The Visual Look of Star Trek Online

Gamasutra has a piece on the development of the visual look of Star Trek Online. From the article: "We set out to reproduce the interior of a starship from the television show, so we began by examining shots of the sets. Looking over the images, we made a few observations. There are many light sources. The lighting is diffuse. Shadows are soft. There are several types of material with different reflectivity and specularity. These were the features we wanted to reproduce in game. We thought they were the key to the look."

Re:Why are they focused on the look?

[MrShaggy]

I am a lighting guy.. and it is important. It has to go with the feel of what is around you. The problem is that you need a hook for the fanbois, so you get a reasonably passing grade. But they have an uphil climb. SW:Galaxies bombed even though it looked good. However I still havent checkked the pictures.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Why are they focused on the look?

[djSpinMonkey]

Forget replicating the look of the TV show... focus on building a decent game.

While I certainly agree with this sentiment when considering high-level game design decisions, TFA was specifically talking about the art department's initial set design process for a game that comes from a very specific, very recognizable pre-existing setting. Gameplay and overall experience are going to be the most important factors for me when the final product comes out, but from this department, at this stage, for this game, performance and "replicating the look of the TV show" are exactly what they should be focusing on.

Re:Why are they focused on the look?

[badasscat]

I am a lighting guy.. and it is important. It has to go with the feel of what is around you. The problem is that you need a hook for the fanbois, so you get a reasonably passing grade.

The thing is, and I'm not sure if these guys realize it or not, the lighting schemes in ST:TNG (which they're using for reference) were changed in about season two or season three. It's obvious if you watch the shows - the first couple seasons had a much darker, hard-edged look. That worked well later in Enterprise and it works well for new series like Battlestar Galactica, but ST:TNG never had the dark content to go with the somewhat muddy visuals. So they ended up brightening up the lighting and softening the shadows; even the makeup seemed to change in order to reflect less of the lighting off characters' faces. The end result was that ultra-bright, ultra-low contrast look that the series is known for.

I bring this up because the observation lounge/conference room that they're using as a reference appears to be from the first or second season, before they brightened up the lighting. Later seasons had that room evenly lit. The hallway, on the other hand, is from the later seasons. So they are doing a bit of mix and match and not being as careful as they think they are. Which isn't going to please the fanbois.

Re:Startrek.com development

[msbsod]

As Star Trek fan you may want to read a bit about a Star Trek product at the official Star Trek web site startrek.com. That is what I tried. Now, if you do not enter startrek.com through the front door, you may find the FAQ for Star Trek Online at startrek.com.

http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/gaming/onlin e/article/6632.html [startrek.com]

3rd demo shot

[Quell]

Change the URL to final_01.jpg and there is a shot of the turbo lift.

Re:ObNitpick

[PhotoBoy]

LCARS = Library Computer Access and Retrieval System

It's the name of the OS (or possibly the UI) of the computer system you see on Federation starships during the TNG/DS9/VOY era.