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Forums > Home› Star Trek Online General Discussion

REQUEST: Real Alien Races

malkarrismalkarris Member Posts: 797 Arc User
edited March 2013 in Star Trek Online General Discussion
I know this is star trek, the land of the rubber and paint on face alien (Vulcan, Trill, Romulan, etc) but there are races out there that are not human and just as intelligent as anything else and wouldn't it be cool to play some of them?

For instance, Hortas. Those are already in game, and why not? In some books there were Horta crew members, and apparently there was going to be a Horta ambasador in Star Trek IV. Maybe make a player Horta model with a weapon's mount, and special Horta ability acid?

Or the Medusans? Since they're so ugly as to drive any humanoid insane and then kill them, they would just be a box, floating around. Special attack, flashing.

Okay, I'm being a bit silly, but since there is word that the character creater is being reworked, wouldn't it be nice if they could do non-humanoid creatures?
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Post edited by malkarris on

Comments

  • crappyturbocrappyturbo Member Posts: 201 Arc User
    edited March 2013
    As I understand it there may ba a requirement from CBS that all player races be humanoid, but I am not really sure about that tho. I have never seen any non-humanoid aliens in Star Trek in a recurring(spelling) role.
  • stirling191stirling191 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited March 2013
    Non-humanoid races would require unique art, animation and effects assets to be created for each new "configuration" (four arms, no arms, etc.).

    While a fun idea, in practice it's incredibly time consuming. And frankly, Cryptic's already behind enough as it is in terms of a reasonable content production pace.
  • logicalspocklogicalspock Member Posts: 836 Arc User
    edited March 2013
    A Horta would be interesting, since the game mechanics already allows for it.

    However, given that there is no evidence in canon that Horta's ever left their home planet and given the Federation's general policy toward pre-warp civilizations, I think Cryptic has a good canon reason for not allowing it.

    Also, the gameplay mechanics would be difficult. A Horta or Tholian, both which are in the game, are not capable of holding weapons.

    I think pet is the closest thing you are going to get.
  • sussethraisussethrai Member Posts: 137 Arc User
    edited March 2013
    Truly alien captains and Boffs would be fascinating, but for reasons previously stated, unlikely. Maybe Cryptic can give us Horta Doffs (Ground, adds DR buff or acid attack)? :D
    "Susse-thrai" had been the name bestowed upon her, half in anger, half in affection, by her old crew on Bloodwing; the keen-nosed, cranky, wily old she-beast, never less dangerous than when you thought her defenseless, and always growing new teeth far back in her throat to replace the old ones broken in biting out the last foe's heart.
    Romulans: left one homeworld, lost another, third time's the charm?
  • anazondaanazonda Member Posts: 8,399 Arc User
    edited March 2013
    Making Player aliens in STO is real hard... Took them 2 years to multiply the 8472 3-leg feature to 6-legged Tholians.
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  • kevlintallfellowkevlintallfellow Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited March 2013
    The first time I loaded up STO and got into the character creator, I saw the "make your own alien" option and I thought, "AWESOME! I can make my own ALIEN!", so I immediately chose that and started to create my very first character. :D

    My original character concept was sort of a drider type character, that had the abdomen and legs of a giant spider, and a humanoid torso with head and arms. It was going to be SO COOL! :eek:

    Then I realized that in STO, you can't make *actual* aliens, you can only make humans with funny features stuck on them. :( The irony is, it's just like almost all of the aliens in the original series: you can't make *alien* aliens because you don't have alien actors to portray them, you only have human actors, so you have to make humanoid aliens using your human actors with weird stuff like funny ears or strange colored skin. In STO, for their character animations to work properly and show equipment and interactions properly, they all have to use the same skeletal system. For every non-humanoid character they add, they'd have to add an entirely new set of skeletal animations, equipment textures, etc., and that's obviously way too much work for such a small return on the investment (both money, and programmer/artist man-hours).

