AbleGamers Interviews Star Trek Online: Set Your Phasers to Fun

One of the most highly anticipated MMO releases is Star Trek Online. AbleGamers' Mark Barlet was given the opportunity to sit down with the executive producer of the upcoming title. Craig Zinkievich is a remarkable man and self-proclaimed Trekkie who commands an immense knowledge of the Star Trek universe.
AbleGamers: I am sure that there is a lot of pressure when working with an IP as rich as Star Trek, Where in the time line of the IP are we going to find ourselves?

Zinkievich: Our game is set in the year 2409, which is about 30 years after the events in Star Trek: Nemesis. The Trek Universe has changed since you last saw the TNG crew on screen - the Khitomer Accords have broken down and the Klingons and Federation are at war. Romulus has been destroyed, an event that connects to the alternate universe of this summer's hit movie. And an ancient enemy prepares to return, which is something that will affect everyone in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants.

AbleGamers: Are we going to see characters that we may know from the movies and TV shows?

Zinkievich: By 2409, many of the characters of the shows and movies will have retired or otherwise moved on. We are exploring ways to reference the characters you know and love, but in ways that make sense with the timeline.

AbleGamers: AbleGamers is a site that specializes in game news, as well as advocacy, for gamers with disabilities. In the US alone, there are 21 million people with a disability. Some evidence shows that 9% of gamers have some type of disability. Have you put any thought into how a person with disabilities would play this game?

Zinkievich: We have thought about accessibility issues. For example, all of our keybinds are re-mappable, a seemingly simple feature that allows for many different ways to allow people to get the main controls for the game in a place that works for them.

That being said, we are always looking for ways to make our game more accessible to all audiences. We would love to hear of examples in games that have successfully made them more accessible, as well as places where games have failed. Join our forums at www.startrekonline.com and sound off.

AbleGamers: Do you know if anyone on the development team is disabled?

Zinkievich: I am aware of several people at Cryptic Studios who are colorblind. Although there may be others who have disabilities, that tends to be personal information.

AbleGamers: 8% of men in the US are colorblind; do you think they will have a hard time playing Star Trek?

Zinkievich: I hope not. As I mentioned - there are several colorblind employees here at Cryptic. We bring them into the review of anything in the UI where we are using color as a major factor in the communication of information. That being said - good UI never has a single method of communication, so any place we use color it tends to be a secondary or tertiary marker.

AbleGamers: Game sound is an important factor, especially in a game with such well-known sound effects such as photon torpedoes, phasers, and a well-known opening title. Will I enjoy the game with no sound at all? Without sound, will I know what is going on? And are there visual cues as well as audio cues for an event or quest advancement?

Zinkievich: You will definitely know what is going on, and I really do think that you will be able to enjoy the game with no sound.

Good game audio can provide emotion or a sense of place and give extra cues to events that are happening. That being said, our policy is to make sure for any important game event there are multiple UI cues. Nothing is ever indicated only through audio. If there is voiceover, there is text. If there is a warning claxon, there is a visual UI cue as well.

AbleGamers: Now that we have had a chance to talk, do you think that there are a few things that you may want to revisit in the game?

Zinkievich: As the game matures, we at Cryptic want to make sure that we get as much feedback as possible about how accessible the game is to players of all sorts. We really do listen to the feedback and try to make the game as strong as it can be for our users. As we move towards Beta, we will make sure to seek out disabled players as well so that we get constructive feedback during development so we can make additions and changes.

How about a piece of information you haven't released yet for all of the Trekkies out there?

Right now, we are working on the Bajoran wormhole, which is incredibly fantastic. The cool thing is that the wormhole is not just "click here to go there." Players will get to explore the wormhole itself. In fact, it is the primary location for one of our Episodes!

AbleGamers: Thanks for taking the time to sit down and talk to us!

There are very few huge intellectual property ideas that are made into video games. It's important for the video game production company to get it right the first time. Take for example the disaster that was Star Wars Galaxies. It was a huge intellectual property that was destroyed because of a bad vision for what the game should become.

Ultimately, we can only wait and hope that developers and producers such as Zinkievich will protect the integrity while incorporating amazing gaming accessibility for disabled gamers.

... and after the main interview, I asked my signature pointless questions

AbleGamers: Now on a personal note, do you harbor some bitterness because you were always the last person on a list of names? I ask because I was always at the top, and once in 3rd grade a kid by the name of Sam Anderson joined, knocking my out of top spot. That changed me!

Zinkievich: Just the opposite! Although early in life I felt the sting of always being “last,” later in my academic career I realized that I could be 3 to 5 minutes late to class before they got to my name during roll call!
http://ablegamers.com/pc-gaming-news/591-startrekinterview.html