Unearthing Star Trek: Legacy

Bethesda Softworks, the brain-trust behind the coveted Xbox 360™ hit The Elder Scrolls® IV: Oblivion™, has spearheaded the first next-gen Star Trek title, Star Trek: Legacy, with the help of developer Mad Doc. Producer Gary Conti from Mad Doc was kind enough to answer a few of our burning Trek-related questions, on both the scope and design of the game as well as what we can expect from full-blown starship combat.

Take the bridge of your very own starship.

From Archer to Janeway
Star Trek:Legacy spans every era of the famed sci-fi series, so whether it's classic Klingon shenanigans from The Original Series that tickle your Trek bone, the Borg assault on Enterprise 1701-D, or Sisko's struggles with the Dominion War, every major faction and era of the Trek universe is represented.

In regards to story, the epic tale in Legacy spans Star Trek's entire history as a single narrative. As Gary puts it, "The player starts out in the era of the Enterprise series and progresses chronologically. Time passes, and the player and their fleet move on to the next era in Trek history, following the same story arc in an adventure that spans centuries!"

"Working with the big captains was a thrill. We were
fortunate enough to get entirely new dialogue from
them, there's no recycled stuff in Legacy."

While several factions are playable in Legacy's multiplayer mode, the single-player experience focuses on the Federation's perspective. "We focused on the Federation in single player to allow us to provide the best total campaign experience," Gary explained. "With a strong focus on a single race, we were able to beef up the dialogue, capitalizing on the five captains, and create a long, engaging experience."

Regarding Combat
The gameplay in Star Trek: Legacy pits you against classic foes in the ship-to-ship space combat Star Trek is famous for. As Gary puts it, "Combat is entirely real time in Legacy. At the helm of your ship, you will be allocating energy, issuing orders to your fleet, all while lining your ship up for phaser and photon attacks and jockeying for position in 3D space."

Maneuvers, tactics, and strategy are not based on predetermined move sets designed by the developer, but are created on the fly by you, the starship captain. "Tactics and moves are entirely dependent on player skill," Gary elaborated, "We give you the tools you need, ship classes, attributes, weapons, etc, and the tactics and maneuvers you see will all be player driven."

Form up on target!

Iconic Voices
The fanatical loyalty of Trek fans is the stuff of legend, and Star Trek: Legacy boasts all-new voice work from each of the five famous captains, which will surely satisfy even the most demanding of fans. We asked Gary what it was like working with the famed captains, William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, and Scott Bakula.

"Working with the big captains was a thrill. We were fortunate enough to get entirely new dialogue from them, there's no recycled stuff in Legacy. Their enthusiasm and consummate voice talent really adds a huge layer of depth to our storyline."

Fleshing Out the Fleets
One of the more daunting challenges during the development of Star Trek: Legacy was creating balanced, robust fleets for each faction in the game. "We wanted to make sure that all the races had fully fleshed out fleets from all three Trek eras, a tricky feat, seeing how you rarely saw certain races during certain eras: The Borg during the Enterprise era, or the Romulans during the TOS era."

We're under attack!

"We came up with a lot of really cool designs that both fit into the fleet aesthetically, but also balanced out the races so that they all had comparable fleet makeups. An example of this is the Romulan Heavy Defender and the Romulan Whitewing. The Romulans were lacking cruisers and battleships during the TOS era, so we took heed of their ship design methods, and created models that looked the part: Vaguely bird-like, large imposing wings, and intimidating patterns and weapon placement."

Mission Types
Every real-time combat game serves up its own variety of missions and scenarios, and we asked what was in store for players beyond pure combat in Legacy.

"Often times, you'll find yourself defending innocent bystanders against a Borg onslaught," Gary responded, "Or covering the retreat of refugees, towing damaged ships to safety, or even conducting espionage behind enemy lines in a captured ship."

Check in for supplies an repairs.

"Aside from combat, players will have to worry about the well-being of their persistent fleet," Gary continued, "Making sure to keep them alive and operating during missions. To do so, the famed engineering crews will have to be employed to repair damaged ship systems."

Multiplayer Recreations
With multiplayer Star Trek: Legacy on Xbox Live®, players can answer a host of fans' "what if" questions about who would win under particular circumstances. "You can recreate any combination of fleets you want. Have your friend control a Borg cube while you and all your other friends gang up and try to take down the behemoth battleship! Want to recreate everyone's favorite scene from The Wrath of Khan? Pick a Constitution refit, and have your buddy on the other side of the country pick a Miranda refit. We went to great pains to make sure we offered an extensive multiplayer experience, and we can't wait to see people online blowing each other apart!"

Thanks very much to Gary for taking the time to answer our questions.

Interview by Ryan Treit