Nailing down the visual look of Star Trek Online
by Dan Choi 
{ Feb 23rd 2006 at 4:23AM }
Trekkies need not worry too much
about the visual integrity of the upcoming Star Trek Online MMO, as it appears that the hallways are in good
hands (at least on Galaxy-class starships like The Next Generation's 1701-D).Lead Client Engineer Ian Pieragostini has written a case study of the visual look development up to this point on STO, and it's a fascinating look at the practical project management decisions pursued by Perpetual (during pre-production of this important title for the sci-fi IP). For instance, how should the game's lighting contrast with that of Doom 3 or Half-Life 2?
For the less technically inclined among us, simply scroll down and check out all the pretty pictures mocked up in-game to serve as both software proof of concept and "near shippable quality" results to show off to execs (which is a very important thing if you've got millions invested). If all you want are "Next Gen" shots of Picard, Riker, and Data in their early skin-tight uniforms, however, you'll have to click on that image above.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Birki69 @ Feb 23rd 2006 4:57AM
goddamn thats cool, I don't really imagine what the game will be like, because either your stuck on one ship and have to wait for the next stop at a starbase to join another crew, or you make it not very startreky and allow everyone to buy/borrow a shuttle for an outdoor mission, and they just fly off. But it looks awesome!!!!!
if the stick with the fans response, they gonna make a game that serves 100000s of players.
jadenguy @ Feb 23rd 2006 5:11AM
i'd make the walls a little more tinny. like galvanized steel glossy. otherwise, i'm all drools.
Armin @ Feb 23rd 2006 5:45AM
I must say, the renders are looking really good. You'll probably need top notch hardware to get the kind of quality as show above.
I also like that most new games are using HDR lighting, gives so much more realism
Albert @ Feb 23rd 2006 10:09AM
I thought that this was a really cool article with insight into the development process for games, plus these early in-game renders are cool makes me want to go out and rent TNG seasons.
Mark 2000 @ Feb 23rd 2006 12:16PM
Feh! Wasted effort. Where's my TOS games!? And not movie era, either. Original Series!
Dan @ Feb 23rd 2006 1:31PM
OOOOHHHHH!! I hope that the gameplay is good, but just being able to explore the ships and getting to "experience" it will be awesome!
Like a suped-up version of "Captain's Chair" with an actual game attached.
Franklin @ Feb 23rd 2006 3:30PM
@5
The rumor is that the game (perhaps through expansion packs, I'm betting) will allow the player to travel backwards through time. So you will be able to visit TOS, TOS-movie and even the Star Trek: Enterprise eras.
slow news day @ Feb 23rd 2006 3:38PM
Wasn't there a CD-ROM that looked sorta like the pictures above where you could take a virual tour of the Enterprise in Quicktime?
greatslack @ Feb 24th 2006 3:06PM
Argh, looks like I better start saving for a new GFX card.
Captain Data @ Mar 17th 2006 3:59PM
Wow, the game looks cool, anyway, no need for a better massive $600 v-card, go to www.tigerdirect.com and get the ATI Raedon X700 SE 512MB DDR2 SDRAM, only $130!
The game (im expecting) will beta late this year (about the time of Windows Vista release) and the game to officialy be out late 07' early 08'.
Do not get your hopes up yet, they could still fail the whole thing.