Has there been any talk about possibly shutting down STO for a time to put the game on a newer Engine to give the game a bit more "oomph" or possibly swapping to a new engine and crrating STO2 and doing a data transfer?
They have commented on this and said it would basically be building a new game from scratch. Which isn't a bad idea but they have neither the time, money nor manpower to do this
Yeah, basically Bort said that it would not be worthwhile, and it would take months just for the artists alone to update things to a new engine, on top of the mechanics side.
If they decided to develop STO using a new engine, they wouldn't need to close the game whilst they did. The graphics engine is just 1 module and can be easily integrated, and the game doesn't needed to be called STO 2.0, there's no need. However, this is the umpteenth time this question has been posted, and answered.
"You don't want to patrol!? You don't want to escort!? You don't want to defend the Federation's Starbases!? Then why are you flying my Starships!? If you were a Klingon you'd be killed on the spot, but lucky for you.....you WERE in Starfleet. Let's see how New Zealand Penal Colony suits you." Adm A. Necheyev.
This sounds like a pretty cool alternate dimension, where software development worked this way. In that alternate dimension, game engines all use some sort of universal interface and are totally interchangeable with each other.
Graphics getting outdated? No problem, swap out the engine for a next-gen one!
I've been screaming for a new engine since, well, Beta.
STO is just Champions reskinned. The game engine isn't really capable of presenting a Star Trek game the way it ought to be, and they'll never change that.
I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something CRAZY happens again?!
The nut who actually ground out many packs. The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
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personally I like the game the way it is, its functional and fun, sure you could have a game with awesome graphics where the actual game play is rubbish and you can hardly do anything without paying for the privilege (who said st@r w@rs?) but I prefer to play a game where the focus is on substance and the game is good enough that the players who can afford to spend money do so because the game deserves it not because they have to, leaving those that are not paying for whatever reason completely at liberty to enjoy the whole game unfettered by crippling restrictions.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
One question I have and it's probably been answered before but wouldn't the old developer team (like the ones who actually did the original programming for the game) leave some sort of instructions for the new team? I can't see the upper ranks at Cryptic buying the game engine without getting some sort of technical manual or just send a new team in without telling them something about the program they are going to have to work with.
Something I am reminded of as I asked this question was my experience with APB Reloaded and The Matrix Online, both games were bought from the original parent company that created those. When players asked for changes in those games (the list is always big), the excuse would most often be given from the developers why they couldn't change much was that they didn't understand everything about the program. Because of that they worried if they made some changes, something would end up not working. It always made me wonder why they bought the game in the first place if they had no idea what to do with it once they had it. I mean, sure the game is going to make them some money but sooner or later they are going to have to upgrade the program or make changes to it.
"There is iron in your words of death for all Comanche to see, and so there is iron in your words of life. No signed paper can hold the iron. It must come from men. The words of Ten Bears carries the same iron of life and death. It is good that warriors such as we meet in the struggle of life... or death. It shall be life." - Ten Bears (Will Sampson)
One question I have and it's probably been answered before but wouldn't the old developer team (like the ones who actually did the original programming for the game) leave some sort of instructions for the new team? I can't see the upper ranks at Cryptic buying the game engine without getting some sort of technical manual or just send a new team in without telling them something about the program they are going to have to work with.
that only works if you leave on good terms; if you get fired, they generally want your TRIBBLE out of the building by the end of the day, and that doesn't leave much time for manual writing, now does it?
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
One question I have and it's probably been answered before but wouldn't the old developer team (like the ones who actually did the original programming for the game) leave some sort of instructions for the new team? I can't see the upper ranks at Cryptic buying the game engine without getting some sort of technical manual or just send a new team in without telling them something about the program they are going to have to work with.
that only works if you leave on good terms; if you get fired, they generally want your TRIBBLE out of the building by the end of the day, and that doesn't leave much time for manual writing, now does it?
Exacrtly, Square fired XIV's team, brough XI's team in and they did it from the ground up and were successful, but they had thet ime money and resources to do it. Cryptic is too small of as tudio to do that.
One question I have and it's probably been answered before but wouldn't the old developer team (like the ones who actually did the original programming for the game) leave some sort of instructions for the new team? I can't see the upper ranks at Cryptic buying the game engine without getting some sort of technical manual or just send a new team in without telling them something about the program they are going to have to work with.
that only works if you leave on good terms; if you get fired, they generally want your TRIBBLE out of the building by the end of the day, and that doesn't leave much time for manual writing, now does it?
That's true! I just thought that if you are a company buying a game from another company, you would want to get all the data about the program you just bought so if the program breaks down or you want to change something it wouldn't be so difficult to do. I still cannot guess as to why any company would want to take a chance on some other company's creation. Wouldn't it have been simpler if Cryptic (or Perfect World) just bought the program along with the game title and rights and just made a copy with a new engine, using the old one as a sort of template?
Sorry for the dumb line of reasoning and questioning to anyone who just had their brains fried from reading this !
