informed of any franchise ever and so definitely one of our main concerns is doing right by those who already have so much invested in this universe.

Fortunately, these concerns are also some of our biggest motivators on this project. When Cryptic Studios announced that we acquired the license to work on this game there were lines outside the director’s offices of employees with pictures of them as kids dressed as Kirk begging to be on the project. We have designers with Bat’leths on their walls, artists with Trek lunch pails from when they were kids and others with a Klingon dictionary sitting in their cube. We are really excited about this challenge and also about doing our best to add to this storied franchise.

A8: What inspired your team to set the game 30 years after Nemesis?

AV: We wanted to give players the experience of a Star Trek Universe that was familiar but, being a group of creative individuals ourselves, we weren’t interested in just recreating scenes from the shows and movies. We also didn’t want to force players to constantly feel overshadowed by their TV and movie counterparts. Rather, we wanted everyone to feel like they were the Kirk or Janeway or Picard of their gameplay experience.

A8: Though the game’s time gap will mean that many of our favourite characters will be retired or dead, are there plans for appearances from such long-living individuals as Tuvok, Guinan, Q or B4?