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.
[Thanks, Simon]
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