Cryptic’s Rivera Talks Space Combat in First STO Meet the Team

Cryptic is establishing a Meet the Team feature for Star Trek Online and kicking it off by introducing the STO lead designer, Al “Captain Geko” Rivera. He’s served ten years in the games industry and worked with Sega and Maxis before coming to Cryptic. Rivera says he’s a devout Star Trek fan and has his own Bat’leth.

A combat system designer at heart, Rivera’s favorite feature of STO is the space combat system.

Space combat is nothing like typical MMO combat, nor is it a dogfighter. It is deeply tactical, strategic and 100 percent Trek. Shield facing, turn rates, weapon firing arcs, power transfers, bridge officer skills, ship configurations and damage control are all things you will need to manage. We also are working on mechanics for different levels of automation if you want a simpler experience (put some weapons on auto fire, power level presets, that sort of thing)./em>

Like the Champions Online series, STO’s Meet the Team makes sure to pass on words of the wise to gamers who aspire to break into the games industry. Here’s what Rivera has to say:

Figure out what you want to do first. The industry is maturing and there are many distinct disciplines. Many times I see entry-level candidates who want to do everything. They talk about their design, engineering and art abilities and they want to do them all. I can appreciate their enthusiasm, but you should focus on what you love and get good at that.

A lot of games have open source or tools to make your own mods or levels. This is a great way to learn how games are made. When you get good, you can put your stuff on the Web for others to download and play, or show it off on YouTube or your own web site. Don’t forget to play a lot of games, even games you don’t like. Understand the mechanics, and learn to critique them objectionably. But first, go to school and get a degree.