| STG |
1: First of all, for the
benefit of all the hardcore trek gamers who haven't looked
outside of Gamespy or the Dynaverse for the past year, tell
us a little bit about yourself and the project you are the
Lead Developer of, Destiny's Wind. |
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Leia/DW
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Well were to begin! I have been
programming for about 9 years now 4 of those have been video
game related! I have worked with several large groups of
video game developers. Most of which I cant mention here due
to NDA's
I can tell you I was on the staff for one of the
groups that was working to create a DS9 game.
Now as for this little project of mine! Well Destiny's
Wind started off as a dream of mine during the start of the
voyager series, I felt very much like others how fantastic
it would be able to stand on that very bridge and to
interact with the crew and witness and be apart of every
event! So many years after, with my experience built up I
found a group of these players who were using EF to RP
exactly how I felt mind you they were quite Imaginative
considering the game world was created simply for Fragging,
so after a little while and getting to know these people and
see that many of the modders for this group were quite
talented with modelling and mapping I proposed to them my
little project and ever since we've been working very hard.
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| STG |
2: What made you and the rest of the team
decide to take the plunge to develop a fully blown MMORPE
style game? |
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Leia/DW
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Well two reason really, first
the lack of such a project by paramount to fill the need of
so many players out there and second the challenge of it
all! |
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| STG |
3: MMORPG and MMORPE's have
made a massive rise to fame during the past 2 years or so.
With games like Anarchy Online, World Of Warcraft, Everquest
and the new Guild Wars. Destinys Wind is a pure fan built
game from the engine up, what aspects of Destiny's Wind will
make the game stand out from the rest of the MMORP crowd, ya
don't need to list them all, just the main points :) |
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Leia/DW
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Well I believe the biggest and most
important point is that we are not an MMORPG we are a
Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Environment. Which
means we are here to provide a very realistic and detailed
environment for the players to role play in focused on the
every day life in the Star trek
universe so your character can live his/her life from start
to finish. most other games are focused on levelling up and
killing as many rats as you can. ;)
We are not action fanatics like many other MMORPG's out
there its very important to see what goes behind the scenes
this is also a great place to meet friends! |
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Dev Screenshot
Showing the sky and weather details
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| STG |
4: Most MMORPG/E games take 2
roads that lead to different paths of game play. Some of
them go for exploration/skill building, others go for mostly
PvP action with knowledge building a secondary objective.
It's been said in the FAQ that destiny will be right in the
middle of both types. Has this been a hard thing to achieve
and does this mean that hardcore "levellers" of MMORPG games
will now need to take time to think about the direction of
there character? |
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Leia/DW
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Well the answer to this question
is simpler then you might believe we are basing most things
from the real world so there aren't really levels per say as
much as the need to study and pass exams. it would be closer
to compare us to the older but still running Star trek
MUSH's out there. |
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| STG |
5: Destinys Wind will try to
achieve as close to canon as you can manage while still
keeping the game playable. Many modders have tried it in
mods for Bridge Commander and SFC and have stated that its
almost impossible. How hard has it been for the Destinys
Wind team of developers to inject the canon philosophy into
the game whilst still achieving a balanced gameplay with
regards to future expansions? |
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Leia/DW
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Well as you have stated it will
be a bit of a teeter-totter, I balance this by the fact that
we are Post Nemesis so all the existing history will be
present and as accurate as Scooter our canon expert can make
it. As for growth we will follow the growth patterns of the
Star trek universe and implement new and creative things
while all the time keeping the basic principles and pride
that is Star trek.
To be specific we are based of the Star trek universe
and this is what I feel is the most import aspect.
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| STG |
6: Expanding on the future of
Destiny into 2006 and beyond, what kind of expansions to the
trek universe do you hope to add a year after the game is
released publicly? |
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Leia/DW
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I'm very glad you asked this! there will be
constant updates to the universe, and we will be adding
planets and many other object. As the players grow outward
into the universe so will the game.
Players will also have two ways of updating one will be
simply downloading the update and/or
players can purchase an update CD at cost. |
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| STG |
7: MMORPG games sometimes have
people who either purposefully or intentionally cause
trouble for the rest of the players. What will be the
policing system used in game? Will it be human players (like
Anarchy's ARK community) or will it be a mix of built in
safeguards to the game and human players? |
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Leia/DW
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You mean NooBs as we like to
call them, well there will be some hard coded features such
as players not being able to die unless they give
permission. we will also have admin staff on hand to deal
with mischievous players. Not to mention Starfleet's Metal
Health Department. ;) But the number one thing that will
deter trouble makers will be the hard work that goes into a
character a player wont be able to cause damaging mischief
until they reach a specific level within the game and even
then it will be quite clear who the trouble makers are. |
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Dev Screenshot
Showing the terrain details
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| STG |
8: It's been stated in the FAQ
that player deaths will be permadeath. Once your dead,
that's it, you'll be pushing daisy's up from then on until
you make a new character and start all over again. In what
instances would a player get killed in the game and how will
this affect any future PvP between players with expansions
seeing that phasers can essentially kill with a single shot? |
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Leia/DW
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Only the player can choose when
they want to die so even in the event a player get shot with
a phaser worst case the player will be unconscious till they
have been restored by either time or a medical officer or in
the case of noobish behaviour and admin member. Even in this
state players will be able to visit the OOC chat area to
request assistance from admin staff or to wait out there
down time. |
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| STG |
9: For the player him/herself,
will the game be primarily based onboard a ship, or on a
Homeworld, and will players have a chance to "beam down" to
planets on away missions? Also, will you be giving out red
shirts to away teams? LOL |
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Leia/DW
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If a player chooses to join
Starfleet they may be assigned to a starship, starbase, or
planet. there will also be civilians onboard many ships and
starbases. so you can say there will be many options a
player can choose to follow so the game doesn't grow tiring!
Away missions will also be present and I don't think
too many players will have to worry much about there red
shirts ;)
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| STG |
10: How deep will ingame interaction with
other human players go? Will there be marriages between
player characters and the likes? |
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Leia/DW
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Ah a very, very hot topic
indeed, The best way I can explain it is that players will
choose the level of interaction they want! We will not
support or condone player actions within reason. So if
players want to get married its truly up to them.
As for love making or Children these things cannot be
present for there to be an allowance for the younger player
base. we want this to be as friendly an environment as we
can make it to even younger players within reason.
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Dev Screenshot
Details of the planet from space
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| STG |
11: Given that Star Trek doesn't
have a war every episode, which is something that your FAQ
has said as well, what will be the requirements for a
Starfleet officer to gain rank? |
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Leia/DW
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Honestly the same quality of
work and convictions that you have to follow in real life.
You have to work your way up the ranks. work hard and
interact with the people around you. Don't expect to get
promotions if you don't put in an effort. |
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