Massively http://massively.joystiq.com Massively http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Massively http://massively.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Captain's Log: Interview with Cryptic's Al Rivera, part three]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/04/09/captains-log-interview-with-cryptics-al-rivera-part-three/http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/04/09/captains-log-interview-with-cryptics-al-rivera-part-three/http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/04/09/captains-log-interview-with-cryptics-al-rivera-part-three/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , ,

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Today Captain's Log continues with the third and final installment of my interview with Al Rivera, Star Trek Online's Lead Designer at Cryptic Studios!

Rivera and I picked up the conversation and talked briefly about the Why I Play STO column that I wrote several weeks ago. I informed him that because of that column, I had received a few emails from brand-new MMO players who expressed frustration over the fact that as new free-to-play players, they weren't immediately allowed into the parts of the game that would give them access to the community, especially fleets, right off the bat.

Continue reading Captain's Log: Interview with Cryptic's Al Rivera, part three

MassivelyCaptain's Log: Interview with Cryptic's Al Rivera, part three originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Today Captain's Log continues with part two of my interview with Al Rivera, Star Trek Online's Lead Designer at Cryptic Studios.

Last week I received a bit of feedback regarding the state of Rivera's desk. I withheld taking pictures of the interior of the office space for fear of inadvertently capturing information that I wasn't free to share. Happily, though, Rivera himself decided to tweet a few photos of the ships and Trek paraphernalia that graced our visit to his office. Yes, it also included a picture of what I had described in my last column as a "funky purple monster." Apparently my comic book naiveté has kept me from recognizing what Rivera informed me is The Maxx.

Sorry, but it will always be that funky purple monster to me.

Continue reading Captain's Log: Interview with Cryptic's Al Rivera, part two

MassivelyCaptain's Log: Interview with Cryptic's Al Rivera, part two originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 02 Apr 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cryptic Studios
Last week, I headed to Cryptic Studios to meet with several of the folks responsible for the development of Star Trek Online. Over the course of the next few weeks, I will be sharing what I learned from those individuals and from the team on the whole!

This week, I will begin my coverage of a lengthy interview with Al Rivera (@CaptainGeko), the lead designer for STO.

If I had any doubts about the team's love or understanding of our beloved franchise, those doubts were dispelled the moment I walked into the STO work area.

Continue reading Captain's Log: Interview with Cryptic's Al Rivera, part one

MassivelyCaptain's Log: Interview with Cryptic's Al Rivera, part one originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 26 Mar 2012 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The weekend before Star Trek Online launched its free-to-play format, Cryptic Studios' Lead Designer, Al Rivera, responded to a lengthy list of player concerns, rants and questions via the STO community podcast PodcastUGC.

PodcastUGC usually focuses its broadcasts on issues revolving around the game's user generated content tool, The Foundry, but as of late the co-hosts of the show (including me!) have been desperate for specific Foundry issues to discuss due to the lack of changes since last year.

In the previous week's episode, I let my opinions fly along with my frustrations about what I felt was a severe lack of story-based content. I asked aloud, "What the hell have they been doing the past year?"

To our surprise, we were contacted by Al Rivera, who set aside his day off to talk with us about just that.

Continue reading Captain's Log: Cryptic's Lead Designer responds to questions

MassivelyCaptain's Log: Cryptic's Lead Designer responds to questions originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Screenshot - Star Trek Online
Captain's Log, Stardate 65340.3...

Hello, computer (and players)! Welcome to this week's edition of Captain's Log, brought to you by "Geko" Insurance. (And let's just say, you may want to purchase a policy). If you are a Star Trek Online player who watches Cryptic's official forums, you know that the game experienced an Occupy movement of its own this past weekend. Even if you don't frequent the forums, you may have seen some of the concerns raised through the #STO Twitter feed.

Over the weekend, players lashed out against some of the recent changes that have made their way to the Tribble test server. It may be surprising to some of you reading this, but the commotion was not related to the economy changes. The main concern is that some of the items for purchase in the C-Store are going to be changing from account-wide unlocks to per-character transactions. While I was a little perturbed at the thought too, I was happy to see that some of the misconceptions were cleared up once we got an official statement from one of the devs. But since there is a lot more to the story, let's take a look.

Ensign, warp 10! And don't forget to buckle your seatbelt...

Continue reading Captain's Log: A two-minute read could save you 15% or more on nerdrage insurance

MassivelyCaptain's Log: A two-minute read could save you 15% or more on nerdrage insurance originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 03 Nov 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It's a little late due to the impending Thanksgiving day gorging, but we've got your second wave of community answers for space combat in Star Trek Online! As this week lands us on a holiday, we'll be putting up the next post for your third wave of questions on Monday, November 30th. For now, we hope you enjoy the answers given by Al Rivera, senior game designer on Star Trek Online.

Continue reading Space combat! Star Trek Online community Q&A answers

MassivelySpace combat! Star Trek Online community Q&A answers originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cryptic's upcoming Star Trek Online is boldly going where numerous Star Trek PC games have failed before. Only now, for the first time, the Star Trek IP meets massively multiplayer online games, and we're hoping that Cryptic Studios will release a solid sci-fi title that balances Trekkie canon bliss with gameplay that keeps MMO fans happy. A number of Star Trek fans following along with STO's development clearly have high hopes for the game, and so do we at Massively. What's also unique about Star Trek Online is that it's one of the few sci-fi MMOs that has both starship combat and terrestrial gameplay.

Of course, there are many questions that remain about Star Trek Online, particularly when it comes to beaming down to the surface of planets. Have you ever wondered about when you beam down with your Away Team, if you'll visit the planets that are prominent in Star Trek canon, or will these be new worlds? For that matter, will your starship be left defenseless without you there on the bridge? And if you do Away Missions only with other player characters, will your Bridge Officers still level up with you?

Continue reading Star Trek Online developers discuss Away Team game mechanics

MassivelyStar Trek Online developers discuss Away Team game mechanics originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>al-riveraaway-teamaway-teamscontinuumcryptic-studiosdev-chatgame-mechanicsgekointerviewsirclead-content-designerlead-designernew-titlessci-fistar-trekstar-trek-onlinestozeke-sparkesSun, 16 Aug 2009 16:00:00 EST