Just a month after replacing Craig Zinkevich at the top development post, Star Trek Online Executive Producer Dan Stahl is holding his own against probing questions from fans–most of which are about the new Feature Episodes.
This month, Mr. Stahl dedicated his September Ask Cryptic post to answering queries about Feature Episodes, including the planning that went into these weekly missions and what’s in store for upcoming updates.
First off, Mr. Stahl clarified that no skipping will be allowed–all five to six Feature Episodes that make up each story-arc Series should be played in succession. Which wouldn’t be so bad because several new accolades await captains who finish the mission objectives, he said.
The current running Series revolves around the Breen invasion of the Deferi, a peaceful race that calls out to both Federation and Klingon camps for help. Two Feature Episodes have already been released, with three more scheduled for every Saturday this month.
“The inspiration was that Star Trek could present episodic content in the same format as the television series did. When we launched the game, many of the primary missions in the game were presented as Episodes with multiple acts. This all came from our desire to have the missions feel like Trek,” Mr. Stahl said.
Feature Episodes are also the tools in which the developers will expand the Star Trek Online lore. “Each series will give us a chance to focus on a specific species or faction storyline within the game so that we can go back and tell the stories of whatever happened to [this species or faction]?”
Having had a taste of the Undine, nothing would excite us more than a Series focused on the Borg nemesis. There’s also the hush-hush Special Series Reward to look forward to, which should be all sorts of mind-blowing given the patience it takes to complete the month-long Feature Episodes.
If not, I’m sure DStahl and his team will get heavy fire. And no amount of defensive maneuvering will save them.