    Frankly, if given the choice *today*, my first character would have been a Tholian, because in the current game that's the closest thing to my original character concept. Now that I'm actually sitting here thinking about it, playing a Tholian engineer would be *A-MA-ZING* just because of the coolness factor, and if you wanted to roleplay with one you could do all kinds of interesting things! Universal translator on the fritz, anyone? :P
  • sasheriasasheria Member Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited March 2013
    kevlintallfellow wrote: »
    The first time I loaded up STO and got into the character creator, I saw the "make your own alien" option and I thought, "AWESOME! I can make my own ALIEN!", so I immediately chose that and started to create my very first character. :D

    My original character concept was sort of a drider type character, that had the abdomen and legs of a giant spider, and a humanoid torso with head and arms. It was going to be SO COOL! :eek:

    Then I realized that in STO, you can't make *actual* aliens, you can only make humans with funny features stuck on them. :( The irony is, it's just like almost all of the aliens in the original series: you can't make *alien* aliens because you don't have alien actors to portray them, you only have human actors, so you have to make humanoid aliens using your human actors with weird stuff like funny ears or strange colored skin. In STO, for their character animations to work properly and show equipment and interactions properly, they all have to use the same skeletal system. For every non-humanoid character they add, they'd have to add an entirely new set of skeletal animations, equipment textures, etc., and that's obviously way too much work for such a small return on the investment (both money, and programmer/artist man-hours).

    Frankly, if given the choice *today*, my first character would have been a Tholian, because in the current game that's the closest thing to my original character concept. Now that I'm actually sitting here thinking about it, playing a Tholian engineer would be *A-MA-ZING* just because of the coolness factor, and if you wanted to roleplay with one you could do all kinds of interesting things! Universal translator on the fritz, anyone? :P

    ^-- Basically This. in MMO you want to make it as "efficient" in terms of rendering/code on server and client side.

    While it would be cool to make Arachnid type (8 legged) or fins, or 6 legs, or floating ball. the problem would figuring out who to equip weapons (if any or limit) or no weapons. Armor skin, suit skin and clothing skin.

    That is just the "shell" then you have different animation like crouching, rolling, melee attacks (4 arms is totally different than 2 arm combat)

    that is a lot of animation work.
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  • bluegeekbluegeek Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited March 2013
    I think we may see this kind of thing... someday.

    But it's true... the same reasons why non-humanoid aliens rarely appeared in Star Trek hold true here. Budget and technical difficulty.

    Still, various Trek novels over the years did feature non-humanoid aliens. It would be a shame if they were never included in STO and were never playable. But that's a long ways off, if ever.
    My views may not represent those of Cryptic Studios or Perfect World Entertainment. You can file a "forums and website" support ticket here
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  • nierionnierion Member Posts: 326 Arc User
    edited March 2013
    I'd love to see more customisation when it comes to your character. Especially with the alien race. They could start off with simple things like, more eyes, ears, arms etc. Personally I'd be happy just have more customisation over hairstyles and markings on your character.

    Maybe eventually, something like what they use in Spore!
    api.php?action=streamfile&path=%2F187011%2FFleet%20Files%2FMember%20Signatures%2FNierion.png&u=146876
  • aelfwin1aelfwin1 Member Posts: 2,896 Arc User
    edited March 2013
    bluegeek wrote: »
    But it's true... the same reasons why non-humanoid aliens rarely appeared in Star Trek hold true here. Budget and technical difficulty.

    Then came along B5 and Farscape and put ST to shame on a much lower budget .

    What can I say ... , it seems that even our Big Bad Iconians are bipeds ... . :(
  • darramouss1darramouss1 Member Posts: 1,811 Arc User
    edited March 2013
    I think it would be interesting to play aliens that had requirements. Perhaps even consumable and craftable requirements. Imagine being a Jem'Hadar, needing to stock Ketracel White to avoid withdrawal and the negative effects associated with it. Or a Vidiian. That could be a little dark, but same concept applies; you need to perform tasks to prevent bad side effects.