"There is iron in your words of death for all Comanche to see, and so there is iron in your words of life. No signed paper can hold the iron. It must come from men. The words of Ten Bears carries the same iron of life and death. It is good that warriors such as we meet in the struggle of life... or death. It shall be life." - Ten Bears (Will Sampson)
The original developers of STO had years to work on it and came up with nothing but pretty pictures. Perpetual entertainment than went belly up and all the art assets were transfered to Cryptic who were given the same deadline to have an operational game. They built the entire thing in 18 months so in that case it looks bloody phenomenal! Lol
Has there been any talk about possibly shutting down STO for a time to put the game on a newer Engine to give the game a bit more "oomph" or possibly swapping to a new engine and crrating STO2 and doing a data transfer?
If there is ever a Star Trek Online 2, here is how it will work:
It will be a new game. You don't get to keep your subscription or anything you ever bought or grinded in Star Trek Online (1). Likely, Star Trek Online 1 closes (and if just to avoid cannibalizing players between STO 1 and 2), and all the stuff you bought, grinded, or whatever, is gone forever.
If Star Trek Online 2 doesn't happen (which is the much more likely case), and Star Trek Online stays alive (which will probably be true for at least a few more years), Cryptic will continually improve and expand the engine and the game as it has done before as long as they can, and all the stuff you acquired in game or for money will stay around. (If you want to know how much the game can be improved, look at the game as it was 5 years ago and compare to today - Look at the quality of the ship models, compare maps then and now... )
There will never be a complete replacement of the game engine.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
The game was partially already rewritten from original Perpetual's STO which, as far as I understand, looked a bit different then STO does now. It would be a huge investment and would require lots of new manpower to rescript everything to a new engine (might just make a new game in that case, it's about the same resources), and they might attract about 20% or maybe 30% more players to their game on the visual/better physics, that alone isn't enough to pay all those resources the first year. Running expenses for the servers/maintenance etc would probably also get higher... would be like nine inch nails to the coffin, if they wouldn't get a miracle. And in today's thriving MMO business? I think not.
They're doing pretty fine with what they have, they'll work on animations to smooth it up, on textures for more detailed models etc, but I just don't see engine change as a viable game improvement tactic (otherwise WoW would have done it ages ago). I don't see STO 2 happening either. This game will last for as long as there's interest in ST games.
Comments
Graphics getting outdated? No problem, swap out the engine for a next-gen one!
Man, that'd be boss.
STO is just Champions reskinned. The game engine isn't really capable of presenting a Star Trek game the way it ought to be, and they'll never change that.
The Taco hath Spoken...
HAIL TACOFANGS!
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite
colored text = mod mode
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
Nothing can simply be transferred from one game engine to another, so pretty much from scratch anyway, meaning it wouldn't even be the same game.
Sorry, but what your asking for doesn't make any sense.
Something I am reminded of as I asked this question was my experience with APB Reloaded and The Matrix Online, both games were bought from the original parent company that created those. When players asked for changes in those games (the list is always big), the excuse would most often be given from the developers why they couldn't change much was that they didn't understand everything about the program. Because of that they worried if they made some changes, something would end up not working. It always made me wonder why they bought the game in the first place if they had no idea what to do with it once they had it. I mean, sure the game is going to make them some money but sooner or later they are going to have to upgrade the program or make changes to it.
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Exacrtly, Square fired XIV's team, brough XI's team in and they did it from the ground up and were successful, but they had thet ime money and resources to do it. Cryptic is too small of as tudio to do that.
Live Long And Suck It. - Wil Weaton
That's true! I just thought that if you are a company buying a game from another company, you would want to get all the data about the program you just bought so if the program breaks down or you want to change something it wouldn't be so difficult to do. I still cannot guess as to why any company would want to take a chance on some other company's creation. Wouldn't it have been simpler if Cryptic (or Perfect World) just bought the program along with the game title and rights and just made a copy with a new engine, using the old one as a sort of template?
Sorry for the dumb line of reasoning and questioning to anyone who just had their brains fried from reading this !
It will be a new game. You don't get to keep your subscription or anything you ever bought or grinded in Star Trek Online (1). Likely, Star Trek Online 1 closes (and if just to avoid cannibalizing players between STO 1 and 2), and all the stuff you bought, grinded, or whatever, is gone forever.
If Star Trek Online 2 doesn't happen (which is the much more likely case), and Star Trek Online stays alive (which will probably be true for at least a few more years), Cryptic will continually improve and expand the engine and the game as it has done before as long as they can, and all the stuff you acquired in game or for money will stay around. (If you want to know how much the game can be improved, look at the game as it was 5 years ago and compare to today - Look at the quality of the ship models, compare maps then and now... )
There will never be a complete replacement of the game engine.
They're doing pretty fine with what they have, they'll work on animations to smooth it up, on textures for more detailed models etc, but I just don't see engine change as a viable game improvement tactic (otherwise WoW would have done it ages ago). I don't see STO 2 happening either. This game will last for as long as there's interest in ST games.