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Forums > Home› Galactic News Network [PC]

Dev Blog: Episode Development

pwebranflakespwebranflakes Member Posts: 7,741
edited June 2013 in Galactic News Network [PC]
In this edition of "Pick a Blog Topic," Lead Content Designer Scott "Goatshark" Shicoff has written a blog based on players' suggested topic of "episode development."


Link to the blog.
Post edited by pwebranflakes on

Comments

  • kagasenseikagasensei Member Posts: 526 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    For me this links to blog #26 about the Lohlunat festival.
    - Masterlist: Wrong contact backgrounds in STO -

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  • mrspidey2mrspidey2 Member Posts: 959 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    It's linking to Dev Blog #26
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  • voicesdarkvoicesdark Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Would someone please go make Bandon a pot of coffee pronto.

    Brandon the link directs to the summer event rewards blog not the dev blog on episode development
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  • pwebranflakespwebranflakes Member Posts: 7,741
    edited June 2013
    Link was updated ages ago :P

    Cheers,

    Brandon =/\=
  • zorbanezorbane Member Posts: 1,617 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Neat article thanks!

    *goes off to make sure everyone reads it*
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  • purplegamerpurplegamer Member Posts: 1,015 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    As great as this article is, and as nice as it is to get a behind-the-scenes look into how you guys and gals work, this is a really crappy replacement for the monthly Ask Cryptic. I will grant it's a masterful way to avoid having to answer tough questions every month.
  • zorbanezorbane Member Posts: 1,617 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    purplegamer wrote: »
    As great as this article is, and as nice as it is to get a behind-the-scenes look into how you guys and gals work, this is a really crappy replacement for the monthly Ask Cryptic. I will grant it's a masterful way to avoid having to answer tough questions every month.

    Are there no more ask cryptics?

    Here's last months: http://sto.perfectworld.com/news/?p=902711
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  • purplegamerpurplegamer Member Posts: 1,015 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    zorbane wrote: »
    Are there no more ask cryptics?

    Here's last months: http://sto.perfectworld.com/news/?p=902711

    They intend to "change it up" from month to month with these types of blogs, polls, etc. The Ask Cryptic as we knew it is pretty much gone.

    http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=755491
  • vegie0vegie0 Member Posts: 480 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    I absolutely love this, this is the reason I invested into STO with a Legacy pack. Keep us in the loop please. Things like this that offer the players an insight and possibly a say into the Development process is only good for us an you. I really do appreciate this over a once a month Ask Cryptic. That is good, but hey the more communication the better. Keep doing this and you will keep my loyalty to the game. Even if I do not get what I want, I will be able to see that the game is not becoming stale.

    Thanks again,
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  • lan451lan451 Member Posts: 3,386 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Good stuff. Although the fact that you call your little teams "pods" gave me the image of a bunch of whales hunched over computers building STO. This further amuses me considering the role that whales have played in Star Trek canon.

    ..........I don't know why these things come to my mind. They just do. >.> <.<

    Oh and give me that Republic shirt that guy is wearing in the first pic. That shirt is ace.
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  • psycoticvulcanpsycoticvulcan Member Posts: 4,160 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Very cool. It sounds a lot like how I imagine episode development would work for one of the Star Trek TV shows.
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  • mrsladewilsonmrsladewilson Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    While I'll miss the Ask Cryptics to an extent, this was a fascinating topic and a great blog.
  • teklionbenrashateklionbenrasha Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Great blog- v. interesting. Where does Kestrel come into all this? I thought she wrote all the dialogue and that for everything.
  • malkarrismalkarris Member Posts: 797 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    This is what a dev blog should be. Please guys, keep it up.
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  • elcapitannx01elcapitannx01 Member Posts: 5 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    I don't care. I want my Ask Cryptic back.
  • loading159loading159 Member Posts: 184 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    meeting room should be the enterprise D meeting room off the bridge.
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  • rtk142rtk142 Member Posts: 613 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Yeah that's nice and all but would still rather have ask cryptic. With some real answers of course.
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  • cookiecrookcookiecrook Member Posts: 4,538 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    That was a very interesting read. Thank you for sharing some of the work and processes that go in to making content for Star Trek Online. The Whitebox really caught my attention and reminded me a little of the Temporal mission featuring the Enterprise C. Is it possible to have some sort of maze for a map on a much larger scale? It could be something made of ice for Q's Winter Wonderland as one example. To keep it fun, have the main map and mini maps blocked through some sort of jamming to keep players from finding their way through easily. The Maintenance Tunnels from the Temporal mission are a good example of what could be added to make some of the dead ends interesting with accolades and possibly even mini prizes to collect to cash in on exit.

    Thank you for the very insightful read.
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  • leviathan99#2867 leviathan99
    leviathan99#2867
         Member Posts: 7,747 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    mrsladewilson wrote: »
    While I'll miss the Ask Cryptics to an extent, this was a fascinating topic and a great blog.

    I think maybe she gets a dialogue pass now and then but I THINK she mainly writes the overall lore. Ie. the text dumps in those consoles you read, the ad copy. Like when you talk to the lorekeeper on the colony in the Romulan tutorial, that's her.

    Basically, she works on Stahl on the pre-2409 backstory and big picture arc stuff. And then if the team has a story that they want to tell, her job is to come in, make sense of it, and justify what the team is doing.

    Y'know, "Oh. That should be an arc spanner. The text here should say 'reverse the polarity', not 'increase it.' Oh. You want Picard to be an axe murderer that the player fights? CBS said okay? Okay, here's how we can justify it. Oh? We need background text here? On it."

    So I think she's mainly in the fine details, not individual episode plots. And then again in the very big picture, as in what happens to empires moreso than characters. Although she may have characters she pitches and fits into other people's plots too.
  • drogyn1701drogyn1701 Member Posts: 3,606 Media Corps
    edited June 2013
    teklionbenrasha wrote: »
    Great blog- v. interesting. Where does Kestrel come into all this? I thought she wrote all the dialogue and that for everything.

    We interviewed Kestrel a few weeks ago and she explained it all to us. Quick version is she writes everything from overall lore to mission dialogue down to the flavor text on the new Dilithium Mine. Some of the mission creators do their own writing as well, but she does a little bit of everything.

    Here's the link to the interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImyAhlmGsBE

    Great blog, I prefer this to the Ask Cryptics.
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  • velquavelqua Member Posts: 1,220 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    I actually liked this article. It's great to know who to bribe for better stuff. :P Joking aside, these types of articles might be helpful with Foundry production--if and when it ever comes back. Knowing how these guys and gals are build stories might give us better ways and techniques to create something fun.
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  • trhianortrhianor Member Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Thanks, that was a really interesting insight into your development process.

    I have certainly enjoyed playing through a continuing story and seeing how it unfolds and seeing the progression of all the characters. The story is always an important part of a game for me, and this is probably the most fun I have had playing STO. I particularly liked the process of building the bridge crew as its given my romulan captain a 'supporting cast' that I felt much more involved with than my original federation captain's bridge crew. I had to write a bio for each of them! The new game mechanics and the look and feel is also great. Overall very happy :)
  • kalininkalinin Member Posts: 5 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    ... needs a spoiler warning.
  • eradicator84eradicator84 Member Posts: 1,116 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Great blog!

    Interesting that the the doors in the whitebox diagram 'swing' open lol.
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