    Some people may think this sounds terrible but the beauty of this idea is that it would only affect races that were designed to be this way. You don't want the mechanic? Don't select the race. I'm not an RPer but I'm sure that there would be quite a few RPers who would like this idea.
  • tpalelenatpalelena Member Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited March 2013
    I think more eyes, maybe more fingers or more ears are doable...but more limbs would give all those animation troubles already mentioned.
    Let us wear Swimsuits on Foundry maps or bridges please! I would pay zen for that.
  • crusty8maccrusty8mac Member Posts: 1,381 Arc User
    edited March 2013
    I guess Saurians, Caitians, and Gorn are too humanoid to be considered alien. Right?
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  • travelingmastertravelingmaster Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited March 2013
    bluegeek wrote: »
    I think we may see this kind of thing... someday.

    But it's true... the same reasons why non-humanoid aliens rarely appeared in Star Trek hold true here. Budget and technical difficulty.

    Still, various Trek novels over the years did feature non-humanoid aliens. It would be a shame if they were never included in STO and were never playable. But that's a long ways off, if ever.

    I feel the game will die and be replaced by a superior Star Trek game before this happens. No offense to the devs, but Cryptic (and by extension Atari) probably weren't the best folks for developing a Star Trek game. Game's had problems with resources and funding from the start, and it shows.

    I doubt Cryptic will ever have enough resources and freedom from 'bottom line profit' to really flesh out these cool little details.
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  • travelingmastertravelingmaster Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited March 2013
    crusty8mac wrote: »
    I guess Saurians, Caitians, and Gorn are too humanoid to be considered alien. Right?

    What we mean by 'humanoid' is symmetric, bipedal species. I.E., two arms, two legs, a head, occasionally a tail. All based around the same physical features.

    What's being discussed here is stuff like the Tholians, or non-humanoid species. Aliens that have more than 2 arms or two legs, or don't have any legs and just hover (like the Melkots).

    Personally, I want a non-humanoid insectoid species.
    My PvP toon is Krov, of The House of Snoo. Beware of my Hegh'ta of doom.
  • bluegeekbluegeek Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited March 2013
    travelingmaster wrote: »
    Personally, I want a non-humanoid insectoid species.

    I want a Thranx.


    Oops... wrong IP... :D
    My views may not represent those of Cryptic Studios or Perfect World Entertainment. You can file a "forums and website" support ticket here
    Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
  • collegepark2151collegepark2151 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited March 2013
    travelingmaster wrote: »
    I feel the game will die and be replaced by a superior Star Trek game before this happens...

    And I had a sudden, chilling thought. That MMO will probably be set in the JJ Verse. :eek:
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

    Porthos is not amused.
  • nierionnierion Member Posts: 326 Arc User
    edited March 2013
    Well I really hope more customisation does come into the game this year with the tailor, especially the hairstyles. The amount of male characters with the faux hawk hairstyle is just insane, need more hairstyles!

    collegepark2151 wrote: »
    And I had a sudden, chilling thought. That MMO will probably be set in the JJ Verse. :eek:

    That is a very chilling thought. Though I don't recall JJ Abrams doing his own take on Star Trek, I know he did a generic sci-fi movie a while back that happened to have characters and ships with similar names to Star Trek lol
    api.php?action=streamfile&path=%2F187011%2FFleet%20Files%2FMember%20Signatures%2FNierion.png&u=146876
  • centersolacecentersolace Member Posts: 11,178 Arc User
    edited March 2013
    malkarris wrote: »
    For instance, Hortas. Those are already in game, and why not? In some books there were Horta crew members, and apparently there was going to be a Horta ambasador in Star Trek IV. Maybe make a player Horta model with a weapon's mount, and special Horta ability acid?

    Or the Medusans? Since they're so ugly as to drive any humanoid insane and then kill them, they would just be a box, floating around. Special attack, flashing.

    YOU!! HOW HAVE YOU BEEN HACKING MY BRAIN!!?!!?

    Seriously, HOW HAVE YOU BEEN STEALING MY THOUGHTS!??!
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